God is at Work

We are only in the third day of the second Bible camp, but already we see God at work.  Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.  But in this instance, the pictures cannot begin to convey what is going on in the hearts of our campers and workers. 

This morning, the older girls’ 45 minute Bible Study, last over an hour.  The girl’s were asking questions about sin, the Holy Spirit, how to hear from God.  Yesterday these same girls listened intently as Alexandra told them they were made in the image of God and they explored ways in which that should effect how they live.  Alexandra said it was obvious they had not heard these things before.

Each night, the Bible study leaders go to the children’s dorms right before bedtime, to pray and have a short devotional.  Last night, the older boys were still talking after an hour.  They, too, had serious spiritual questions.  One wanted to know why our beliefs were so different from the beliefs of many professing Christians in their village and why our beliefs seemed “better”.  Kyle and Blaine patiently shared with them into the night, opening the Scriptures and praying for wisdom and discernment.

One 14 year old boy who goes to school in Lugansk explained to me that he got many invitations to summer camps but he chooses to come this camp.  He and his twin brother started attending when the camp was lead by Shane and Marilyn Duke.  He has a hunger for the word and is eager to share it with others.

Dorm parents are asking questions, moving from skepticism to real interest.  Team members and interpreters sit in the hallway of our dorm at all hours of the day and night, reading the Word and sharing their testimonies.  Prayer requests are moving from the simple “pray that I play soccer better” to the more serious “pray that I can share my faith in school”. 

Each of us on this team has come to Ukraine believing this is where God called us to be this summer.  Our team members are young adults, 19-21, except for me and Taryn.  We each raised our own support to get here.  We are from different churches, different cities and states; no one church or organization has sent us.  We are doing nothing grand; nothing fancy.  We are simply here, the Body of Christ, brought together by a common desire to share the Gospel in a place that is “white for harvest”.  God is doing a work, often times in spite of us.  Please pray with us and for us, that the Gospel seeds that we are planting will bear fruit and that the Glory of our God will spread though the village of Belaroschenska, Ukraine and beyond.