The Camp Report
I think the time away on Snake Island is my favorite time of the year. … those 6 days just pip the Christmas season for 1st place.
Inclement weather notwithstanding, it was another special week filled with relaxing, teaching, meeting up with old friends again, and enjoying the camping experience. Oh! There were also competitions, (like this one where a team had to eat several raw potatoes – apparently extremely difficult for some people!)
This year, Pris and the kids and I went out a day early so that the 55 people who joined us didn’t have to wait so long for a ride out. We decided we liked being out there before everyone else arrived. We had just two boats ferrying people and supplies, so it took a while Monday to finish up the trips. Shane was a champ. He and Jem were overseers for the week. They did great.
We saw the weather bare her teeth a couple of times, once with hail, another time with rain that our Babushka Galya said hadn’t been seen in these parts for many years. (I actually think that the main force of that storm missed our island but not Rzhyshchiv where our home met with some pretty bad flooding on the first floor. I’m ripping out the flooring today.) Wednesday, on the island, we had just finished our worship time and Shane and I got up to speak. I shouted with full volume and communicated… just. But after about a minute of this, we realized that while the large tarp sheltered us from the rain, the noise of the droplets hitting it was just too invasive. God blessed us with understanding. : ) We sent people to check their tents and said that we’d gather later in the day or in the evening for teaching. The overall attitude towards the rain the first few days was great - no complaining, no resentment, not even disappointment. God was glorified nicely.
We are in the process of trying to get another visa… the longer the better. It is quite a process, requiring letters from different organizations and then a visit to Poland. We’ll take that trip in August.
This morning, about 10 of us met in the cafe to pray. It is coming together, with a couple of helpful donations from Christians in the U.S. We are going to make an effort this year to make the students feel welcome there and use it to develop relationships with them – with those who have made commitments and well as with those who have no idea that a relationship with Jesus can be a normal part of life. A team of Americans is coming next week to work on getting the project further along. They will make a big difference, I’m sure.
Simeon the Scot is running a kids camp first week in August. Great! He is superb at that.
Pris and I went out to eat at a little restaurant on the way to Kiev about 10 days ago. It wasn’t bad. We ordered green borsch – made from… lots of veggies with some meat, boiled egg and sour cream. We quite like it. Then we shared some “shashlicked” meat and potatoes.
Health… all good. The blood results came back and pleased the doc. He did another cardiogram which also made him happy. The next step is a check-up in about a month and a bit. Nothing has been found to indicate what caused the stroke. And life simply goes on… with a few more tablets on the menu.
Our Daewoo car has been having problems. I dropped some people off in the centre of town after church and then couldn’t make it back up the hill. Tom gave me a tow and today I fitted a new fuel filter. Didn’t help. We then took the pump out (which is found under the back seat in a hole in the top of the fuel tank… if you are clever enough to buy a Daewoo and ever have to find it). We took it out and looked in and realized that the pump was filled with dirt. Cleaned that, then put it back in and kept revving the engine until it seemed to clear. We’ll clean the tank out once I drive a couple of hundred more km’s.
Pris is looking pretty and feeling crook. She developed stomach cramps at camp and hasn’t managed to get rid of them. She troops on.
Raining again! I’d better check on the leak in the wall again!