Camps Report 2007

From the Camps Co-Ordinator: Andrew Burrows

I can only be humbled by Gods goodness and graciousness. To Him alone be the praise and glory. As we approach the 21st year of camps it is a time for reflection on the grace of God to us and the churches in Central Eastern Europe.

The English Bible Camps arose out of the desire of Dani Szabo and Istvan Victor to reach out to the youth through the carrot of conversational English so that they would be able to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and trust Him as their Saviour.

So, in the summer of 1986, 15 intrepid volunteers set out in a rickety old minibus on the three day journey to Hejce in Hungary. To be met by Mama and Papa Victor as they became know and their 17 children. Who can forget the witness of András Victor as he preached the gospel with vigour in the intervening years. An academic? No, but a boy /man after Gods heart. András had trisomy 21 'Down Syndrome' but he loved to hold the Bible and talk about God. He was called home in February 1994. The freedom and love over the years has endeared the Victors and Hejce to the hearts of many. From the lovely lemon tea to the apricot jam (in the massive catering size jars) to the finom, finom, leves and stuffed Cabbage.

Out of this work an old Roman Catholic lady who attended these camps desired that this witness be taken to her area in the south of Hungary. So the Hódmezõvásárhely camp commenced in 1992. Also the Hungarian Team Leader Tamás Sápi at Hejce for many years started the Tivadar Camp. We can only praise God for its continuation.

Now we return to the present:

The 2006 Camps were some of the most encouraging due to the return of many of the campers several who made professions. We struggled to attain the prerequisite number of Team Members with one camp running below the minimum standard of seven. Forty-Six went out to do the seven camps. That is one more than last year when we had five camps only. Two did two camps, two did three camps and two did four camps.

Two new camps ran one in Romania at Surduc which was run after a request was received by Council in early 2006, from Mr Adrian Popa, the Blythswood Care Manager for the Banat region of Romania. For some years Blythswood Care and Mr Popa with various other local Christians have been involved with the care and support of young adults who have a terminal illness.

The second new camp was in Rat in the Ukraine. In spite of initial problems this went well. This is all to the praise of God alone, His presence was felt and shown through the conversations and commitments.However neither of these camps will be running with EEFC this year nor will the Tivadar camp due to the tragic accident last year of Tamás and Irénke Cs Both of them were very severely injured. Tamás was taken to hospital by an ambulance helicopter and Irénke on the normal way. The accident was so major that all the doctors were amazed that they still were alive. They had long operations with many doctors working hard. Tamás has serious injuries on his back, left eye, arm(s) and both of his legs were completely broken above and below knees (this is due to the fact that the engine moved backwards). More operations are expected with his legs and eye. Irénke has made the best recovery. Tamás is unlikely to be back before next year. Please pray for them, their family and the church.

This year there will be two camps at Hejce the dates for Camps in 2007: HEJCE, Hungary 7 - 14 July 2007, 14 - 21 July 2007; HÓDMEZÕVÁSÁRHELY, Hungary, 21- 28 July 2007; MAHANAIM, Romania, 14 - 21 July 2007 and BUCSIN, Romania, 5 - 12 August 2007.To date two of the camps have viable teams at Hódmezovásárhely and Bucsin. The other camps need team members.

Please pray for all the camps, National Team Leaders, EEFC Team Leaders, their teams, translators, cooks and the campers.