From Monday, August 6th, to
Friday, August 10th, the sound and joy of children filled Saint
Mary's church, its hall, youth center, and yard. Vacation Bible
School was in full session and all the parents, organizers, and
youth volunteers were blessed and happy.
The 48 VBS children, ages 4-12 rotated in a well
organized program between Bible studies, arts and crafts, sports
and games, and Music and Singing classes, making friends with
other children, and forming relationships with the youth and
parent volunteers, and most importantly with God. It was truly a
blessing to see our beautiful children coming to Church,
learning from the Bible, singing, playing and making lasting
friendships with one another.
Fr. Michael Barota, led the VBS in its spiritual
direction, while other Church volunteers, together with full
support from parents and members of "Heart of Mary" Youth Group
coordinated a well organized week of activities. The Vacation
Bible School week ended on Friday, August 10 with a fun BBQ
gathering and play time for all the children and their families.
On Sunday, August 12, immediately after mass the VBS children
delighted the hearts of parishioners, who had filled the Church
to its capacity with an emotional performance featuring two
songs and the beautiful "Um Kullay Tighme D'Malakhe" hymn that
they had learned during the week. Tears of joy and loud cheers
reverberated through the Church and put grateful smiles on all
the faces. At the conclusion of the children's performance,
everyone was invited to visit the VBS Arts & Crafts Exhibition,
featuring children's beautiful handiwork.
After the event, parents and parishioners were
excited and looking forward to more of such events in the
future. Many were thankful, and one parent summarized well the
mood when in her email thanking the church volunteers, she
wrote:
"I just wanted
to thank the entire team who put together this great bible
school. My son really enjoyed his time there and learned about
God. I wish you continue this type of activity on more regular
basis if possible because we had a wonderful experience. Thanks
again and God bless you all."
