Neighborhood Day Camp (and a squashed rat)

The kids were grouped into teams for a creative time. 
This day they made animals out of duct tape (above is a bird).

     In July we helped our church put on a day camp in our neighborhood.  Over 120 kids came this week, God protected the weather during the exact hours of the camp, and kids as well as parents heard a lot of truth and had a lot of fun!

 

     Each day we had a time for sports and organized games.  Leif was the sports instructor and he did a great job!

 
          This year I was asked to help sing songs at the camp.  I was a little hesitant, as I was also making lunch each day for the workers at our home and I wasn't sure how hard it would be to juggle both.  But it turned out to be a blessing to firsthand be a part of the camp and to see the kids' faces.  One day I was particularly touched when I looked out and realized that all of these kids were singing of God's great love and power. 

Acting out the parable of the Good Samaritan

    On this day, the kids were broken into groups and each group acted out a parable from the Bible.  They had about 10 minutes to practice together, and then one child was chosen from each group to read the passage while the others acted it out.  I was also really blessed to watch this, as I know that these stories will stay with these kids for many years to come!

     Each day, our team performed powerful skits depicting important spiritual truths.  I didn't get any pictures at the day camp, but this was the group practicing one day to the song "Set Me Free".

A Relay Race with Toilet Paper

Ella and Anneka were there each day, and they both really enjoyed it!

     Ike was with me at home for part of the time, helping "cook".  Then we walked to the sports square when it was time for me to sing and he participated in the program with the kids for the second half. Anneka did a great job of welcoming him into her group and leading him where he needed to go.  (one day he stayed home with Inka while I sang, and that was special for him, too!)

Ike, sitting on Leif's lap during the message time.

     Each day there was a short Biblical message for the kids, too.  Our pastor, Sasha was encouraged because he gave the kids homework each day, and they returned the following day, telling him that they'd done it... things like thanking their parents for giving them life or asking forgiveness to someone that they'd wronged.  It was neat to see them applying the messages to their lives.  

     Leif connected with the kids and enjoyed little breaks of being able to talk with them.

     Here's the crew that ate at our home each day for lunch (workers and their own kids).  We had between 25 and 30 people each day.

Ike ate on the floor in the kitchen next to me to save room at the tables.  He's my little buddy!

Doesn't his x-ray remind you of a dinosaur?

     In the middle of the week, we had a little accident with our rat.  Someone in our family (who will remain nameless) accidentally sat on him one afternoon.  Ratty Pie was in bad shape and we rushed him to the vet.  He was hardly moving and didn't eat or drink for 2 days.  He was kept alive through prayers and glucose shots.  Thankfully he pulled through and began perking up after we offered him some mashed potatoes.  What a relief!  Now he is doing well and back to his normal self.  For 2 vet visits, an x-ray, and multiple shots, we paid less than $10.  We asked Leif's brother how much that would have cost in the states (as he is a veterinarian himself) and he said easily as much as $500!  We're so thankful he pulled through.  We certainly weren't expecting that in the middle of everything else!

Here are a few more pictures from the day camp...

We thank God for a wonderful week and pray that the seeds planted will grow a hundredfold!

English Club on Baikal

Our dear friend, Elaine, did an amazing job with beginner English speakers!!

     Even though the team we had hoped would come to help us from America dwindled down to one person, and even though it rained more than we've ever seen rain in Buryatia, and even though not everyone was able to stay at the camp until the end..... we still call "English Camp on Baikal" a smashing success!  Our theme this year was the Olympics (inspired by the games in Rio).  We divided the campers into discussion groups appropriate for their language levels.  I loved being able to sit in on Elaine's group.  I learned a lot from her, as she's a very fun and gifted teacher. 

 
      Here was our group, trying to get out of a human knot!  This was a good activity for learning basic words like "over, under, down, through", etc.


     We also can competitions between 4 teams (pretend countries) with relays and various water games.  Everyone really got into it and had a great time!  Leif and Dave thought up some very creative relays, that's for sure!

