Hello everyone and welcome to another fabulous week at VBS! As you can see by the fantastic decorations, the theme for this week is Egyptian. And at 9 in the morning I was still quite tired, but surprised to see that people of all shapes and sizes were grooving to some cool music! Brian Cash could even be seen amongst the action doing the iconic Egyptian dance! The songs eventually died down and the anticipation for the first day learning about God began. But just as the cries of laughter died down, tragedy struck! Diane Archer yelped out, "I have lost my hope!" Brian Cash and others searched frantically in duffel bags and suitcases in vain only to find hats with fans on the top and other snazzy gear. Just when the captivated audience thought all hope was lost (no pun intended ), our very own Pastor Colley came to the rescue! He swooped down like the religious superman he is and pointed to hope! Which is to say, he pointed in every direction imaginable. I was momentarily confused by this, but then understood our wise Pastor’s deeper meaning. There is hope everywhere, and our hope flows from God. (with a capital G!) The Pastor then proceeded to teach us the sign for hope, which is your index and middle finger held together as though you are pointing at something. This hope in the future was reflected in the next activity, giving coins for preschool supplies. Children of God were giving their earnings so that other children could have a place to learn and play! It was quite an uplifting moment, coupled by the arrival of the famous Pastor Huggins! his first step in the door brought the crowds to their feet as they silently gazed at the living legend. He smiled and gave a prayer of blessing that touched all. Then, suddenly, our hero of a pastor turned interrogator when he pulled Joseph from the crowd and asked with a devious gleam in his eyes, "Do you dream?" Shocked Joseph replied, "Yes," and waited for more. The pastor grinned and said, "That’s all I wanted to ask." And with such a cliffhanger, the opening ended with the dispersal of the groups. I left curious, and feeling quite privileged to see a mastermind at work.

Storytime

Our Bible Study begins with Joseph in an Egyptian prison. I am sure that he must be considering the old tunnel through 150 feet to freedom a trick right? But when Diane told the story, it seemed that Joseph was much more focused on God and helping others than his own freedom. Even after being imprisoned by the Evil Pharaoh (Oh no!), he went on to help his jailer (played by myself ) with his troubling dreams of lollipops, eclipses, and cows! This story helps us to realize that even if we have lost our freedom we can still have faith that our God has a plan for us.

In craft the majority of time on Tuesday was spent creating sarcophagi and Egyptian jeweled masks. But, when finished, the masses were able to disguise themselves as Egyptian Pharaohs! I caught myself bowing to one because his mask was so convincing!

"What’s up ladies & gents?" Ethan asked enthusiastically upon entering the T-1 room. I was curious myself, for there were quite a lot of supplies spread about. Joan told the group that they would be making letters to send to the soldiers fighting to keep us safe. Tut time happened each VBS day – a group time for our teens and pre-teens.

Recreation again provided snack and had a few activities for the kids. In one they had to race with rings balanced on their heads and in another they had to untangle themselves without breaking their handholds on one another. The groups each had a water day. They had the pleasure of cooling off in a misting hose and 2 pools of their own.

Two teams of tut-teamers squared off in the toughest challenge of the decade. Build a pyramid with cups! These two groups had the chance to compete as pairings but now they were divided into 2 mega teams each with enough cups to do something incredible! An 11 x 11 pyramid was produced and a very elegant modern pyramid-ish thing.