We greet you with the love and peace of Jesus Christ, dear brothers and sisters from the USA, our partners in evangelizing the Word of God here in Ukraine!
1. We are very grateful to the Lord for you and for your support in our Christian mission camp PIEI CANDELA, which was held from July 24 to 29, in Boyany. Since we wrote in the previous news, we had 150 people in this camp. Among them were 30 leaders, a team of 9 people from the USA and 10 children, 100 teenagers. We thank you again for sponsoring this camp, because without you, we don't know how we would have managed. There were many displaced children and we had to pay the full cost of this camp. Praise God for all that He has done for us through you, our dear evangelistic partners from the USA.
2. The US team was divided into 2 groups. One group stayed in the camp each day: Gabi, Ashley, David and Grace, and the second group: Cornel, Debbi, Will, Stephen, and Skip, traveled for the whole day, all 5 days, to our churches for evangelism with glasses. Since the eye doctor Debbie had a large number of points, she saw almost 50 people a day. The brothers Will, Stephen, Cornel and Skip were soul guardians. We are glad that more than 100 unbelievers received not only eyepieces, but had the opportunity to hear the Word of the Gospel, the Word of Salvation. Thank you very much for the work of our consigliere brothers and for the service of Sister Debbie. May the Lord reward your great work and donation. And also thanks to all the translators for their service: Alex, Ira, Alina, Naomi, Joni, Grace and Erika. May the Lord bless them all abundantly!
3. In our camp there was a very rich program of studying the Word of God, sports games, swimming in the pool, and in the evening there was a worship program. There were 4 groups studying the Word of God. The first group of teacher's brother David from the USA. The second group is teachers Gabi Stef and Tatiana, the third group is teachers Ashley and Tamara and the fourth group is teacher brother Pavel Petikhachny. Each group taught good spiritual topics for every teenager who was in those classes. After lunch, each of these 4 groups had drawing lessons led by Grace, a girl from the USA. She taught the children how to put their feelings on paper as a drawing. So they put on their papers the topics of the study of the Word of God that they were studying. Each group had its own topics. For example, Brother Paul had a theme from the Epistle to the Philippians, Rejoice in the Lord always. And they very beautifully outlined this theme in the drawings. Grace and Gabi's sister Steph helped with this. We are glad to hear that every teenager liked our camp and they would like to stay even for 2 more days. There were rich sermons every evening in the camp, and at the end of the camp Brother Will from the USA preached. We prayed a lot for this pastor brother, and the Holy Spirit touched the hearts of these children Friday night. Thank God that almost 50 teenagers and children came out and repented. Now we pray for them fervently that the Lord will strengthen their faith. And now we want to write you a few testimonies of the repentance of these teenagers:
1. Bryabin Evelina, 15 years old, Tarasovtsy
-I am grateful to God for getting into this Christian camp. This is my first time at this camp. I have unbelieving parents. It's for me, well… I don't know how to describe it… It's just a miracle in my life God did. I liked everything in this camp, and the leader, and teachers, and sports, and worship evenings. I found new friends, but the main thing is that I found the Savior Christ in my life. God bless! Thank you all for such a wonderful camp.
2. Vakaruk Alina, 13 years old, IDP from Lugansk.
- I have no words to express my deep gratitude for such happiness - to get into such a cool camp. It is also a great happiness for me that in this camp I came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I never could have imagined, a year and a half ago, even before the war, that I would go to a Baptist church now. But this is how the Lord controls that through this war people come closer to God and seek Him. I am very glad that I found Jesus as my Savior and thanks to everyone who helped me in this. God bless!
3. Tkachuk Artem, 16 years old. Malinovka.
- I am very glad that I got to this wonderful camp. To be honest, I was upset when I found out that the tours in the camp had already ended and I was looking for all sorts of ways to get this ticket. At the last moment I got a ticket because someone could not go to the camp. There are no words to describe how great this camp was. Everything was beautiful, and the Word of God that touched me was the most beautiful. I was in Ashley and Tamara's teacher class. They are very good and instructive spiritual lessons. And on Friday evening. After Brother Wil's sermon, I made the decision to repent. An interesting fact is that a year ago my brother Arthur also repented in this camp. And now he serves God as a leader in this camp. Thank God and you for this wonderful camp. Be blessed!
