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Friday, 30 July 2010
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Sergej Garkusha - July 2007 Update PDF Print E-mail
Most of my time I dedicated to carrying out the youth camp this summer. There were many things that had to be done before the campo as well as after it. The most of the work certainly had to be done during the camp. I have already written that I was the director of the camp. I need to admit that I better like to be a leader in a group of teenagers or young people instead of being the director of the camp. The position I held was very much connected with the responsibility we took for the children of the camp before their parents. The pressure and excitement that I had when the kids arrived at the camp left me only when they went home after the camp. Of course during the period of camp there were not only some difficulties but also joy, and satisfaction and positive mood too.

I had formed the team of the staff members of the camp already several months before the camp started. It was not very easy to do as I had to form a group of people from two churches. There are people at church but there are not many people who want to serve throughout a whole week and do it without any salary. Nevertheless, the Lord made it possible to happen and for us to have the necessary number of people. We also had a group form the States who came with Pavel Minkov to help us in at the camp. The mission "Hope" of which Pavel is in charge sponsored the camp. As always we were concerned about the number of children that would come to the camp. The churches and the staff of the camp were praying for that and as a result of that there were 80 girls and boys in the camp. Most of them were the children that attend our churches. They had been coming to AWANA courses and to the Sunday school of our church. We had a wonderful company of children. Of course there were children who took part in this kind of a camp first time in their lives.

From the very first day we had a friendly atmosphere in the camp. There were joy and fun in every activity that we did. Andrey Sisenis was the pastor of the camp and he did a good job concerning the spiritual part of the camp. He made up the whole program and he was preaching during the morning and evening services. The group leaders were leading the bible studies in the groups. The culmination of the every day in the camp was the evening service during which the most active ones during the activities of the day were rewarded and many other interesting things were done. We were also showing a video about the events of the day and we took part in the worship and listened to the sermon. We had planned that Pavel would take part in the evening service of the fifth day in the camp. He preached and Zhenja Borzilov shared his testimony.  Just in that evening God touched our hearts and it became the culmination of the camp and it was the evening remembered by people after the camp. After the sermon, there was a call for repentance. Almost all the youth that was in that tent moved towards the front of the stage. There were many prayers and tears of repentance. We were meditating about the Lord and about eternity. He was talking to many young men and young women. I cannot tell who converted for sure who did not but I can definitely say that there was the presence of the Holy Spirit that evening. We did not leave the place for a long time. We went to sleep that night far after the midnight. Some of the young people were sitting by the camp fire having fellowship, singing and sharing testimonies. The morning service of the next day was a continuation of the evening service of the previous day. We were so touched by that event. The morning worship was twice longer as the children kept singing and singing. The thing that we had gathered the children for was happening and we were the witnesses of it. I was just crying seeing all that. The only disappointment for me was the fact there were not my two songs among those who repented and prayed. Maxim and Kostja were also in that tent but did not react to the call to repent. Though, I hope that there was something happening in the heart of each of them.

I also want to add some more information to the insight about the camp. There were children not only from Liepaja but also form other towns and cities of Latvia. There were people form Ventspils, Riga and other towns form Liepaja's region. There was a girl, Katja, who camp to the camp for the first time and she was from Riga. She was asking many questions to Andrey and I was also talking with her. She is 23, she was the only adult among the teenagers, and she was very serious concerning everything. And as I understood from her words she made the decision to live for Christ.

The camp took place only for a week, from the 15th of July till the 21st. Though, I think that the children as well as we will have impressions form it for a very long time. Now is a very important time of the after-camp work that has to be carried out. I gathered together everyone who wants to work in this field and we were talking about the opportunity of starting a youth club fir the youth to be able to develop their interest and to grow spiritually. So, we started to make some steps towards the realization of this plan, and Andrey and I are going to be in charge of it. When we offered the plan everyone was so excited but later we found out that not everyone really wants to be involved in it.

Of course, I have not forgotten about the church where I am pasturing. None of the services were carried out without me. The only exception was the time when I was at the camp. We still keep settling all the formalities of the purchasing the building of the church. The process is not that quick as I first thought. Each of the documents takes weeks and sometimes even some moths. The most important step had been taken and we are the owners of the facilities. And we are very grateful to the Lord and to you my dear brothers and sisters for that. Unfortunately, we do not know many of you, though, we are praying for those whom we know and for those people that we do not know yet.

Plan for August: We want to develop the work with the teenagers after the camp, I want to reconsider our inner world and the world around us in order to change the existing situation (lack of growth, weak activity of the members of the church in the spiritual life of it, difficult relations).
 
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