Yesterday was water day, and things got CRAZY.
We spent our morning filling up about 600 water balloons and it almost wasn't enough. We had water balloon volleyball, water balloon egg toss, and a water balloon "gauntlet" where one team would stand behind a line and the other teams joined together to form two lines with a lane between them. Everyone grabbed a water balloon and tried to peg someone on the running team as they tried to get through the lane safe and dry. The kids loved it.
The water balloon egg toss was fun too, but I felt bad when I tossed my balloon a bit prematurely and as my camper tried to catch it it exploded on impact with her face. Water went up her nose, in her eyes, and the shock of the whole ordeal was traumatizing I think. I apologized with several "Izvini"s (sorry) and she said it was ok and smiled after she had collected herself. Pretty frightening.
We also played a game where two teams would each run with a bucket of water down to a place on the field and stand on a chair. Beside them a person would be kneeling down next to an empty bucket. The person with the water would pour some water into the knelt person's mouth and then they would spit as much of it as they could into the bucket. Then they would take the bucket full of water back to their line and pass it off to the next person who would do the same thing. As soon as they ran out of water we compared how full the spit buckets were and decided a winner. The kids were laughing the whole time.
I feel bad saying kids, they're not really that young. Most of them are in and around 18 years old.
Last night, Darko divided the camp into girls and guys and they had talks about relationships. The guys group was really hard for the campers from what I understood. The kids struggle a lot with sexual sin. Relationships here are really loose and sex is all too common. One of the leaders started chewing them out for living like children and challenged them to do something with their lives instead of wasting it away with drinking, sex, and destruction. There is a specific group that is causing trouble and they seemed to really take it personally. I'm interested to see more of the fallout from that conversation as the week continues.
The girls said that the girl conversation went pretty well too but not at all like they were expecting. Apparently the girls talked about what love really looks like and what kind of guys they should be looking for and which ones they shouldn't be looking for at all. It seemed cold and awkward but good messages were said. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out too.
Beverly didn't get to share her testimony last night because Darko didn't think they had enough time to fit in the couple they had planned. Hopefully she gets to tonight. Tyler was supposed to do his tonight too so we'll see what they want to do but I really hope they both get to share. So far, the testimonies have been some of the most obviously effective ways to reach and relate to the campers. I would really like to give mine tomorrow, the last day/night of camp but we'll see.
There has been significantly more conversation between leaders and campers since the start of camp. A lot of times we will come together and practice English and Serbian. These conversations have been good ways to get to spiritual conversations or at least strengthen friendships with the kids that could lead to a conversation like that. Already we've been getting requests to add people on Facebook. It's weird to think that we only have two days left.
It's also strange to think that Tyler is leaving on Tuesday for good. It'll be a different group and a different feeling with our smaller group when we go back to Kraljevo. Pray for him as he prepares for home and uses the rest of his time here effectively. It'll also be weird knowing that James and Katy are going home. We haven't seen them too much on this trip but it's comforting to know that they're close and that they've been able to see us a couple times. They have been a real encouragement to us every time we've seen them.
Please pray for a strong end to camp and for God to keep knocking on the doors of these kids hearts. Change is hard for most of these kids because faith in Christ is not a popular position in this country. A decision to follow Christ and be a "Protestant" is a big deal. Pray for strength of these campers and for confidence in the truth they're hearing to make the decision to follow Christ and submit their lives to him. They are filled with seeds and the seeds have been watered. It's only a matter of time before fruit is harvested. I can't help but feel that a lot of these kids are close, and that when the first decision is made a wave of others will follow closely behind.
Ciao :)
We spent our morning filling up about 600 water balloons and it almost wasn't enough. We had water balloon volleyball, water balloon egg toss, and a water balloon "gauntlet" where one team would stand behind a line and the other teams joined together to form two lines with a lane between them. Everyone grabbed a water balloon and tried to peg someone on the running team as they tried to get through the lane safe and dry. The kids loved it.
The water balloon egg toss was fun too, but I felt bad when I tossed my balloon a bit prematurely and as my camper tried to catch it it exploded on impact with her face. Water went up her nose, in her eyes, and the shock of the whole ordeal was traumatizing I think. I apologized with several "Izvini"s (sorry) and she said it was ok and smiled after she had collected herself. Pretty frightening.
We also played a game where two teams would each run with a bucket of water down to a place on the field and stand on a chair. Beside them a person would be kneeling down next to an empty bucket. The person with the water would pour some water into the knelt person's mouth and then they would spit as much of it as they could into the bucket. Then they would take the bucket full of water back to their line and pass it off to the next person who would do the same thing. As soon as they ran out of water we compared how full the spit buckets were and decided a winner. The kids were laughing the whole time.
I feel bad saying kids, they're not really that young. Most of them are in and around 18 years old.
Last night, Darko divided the camp into girls and guys and they had talks about relationships. The guys group was really hard for the campers from what I understood. The kids struggle a lot with sexual sin. Relationships here are really loose and sex is all too common. One of the leaders started chewing them out for living like children and challenged them to do something with their lives instead of wasting it away with drinking, sex, and destruction. There is a specific group that is causing trouble and they seemed to really take it personally. I'm interested to see more of the fallout from that conversation as the week continues.
The girls said that the girl conversation went pretty well too but not at all like they were expecting. Apparently the girls talked about what love really looks like and what kind of guys they should be looking for and which ones they shouldn't be looking for at all. It seemed cold and awkward but good messages were said. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out too.
Beverly didn't get to share her testimony last night because Darko didn't think they had enough time to fit in the couple they had planned. Hopefully she gets to tonight. Tyler was supposed to do his tonight too so we'll see what they want to do but I really hope they both get to share. So far, the testimonies have been some of the most obviously effective ways to reach and relate to the campers. I would really like to give mine tomorrow, the last day/night of camp but we'll see.
There has been significantly more conversation between leaders and campers since the start of camp. A lot of times we will come together and practice English and Serbian. These conversations have been good ways to get to spiritual conversations or at least strengthen friendships with the kids that could lead to a conversation like that. Already we've been getting requests to add people on Facebook. It's weird to think that we only have two days left.
It's also strange to think that Tyler is leaving on Tuesday for good. It'll be a different group and a different feeling with our smaller group when we go back to Kraljevo. Pray for him as he prepares for home and uses the rest of his time here effectively. It'll also be weird knowing that James and Katy are going home. We haven't seen them too much on this trip but it's comforting to know that they're close and that they've been able to see us a couple times. They have been a real encouragement to us every time we've seen them.
Please pray for a strong end to camp and for God to keep knocking on the doors of these kids hearts. Change is hard for most of these kids because faith in Christ is not a popular position in this country. A decision to follow Christ and be a "Protestant" is a big deal. Pray for strength of these campers and for confidence in the truth they're hearing to make the decision to follow Christ and submit their lives to him. They are filled with seeds and the seeds have been watered. It's only a matter of time before fruit is harvested. I can't help but feel that a lot of these kids are close, and that when the first decision is made a wave of others will follow closely behind.
Ciao :)
Great recap, Dylan. Love you!
ReplyDelete