Adventures in Panamá: A Prayer Safari!

VBS Update

The last day of VBS

Warm Greetings All!

I am excited to write you to inform you of the great things God did during our VBS outreach, which took place from February 7^th through the 9^th.

All along, from preparation to the last moment with the children, it is evident that God’s hand was upon this event. Our theme was “A Prayer Safari.” The three key lessons we wanted the children to go home with were: God Listens (we can approach our heavenly Father and be certain that He listens as we pray), God Provides (He will always be faithful to provide for our needs), and God Forgives (He forgives us and we ought to forgive one another).

Personally, the lesson on God Provides was close to my heart during this time. You see, we got to see God provide ALL that we needed (and even more!) to make this event one that the children (and parents) would enjoy. Through our little church, God provided:

people with artistic abilities so that we might decorate the church
someone to design our banners so we can place them throughout the neighborhood
someone with graphic design background who could put together the worksheets that went with each lesson
“actors” & “actresses” for our skits and “voices” for our puppet shows
a week before VBS, He provided some rockin’ tunes that the children could dance and praise to
teachers & helpers
crafts
…and so much more…

We had up to 60 kids in attendance by the 3^rd day. About half of them were children that normally don’t attend church! What an opportunity to share Jesus with them (which we did!). One of the most exciting things for me was to see God orchestrate something “last minute”—or at least it was last minute for us, but not for Him!

Wednesday morning, as we prepared to start our last day of Safari Adventures, we realized we had forgotten to print the certificates we had planned to give the children for their participation. Ooops! BUT then…Pastor Bert suggested that we make some quick notes to invite the parents to our Wednesday night evening service, where we could present the children with their certificates. We jumped on it, made little invites, printed them and send them off with the kids. We weren’t sure how many parents would respond, but we waited to see what God would do. By the time church started that night, we had set up chairs outdoors, and were ready to receive our guests. And they came! Both, parents and children were there! About 40 of the children showed up that night and many of them brought their parents. The children sang (and danced!) the songs they learned throughout the week, Pastor Bert shared with the parents, and the certificates were handed to the kids. It was incredibly encouraging for me to see that God would orchestrate this so beautifully so that not only the children got to hear the gospel, but the parents also!

It was so much joy to serve these little ones!!! If you know me, you know that I love children—I love singing and dancing with them, being silly with them, and most of all, seeing them love Jesus. I am so grateful that He gave me this opportunity. That Wednesday night, one of the little girls from the neighborhood came up to me and said, “I’m always going to come here now!”

I ask that you please pray for the seeds that were planted both in the children and the parents. We pray that they would grow in the knowledge of their Savior.

Thanks everyone!

In His Love,

Rocio :)

PS-If you would like to see more pictures, check out my FB.