Love is a Verb

Agnes Shows Love as an Action

Agnes Leung - This was my second mission trip to Bechoko. Last year I went, I went partly to fulfill a promise to God that I will go to at least one mission trip. This time I went it was like visiting old friends.

For those of you who don´t know me, I am a pretty private person. Sharing space, living with other people 24/7 and having to make conversations are not easy for me. These are however, a big part of the mission trip, learning to live with others that have different tastes, different ways to work etc. God opened my eyes and I saw how fruitful we can be when we leave our idiosyncrasies behind to work together.

One of my responsibilities was to direct VBS (kids´ camp). I have directed VBS and taught preschoolers but that was a few years ago. Directing VBS with a preschoolers focus was new to me. God provided lots of advisors before the trip such as Dorothy and Priscilla so we have enough activity centres for the kids. Also, we only have one big hall to work with 40 kids and another 10 or so teachers. There were many bugs so we couldn´t do any programs outdoors.

Since I was so raw in directing VBS for preschoolers, it kept me humble and listening. God provided a team of teachers that were willing to provide ideas, work with limited resources, are creative and patient in their teaching. He also provided group leaders and drivers. Moreover, He provided great presenters, singers and entertainers that kept the children attentive and learning.

The first day, it didn´t quite work out, we were short on workers and circle time was not active enough. So we made adjustments the next few days, more workers gave up working on community projects to serve the children in the afternoon and Nathan and team gave more dynamic presentations.

We had about 11 - 15 workers depending on the day serving 35-40 kids each day. This is a much smaller ratio than what we do regularly at ECBC. But God provided enough and the kids had fun and learnt more about Noah, how he loved God, believed and trusted God. There were also a variety of art, science, colouring and storytelling activities.

Another thing I learnt is how important it is to show love in action. When people do not know Jesus, it is important to find a way to serve them, to make friends before telling them about Jesus. Cooking was a great tool for outreach. Cooking opened doors. We used this tool to serve a couple of families in Rae, some Christians, our host Joyce and also in the Yellowknife´s women´s centre. Praise God for giving everybody different skills to serve. Cooking was something I took for granted but God used it.

I also enjoyed talking to the girls a lot while they were painting or braiding their hair. They are good girls that listen and even for the one that was a little uncontrolled in the beginning, when taught to follow instructions, started to listen.