Bible Camp teaches kids stories, songs, crafts

Fifty-five children attended Vacation Bible School this year at Le Sueur River Lutheran Church the week of  August 10 – 14.

 

Each morning from 9 a.m. to noon, children gathered at Le Sueur River Lutheran Church to learn Bible stories, sing songs, craft, socialize, and eat snacks in the church's spacious basement.

 

The event was brought to fruition by Ruth Hines, who has organized this event for over 30 years. Hines got involved decades ago when the church hired Good Earth Village of Spring Valley, Minn. to teach Vacation Bible School. The Bible camp taught Kindergarten through 8th graders, but was unwilling to accept preschool age children. “We had a bunch of preschoolers that really wanted to come and we didn't want to discourage them,” said Jody Johnson, who taught Sunday school at Le Sueur River for 37 years.

 

Hines stepped in and taught the little kids, and she's been teaching Vacation Bible School at the church ever since. “My mother always did Bible school and loved Bible school,” said Hines, “and so I just kept on. I love working with the kids. Jody and I did Sunday school for years.”

 

Kaila Johnson (10), who attends Le Sueur River Lutheran Church with her family regularly, says she really enjoys, “The crafts, and you get to learn about all the history of God.”

 

“We have quite a combination of kids that go to this church all the time, and then kids that just come [for Vacation Bible School],” said Hines. “Some have come for years.”

 

Indeed, the Vacation Bible School has turned into a multi-generational event. Although Kaila's mother, Ellen, attended Vista Lutheran Church as a child, she, too, attended Vacation Bible School at Le Sueur River.

 

Kaila's older sister, Lauren, now that she is beyond the sixth-grade age limit, returns every year to help. “I just like how there's all the kids here,” said Lauren. “I help in crafts, but I help anywhere.”

 

Hines added, “I love that: that the older ones like to come back and be helpers.”

 

Of course, an increasingly popular event such as this requires a lot of helpers. Fourteen-year-old Peyton Frye is also a former attendee who now returns to help with crafting, along with Jan Wenzel and Carol Kubata.

 

Jody Johnson calls herself the Snack Lady. “I line up snacks,” she laughs. Snacks include anything from crackers and Kool-Aid to Rice Krispies Bars.

 

Kids come from a wide range to the Vacation Bible School, including New Richland, Blooming Prairie and Waseca. The child who came the farthest was James Largent, son of Whitney Largent, who hails from Durango, Colorado. Whitney, Penny Hagen's daughter, attended Le Sueur River's Vacation Bible School as a child. She considers the Bible school a great opportunity to bring her son to an event she enjoyed as a child, and visit family at the same time.

 

That, after all, is what Vacation Bible School is all about: an opportunity to make great memories for the kids as they learn about God.