Children are a precious jewel, not only to us but also to God. We believe these children will be used of God in their country in the future. The Muslims are very strong in this area, but now we are there to show them the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. God is rasing up children and teenagers of all ages to accomplish his commission. Using these young disciples and their skills, we look forward to what God has in store for each and every one of them!

People might ask "Why do you take out so much time for children?" Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not - for of such is the Kingdom of God." The Word of God says in Exodus 34:6-8...."6And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. " Two generations were wiped out during communism and atheism and we must reach this generation to turn this nation back to God. Pray for us to reach, teach, and train young people to be witnessess for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks to all of you who support the Children’s Projects through the year which includes the youth camps, orphanage homes, literacy programs, and feeding and clothing the poor.

   

Youth Camp 2011
What an awesome summer! From the breakfast meal, to music, to Bible Class, crafts, lunch, outdoor sports, and music again, afternoon meal, and then "God bless you" til tomorrow - all in all this makes a great day in camp! For all of you who have sown seed in this harvest - you are blessed!  These children will be in Heaven with you because you gave and brought the gospel for them to hear.  Those who were baptized gave their personal testimony and really understood what they were doing.  Then they had communion afterwards which is a custom here after baptism.  

In the picture to the right, you see is the whole group from the third week.  Our guests on the front row from USA: Greg West from WATC TV57 in Atlanta, and Dante' Thompson from WGGS TV16 in Greenville, SC.  They have blessed us by their visit and they are preparing a documentary/video clip for us to show in the churches and hopefully we can send to all our supporters too.  As soon as it is finished, we'll try to make that happen.

Below is the baptism group and those who were baptized gave their personal testimony and really understood what they were doing.  The last picture (bottom right) is the group that was saved this week and prayed the sinner's prayer.  Praise God for His mercy and grace to us all.  
My heart just breaks for these children as they are poor and this is their only chance to leave their villages and town to get away and enjoy.  They tell us week after week how much they appreciate this time together with them.  They hug us- teachers, workers - they love all of us like family.  And our love for them continues to grow all the time because of God's love that lives in us.

    

Youth Camp 2008
Because we have so many children from the Turkish villages, we have added camp teachers in each group to speak Turkish to these children. It was brought to our attention very clearly this year, that some of the children did not understand the Bible lessons well - so we are making plans next year for extended teaching. We must reach every child who comes to us, no matter what the problem: behavior, language, abuse - whatever the need, we are there to help them.

One boy in the camp was so changed and he wanted to testify to all the children. He spoke about his home life and how he was beaten everyday since a child, and he had so much anger in him. Every time someone would upset him, he would just attack them and fight. He has been attending our camps and every year has listened about the love of Jesus. One day last week at camp, one boy came up to him and pushed him, and he started to hit him, and then remembered our Bible lessons for the week. He turned and said "No, I am changed now - I will not hit you back!". Then the teachers were so thankful because all the children knew his character; so he gave this testimony before all of them. Praise God, we can make a difference in children's lives by planting the Word of God, and showing love through words and actions. And then the Holy Spirit will do His part to bring the change. Oh how we need this to happen in homes all over America and around the world. Jesus is waiting for people to open their hearts to Him.

During the worship each morning and afternoon, the children read the Bible scripture and prayed. Also each village church prepared for singing and drama, whatever they wanted to do during the worship time. It was so great, and the children were so happy to sing and rejoice. They prayed everyday that the weather would be hot and not rain. That was very important for them, and God answered their prayers.

Ayten, our special young lady celebrated her 17th birthday this week. She was touched during camp and was able to attend all four weeks of the regular camps. She is suffering with severe kidney disease, irregular heartbeats, and now lung congestion. But she is still believing God for a miracle and we stand with her in the prayer of agreement for her total healing. Please continue to pray for her. The Doctors cannot believe she has lived this long but we know it's because of prayer.

We were blessed to have a group of 10 from Lighthouse World Outreach Center come for a short-term missions trip and help in camp the third week. They also were touched by the outreach and went home with many good memories and desire to come back. Thanks to Pastors Raymond & Cindy Hardy, and Pastor Gina York for making this happen.

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and support. The expenses are rising because of the gas price of $8 per gallon, and the food is up as well. We continue repairs in the properties and vehicles. If you can help us with a special offering for these needs, it will be appreciated. The next few weeks we will be bringing the orphans from all the area to the camps. We truly want to fulfill the scripture in James 1:5 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." We must prepare for these special children, and there will be more pictures later of these camps.

We hope you enjoy the pictures, but they cannot tell the whole story. This is the greatest evangelistic tool we have to win this nation through the children in this region. We must work while it is day, and we will occupy until He comes...the coming of Jesus is near, and we need to be light and salt in these last days, AMEN?

Youth Camp 2007
Youth Camps were a great memory for me as a child. I started attending when I was 8 yrs old up until I was 16. Then at 22, being a Pastor’s wife I volunteered to help all summer and that lasted for 10 years! Little did I know all that experience would be so helpful in my late 50’s and 60’s!! But God has a sense of humor and purpose in it all and here I am right in the middle of something supernatural.

Every morning as we watched the buses rolling in and the kids jumping out with joy and smiles – oh, it’s worth it all. All day they enjoyed planned activities any child would love, but especially if you have never experienced this – it’s really special. The Music Class, Bible Study, and serious play takes us to lunchtime – then swimming, sports, crafts, games….then closing with music again and prayer and commitment time. We had special prayer everyday with the children who had a prayer request and needed healing. One boy who is deaf and dumb began to say “Jesus”…Amen! Ayten, our precious little angel here, was encouraged so much in her faith for healing, and even now we are on a fast and prayer time for complete healing for her. We are believing for the manifestation to come very soon! Please continue to pray for her. Bibles are given to all the children, and also the Scripture Book for memorization which is very important for these youth. Our focus continue on these youth and children here in this nation..

Every week the children left the camp complex saying “I’ll meet you in Heaven someday”. They are ready for Jesus to come, Amen!! Their lives were touched by the Word of God and the love shown through all the staff toward them.