Puppets, Painting and Preparation

Yesterday was our last work day with the churches. We successfully ran our VBS program at two different churches. We were with nearly 600 kids in total. VBS consisted of our puppets that explained the Gospel, songs, and games. To further remind the kids of the Gospel (Las buenas nuevas), we taught them the wordless book, using colored beads. It's an amazing sound to hear hundreds of kids answering my questions about what each color meant. They would chant: "La creacion, el pecado de todos, la sangre de Jesus Cristo, un corazon limpio, and el cielo" (Creation, Sin of man, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, a new and clean heart, and Heaven).

The kids loved the VBS and we just love hanging out with the kids after. It's truly a blessing to see the team in action. Something within us just seems to light up when kids are around.

The second half of our time with the local churches are work days. We spent ours days painting. We painted most of the kids' classrooms and the last project was a church's sanctuary. The men of the team painted their place of worship, while the women spent the day with Daryl, Dan's wife. Their missionary care allowed them to minister to a very hard working wife and mother of three children. In the midst, they were also able to glimpse into the life of a missionary's wife, which was an exprience for all.

Our evenings have been spent primarily doing puppet workshops, something I'm most fond of. Dan explained to me the Crusade that they are working on here in Bolivia. Our workshops are an effort to promote and educate local churches of a city-wide youth outreach program that will take place throughout the country in October. The Crusade began 10 months ago, attempting to align churches under a single event. The City-wide outreach week will be the catalyst that will inspire inter-church cooperation for years to come. It is such an honor to be a part of something this huge in magnitude. Our puppets and stage have become the model for these churches to add-on and adapt, so that they can further contextualize the Gospel. They'll be able to make the stage for a fraction of cost. Also, they'll be able to adapt the script into Quechua and Armara, two native languages that we've also been working around.

All in all, the Puppets, Painting and Preparation have ran like clockworks, thanks to God's will and guidance. I would also like to thank you all for your love and support on our mission. Please pray for energy and health, as we have worked hard this last week. My prayer is for our team to continue to image Christ in everything we do...oh, and GO DUCKS!!!

Adam, representing the Team.