Sanap Strong Olsem Daniel!

Crossing the Ba'e River

I bounced on my toes as I stepped out of the van. We walked down to the river and stood on the muddy banks as our more experienced friends stepped cautiously into the river and waded across to find the best path for crossing. Soon, they beckoned to us and I plunged into the water up to my thighs, eager to start the day. Today was my first day helping with Holide Baibel Skul (or Holiday Bible School – the Papua New Guinea Equivalent of Vacation Bible School or VBS). I was so excited that the river was soon forgotten behind me and my feet found the slippery trail up the hill to the settlements and villages that lay beyond. The trail wound up and around the hill and wrapped its gnarled arms around the hedges and fences of people’s garden and homes. The trees cleared and my path marched between gardens full of yams, sweet potatoes and squash. Stands of bamboo and banana trees stood like crowds of onlookers scattered around the gardens and homes. After what felt like only a few minutes I found myself walking into the grassy yard of the church where we would hold our Holide Baibel Skul all week.  I couldn’t wait to get started.

After we played hard in the mud

The ground was squishy from the rains the night before. Today was going to be a muddy day. I looked over the heads of our group of preschool through grade 1 kids to the leader getting ready to call out the instructions of the game. Mud covered my feet and squished between my toes. We were playing a game that reminded us of the story we’d learned that morning about Daniel interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about the giant statue made of different metals and materials and the stone that came and smashed the statue. We were supposed to be running to the different countries that the metals represented. Soon, the leader called out a new country and all the children went running and squealing toward the area of the field they thought was right. Mud splashed everywhere and the kids waited eagerly for the next callout. This week we were learning about Daniel and how God strengthened him and helped him to point people to God even when he was in captivity. Every game we played and every activity was geared to help the kids hold the stories in their mind and remember how Daniel stood strong in the Lord no matter what. Soon our time was up and I held up our green flag, calling the children to line up behind me. Mud was smeared all over all of us and we laughed breathlessly as we waited to go inside and review our story and Bible verses.

This little guy wanted to join our application time

Once we were inside the kids settled onto the floor and we played games to help apply the truths of the story we’d heard earlier that morning. The kids broke up into teams of girls versus boys and tried to answer            questions about the story. Then, we stood and worked on our memory verse, Luke 9:23-26 that talked about the cost of following Jesus. Every day we reminded the children that they could be like Daniel, who stood strong and followed God regardless of his captivity in a strange country. We reminded them that they should sanap strong olsem Daniel (stand up strong like Daniel) and always do what’s right no matter what.