Vachartyan and Vorosmart Camps

A cozy and quiet village outside of Budapest and near the famed Danube bend is the next stop of our English camp and outreach summer programs.  For the 8^th summer in a row we have been working with Barnabas and Livia Geregly at their church in Vachartyan, Hungary in organizing a summer outreach English camp.  We are blessed to call Barnabas and Livia our dear friends.  They have been an incredible example to Stacey and I by their faith in Jesus, their devotion in marriage to one another, in raising their children, and by their dedication in sharing the Gospel with their neighbors and community.  Every summer around 50 students, ages 13-22, come for this week-long event.  Students come from 9am-4pm for English lessons, devotions and prayer, singing, games and lunch.  We love to see many familiar faces of both students and local volunteers year after year when we come to Vachartyan.  It has also been rewarding to see a number of young people who came to the camp as students who are now coming back as volunteers and helpers.  This past August two young people full of faith and love for the Lord were united in marriage after meeting in this camp four or five years ago.  What a blessing to see how God works. In both Tiszaujvaros and Vachartyan, Stacey and I are encouraged to work with local pastors who serve their communities and churches by making youth groups that we hope and pray many of the students will become a part of after the summer camp ends.  We were joined in our teaching team by David and Grace McBrier, missionaries from the nearby city of Vac, and Alexandra Krizsan, a friend and current university student.  Stacey had returned to the U.S. for the last two months of the pregnancy to await Hans’ arrival; we missed her a great deal this past summer.  I left part way through the Vachartyan camp to join her for Hans’ birth.

The last camp of the summer took place in a Hungarian village in the region of Slavonia in north eastern Croatia.  This camp is not an English camp, but rather a VBS camp.  I had to leave before the start of this camp for the birth of Hans so this camp was done without us.  We missed being there, but we were very proud of the group of university students who help us in many camps who led the camp without us.  By all accounts they did a marvelous job of leading devotions and prayer, small group discussions, games, crafts, and activities.  We are very excited to return next summer. Here is a link to more photos from these camps.  https://iccdabroad.org/photo-galleries/vachartyan-and-vorosmart-camps-2/