English Camp

Last week I (Nancy) participated in an English camp here in Debrecen.  The week before, I got a message from Mirjam, one of our former Hungarian tutors, who said her church was putting on a week-long English camp for teenagers, but one of the teachers who was to come from America had to cancel at the last minute.  They needed a native speaker to lead a group of girls.  Could I help?  After prayer and talking with Mike, I said yes.

The day camp was held in a local high school and twenty teenagers attended.  A South African couple, Bruce and Shirley, who pastor an international church in Switzerland were the other native English speakers who led the two other groups. Five local Hungarians organized and ran the camp and provided interpretation in the sessions. Shirley is a retired teacher and she prepared the materials for the class times.

Mirjam leading "My Lighthouse" a song we sang together every day.

On the left is Abigél, one of my students, her friend and two other students from my group

 We had three class sessions each day, concentrating mainly on comprehension, vocabulary and speaking.  The theme was extreme sports which is neither my area of expertise nor my interest, but we had a good time interacting with the students and learning.  There were organized sports each day plus plenty of free time for the students.

The best part was that we were able to share the gospel with the students.  Every day began with a clip from a Christian movie followed by a devotional discussion.  Then at the end of the movie we shared the plan of salvation and our own stories.  The students were from various backgrounds, most of them unchurched, but they were all respectful and attentive even during the spiritual discussions.

I was very happy to be able to help out at the camp and enjoyed getting to know the students and the other adults.  I pray that the truth from the Word of God that was shared will go deep into each student's heart and will change their lives.