Day Eight: I Will Give Thee A Crown of Life

Today was bittersweet, it was the last day of VBS. The last time we would see the beautiful little faces of the kids we had so quickly grown to love. The last day of little hands holding onto our arms, our legs, our clothes. The last day of their little giggles and smiles.

With the first group of kids, the craft was already proving to be chaotic. We were making noisemakers that had to be strung together and filled with beans. It was a madhouse. Shortly after the group started my little Anita came in and gave me a huge hug. I asked her why she was there so early, since her group did not come in to crafts until the end of the day. She smirked, pointed at me, gave me another hug and ran off. That precious girl's hug carried me through the day.

We were allowed to serve the kids their lunch. That was a blast. They are so full of energy and life. I was laughing the entire time. Especially when some of the boys started doing the gangnam style dance. Too much laughter.

I was smothered with children's hugs and kisses all day long. I am pretty sure that is what heaven is going to be like, if it's not I may have to ask God to do me a solid and make my heaven that way. I've already asked him to make me an Indian woman in heaven. Might as well go all out right?

After the afternoon worship Suresh and Christina called each one of our team members up to thank each one of us. It felt so strange to be thanked for doing the VBS, since for me the VBS blessed me more than I could bless.

After worship all of the kids were given paper crowns to wear and we went on a parade to the nearest village where Chris was asked to preach the message of the gospel. I was constantly being asked the question "Sister, you come back next year?" It never got any easier to answer. So I decided the best response was an "I hope so" and to hold the girls in closer to me. I didn't know if I could come back, but I knew I could love them in that moment.

When we got back to the Harvest India campus we stayed for a long time to play with the kids. We danced and sang, played on the playground, played tag. I could have stayed with them for much longer. But the sun went down and we had to say goodbye. Hardest goodbye ever.