Stories

Julie Morris - (teacher) This was something Becca and I had been talking about and talking about for months. Our first day of camp was really crazy, we were told only 50 children would come and the ages of those children would 11 to 13 years old. As we opened the doors we know no way we will have so many more children. My head was going crazy thinking about what are we going to do with so many children but with all this i had many different blessings happen. First Pastor Linda came over to give me a hug and tell me how happy she was to be helping out. What a blessing it was going to be for her, the youth and the children. As my first class walked into the room, which i did not know if the line would end, one of the youth from Russian Nastya came over and give me a hug and say "wow, you are so great to do this". It take everything inside of me not to cry. She gave me so much more than just a hug but the feeling that i could do this. At the end of the day all of the youth were talking with the children and playing and sharing God's love without even thinking about it. I was given so much more than i could give back.

Sara Varani - (team leader) I was so excited when I found out I would be going to Russia. Then, when Julie told me that she had started a camp for the Russian children, I was so excited, when she told me that the Peace Team would be the ones working it, I was even more excited! I couldn't wait to interact with the young children! We finally got to the camp, and I knew that in just a few days, we would be working with the children over at the camp. I couldn't help but get nervous. I just kept thinking about the few words that I knew in Russian, and I knew most of the kids wouldn't know more than Hello and Goodbye in English. I kept thinking about how we weren't going to be able to communicate with eachother. Then, the first day of camp came. I was working with the 6-8 year old kids. I love little kids! The Russian kids all came in with HUGE smiles on their faces! They were so excited to be there and get to be with Americans! They said "Hello" and then kept saying my name over and over again! I couldn't do anything other than smile at them. I had Ilya and Artjom (Russian Peace Team Members) translate for me every once in a while! It was good to have a way to talk to the kids. They were very cute and friendly. I loved being able to help the kids learn English, and when they would walk by you, they would try the English they had learned that day. It was a very sucessful camp, and I enjoyed every minute of it!