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Former MK shares how it ‘all started with VBS’

Each year, thousands of children gather at church for Vacation Bible School. Read this former IMB missionary kid's experience with VBS overseas and how she was transformed by Christ through the work of faithful VBS teachers.
  • June 10, 2024
  • Mississippi's The Baptist Record
  • Latest News, Mississippi
(Photo courtesy of the Baptist Record)

Former MK shares how it ‘all started with VBS’

Former International Mission Board missionary kid Elena Hart*, who was born and raised in Southeast Asia for 18 years, is a graduate of Mississippi College and is now an elementary school teacher. Hart recounted how overseas Vacation Bible School brought her to a personal relationship with Jesus.

For as long as she can remember, Hart attended and loved VBS at the IMB annual meetings held in Southeast Asia. Hart recalled the tropical theme of a particular year, when she was seven years old: “Outrigger Island: Living God’s Unshakeable Truth.” To this day, Hart remembers most of the VBS songs she learned ever since she was young enough to sing on a stage and strum a ukulele-shaped balloon.

“I didn’t think anything different about that year,” Hart shared, “until the VBS teachers had a sit-down talk with us where we all sat on the floor, and they discussed with us what a Christian life looks like. They said if you are a believer and you’re walking with God, that means you have a Friend Who is always good, Whom you can always depend upon to be good and Who is always there for you. Naturally, my very logical brain thought, ‘OK, so a Friend Who is always there, but also Someone you can always look to, to be in the moral right.”

To read more, click here.

*As a former MK from a high-security location, Elena Hart uses an alias.


EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lindsey Williams and originally published by the Baptist Record.

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