3rd Day VBS

Today was our third day of VBS and our lesson for today was David & Goliath as part of our continuous theme of God's faithfulness. As usual we played games with them and gave English lessons. We have more younger kids this year when compared to past years so we're gearing all of our activities and games to a younger crowd. This may be due to the fact that a lot of the elementary schools are doing summer swim programs right now.

The kids show up around 9:30am when VBS starts. A good majority of them are accompanied by their mothers because they're so young. This is good as it gives the moms opportunities to practice their English along with seeing the ministries the church offeries. We do songs and games from 9:30-10. We've been singing songs like "Father Abraham", "If You're Happy and You Know It", "ABC's", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and a few others. All are geared toward teaching the kids basic words in English. Then from 10-10:30 we do English lessons with the kids. I have the largest class with about 6-8 little ones each day in addition to 4-5 mothers. Albert has about 2-3 kiddos, Isaiah 1-2 and Tony none. Tony's been really busy prepping the snacks/lunches, and an upcoming cake baking class this weekend for church members. 10:30-11 is snack time along with a Bible story. The Bible story time is where we (usually Isaiah) gives a brief description of a Bible story that reveals God's faithfulness. So far we've done Noah's Ark, Daniel in the Lion's Den and David and Goliath. Then from 11-11:30 we have craft time. Check out the attached pictures to see what the kiddos are working on.

Today during snack/craft time Tony prepared Red Velvet cupcakes for all the kids, moms and workers. Everyone LOVED the cupcakes and he went around to each table with sprinkles so the kids good decorate their own. Tony's creativity has been a great hit with the kids and moms. Tomorrow he's going to start baking cakes for his Saturday class along with beginning to make preparations for our American Lunch we're going to do for the kids on Friday (hot dogs, coleslaw and chips).

All four of us have had a great time teaching and sharing with these kids and their moms. It's neat to see how God worked it out this year to have more little kids than usual, but it seems to be working well. I've been using a puppet Giraffe whom I've named "G-san" G because of the first letter of Giraffe and "san" because that's how people are referred to when called by name. The kids love him as I teach them the Alphabet, Colors and numbers.

Please pray for us as we realize time is beginning to catch up with us and there's a lot we want to do. Many people from the church would like to have us over for dinner or to just hang out but our evenings and days are filling up fast between VBS prep and English lessons as well. Pray for Tony as he's basically got to do baking from Thurs-Sat to prep for his cake class. The church's new oven is really nice but it's tiny (about the size of two toaster oven stacked on top of one another) and all the buttons are in Japanese! I think he's getting the hang of it though.

Also pray for Albert as he leaves on Friday night to visit his Aunt in Northern Japan who has a Watermelon farm. He's going to spend time with her and work with her at the farm from Friday until about 8/13 when he returns with Isaiah. Pray for Isaiah as he has lots of Enligsh lessons scheduled over the next few days (so much so that I'll be taking a couple for him as well). Tony, Albert and I have decided that the students probably like Isaiah because he's always got so much to say which makes him a good nativce speaker to listen too. ;-)

Thanks again everyone for your prayers. Hope you enjoy the pictures! It's time for bed so I'll say "oyasuminasai" (good night)

-Frank