An Amazing English Camp

“How Great is our God,” strummed Kent Dickerson on his guitar as English campers congregated around the camp pool. What we did not realize is that we were about to get a glimpse of just how great our God is. After five days of learning English, laughing and playing together, four youth prepared for baptism and shared the stories of how they came to Christ. Three of these four had poured their lives into the kids of the Miskolc orphanage over the previous year. And after they descended into the water, the spirit of God descended like a flood and a total of 16 people were baptized that day, including five orphanage kids and one from our village of Miskolc. From the orphanage, first Arpi and Roli and Bandi (whom we have known 10 years) came into the water and then Evi and Jozsi.

One would be hard pressed to find a dry eye by the pool that day as kids we have prayed for years submitted their lives to Christ. But the move of God did not end there. Balu struggled with God all Friday night. On Saturday afternoon our friend and colleague, Csilla, received an sms message from him saying that he too had accepted Christ. Evi and others sms-ed Csilla to tell her they had begun reading Matthew.

But now our work has only just begun as these kids face an especially hard task of trying to live out their new found faith under the harsh realities of orphanage life. We are working hard to build a support structure for these kids and the Debrecen youth group is eager to be a part of that.

We are thankful to Ovilla Road Baptist Church for the effective part they played in English Camp and the PHV Chapel in Germany, many of whom have been praying for specific orphanage kids for years.

A Miskolc Miracle

Riding a series of mishaps (see previous posting) the Miskolc Baseball Camp swirled into an array of activity as volunteers from California, Florida, Hungary and Texas came together share their lives with the kids of the Miskolc orphanage.

The Hungarian church youth group stepped up to the plate to serve as translators for this event as well as our good friends and fellow GoodSports staff David and Csilla Muscan.

The program was simple: Baseball and games by day and an “American Idol”-style talent competition each evening. But significant moments are not scripted into a camp schedule. It was in that late hours of the night when the team members talked deeply with the kids that one teen boy shared his story: Antal (not his real name), a teenager, fled his home after his father tried to kill him. But life on the streets proved equally harsh as bands of street kids beat him up leaving him friendless and desperate. He drifted in and out of institutions and eventually ended up in the Children’s Home in Miskolc.

That’s where our team met Antal. His life was so full of pain and rejection that some team members could not help but weep as they heard his story. Antal sensed their compassion and the movement of God’s Spirit that night as he invited Christ into his life. In that moment a life was changed a miracle of restoration was born.

Antal is just one of countless faces which hide enormous hurts. Pray for him and all the kids at the Miskolc Children’s Home. (A Special thanks to the Military Chapels in Germany whose donations made this camp possible).

Also pray for the GoodSports Bojnice, Slovakia baseball camp (June 30-July 8) as GoodSports Hungary sent a number of kids (thanks to a donation from Acton Baptist Church VBS) -- some of whom may be exposed to the gospel for the very first time.

Pray for the upcoming English Camp July 8-14 where 13 kids from the Miskolc orphanage will join a hundred others kids for English classes, sports, and fun. Pray that they will experience love and acceptance in this environment and perhaps even come to Christ.