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We had a great time of ministry this year at Camp Mama. I
couldn’t have asked for a better team to be a part of. Our team
was made up of four Ukrainians, Angelina, Vika, Sasha, and Lena
and then me, Emily, the American. Our team members had amazing
senses of humor, worked great for each other, and loved the kids
an incredible amount.
We had a set back on the first Friday that we were there.
Through the previous week we had become very close to the kids,
and we all had the few kids that we had developed extra special
relationships with. On Thursday we found out that 28 young kids
and around the same number of older children were going to leave
the next day to go to Camp Hope. Our team was very frustrated
with this news. I, personally, had the opportunity to have an
amazing conversation with some of the boys about following Jesus
and finding strength in him the night before. I was really upset
that I was not going to have an opportunity for follow-up
conversations with them. The other team members were equally
upset about the kids they had grown close to leaving. We felt
that our work had been in vain because we hadn’t been given a
long enough time to work with the kids to truly impact them.
There were many uncertainties that followed the kids leaving. We
didn’t know how many children would be left. We also didn’t know
the ages of the kids that were staying. If the kids were all
older they wouldn’t want to come to our programs, we felt,
because they were designed for the younger children. There was
talk of leaving and going to join the team out at Cosmos. That
night as I was reading my Bible though I came across 1
Corinthians 15:58 which says, “Therefore, my dear brothers,
stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor
in the Lord is not in vain.” Even though many thought that
we were going to be leaving, I felt that God wanted us to stay
at Mama because His plans were greater than our plans, which
couldn’t see past this set back.
So we cried and said goodbye to the children and got right back
to work developing new relationships with the kids who were
left. God knew exactly what he was doing though and we had an
amazing time with the children who remained. It was hard at
first because we felt like we were starting at square one and
only 15-20 kids came to the programs. However by the middle of
the week you would walk around the camp and you would hear the
kids singing the songs we sang with them during the programs.
They would be doing something like working on their grass huts
and be singing the songs about Jesus. To think that they might
not have been able to learn the songs, or hear them enough to
get them stuck in their heads if we had not stayed. God is good!
All around it was an amazing two weeks. We were able to build
and rebuild personal relationships with the children that even
not having showers to bathe couldn’t tear apart. We were also
able, with only the grace of God, to be given the opportunity
and endurance to stay the second week to be able to hear the
children sing.
Emily McLean
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