Each year, our one month team, plans a special project to complete during the final week of their trip. We often leave this project up to our partner pastors as they know the greatest needs in their community. Examples include building a house, painting a playground or installing a water pump.
Except, this year, SURPRISE!!
Our local contact, Pastor Tito, decided that his community’s greatest need was…
THE GOSPEL for their children. He organized an impromptu VBS for 2 days and told our team about it the night before. When they asked how many children to expect, he said, “at least 90, maybe 400.”
FOUR HUNDRED!!
That might seem amazing, until you realize that two other RIM teams had already gone home, leaving only SIX team members to plan, organize and run this program. 90 kids sounded manageable, but 400 kids would be a lot to handle with just 6 team members. However, this team didn’t even break a sweat, they felt ready for whatever the Lord had in store!
Our quick-thinking team made a quick call to the RIM office in Georgia, where they provided them with a curriculum and spent an hour on a conference call training them how to run the program. Then they dashed off to the store to buy supplies, and they stayed up half the night prepping posters and crafts.
Meanwhile, RIM staff tapped into their prayer networks and asked people to pray for these two days. And hundreds of folks agreed to help – people shared their prayer posts on social media, commented with prayers, and promised to keep this team before the Lord the whole time. We’re so blessed and encouraged to see such an incredible community back home supporting those on the field!
When the VBS program began the next day, 300 KIDS showed up! These children heard the Gospel, and they responded! Our team knocked it out of the park sharing with them and praying with them. We can’t imagine a better way to have finished out this trip!