Soon it will be summer! Time to get ready for camp!

Abakan, Khakasia (Russia)

  From January 8 to 10 I had the happy opportunity to take part in an educational seminar for organizing summer Christian camps in Khakasia and work with children.

  This meeting was a gift for me. For three days I talked with people whom I know more than 10 years and with whom I've worked a lot. Therefore I was filled with nostalgia and emotions. The atmosphere of our time together was warm, friendly and stress-free. At the same time we all gained new experience and information, we remembered old and learned new games which we could use in work with children.

  On the first day we waited for our guests – Olga Kryukova and Anastasia Razinkova . Together with them we prepared the program for the camp. The guests from Omsk shared their experience from using the program “Jesus – Superhero.”  We liked it very much and dove into various aspects of the program step by step, making suggestions along the way for how we could adapt it to our needs. We considered our past, positive experiences, and we wanted to make a program that was full as possible with interesting games and tasks, but we need to make sure it all fits into four days time! 

  The creative spirits hovered while a spring of new ideas bubbled; we decided then that we wanted to include a night game into the program of the camp – something that the kids remembered from previous camps and hiking trips. We also concluded that the high point of the whole camp (spoiler alter!) would be Family Day. 

  The first day ended with games for getting acquainted; I became convinced once again that there is not age limit for games. My feelings were just the same as they were when I played them 5-7 years ago – they still are a great pleasure.

  Real work began on the second day. Olga Kryukova is great at teaching methods. We talked with her about how to “translate” Biblical stories (which sometimes even adults don't understand) into kids' language. What does the main idea look like? How to make understandable lessons out of every paragraph on the Bible?

  To be honest I never could imagine that it was possible to make Bible lessons so creative and fun. We learned how to “code” Bible verses, think up gestures for every word, we sang and made motions to the tunes of popular kids' music. And it was serious preparation for the next day – practical work with children.

  Day 3.  Today we all tried out what we had prepared during the previous days. The children were waiting for us in the Chernogorsk congregation. We were a little worried, since we had serious work ahead of us. There were a lot of adults, so the kids were tense at first. Then we used a game to get acquainted; we moved around a little bit, and the kids began to feel more relaxed.

  Anya Guray presented the “anointing of David” in a vivid and interesting way, and then we tried with the kids to re-tell the story to Andrey, who had come late. By the time we had crafts (either clay or origami, as they chose) the children already had opened up and were having a good time. It was nice to see how 10-13 year old boys were playing with play-dough like little kids. We sang spiritual songs and played a game where we tried to hold on to a slowly shrinking life raft. We ended the lesson with prayer and with individual prayer stations. The kids could chose where to go and what concerns to pray about. 

  After closing all the adults in the delegations when to the village of Borodino and my small daughter and I went home, having been revived and inspired by the work together and with the kids. 

  Elena Fedorova