Urgent Needs

Children's camps in Estonia

Brothers and Sisters, Beloved of God! Grace and peace to you from our Lord! When Jesus saw that his disciples were preventing the children from coming to Him, He said, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Mark 10:14). In July we held one more children's camp in Estonia. We are grateful to all who regularly support the ministry of the church "Hope". Many children have learned about the Savior here, and led their parents to God. We believe that by investing finances and time in the "least of these", we are fulfilling the command of Jesus Christ. We share with you a letter from Diana Mironova and Oksana Gudz, Sunday School teachers of "Hope" church, and believe that you will rejoice together with us in their success and blessings!

Estonian summers fly by very quickly, because there are only a few truly warm, clear days: only two weeks in July. Because of this we always hold our Christian summer camp in July. This year the children especially waited for camp - it was not just a simple one, but the jubilee camp - "Bethel 10"! Ten years ago the workers of "Bethel 1" were sitting late at night discussing the happenings of the day, and someone dreamingly said, "I wonder whether we will have a 'Bethel 10'? If only we could live until then!" Praise God that all of the workers who dreamed about the future of our camp lived until this wonderful day and were ready with joy to work at this camp. And finally the long-awaited day of departure came - July 8th. The children gathered by the church building long before the appointed time - they couldn't wait and wanted go to camp as quickly as possible. Only a few are accompanied by their parents, just those who are going for the first time. The other fathers and mothers already know that if their children are going to a Christian camp, they don't need to worry about them. They trust the church, and the church trusts God. We couldn't keep up with answering the questions of the children, "are we going far away? Is there a place to swim? Will it be interesting like last time?" We were able to answer "Yes!" to all of the children's questions, "Yes, we are going far away, to a very beautiful place, and it will be very interesting there." And only the Lord knows how difficult it was for us to find a place for camp this time� We visited so many Estonian camps before we found this beautiful place in the very heart of Estonia. There were small, cozy cabins, the main building had a dining room and auditorium for meetings, and there was a lake, and forest, and playground, and volleyball court. We were happy and grateful to God when we found this place, and the owner agreed to rent it for our kids. During the last few years these camps have been available only for rich Finish and Swedish tourists, and they did not want to have children there. And although we planned to hold the camp during the sunny days, it turned out differently than we expected - it rained the first day of camp. But what a joy it was when we sat all together at the first evening service and sang our camp song together, "I choose a Christian camp - here is fellowship with God, and here are my friends!"

From the very beginning of "Bethel 10", everything went differently than usual. We had planned to have two leaders for each group of children - one adult church member, and one young person. But it turned out that not all the adult workers were able to come to camp - some couldn't go, and others had unexpected circumstances arise, and had to return home. So only young workers were left for this ministry - those who repented themselves at camp, and who had by far not been the most obedient to their leaders when they were kids. For example, the leader of a group of boys - Sasha Hramtsov, who when he was a boy had caused the biggest problems, running away from camp into the forest each year. But now he didn't leave his pupils for a minute, lead great Bible lessons, resolved the boy's unavoidable conflicts, and helped them to become one team. And all the other leaders worked just wonderfully! It's amazing, but the strongest, most serious and deep, most well-prepared Bible lessons were at this camp. The subject of the camp was "Abraham - God's Friend", and we prepared for the lessons a long time before camp. As I listened to how the young leaders studied the Word of God with the children, I involuntarily began to think about Gideon, Nehemiah, and Daniel, whom the Lord chose for service from their youth�

Those who at first glance appeared to be weaker workers became the best team from all the camps. The second unexpected thing was that the best day of camp turned out to be the greyest and rainiest day. On this day the children had the opportunity to earn camp money - "viflendengi", in order to take part in an auction and obtain gifts to remember camp by and some things that belonged to their beloved leaders. It was amazing that the children bought things not for themselves, but for each other, and if someone didn't have enough money, right away there were others who wanted to help them and add some. The older children helped the younger children financially, and the younger children opened up their billfolds with their honestly earned camp money and offered, "I have two more 'viflendengi', who needs them?" There was a special atmosphere - we felt that we were one family. And that evening there was a wonderful meeting, at which we heard the testimonies of the children about what was valuable for them, and about what you can't buy with money: friendship, parent's love, and understanding� And the most important - forgiveness and salvation. The third pleasant unexpected thing was that for the first time for the whole history of our "Bethel" all the camp games went as planned, and even better - no one was let down and nothing went wrong, but everyone was pleased and grateful, which is very important.

We were also gladdened by the evening services, especially by the desire of the children to tell about God's mercies and blessings. Usually the kids are ready to take part in the meetings with singing and skits, but this time they asked, "May I tell a testimony?" I would like to tell about one of them in more detail. Alina (13 years old) was not at camp the first time, but she was always one of the girls who sometimes skipped Sunday School, preferring to go to visit someone or to a friend's party, and as it seemed, went light-heartedly through life, not especially thinking about it's purpose. And she is not from a family where the children would grow up to be devout - her father is often gone, her mother drinks, and her younger brother is a hooligan and gets bad grades. And suddenly this Alina told us, "Here at camp I began to think for the first time about the fact that Abraham was God's friend, but am I? What kind of relationship do I have with God? Who are my friends? Where are they leading me?" Alina repented on the day before last of camp, and said with tears of joy, "I can't and don't want to live without God. I only dream about one thing, that my whole family would become believers." Running ahead, I will say that her mother is coming more often to the services at church, and her younger brother Kiriel has not missed one lesson of Sunday School. Why has this happened? It's very simple - Alina's changed life has become the very best witness for her family. It is impossible to describe the whole camp in just a few words, but I will just say that our biggest joy and blessing is the repentance of the children.

For example, Igor Ishenko was at camp, whose father practically led him away from Sunday School a few years ago, intentionally taking his little son to the zoo, or on a trip, or somewhere else during the time of the Bible lessons. And the little boy grew up to be an unbelieving young person. But all these years his sister Veronica and the whole church have prayed for Igor. The fact that he agreed to go to camp was unexpected in and of itself, but when he sincerely repented before God - what a joy this was for everyone! And now Igor praises God in all the services at church singing with the young people. Among those who repented were some who came to camp for the first time. Memories of the wonderful evening when we prayed together with our children and thanked Jesus Christ for their salvation will always remain in the hearts of their leaders. This is the best reward for us for the work of the whole camp, for sleepless nights, for long hours of preparation for the camp. This is the best reward not only for us, but for those who helped us to hold this camp and generously gave for "Bethel 10". Praise God for each one who sent their mite for this blessed work! On the first lesson of Sunday School in September we asked the kids to write about the biggest blessing that they received this summer, and ALL of them answered the same, "Bethel 10"! After this can we even think about raising the question, "Are camps needed?" Dear brothers and sisters! Pray for our Sunday School and for a wonderful future for our "Bethels"!

This retreats for our children have been a great testimony for the non Christian families. Our kids have been strengthened in their faith every year coming back from these outdoor activities. Today the once young children, who accepted Jesus several years ago are leading others to Him. These are faithful workers now, who help us to conduct all the services and sports during the camps. Our church is small and we need your support to do this ministry this upcoming summer. Please help us if you can.

With gratitude
pastor Vladimir Pchelnikov.

If you would like more information about New Fields ongoing ministry there, please contact us at info@newfields.org

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Thank you for supporting our ministry and may God reward your giving according to His riches and grace!