Camp!

A boy and his frog
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

Just one photo from our day at camp.

Yesterday Ivan came and picked us up for the last day of Viazniki children's camp. It was wonderful to see him, his family, the camp team, and what they're doing this year with the children. They set up camp in a beautiful birch forest outside the city on the bank of a lake. The Petrash family camped there, and the children and councillors were bused out and back every day. Last week was for children from Viazniki. The week before that, they brought in children from a few other cities. That week, on the last day they invited parents and ended up with more than 70 people all together, counting all the children and their guests! Please keep praying for the camp ministry, since next week will be a youth camp there.

For me, what showed how well the camp ministry is going this year was that three boys showed up on their own yesterday. They had been asked to leave and not come back for bad behavior on Thursday, but they couldn't stay away. On Friday the three of them rode out on two bicycles, and it was quite a long trip for them! They took part in everything while we were there, and at the closing ceremonies, they were some of the first to step up, say their thanks. . . and ask for forgiveness. That's just one story. There are always many like that in a summer of camp.

As far as our own family, Jaan and Raia loved being at camp! Jaan would have stayed in the water all day long. Raia liked having a bunch of girls to wait on her hand and foot. I don't think she would have needed to take a step on her own all day long, if she hadn't wanted to; they wanted to carry her everywhere. Both children joined groups and took part in the Bible stories, singing, swim times and all. I made friends with a little boy by catching frogs with him. Jaan took his frog away from him, so I had to help him catch another, and then we just got stuck down by the water, having too much fun. When we got into the city that night, I found out that my little friend lives next door to the Petrashes, and he was thrilled to see me again.

For those of you who are missing camp this year (like me!), I'm trying to upload all our photos from yesterday. We'll see how many go through before I get offline here. They'll be at this address.

Oh, while I've been online, I also uploaded a video from Raia's birthday. This is Jaan and Raia singing happy birthday (in Russian). Their musical skills, grammar and pronunciation leave much to be desired, but they sure are cute!

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(Keep reading. I also posted what I wrote last week and didn't have a chance to post then.)