 
          The second day of camp was the most beautiful day we've ever seen on Lake Baikal- sunny and warm enough to want to swim... and the water didn't even feel that cold!  That day we really enjoyed playing sports on the beach and having games in and near the water.

Water Volleyball on That Perfect Day

 
     Each evening we had a program with songs and skits.  Some of the skits were silly (like this one!) and others shared powerful spiritual truths.


     We also had a different person each evening share their story of what God has done in their lives.  These were all translated into either English from Russian or Russian from English so that people could fully understand and sharpen their language skills.

      One evening we played the movie Chariots of Fire for those who were interested.  We used Russian subtitles along with the English, as it's a bit of a difficult movie to understand otherwise!  This movie created some interesting conversations later.


     In the mornings when our leadership team got together to pray, the kids enjoyed warming themselves by the fire.



     After the most blissful day on Baikal ever, the rain began.  It poured and poured and poured with no reprieve.  We met in tents and under tarps for our groups.  The most amazing thing about the rain to me is how everyone had great attitudes!  And it many ways, it brought us all closer together and created more room for conversations and being together.  Before the week began, I began praying for good weather, and I really felt like God was telling me instead to pray for contentment.  Of course, I didn't particularly like this answer, but I still prayed it.  And I truly felt that we were all content!  What a gift.

Playing the game UDog in a tent during free time

     Another game of UDog under the tarps. 

 
      We had tables under these tarps for our meals.  I can't say we stayed totally dry, as the rain was so hard that it dripped through the tarps.  But we didn't get totally soaked either!  The team in the kitchen made meals that had a North American flare, which was delicious for us and interesting for people to try new things.

 

 The van worked as another dry place for people to congregate.

Chess is a huge game here!  

 

Apparently Ella learned how to play chess in kindergarten!

     Everyone in the camp worked throughout the week on memorizing a Bible verse.  I was amazed that by the last day each person could recite it!  Here, people were practicing in their discussion group.

     Most people enjoy the time of singing songs.  We sang both Christian praise songs as well as some other fun ones like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Lean on Me".

     For some, it was their first time to roast marshmallows and eat s'mores! 

     The last night it was really special to hear people share the things that they are taking with them from the camp.

     Our little Ella, never wanted her shoes or her coat and worried all of the Russians. 

     Of course, we only remembered to take a group picture on the last day when some people had already left and we were all at our grungiest.  But it's still special to look at these faces and celebrate a fantastic week... and to think of what a gift to continue these friendships!

Just the beginning...

     Since I'm two months behind on blogging, and it feels like there are about 1.2 million things to share, I decided to start with what is recent and work backwards.  =)

Elaine brought her ukulele and delighted us all with her musical talent.

    We were SO BLESSED to have our friend, Elaine come to help us with "English Camp on Baikal".  It was originally supposed to be a team of people coming from the States, but due to unfortunate events, no one else was able to make it.  We know Elaine back from our college days.  We were in CRU (then called Campus Crusade for Christ) together, and she is very dear to us!  She jumped right into our family and to serving in many ways. We are so grateful to her and cherish this time in our hearts!

I was amazed at how quickly she got over jet lag!  She had about 24 hours to recover before we left for camp.

At a café in Turka.  Ike is into making monster faces these days for pictures.

      Leading up to the English Club on Baikal was our church's family camp.  They had a baptism planned for Sunday morning at 7:00am, and we didn't want to miss it, as it's been so special to see these people grow who have grown in their relationships with God!  But we also didn't want to get up at 3:00 in the morning to drive there.  We were so happy when our friend in Turka (20 minutes from the camp) called us and said she had room for us to stay there on Saturday night.  We rode with Inka, as she also wanted to be there for the baptism.  It turned out to be a special little excursion and a nice way to ease Elaine into camp life, giving her one more night in a bed.  =)

 

     The weather was so calm and nice that Saturday evening.  We sat on the beach of Baikal and threw rocks and enjoyed God's wonderful creation and one another.

