"Yes, I want to follow Jesus. I want to be His disciple. He is my Savior, He loves me and takes care of me and I want to spend my eternity with Him!"
Spending time with brothers or friends, working hard in the garden or field, at school, they’d always think about summer vacation… He was imagining how’d he spend summer, how’d it be at the Day Centre’s summer camp…
He was experiencing impatience and strong emotions.
Finally, that day arrived. He came to the camp with his younger siblings.
The fire in their eyes tell how much they’ve been waiting for camp!
Soon his neighbor would come and many other kids as well. Some people he knows but he also sees many new faces. “I must meet that boy; he’s alone in the corner, no friends… I recall a day centre teacher told if we want to have friends, become a friend!” This is how he was thinking.
All the kids are divided in groups. This group becomes a small family for 5 days. He was so happy to be in the same group with his best friend and that lonely boy.
The leader is kind to all the kids, cheerful and quiet.
“Our DC teacher told us more about Jesus. How kind He was with all the people. How much he loved them. She told us we must be like Him! Our leader actually is like Jesus! I’ll try to be like him! I don’t want to be like my parents, always fighting, yelling, drinking! I’d like to be an example for my parents and my siblings.” Next, their leader led them to the place their they’d be sleeping in the night. We’ll be sleeping in tents, in nature under the stars. He couldn’t believe it! He didn’t expect that!
“To experience something like this in the village of Tarancuta is … WOW!”
He loved all the activities: sports, games, biblical lessons, songs, worship time. The most special activity was Taekwondo trainings. This was something new for him and he was very excited! “I had never heard of this kind of sport before. I couldn’t imagine I’d do such extraordinary activity at camp!”
However, every day he’d be eager to have breakfast, lunch, snack, as he doesn’t get to have that too often. Sincerely he thanks God for the opportunity to be in the camp!
The time goes by and there we are at the end of the camp. He was so sorry that time flies so fast. The last day was a special one; one he’ll remember for the rest of his life! On that day, he and 39 other kids out of 98 have witnessed a desire to follow Jesus in spite of any circumstances in their lives. “Yes, I want to follow Jesus. I want to be His disciple. He is my Savior, He loves me and takes care of me and I want to spend my eternity with Him!”All the kids were singing with joy around the bonfire; they were giving praise to God for a very blessed time at the camp!
This is Radu’s story, an 11-year-old boy from the village of Tarancuta, a story that shows lives of other two thousand children, who had the opportunity to spend their vacation in 25 camps organized by partners’ churches via Youth for Christ Moldova.
Summer, indeed is a special time of the year, which leave many wonderful memories. It is so great that Youth for Christ is able to help churches to organize camps, and they are able to offer kids an opportunity to have a better summer. We thank God that we can be a tool in His hands that brings about life change in boys like Radu.