Michigan Team Shares about Sin Solutions, Praise Dancing and Boo Boo Bunnies

Today's update is from VBS III - excuse me, Darril. I meant to say "VBS A"! (You can tell our former pastor's sense of humor hasn't been frozen away since his family moved from Texas!)

For those of you who didn't know Darril, he and Marie and his children moved to Michigan from Fort Worth a little over a year ago. They have a long love and big passion for the people of Brazil. The Holden's try to rotate which child joins them in Brazil each time, and this year Claire drew the lucky straw.

While we in Fort Worth really miss the Holden family being a part of our fellowship, most of us (except for Brandon - he's still bitter) are happy to share them with our new Michigan friends. Marie said that she loves most everything about her new home, except for the winters - guess all that snow is a little hard to get used to.

Like we mentioned yesterday, all three teams work really hard to share the same message each day, so if you don't see your loved one mentioned here, you can still picture how they probably spent most of their day.

The Michigan team is hosting VBS at Immanuel Baptist Church for kids that are being bussed in from a nearby favela. They are fortunate enough to have Lecio - our primary missionary host - be with them every day for their VBS. Lecio is amazing with the Brazilian children. He commands great respect from them, while also really gets them to engage with the Americans quickly. Lecio is also the person who has secured several dozen volunteer interpreters that join each site every day to help us try and move our communications a little beyond "Oi" (Hello) and "Obrigado" (Thank You).

Today, Erin and Steve shared more about the fall of man through a skit about Adam and Eve - complete with a hand-painted tree held up by Sarah and a rubbery snake managed by Claire. Does anyone else think it's funny they made the preacher's kiddo represent Satan? Maybe it's a weird Michigan-type of initiation? :>

One of this teams favorite times of each VBS is the praise and worship. They also have a talented band that really makes them get off their feet and start dancing around like their pants are on fire! So the team has decided to turn the tables on the kids . . . and now there are about 300 Brazilian children who can sing "Deep and Wide" (with the motions) and do the "Hokey Pokey" - all in English. Guess it's monkey see - monkey do . . . even in Brazil!

Megan, Kristin and Chris helped show the way Jesus absolves us of our sins through a really cool skit involving photofinishing solution. If we didn't know how it was done ourselves, we would think they had learned a trick or two from David Copperfield! The older kids were especially enthralled with how the cross sponge was able to transform colored liquid back clear again.

Each VBS divides their sessions into three groups, and this team has all of their volunteers involved in many different leadership roles. Not only does Sam help Jessica with photography, she also leads the Green team of kids from station to station. Alyssa and Andrea manage the Yellow kids, while Kristin and Sarah take charge of the Red group. They say they can see the rafters raise from the roof of the sanctuary when the kiddos start chanting their team colors to see who can be the loudest!

While Darril and Marie keep the day running like clockwork, Larry and Rob play lots of games to run off some of that pent up energy. They are a huge help, so that when the kids get to crafts, there's a chance they might stand still long enough to make a "Boo Boo Bunny". It takes a village to make a proper BBB, so Ruth, Diane, Darcy, and Debbie all threw in their pipe cleaners to help the kids turn washrags into rabbits. Caitlynn and Claire do double duty by helping with dancing and crafts - again, why do you think they are so hard on the PK? :> Apparently these kids became quite creative with their stickers - I heard the BBB eyes ended up everywhere!

Today's verse that was taught to the VBS kids was Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

It's obvious by the smiles on the faces of this team tonight that they are not only giving a gift by sharing their time, love and the hope they have in Christ, but they are also receiving huge blessings back from the Brazilians. Their kids love to connect the many family members this team has, and are fascinated when they meet an American with their same name. Laughs and hugs abound in this group!

The Michigan gang is so grateful for the support and prayers from all their friends and family back home, and can't wait to share more with you about their life-changing experiences here in Recife!