Bright Lights In Russia

Towards the second week at Camp Green Town, we had built relationships with the kids in the camp north of Saint Petersburg. I started seeing bright lights in the eyes around me. Not just in the kids but also in the adults. It was clear that the Holy Spirit was at work.

In Russia, they shoot a lot of fireworks. At the end of a lot of events, they set them off. It sounds and looks like the fourth of July every time you turn around. On the evening of our departure from the camp, a sudden thunderstorm came up while we were loading the bus. Hard rain was coming down so we waited for it to slow down. I'm from Texas and have been around thunderstorms all my life, but this one was impressive. A loud clap of thunder shook everything around us and lit the sky for what seemed ten seconds. No one was hurt, a little rattled maybe, but everyone was fine. It was like Heaven gave the team one big firework show.

While walking to our hotel the last evening in Russia, the sun was setting and a shadow concealed all but the steeple of a church. A gold cross was reflecting the sun so bright it was blinding. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

It was magnificent to see the bright light of the Holy Spirit in this wonderful country. To be a witness to God’s glory and splendor was wonderful.

“Fan into flame the gift of God, which is you" – 2 Timothy 1:6

God Bless,
Glenn Estes
Mission Trip Participant FBC Gainesville, Texas

Military Day, Thu, July 31

Our last full day at camp was going to occur on Military Day. This themed day took about 3 days of preparation by several of the older kids at camp. They would have military type games like capture the flag, and competition between three large groups. The event took place in the forest about a 25 minute walk from the camp. Army Cadets that also participated in the camp were leading much of these activities. One of the counselors was a 3rd year student and he had been put in charge of the whole event. One of the cadets named Alex spoke excellent English and was assigned to help out our team prepare for the games the camp staff wanted our team to participate in.

The camp in the woods was set up much like a Boy Scout camp. The cadet leaders had used fallen logs, ferns, and anything else they could find to make a camp entrance, a seating area, a cooking area, and banners to define their camp. They had also prepared a Bonfire for lighting at the end of the evening.

I was asked by the head counselor to come up with 10 games of a military nature to play with kids who were not part of the major competition. This was a tall order since we didn’t know what supplies or resources we could use for these games. A couple of days before this event I started working on games that could be played using resources I had seen around camp and in the forest. By the time Thursday came around, we had gathered or made the things we needed to entertain 80 kids with 10 games over a 3 hour period. Of course, things change by the moment and these guidelines quickly changed at the hour of the event.

We had 3 sets of 3 games per station that they would rotate between every hour for the 3 hours we were to have them. The games included things like grenade toss (using plastic balls we had to toss through a target), prison escape using string as “barbwire” and interlocking their arms back-to-back simulating being restrained. We had medical stretcher relays, tug-of-war, obstacle courses, and even a target range where they shot rubber band guns to knock down empty drink boxes. I had glued two large crafts sticks together in the shape of a pistol that a rubber band could be shot from.

One of their favorite games was what I called Air Traffic Control (ATC). We used a megaphone as the air traffic controller and a blindfolded camper with a board over their shoulders as the pilot. We made a small “runway” and the ATC would have to “talk” the pilot in for a landing. The other kids could be the distraction for the pilot as he attempted to land. We’ve done a similar game in Sunday School with the lesson of hearing God’s voice for direction in your life.

After we did about an hour of the three hours we had planned, it was time to eat. Each of the three major groups had prepared a meal. The group we were assigned to had prepared soup, a rice-based main dish, and bread cooked over an open fire if you wanted. There was a competition between the three groups where the General Director of the camp would compare all the groups with her entourage of staff inspectors. All the three groups tied according to the General Director.

After the meal, the staff wanted us to play more games with the kids. So, we sparked some of the games we had already played that were popular and then brought out some beach balls for the kids to play with. It’s amazing what a dollar toy brought as a back-up resource can do for an event. The staff and the kids were happy.

The event ended with a performance by various groups, lighting of the bonfire, and some fireworks. The campers began their trek back to the main camp after that.

On the way back, Jenya and Natasha saw the lake and wanted to take a dip! So the rest of us watched and waited as they made their way through the bog and out to the lake to go swimming. They came back soaking wet and laughing all the way. It had been a great day!

Cotton Eyed Joe!

You just won’t believe this! Toward the end of that first week, we were asked to participate in their International Day. This theme day had several activities including a show that would be put on. We were asked to put on a show of American Dance! We were asked at the counselors’ meeting that morning and the event would occur the next day! Oh Boy! How am I going to come up with a dance routine for our group in less than a day!

