Vacation Church School - Mexico City

From the newsletter of Seventy William Baker and Katrina Baker.

In May Dalia Castillo and Katrina Baker started discussing ideas for youth activities to help with spreading the gospel and growing the work in Mexico City and decided on organizing a Vacation Church School. Dalia expressed how much her family
has appreciated the camps and reunions that they’ve attended in the States, and her desire for the people in Mexico to experience the same joy and Spirit.

The date was set for July 12-16. Over the next couple months plans were finalized, and
the parents in Mexico City were eager to help in any way they could: one donated an empty house for us to use and the mothers brought snacks for the kids every day and even help with the craft classes. The camp was to include English as well as Spanish and also music, art, games, and Bible classes. Each day had a different theme: Monday - -Crea t ion, Tuesday--Prayer, Wednesday—10 Commandments, Thursday--Armor of God, Friday--Program.

Most of the kids who came to the camp had never even heard of God before or knew
anything about the Bible, though the majority of them were from Catholic backgrounds. We prayed to begin the camp and each day and prayed over our snacks as well. This also was new to many of them; and some even scoffed during prayer time.
During our class on prayer, we talked about the nature of God, how he wants a personal
relationship with us, and how he answers our prayers and helps us when we’re in need. We had a prayer request for a boy named Raul, who has severe heart problems. He wanted to come to the camp but was too sick; so we started praying that he would
feel better so he could participate with us. Later we stopped by his house and talked with his mother and shared with her that we had been praying for her son. She then told us that just that morning she had taken Raul to the emergency room because of a high
fever and other problems; but by the time they arrived, the fever was gone and the doctors said the boy was fine. (That was during the same time that we were praying for him.) The next day Raul was able to join the camp and run and play with the kids as if he had no problems at all. And the mother shared her testimony with the kids of how the
Lord had answered their prayers. After that the attitudes of a lot of the children changed; and those who had before been scoffers were the first to raise their hands to pray. Also every morning we gave the kids a short verse to memorize in English and Spanish which pertained to the daily theme. And each one who memorized their verse received a little prize. On Friday we had a program for the parents in the afternoon after the
camp was finished. The whole building was decorated with the crafts that the kids had made during the week; and the kids shared the campfire songs that they had learned during the week mainly: King of Kings, He’s got the whole world in His Hands, I have Peace like a River, Kum-by-Yah (both in English and Spanish) as well as their memory
verses. Dalia also had taught the children a little French, which they shared with their parents as part of the program; and afterwards we had time to visit with the parents and eat together. We were thrilled with the participation and enthusiasm of the kids and especially how the Lord worked in their hearts during the week. We look forward to many such activities in the future.