Our parish just finished a wonderful week of Vacation Bible School. A curriculum was used called " A Wilderness Adventure Through The Sacraments". This is published by a group called "Cat Chat". This program and the other ones in previous years was well worth the price because it is so well put together.
One of the best things about the program was the fantastic music and choreography that went along with it to teach the children about Jesus and the Sacraments.The kids were put into classes: K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and the 4th and 5th graders were grouped together. About 115 kids participated in the program which only cost five dollars per kid for the whole week!
Each day began at 9am with an assembly of song and dance and the teaching of the day. Monday was Baptism. All the sacraments were discussed in the context of a camping trip and the things one would need to take along.
A different skit was also presented each day which was usually quite funny.
After the morning assembly, the five groups rotated through five stations. These stations were Fun and Games, Arts and Crafts, Faith, Snack, and Music.
Each activity in these stations tied into the sacrament of the day. Those were grouped as follows: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation and the next four were grouped in twos- Reconcilliation and Anointing of the Sick (the healing sacraments) and finally: Holy Orders and Matrimony ( the vocational sacraments).
It is amazing to me that this whole production was put on by only 8 adults and of those folks, two of them were only about 21. That is because the majority of the work was done by teen-agers, all 35 of them who came out in droves to help decorate and to work on a daily basis.
Our Director has very good relationships with her Teen helpers, many of whom have worked at VBS for years. The teens are required to sing and dance, in other words, to participate. No texting allowed while on duty! This picture was snapped at the beginning of the week when we were just learning the words and motions to the songs.
By the end of the week, we had All gotten pretty good at knowing All the words to All the songs which are Really fun and catchy!!! The most important thing about having this many young people help, is the fact that without a doubt, they are being catechized as much as the younger ones are!
The teens had a workroom for projects that needed to be done like putting 115 of these frames together.
My job for the week was Snack Leader. We served terrific snacks, all planned out in the curriculum book, that were fun and mostly healthy. The kids had to assemble them like the butterflies above which represented the change that occurs in us after the sacrament of reconciliation.There was a ton of food available which had been donated by parishioners according to a "wish list". I had four young ladies who were my regular helpers each day and I really loved working with them.
Because we had all the food in our station, the kitchen was a popular spot for the teens to wander through! After the VBS day was over at 12 noon, My helpers and I served a large snack to our 35 teens who stayed to discuss the day and to plan for the next day. We also prepared a drink and other goodies for their workroom each morning. Working with food and serving large "meals" was a great fit for my skill set!
After the snack, the kids in my station played a different game each day which they loved. Above is "Skunks, Bears and Campers" which is a variation of "Rock, Paper, Scissors".
In this game, the kids tossed a skein of yarn from person to person to create a "web". The web represented the interconnectedness of the love of a husband and wife in matrimony and the love, work and play that their family shares together. Likewise, the web also displays the many ways that a priest is connected to God, his church and and all the families in it. I sat right by the groups and had scissors ready in case this got crazy and folks got dangerously tangled up in the yarn.
In order for me to volunteer my time for this project, I had to enroll John , who is technically a grade above the age limit, but not yet ready to "work" it, in the class. He had a good time and met some new friends.
Meg enrolled the little guy also so that she could work at it. He not only had a blast but he was as good or better than some of the kids!
At the closing assembly each day , a Bible verse was recited and a Saint or two was introduced. St. John Vianney represented Holy Orders and St. Gianna Mollo was the saint for Matrimony.
On Friday, the kids sang one song that they had been practicing at the 8:30 Mass. For a short while, I stayed downstairs to prepare my snack until I realized the irony of missing Mass "to work" on the feast of St. Martha and I went right up to it!
The parents all arrived back on Friday at noon to watch their children perform one different song per class, of the 6 or 7 they learned. The performances were great and cute to watch. The lyrics of the songs weren't cheesy at all but profoundly spiritual and the music was excellent. I found many of them beautifully moving
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An anonymous donor had a catered lunch of Chicken Alfredo and Pizza brought in on Thursday for the volunteers during our "wrap up" meeting.We took this picture then.
I enjoyed this experience so much, volunteering about 15 hours the first week and 30 the next. I got up early each day to pray before going in. It was super important to be a good Christian and to treat people the way I would like to be treated, with respect. I knew that I would need God's help to be consistent with that and I felt good about how all of that turned out. None of these teens were being paid to give up a week of their summer, it was all volunteer work. I really enjoyed forming working relationships with them and admired what they brought to the experience. I also enjoyed the young children and wanted to be a role model of faith for them.
After a covered dish lunch for all the kids and their parents, the church having provided BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs, all the workers cleaned up.Decorations were stored to be recycled next year.We were completely finished by 4 pm, at which time I took my family home, exhausted, but joyfully grateful for such a fulfilling week.
I LOVED everything about this week, especially getting to know by name so many of the youth of our parish, both teens and youngsters. My Faith was definitely strengthened and I hope that all of theirs was, too. Each child received a copy of the CD (bought from the curriculum provider) of all the music. Our kids have been playing it frequently in the days since, and are doing all the dances and hand motions along with it. I plan to participate again next year, God Willing!
