Anointing Alaska

66 Kids
Biggest day so far, not just for 2010, but 2007, 2008, 2009, no days have hit 66 kids. So though that is a blessing, it is a lot of kids in the small amount of room we have. We are in Gulkana Church which is not big. Upstairs is the sanctuary and there is an expectation of respect for the sanctuary, so we can not do crafts or games up there. We do the lesson, sing, do magic, and have a lot of fun up there, but we have to be careful not to cross the line and become disrespectful to the “Lords House”. I don’t know if this is a denominational belief or traditional belief, because I don’t think there is any chapter or verse within the bible that would forbid us from playing games up there, however, it isn’t our church which is why it is important for us to respect the traditions of the church.
The basic format of our day is as follows:
Downstairs
> Check in
> Coloring
> Food
Upstairs
> Music
> Lesson
Downstairs
> Craft
Outside
> Games
Upstairs
> Recap
> Magic
> Prayer
Done
- we go from 12 to 3:30, though kids have been arriving even earlier, like 11:40am.
The downstairs area has a kitchen area in it, a serving area, and so we set up four rows (2 six foot tables in each) and we can seat 14 kids per table. Four rows gives you seating for 56. So to find room for the other 10 kids required us to tear down one of the serving tables, and well, we had kids everywhere.

A lot of kids to handle and it gets noisy in that little space.

But Thursday is a special day in our VBS. We informally did this three years ago, and then last year formalized it – and you can read about how it went last year in this blog entry:
http://anointingalaska.missionsplace.com/2009/07/17/thursday-day-7-blog-from-ryan/
This year was really cool as well. First of all, I was sick last year and so I didn’t make it. Secondly, Sherri decided not to do the “Loved and Chosen” so I think having someone different do it was a great idea. Who? Well God did it. Let me explain.

Sherri does a great job assigning us characters to “play” throughout the week to help in her lesson. And one of the team members, Jim, was assigned “God” this year. Jim has never been to Alaska before and not only that it was his first mission trip. When (during our prep meetings back in the lower 48) Jim was told he was going to be God, he was stressed and probably not thrilled with Sherri. But he shared in our devotion time how much of a blessing it had been and now today it was he who was to sit in the front of the room and as each childs name was called, he would have them walk up to him, he would have them look in his eyes, and he could share with them that God loves them and that they are precious, loved and chosen, and that he, Jim, was sent to tell them that. He, Jim, could see those kids answer that they knew and understood that, or explain if they didn’t. He, Jim, could see those kids faces inches from his light up as he shared that news. He, Jim, could see those smiles. It was a personal time for Jim that most other team members were unable to have. I saw some of it. Right before we began, Jim handed me his camera and I was right there in front taking pictures. I couldn’t not hear, but I saw the faces. I took pictures as each child hugged this big jolly man. Often for me it was hard to maintain my composure, as I felt moved for the kids, moved for Jim, and simply felt it was a special time.
Though I have all my pictures to still post, let me at least post an example of this day: