Longhorn Teacher: Romania 2015- Day 19

Day 19- July 1, 2015

Another day of VBS done! It was our last day to work with the ladies, which makes me sad! I love them as much as I love their kiddos!! They were lined up outside this morning to get in, I think they love coming as much as we love for them to come!

Jill led the devotional this morning. She talked about God being with you all the time. She told the ladies about how she was very sick as a child and in the hospital a lot. When she was two years old she had an episode that put her in the hospital. When she woke up, she told her mom not to worry, “because Jesus is my friend.” She said her faith has never wavered since then, and that she has always know God is with her.

After devotional we had our last rotations with the ladies. Today in beauty we did their hair. Kim styled short hair, Bailey did an up-do, and Emily and I braided hair. Kim had stopped at the store last night and got some combs to give to the ladies as well as a bar of soap, wet wipes, and Kleenex. Wasn’t that sweet of her?!? We handed out the combs and had them comb their hair, and then we went to work. Not all of them wanted anything done, but most did.

Next was lunch, while the ladies were eating we cleaned up our stations and made sure their crafts and gifts were ready for them to grab. On their way out they got their bag of goodies and a bag of groceries.

During the break between women’s ministry and VBS, Cristi’s mom came back to Point of Hope asking for Gabi. She wanted to ask who had donated the groceries for her family. Mr. Libero had told her someone loved her family when he had taken the groceries over. She wanted to thank that person. Gabi told her it was me and my church group. She wanted her picture taken with me. Then she told Gabi that her whole family loved me! I’ve been so happy this week to spend more time with Lorena and Rebecca, Cristi’s sisters. She told us how her husband had lost his job so those groceries really helped them through a hard time. It really shows how God has a plan!! When I left the extra money I had raised last year, I had no idea how much it would impact them. Hopefully it strengthened her faith!

In the afternoon we started the day’s VBS. Another six rotations down! As always, we started with inside games. John Frank started with his Aroostashaw game and I videoed it so you could see, but of course it is too big to upload here, I'll upload it to Facebook instead. Then they split the group and half went to play ping-pong/darts, while the other half stayed and played Man Bear Gun. Man Bear Gun is basically a ”full body” Rock Paper Scissors game. Players start out finding a partner and standing back-to-back. Each part of the game has three actions to perform: Man: hands by your side; Bear: hands out in front of you like bear claws; and Gun: hands in front of you like guns. Ties eliminate both players, to keep the game going quickly. We would start with a chant: The man beats the gun… the gun beats the bear… the bear beats the man… if you tie, you die. Then count to three and they would have to turn around and assume a pose. The losing player is eliminated (both players are eliminated if they assume the same post). The winning player finds a new partner and play continues until there’s one winner. They had fun pretending to be bears!!

Our second station was outdoor games. Today we played the game where you stand in a circle holding hands and try to get a hula-hoop around the circle. Once they got the hang of it in one big circle, we split them into to two circles and had them race. So fun!! Then, Markus set up a course for them to go through. He showed them how they had to go through it, and then split them into two teams. We didn’t get to finish, but they had fun!

Our third rotation was snack. Today they had pretzels and juice. Nice and relaxing!

Our fourth rotation was crafts. They were given a scratch off cross to decorate. Once they finished decorating, Liz painted either something on their hand or something on their face. I drew on a few of them with markers as well.

Our fifth rotation was Bible. Dan stared by asking them what Bible stories they knew. He wrote them on the board as they said them. Then he drew pictures and walked them through how all those stories were connected through time.

Our last rotation was music. The girls did two songs with them, I didn’t recognize either one. Then the kids begged to play musical chairs so we did. They really enjoy it!!