What kind of plan is this?

Ponemah was shocking.


I craned to see past Tiffany, our driver, as we pulled in to the small town of Ponemah. Where was the church? We stopped at a house with a sign on the side that said "Wah-Bun Chapel." I mentally crumpled the image of VBS in a church basement and reconstructed one of a garage with folding chairs. Ok I thought, I guess this can work.

The first day was a wreck. Images, actions and words came barreling at me and left me breathless, wondering belatedly how I should respond. Mainly it was the children. They were sweet and lovable, hard and concealing, bright a cheery, moody and unresponsive almost at the same time. They wouldn't sit still during the singing or the lesson. They didn't understand the structured game, or the questions we asked them as follow-up. After two hours of seemingly pointless words, we ended up playing with the kids outside on the lawn, waiting until it was time to go home. Half-an-hour later, we climbed into the van sweaty from giving shoulder rides in the sun and playing Duck Duck Goose.

After dinner I found a quiet corner and curled up with my Bible for some contemplation. I finally released tears of frustration. After all we had said and done, none of the children could remember the theme verse or point out which piece of Spiritual armor we'd discussed. Discouragement piled on my shoulders and I trembled as I asked God, "What difference will we even make? This is pointless!"

Aching shoulders interrupted my thoughts, begging for muscle rub. I reflected on our last half hour in Ponemah that day. I must have given Jack 3 shoulder rides, and he'd asked for more. My name tag had been swiped to embellish a collection one girl began on her shirt. I'd been poked as "It" so many times I almost tingled. It was exhausting. But the kids loved it. The same smiles that disappeared when we sat down beamed when they tagged me. 4-year-olds smiled at me with big eyes when I handed them a glass of water.

"Is that it, God?" I wondered: holy light bulbs illuminated fleshly cobwebs. Then there was a plan! My perspective rotated 180 degrees as I realized our VBS simply took us to Ponemah. Our love for the children touched their hearts. Strategies formed in my mind - more shoulder rides for Evan. My name tag to Chalise. More tag with Katherine.

Tuesday afternoon, before VBS even began, I was attacked by a child with brown eyes and a larger marker. "How do you spell your name?" She demanded. She wrote carefully, saying each letter out loud. In seconds, my name tag was applied to her shirt. With concealed delight, she ripped her own name tag off and planted her flag on my shoulder. "There." She sounded satisfied. Joy thrilled in my heart and I thanked God for allowing me to join Him in his work.

Mark 10:41 "I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward."
 

This was our team joined with the Grand Forks team. Our team includes me (right in front of fella with green shirt) Jorde, (guy in the middle) Danae (left end of the front row) Christa (right end of the second row) and Tiffany (far left).

Phandie gathers the children around her the first day after the game to ask them questions - whether they're enjoying the first day, and if they got the point of the game etc.

Tiffany and Taylor. Jack is on Taylor's shoulders.

From left: Hailey(?), Me, Kaitlyn, Jacob (on shoulders) Jorde, Shaylee, Caleb (on shoulders) and Nahid. 

 Corey takes on Katherine in an arm wrestle. She won...!

Gwen participated in the game that correlated with the Beld of Truth: we wrote out lies from the Devil and put bubble wrap around them. When the children discovered and understood the refuting verse we'd placed underneath, they could stomp out the lies. Gwen did this with Tiffany and Tiffany was able to bless her with love.

Laura let Caleb and Kaitlyn play with her guitar. She had such a fun and loving spirit! 

Barb - proprieter of Wah-Bun chapel, told us casually that there were bears at the dump as we were leaving on Friday afternoon. Tiffany gaped and said "Tell us how to get there!" We saw three bears and they were all as skinny as the one in the photo above. It was awesome! 

Kaitlyn and I got to be friends that week. She was the sweetest little child! I pray I never forget this experience, and that I always remember the lessons I learned. Father, keep the fire burning in me for these children and chilren everywhere!