[The Norway House Teams found Internet access at the local "mall," so enjoy the photos!]
Team #1 (see blog header for team members’ names)
Joanie lead the skit today. It was the parable of the wise man and the foolish man building their houses on the rocks and the sand. It involved kids building the houses with their bodies. Team #1 symbolized a thunderstorm during the skit using a spring drum. As Jane Hughes said, though, “God gave us stereophonic sound. There was real thunder and lighting at the exact same time. It was like surround sound. It was enough to make believers out of a whole bunch of kids (laughs) because it was very authentic. The kids were just surrounded by the storm. It think it’s something they will probably not soon, if ever, forget.”
Kids playing games
Team #1 almost doubled the amount of kids they had, going from 43 on Monday to 82 today, so the team was scrambling. “We had to get out more chairs and more tables. We’re trying to get ready for tomorrow, but if get any more kids, we’re going to be hard pressed for space,” said Jane.
It poured when they were supposed to be outside doing games, so Olivia brought all of the kids into the “dining hall,” where they had snacks. A lot of the kids stayed around for a long time after VBS ended to play.
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Team #2 (see blog header for team members’ names)
Team #2 had 83 kids today. Because all of the LAMP groups are using the same curriculum, their skit for the day was also centered on the wise man and the foolish man. “The important part of today’s skit,” said Dan Carlson, “was that it hailed right at the time we were talking about building our house upon the rock, so it was very timely.” Unfortunately, it also hailed during the outdoor games, so the kids had to come back inside early to a snack that wasn’t quite ready. “There were crackers going all over the place,” Dan noted.
Kids coloring
“Time goes by really fast. We wish we had more time. The kids stuck on me like leaches. They just love ya,” Dan said. “And it’s exciting to see so many kids, but man, they wear you out in a hurry. The puppets go over really well with every group. Ginny and I have done them so far. The kids are most attentive during the puppets, so that’s kinda fun.” Even after the VBS is over, the kids know where Team #2 spends the night (at the United Church), so they visit the team there. As Dan said, “They know that we go swimming. I take my showers down in the lake (laughs). It’s cold, but the kids follow us.”
Commenting on his York boat practice yesterday, Dan simply said, “Oh my gosh, that was an experience.”
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Team #3 (see blog header for team members’ names)
Donita Kimball, a member of Team #3 said, “We had an awesome day with lots of extra kids – new faces came in with the old faces. We enjoyed a puppet show today, which we hadn’t done before. We’d like to duplicate that because it was so successful.” The storms mentioned by the other two teams affected Team #3, too, hitting them about the time the puppet show ended. “We just stood at the windows and watched this miraculous hail storm. Many of the younger kids had never seen hail before.
Playing outside
Everyone was talking about the storm. It really tied the lesson in together. Perfect timing on God’s part,” Donita said.
A few Team #3 members watched some of the York boats practicing. Donita, Tim, and Sandy got to meet the CEO of the Cree Nation. He thanked them and shared some insight about the community. “He said that there are plenty of jobs for the community; the problem is the people’s lack of willingness to work,” Donita relayed, as she talked about the importance of the teams understanding the communities they’re serving. “He said that the boat races are an awesome thing because the youth get involved, and the races really involve the whole community.”
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Kiwi and Kayla
When the teams were back together for supper, Olivia made 3 big pans full of lasagna. Some started relaxing and playing the infamous Banana-grams game for the first time, a favorite pastime with last year’s LAMP teams. Some of the team members also played one of the community’s favorite pastime’s: bingo over the radio. None of them won, but it was certainly the first time any of them had played that game over the airwaves. Dan lead group devotions about Jesus’ parable that the kids learned about today and about the choices we make in life. Jane handed out instruments, and the group sang some songs together.
“It ends up being an extremely full day. Tons of activity, work, but pretty, pretty cool,” Jane remarked. “We’re very glad we are able to do this. The people really seem to appreciate it. We’re not even getting started until 3:30 because there are so many kids to register. If this growth continues, we’re going to have to have more churches to do this in!”
