The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

This year's theme at the Christ Lutheran Church Vacation Bible School was "Who is my Neighbor." The story of the good Samaritan can be found in Luke 10:25-37 The Parable of the Good Samaritan:

"On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself."

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Darlene Cline and Vanessa Janssen were the organizers of the Vacation Bible School. Each day they learned a story about a real-life person in another country. The craft they made that

day was representative of the area they were studying. For example, the thumb piano was

something they have in Malawi a landlocked country in southern central Africa. Paper fans and origami, which is the art of folding paper was a craft from Japan.

There were 54 kids participating with 20 volunteers. The community of Big Sandy provided the treats. Vanessa had a list at the store so people could donate and people bought and brought snacks to the church

They did receive a small grant for Thrivent a Lutheran Insurance Company for $250 for VBS and $250 for the blessing bags. They made a little more than 40 blessing bags. The bags have books, crayons, food, tooth paste, tooth brush, and soap. Fifteen of the bag will go to the Big Sandy food bank and the rest are going to Rocky Boy.

"With the grant funding, we purchased a whole bunch put the kids donate a bunch too. They brought in over 150 things for the blessing bags according to Vanessa

The kids loved all four days, besides the lessons, the crafts and snacks you could hear kids singing as they walked the streets of Big Sandy with the songs they were learning. "I love that song."