My students expressed surprise and a little nervousness when I clarified today that we will be performing skits for adults, not for children--the kids will be in VBS during the evangelistic series--but they quickly warmed up to the idea. Our skits are designed to be a short introduction to the sermon topic for each meeting. We discussed the importance of the dramas: they prepare the audience for the topic and give a visual reminder of the message. I emphasized that, although there are some light moments in the skits that will bring a laugh, we are not trying to simply entertain and won´t be using goofy or slapstick comedy.
We will perform several skits that we used for our Cuba 2017 mission trip, but there were a couple sermon topic differences this year and, honestly, two of our skits last year fell a bit flat and needed to be replaced. I have had very little luck finding appropriate dramas from online resources, so I have had to write almost all of them. However, I faced a real writer´s block for one of the topics this year. I prayed and prayed for some inspiration, and was getting a little concerned, but yesterday I got an idea that I think will be a great introduction to the sermon about the new heaven and earth that God has promised to make. I will let you know how that goes in Cuba!
Then it was time to work on VBS. Jacob brought his guitar and he and Gam led us in practicing our theme song (Todas las promesas AKA Standing on the Promises of God) and some choruses. Morgan (with help from Mom--thanks!) got together some great crafts and Keeley has planned some fun games. Damaris looked over the pictures that will guide her in telling the Bible story each night and Josh brought the new cover he drew for the VBS workbook, which he and I wrote 2 years ago. PAA´s administrative assistant has offered to copy the 140 workbooks for us this week. (Thank you, Shawna! We owe you some good chocolate or something!) We have a few more loose ends to tie up, but things are looking pretty good.
Thank you to all who have been praying for us as we prepare. We often think about our need for prayer once we are in the field, but believe me, we need lots of divine aid as we are getting everything together!
We went over lots of little details and then headed over to Cubo de Cuba for some Cuban food. Gam´s mom also joined us and they both said the food reminded them a lot of her native Puerto Rican cuisine. Sounds like I need to eat at their house! Jacob´s brother Ryan (Sus Manos Dominican Republic 2016 and Cuba 2017 alumnus) had just come into town for spring break from university and joined us for dinner. He plans to spend next year as a student missionary. It makes me very happy to see how that Ephesians 4 training is bearing fruit!