This month has been a little bit different than what ministry the rest of the year will look like. For all of July our entire squad has been together. Normally we will split up in teams of 6 to 7 and partner with different ministries throughout the country. However, this month, all 55 members of R squad are together, working with a ministry called Lightforce International. The organization is a summer camp for kids between the ages of 6 and 15. The camp is free. Not one of the children’s families is required to pay for them to attend. You can see the blessing this camp has on these kids. Although the order of activities change each day depending on the day of the week, our days look a little something like this:
6 am Alarm rings. If it’s Monday, Wednesday or Friday, go running.
6:30 am If ran, shower
6:45 am Alone time with God
7:15 am Breakfast is served: 1 hard boiled egg, 1-2 pieces of bread with butter and either prune
or cherry jam.
8 am Read through Proverbs as a squad
9 am First activity with the kids: Archery
10:30 am Banana Snack
11 am Games
12 pm Bounce House
1 pm Lunch: Tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, bread and either stew, rice or noodles with goat
cheese.
1:30 pm Free Time
3:30 pm Croissant Snack
4 pm Story Time (since this is in Albanian our teams usually do Feedback at this time.
**Story time is when the kids are told about Jesus and His saving grace. They are told through stories, movies and books. This week each child was given a children’s Bible to take home with them as well. Because of the countries’ past, most of the children come from Muslim homes, however the parents knowingly send them to the Christian camp. We’ve been told that men are culturally pressured to remain Muslim as a form of honor, yet it seems there are many sending their children to this camp to understand otherwise.
4:30 pm Soccer or field hockey
5:30 pm Pool
7 pm Dinner: Tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, bread, fried bologna, rice and goat cheese (on
Fridays we are treated with chicken legs, homemade French fries and banana bread)
7:45 pm Squad worship and stories
9 pm Rinse off, get ready for bed, sleep
Each of our teams is paired with a camp team, and we follow them to each activity every day. Amidst the hustle and bustle of our entire squad together, it’s given our teams a chance to bond and given us a chance to bond with specific groups of kids. The kids are different each week. On Monday nights a new group comes. We get to know them by playing games all night long that night. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we rotate between archery, pool, climbing wall, field hockey, soccer, golf, tennis, games, and crafts. Besides the communication barrier, squatty potties, hand-washing clothes and cold showers, the camp feels pretty close to home. It’s been great starting the race in children’s ministry, something I have quite a bit of experience in, but I’m ready for the next few months. I’m ready to be split up with my team and dive deeper into cultures different from ours. God has already done some amazing things in our squad this month, and I know each month is only going to get better.
