I am always amazed at how big the kids can be. Each day we conduct a teacher training in the morning and a vacation bible school in the afternoon. This is the third day, and I have noticed that each day both teacher trainees and kids trust us more and have a better time.

Today we had a story about Abram and Sarai traveling to the promised land. One of the key characters of course was their camel, whom Becky affectionately named Humpfrey. the end of the story led to a craft where building a camel sock puppet was the goal. The story and the craft were greeted by peals of laughter. Well, I guess kids will be kids anywhere. Did I mention that these particular kids ranged in age from about 30 to 60 years old.

Each day sees previous kids return and new kids join. Now, I really am talking about kids. It is amazing how much the previous kids retain from day to day, and how willing they are to help new kids learn memory verses and understand the rules. We only have two rules. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. and Love your neighbor as yourself. Which you may recognize as Matthew 22:37 and 39. An easy paraphrase that we often use is respect God, and respect your neighbor. To reinforce our rules and the important verses they come from, our memory verse for today was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Listening to a room full of adults and children reciting bible verses while acting like a lion or a frog is great fun! You should try it some time.
Speaking of memory verses. Each day our team starts each day with a devotional. Today's devotional included a challenge. Come back tomorrow morning and recite 1 John 1:9 "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." I would like to challenge you to join us in placing this small piece of God's word into our hearts. Make a promise to yourself to study and repeat the verse over and over in order that you might commit it to memory. Then, tomorrow morning share it with someone you love. That makes for a very large audience because Jesus said we need to love our neighbor as yourself, and, he never defined where your neighborhood ends.
I think deep in our hearts, we just all wanna be kids! SO fun reading the updates. We are praying and loving you all back home. Please include any specific prayer requests too. Thank You, Lord for your covering. May You deeply water all that is planted. A bumper crop of kingdom kids both the littles and the biggles.