First day of VBS complete!

Hola a todos!

Your friendly local photojournalist Megan reporting from the stunningly beautiful, sunny area of Huixquilucan. 

Travel yesterday could not have gone better. Everything went without a hitch, from the flights to the short lineups in the airpot — and by the time we got to the luggage carousel at the Mexico City airport, all our bags were waiting for us.

Terry was not kidding about the house. It is, by far, the biggest house the M3 team has ever stayed in. Our main team room and eating room is literally a giant ballroom. It is incredible! There is plenty of sleeping room for the girls, as we have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the guys have their own bedroom and bathroom in a completely separate area altogether.

I think most of us turned our lights off around 2 this morning, and the 7 o’clock wakeup call wasn’t easy, but we were treated to an amazing sunrise over the breathtaking green hills and mountains after we woke up. After a breakfast of cereal, Pastor Jaime and his son Oscar drove us, in three separate groups, to the church, approximately 15 minutes away. 

Getting into Mexico so late and having VBS start less than 12 hours of our arrival was more difficult than previous years, but we managed to work out a few kinks early on into the day.

We started out with 12 kids and ended the day with 17. The day’s activities included teaching the kids songs — complete with actions — as well as crafts, games and a break for snacks. Throughout the morning, the kids gradually warmed up to us, and seemed pretty into the songs as well. Today’s story was about Jesus’ baptism, and we introduced them to the verse of the week, which is 1 Peter 3:15. 

After a delicious lunch of pasta, chicken, cooked broccoli and carrots, tortillas and tuna (a fruit from a cactus) back at the house, we enjoyed an hour and a half of quiet time (aka siesta — many naps were had this afternoon!). 

Mostly woken up, we had a team meeting to debrief the first day of VBS, and did various preparation for games, the drama and snack. Tomorrow’s day will focus on the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand and Him calming the storm. So, prayer for the kids who are beginning to come to the VBS would be much appreciated. From our understanding, the majority of the kids attending the VBS are not a part of the church at all, so prayers that what we are teaching them will resonate with them would be great. After VBS today, we went on a walk to deliver some flyers for advertising, so pray that people would seriously consider sending their kids! 

Additionally, please pray for health for the team, as there is a sore throat going around. Prayers for sleep as well would be appreciated — the nights can be loud with dogs barking, and there is a (not so) lovely chorus of roosters in the morning, and we’re already running on little sleep after our late arrival.

Thank you so much for reading, and please do comment on the blog, as we will be reading the comments out to the students and leaders. As we don’t have wi-fi, I am using Terry’s phone plan, so I really hope to be able to post, at the very least, blog posts throughout the week until we’re back at Monte Sion church on Friday. After that, I hope to include more photos!