Victor Chiu

By God’s grace and with the support of many at our Church, I was greatly encouraged and privileged to teach again this year at the VBS.　Many joined in to help, whether it was in Singspiration, Bible Drama, Games and Sports, Lunch and Snack Preparation, Arts Class, Material Preparation etc.　It further bore witness to the sermon message delivered by our Bishop Rev. Moses Yang during our recent 11th year anniversary as recorded in Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians that we have “fellowship in the gospel”, that we are “likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

Children are so pure and lovely.　Of especial comfort is the fact that some of them not only remembered me as their teacher from last year, but more so because they remembered the Bible verses we had taught, and the teachings behind those verses, one of which was “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”(Phil. 4:19)

On Day One, I was Moses (and I dressed somewhat like him) leading the Israelites cross the Red Sea.　The children were told the Bible story as given in the Book of Exodus 14:5-31and were taught the key Bible verse which was “The Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee.”(Deut. 31:8).　We also made sure they remembered the Biblical password of the day, which was “God’s love finds a way!　I can trust in Him.”so that they could get lunch.

On the next day before I taught, and even before the Puppet Skit, some children said they missed the teachers and they also missed Moses with his staff.　Many found the puppet show a good and funny way to learn the story about Jesus when He cooked for the disciples on the beach.(John 21:1-19).　Many guessed the riddle correctly, that Apostle Peter was the leader in the first church, and Jesus would make Peter a fisher of men—after making him a delicious breakfast on the beach!　The key Bible verse was taken from Colossians 3:17,“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”　The Biblical password for that day was“God gives us a job to do!　I can follow Him.”

On the last day I taught the Bible story about Apostle Paul’s shipwreck on the beach.(Acts 27:1-28:10).　The key Bible verse was taken from Ephesians 6:10, which was“Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”And the Biblical password was “God never leaves me! I can encourage others.”
All the children were requested to write a short essay of their experiences after they completed this year’s VBS program.　One of them wrote, “I had a lot of fun in VBS.　There were a lot of exciting things in VBS especially when we played a game where you had to pass a cup with water in it to the back and dump it in a bucket.　On the first day of VBS, we saw Moses(Moses is Victor) cross the Red Sea and the water drowned King Pharaoh and the Egyptians.　After the play we had a puppet show.　It was funny.　They gave us a password for lunch.　After that we came to the ping pong room for the memory－Bible verse.　We also did a project, it was coloring in a picture thingy.　After that we finally had lunch.　Everyday the lunch was good.　Next we went to have recess.　We played ball, then we had Chinese Cultural Arts.　We then had Arts and Crafts.　And we had snacks after Sports.　“

Another student wrote, “This week I came to this VBS to learn about Jesus, Christian religion, the Bible and its verses.　Here we sang “Splash-tacular” music, we had yummy lunches, we learned memory verses, we learned about Chinese idioms and the stories behind them, we did arts and crafts, we played golf and tug of war, we participated in skits, even played fun games!　I am not Christian but now that I came here, I have learned so much about the Christian religion.　Also, here, I met and made many friends and have really bonded during these few days.　We shared jokes, we told our stories and even chatted about a game that all of us play.　In our free time here, we played ping pong. Yesterday Victor/Moses showed us a few tricks.　He’s really talented. Our ping pong matches always ended up with crazy serves, spiking the ball and making the ball fly across the room, bouncing and crashing.　All in all, VBS was actually pretty fun and I learned a lot.”

A third student wrote,“This week I went to the VBS.　The usual schedule was this:First, we started off with a song.　Next, there was a skit, which consisted of both a riddle and a hint on the Bible story.　Then, we did a Bible skit ourselves, and then we learned today’s memory verse and the theme/lunch password.　Next we do crafts.　One day we made paper frogs.　Another time we decorated glass bottles and filled them with rainbow colored sand.　Next came(yum!)lunch!　Woohoo!　The food was great!G-R-E-A-T!Then we had a bit of free time.　I mainly did ping pong ball.　Then we either wrote essays, drew, or had Chinese class, mainly a story.　Finally, we did a song(s) and ended the day with ping pong!

From these few paragraphs as well as others, I can assure all of you that I enjoyed a great deal with the students around me.　I learned a lot from them as they also learned from me, for our Lord Jesus had said,“Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me:for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”And He also had said,“Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me”.

I found great satisfaction and joy in working with all the students.　May the Holy Spirit guide you so that you, too, will be a helper or teacher at the VBS in the year 2008!