|  Summer
camps are underway!
Dear friends,
The first week of camp in the village of Garpi
is over! Praise the Lord, it went very successfully! The weather
was warm but not unbearable and the children were active, happy
and incredibly receptive to God’s Word.
I thought I’d write a report from Armenia
immediately while everything is fresh in my mind. The remaining
weeks of camp are following and there are quite a few points that
need prayer.
 During
this last week about 30 village children came to camp from villages
around the earthquake damaged city of Gyumri. These were children
from incredibly poor families. Two of the children had physical
and mental handicaps. The dinner served to the children speaks
volumes in itself. Over half of the meals consisted of either
shredded or boiled cabbage, served with either buckwheat or pasta.
Only two of the meals had meat; spaghetti bolognese and meatballs
in sauce. I was amazed to see that a lot of the children didn’t
eat the meat – they are used to a simple diet.
 Camp
morning starts at 7.30 with exercises, then tidying and dressing
followed by breakfast. Breakfast is a boiled egg with bread and
jam, or bread and condensed milk. There is very little fresh milk
to be had in Armenia – this is because it is hard to keep
it fresh – but the children are daily served sour cream
(for breakfast) and yogurt every night for supper. During camp
the children are split into 4 groups each with a team leader that
is responsible for their own children during the entire camp.
The first devotion of the day is done in these groups. The team
leader takes the entire week to teach the children the significance
of prayer and how we can individually talk to God without the
need of repetitive, formal prayers or a priest. It usually takes
a couple of these meetings for the children to understand the
concept of prayer and then it is such a blessing to hear them
addressing God as their Heavenly Father. Ruth was particularly
delighted on Thursday when at the end of her group’s devotion
she dismissed the children to go and play. They all stood up and
then hesitated and sat down again. Several of them said “Its
so pleasant to sit here and pray, lets do some more!” That
is so encouraging isn’t it? Please pray for these children.
I wish you could see how their hearts are open to God’s
Word.
 Following
morning devotion the teams have a rota. Two teams compete in organised
outdoor games. One of the teams does craft and the other does
an indoor game/quiz which is questions based on the previous day’s
Bible lesson. I was put in charge of the children’s craft
sessions. I was absolutely astounded by the response of the children
to craft time. I must confess that I was a bit worried as to how
I was going to entertain a group of young teenage boys with craft
but they were so enthusiastic. All I did was give out the instructions
and they all sat concentrating hard on what they were doing. Not
a murmur or complaint but rather the contrary. One of the noisiest
lads declared that craft was his favourite part of camp and indeed,
produced individual and really nice work. Another little lad commented
“Do you mean that we can really take all this beautiful
stuff we are making to our homes?” I had to hide a few tears.
Lunchtime devotion is held in the meeting room
all together. The theme of the camp is “Out of every tribe
and nation” and the stories are Naaman - God can use small
people (the little girl who told Naaman’s wife about Elisha),
Jonah – God forgives our disobedience and can use us when
we are obedient to Him, Gideon – God can use frightened
people and a lesson from Revelation. The evening devotions are
when Ruth tells the children the story of Jim Elliot and the Aucas.
 During
camp the children have many opportunities to earn “money”;
by good behaviour, keeping their rooms clean, reciting their memory
verses and in team competitions. The “money” is bananas,
pineapples and parrots which they can then spend in the shop in
the evening or save up to the end of camp. On the very last day
one of the little boys came beaming out of the shop with a small
radio-controlled car that he had worked all week to save up for.
He was just so pleased! These little gifts are mainly obtained
from the humanitarian aid boxes from the container, along with
a lot of the craft materials.
Please pray for the following things.
- That children will hear and respond to God’s Word and
that children who are not saved will understand the Gospel message
and respond.
- That the adults and children will be kept in good health.
- That the Lord will protect us from snakes and the large “morm”
spider. The morm is as large as your hand and two have already
been spotted – one of them was dead, outside my bedroom
window! It has a very nasty bite.
- That the heat will not be too ferocious and we will be able
to cope with it.
- That the leaders will be given patience and love for the children
to show them God’s way and to present clearly the Gospel
to the children.
Yours by Grace alone,
Perouz
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