The Chronicles of a VBS Volunteer: Part II

Tuesday: The Crossing of the Jordan River

This was a complicated day and it took me a bit of planning and thinking to come up with something interesting! If I had gone by the book, it would have been a pitiful looking sheet hanging between two ladders with a tarp on the floor behind it. We can do better than that, folks! Yesterday, I hid in supply closet with my notebook and some colored pencils until I came up with a sketch of the layout. Hey, it was a big closet! And, there was food in there.

The kids enter this area barefoot because the towels on the floor are sopping wet. Lots of "ewws" erupt from the crowd as it squishes between their toes. It's explained that they are standing along the flooded banks of the Jordan and the water is really deep (indicated by the height of the blue sheets hanging). Hiding behind the banks are volunteers with spray bottles that mist the kids on cue.

I was hiding under this "rock" to release the rope that held up the water to reveal...

A dry river bed for the kids to cross over and get to the camp on the other side. It wowed the kids because we stopped the rushing water cd and flipped on the spotlight at the same time the water dropped. Oooohh, ahhhhh....




The other side with the river parting back. (The water was very glittery, but you can't tell in the picture!)

Kids making their memorials out of the rocks they picked up from the river bed. Paul, dressed as a Bible-times river guide.