CAMP CASEY, South Korea -- Mosquitoes and God may not have too much in common, but they were what 86 children learned about at this year's Area I Vacation Bible School held at the West Casey Chapel July 23-27.
"Vacation Bible School is about character development and spiritual development," said Jessica Clark, the coordinator for the school. "It is a place where kids can come and learn about God, and to also learn some positive moral values they can take with them every day of the week."
Helping others is one of those values that the 3 to 12 year olds learned.
"The most exciting thing is the mission project that we are doing," Clark said. The children are learning about the African country of Mali and how children there are dying from malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease.
The Area I Vacation Bible School students are taking part in Operation Kid-to-Kid's worldwide effort to squash malaria in Mali. According to the Operation Kid-to-Kid website, malaria is a leading cause of death of children under five, with more than 2,000 children dying every day. The Area I children donated 94 nets, which will protect three children for up to four years. Operation Kid-to-Kid has raised almost $291,000 to purchase mosquito nets for Mali's children.
"The project really engages the children, because it talks about mosquitoes and that is something that every kid can understand, they have all been bitten by a mosquito," said Clark. "And they are also helping other kids and they like that too. They can say "hey there is a kid in Mali who is five like me and they are worried about mosquitoes and I can help them to not worry about mosquitoes anymore.'"
Throughout the week they played games to help them understand about the malaria and how the bed nets would help the Mali children. For one game, a couple children were chosen to be mosquitoes; their bite was simulated by tossing rolled up socks at the rest of their classmates. Once those classmates took refuge under a parachute (which represented a mosquito net) the "mosquitoes" bite wasn't felt.
Those games carried over into learning to trust God, the theme for this year's Bible school.
"The theme is no matter who you are, no matter how you feel, no matter what -- trust God," said Sgt. Amber Harris, the chaplain assistant for 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion. The daily lessons also included no matter what people do, what happens or where you are. "Tuesday we did 'no matter how you feel.' Whether you are sad, whether you are hurt, whether you are happy, no matter how you feel God is truly there for you and no matter what you can truly trust in him, because he will always be there for you."
Although this was "Bible" school, the children didn't open books to learn their lessons. Instead they visited such places as the Imagination Station, where they did "sciency fun gizmo experiments and got to be little mad scientists doing all these cool experiments that reinforced what they learned," said Clark.
"I like the fizzy flyers that we did on Tuesday," she said. They had to put a tablet in a solution and then watch it explode and rocket up high in the sky. We were learning that no matter how we feel we can trust God"
Clark said the experiment allowed the kids to see that no matter how out of control or unsure they were of an outcome or how apprehensive they felt about doing something -- that they can always trust God that he will be there for them.
In the Wild Blue Bible Adventures, Chaplain (Capt.) Bruce Duty, 1st BSTB, acted out with the children Jesus' last week before his crucifixion. On Wednesday, they prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then hid as the Roman soldiers came for Jesus. They then counted out the 30 pieces of silver that Judas was paid for identifying Jesus to the Romans.
"I love Vacation Bible School because I get to learn even more about God," said 11-year-old Jacob White. "And, if I trust God then I don't have to be alone in my life."
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