Well, I didn’t know the first thing about dancing let alone choreographing a group that included us Americans, three translators, and six kids they “loaned” us to be part of the American delegation! I knew I was way out of my league and comfort zone… so I asked for advice! I went to the counselor of the group that was the professional dancers that had come to camp. I asked her if she could teach us how to dance “American”. After she finished laughing, she agreed and we met later that afternoon with everyone to be led.

During that first practice, she showed us several moves and routines that we could put together and use. She only had 20 minutes with us before she had to leave. This gave us enough ideas to put together a routine to the dance music I heard girls perform to earlier in the week. It was the Cotton-Eyed Joe! On the morning of the performance we had another hour to practice before “try outs”. I didn’t fully understand until that morning that our team had to try out for this performance and get approval before the actual performance later that afternoon.

Sometimes I don’t see the ministry purpose of our team getting out and performing a dance, but that routine quickly broke down any barriers and wove a relationship that broke any ice that might have prevented us from sharing. The head counselor was so excited at our routine during the try-out that she wanted to dance with us! She also put us last on the show so we could end on a great note. That was such a compliment!

All I can say is that you need to see the video of this. I don’t believe it myself that we were able to put a dance routine together so quickly and be enjoyed by all. It really broke down any barriers and made a lasting great impression on the camp staff that we were willing to fully dive into the life of Camp Greentown. This one thing probably more than anything else we did, paved the way for a long lasting good relationship with the staff that will allows our teams to return in the future!

Angel Day, Mon, July 28

Most of the days at camp had a theme attached to the day. A Carnival occurred on one day, Olympics on another, Family Day, and Parents Day to mention a few. As I mentioned earlier, we were asked not to share the Gospel until after Parents’ Day. I think it was by God’s design for our team to be there and to have the Monday following Parents’ Day to be “Angel Day”! On this day we were free to share our Bible Stories and tell about Christ!

On this themed day, the head counselor told us in the counselors’ meeting that all the groups could make special greetings over the Camp PA system, put messages of blessings to campers on an Angel Tree near the canteen, and become angels to one another. I came up with an idea…!

Glenn Estes had brought a book that contained one minute Bible Stories. I had also seen counselors a few days earlier dressed in togas for the Olympic competition day. My idea was to dress as angels and visit the groups in the evening just before they go to bed and have Natasha sing a soft song and then I would read a one minute Bible story. The whole program would be 5-7 minutes long.

I got approval and told the team about my idea. We fashioned some wire coat hangers I had brought into halos and secured some bed sheets from the camp staff. At the counselor’s meeting, we had several groups sign up for this “Angelic Visit”!

On Monday evening, we went from group to group around the camp dressed in Angel costumes with halos and sometimes a cowboy hat! We entered the room where the kids had been gathered. They ooo’ed and ahh’ed when they saw us dressed as angels. I would say to them, “We are Angels from afar that have come to visit you and share the love of Christ! Listen to the Word of God through song!” Then Natasha played a Christian song that was so soft and angelic that the campers would request her to sing it again days later! Then I would tell them a one minute Bible Story. They were attentive and listened as I told the story! Then we would bid them “spoo-ko-ney nochi” (good night in Russian) and gracefully depart. They would applaud and tell us in English “Good Night”! This simple act reached the kids at this camp for Christ!

As some of the other groups saw what we were doing, they asked us to come to them too! That first evening we visited nine different groups from about 9pm until 11:30pm that night. The Angel Visits continued throughout the week even though Angel Day had past. The kids seemed to really enjoy the visit. I wish you could have seen the faces of the kids as they listened to Natasha play. God was with us as Natasha played and our team as we portrayed Angels and showed the love of Christ! I’m sure the memory of Americans from Texas dressed as Angels and singing praises to God will be a memory they will soon not forget!

Teaching English

We had prepared 10 English lessons all with about 20 words for each lesson using pictures and fun activities weaving the Word of God and Bible stories into the hour we were there. Our team put a lot of time and effort into these lessons… but things always change on a Russian Mission Trip that I had told the team to be prepared to “flex” or be flexible. Our ESL had to have a LOT of “flexing”!

Most of the 430 kids at this camp apparently had several years of English lessons from school. They knew most of the basic words we had brought to teach. Even the Bible Stories we taught were well known by the kids!

