Dear Redeemer Lutheran Church,

Thank you so much for the wonderful goodie bags.  What a fantastic idea for the children.  We can’t thank you enough for thinking of the children at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.  The bags have been such a HUGE hit.

Thanks so much,

Child Life

Dear Redeemer Lutheran Church VBS,

In response to your recent gift to Firmly Rooted Ministries, we join with the people of Haiti in saying mesi, thank you, for your kindness.  We were overwhelmed by your generosity!  Words cannot express our thanks.

Because of gifts like yours, Firmly Rooted has begun to make an impact in the lives of many people.  As I write, Tom and Kimberly have recently returned from Haiti where they had the opportunity to minister to the people in very tangible ways.  They, along with several family members, have become Christ’s hands and feet to many who are hurting and lacking the most basic of needs.  They have had the opportunity to address both physical and spiritual needs as they: lead Vacation Bible School and worship services, preach and teach, haul rocks, build walls, distribute clothing, provide health check-ups, teach knitting and the list goes on.

There is still much work to do but the good news is that, thanks to your generosity, people in Haiti and around the world are receiving Christ’s love and hearing the life-giving message of the Gospel.  For that we say a heartfelt “thank you.’

Peace and blessings to you,

Annemarie

Something that made this morning extra special for me was seeing our 4 male teachers in action.  Often times most of our volunteers are women but there is something special about having a man in the classroom teaching and leading our children that makes a profound impact on our children.  Our young boys especially appreciate it.  These men are modeling for these boys how a Christian man lives out his faith.  And these men are teaching our children that working in Children’s Ministry isn’t “women’s work” it’s God’s work through God’s people.  I’m grateful for all of them.

The Silly Bandz Exchange will continue for the next couple of weeks so be sure to come see me!

Who would have thought silly rubber bands would be the latest fad?

Children’s Ministry will have several booths for you to visit.  Stop by the Oasis booth for a special photo opportunity.  Take a walk on the wild side at the VBS table.  Come hear all about the new opportunities for children to be involved in music ministry at the Joyful Noise table.  Put your hands to work for the Children’s Ministry service project.  Take the Backpack Challenge at the Children’s Ministry table.

There will also be a special drama presentation from the VBS Drama team and musical performances by Joyful Noise.  It will be a great morning!  Join us!

We were waiting until we had the video projector mounted on the ceiling so we could send some pictures together with our thanks for your group’s generous contribution to the Binns-Counts Center.

The projector will be a great help in our computer classes and also in a new project we are planning: to show educational and informational videos at the Center during the clothing sales.  At these sales, there are a sizable crowd of people and therefore, a good opportunity to reach a large audience with interesting and helpful information.

We hope to see you and all your friends at Redeemer Lutheran Church in the future and again, our thanks for your work and generosity.

Sincerely,

Program Director for Fourth World/Appalachia

God is using your offerings in big way!  Thanks for your support to all of the ministries that Sunday School supports!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RedeemerVBS2010

Did you volunteer at VBS?  We have  a special survey for all of our volunteers to fill out too.  It can be found here-

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VBShelpers2010

Thanks for helping us as we plan for next year!

Dear Redeemer Lutheran Church VBS,

Thank you for your kind donation, which we received today.  Your generosity will make an immediate difference in the lives of the patients at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.

Each year, Children’s Hospital of Illinois treats over 5,000 children as inpatients and another 30,000 through our specialty clinics.  Your gift helps ensure that we can continue to care for the sickest children of our region.  Further, you help us provide the comfort of having a children’s hospital close to home.

Thank you for your support of the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.  Because of your support, we will continue to be there for the children who need us.

Sincerely,

The Child Life Department

The children made over 312 care packages for the Children’s Hospital on Wednesday of VBS.  You can read about it here.

To Staff and Volunteers of Vacation Bible School-

Thank you!  Our children have had a very special week learning of God’s work.  Everyone has been so gracious, enthusiastic and caring.  From the door keepers, teachers, aides, kitchen helpers, and young people, everyone made us feel so welcome.  It truly was a special week!

Friday is always a very special day at VBS because it is ice cream day.  Our Bible story came from Acts 12:1-17 (18-19) where “God rescued Peter from jail.”  Peter was jailed in chains until an angel of the Lord come and rescued him from those chains.  In keeping with our Bible story, each child received a cup of ice cream that was chained by Magic Shell ice cream topping.  The children had to break through the chains to get to their ice cream just like the angel of the Lord broke through the chains to rescue Peter.  It was a fun snack!

In crafts, every child made an airplane.  Now that every child has spent the week learning about Jesus, we charged them to fly out in to the world and tell others!  Check out Mark’s plane-

Friday morning our Honey for Haiti jar was bursting out of the top because we collected so much money!  From Friday’s offering, we collected an astounding $915.30!  That gave us a total of $1516.82 collected with our daily offerings.

We also took an offering during our closing program and added that money to our Honey for Haiti jar giving us a grand total for all of VBS of $2100!!!  God really did an ama-zzzing work through His people this week at VBS and I can’t wait to send our check to the Children of Israel Orphanage in Haiti.  On Monday every child received a prayer card for a child in the orphanage.  VBS may be over, but please keep praying for your child!

Look how many children God brought to us on Friday to hear His Word!

We ended our week praising God in the Sanctuary as the children led us in the closing program.  This always brings tears to my eyes as we listen to the children sing of God’s goodness.  This year’s closing program was especially emotional as we said good-bye to one of our VBS directors who has been leading VBS for a very long time.  God certainly has used her ministry here in a powerful way.  As she leaves us for Ohio we know that God will continue to use her for His glory.

It was an awesome week.  God certainly blessed us in ways we never imagined possible.  We pray that all of our little friends had fun and grew closer to the Lord as a result.  We also pray that we will see you all very soon!