The educational branch of IPO “Hope to people” collaboratively with the Second Presbyterian Church of Memphis held the Christian soccer camp on 09.07 through 18.07.2016 at Polyana of Carpathians region for students, graduates of boarding schools of Rivne region with the participation of students from Nikopol and friends from Thailand. We prayed a lot about the arrival and of getting visas for our friends. Again God has done a miracle, and our friends finally came to Ukraine. The Lord gave us a lot of blessings in our time with friends from Thailand, America, and Nikopol (small town in South of Ukraine).
This blessed Christian soccer camp in the Transcarpathian region has gone by, just in a flash. The messages by brothers John and Mo were so clear and pithy at the same time, that they cut to our hearts and prompted us to deep self-examination of our past. The testimonies of Yut, Ern, Eli, Toon, Mo, Benjamin, Marilyn were speaking out loud of how they lived their lives before their reconciliation with God, in comparison to their way of living right now, and how God bless them.
All students were broken down in teams: England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Ukraine. Each team had its own flag. An every new day was beginning with a prayer and reading of God’s Word in the each team. At the first part of the day, after the devotional and corporate worship, we had two training sessions, and in the afternoon, after an excursion or a trip to the geysers we held some interesting games. In the evening was a preaching and brief summary of the day. The Bible lessons were associated with sports training and unfolding the Gospel, at the end of the lesson they had to memorize the particular Bible verse and then publicly recite it in the morning before the rest of the campers. Whatever activity was taking place in the camp from the morning till night everyone has been getting the points, and in the end there has been held an interesting game with the taking stock of it. In the leisure time the guys have played different sports games. The tennis tournament took place too, and winners received prizes and sweets. At the lessons of needlework guys could have done for their friends and relatives bracelets and other gifts.
We found out of the positive feedbacks the following:
“I had such a beautiful opportunity to see the Carpathians for the first time, I’m so thankful to God for it and to people who organized this camp.”
“After this camp, I want to attend a small group of Bible study.”
“Everything was awesome, I will pray so that I could come back here again.”
“I found a lot of new friends.”
“Testimonies of my friends touched my heart, and I wondered who my God is?”
“In this camp, God made me stop, and think about where do I go?”
“I liked the food and staying in the rooms.”
“For the first time I saw the thermal waters and bathed in them.”
“It was for first time in my life that I had so many friends present on my birthday celebration.”
“I praised God when I saw the Mountains shrouded in smoke.”
God has given us new friends, and we praise Him for it. The Christian soccer camp was really fun and joy for everyone. Once again we’ve seen with our own eyes how God humbles the hearts of the teenagers. Thankfully to Jesus in this camp 3 persons were reconciled to God. We ask you please sustain us in prayers for the further friendship and new meetings in the next 2017.
Valentina Bondarchuk
