On June 5-8, 2023, a Christian day camp “WAY” was held on the territory of the Rivne Lyceum “Ukrainian,” where Ruslana Kovalchuk, an employee of the mission Hope to People teaches Christian ethics. The participants of the camp were students of grades 5 and 6, and young Christians from the Community of the Good Shepherd church and the Grace Church in Rivne served as mentors. Please pray that the Word of God, sown in the hearts of children, will bear good fruit in their future lives!
The camp was held on the initiative of the director of the educational institution, Tetyana Andriivna Kukharchuk, and with the consent of the students’ parents. Initially, we expected 30-35 children in the camp, but the Lord brought more than 50 participants.
The program of the camp was titled “What is Your Path?” and was based on the Book of Jonah. We hope that each of the participants of the camp thought about what path they are choosing in their life.
We often think that there are many Christians in our country and most children are familiar with Bible stories. But, unfortunately, we also met such children who had never heard the story of Jonah or knew anything about it. Eventually, some children came to the conclusion that they too often disobey God and run away from His presence.
We do not know what the scenario will be next school year and whether these children will take Christian ethics classes, but we must pray for them and the teachers, because they also heard the story of Jonah during the Bible lessons held in their classrooms, as well as for the administration of the lyceum, so that they will continue to be open to cooperation.
This school day camp opened the season of camps run by our Christian Ethics Department. God willing, the following camps will be held from July 14 to 20 for children 12-14 years of age, and July 21-27 for teenagers 15-17 years old. From July 28 to August 3, an all-Ukrainian camp seminar for teachers and their children is scheduled. Pray for all these camps to take place!
Feedback from mentors:
“As I was preparing for this camp, I experienced certain fears, but I had a group of girls who were so eager to hear the Word and had many questions. Therefore, I ask you to pray that God will touch their hearts and that they will continue to seek God and come to know Him. Some girls asked if we had any other activities in the church, so I invited them to come to our floorball practice.”
Victoria Shlyakhta
“The children were very different as to their character, and I wondered how there could be such a contrast in one class. There were troublemakers, and there were those who tried to suck up to you. It was not easy with them, but it was interesting. These children know very little about God, let alone know God himself. They don’t know any stories from the Bible or who God is. They do not care about it and are just playing on their phones. Even before sports games, they are quite passive. And this is the problem of today’s children, of this generation. And what’s interesting is that we studied the Book of Jonah and asked them questions, and they know the right answers and say that they would not be disobedient like Jonah. But when I tried to apply it to their lives, they were reluctant to answer so quickly, because they understand that it is not that easy. And it was evident that the Word touched them and influenced them. We do not know what will happen next, but everything is in God’s hands. We try to do everything that depends on us and rely on God.”
Ilya Vakulko
“I was in charge of a group of girls – they were the youngest, from the 5th grade. And I am very surprised by the fact of what these children are like. I coach 4th-7th grade children in a floorball team and I often wonder how to approach them so that they could just hear me. But these children listened to everything, so I was surprised. Before the camp, I asked my friends to pray for this camp, and the children listened to the Word so attentively, and “grabbed a hold of it,” they were interested in it.
The camp program was conducted in the form of a journalistic investigation. The children asked many questions. One girl says after the following story, “Everything has turned upside down for me. I didn’t want to come here at all, but I reconsidered my life and I’m glad I came here.” Can you imagine this? She is from the 5th grade and she has already reconsidered her life! That’s cool! The children asked what had changed in my life when I began to learn more about God. And I shared it with them. I believe that the Word that is sown is not sown in vain.”
Diana Yarosevich