On staff at the camp were two guys attached to an organization that would pay English speakers to come and teach English at the camp. Camper’s parents paid extra for their child to attend these classes. John and Teddy are great guys and we all made fast friends. This helped us to understand the level of English the kids had at the camp. Their ability was higher than we anticipated and they wanted more conversational English, especially with the older kids.

We had to make some major revisions in the lessons that we taught. We also only got to teach one or two of the 10 lessons we had prepared. Our first meeting with any of the 17 groups we did lesson one. A few days later maybe the same group would sign up for a class and we would move to the second lesson. But much of the lessons had to be revamped while we were there to accommodate the level of English that was known.

Toward the end of camp we led some of the older groups in a game show that required them to use some conversational English. We created the “Dating Game” where we pre-wrote questions in English that the kids would have to answer. The game was a hit once they understood the concept and it spurred conversational English. However, it wasn’t meeting the ministry goals I had intended. It was only on the Monday after Parents Day that I saw an opportunity! Read the next blog entry about “Angel Day” and what we did to incorporate the Word of God!

Camp Life

The camp is beautiful! It was begun in the 1950’s a few years after the war between Russian and Finland in 1939 just prior to World War II. This area used to be part of Finland until a treaty was signed with Russia giving this slice of land to the Russian’s.

The history is interesting. While exploring the camp, we were shown an old mansion owned by a former Russian General who escaped from Russian as Stalin was coming into power during the great purge of the Red Army in 1937. During that time up to 50% of the Army officers were executed including the vast majority of those with the highest rank. This General escaped this purge and built this huge home in what was then Finland. He was living a good life until the war between Russia and Finland. His home became part of Russia after the treaty and he was discovered and executed. The home was grand and it was a shame that it was in ruins 80 years later. However, it was interesting to explore!

The camp is near a couple of lakes, but it takes about 20 minutes to walk to them, so daily swimming was not part of the camp activities. The lakes are part of the national park system here and the camp property borders these public access areas. Other citizens from the community would come out on the weekends and build a campfire, cooks some “shasleek” (Shis-Kabob), and eat some watermelon that had been placed in the lake to cool.

The buildings around camp are mostly from the 1950’s and appear to have the architecture and styling from that era. We were housed in the main Administration Building on the second floor across from the infirmary. So we got to see many of the kids during the two sick calls every day. Other “cabins” that would hold two groups of kids composing of about 60 campers, were clapboard one story buildings with rooms that would hold 4-6 kids in bunk beds. They had bathrooms, but showers were in another building. This other building was a four story building that resembled some of the orphanage buildings I’ve been in before. Each floor has a sitting area in the middle and this is where we would meet groups and do our activities for the groups of kids in this building. The camp is surrounded by tall pine trees and sandy soil that would wick away any overnight rains.

The camp has a major athletic field with bleachers and areas for Volleyball and other games. It also has a smaller dirt soccer field near the center of camp with a wooden basketball court on one end that often would be used as a stage. Most of the camp could be accessed by one paved walkway that went from one end of camp to the other.

The cafeteria was in the middle of camp and we were schedule for when to show up for meals. Breakfast was at 9:30am, lunch at 2:30pm, and dinner at 7:30pm. We also had a snack time at 4:30pm. The meals were good, but by the end of camp we all were tired of eating buckwheat and rice! It was more of a pleasure follow the lead of the kids and pick berries in the forest and eat these! These berries red and black berries about the size of peas were sweet to eat!

The camp would also put on a Disco every other night at a pavilion near the main athletic field. They had a small stage, a portable sound system, and lively dancing every night. The kids have a LOT of energy! We watched the kids at the disco, but most of our trip participants and translators liked to play a card game called “Phase 10”. So, after a long day of activities, some still had the stamina to play cards until the sun went down. Of course, the sun doesn’t go down here until after midnight!

Getting to Know Them, Tue, July 22

Within the hour our team arrived, I met with the General Director of the camp. Tamara, is a pleasant woman who has a great deal of experience and is well known in international camping circles. She told us that Parent’s Day would be held on Sunday and asked us to hold off sharing the gospel until after Parent’s Day. I understood her position and we agreed that we would use this first week to build relationships with the kids through our activities.

