Hearing the story for the first time.

Our VBS at Beza ended Friday July 4th. It was a joyous and a sad day at the same time. We were happy to have been able to minister to these kids, to share the Gospel with them but very sad to say goodbye. All the kids that attended VBS are very poor and many wore the same clothes all week, also more than 50% of them are HIV positive. We were so thankful to our Lord Jesus Christ for the opportunity he gave our team to minister to these kids. It was also a learning experience for us. By the end of the first day, the kids knew all of our names and by the end of our third day even though they didn't know a word in English they knew how to say "thank you" and "I love you."  Those are the words we heard everyday. All the kids treasured all the crafts we made with them that week. Even though many of them consisted of just coloring pages they were so grateful and happy to hold a crayon in their hands and color. But what amazed me (Gina) the most was their reaction to the Bible stories. All but maybe five had never heard about the miracles of Jesus; they were in awe when we told them about Jesus' miracles, His love, His grace and about His sacrifice on the cross for us. They were so attentive and took everything that we taught them into their hearts and were so eager daily to learn more and more. All the kids came from an Orthodox background and had many challenging questions about God. Many asked questions such as: "How is Jesus God and Holy Spirit?" and "If God knew that Adam and Even were going to eat of the fruit of the tree, then why did he put it there?" and "If God wanted to save us all why didn't he just do it?" (Needless to say Dr. Horrell, many of us were thankful for your notes) These are the questions we got asked by this group of kids. And may I add, that general age group was 8-12. It was a challenging week for us as you can see, but it was a blessing.
 
The last day of VBS we shared the story of the Gospel using the bracelets that were very kindly made by Terry and Jeanie Abla and others from Chase Oaks and Michael's mom. The children were so grateful for them, and what was the most memorable moment was to hear them retell the story of the Gospel through the bracelets. We give all honor and glory to God and thank Him for allowing us to minister to these kids.

Please pray for our third and last VBS this week, for we are expecting over 150 kids.