The main focus of our time in Ukraine was holding two Bible camps for mostly elementary school aged kids. Our team of twelve split into two teams of six in order to hold camps in two different locations. The camp I was a part of averaged around fifty-five to sixty children a day, so it was fortunate that we had help from several translators and church leaders. After an opening session every day that included a song, a puppet show (The Incredible Adventures of Grandpa and Monkey!), and our Bible verse of the day, the campers enjoyed rotating through Bible story, music, crafts, American culture, and games.
The core curriculum was designed by Baptists on Mission and tied the gospel story to five different American holidays. On day one, we taught the creation story and tied it into American Thanksgiving. Day two was the story of the fall of Adam and Eve with the truth that God still loves us. This connected with Valentine’s Day. Day three was Christmas and that, of course, corresponded to Jesus’ birth. Day four was Easter and the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Day five connected American Independence Day with freedom in Christ.
Every day we would decorate for that theme and holiday. One of our team members brought some banners for each day which we displayed altogether at the closing program – here’s a photo of those along with some of our other decorations through the week.
On Saturday, we presented a closing program where the children sang several songs they had learned in English and several children said one of the week’s Bible verses from memory. I got the opportunity to preach and presented the gospel story that I had taught the kids that week to all of the family members . One highlight of the program was the song “Jesus Loves Me.” The kids already knew this song in Hungarian, so my wife Jeana taught it to them in English and in the program they sang it once in Hungarian, once in English, and then the kids sang it in Hungarian at the same time the team sang it in English.
After the program, we enjoyed a community lunch featuring traditional Hungarian goulash which had been cooked in a cauldron all morning. It was delicious and very hot!
The camp went great and at the end, we gave each camper a gift bag with school supplies and some clothes. I really enjoyed the kids that we had and hope that they learned a lot about Jesus’ love for each one of them.
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