Today was the second day of VBS and it went great! We got there just in time for the herd and started singing immediately. We learned "Baby Shark" and then sat down for the first story. We did "joy" first today and talked about Paul and Silas praising God in jail. Melinda was Silas and I was Paul. We had a tiny little puppet stage and the kids could totally see us, but they loved it anyway. I think we lost our place on the script like 14 times, but they totally rolled with it. They laughed and laughed when the puppets sang "I got the joy joy joy joy..." and my mixture of a Texan-New Yorker accent gave Paul a flair that I am just not to sure the real Paul had. The kids loved it. Then we did a craft and split up into groups. We then gave them raisins to make a hapy face with on a plate and I was sorry to see that some kids thought that raisins were just as gross as I think they are, so they went without snack. (I would have too). We then taught them how to make a rainstorm with their hands and feet and used that in the story of Jesus calming the storm for peace. They had a lot of fun with that. After that, we split back up into our groups and did the other craft. We used crazy scissors and little Dora (age 3-4) in my group had quite a hard time cutting with them, but drew some really good rain. Lisone and Matthew (also in my group) had a hard time sharing, but I think we are all still friends. Then we did the parachute to talk about the rain storm. One little girl (age 3) was scared of the parachute and I can't blame her. It was over her head and 50 kids around one parachute gets a little crazy...I held her during it and she was much happier then. We watched and Ruth took our picture. I'll put that up when Ruth emails it to me. Little Rachel does not speak any English at all, but the fear and then contentment was communicated through her larger-than-life brown eyes. After all of that, we handed out their crafts for the day and let them go. Most of the kids live in the little community behind the church, so they just walked to their house, but our Tafuna kids found their parents at the church building. As we were gathering everything up, one of the older girls walked out with a new baby. The little boy, about 4-6 weeks old, was sooooo precious. His name is Gideon Luke and he is the pastor of the Nu'uUli church's new son.
This is one Samoan culture thing I can't wrap my brain around. You can ask for your sibling's kid. Cialolo, the pastor's wife, didn't have any children of her own, so they asked her pregnant sister for the baby, and the sister pretty much had to give it to her. I mean it is not polite to ask for a first born but the sense of family possessions goes all the way down to kids. For example, if Wade got married and had a couple of kids, and I got married but didn't want to get pregnant I could ask my sister-in-law for her baby and she would pretty much have to give it to me. Family is so important here. Did I mention that Cialolo's sister lives in Samoa (not American Samoa)? Well, anyways, Luke was precious and it was a lot of fun to get to hold him.
This afternoon we went back home and I got a nap. It was great. I slept for about 45 minutes and then went to the night lecture. It was interesting tonight. There was a little kitten outside crying the whole time so that was rather distracting. Then we went to Danielle's apartment with two girls that we met, Katie and Ruth, and played Harry Potter Scene It! Colleen and I dominated and won with the answer "Hermione Granger". That was fun. We ate frozen food and felt like college kids. Ruth and I have decided that she is my Samoan half and I am her palagi half. She is so funny and laughs at everything I do. Colleen and I shouldn't have been on the same team for the game, we knew we would win, but we did anyway.
I am happy to report that the use of raisins for the snack eliminated the jam hands problem for now.
Love from AmSam,
Kate
4 comments:
Those kids are so cute. I am glad I am not Samoan. I could not have given you or Wade to anyone. Happy Birthday Wade,if you see this. I am ready to see you in a week and one half.
Not me..I could have given you up in a heartbeat...in fact, I tried...not really, I'm joking. ALthough they say that in every joke is a little truth. Looking forward to seeing you in Hawaii in less than 2 weeks.
You're so cute, Kate. You make me smile. I wish I was there! It sounds like so much fun! I love playing with little kids.
And that whole baby thing doesn't sound like my cup of tea. If I had to work that hard to push that thing out, another person is not getting it ever, unless they give me something equally precious, like their arm or leg.
And I have my new camera now! Yay! Expect some great pictures on my blog in just a few days!
&hearts
Umm...Kate? I hope you don't mind me elaborating more on that baby thing since it's my family! My mother died when I was a Junior in high school. Which Left my father to look after 6 kids. As you know, two of those kids are adopted. Why? Because their parents were very very poor that can't provide them shelter! So upon grace, my parents took them in. Aside from adopted siblings, you have not yet met my foster brothers and sisters. BUT, for Luke's case, that is a different one. You see, Siulolo is not samoan she's Tongan. My father remarried and he felt really bad he can't give Siulolo any Children. So, Siulolo's sister on the other hand has 6 children and Luke will be the youngest. Samoans don't just give away their children! Childrens are like the arrows on a warriors hand. I was sort of a offended in a way but i would rather be honest right? I know there's so many things about my culture you'll never understand, but I'm here to answer them if possible.
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