I could not believe it was already the last day of VBS. It felt like just yesterday we were meeting all of the kids for the first time. I was exhausted when woke up, but by the time we got to the church to begin our own worship time, I felt somehow rejuvenated. We did something new that morning in worship. Instead of just singing songs as a group, we sang a couple songs continuously while John walked around to each of us and held our head in his hands and prayed over us. Watching everyone as they were being prayed for really made me feel like John and Rene not only cared for us because they have been leading the college ministry for so many years, but that they love us as they would their own children. That was a very special time for me.
I felt like the last day of VBS was a great success. Even though most of us were quite exhausted from the week’s work, we pulled together as a group and showed the kids God’s love to our fullest extent. At the end of VBS, we invited a few of the older kids to eat sandwiches with us. We had a fun time just joking around with them as well as each other. We then went back to the campsite to hang out and snorkel until dinner. I went snorkeling out to the little island just off of the beach of our campsite with Holly and Doug. It was really fun, but on the way back we decided to race to shore. I began to pull out in front of them, or so I thought. I was feeling really good about myself until I came up from the water to see where I was in regards to the shore and saw that the waves that day had caused me to drift far to the left and I was neither in the lead nor anywhere near the shore! Panic-stricken, I began to swim back to the right towards the shore, but after about a minute, my legs cramped up because I had been swimming my fastest the whole time. I got really scared because I was still in the deep part where I couldn’t touch and I didn’t seem to have enough energy to get back. In an effort to stay afloat as I felt myself sinking, I kicked off my flippers because I couldn’t kick anymore and I felt that they were weighing me down. Then, in a last minute effort to paddle with my arms and float the rest of the way back to shore, I prayed. Somehow I got back to shore where I just kind of collapsed in the shallow water. Of course, it didn’t seem right that I my flippers weren’t on. Holly and Doug had been back to shore for awhile, but they couldn’t see me when I was having trouble. When I got back to shore, they offered to go look for my flippers, but they were nowhere to be found. It was okay though, I was just happy to be back. Lesson learned: constantly be checking the direction you’re swimming on days when there are waves.
Tonight we had the pleasure of going to the house of some of the kids we had at VBS this week for dinner. The kids’ names were Jessica and Christian and they were in the younger group of kids. We had a great time eating with them and just fellowshipping with each other and the other adults there. After we ate, the kids invited us to go swimming with them in their pool and as soon as we got in, the kids all cannon-balled in as well. The guys in our group took turns throwing the kids high into the air which they absolutely loved. At one point, the dog jumped in and began swimming around and coming up behind people and scaring them. I’m so glad we had that time to just hang out with the kids a little bit more before heading home. It was a great way to end the day.
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