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Testimony

Camp Gorney Testimony

Camp Gorney was amazing this year. God used this time to teach me all about faith and my limits verses His. Looking back at Gorney I don’t see it as individual days but as one big lesson and time of growth. Physically Camp Gorney is a lot easier then Mama. There are western style toilets and good clean showers.

During a typical day at Gorney we would wake up and have devotions at 8 and have breakfast at 9:30. Between devotions and breakfast we would practice for our program for the kids. After breakfast we would also practice more and then had the program from 11:30 until the kids had lunch at 1:00. We would then have lunch at 2ish practice and prepare the crafts till snack at 4. Then at 4:30 the girls from our team gave the girls at camp makeovers and the boys from our team gave the boys from camp haircuts and hung out with them. Doing the girls makeup was one of my favorite things. The girls that

Emily McLean

came to us didn’t like what they looked like and then after we did their makeup they couldn’t stop looking in the mirror. At 6:00 the kids had their own program during which we did laundry, rested, whatever. Dinner was at 8:00 and then we practiced the program and prepared crafts until whenever we were done.

There were some days with other activities too. The camp had sport competitions so we played ping-pong, football (soccer), and basketball. I played (yes I played you read right) football and ping pong. Lost both but we were good examples on how to work on a team and support each other. Also this year there were two backpacking expeditions for three days each. I actually ended up going on the second trip from Tuesday to Thursday. It was hard, a great experience but hard. We hiked a total of 55-60 km in three days. I’m pretty proud of myself for making it. That’s all the details till now because emailing them wouldn’t do justice.

We had a great team at Gorney. There were three Americans, Sara, Sarah and I, five Ukrainian students from Kiev Bible Institute, three boys and two girls, Sasha, Pasha, Maxim, Ula and Marina. Then there was also Marina, Vitalik (the Ukrainian National Director for The Least of These) and their two sons Daniel and Phillip. Our team was great. After Mama I remember thinking that I was really worried that Gorney wasn’t going to have a good team but I was wrong. The unity in the team was immediate we all clicked so well that it could have only have been of God. Our team also had a great sense of humor. We were always laughing and playing jokes on each other. God blessed us so much through our team members on this trip.

Ok now about the lessons. On the last morning that we were in Gorney Sarah Adams told me that this was the trip of extremes. That, and the theme for the children’s programs, faith, have become my personal themes for this trip. Gorney and even Mama have been the trips of extremes. There have been so many things that I have done that I would have thought that I could never do. I have now been away from home for about 39 days, the longest I have ever been away for. I went on an extremely difficult three day backpacking trip. The morning that we returned from the trip we climbed the mountain back at Gorney. I woke up multiple days at 4:00 am. I have never had a more challenging time health wise. And I don’t think that I have ever discovered who I am, and realized who I want to become both in life and in Christ, as much as I did on this trip. Had you told me all that I was able to accomplish about a month ago I would have laughed and told you that I could never do that. I could never hike up mountains all day for three days with a 30 pound bag on my back, kept up with everyone, maintained a positive attitude, and have energy to spare. And actually I think that is still true. It wasn’t me that was able to do all these things, but it was Christ in me. Philippians 4:13 has really stuck out to me for this trip. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The thing was though that I had to remove my limits that I set for myself and allow Christ to move them back, way back. I had to have faith that I would, could and still can do things that seem huge, if I rely and learn to find my strength in Him. Thank you all so much for supporting me on this trip. This has defiantly been a life changing experience for me and I know that is because of your faithfulness in prayers and support. Thank you more then you can ever know.

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