Activities

As camp goes on we are having more and more opportunities to interact with campers. Today we ran several games that allowed us to spend some good time with small groups of campers. Dan and Nicole ran a frisbee golf course, Dirk organized paintball, Samantha helped with the climbing wall. This in addition to the crafts and all camp games we organize and lead each day. It's a challenge getting 100 Russian kids to listen to us when they can't understand us. An interpreter helps, obviously, but it's still difficult. It's like herding cats that can't even hear.
We have seen some neat fruit and opportunities. At least one young girl repented and trusted Christ as her savior after the meeting last night. Dirk has been sharing the gospel with a young man named Alex who is eager to practice his patchy English. Nicole is planning on sharing her story of coming to faith in Christ at the meeting tonight. Please pray that it would be impacting. Her story may mirror the background that many of these young people come from.
Thankfully, all of us are in good health after a week of drinking Russian water. We're starting to feel worn down from lack of sleep but are glad to be able to serve in many different ways.

I've included a few pictures...Cat herding, Dirk and Nicole on the ropes course, Samantha leading crafts.

More pictures

Getting Involved

The past two days have been joyful but very, very busy. We have been rising between 6:00 and 7:00 and going mostly non-stop until after midnight. Temperatures are still hovering near 100 degrees with no rest in sight. We are feeling worn out but glad for the chance to invest our time well while we are here. We know this isn't a vacation or a cultural exchange so we want to help as much as possible.

Samantha and I have been helping with the rock climbing wall built by our teams on previous trips. It is still a big hit. Nicole and Samantha tie dyed bandanas for a craft today. After the meeting at night we were invited to join with a tent of campers for snack time. As I write this I haven't checked with the girls yet, but Dirk and I had a great time. We were invited by a group of 14-15 year old girls and their counselor. We sat outside, taught them a few lines to "Lord, I lift Your name on high", and answered many, many questions about America. They were very interested in our families (thankfully I had a photo album with a few pictures - Thanks, Sarah!), churches, and houses. They also wanted to know how we became Christians, which was a neat opportunity to share the gospel with them. We also sang the song "All in all" in English, Ukrainian, and Russia - it was beautiful! I brought down the average so I tried to sing quietly but Dirk and the girls had beautiful voices. I think this will be a new nightly ritual with a different tent each night. We're really looking forward to it.

Some pictures

Our team sporting our camp shirts

Our first meeting

Samantha advertising English lessons

And The Craziness Begins

Campers showed up today. Lots of them. Last summer there were 60. This summer we planned on 80. Yesterday we heard there might be 50. As of the evening meeting tonight we had 105 campers! This is way more than expected and brings some stress for the camp coordinators but obviously it is a huge praise.

Looking at all these Russian boys and girls that we don't know and can't speak to, I wonder what their backgrounds are. Just like in America, we can't tell what pain is hidden behind a happy face. From what I do know about some kids at this camp, there are many with very difficult family situations. Many are orphans. Many have alcoholic parents. These 12 days may be the bright spot of their whole year. It may be an experience that the Lord uses to change their trajectory. Please pray that this is an impacting time for them.

Before the campers arrived we finalized the ropes course, built a frisbee golf course, and prepared some crafts. Nicole was assigned the added job of assistant camp nurse. She has been very busy this evening already with lice checks, infected fingers, and infected eyes. It's cool to see her skills being put to use here.

Getting Down to Work

We stepped off the overnight train at about 7:30 this morning and went straight to the camp. Campers show up tomorrow (Tuesday) in the afternoon so we have about 1 1/2 days to do some preparations. Samantha and Nicole were placed in charge of crafts during a time in the afternoon when the campers can choose various activities to participate in. Dirk and I (Dan) were placed in charge of games with another American guy who is here full time with his family and a German who speaks excellent English who is on a short term trip. They earn points from the games throughout the 10 days of camp to determine a winner. It was surprisingly hard to divide the campers and schedule the games so that all 80-100 are playing something for two hours in such a way that all get to participate.

Our team also began constructing and rebuilding a low ropes course to help the cabins bond and develop trust in one another. Close relationships and trust are essential for the games but they are even more important for nurturing conversations about the gospel.

Pray that the Lord would use these simple activities to foster deep relationships and significant conversations.

Getting There

After about 22 hours of traveling we made it to Moscow on Saturday at about noon Russia time (2:00 AM Pocatello time). So far, so good. Our connections all had layovers of less than an hour so we were worried about missing flights if there were any delays or missing luggage that wasn't fast enough to make it from plane to plane. Thankfully, everyone and everything made it just fine.

We spent Saturday wandering the streets of Moscow in a sleepy daze. We were all operating on 4 or 5 hours of sleep over the previous two nights combined. We climbed aboard the overnight train at about 9:00 PM. It's now about 7:00 AM on Sunday morning and we are almost to Lipetsk, where the camp will be held. About 80 campers will show up on Monday at 3:00, so we have about a day and a half to work on a ropes course and do some other set up work.

Last year they had about 60 kids and only about 20 of them were Christians. The ratio will probably be about the same this year. Camp is a major outreach opportunity to unsaved kids, many of whom will come from difficult backgrounds. Please pray that we can work with the loving, dedicated Russian staff at camp to display and share the love of Christ to these youth.

Pocatello to Boise: Check

250 miles down. . . 6,000 to go. We made it to Boise today (Thursday) and will be heading to the airport at 4:30 am tomorrow for a 6:30 flight. So far, so good. We met up with Dirk so now we have a fully assembled team. It's funny that we will know each other so much better in 2 1/2 weeks than we do now. Hopefully we'll still like each other, too! I look forward to seeing how the Lord has assembled this team with various strengths, weaknesses, and gifts to serve together.

Thanks for your prayers and support. Pray for endurance tomorrow as we will be traveling for 18 hours, spend 10 hours walking around Moscow, and then we will board an overnight train.