Hello from Samara!
Today we left from the youth camp we've been at this past week. It was a sad good-bye as we got pretty attached to some of the people there.
I was overwhelmed by their love, warmth and openness with us.
The Russian believers are such passionate, genuine people who just love the Lord and are seeking hard after Him!
Here is an outline of a typical day at ESL Camp:
8am- wake up, read and pray to prepare my heart for the day! Shower in cold, dark showers (IF the water is working) or else use hand wipes to feel some what clean! Hope and pray the toilets are working that day....
9am- breakfast. eat porridge, (hope there is eggs), stale bread, and some weird warm fruit juice. (Typical bad camp food, just like America :)
10am- First session. Gospel is shared boldly. Worship with Russian believers was so great! Love singing in different languages the same some of praise to God.
11:30ish- ESL lessons begin! LOVED this part. They were so enthusiastic about learning English, we had a lot of fun in my class, and i actually really enjoyed teaching (which is different for me). I had level 3 students who knew some English, could communicate a little, but not well.
Free time- Talk with some kids, play around, prepare for lessons, etc.
2:00pm -Lunch. Not the best meal of the day, ate some bread, hoped they had the yogurt stuff. Sit at a table with new kids, try to communicate, if you can't, just smile and use sign language! :)
Free Time- sleep, eat food you have in the room because you couldn't eat the lunch, or go swim in the Volga river.
4pm- GAMES. They LOVED the games. Russians are very competitive, and they really get into the whole team spirit thing! The team names this year were...Chicken Wings, Cheese Popcorn, Yellow Blue Bus, and Crazy Turtles. hehehe
Dinner at some point....I usually slept through this....
8pm- Evening session. Gospel again clearly presented. Our theme verse this week was 2 Cor 5:21 They preachers were great, pastors from all the churches involved with the camp spoke, and it was translated to us....which was sometimes really hard to follow if you weren't sitting close enough to the translator, but what I got out of the sermons was great. It was so gospel centered; it was refreshing to me to hear it again and again!
10pm- Small groups. They would break up into church groups to discuss the message, ask questions, sing worship songs or play games, drink tea and have snacks. (Russians have some awesome sweets!! definitely gaining weight...) hehe
I think the small group time and ESL lessons were my favorite part of the day. I could work one on one with people during and after ESL, get to know them more, have good conversations, and also just have fun with them doing the activities with them in class.
Small groups were so encouraging to me to see their dedication to God, hear them be so open and honest with each other about their spiritual life and struggles, and also just worshiping with them was so beautiful!
There were a lot of unbelievers there, and many good conversations with them about God, the gospel, grace, eternity, etc. We are pretty sure of at least 3-4 kids who received Christ as their personal savior during the week, and several others that seemed so open, and so close! Please be praying for their salvation, that God would draw them to Himself. It is NOT "cool" to be a Christian in Russia, it's hard, and they are scared of being looked down on and having to give up their old way of life. Pray they would realize the hope and joy found in Christ far outweighs any earthly pleasure. Pray they would have a saving fear of God, they wouldn’t let their fear of man keep them from giving their lives to Christ!
I will post another blog or two with pictures, more details about Russia, and some stories when I get home to the States.
Thank you all for your prayers. It's been quite an experience here, hard at times, but so worth it! God is so good, and greatly to be praised!
Today we left from the youth camp we've been at this past week. It was a sad good-bye as we got pretty attached to some of the people there.
I was overwhelmed by their love, warmth and openness with us.
The Russian believers are such passionate, genuine people who just love the Lord and are seeking hard after Him!
Here is an outline of a typical day at ESL Camp:
8am- wake up, read and pray to prepare my heart for the day! Shower in cold, dark showers (IF the water is working) or else use hand wipes to feel some what clean! Hope and pray the toilets are working that day....
9am- breakfast. eat porridge, (hope there is eggs), stale bread, and some weird warm fruit juice. (Typical bad camp food, just like America :)
10am- First session. Gospel is shared boldly. Worship with Russian believers was so great! Love singing in different languages the same some of praise to God.
11:30ish- ESL lessons begin! LOVED this part. They were so enthusiastic about learning English, we had a lot of fun in my class, and i actually really enjoyed teaching (which is different for me). I had level 3 students who knew some English, could communicate a little, but not well.
Free time- Talk with some kids, play around, prepare for lessons, etc.
2:00pm -Lunch. Not the best meal of the day, ate some bread, hoped they had the yogurt stuff. Sit at a table with new kids, try to communicate, if you can't, just smile and use sign language! :)
Free Time- sleep, eat food you have in the room because you couldn't eat the lunch, or go swim in the Volga river.
4pm- GAMES. They LOVED the games. Russians are very competitive, and they really get into the whole team spirit thing! The team names this year were...Chicken Wings, Cheese Popcorn, Yellow Blue Bus, and Crazy Turtles. hehehe
Dinner at some point....I usually slept through this....
8pm- Evening session. Gospel again clearly presented. Our theme verse this week was 2 Cor 5:21 They preachers were great, pastors from all the churches involved with the camp spoke, and it was translated to us....which was sometimes really hard to follow if you weren't sitting close enough to the translator, but what I got out of the sermons was great. It was so gospel centered; it was refreshing to me to hear it again and again!
10pm- Small groups. They would break up into church groups to discuss the message, ask questions, sing worship songs or play games, drink tea and have snacks. (Russians have some awesome sweets!! definitely gaining weight...) hehe
I think the small group time and ESL lessons were my favorite part of the day. I could work one on one with people during and after ESL, get to know them more, have good conversations, and also just have fun with them doing the activities with them in class.
Small groups were so encouraging to me to see their dedication to God, hear them be so open and honest with each other about their spiritual life and struggles, and also just worshiping with them was so beautiful!
There were a lot of unbelievers there, and many good conversations with them about God, the gospel, grace, eternity, etc. We are pretty sure of at least 3-4 kids who received Christ as their personal savior during the week, and several others that seemed so open, and so close! Please be praying for their salvation, that God would draw them to Himself. It is NOT "cool" to be a Christian in Russia, it's hard, and they are scared of being looked down on and having to give up their old way of life. Pray they would realize the hope and joy found in Christ far outweighs any earthly pleasure. Pray they would have a saving fear of God, they wouldn’t let their fear of man keep them from giving their lives to Christ!
I will post another blog or two with pictures, more details about Russia, and some stories when I get home to the States.
Thank you all for your prayers. It's been quite an experience here, hard at times, but so worth it! God is so good, and greatly to be praised!
1 comment:
Hi karen!
I read your blog and enjoyed your pics. I will pray for you and the souls you minister to.
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