4. George Yanosh, 14 years old, Marshintsi.
-I am grateful to God for being in such a camp. I liked the lessons of Brother David from the USA. I also liked the whole program of the camp. It just seems to me that there was not enough time. We need a couple more days. Although 7 days. I didn’t have time to make friends with new friends and I had to say goodbye already. But thank God that the main thing did. This is my repentance. May the Lord bless you all!
5. Denis, 14 years old, from immigrants.
-I am grateful to all of you who organized such a wonderful camp. This is my first time at this camp. It was like a bonus for me against the backdrop of such a terrible war that is happening in Ukraine. I learned a lot here. Get to know God better. Learned how to read and study the Word of God. How to pray to God. We had a prayer every morning with our leader, and for the first time I learned how easy it is to turn to God with your own words, and not some memorized words. And when I prayed with Pastor Will on Friday, it became so easy on my soul. Thank God for all this and thank you for the camp.
6. David Skitsko, 14 years old, Zhilovka
Thank you all for a wonderful camp. I am very glad that I have come to know the Lord Jesus as my Personal Savior and God. It was wonderful both at the lessons of brother David and swimming in the pool, and at sports games. It was very cool to start the day with a prayer to God. This was something new for me. I have unbelieving parents. Now I understand that our daytime blessing by God depends on our morning prayer. Thank you for the camp!
7. Kirill, 15 years old, migrant.
- I liked the camp. The main thing I realized is that without God I am nobody. How God brought me and my family, and we left everything and came from afar, to these places where I had not even heard of them. There is a church where people worship God. And people accepted us well and always help, thank God. Thank you for the invitation to the camp. When I watched the scene about the prodigal son in the evening, I said out loud that I would never be like that. One woman, a leader, heard me and said: - You will not be like this only if you accept Jesus in your heart. The Lord will help you and strengthen you on the narrow path. I did not understand it then, but when there was a call to repentance, on Friday evening, I still accepted Jesus Christ in my heart. Now I feel very light in my soul and I praise my Lord.
8. Burlaka Nadia, 14 years old, Kotilevo.
-Thank God for the fact that I had the opportunity to visit this camp. Thank God that the Word of God touched my heart too. Thank God and you for a wonderful and very organized camp.
9. Amelia, 15 years old, Tarasovtsy.
- I really liked this camp. I was delighted for 5 whole days from this camp and from the organization of this camp. My parents are non-believers, but I like going to church for believers. I don't know what my parents will do with me, but I accepted the Lord Jesus in my heart and am very glad. Pray for me and my parents to let me go to the Baptist church. I pray to my Jesus and I believe that He will not leave me. Thank you all for a great camp.
10. Mariana, 15 years old, Odessa.
-I am very grateful to God that I came to visit Chernivtsi from Odessa and I was invited to this Christian camp. It was my first time in such a camp. I would never have thought that it would be so interesting for me in a Christian camp. And that I would be so interested in studying the Bible. Here I felt exactly how the Spirit of God works through every minister, through every leader. I liked everything here. Sports games, contests and food were very tasty. But the most important thing was on Friday night, when I felt the call of the Lord to repentance. Thank God for brother Will from the USA. I am very glad that I accepted the Lord in my heart. I am now free, saved and belong to Jesus - Praise Him! Thank you for a wonderful camp.
11. Vanya Sprinchinat, 14 years old, Novoselitsa.
-Thank you very much for your camp. Thanks for the invitation to the camp. My parents are unbelievers and my father died 2 years ago. I was so unhappy before this camp. Here I learned how to trust God and that only God can comfort me in my suffering. Because Christ, innocent, Holy, suffered and died on the cross for me and the whole world. I realized this last Friday during Brother WILL's sermon. I didn't come forward like the others, but I was overwhelmed with emotion and broke my heart before God, And repeated the prayer of repentance after Brother WILL. I believe that I am saved by God. Please pray for my mother, so that she will know the love of our Jesus Christ. Thank you for your great work. Be blessed!
These, and many more testimonies of repentance and thanksgiving for the camp, there are many more. Please pray for all the children and teenagers who were in our camp. Then almost 50 people came out to repent, but we saw tears in their eyes and those who did not have the courage to come forward. For the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts after this camp.
Thanks again to all the sponsors of this camp, and to everyone who prayed for us. May the Lord bless everyone abundantly!
Thank you for the team from USA who worked hard among us. Keep praying for us and for peace in Ukraine! Be blessed our dear brothers and sisters from the USA!
With love to you, the PETIKHACHNYY PAVLO AND LARYSA family.
