Click here to view this newsletter as a PDF.
Summer Camp – They Poured a New Song of Hope into Kids’ Lives ♥️ WITH THEIR LOVE
We had a large group from Emery, North Dakota, come to help us with the summer camp. God’s been working. Sometimes small things bring great things in God’s Kingdom! One day, leaders were invited to have a coffee with one local family. This is a new family in the community, but large in number. After talking and them asking a lot of question – about ZZ and why we are still coming, hearing about the hearts of the Americans and their coming, and some of the ZZ projects we are planning to do with local people and kids – this family decided to give us a chunk of their property so that we can build a playground! And not only that, they will clean that area (which they already did), they will help us with the resources for the playground, they will make lunch for all of us that day, and they will be keepers of the playground!
On Sunday, this group led almost an entire church service in my church (which is a privilege and shows trust)! We were able to hear three strong and very deep testimonies from these young people and an amazing and deep sermon by pastor John. They have blessed us with a lot of material for the future activities – and we were able to bless our church and three Christian organizations with some of it – a work of cooperation.
There is not enough lines and space to share all the blessings received at the camp. Thank you, Emery Church, for coming and sharing your time, lives, and funds with this community and the ZZ team!
We had a lot of fun eating pig Serbian style. 😊
Praying at the last day of camp in Roma village.
One of my favorite moments – producing a melody together with the kids using bells.
A Surprise by the Lord – Our Second Summer Camp!
Invited by the Bread of Life, a Christian organization from Belgrade, to organize a summer camp with them in the mountains of Serbia, I said, “YES!” The topic of this camp was “Be There for Your Friend.”
We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare and organize, but together we did it all!
Eighteen kids and youth and two adults from Roma village went with me to the camp.
What God did and how the Roma responded is beyond words and explanation.
They were seen, heard, taken care of, fed. . .
I will share just a few words:
- They had three meals per day – kids wanted more food in their plates that what their stomach was able to receive.
- They took a bath for the first time in their lives – some kids would take a bath two to three times a day because they liked it. They didn’t know how to turn on the water and where hot or cold is.
- When I said to their parents to bring toothbrushes, parents respond, “They never used before a toothbrush.” They did at the camp, and they liked it!
- Some kids needed an extra care – some wounds we needed to take care for twice a day; they allowed us to do that.
- Some kids came with no clothes except what they were wearing, and most of them came with one market bag with a few things in it.
- Every child had their own bed for three nights; they didn’t want to get up from bed in the mornings.
(If you would like to experience this next year, we are looking for volunteers to come with us. Same place, same time.)
We were able to give them clothes, a donation from one person, flip flops, donation from the camp, toothbrushes from ZZ, and so on. We were working as a team, and blessings were just coming one after another. What an amazing time of peace and comfort for these kids to experience.
Bread of Life, part of the team working with kids – learning new songs, hearing stories about being a good friend, and many more.
Learning how to do things together.
Brushing their teeth, some of them several times a day. 😁
Some results from eight years of our work in this village, and some as a result of the camps. These are our future projects. Some will happen very fast, and for some we will need your help:
- Making a playground (next several months). Depends on Emil’s and mine shoulder issues.
- Starting to teach kids to read and write, from August this year.
- Cleaning some backyards of individual families (families already started doing this).
- Helping some families to have water in their backyard.
- Training youth from the village as volunteers for village activities and next year’s summer camp with Bread of Life.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
If you, your family, or church would like to be part of what God is doing through us, please feel free to contact Randy Schmor or me for any questions.
Many blessings from ZZ and me,