August is here. The camps are running at full strength. Children are arriving every week — from war-torn regions of Ukraine, from Russia where the Gospel is rarely spoken aloud, from cities and villages whose names most people in America have never heard. And right now, in the middle of all of it, God is moving in ways that take my breath away.
I do not want you to miss this moment. So I am writing to tell you what I am seeing.
“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” — Isaiah 40:11
August — Our Most Active and Fruitful Month
People sometimes ask me which month of the summer matters most. Without hesitation, I say August.
The camps running right now are reaching children who had the longest road to get here. Children from the most devastated areas of Eastern Ukraine — the region that has endured the heaviest shelling, the deepest displacement, the most relentless trauma of this war. Children from regions of Russia where getting to camp requires weeks of careful planning by our partners on the ground. These are the children most people have stopped thinking about. Our mission team has not stopped thinking about them for a single day.
This is when we push deepest. This is when the harvest is richest. And right now, in real time, it is happening.
What I Am Watching God Do
Children are arriving at our camps carrying wounds you cannot see. The weight of war. Homes destroyed or left behind. A childhood interrupted by sirens and bomb shelters and the kind of fear that settles into small bones and stays there.
And then something begins to happen. Not all at once — slowly, the way healing always works. A member of our mission team sits beside a child at breakfast and simply asks how he slept. A girl picks up a paintbrush for the first time and discovers she can make something beautiful. A boy hears the parable of the lost sheep around the campfire — the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one — and something shifts in his face, because he has never before allowed himself to believe that he might be the one the shepherd is searching for.
By the end of the week, the children who arrived silent are raising their hands in worship. The ones who arrived afraid are running and laughing. They came broken. By the grace of God, they are leaving singing.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” — Psalm 147:3
Sofia’s Question
Let me tell you about a ten-year-old girl named Sofia who came to one of our camps in Ukraine this August.
Her family fled Eastern Ukraine two years ago and has been living in a single room ever since. She arrived at camp the way so many of these children do — small, careful, watching everything from a safe distance. Our mission team noticed her right away. They sat with her at meals. They made space for her. They did not rush her.
On the third evening, around the campfire, the team shared the story of the prodigal son — the father who sees his child coming from far away and does not wait. He runs.
Sofia sat very still. When the story ended, she raised her hand and asked quietly:
“Does God really run toward people like that?”
Our team leader looked her in the eye and said: “Yes. He is running toward you right now.”
Sofia bowed her head and prayed. When she looked up she was smiling — the first real smile anyone had seen from her in a very long time.
That smile is what this ministry exists for. That question is the question every child in Ukraine and Russia is carrying somewhere inside them, whether they know how to ask it or not. Our mission team gets to be the ones who answer it. Luke 19:10 says the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. That is still happening. Right now. At a Summer of Hope camp.
A Report From Valery in Odesa
Our ministry partner Valery leads outreach in the Odesa region of Ukraine and also serves in the Kyiv region. He wrote to me recently from the middle of camp season. I want you to read what he said:
“Amidst new threats and daily struggles brought on by the war, fear and a sense of helplessness can easily creep in. Yet despite these challenges, we find comfort in knowing that God hears our prayers. His presence gives us strength. This year we welcomed more children than ever before. Each little face was a shining example of joy.” — Valery, Odesa, Ukraine
More children than ever before. In the middle of a war. That is not a program succeeding. That is God moving.
Russia — We Are Still Going
I want to say something directly about Russia, because it would be wrong to let the focus on Ukraine obscure what is happening there.
New laws restrict public evangelism in Russia. Ministry there requires courage and wisdom every single day. But our Summer of Hope camps in Russia are running this summer. Within the walls of local churches, in the careful and faithful way that faith has always survived in that part of the world, children are hearing the Gospel. Seeds are being planted in soil that looks hard but is not beyond the reach of God.
I grew up in the Soviet Union. I know the hunger that comes from growing up without God’s name being spoken. That hunger does not go away under political pressure — if anything, it deepens. The children of Russia are still hungry. We are still going to them.
The Summer Is Still Alive — Will You Be Part of It?
Right now, as you read this, a child is sitting down to a meal at one of our camps. A campfire is being lit. A Bible story is being told. A young person from our mission team is sitting beside a child who has been carrying too much for too long, and saying without words: you are not alone. You are seen. God has not forgotten you.
That is what is happening at our Summer of Hope camps this August. And it is happening because people like you said yes.
Pray for our mission team pressing into the hardest places. Pray for Sofia and every child like her who is just now learning that God runs toward people like them.
The summer is still alive. The harvest is still coming in. And God is moving.
Gratefully,
Pastor Vitali Yuchkovski