VBS - Where it all began!

This week of VBS is such an important week of ministry as it is the primary evangelistic event of the year. Not only do we reach out to our "regulars", but we reach even further into the community with flyers in the the local food ministry boxes, with Belk Farm employees and door to door contact in many of the local trailer parks and apartments. This year we "dived into" looking deeper at our friendship with God through SCUBA! Our time together always includes worship with lots of hand motions and getting the kids engaged, Bible lessons, memorizing scripture, crafts, games, and of course snacks. It’s a fun-filled week where we invite and transport kids from the surrounding areas of Mecca, Oasis, Thermal and Coachella.

Once again we were blessed with plenty of volunteers (we can't do this without all of you!) who came to help share and show the love of Jesus to over 100 elementary kids and over 40 Jr. High kids. While the elementary kids meet inside the cooler at the Belk Farms office, this year the Jr. Highers had their own special space at the clubhouse and soccer fields. This is normally a very hot time of year and we are blessed by the inside use of the cooling space; air conditioning in the clubhouse and a soccer field perfect for lots of water activity.

A special moment came this year when our Children's Director had an opportunity to walk through

one of the day's lesson on Forgiveness with two of the elementary boys who were having a

difficult time with one another. They were friends, but had had a misunderstanding that left

one in tears and the other clueless. With her help, she walked them through the Bible lesson

they had just heard, prayed with both independently and by the end of the day not only had

they forgiven one another and come to understand how important friendship is with one

another, but also how it related to their relationship with Jesus.

We were also blessed to have many "former" Tesoro kids, now young adults coming back to help as small group leaders; as well as receiving many donations that helped curb costs and allowed us to concentrate on ministry to the kids. We knew and felt the many prayers that were prayed for this week and we can give full testimony and glory to God for all His answers!

We hope you enjoy taking a look at our pictures and video to give you an even better perspective and idea of what this SCUBA week was all about.