The Good News: It was Faith, Fun, & Turtles at Memorial's VBS!

Learning about sea turtles and how to keep them safe during one of the science lessons.

Wow! What a fun week we had at Camp Memorial VBS! Thirty-nine volunteers dedicated their time and talents to hosting another successful Vacation Bible School.

Making their own turtles in crafts.

Of those 39 volunteers, 13 were youth! (So roughly 30% of those volunteers were youth who chose to help out at church while they were home for summer break!) And 81 campers from ages pre-kindergarten to 4th grade attended.

A group playing "Gaga ball" in Maxwell Hall.

Hearing a Bible lesson in the Sanctuary.

Memorial's 5-day "Camp Chaos" VBS focused on five of the Gospels’ most chaotic stories and taught kids how Jesus is our peace in an often chaotic world.

Campers learned about how Jesus is a firm foundation during storms (Matthew 7:24), about Jesus feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21), Jesus softening hearts while saving a woman from stoning (1 John 1:9), Jesus calming the waters during the storm (Phil. 4:7), and how Jesus handled a crowd of chaos while healing a young girl (Mark 5:21-43).

Craft time!

Along with these Bible lessons the campers enjoyed activities and games, were refueled by health snacks, learned songs like "Peace Like a River" and made crafts like binoculars and hand fans to support the messages of the stories. Many of the supplies used for the crafts were recycled items donated by the church family which showed children how reusing and repurposing items can help protect God's creation.

Perhaps the section most enjoyed by the leaders and the campers this year (and most every year) was the science portion! Campers were treated to a talk on seas turtle and learned how volunteers are helping to keep sea turtle nests safe on our local beaches. They kids made tornadoes in bottles and learned about storm safety. A visit from representatives of the Rayonier corporation helped the kids learn about local wildlife and maintaining health forests. The campers also got to learn all about our call as Christians to creation care.

A group learning about forests and wildlife.

Campers also raised money each day by bringing in change! In what they called the "Coin War for Creation Care" the boys and the girls worked to see which group could bring in the most change! Together the boys and girls brought in over $430 for creation care, with the girls bringing in the most coins.

Wonderful weeks of transformative learning like VBS are only possibly through the monetary gifts given by the church family to Memorial and the dedicated volunteers who worked each day. Often, VBS is the first and only expression of the Grace of God and the example of Christ that a child has. Thank you for helping to make this week possible Memorial! Because of you, 81 campers lived into the message that Christ is a beacon of peace in a chaotic world and learned how they can make a difference to protect creation!