Youth Camp 2010

Kent in the water

Youth camp was interesting from start to finish. We had decided it would be better for the camp to prepare ahead of time. SO instead of me having three services on Sunday and picking everyone up, my husband had two services, Katrina had the other service and Kent, Lena and I stayed at the youth camp site, rested on Sunday and tried to prepare for campers on Monday.

Sunflowers at the beach, a mark of Ukrainian culture.How did they get there? I haven't met a Ukrainian yet who doesn't like sunflower seeds. Here's how. Seeds are dropped and washed around by rain and water and end up in a line along the beach Shells are plentiful on Ukrainian beaches but not very big. The beach here was more cracked shells than sand.
We very much enjoyed seeing ships of all sorts headed out to the open sea. By Monday afternoon when the majority of the campers arrived, we had cleared out a weedy jungle and set up about 17 tents. This is what the girls' side looked like before campers arrived.
Another luxury was a "toilet tent" that we had found in Middleburg, PA. Katrina said it was like the Ritz Carlton.I liked the fluorescent zipper pull!
But we weren't there for just the scenery. We went to try to minister to youth for God. We were there for people like Vinya who put his heart and soul into camp, raised in a church family.
We were there for boys like Vanya, Ramon and Nadia's neighbor who hadn't away from home before, a fellow who was often by an adult's side with a different take on things.There were services.

The hills figured into one illustration very well. We were talking about walking on the edge between God and temptation or the world. It was a simple matter to walk on a bench down where we were. But putting a toddler on the bench on top of the hill was unthinkable. We as Christians are as small in the face of spiritual forces as the toddler and need to stay off the edge. Here two boys carry the bench up the hill.

There was rain. Shirt before the rain.

Shirt after the rain.

The rain closed our camp down.
One teenaged girl said youth camp made her think.

Another young man said that he wanted to bring his friends closer to God after youth camp.

Here are Anuta, Lena and Lyuba

Here's what Lena had to say:

Our youth camp this year the best youth camp I've ever been to. We played games, went swimming, climbed mountains, sang songs, acted, and spent time with our friends. One of the skits that meant the most to me, was the one where a girl and her boyfriend went separate ways. She went for drugs and alcohol, but he went for God. When Jesus came back they were separated. When she tried to be with him she couldn't because she chose the wrong way. It taught me that, we will suffer the consequences for doing the wrong thing. Pray that God will help me make the right decisions.