Emily On The Go: Arrg, Matey, Where Be the Treasure?

That was the big question last week as we did a VBS with the children at church. The theme was Treasure Island and our lessons were centered around treasure that we find in the Bible and in our relationship with God. We had three locations with simultaneous VBS sessions going on. It was pretty incredible and very exhausting.

The photo above is the whole Ukraine team...yes, I'm part of the Ukraine team (interesting). Everyone is there, from the director to the sound tech to the kitchen helpers and the musicians.

I was with the group that met at the church, and we had around 100 children show up each day. We were divided into 10 groups by age and I was assisting my friend Lilia with a group of thirteen 11-year-olds. We were about half boys and girls, which I thought could be very challenging, but they were a fun, energetic (they liked to participate), and were starving for attention. So we tried to give them some.
These photos are of my small group; we got to know each other really well! Above, our group leader, Lilia is giving the Bible lesson. Below the group is lined up (from the back): Igor, Sofa, Jenya, Dima, Dasha, Nastia, Nastia, Marina, Anton, Dennis, and Julia.
Our VBS was six hours long—yes, 6 hours, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. We had a big group meeting time when they first arrived, then we split off into our small groups to have the lesson time. We then did games, had a small snack, crafts, more small group time, and a closing assembly. It’s still amazing to me that we kept them busy that long. When they left for the day, everyone, including the kids were super tired. Bobbing for apples...so funny to watch! And below is the infamous balloon toss.
Yes, they asked us to dump buckets of water on them...they love it.
The VBS was especially interesting, since it was a joint venture between the Ukrainian believers at the church and a short-term team that came from the States for two weeks. We were blessed to have translators with us most of the time, and they made the whole week possible.
The American team is leading "My God is So Big" in both Russian and English.

This is Sasha, one of our amazing interpreters--we really enjoyed getting to know each other.

One of the greatest treasures of the week were the friendships we were able to establish. I met some wonderful children, that captured my heart right away. But I also met two wonderful Ukrainians that week and was blessed with their friendship. I hope that God continues to allow me to learn from my precious new Ukrainian sisters.

This is Anya, one of the other VBS workers...so sweet!

And this is Sofa, one of the girls in my group. Her sweet smile says it all.

We also had lots of people praying for the health and communication issues that would arise, and I believe those prayers were answered. We were not sure how this was going to turn out, but I believe the kids had fun, they heard the gospel, and the Ukrainian and American leadership teams were blessed by each other.