Our primary reason that brought us to this camp was to teach English. This was a good publicity for this international camp to be able to say they have native English speakers teaching English. Probably they were not prepared for the first word we taught them. The kids were always ready to great us and repeat the lessons they learned in their school on how to greet someone in English. “Hello! How are you? I am fine, thanks! How are you? I am good! See you later!” We began teaching the way to greet a person from Texas is to say “Howdy!” Well, we began teaching that and soon the whole camp was saying “Howdy” to us every time we passed their group! It was a great way to connect with the kids! They would see us walking together as a group and they would go out of their way to say “Howdy” in unison and give us a big wave! We would respond with a Howdy back. I’m sure there will be some confused English teachers in St. Petersburg this fall!

During our first ESL classes, each of us had prepared a small display board of pictures about our lives and families. All kids in Russia seem very interested in what life is like in America and pictures are a great tool for sharing stories, culture, and life in America. It generates questions and the kids begin to know us. As we began to know the kids, we were surprised at how much English many of them knew.

We would offer hour time slots to teach English, do crafts, and play sports and games. For English and Crafts, we would start off our time with a song. Natasha, one of our translators that have worked with SAC many times before is a talented musician. She would play Christian children’s songs in Russian for the group. The kids would recognize the songs and loved to sing along and do the motions. Most of us Americans would do the motions and smile like we understood the words!

Then at some point I would do a crazy game with them. I would get them all hold hands in a circle and have them take one shoe off and toss it in the center of the circle. Then I would mix up the shoes, have them walk, and then tell them at the count of three to find and put on their shoes… without letting go of their hands! They all laughed and it’s a great ice-breaker!

Playing new “American” games with the kids was also a great way to build relationships. We brought Frisbees and plastic balls and bats to play baseball. The kids really enjoyed the Frisbees and Glenn Estes came up with some great ideas for games that the kids really enjoyed. We set up a Frisbee Golf Course among the trees during the first week. We taught the kids American baseball, however most kids just wanted to bat while the rest of us American played the outfield and chased balls all over the field! Glenn also introduced them to Frisbee Football which was a big hit with the kids, especially the older kids.

The camp also had lots of “shows” where different groups would put on a performance. The kids here are very talented, specially the two Dance groups that had come to camp. I think the kids practiced their dance routines several times a day. We enjoyed watching them and praising them each time they performed. It was another way to connect with the kids and build relationships.

Arrival at Camp - Mon, July 21

Our team departed Dallas on Friday afternoon with no problems other than Jenya having a little problem with liquids and makeup in her carry-on luggage! She thought she was allowed a gallon bag, not the quart size bag that the TSA actually allows! She had to make some “adjustments”! It was a good flight and all the bags arrived with no problems. The “Agora Hotel” we were taken to was a small hotel near the center of town. It’s run by a Christian Ministry and they converted an attic into a five room hotel that includes breakfast. However, it was a work-out to get all the luggage to the fourth floor and navigate all the stairs, but well worth the stay once we were there.

On Sunday we attended the church services of the Logos Baptist Church that were being held at St. Petersburg Christian University in the south part of town. The team member got to ride the metro system for the first time which is always an experience! After the two hour service we did some touring on Neveski Prospect before having dinner at Carl’s Junior. We thought it might be our last hamburger for a while!

While everyone was asleep, on Monday morning I travelled across town to retrieve a bag of mine at our partner organization and to borrow a guitar. I arrived back at 8:30am tired and ready for breakfast. After our meal we packed our gear and headed for camp. It was about a two hour drive to the camp located north of St. Petersburg among the trees and lakes. The temperature was in the low 70’s and very comfortable!

We immediately noticed when we arrived that several of the kids were wearing Gospel Bead bracelets. It seems that a team from Australia had been there the previous session witnessing to the kids. So, the kids were prepared for our visit!

There are 430 kids at this camp and placed into 17 different groups. Some are placed by ages while others are placed by a certain specialty like a dance group, or a group from another country like France. I was asked to attend a counselors meeting at 8:45 each morning to find out the plans for the day. About every day the camp had a theme day that included days like Carnival, Olympics, Angel Day, Parents Day, Family Day, and Military Day to mention a few.

Our group was quickly assimilated into the camp life. Our first request from the camp was for us to perform a skit during the counselor’s performance night. We did a skit that needed no translation called “The Mosquito”. It was enjoyed and the kids were now introduced to us!

We all ready to teach ESL, do crafts, or sports with the kids. I saw that the counselors had various schedules that I could never learn so we could insert our team. So I started passing around a sign-up spreadsheet at the counselors meeting and they began to sign up for our team to come and meet with their group. This started our real engagement with the kids and staff on a daily basis.