Nagydobrony – For the first time this past summer we held an English/outreach camp in the town of Nagydobrony, Ukraine at the Hungarian Reformed Boarding School in the village. The school is one of three Hungarian Reformed boarding schools in the minority Hungarian population of the western Ukraine, the province of Transcarpathia. Transcarpathia, part of Hungary for a thousand years, still has an active minority Hungarian population and many Protestant churches. The English teacher at the school, Magdolna Borovszki, a Peterfalva Reformed High School graduate, is a close friend of ours who was a student and former university Bible Study attendee, dating back to my first years visiting Ukraine. Nagydobrony is 50 miles, but a grueling nearly two-hour drive from our home village of Peterfalva, and is one of the largest Hungarian settlements in the Transcarpathia region. 
We immensely enjoyed traveling there for our week-long camp filled with devotions and singing, English lessons, games and activities, and capped off with a bonfire on a beautiful early summer night. It was wonderful to meet many new students and teachers. This was our first camp of the summer, beginning in the end of May, and was a great start for our volunteer teachers. The town of Nagydobrony is home to a Christian Nursing home. 
Nursing homes are uncommon and a Christian nursing home is very unique. As part of the camp we walked over every afternoon with a group of students to sing and visit the elderly residents. The residents enjoyed it and hopefully the students did too.
An evening of Hungarian Folk Dancing.One other highlight for us was to have a folk dance evening in Nagydobrony. Some area folk dance instructors came and taught all of us different Hungarian folk dances. We are thankful to the Nagydobrony school, the teachers, and community for welcoming us and partnering with us during this English camp.
Devotions and singing are an important part of our camps. The students seem to enjoy the singing. Learning English and vocabulary through song for many seems to be an easier and more enjoyable way to learn English. We especially love the devotional time as it provides time and places to be able to talk to the students about faith. It is moving to hear the volunteers share with the students, personal testimonies, favorite Bible verses, and devotions that have helped them in their faith. Sometimes volunteers use this time to share with the students about struggles in their own lives and about how they were led to Christ. It is always our hope and prayer that these words will fall on listening ears and open hearts. Please follow the link below to see more pictures. https://iccdabroad.org/photo-galleries/2017-nagydobrony-english-camp/
Peterfalva – Peterfalva, the small agrarian village in Western Ukraine we call home, was the location of our third camp of the summer. This also marked our second camp with a Hungarian Reformed Boarding School. Around 100 students from the Peterfalva Reformed High School attend the camp. The camp is a required part of the school curriculum. The school year runs from September through May and the month of June is designated for language camps. The students take part in our two-week English camp as well as a two-week Ukrainian language camp. Despite the setting of a Christian boarding school, the camp is still an excellent opportunity to share the Gospel and the hope that is ours in Christ. Also, it is a great opportunity to live our lives as a Christian example of what it means to follow Christ.
You may be wondering, what does a day in a boarding school camp look like? The day is broken down into four different types of events. Devotions & Singing, English Lessons, Service Projects, and Games & Activities. Devotions and Singing occur every morning and evening. We take turns as volunteers leading the devotions by sharing the Gospel, speaking about our faith, sharing a favorite Bible passage or a devotion or something that the LORD has been teaching us. The devotions are translated into Hungarian by an English teacher or a local university student who is helping with the camp. Every morning is filled with English Lessons from after breakfast until lunch. Volunteers from North America prepare and conduct English lessons for the students. The lessons are an opportunity for the students to advance in their English language abilities, which with a greater knowledge of English will help them find better jobs and opportunities later in life. Many of the English Lessons are also centered around topics of faith and the Bible. Afternoons are filled with Games & Activities and Service Projects.
Every student is required to take part in one Service Project throughout the course of the two-week camp. The service projects involve spending an afternoon visiting elderly and widows in the Peterfalva community; singing, visiting, reading the Bible and praying with them. The other opportunity is to volunteer for an afternoon at the local Roma kindergarten organizing games, songs, and a Sunday School message for these young Roma children. One day we went to the Roma kindergarten and organized a lunch for the children. Pastor Elemer Barta cooked the famed Hungarian goulash over an open fire and students from the Peterfalva Reformed High School, children from the Roma kindergarten and their teaches, and North American volunteers all enjoyed games, lunch, and fellowship together.
Evenings during the English Camp are filled with with many different activities for the students. During the course of the two week camp we organize the students into activity teams. The students choose a team name and make a poster representing their team. Throughout the two week camp the teams compete against each other in many games and activities and at the end of the camp an activity team is crowned champions and rewarded for their efforts with chocolate. The student teams compete in Ultimate Frisbee, water games, a scavenger hunt, a trivia competition, organize skits and do many different other activities. 
This camp is a busy two weeks but always richly blessed by God and a rewarding experience we are thankful for.
One exciting thing to happen this past year was one of volunteers David Guba, from Alberta, Canada brought with him an entire suitcase full of blankets, gloves, and winter hats that his mother had knitted. David gave these items to many teachers and cooks at the school and he was also able to give them as gifts to elderly ladies of the community who the students visited in the afternoons during the camp. Earlier this week, Stacey and I were able to visit Mariska-neni, a 92 year old woman in our village who the students visited last summer. 
The blanket made by David’s mother was on her bed and she proudly retold the story of how she received it during the English camp. We are thankful to both David who carried an entire extra suitcase and to his mother who must have given countless hours to make the blankets and hats.
We are again thankful to God for all the volunteers from North America this past summer. We are thankful for their willingness to come and serve and give of themselves and their time. We are also thankful to Reformed Mission Services for helping us find volunteers. We were also very thankful to Csilla Kodobocz, David Hidi, Zoltan Toth, Krisztina Bosckor, Eszter Kucsinka, and Kamilla Kelemen (university students) who helped as translators and classroom assistants. We also were thankful to Irenke Kalincs, and Magdolna Borovszki the respective English teachers we worked with in Peterfalva and Nagydobrony. We are thankful to the administrators, dorm parents, cooks, cleaning staff, and everyone else at both schools who made these weeks possible. We appreciated the efforts of so many people to be able to organize and conduct summer camps in both Peterfalva and Nagydobrony at the Hungarian Reformed boarding schools. Soli Deo Gloria! Follow the link below to see more pictures.
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