Last Thursday, July 26, the team left Horizont camp. We were all tired, looking forward to clean, private showers. Yet we were all sad to leave the children, to say farewell to our 3 interpreters, who had become our friends over the past 2 weeks. It was also not easy to say goodbye to the team members at Helsinki airport! Karalyn was first to leave for Frankfurt on her first leg back to Australia . Peter West and Andrew left for Heathrow for a short holiday in England . Natalie left with them to begin her 6 months of travel in Europe . Anne, Jan and I left for Holland together and parted at Schiphol. Jan and Anne will spend a few weeks with Jan's dad and I am spending a few days with relatives and will return home on Wednesday 2am!!
I wil try to tell you a little of our experience in Horizont, but first of all on behalf of the team, I want to thank you for all your interest and especially your prayers over these few weeks. We rely on your prayers, because we cannot do this work without it and we certainly cannot do it on our own, only in God's strength and guidance!
This year was different than other years (No one trip will be the same, I am sure!!) in that we already knew the conditions as well as some of the staff and children. We were pleasantly surpised by the eagerness and warmth with which we were welcomed. Our accomodation had been lovingly prepared with new towels on the bed and this showed by the pride they showed when they took us inside our little house! Yes, we were blessed with our own little place where we could have some good devotion times as well as programme planning and relaxation away from the busyness of the camp. Jan and Anne had a small room on their own, we had a larger room for the 5 female team members, our own toilet, a little kitchen and a small sunroom/ meeting area. The men were housed in the big yellow building in the main camp area. We were also blessed with our own craft room in the camp. Mind you, the conditions were Russian style, very run-down and not easily cleaned... it always takes new team members some time to adjust, but those that have been before just shake their heads!!... It takes new team members also some time to get used to the communal showers, as well as to the mud and smell of the shower buildings!!! We were very close to the shower building this year, as well as to the coal heap/ fumes and rubbish burning area... you win some and lose some... all comes with the experience!!!
Another huge blessing was our team of interpreters: Natalie and Ira we met last year. They are very committed Christian women with a huge love of the children and a passion to spread the Gospel among their Russian people. Then we had Vitalik, a Christian young man with a natural love for children and young people.... we think a youth pastor in the making. Please pray for him! All 3 are wonderful people and we parted as friends. Nothing was too much for them, they really were part of the team in every way in such a way that they did not even want to take their entitled days off!!
Our program was very busy and we were amazed at what we could do and say! They were very open to us talking about the Gospel and about God. We came just before the end of the 2nd "term". We were asked to hand out Bibles to all the children on the 1st Friday and Saturday we were there, 1 group at the time. This way the camp staff was sure that all the children leaving camp that Sunday would have a Bible! Then the next Tuesday and Wednesday, when the next groups were settled into camp, we presented the gospel colour story in the form of a "worm"pencil for the little ones and a phone tag for the teenagers. At the same time we then gave Bibles to all the new children. We handed out well over 300 Bibles and Bible story books to the children and staff members!!! Vitalik took a number of them to his church to be used in their outreach ministry and the rest will be stored in a container and will be used by another pastor during the year.
Every other activity we did with the children had a simple message about God. We also did the dental hygiene program with the youngest 3 groups and gave each one a toothbrush and toothpaste. With the older groups we had sessions on the dangers of drug/ alcohol/ smoking. All of it was appreciated and welcomed by most of the staff and they expressed this on the last evening during a staff party in honour of us! During this time we all received an official invitation to return next year! I was asked to come and join the camp for the entire 3 month summer break....But I think not!!!
There is so much more I can tell you, but it will need to wait until I have sorted photos and thoughts!!! I will finish with a few more final points:
We met a few muslims in the camp and they actually sought us out. We were able to build friendships with them and give them Bibles. Please pray for them!
There was one orphan group we had met last year. The children were keen to be with us, but their leaders were quite anti and tried to stop them, yet we were able to love them and re-build friendships. These children were the most heart wrenching of our time thete... it was so hard to leave them behind. Many are so sad, so angry, so seeking love and attention! Writing this still brings tears to my eyes!
Team unity was good, of course not perfect, but we had a great time working together..... much fun also in playing cards together.. much laughter, rivalry and always trying to unseat the "president"of the time... the interpreters were all part of that fun. They even allowed the old team leader to join... much to their dismay, she too was president a few times!!!
We were able to worship for some time with Ira in the Orthodox church during our visit to St Petes and later in the day in Natalie's church. There we were also able to introduce ourselves and I was invited to tell of our work in the camps. Then the pastor prayed for us and our work in the camp. It was such a blessing to worship with them in their churches!
Please keep the team in your prayers. It is always a time of adjustment and we do miss that close bond we have as a team in the camp. We also miss the children! The interpreters find it difficult to settle back home again as well and they too miss the friends they made among the team members.
Once again, thank you for all your support!
with love,
Jenny
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