Ella and Mama, inspecting rocks

Our kids delighted in attention from Elaine and Inka

     We woke up early, and arrived at the campsite before 7:00

     There were 4 young people from our church who made decisions for baptism.  It's so encouraging to reflect on how God has brought them into His family and to see their dedication to Him.

It was such a beautiful, peaceful morning.  A group of Chinese tourists watched and asked us what was going on.  I called Elaine over to talk with them, as she lived in China and Hong Kong for 7 years.

Dead to self and Alive with Christ!

     One lady, Oxana, fell in love with Elaine immediately.  Even though they didn't speak each other's languages, they still hung out all afternoon, playing games, talking with their hands, and eating sunflower seeds.  It's so neat how God can connect hearts.

     I didn't get too many pictures of our kids because they were running all over the place with friends, climbing trees, eating pinecones, licking ant sticks, and picking huckleberries.  Elaine called our kids "little forest kids".  They could camp forever.

     Anneka was munching on a green pinecone, and Elaine asked for a taste.  As you can see by her expression, it wasn't her favorite!  One lady asked Anneka and Matthew to collect a bunch of the pinecones for her so that she could make jam with them later at home.  The big pinecones they roasted over the fire and ate the pinenuts inside.

     Ike enjoyed playing with his buddy, Rostik.  They're friendship is an answer to prayer.  Ike told me "once Rostik wasn't my friend, but now we're friends".  And it's true!  I'm so thankful!

     I got a migraine on this day and was resting in our tent.  I couldn't really sleep because of voices, but two interesting things happened.  The first was that I heard Anneka telling Ike to lick a stick and then stir it around in an ant hill until the ants got really angry.  Then she had him lick the stick.  It made it taste tangy! Of course, they both think this is great. The second thing is that I could hear a lady in the next tent over.  She'd met us through a kids' day camp we'd done in the city and came with her granddaughter.  I felt really strongly that I should pray for her, so I prayed and prayed.  Then a couple of hours later, I saw her praying with some people and heard that she was giving her life to Christ.  This was so encouraging to me and was a reminder of how even when we are weak, God is at work.  There was another lady who made the same decision on this day. May they grow and grow!

    And then it started to rain, which was just a little foreshadowing of  the week ahead!  You'll hear about that soon! 

Kindergarten Graduate!

     Our Ella is officially a kindergarten graduate!  It was so fun to be there for the graduation celebration.  She was so cute and happy as she said her lines, danced, sang, and participated in various games.  This video clip gives a little taste of it.  =)

        Ella's teacher said that she didn't need to be at school that morning because all of the girls would be at the salon, getting their hair done and it would be boring with all of the boys.  I had made an appointment at the salon for Ella, too, but she was adamant that she didn't want to go to the salon!  She cried and begged me to do her hair.  So what's a mom to do?  I cancelled the appointment, prayed for wisdom, and learned about rag curls on YouTube.  Her hair normally doesn't hold curls at all, so we were all pleasantly surprised by how well these worked!

      All of the girls were so cute in their gowns and fancy hair.  Kindergarten graduation is a very big deal!!

Ella's class

    
 
     Ella and this boy won a competition for rolling up this ribbon the most quickly.  Ella got the idea to bend down and put it on the floor, and it made it super-fast!

 

     After the program, the kids let helium balloons up into the sky to symbolize their growing up.  They also had a special tea time (with special foods) for all of the kids.

 
     Here's Ella with her 3 teachers.  Anneka had these teachers, too, in kindergarten, so she joined in the picture.

     There was a little bit of a sad moment when we realized that Ella's teachers had thought she would return again in the fall (as kids don't usually go to 1st grade here until they're at least 6.5 or 7).  They had thought they would have her another whole year!  They didn't present her with a diploma like the other kids who are going on to first grade.  But all worked out in the end and Ella got a diploma, and she was able to say her goodbyes.

     Ella, we are so proud of you for jumping into kindergarten in a second language and for being brave with the other kids by playing with them.  It is such a joy to watch you learn and grow!