A twist on missions

This post has been ruminating in my mind for weeks now, and then because it took me so long to get it down it wasn't going to be a post at all, but the more I think about it I want to put it here for history's sake, and to share this aspect of my life because my faith is such a large piece of it.

For the past few summers my family and I have traveled to various Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) churches to lead a vacation bible school that we have created called Divine Nature Adventure. It was written in 2018 with my co-leader Kristen and I. We had written many over the years, but that year we opted to create a science based version and wanted the play on words for DNA. Because I work at Bethany Lutheran College, and also half of the staff goes to our church, I had many connections to scientists who came for demonstrations, my favorite of course being my chemist husband.

There were about 135 children who absolutely loved it, and most importantly they learned how everything around us is created by our loving God and it all works within His plan. Following that summer people told us that we should package our program and sell it in the Bethany Bookstore. Well, life is a bit busy to figure out how to do that.

Our full DNA VBS crew.

The inaugural DNA VBS at Peace Lutheran Church, North Mankato, MN

This was our first time taking our show on the road. Hope in Leander Texas was a beautiful new church with many kids anxious to learn!

In 2019 friends from @hope in Leander, Texas had heard about what we did @Peace and asked if we would be willing to come lead it there. An excuse to go on a vacation to TX? Sure! Any of you who know what doing a VBS entails know it isn't a vacation, but we did celebrate at South Padre Beach after we survived, and THAT was a fabulous vacation!

We loved what were able to do there as we combined science with God's word. Eric led all of the experiments and related labs while the rest of our family either participated or led other various sections of the program. Our whole family loved the fact that it was possible to share God's love and do mission work in this way, so we started thinking about how to put this on repeat. Then COVID happened. Thankfully, God wasn't done with this evangelism tool yet.

Liquid nitrogen ice cream is always a huge hit!

Because our Leander friends bragged us up, In 2023 we were asked to lead DNA in Naples, Florida. We set off for southern Florida in the hottest part of the summer. (One of these years I really hope I can convince these southern churches to do their VBS in January!) Not everything went as planned during that trip, but it solidified the fact that we wanted to do this for more churches.

It's all about the drama! :)

Claire loves to help lead!

Cyanotypes. Notice a similarity to my logo? They are my absolute favorite, and I have been doing them long before they became trendy. I love sharing this variety with the kids!

Last summer we were blessed to be able to travel back to Florida, this time to Port St. Lucie at the beginning of the summer. This trip was also the very first time our entire family was on an airplane together. We are big travelers, but that in and of itself created a very different experience of adventure. Of course, it was necessary to do some swimming in the Atlantic Ocean before we headed back home.

At the end of summer we hopped in the van and headed to the complete opposite side of the country to Port Orchard, Washington. What a great way to incorporate both adventure and missions in the same journey! We explored much of the Pacific coast while we were there, because why not? It was so special for us to all be together and to be able to be on both coasts within a few weeks of each other.

Not often do I end up in photos during VBS, but this church had a sweet teenage boy documenting the entire thing. I was super proud of him, and he managed to get some really great photos of everything going on!

This summer took us back to the great state of Texas once again, this time in San Antonio. We only had two of our children with us, which seemed super strange. They had the entire van row to themselves. As they age we also have more drivers, so that's a new dynamic also. Not sure we will ever be ready to do this without our kids with us though, it definitely won't be as fun.

The amount of students we taught was the smallest group ever. At first it was disappointing to know we wouldn't be able to impact more souls and get them excited about science. However, the group of kids was absolutely amazing, and it was honestly really fun to have it be a bit more chill.

Both Claire and Bridger taught, and Bridger led the engineering aspect. It is a new addition because he is phenomenal at many types of engineering. So many of the kids told me that was even their favorite part, so he did well.

The crafts are designed to fit with the theme of the day. Each project is also science based and offers a unique way to both learn and create.

One of these years we will convince a church to do VBS in winter—I hope! Thankfully the kids are used to playing outside in extreme heat.

This summer we incorporated engineering, led by our resident engineer Bridger. He was such a natural teacher, and had kids flocking around him to continue learning more.

The kids we have been blessed to work with are overall amazing, and it is simply a joy to see how much they love every aspect of the VBS week.

What a blessing it is to have been able to visit these congregations and spread the word of God, plus the love of science and art with these children. We are supposedly going to Iowa to lead again next summer, so that journey will be shorter. As of right now, that is the only location we have lined up, but it is exciting to know that God has a plan and that perhaps we will be able to explore even more of this amazing country through this project!

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