Greetings from Ukraine!

We did this camp as a follow-up after our English camp. We partnered with JV and they generously provided us with the boats and other equipment.

We had a Bible talk around a camp fire each night followed by a discussion in small groups. The most exiting thing was that two of the small group leaders were the guys whom we were reaching out to during our Boat Camp 2008!!

During the last camp fire meeting several of us shared about the difference Christ has made in our lives. There in nothing like a personal testimony. A someone may say he does not believe in God but he can not say that my transformed life does not exist!

A friend of mine, Carl, gave me this chain saw last summer. He thought it would become helpful in making firewood for my village house.  But if unexpectedly became a central attraction for all the boys during this camp. They all lined up to use it every night. We alway had more firewood than we actually needed

This time we had no bus following us. We had to carry all our tents, backpacks, food, water and other supplies with us on boats. They were heavy to move with all the load. Every night and morning we took turns to prepare a meal for everybody. The camp was a lot of physical work. It was real bounding and character testing time.

We made near 100 kilometers (60 miles) on our boats. It took a lot of pedaling. But we also had time for some real fun.

We also celebrated few people’s birthdays with balloons and fireworks at night.

Nothing connects people better than emergency. We had one, as one of our boats got a large hole. It is a good thing we had a repair kit and boys who can save the boat

Click here to see more photos from this camp.

This trip was an outreach to young people who love outdoors. We were literally “in the same boat” with them five hours each day. What an opportunity to share the Gospel and our life stories!

The goal was to encourage our people to invite their lost friends for this great adventure on Dnister River. As we traveled on water during the day and stopped to make a tent camp each night where we cooked our meals on fire and got the water from local springs, this really built friendship and removed the barriers in relationships.

At this time we did not make our own raft. We rented boats from a touring company. We also hired a bus to take us there and to meet us at each camping site each night. The bus carried our food, water and supplies.

Having a bus with us at all the time gave us an opportunity to visit a near by places of interest. One day we went to see an ancient fortress ans a waterfall.

There was a wedding and a baptism during the Camp!!

Right before the trip Vova and Halya committed their lives to Jesus, and made a decision to get baptized as soon as we get to the river. They also wanted to start a clean life and decided to get married on a river shore during our camp.

They had the most romantic wedding. The flowers came right from the lawn we had camped at, the river was in a background, candles, the camp fire and the stars in the sky were great illumination. They both wore a national traditional outfit. Halya had real flowers in her hair.

To see more photos from this camp, please click here.

To view a short video about this camp, please click here.