A Summer of VBS and Kids Clubs

Dear family and friends,

We wanted to thank everyone who prayed for us as we served through Vacation Bible Schools the past three weeks. By the end of the three weeks we were clearly exhausted; however, the Lord was very gracious and faithful in giving us the strength to get through each and every day.

Week one we served in Blackfoot, Idaho alongside Calvary Bible Church. We put on two separate Bible clubs (one at the church and one at the pastor’s home). There were a total of 39 children that came at least once to one of the clubs. We are very thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to create some of these contacts with the children and parents in the community on behalf of Calvary Bible Church. My personal responsibilities for the week were teaching the Bible lesson (we went through the story of David) and putting on a puppet show that we tried to correlate with the lesson. It was our joy and privilege to serve alongside Dave and Andrea Brunner that week.

Week two we served in the northern Utah area. We had the team from Snyder Bible Church in Snyder, Colorado come out and help us again for the week. For many of the youth, this was their third or fourth year coming out to help with VBS. We were able to have a VBS in four different locations that week. We had one in Tremonton for Grace Bible Church, we had one in Brigham City for Rocky Mountain Bible Church, we had one at a park in downtown Ogden that we put on for Liberty Bible Church of Plain City, and we had one at our old apartment complex in West Haven. We took the team from Snyder Bible Church and split them in half and sent one half to Ogden and West Haven and the other half to Tremonton and Brigham City. I had the opportunity to facilitate the team that went to Ogden and West Haven. Overall, we had close to 55-60 children that came at least one day to one of the four clubs. We had amazing opportunities to share the love of Jesus and the good news of salvation. We are thankful for the team that came from Snyder and for all the work they put into each VBS. We are thankful for Rocky Mountain Bible Church who allowed us to stay at the church for the week. We are also thankful to each of the churches who served alongside us for their participation and help to make each VBS happen.

Week three we served at Kamas Bible Church in Kamas, Utah. A team from Frontier School of the Bible came out to assist us with this VBS. The team did so much work and helped us tremendously. We are so thankful to the Lord for how He used the team throughout the week. Once again, I mainly just facilitated the VBS and made myself available wherever I was needed. For the Bible lessons, we looked at several stories of Jesus that we find in the gospels to show our need for salvation and how only Jesus is able to fill that need. Throughout the week, we had about 20 children who came at least once to the VBS. We had one child who had indicated that he would like to trust Jesus for salvation. We told him about our Bible club that we will be starting in the fall and both he and his mother were excited about that.

God has been so faithful and gracious the past few weeks. He gave us the energy that we needed, He gave us several opportunities to share the gospel with these children, and He gave us great moments of encouragement through the people who were serving alongside us. Please be praying that each of the churches that we partnered with were and still are greatly encouraged by our ministry with them. Also, pray that God will continue to work in the lives of these children and that He will cause the increase on the seeds that were planted in their lives.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement throughout the past few weeks. We are now gearing up to help Richfield Bible Church in Richfield, Utah with a VBS that will be held July 31-August 4. Pray that the Lord will use us to encourage the people in Richfield and that we will have opportunities to serve and share the love of Jesus with the children in the community.

In His service,

Chris and Danielle Small