Day 4 - 7/3/17 - God Qualifies the Called (First Day of VBS!!)

"And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

Romans 8:30

This morning, I woke up feeling refreshed after a peaceful night's rest, extremely excited for the first day of VBS. But not long after, Edward turned to me, expressing great discomfort with what he later self-diagnosed as "traveler's diarrhea." As Edward was assigned to teach the first day's American culture lesson, it was such a blessing from God to see a quick recovery leading up to his lesson.

Kevin, an amazing, lively local youth, kicked off the VBS with a fun game time, where the kids had to run around the room to complete a scavenger hunt of tasks, requiring anything from telling a counselor 5 sentences about themselves to playing rock-paper-scissors and winning against a fellow camper. It was a struggle at first getting the kids to interact with us and each other, since most were naturally shy to begin with, but they opened up throughout the day, becoming more and more comfortable around us.

Kevin in the middle and Willie on the left

Worship time, led by Albert, consisted of all the energetic and fun songs we practiced over the previous few days. While all the counselors were having a blast singing and dancing up on the stage and in the back, none of the kids were having nearly as much fun. After the first few songs, Emily suggested Edward and I join the kids in the middle in hopes of spurring them past their shyness. For most of the younger kids, it helped a lot! But a lot of the middle schoolers were still too uncomfortable to follow along. Hopefully throughout the week, they'll be more open to participate.

Singing Josh's Favorite Song, "Sūxǐng"

Edward and Josh Hyping up the Kids

The American culture lesson went very smoothly as Edward displayed his great talent for working with kids and keeping them engaged in even the driest of topics, American History.

During the English lesson time, we split up into our five groups (Boston - Jeremy; Chicago - Katherine; New York - Josh; Philadelphia - Edward; San Francisco - Emily).

 Boston - Jeremy

 Chicago - Katherine

 Philadelphia - Edward

 San Francisco - Emily

New York City!!! - Josh

We prepared a few activities for the kids, including assembling a timeline of American events and charades. We originally planned to have individual conversations with our kids, so I took three boys (Rex, Ian, and Bruce) to the side, but we had trouble getting a conversation going. There were lots of awkward pauses while I tried to come up with things to talk about, but even Ian pointed out that the language barrier made it too difficult to even have simple conversation with each other. After returning to the groups, I again struggled with communication in helping the kids with their timelines.

Bruce (left), Ian (middle), Rex (left)

At this point, I felt somewhat hopeless, at a loss for my purpose among this team of nearly fluent Chinese speaking, more-than-qualified English teachers. I wasn't sure how I fit in or even contributed to the camp. During lunch, Edward and Jeremy comforted me in this time of uncertainty, praying over me and showing so much love to me. People began to notice, graciously offering their generous support and displaying such caring hearts. Surrounded by so many amazing brothers and sisters--Hwa-Chi, Shelly, Kevin, Josh, Edward, and Jeremy-- I was encouraged and moved by their serving hearts. I was overflowing with joy to hear that later, while we were all eating lunch, Jeremy found a quiet place upstairs, going out of his way to pray for the camp all by himself. During lunch, Emily shared the verse at the start of this blog with me, encouraging me with God's word. As Romans 8:30 says, God justifies the called. I've learned that God doesn't call the qualified, but rather qualifies His called. I'm so thankful for every single person in this family that shows me more and more of what it means to serve by going above and beyond their duties. Through their words of wisdom & encouragement and testimonies of faith, I feel newfound confidence in my purpose on this trip. My gratefulness goes out to all of you guys, more than I can express through words. Thank you!!!

Shelly, the English teacher we met yesterday, was a true blessing to the VBS today. Throughout the whole day, she went out of her way to seek out the needs of anyone she could, from counselor to camper. After praying over me and giving me so much advice, she quickly disappeared and made herself useful elsewhere. She told me about a boy named Mark, who was in dire need of love and support. After losing his mother two years back and facing hardships with constant bullying in school, he's experienced more suffering than most. Shelly spent so much time praying over him and just showing him what it means to be loved, a great testimony to Christian service.

I spent the rest of nap time asking God to glorify Himself by using me despite my lack of fluency in Chinese. If God's work could be done through me, how great of a testimony would it be to show how much God truly does single-handedly accomplish through missions with His own power alone. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, God couldn't have answered my prayers any more clearly than He did. It became easy, almost natural, to speak and connect with the kids in my group. Only God could have been behind such a drastic shift, from feeling lost and useless to finding joy and purpose.

During the activities time, the kids enjoyed a magic show and got to learn a few tricks for themselves, most notably sticking a pen through a piece of paper and pulling it out without making a hole. The kids all enjoyed our time of English worship, where we sang the verse song John 3:16, as well as Deep Down, which we also sang last year.

Josh Teaching John 3:16

Lastly, Hwa-Chi delivered a very strong message about Zacchaeus, even speaking in English for the most part to enforce learning it. Throughout the story time, most of the New York kids were being respectful and quiet, but I noticed that Minnie was being extra attentive. Minnie goes to an international school in China, so her English was pretty good, so I was able to have a deeper conversation with her. I asked her if she enjoyed the message, and she told me she loves hearing stories and that she even heard the story about Jesus on the cross a few years ago. She asked me why Zacchaeus immediately and drastically changed just by seeing Jesus. I had the perfect opportunity to explain how believing in Jesus allows you to see your sin and turn away from it completely, changing the bad to good. She seems very open to the gospel message, and I hope she comes to know Jesus by the end of this week. Edward also translated the Zacchaeus story to a boy named Kevin, who is also very interested in Jesus, so please keep both of these children in your prayers!

At the end of the VBS, we bonded with the kids some more, playing games and reconnecting with so many familiar faces, like Jeff, Eva, Ryan, Annie, and Dora. Finally, our day came to an end, sharing dinner with the youth at a place we ate at last year.

 Jeff from last year's VBS

Playing Red Light Green Light 

Prayer Thanks!

- Shelly's amazing dedication and service to the entire camp

- God's power seen through overcoming the language barrier

- An amazing team of dedicated brothers and sisters with serving hearts

- Strength and energy to get through the day

- Edward's quick recovery in health

Prayer Requests:

- For Kevin to experience God's saving grace

- For Minnie to learn the significance of the gospel message and find saving grace

- For God to give Jeremy and Albert courage to teach their lessons and to calm their nervousness

- For hearts and minds solely focused on God
- For our team's health (especially Emily and Edward)