04 August 2007

"It's a Jungle Out There!" :: VBS 2007 - Part II

This time it's not VBS 2007 anymore.

VBS is done and what a week it was. I just have to tell the story because it thrills me so much!

It was mostly our (Shannon & I and Dad & Mom McMillen) responsibility to plan for VBS. The program that we chose allowed all of the children to stay upstairs all the time. I told several people that I was expecting 13 kids total. We have 6 or 7 kids each week in Jr. Church (which Shannon and I teach); I figured that doubling that number would be great, and I wasn't alone in my opinion. So we ordered 24 kid "jungle" hats and 12 adult "jungle" hats. My faith is so small.
Last Sunday morning, Pastor (my father in law) announced that he was praying for 30 kids to come to VBS. Monday night came and we had 27 kids! Uh, oh! I didn't plan for that many kids!
We made some changes for Tuesday and assumed that the number of kids would go down; we're realists after all. (Just kidding, I guess that I just didn't believe that God would really work.) Tuesday night, somewhere between 34 and 37 kids showed up - some of the leaders can't count and we never did find out which ones. :) Wednesday was our "down" night - only 24 or 25 kids. Thursday - 36 kids and Friday we had an astronomical 43 kids! That's more than we have in church on some Sunday nights!!!
What's more; we had an offering contest for Bearing Precious Seed in Appleton. Jim Hoffman, the director of BPS, was coming on Friday night to talk to the kids; so we were telling the kids that their money was going toward printing Bibles. They really got into the contest and brought $213! That's incredible!
O ye of little faith! (Matthew 14: 25-33)
We are so excited at the possibilities of ministering to all of the families. Every night the kids heard a clear presentation of the Gospel; and for the kids that didn't have a Bible, we gave them a "John & Romans" to take home.

Anyway, this coming week Shannon and I are helping a missionary couple prepare a video presentation, PowerPoint presentation, display board, and possibly website of their work; but I do plan on taking photos.

And, yes, this is a "photography" blog, but I figured that you can read about my awesome God as well as look at photos of His creation. :)
Speaking of which - this is a spider that I "shot" tonight on the way home from Merrill.


2 comments:

Janelle said...

LOVE the story, the picture, not so much (even though you do a great job at capturing the true colors and details of the discusting creature). Sounds like VBS was wonderful! You should know to ALWAYS plan for WAY more than you could ever dream of, that way you'll always be prepared! Isn't God great!

Leann said...

love the story to.and the spider is a garden spider.they eat on wanted pest,s.
so if ya see one leave him where he is. he works, better then spray.
my daughter who is none to fond of the 8 legged guy,s.was busy in her flower garden one day.
all at once I heard a"MOOOOOM!!!!and I knew she had either seen a really cool flower or a spider was by her.sure enough she was
a long way from the flowers she had just started weeding.
I said whats going on?
she said I just found the Daddy of all spider,s and she pointed to it.
I looked and here was the biggest one I had seen.
she said please smash it.I said I will not.he eats bad bug,s.just leave him alone and he will leave you alone,be sides your too big for him to eat...

she giggled as she moved way away from him,being sure to watch she didnt get to close.

about expressions

I enjoy photography; the beauty, the art, the expression, the memories. It helps me relax and reflect on what's important.

All of the images shown are unedited (except where noted) and are available upon request (joshualsmith at mac dot com for information).

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Joshua, Shannon & Cynthia