As the children sang at the tops of their lungs and the wind carried their voices throughout our neighborhood, more and more kids poured into our hut. It was the beginning of the first week of our Vacation Bible School.

Last summer, we had the privilege of having our friend Heike from Germany here for a month of vacation. She is an elementary school teacher and brought with her a wealth of material and ideas for crafts, games, music and sports. She also had a genuine love for the children that surround us and immediately bonded with them. She played and laughed with them, overcoming the language barrier in no time.

The VBS topic was God wants to be close to us. Starting with creation, we showed how at the beginning everything was beautiful and perfect, and man lived in harmony and peace with God, our best friend. We showed how Satan brought sin into the world and destroyed the perfect harmony. Man and God were separated, and both were very sad. Then Jesus came and, through His death on the cross, re-opened the door to harmony with God. In Him, we are safe like chicks under the wings of their mother hen. With a modern version of the story of the prodigal son, we illustrated how God waits for us with open arms, longing for us to come back to Him. We ended the school week with a view into the future, when Jesus will come back to take us home where perfect harmony and communion with God will finally be restored.

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Every day started with singing. And, boy, those kids likes to sing! I wish I could add an audio sample to this article. Then we told the Bible story and/or a contemporary story illustrating biblical truth. After that, we had a break to feed them breakfast. Most of the children don’t get to eat breakfast in their homes, so they become rather grumpy around 10 a.m. Then there was time for crafts or drama to deepen the day’s lesson. We tie-dyed T-shirts, colored pictures, made lanterns out of old tin cans, made cookies and much more. After breaking for lunch and a rest during the midday heat, we would reconvene on the playground of the nearby orphanage for games and sports.

The week was capped off with a big party. The children sang all the songs they had learned during the week, and they presented skits they had prepared themselves. Everyone ate popcorn and the cookies we had made together the day before. All the kids were sad that the week was over.

The second week, we did the same program at the Natitingou Church. There the group dynamic was a little different since we had a number of smaller children, but the older brothers and sisters patiently helped them with the crafts and made sure nobody was left out when we played games. It was beautiful to see how they took care of each other. The highlight of the week came when we presented songs, crafts and drama during Sabbath church services.

Besides the fact that we all had a lot of fun, we were truly blessed to see God at work during the VBS and afterwards. During the first week, many children from the nearby orphanage attended our program. One girl, Doris, about 13 years old, only came the first day because she was hungry and knew there would be food. The whole day, she hid in corners or behind chairs. I don’t know if she had a history of abuse, but she definitely was scared of people and had difficulty expressing herself. However, she liked the program and slowly started opening up and participating. We made sure she was not left out when she felt comfortable joining in, and we didn’t allow anybody to make fun of her. At the end of the week, she was singing in the middle of the crowd. At the end of summer vacation, she was able to resume school.

Another example was Souradjou, a boy of about 10 years. He arrived at the orphanage just a few weeks before our program. At the beginning, we constantly had to send him away because he would break all the rules. He stole, dug through our garbage and was rude to other kids. But over the course of the week and after the VBS, his behavior gradually changed. Today he is respectful, obedient and a fun kid to have around.

We saw changes in the behavior of many children from various backgrounds. At the beginning of the week there was a lot of hitting and fighting, but by Friday the children were gentle, getting along well and helping each other. A father whose four children attended came and thanked us for the program, saying he saw a true difference in his children.

At the end of the second week, we were exhausted but happy. We were very eager for the beginning of the Sabbath, and God welcomed us with open arms into His Holy Day. From our back porch we could see a beautiful rainbow, and from the front porch a wonderful sunset. What a special way to finish a long two weeks filled with blessings!

Everyone thanks you, Heike, for giving of your time, your money and yourself to touch so many lives.

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