CAMP 2008                                  PHOTO ALBUM
 
 
            Mountains, good food, a swimming hole, games, music, and 30 young people gathered together for 5 days.  It’s all the ingredients for camp.  Add in a lot of prayer and the manifest presence of God and it’s RADICAL LIFE CAMP 2008!!!!!
            This year’s camp was unusual.  We invited everyone we knew and we still had places available.  So we went to those we didn’t know.  We went to malls and parks and other places where high school students hung out and walked up to strangers that looked the right age.  We talked to kids and their parents and gave invitations out to whoever was interested. 
            We also had a “two pronged” purpose for the first time.  The non-Christians and their Christian friends were put in groups with a leader for guided discussions, challenging them to dedicate their lives to God.  While they met, the rest of us met together for 3 hours.   Mihaela shared stirring words that turned our hearts to Jesus in a fresh way.  Then we prayed, asking God to move in every life.  We often found ourselves on our faces in His weighty presence as He touched us, refreshing us and stirring the fire in our hearts.  We looked forward to this time each day.
During the day, sounds of laughter were common place.  Lots of fun and games… new friends in the making.
            The highlight of the camp were the evening meetings consisting of singing, a simple message and ministry time.  As each day passed the singing was transformed to praise and worship as life after life gave in to the overwhelming loving presence of God. There was such a gathering atmosphere of joy and wonder.  It was amazing to witness what happened as the presence of God swept through the room.
Through the week, each of the 11 non-Christians received Jesus as their Savior and was mightily touched by God.  For the first time these young people experienced the living God, not just empty traditions that have no attraction to them.   They tasted God’s goodness and they want more!  God was so convincing, so irresistible.  Even the cook and her son, Doru received Jesus as their Savior.  Vera, the owner of the facility also gave her life to Jesus! 

So camp came and went.  But the best followed… What came next?….  Keep reading….
 
**Julia went home and began to tell her friends about what happened to her at camp.  Some were interested and others mocked her and laughed.  She told them in a loud voice, “I don’t care what you think.  I KNOW what happened to me!”

**Luanna told us that last year she had almost chosen to go to school in Bucharest.  She would have lived with a rich relative and had everything she wanted materially.  But now she is glad she chose Cluj instead so that she can come to our church.  She said, “Having a church like this is much better than all I could have had in Bucharest."
 
**Two brothers Dorin and Daniel, both received Jesus at camp.  Just a few days old as believers, they went home.  Within a few hours, they noticed four of their friends that were in pain in some way.  They offered to pray.  One after another was healed!  Claudia, (11 years old) was pain free after having a toothache and earache for days.  Marius (10 years old) “lost” his big headache.  Two other boys were also healed; one with a backache and another with a leg injury. 
 

**The first Sunday after camp and their first time ever at church, Dorin and Daniel brought  Claudia and Marius with them.  Just looking at the two of them during worship, you could tell they were enjoying our very unusual and even fun church.  During the ministry time, Maya led both Claudia and Marius to Jesus.   As Maya prayed for them, the presence of God came on them both very strongly. 
 
**During that same Sunday service Pusha watched her daughter Seraia, (13 years old) worship…standing with hands lifted.  Her eyes closed and obviously engaged with her God.  Pusha was amazed!  Before coming to camp Seraia was sober at church, not showing any sign of being touched or even interested.  But now watching the “new improved version” of her daughter brought a smile to Pusha’s face and tears to her eyes.  Pusha said, “I don’t know what happened at camp, but it has changed my daughter.”
 
**Nicoleta told me her story this same Sunday.  She came to church, not because of camp, but because of a dream.  She woke up at 8 am Sunday morning and rolled over and went back to sleep.  She dreamed that her phone rang.  When she answered the phone, she heard a man preaching and talking about God. She woke up and called her friend Anca (member of our church) and said, “I want to go to church with you today”.  Nicoleta listened to the sermon about living in the presence of God.  She came forward for prayer, responding to this God that called her on the telephone.  She accepted Jesus as her Savior.  As I prayed for God to fill her, the love of God swept over her in a wave so overwhelming, she started to wobble and said “I can hardly stand up.” She left all smiles.
But that is not all! Some of the young people got together Sunday night to play billiards.  When Marius entered the room, he astounded everyone by saying “I healed someone today!”  And he told the story of one of his friends that had problems with his knees.  Marius offered to pray, laid his hands on his friend and asked Jesus to heal him.  And then he asked his friend, “So?”  And much to both of their surprises, his friend was without pain in both knees.  Imagine!  Just a few hours old as a believer and already seeing miracles happen through his own prayers!
What a Sunday!  God is truly amazing!!  The adventure continues……..
 

 
There were also some healings and miracles at camp: 
**      Alex suffered from scoliosis which caused constant pain in his back.  Maya, a staff member traced his back bone and felt the place where it “bent” in the wrong direction.  After David prayed, Alex stood up pain free!  Maya traced his back bone again and found that the bent place in his spinal column was now straight!
**      Doru, the cook’s son came to camp to assist his mom in the kitchen.  Little did he know that God had something cooking for him!  [The first night of camp I left the evening meeting to do something.  I was surprised to see Doru, his mom and the owner of the place sitting on the adjacent terrace and listening to the entire meeting.]  The second night of camp, Doru came for prayer for his leg.  He had several torn muscles in his calf and walked with a limp.  After prayer, all the pain left and he could move his leg freely.  He gave His life to Jesus right then and there.  Later he was seen jumping around on the playing field.  A perfectly healthy leg!
**      Before departure, the weather forecast for the entire duration of the camp was rain, rain, rain!  We prayed for weather in our favor and rebuked the rain.  The day of departure was wet after a rain.  But the entire few days of camp were dry, warm days and cool nights!  Perfect!  And just as a reminder that this was an act of God, the afternoon of our arrival home, it began to rain!
**      There was a big white dog named Molly at camp that walked on three legs, favoring the fourth, obviously a sore and swollen leg.  One night David was praying late out on the terrace and Molly came over to keep him company.  David laid his hand on Molly and prayed for healing.  The next day Molly’s leg was not swollen any more and Molly was walking almost perfectly.  Why do I share this?  Everyone at camp had seen Molly’s suffering.  The second night, David told the story of how he had prayed for the dog’s healing.  Several of the non-Christian and brand new Christian participants said “I saw that!”.  It seems that everyone in the camp had also noticed the healed Molly. It seemed like such a simple thing to me, but to those young people, Molly’s healing was a big deal! They had witnessed a miracle with their own eyes and that simple story brought a breakthrough to the atmosphere of the camp…afterwards there was simple faith in God’s ability to do the impossible.
**      Adele came to camp from our church in Huedin.  During her birth there were some complications and she was affected physically and mentally.  She is extremely shy, a way of a coping with her handicaps… doing nothing to draw attention to herself.  During camp, Adele became freer and freer…going to the front row during worship, she sang loudly and enthusiastically. The last night I was looking at her in profile.  I did a double take, thinking is that Adele?!  She looked older.  During the course of the few days of camp, there was a supernatural maturing.  When she got home, her mom said, “I didn’t even recognize her.”