For the past four years, GCI’s Kingston, Jamaica church has hosted a week-long Vacation Bible School (VBS). This year, they were assisted by a GCI Generations Ministries (GenMin) mission team from the United States. Here is a report from team member Anne Marie Fleming.
At GenMin’s national summit meeting last year, a dream was expressed by some of our Jamaican members that their VBS would have more of a “summer camp feel.” At the same time, sisters Tabitha and Natalie Wendt, and my sister Mychelle Fleming and I were expressing a desire for an overseas mission trip. With over 30 years of combined experience in camps and missions, we felt called to help our Jamaican brothers and sisters realize their dream.
Well, God opened the door, bringing together a mission team that included Tabitha, Natalie, Mychelle, Mat Morgan, David Perry, Jeff Snyder, Charles Fleming and me. Some of us served in construction, working on the church hall where the VBS was held. Others partnered with Jamaican members to form a team of eleven VBS teachers and five assistant teachers.
God also blessed the VBS with help from local companies that donated food and from individuals who donated money to scholarship kids. Campers from Base Camp, a GenMin camp in Tennessee, made bracelets for the kids and teachers. And the Wendt sisters, who are Base Camp leaders, donated 50 soccer balls that had been signed by their campers.
Through these combined efforts, the VBS was able to minister to more than 70 children between age three and eighteen. The kids were given opportunity to learn, to be fed and, most importantly, to feel the love of Jesus.
The VBS theme was Rooted (from Ephesians 3:16-19) – the same theme used this year in many of GenMin’s camps. This theme had special significance for my sister Mychelle and me since we were returning to our Jamaican roots. We lived in Jamaica when we were young – our dad, Charles Fleming, was a pastor there for 13 years.
