1st Morning of VBS

As I sit in my room here at Hotel Aconchego listening to the sounds of our team in the pool below, I can hardly believe it was just this morning that we started VBS at Kids Place. It doesn't seem possible that we could have crammed so many experiences into one day. "Brief" is not my forte, but I will try to find a balance between giving you too much information, and giving you news of your team's service here in Recife. Please feel free to leave comments telling me what sort of things you'd like to see/read on this blog and I will do my best to comply.

We started the day on the rooftop patio of the hotel, joining for devotionals and worship after a fantastic breakfast buffet. (The kids were thrilled to find that cake is part of a breakfast buffet in Brazil!)


After worship, Brian Young started the devotional by sharing his personal testimony of how a true understanding of grace has been changing his life the last few years. He said that Lauren, his 8-year-old daughter who is along on the trip, has always inspired him by how easily and eagerly she shares the gospel with other children.

Van Payne shared a little about her journey to Brazil – via her home in the Carolinas and then a move to Texas. She passed out little gift bags to each family with symbolic items inside, each one a reminder of how to be a true servant of Christ this week. For instance, one item was a rubber band for each member of the family to wear on their wrists if they liked, to remind us to be flexible as we serve. Some of us laughed later that a quick snap of the rubber band on the wrist might be just the thing to snap us out of our American rigidity!

After devotionals, we headed to Kids Place for a full morning of VBS. The children on our team who had not been here before said it was overwhelming to walk into the gym to wild cheers of welcome from the VBS kids. One said, “I think this is even louder than Kids Kamp at church, and there are only 80 kids here!” (For those of you who haven’t been to Kids Kamp, that’s LOUD.)

During the course of the morning, we taught a lesson, played a game, had a time of worship, served a snack and made a craft, all in 30-minute increments. The children are precious and simply could not be a happier, more enthusiastic, fully engaged bunch.

Classroom at Kids Place



Games in the gym at Kids Place



Because of the incredible teaching they receive here at Kids Place on a regular basis, many of the children know Christ and are familiar with worship songs and Bible stories. That is in contrast to just a few years ago when Kids Place first started. Cindy Boehme, who has been leading short-term mission trips with her husband, Brandon, for almost a decade, said that when they first came to this area, most of the children had not heard of Jesus. It’s humbling to see the change and know that it has happened through this tightly-run mission that operates on a budget of only $5000 per month.



Igor, Rafaela, Grace and Francielly



At the end of VBS, we served the children a lunch of rice, beans, meat and potatoes before saying goodbye for the day. Hugs and kisses all around as they went to the gate, promising to return tomorrow. One little girl, Francielly, asked (through a translator) if she could take one of our girls home with her to her house. Maybe we’ll be able to visit her home this week and grant that wish! We’re making friends quickly, and I can already tell it will be hard to leave on Friday.

A company donated lots of lightweight backpacks for the children. We are loading their crafts and workbooks into these bags each day, and at the end of the week, we will also slip in a new pair of flip flops and a couple of outfits of clothes for them to take home. The children were so excited to see the bags, and although it was difficult for them to leave them behind today (some tried to sneak them out!), they were looking forward to seeing what their “surprise” would be at the end of the week.

Details of the afternoon's activities in the next post...!