Youth Camp Missions at Camp Smerichka

Guest post from Geoff Casella

What I love about mission work is what I love about reading God’s word: there’s always something new. Our team (Agape) has worked with Camp Smerichka in Western Ukraine for 11 years. What I really love about the program is that it involves unique experiences in interactions with Ukrainians and providing God’s word in their own language.

Every year has its challenges and through those challenges unique opportunities to demonstrate whether we believe in the message we bring or not.

Camp demographics have changed somewhat in the past two years. We have more children from Central Ukraine. They can’t go to the East for camp because of the conflict there. But they don’t quite fit in with the Western children either. Camp becomes a place where we demonstrate love for those different from us, and where we encourage others in their attempts to be accepting of those different from them. 

And it works.

Most of all, we are giving children, camp counselors, staff, and even some of our own interpreters the opportunity to see Christ in a new way. It isn’t about doctrine that can become politicized, but about faith that can be personally realized. Because of this we can stay in touch with children throughout the year, even those who cannot return to camp because they are moving on to university, marriage, and even starting their own families. In the process, friends and family of these children also have the opportunity to receive the word of God.

We’ve also had opportunities to distribute Bibles in the local village. Americans can’t generally comprehend the joy this brings to families and whole churches who cannot afford to purchase their own Bibles. All efforts in the Youth Camp Program are now without challenges. But I’ve come to see the challenges as incomparable to the joy of having done what I can do in this effort.

A couple of weeks of your life each year is a true blessing to both others and yourself!

-Geoff Casella, Team Agape (Houston, TX)