From June 12 to 18, 2023, employees of the sports department of the Christian Mission Hope to People held a military-related camp for boys aged 8 to 12 years.
The title of the camp was “God Is the Warrior.”
The goal of the camp was to instill in youth a patriotic attitude based on the Word of God.
In the camp, there were 27 children and 7 adults (4 coaches and 3 persons who worked in the kitchen).
“This year’s camp was completely different from last year’s, although the location was the same (it is a hidden location in a dense forest somewhere on a farm in the Radyvyliv district).
We were divided into 4 teams, which included fighters of different ages, combat training, and morale. I was, of course, on the best team called – Happy! Most of the time, we trained, competed, studied, communicated, learned to shoot accurately, rescued wounded on the battlefield, and shared a lot of food, so basically, we did not have time for quarrels… and this is a good thing. We were fighters in the field (forest).
We always smelt some tasty smells from the kitchen, which somewhat distracted us from military training. Fighters were constantly attacked by enemy drones of the “Mosquito” system and were saved from them by air defense of the “Raptor” system. But it only worked in a small area, and was not always effective, so we had to use the new secret bioweapon “Pea Soup with Crackers” J
And we also had a legal reshuffling of power for 1 day. We learned how to correctly conduct transparent and fair elections of the government. We also learned to think about how to nominate a presidential candidate and whom to trust. Under the watchful guidance of the coaches, this event took place and we got a new young and promising president. Everyone was excited!
The old management was sent to the kitchen to do some community service (doing dishes and peeling potatoes), like in a real army.
Bible lessons were held daily, where we learned to live according to the Word and be God’s soldiers, serving God and our neighbor.
In general, the camp was fun and went very well. Despite the constant rain, we played enough soccer/football, learned enough, ate enough healthy food, and gained enough strength. I hope to come to such a camp again next year.”
“In the camp, I got into the David’s Family unit. And in this unit, I went from a junior sergeant to a sergeant. We had various cool games and held the Champions League. Our kitchen was the best!
Unfortunately, it rained a lot in the last few days, but we didn’t get bored because we got into playing a fun game “Make the Comedian Laugh.” When we were going home, our bus got stuck in the mire, but we managed to pull it out.I had an unforgettable time thanks to our coaches: Uncle Sasha, Uncle Tom, Uncle Dima, and Uncle Andrii. Thank you, guys!”
“Time of X has arrived. Things were already collected. This morning I got up earlier than usual because I was looking forward to it. Arriving at the gathering place, I realized that not only I was looking forward to this day, everyone was gathered and ready to leave at exactly 10:00 a.m. (Uncle Sasha was stumped). It did not take us too long to get to the campground, since we played and joked along the way.
After we were accommodated, we had a toss-up to figure out who was on which team, and I ended up on the “God’s Warriors of Ukraine” team with the call sign “Marzipan.” Unfortunately, we got disappointed in the first football match, but after getting ourselves together, we played better in the following matches. In the end, we got 3rd place.
Uncle Sasha was responsible for military training. I didn’t get a sniper’s license, but I shot with different types of weapons. It was an invaluable experience. In general, the time in the camp has gone by quickly and interestingly.
An unexpected moment was the election of the President of the camp and the game of young, promising, and valuable football players against no less experienced coaches. Although we lost, I still scored a goal. Anyways, we experienced so much fun – it was an amazing time!
Thanks to the coaches for the interesting games and Bible lessons, the cooks for the delicious meals, and especially “Gypsy” for the incredible snoring at night that scared away the mosquitoes!!!”
“The camp was very exciting! We found the trail of spies and Russians, shot enemies with HIMARS, tried to expose a spy named “Ball,” who played in the Champions League, and played football against the coaches. We rescued the wounded and took them to the hospital because Ukrainians do not leave their wounded soldiers behind. We were reminded that victory comes from God’s hand and that we are not that cool even when we win. We also had the opportunity to recall such biblical heroes as Gideon, David, Elisha, Joab, and Abishai.
Thank you for such eventful holidays together!”
