Photo By David Poe | An Army kid and a volunteer prepare crafts during Vacation Bible School at Fort Bliss,...... read more read more
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“I have joy,” a first grader exclaimed and then leapt with his friends as they sang in a classroom on East Fort Bliss Friday.
On the walls of the room, Bible verses were paired with smiling cartoon characters with a sports theme as Julia Hebebrand, a new Fort Bliss spouse, and a religious support volunteer, led first and second graders in the song. She was joined by fellow volunteers, who were fanned throughout the room as they sang in unison with the kids about Jesus and never feeling alone.
The Fort Bliss Office of the Senior Chaplain and their Religious Support section, with help from unit ministry teams from across the base, wrapped their weeklong Vacation Bible School at the 1st Armored Division Chapel last week. After more than 20 years, the July event still offers a mix of community outreach, learning and fun, all free of charge, for Department of Defense identification cardholders’ families.
This year 108 kids were matched with 38 volunteers who were vetted and trained in preparation for VBS, going back to November 2017.
As busy as the 1st AD Chapel complex was Friday, Dr. Rick Mendoza, the Fort Bliss director of religious education, said his office had to cap the number of kids who could sign up for VBS this year due in part to new requirements of four to five volunteers per classroom during the weeklong session.
Despite the smaller crowds in comparison to previous years, Mendoza said the program continues to evolve as military kids evolve.
“It’s friendlier,” Mendoza said of the VBS curriculum over the last 13 years. “The music stays up-to-date. It’s pretty modern and the kids start to get it on the first day.”
This year, the religious support staff assigned dedicated volunteers to each group of kids and moved them together to different events throughout the week. Mendoza said the chance to grow the relationship between students and their specific group leaders over the session was intentional and part of a bigger picture in terms of sharing the VBS message.
“We wanted to come up with a curriculum that says, yes, everyone goes through hard times with the difficulties our military kids go through,” Mendoza said, “but there is always hope in Christ.”
Concepts were also taught “incrementally.” For example, on Monday kids learned who Jesus was, and it was only later in the week they were learning about his travels through the passages of the Bible.
“VBS is the foundation to get a lot of these kids plugged into the chapel community, but also to get connected with a faith belief system,” Mendoza said after the final day of VBS. “I think we were successful.”
Volunteer Gail Sanchez, a college student studying child development at El Paso Community College, and an Army dependent, said that the kids weren’t the only ones encouraged by the VBS message. She said seeing the Bible through the eyes of kids helped bolster her own faith.
“I haven’t been to church since I was seven or eight,” she said. “I didn’t think kids understood – sometimes I still have trouble understanding some of the things we’ve learned this week. When we asked the kids questions about (the Bible), they answer with grownup answers. At that age they are open to anything.”
Hebebrand, a mother of four, said keeping them “open” meant keeping the activities fun for the kids, while still conveying the lessons of the Bible.
“There’s a little bit of a vacation feel so that kids can feel more comfortable,” she said. ”I think they got a taste for who Jesus is and a chance to mature in the Lord – whatever that means for them. Who God is – who they are. That’s important.”
For more information on our Religious Support program here at Fort Bliss, visit https://www.bliss.army.mil/ReligiousSupport.
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.26.2018 17:24 |
| Story ID: | 285909 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 28 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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