Hong Kong 2011 (Day 4)

Hey Everyone!

I hope that everything is treating you well. There is a lot to talk about today because it was our first day of VBS and we also visited a daoist temple. I'm going to start with VBS.

It is always stressful the first day of VBS. You have the kids you know already registered, but then you have kids that come who didn't register. You are in your classroom trying to get last minute things done, make sure everyone has everything they need, and you are meeting the kids for the first time and trying to get them not only in the right place but also get them excited about this week. I don't know if God just gave me extra adrenaline this morning, but I remember having more energy than I have had in the last couple of days! Like I said before, we had only 10 officially registered on our list. I told Courtney that I felt that we would at least have 15 and Deejah (our other co-teacher) said she prepared for twenty. What happened was my group (the preteens) got 17 kids! It was wonderful and I actually know several of them from previous years. So we got to the worship time and they LOVED the opening theme song. They were dancing and having a great time. Then we went to class. They were all engaged, listened pretty well, and were open to try new things. Let's just pray this continues throughout this week! Overall we ended up having 93 kids at VBS today! We may even have more near the end of the week. The main issues are that we are having some really big classes and more helpers are needed. We also had to adjust our schedule so that all the kids can do all the rotations. It's crazy, but we are also very thankful that we get to be with all these kids! Pray for strength and that we may be able to show them we love and care about them while telling them about the Bible.

The second thing we did today was go to a Daoist temple. Courtney, Zach and I went to this temple two years ago so you can probably find me talking about this in a post from 2009. They have done several renevations now and in the open square, they have mats and incense where you see a large amount of people casting lots and praying to their Gods. There are several Gods all around the place and they go to the one that they believe answers them the best. From what I can tell, there isn't very much loyalty. It's very complicated, and unfortunately I can't cover it in the amount of time I have on this internet connection.

Right now we are on our break about to go to dinner. Everyone feels very hot, but it doesn't seem like Jet Lag has really hit anyone hard yet. I'm tired myself, but I am refusing to take a nap because I think I would be set.

Have a great rest of the day!