Summer camps update
Hope International Russian speaking Camp in Lativa.
From 2022 I have been taking care of around 20 Ukraine refugee kids who found their temporary shelter in Lithuania. I do not do a lot. I just get them Christmas parcels from Germany and in summer I take them to the Christian camp in Latvia. Most of the kids are not from Evangelical backgrounds so it is my evangelistic effort for them to hear the Gospel. What I am grateful for this year is that I felt the trust and thankfulness of their parents. They were very very thankful and willing to let the kids to the camp. Most of them were able to pay the full price this year and gave me some for traveling expenses.
The camp was wonderful I guess. I was driving them home. One girl was the first time camper at the Christian camp and she liked it and said: “Usually I don’t like camps but this one I loved!” She was so proud she got her own Bible at the camp. She has never had or read a Bible before. I asked another girl sitting next to me if she had her Bible. She said: “Yes, I got one last year, but I didn’t read it too much. It lays in dust and is waiting for me. I will start reading it again now.”
On the way back to Lithuania from Latvia my van broke badly - I lost a clutch pedal and one of the wheel bearings started to make a bad noise which was increasing. I didn’t want to disturb Sergey - he was tired and I didn’t have money to get a taxi or smth. I suggested to pray and ask God to help us get home safely. I took a picture of all the group praying about the situation. Praise the Lord I have made it back to Vilnius and even got back to Kaunas late at night.
Church kids’ camp in Klaipėda.
Church kids’ camp (8-12 year old) in July is always the grand evangelistic event of the year. I participated there with Youth Center kids for the 5th year. It’s a kind of anniversary, right? I thought to myself there should be some fruits already. And the fruits were just abundant.
15-16 year old volunteer helpers.
5 Youth Center kids (15-16 years old) were volunteer helpers at the camp!!! 5!!! They used to be at the camp as kids and now they are helpers. My heart was filled with joy, praise, and gratitude. Two of the girls have not made decisions to Jesus Christ yet, but they are still with the Youth Center and can’t say no to the Christian kids' camp. Alina and Ieva were helping with the food. Sending photos.
Dainius, Mindaugas, and Gabriele were helpers to small group leaders!!! This is a very important and responsible position both physically and spiritually. And they did a great job. Group leaders were so happy to have them as their helpers.
Gabriele is a girl who has lived with us under guardian care for 4 years now. She was not only a group leader's helper but also a worship leader. Amazing.
Dainius. (17 years old) lives at his sister. I have been caring for him and his problematic family for 10 years. I couldn’t help but cry with joy seeing how Dainius has grown spiritually this year. Dainius called Jesus to save him at the same camp last year. This year he was a real helper both physically and spiritually to other kids helping them to pray and teaching them spiritual truths. I was shocked hearing him pray so boldly and with faith. I mean he is not a church kid and doesn't attending a church regularly yet!!! I encourage him to come to church all the time but he came just 3 or 4 times only yet. All his spiritual growth was from the Youth Center and Christian camp activities only!!! He also said he would come to Church regularly now.
Mindaugas. (15 years old) is Dainius’ brother and lives at the orphanage.
He likes it there. Mindaugas has a big inner fight - he wants to be good but at the same time he wants to be worldly and tough like boasting about bad things and using bad language. He tried hard to fit in and be of help but he also needed a lot of spiritual help himself. I talked with him a lot encouraging him to choose God and our friendship instead of friends from the world. At the end of the camp, he said: “You know Mindis, I thought I would wake up earlier on Sundays and start attending church after the camp”. Praise God. As a bonus for his volunteering Mindaugas right away went to the youth camp “The Way”. He was touched by God and said he wanted to be baptized. And he was baptized at once :) Praise God. He said he would come back to my Youth Center and attend the church.
Other campers.
7 kids from the Youth Center were real campers - 6 boys and 1 girl. The girl lived on the second floor with a group leader. I lived with 6 boys and 2 helpers in one big room. It was a great experience. Three of the boys were first-year campers. This is always a special moment. Every evening we talked about the good things that the boys learned and what happened to them. Then we would all pray one by one. The boys who were not ready or didn’t want to pray just could say: “I will pray in my mind”.
When day activities would end kids could come and pray in front of all the campers. I noticed that only little girls were standing in line. I said to myself: “Oh no, what a shame. Where are the boys???” To my surprise, the next day there stood a Youth Center kid, a 12-year-old Marius, a first-year camper, who two days ago said his first prayer!!! And when he opened his mouth I couldn’t believe what I heard. What a miracle was that!
The other Youth Center kid Andrius (11 years old) said he saw a miracle. While worshiping the Lod in the meeting he saw a golden ring on one of the girl's head. He explained very in detail that it wasn’t like in the pictures above horizontally but it was vertically!!! How cool was that!!! I told him, that God opened his eyes and showed him this miracle so he would believe and love the Lord. He also said that he felt the touch of God multiple times during this camp and he said this: “Now I am a serious believer”. How wonderful was that!
The other Youth Center camper Jokubas (12 years old). In the evening we always went to a small shop to get some sweets or chips. They were picking up the dring. And one of the soft drink cans looked like it was a beer can, but it was just a soft drink. We had a discussion about it and I said: “The world wants to fool the kids and people that if you drink beer you are a tough man or a boy. And they want to hook boys from the youth”. Jokubas said: “Only with God we are tough and strong”. I praise the Lord for all these life-changing experiences.
These were great spiritual things that we have experienced.
I guess there can't be only food things in life.
After all the camps I came to Germany as planned with my son Augustas for two weeks as planed. I though I would spend some quality time with my boy, earn some extra money to repair the van and pay for camps (I have -1000Eur for the van repair and I still need to pay 500Eur for the camps, - few kids couldn't but I didn't find the sponsors), get things for school but my boss Markus has a problem with money and it might be for a long or forever. He owes me a lot. He has been drinking too much all the time and not managing well the documents and was denied the Government compensation for the flood, and banks do not talk to him friendly:)
I help my few contacts here and there but I guess it is my last trip here. I am a little sad but it might be the Lords leading. I loved to work 2 weeks and have full freedom to do what I wanted the next two months :)
Just recently I got another message - German supporters said they will send me 500EUr per month instead 1000Eur.
I will start looking for a part-time job in Lithuania when I come back.
Sometims I don't understand. When things start to become perfect things start to go down a little bit :)
I trust the Lord and I know He knows what's going on. I just need to trust and follow.
Please pray for me to clearly understand the Lords will.
God bless you
Attaching pictures form the camp.
How can you help?
Join the volunteer’s team this summer
Sponsor kids in the camp ($150/child)
Pray for Refugee Kids