Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Mark 16:15
Camp Bethel 2014
For some people summer is a carefree time of rest, but for the Church of Hope in Estonia, it is a time of serious responsibility and hard work for the kingdom of God. For the past 17 years the church has organized summer camps for children and teenagers, and this year by God's mercy, we were able to host the 17th year of Camp Bethel. When you've organized so many camps, it's easy to assume that it will be difficult to come up with something new and interesting, but every year God gives wisdom so that we are able to create a program that will not only offer children a respite far from home, but one that will be useful and will bring edification to their hearts and souls.
This year's theme was "Treasure for the Soul". We hoped to show the children the things in life that are truly valuable: purity, honesty, faithfulness and the pursuit of holiness. The highlight of our camp was the evening service that took place the day before our departure, when God touched the lives of our dear campers through the closing sermon. The young campers cried over their sins and with tears asked Jesus Christ to make their hearts "white as snow". This was the most important thing for us and the reason why we volunteer to work in camp: to help children come to the point where they can see themselves through God's eyes, and can find forgiveness in Jesus.
The six days of camp flew by quickly, but the work is not over yet. Camp is only the beginning of the spiritual journey for our campers. In the near future we plan to have meetings with them in church, and we hope that each camper will remember his or her promise to attend Sunday school regularly.
