Camp Weeks Filled with Joy, Learning, and Rest for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma
Natasha Ivanova, Yekaterinburg
Natasha leads the Mission Possible shelter and family work together with her husband Andrey.
Our country house, about an hour’s drive from the Yekaterinburg shelter, is full of activity: retreats, men’s and women’s events, celebrations, and camps. With its grassy yard, forest, pond, and comfortable facilities, it is a wonderful place for children from our shelter home and families in crisis to rest and enjoy a holiday. We established the center in 2016 through a special donation, and it has been a great blessing in our work.
They Look Like Ordinary Children, But...
This summer the house and yard once again filled with children’s voices! Looking at these children, they seem just like any others. No one would guess what they have lived through. One child saw a drunken stepfather try to cut off his mother’s head. Another watched as her mother injected herself with drugs and told the child to look away. A third stood in the street crying and screaming for her mother not to kill herself, while the mother, drunk and naked, stumbled along the edge of a roof.
We don’t have enough tears to weep for every wounded life the Lord has entrusted to our care. May He heal the hearts of these children so that they may still experience childhood without fear and terror from the past.
“Life Is a Movie”
We use our camps to teach lessons that, we pray, will influence the children’s lives and choices. In July we held a camp for 24 pre-teens. Using the theme “Life Is a Movie,” we taught biblical truths in memorable and creative ways. The children were given drama assignments and made videos. They served as directors, set designers, videographers, and actors. At the end “Oscars” were awarded based on the audience’s vote!
Wicked Ursula from Mirror World
Another camp included 21 children from families in crisis whom we support regularly.
The week was filled with joy, tears of happiness, and gratitude for even the little things.
The theme was “Mirror World.” Upon arrival at the house, the children met Ursula at the door. In her world everything was the opposite of what it should be: ugly was beautiful, evil was good. Throughout the week the children and leaders worked together to teach her (while teaching themselves) true values like forgiveness, humility, compassion, and selflessness. The children clearly understood the message!
May God bless the seed we have sown and cause it to bear good fruit!
