Romania camp

This is not an SCF event but a number of our members are involved, especially Tim and Joyce. Tim and Joyce were originally asked to help to run a camp to encourage young local christians in their faith. Other local children now attend so the camps have an evangelistic purpose as well. Tim and Joyce flew to Bucharest and then went north into Transylvania and the Carpathian mountains.

Drag the view south to find Bucharest or view a larger map.

The area is very beautiful with lots of wildlife. The camp is called Tabara Bicajel (Tabara meaning camp).

Below is a report from Joyce on the two weeks.

Tabara Bicajel 2009

On 8th August Tim and I set off for our third year to help run camps in the beautiful Carpathian mountains of Romania. Louise Morriss and Kat Rodda joined us for the second week and we were really pleased to see them as we were running out of steam by that time!

The camps, one week for 8-12 year olds and one for 12-16 year olds, are run by a British team working with Romanian Christians from the five Baptist churches run by Pastor Beni Handarac. Beni and his wife Ioanna are fully involved in the camp and do much of the translation.

The team from Britain is led by Michael Ots, an evangelist based in Bournemouth. In general the team is young, Tim & I go as ballast and to raise the average age!

The campers and most of the team stay in an amazing wooden cabin built by John Bucur. John and his wife Maria let us use the site for free, Maria does most of the cooking; their four children help their parents, are campers and also translate for us.

On camp our days are really full with a morning quiet time, two meetings and a discussion group each day as well as varied activities such as team games, wide games, treasure hunt, fashion show, craft, mime activity and opportunities for swimming, using the bouncy castle, slip and slide, late night walks and a bonfire on the last night.

The purpose of the camps is to encourage children who are Christians and to share the Gospel with those who are not. Many of the campers come year after year but also each year we see new faces. It is encouraging for us to see campers who had put their trust in Jesus on one of the earlier camps grow in their faith and also to see some come to faith for the first time. All is done in the context of a fun time of holiday.

The best memories I have from this year's camp are of the children's faces as they saw the bouncy castle for the first time, of the many campers who prayed around the campfire thanking God for the camp and of the excellent ministry by Michael. Other highlights were the amazing display of stars we see in the mountains, the good relationships on the team, seeing amazing creatures including rare black mountain goats and eating samali!

Joyce Jenkin

September 2009