ARKKI: Winter Camp 2008

Hello all! The winter camp is now over and we had good time! Please see below Dima and Oksana's report and some pics from the camp!
Hei kaikki! Talvileiri on nyt ohi ja kivaa oli! Tässä Diman ja Oksanan raportti leiriltä ja sen alla kuvia!

Arkki winter camp January 2008

In the beginning of January God led Mene ja kerro to organize another camp for the orphanage children from Russia. It was a smaller camp than in the summer in 2007, altogether there came 14 children and 3 orphanage workers this time. Prior to the camp we have done a lot of preparation which involved planning, meeting with different people, traveling to different places, and of course it took a lot of prayer. It is important to mention that without help of many people this camp would be impossible. We thank God for all the volunteers who came and served at the camp. There was one volunteer from Russia and the rest came from different parts of Finland – Jyvaskyla, Vantaa, Lahti, Heinola, Turku, Vaasa, Silinjarvi, Keitele, Espoo.

The idea behind the camp was to show the kids the love of God, to tell them about the Lord and to prepare them for the grown up life. Most of the children who attended were 16-17 years old. Very soon many of them will leave the orphanage and face the challenges of life.

The Arkki winter 2008 camp lasted from January, 3^rd through 10^th and had two parts in it.

Part I

The first half of the camp was conducted in the building that belongs to the Bible School in Koivumaki. Every day was structured around a certain theme that we taught through the day.

The themes we touched were friendship, responsibility in relationships, family values, Gospel presentation, finances and work.

Every morning we would begin our day with the morning devotion for the staff members. Then we would have a general meeting together with the kids at which a Biblical teaching was presented. After the morning gathering the children would have a Bible hour in their groups with the group leaders.

The days were also filled with all kinds of activities and sports. The children would prepare a program for the evening with dramas and songs. The most popular sport game was football, the boys could not get enough of it. And in the evenings we kept the Finnish tradition of going to the sauna.

One of the unforgettable experiences for the kids was visiting the aqua park “Fontanella” in Sillinjarvi. The kids had so much fun there playing in the water, going down from the water slides and swimming in the artificial waves.

One morning we had some special guests from the Gideon ministry. They shared about the work they do and gave every child a pocket New Testament.

Definitely one of the highlights of the camp was an evening with the youth from the local Pentecostal church. Quickly Russian and Finnish young people became friends, the Finnish youth shared their testimonies, and then the evening ended in the sweet time of worship and prayer.

Part II

After staying for 4 days in Koivumaki, the whole camp moved to Keitele. Our stay in Keitele started with a visit to the local Orthodox Church, where the priests did a special Christmas ceremony for us. And we shared with the kids about the meaning of Christmas. For the time to celebrate the “Russian” Christmas was on the next day.

In Keitele we all stayed in different Christian families. It was our desire to place the kids in the atmosphere of a family so they could learn what it means to leave in the home.

We thank the Lord for Kari and Helga who literally became parents for all of us, they looked so well after us feeding us and sharing God’s wisdom with us.

On the 7^th of January Kari and Helga prepared a Christmas celebration at their home. Together with the local farmer the boys went and got a Christmas tree from the farmer’s forest. Then we decorated the tree, baked traditional Christmas cookies and decorated those together. It was a great time, we talked about why Jesus was born into this world and died for our sins. We sang Christmas carols, ate good Finnish Christmas food, played games, went to sauna and exchanged gifts with the children.

Almost every day we were able to go to the local lake to skate and play ice-hockey. It was a lot of fun! Some boys even experienced fishing in the ice hole!

Since it was our desire to prepare the children for the grown up life. God opened the door for us to visit different local companies and firms. One morning a local farmer came and shared with us about the work at the Finnish farms.

Another great event was visiting the Keitele public school, attending the classes and meeting with the young people there. When there was a long break at the school we all went outside and played a Karelian game “Kyykka”, it is a type of bowling. It was really exciting!

After our program at school we went to have a meeting with the Mayor of Keitele. The Mayor gave the children a treat with soft drinks and cookies, then he shared about what kind of life people have in the small city and what the city administration does to improve it. When saying good-bye the Mayor gave everyone really cool slippers and invited all of us to come back in the summer and go fishing with him.

When it was the last evening of the camp we all went to the Pentecostal church in Pielavesi. Once again the children were able hear the Gospel message and they also were given an opportunity to make a choice for the Lord.

It was hard to say good bye to the kids when it was time for them to leave to go back to Russia. During these several days of the camp we all became one big family. We thank the Lord for every child who could come to the camp. And we pray that He will continue to work with their hearts and that they will remember the things they learned at the camp.

Many of the children said that they would love to come back to our summer camp in August 2008. Meanwhile we will keep on praying and see what the Lord does…

Visiting the local Orthodox church.

Group photo

Ice hockey on a lake!

Helga and Kari were like mother and father for the camp.

We did some visits to local industry, too. Most of the youth in the camp were 16-18 years of age, so it is about time to think what to do after school.