Ephesians 6:6-8, “Work hard, but not just to please your masters when they are watching. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.” (NLT) This was our verse from morning devotion that we took to heart and mind as we went into our second day (Wednesday) of VBS. We are working for the Lord—not for people, or ourselves, but for the Lord.
We took Christ’s love to the streets on Wednesday doing some street evangelism. We met many wonderful people who we were blessed to see again when they brought their children and grandchildren to VBS in the afternoon and again to the barbecue on the front lawn of the church. We experienced the wonders of God yesterday as we watched as more and more children piled in for VBS – ranging in ages 3-17. We more than doubled our numbers from the first day as we counted 32 children for Wednesday’s program. We also had a young girl named Gorjeous ask Jesus into her heart Wednesday afternoon after the program. Praise God!!
We met a wonderful woman named Dorothy who has taken her six grandchildren into her home to care for. She has an amazing testimony of God’s love and miracles. Dorothy loves God with all her heart and struggles to make ends meet to feed her grandchildren.
At the front-lawn barbecue, we met many people as the church blessed us with a wonderful meal. After the meal, all came inside the church and we shared our VBS songs and then Hannah led us in a worship time. We sang five songs and read Scripture that we felt pertained to the songs. One woman came up and blessed and thanked us, but frankly, we are blessed by being able to serve these wonderful people. Now we believe that the Lord is tangibly calling us to touch Rochester. We are buying groceries, paying phone bills, going into homes and laying hands of healing prayer. We are interceding on behalf of the city of Rochester—praying that they become a city of light rather than a city of darkness.
James 1:22-25, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does." This was our verse going into Thursday. No matter what trials we come across, we try to remember what God's Word tells us and take it to heart and mind, not forgetting it the minute we walk away.
As we did Tuesday, here are some quotes to provide an inside look at our group on the trip:
Vero: It’s 11:30 – not even midnight—and these two (Raven and Jacquie) are already passed out. They made us go in the bathroom for us to have a good time.
Jacquie: We’re old!
Hannah Sr: Anna, you’re such a blessing
Anna: Thanks you too Hannah Sr
: I love you too
Brunelly: Mom, that’s not what she said
Hannah Sr: What’d she say?
Brunelly: She said “you too”
Hannah Sr: ……Awkward….
Raven: (to Jacquie): You know way too much about miniscule things.
Richard: I’ve been kidnapped by the powerpuff girls!
Brunelly: (to Jacquie about the drum craft) I think I officially hate you for making this craft
Hannah: (sarcastically) I love when cars have spoilers…and old ladies?! WHAT?!?! Hahaha that’s crazy!
Laila: wrong side of the road Jacquie…over here
Jacquie: hah oops
Richard: Stop scarring me for life!!