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

Conflict and Humillity - Seminar in the Abakan Region

Abakan

In the family and at work, with friends and among strangers, almost in every situation in life we run into conflicts. They also are part of are lives as believers, and they disturb peace and harmony in our families and in our congregations. Some Christians look at conflicts pragmatically, others are disappointed, others still close their eyes to the facts because they have the illusion that conflicts and Christian humility are incompatible.

Thinking about this, understanding the nature of conflicts and finding a Christian approach to them was the goal of the seminar held in the Abakan region of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Urals, Siberia and Far East from September 24 to 27. Various themes were approached, such as examples of conflict in the Bible, psychology and conflict studies, the theological concept of humility. During lively discussions we looked at real life situations that are part of life in and outside the congregation.

The main teacher for this seminar was the leader of the “Equipping for Service” project, Pastor Bradn Buerkle from St. Petersburg. The congregations in Khakasia and the south of the Krasnoyarsk krai know him well and respect him.

In order to include the most people possible it was decided that the seminar would be held in Abakan. Besides the locals, then, members from congregations in neighboring Chernogorsk and also congregations further away – Bograd and Kuragino – were able to attend.

The participants of the seminar are thankful to God for the possibility to have this wonderful meeting and hope that the knowledge and ideas gained at the seminar will provide spiritual enrichment and further development of congregations in the Abakan region.

Pastor Dmitry Schweitz

Lutherans and the World's Largest Lake

Irkutsk, Russia 
  Bradn Buerkle writes:
  One of the natural wonders I have had the privilege to visit here is Lake Baikal in southeast Siberia. The deepest and perhaps the most ancient large lake in the world, it contains approximately 20% of the planet's unfrozen fresh water. When we recently planned a retreat of our church's Central and Eastern Siberia region to be hosted by the nearby congregations in Irkutsk and Shelekhov, we thought that we should start by taking out-of-town guests (many of whom had never been to Baikal before) for a visit. It was my third trip to the great lake, and I was struck again by how at the most accessible location (the source of the Angara River near Listvyanka) you don't really realize how unique the lake is. A stop at the natural history museum changed that impression, thanks especially to a great tour guide – a researcher in the area of climate change. I was most struck by what he had to say about the lake's 1000+ endemic species, i.e. those organisms that live in Baikal and nowhere else on the planet. They all have adapted to their environment so well that they are unable to survive elsewhere. When I heard about the fat and lovable Baikal seals, the golomyanka fish (mostly transparent, gives birth to live young, able to survive at most any depth), and supreme water-cleaning crustaceans, all of which have no home other than Baikal, I felt overcome with sadness. It was a completely illogical reaction to scientific fact, I know. Maybe it has something to do with the volatile emotional environment of life in Russia at the moment. Or maybe it is because I couldn't help but comparing endemic organisms to our Lutheran church in Russia. Our approach to Christian faith originated in Europe and has adapted very well to northern European and North American environments... it seems to be on the way to adapting to the warmer waters of Africa...but what about here, in the world's largest “lake,” Russia? Can it survive here? I didn't have much time to contemplate that question, however, because we soon had to leave Baikal in order to make it on time to the “Blue Spruce” center, where we would meet for our retreat.
  My time with congregational members did much to disperse my doubt regarding the viability of our church here. There I saw people (almost 40 of them!) who strove to grow and develop, to apply their faith to everyday life, even if the environment is not particularly welcoming. The theme that our staff in Omsk, Natasya Razinkova and Natalia Sivko, chose for the seminar - “Ironman” - fit very well for this group. Participants were also well supported (both in logistical and in spiritual questions) by Pastor Thomas Graf Grote and by me as the person responsible for the “Equipping for Service” project. Even if we had a limited amount of time together, we were able to hear something new, to reinforce some of what we already knew, to share with one another, pray with one another, and to sing together...well, in regards to music, maybe it is difficult to say we sang together. At seminars with congregations that are spread apart, it becomes quite clear that the development of
various singing styles is part of the local adaption that takes place in each of our congregations in its own way.After the seminar was over, I would have been happy to visit Baikal again. Next time I'm sure that I won't feel sad. Instead I know understand that God created nature (and us together with it) with the capacity to find new paths to abundant life, wherever we may be. Maybe our church is just one tiny “microorganism” in this enormous country, but it also has an important place here. Without it, the environment would be poorer and would suffer. I think we can embrace this identity and go forward.