July 12 - Second Day of Yashkeno Camp

This morning we had breakfast (cereal) followed by our devotional time. Then we headed over to the orphanage for our second day. Once again it was a lot of fun, and by the end of the morning a whole bunch of kids chose to pray with us to ask Jesus into their hearts. Later on Alexey mentioned that it might not mean they will pray all of the time, but that it is a good start and gives them practice.

At the end all of the kids and staff came outside and we took a big group photo in front of the building.

The staff also spoke to us about how much they loved the program, and gave us a certificate of thanks as well as a jar of honey that the administrator had made herself. We are planning on having it tomorrow for breakfast with bread. Then we had lunch (bread with cheese and tomato), and tea and chocolate.

After that we headed back out to the school field (which they call the stadium), to start the afternoon.

We started with some parachute games and then started the stations where the kids are in teams and collect pieces of the verse John 3:16. Once the kids had all the pieces, they assembled it in order and then we all learned it together. After that, Alexey spoke to them about Jesus and what the verse means. Then he asked if anyone wanted to pray with us to invite Jesus in and pretty much everybody there did! It was so touching to see so many kids and teenagers praying with us!

 Then we gave out backpacks with Bibles in them - the kids were so excited, and many of them took them out and started reading right away!

At the end of the afternoon, one of the people from the church invited us to their home to use their Banya to wash. Apparently it is a common thing in Russia, but I had never heard of one! It's kind of like a sauna, but you also wash yourself in there. It is kind of like a little log cabin, and there is a stove-like thing withhot rocks in it. You scoop water out of the stove pot and out of the cold water jugs on the floor and pour them over yourself to wash. The room is filled with steam at the same time. It was sooooo relaxing and I loved it! We each only got 10 minutes, so I had to rush, but it was still really great! I think I'm going to need to build one in my backyard! Haha :)

Then we went back to the church for dinner, which was rice with milk in it, and then visited for the rest of the evening. I just finished my Bible reading for tomorrow and heading to bed! I am so exhausted! But tomorrow breakfast is st 8:30 instead of 7:30, so we get to sleep in a little bit!