Saturday, June 30, 2007

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!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting


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

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooray! It's very good to hear from you and encouraging to know abou this summer's camping program. Much, much love....

Anonymous said...

I second the hooray! It is so good to hear from you all and see the wonderful pictures and hear the good news that the birthday pkg arrived!! Praise the Lord!! I do hope Will's gets there before too long, too! I did change the appropriate number in the address this time. And, we can't make the video clip go! Is there another way to access it? I know Abby and Anna are missing you all, as well!! Anna is playing a lot of weddings, Abby is nannying and is in the mts. this weekend with all the grad. girls from GBC. Lots of love to all!! Julie

Mrs said...

Thanks for all the updating! Praising God for His work in the lives of others through camp. So thankful the camp had the courage to make those boys leave, so they could experience forgiveness!

I'll try to find the bird you reqested later today. I actually started a birding blog. :-)

I'll tell Glenna to wipe the smile off her face, but I can't do anything about the cute part!

Mrs said...

I posted it here, Phyllis:

http://mrsjlw5birds.blogspot.com/2007/06/for-phyllis.html

It's beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Hi! I want to go to the bird blogsite! Is there any other way besides the address below? (It's not going through.)

I have a pair of Baltimore Orioles at my feeder now!! (They are not supposed to live around here!) And, we had a Peregrine Falcon sitting on our fence a couple of days ago! (We live about 5 min. from uptown Charlotte - high rise bldgs and all!) I would LOVE to see Mrs's blog! In Him, Julie

Anonymous said...

i don't know if its just my computer but the video dosen't seem to work

Phyllis said...

I replaced the video, but I'm thinking you just need to sit and let it load. If you have dialup, your connection may just be too slow.

Correction: I had thought that the camp the week before we visited was in the same location. They were actually closer to Teikovo, but it was the same kind of set up. Petrashes and Teikovo missionaries camped out, and the children from Teikovo, Kokhma, and the smaller Ivanovo church were bused out to them every day.