This camp took a little bit longer for us to connect with the
kiddos, but that’s because there were just so many of them! We had
about 100 kids by the second night, and well over 200 by the last
night.
My
Ukrainian brothers! Alexei and Gene– I love these boys, I had SO much
fun with them; it is obvious that the Lord has set them both apart for
something great.
Gene took this one– it’s blurry but I LOVE it.
It
was a little overwhelming and weird when dozens of Ukrainian kids are
running up to you, asking for you to autograph their magazines, their
Bibles, even their arms or faces. Matt wrote a great blog about it here
I don’t know what Garrett is doing in this picture; probably looking for a pen and feeling overwhelmed– it’s awesome 🙂
These
boys were precious– the one NOT looking at the camera is the one I
connected with the most, his name is Slavik. I hardly spoke to him but
there was just something about him that was different, like he was set
apart somehow, and it was kind of captivating!
This
is Nadia– I jokingly called her my “leech” because at all times she
was clutching onto my arm or hugging me in some way. The first night
she was very standoffish. She thought we were crazy and kinda wanted
nothing to do with us. Throughout the week she snuggled up to us more
and more, and by the last night she was not willing to let us leave–
it was amazing!
One really cool thing about this week was that on Friday night we
invited all the kids to come hang out with us at the local church. We
had tea and snacks and gave our testimonies and talked, but more than
anything we were excited just to get them in the church. It was
important for them to see how accessible and welcoming this church was.
The pastor has a huge heart for his area, and there is an AMAZING youth
group that reached out like crazy during the camp to make connections
with all the kids. They made our jobs so much easier and reassured us
that the ministry would not stop just because we left. The Lord is
moving in that church, and I hope someday to go back and visit all of them!
