Pua Mission Trip: VBS 2023
From 3–7 March, a team of 19 headed to Kathy's Home to conduct a Vacation Bible School. We thank God for the team and the fruitful trip.
Barely six months have passed since our first mission trip to Pua, Thailand in more than two years and we have already notched our third trip. We were elated that a record nineteen people from GBC signed up for the recent trip, seven of whom were first-timers.
Instead of the usual English camp, we conducted a Vacation Bible School (VBS) this time. We could not be more thankful to God that we had in the team many who are richly experienced in running a VBS programme. The last VBS at Kathy’s Home was held in March 2020.
On this occasion, the team chose “Our Merciful and Gracious God Redeems” as the theme. The key verse was taken from Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The children were taught spiritual lessons that can be gleaned from the stories of Noah (God’s mercy towards sinful men), Jonah (God’s grace towards undeserving men), Ruth and Boaz (God redeems), and finally Jesus (“Who do you say that I am?”). These are all endearing biblical narratives which were carefully selected and developed to underpin the theme. The children were then challenged to commit their lives to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Beh gave God’s Word during the Sunday worship. To reinforce the theme, he explained the spiritual lessons that can be drawn from the story of “The Prodigal Son”.
Interspersed with the telling of these Bible stories were the songs, crafts and games segments which strengthened their teaching points. They not only made the learning fun but also gave the children space to reflect on personal applications of the meaning of wages, mercy, grace and redemption, so that they would understand the gospel message better. Many of the songs and memory verses that were introduced were sung heartily with sign language and they succeeded in bringing out the energy in the children.
Our missionary Mak has since reported that four boys have responded positively to the gospel message and committed their lives to our Lord Jesus Christ. They are: Weerapat (Grade 9), Pokpong (Grade 7), Warat (Grade 6) and Khunanon (Grade 5).
Although we lost more than two years to the scourge of the pandemic, this VBS has been tellingly fruitful and the bond of fellowship we have developed with the children can only get better from here. A good foundation has certainly been laid for future trips.
We thank God for the unusually cool weather, smooth logistics and safe travels despite the huge contingent. We also thank Him for the faithfulness and servanthood of the team members, especially for Grace, Kim Song, Jo Keow, Winnie and Lup Meng all of whom put in untold hours into the preparation for the programme. We will always remember with gratitude the effusive love and laughter amongst the team members who were united in one purpose: sharing Jesus with the children.
We covet your prayers for more hearts at Kathy’s Home to be transformed and that they will come to trust in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Pray also for preserving grace and strength for Mak, Narola and the house parents as they continue to watch over the children, and for their church planting works amongst the Hmong people.
The next trip to Kathy’s Home will be from 29 June (evening departure) to 3 July 2023. If you are interested to participate and would like to have more details, please contact Beh (9788 6171) or Siew Kim (9752 5589).