Malisa L formed her first and closest PUMC friendships when she taught Vacation Bible School. “They are the people I call when I need to talk or need help,” she says. “When you have a common task, it really builds a connection.”
Also at VBS, her children got to know other adults in the church; Micaela is always talking to her sixth grade teachers. “If you don’t spend time together, those relationships don’t flourish,” says Malisa.
Now Malisa and Liz M, VBS co-chairs, are beginning to recruit for this year’s session, set for July 28 to August 1. Malisa also teaches a preschool class on Sundays at 11 a.m. and co-directs the church Christmas pageant – an outgrowth of her day job as a theater arts teacher in East Brunswick. It is spiritually taxing, she says, to try to have a positive impact on thousands of public school children. “Every sixth grader in the district takes my class, and though some have serious problems, I’m always amazed at how children respond to someone who takes the time to talk to them.”
The daughter of a carpenter and a stay-at-home mom, the oldest of three girls, Malisa grew up in a Church of Christ congregation in Oklahoma. When she was in high school her parents’ divorce precipitated a major challenge to her faith. But at Oklahoma Christian University she met Scott and linked her faith journey to his. A South Jersey native, he teaches music in inner city schools in North Jersey.
“When Scott and I moved to Plainsboro in 2003,” Malisa says, “we needed a church where each of us could contribute. The first time we visited, Scott heard the choir singing and said he wanted to be here. That is his identity as a musician and how he feels close to God. Then I found there was a place for Micaela and Connor in the children’s choirs. For me, it was all about supporting them, making sure that they are moving and growing. I have found my place.”
