About two weeks ago, our annual Summer of Hope Camps came to a close, and it was such a blessing!
Our mission team was organizing camps in various parts of the post-Soviet countries, and it was a joyful and special experience this summer.
It was wonderful to see children and youth from different backgrounds come together, share stories, and enjoy being kids. We also welcomed children from war-torn Ukraine. They have been through so much, so it was heartwarming to see them smile as they played games, engaged in fun activities, and made new friends.
When Children Become Messengers of Hope
But what happens to a child’s heart when they return to war-torn communities carrying new hope? That’s the question that’s always on our mission team’s mind when the buses pull away at the end of summer.
The real challenge isn’t just changing the children for one or two weeks. It’s sustaining that change when they return to their wounded families and communities. It’s keeping God’s hope alive when the sounds of war echo through the night.
More Than a Summer Camp: Planting Seeds of Hope
Something remarkable happens when these children return home. They carry Bible stories in their backpacks and worship songs in their hearts.
They teach their younger siblings the hand motions they learned. They show their grandmothers the artwork they created.
They pray with newfound confidence, speaking to God as if He were certainly listening. A little girl kneels by her bed and shows her baby brother how to fold his hands for prayer. She whispers the words she learned at camp: “Jesus loves me, this I know.” Her mother pauses at the sink, tears gathering in her eyes, because she hasn’t heard her daughter speak with such conviction in months.
The ripple effect spreads through entire families. Mothers ask their children about the stories they learned. Fathers listen as their kids sing new songs. Siblings crowd around kitchen tables to hear about the God who cares about their fears and knows them by name. These aren’t just sweet family moments.
They are seeds of transformation taking root in the hardest ground imaginable.
Children become missionaries to their own households, bringing God’s light into places that have mostly known darkness. Pastors from our local churches in post-Soviet countries have told me about children who attended Summer of Hope camps and returned to their congregations with a newfound hunger for God’s Word. They ask more questions during the children’s ministry. They volunteer to pray out loud. They invite friends who have never heard the gospel. Pastors see the difference and reach out to camp leaders, eager to build on what has begun.
That’s when the real work begins. Summer of Hope bridges the gap between emergency relief and long-term family healing by providing support systems that extend far beyond those golden weeks of summer.
Camp isn’t the end of the story. It’s the beginning. Our support doesn’t just multiply—it explodes into a transformation that ripples through generations.
Thank you for standing with us in our mission to sow seeds of faith in these precious children’s lives and share God’s love and hope with them.
Thank you,
Pastor Vitali Yuchkovski