Hungarian Reformed Summer activities
The first camp this year was organized for the young married couples. It began at the 22th of June in the West Carpathians, close to the pictorial Scarisoara cave. The condition was that both husband and wife should attend and they had to come without their children. There is much emphasis during the sessions on the communication between husband and wife that children should not disturb during these few days. My experience with these camps for the last few years have strengthened me that these are extraordinary occasions to provide relaxation for people living under increasingly stressing life and work conditions, to give spiritual and mental refreshment through Christian teaching, new practical ideas through presentations and workshops for renewing marriage life, and not least to also provide the intimacy of being together, without the need to care for other matters of life.
To our regret, there were three couples who could not make through to the camp, although they wished to very much. One of the wives was unable to get free from the boss. She said she even cried to him, for let her go, but with no result. The other couple had a three month old baby and were therefore unable to come with us. Another sister also had problems at her company. Fortunately, there also was a couple with us who were not present last year (the wife could not convince her husband to go). We are thankful to God for that. The more so, since this woman told us that her husband reacted very positively to what he had heard and seen during this camp. My God finish his work in his heart!
One of the themes of this camp was the source of conflicts in marriage and the recovery from these conflicts. The presentations were connected to each other, just like the short daily meditations. The text of the opening meditation was Mk 6:30-31: "And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while". Jesus invites us to a deserted place, just to be silent and get some rest. To get some rest we need not so much a comfortable place, as we need a desert. In a desert there is nothing to capture our attention, there is only God and me. There can He rest given for me! The ask was, if we want some kind of rest in this camp... Further, the word says that being at rest does not simply mean relaxation. The men inclines to confuse this two. God makes a difference between the two and we need to make difference as well for find rest... Another text was Isa 1:16: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil." God summons us to make us clean personally, including in our marriage life. The concluding Psalm 37:3 and Prov 16:20 urged us to entrust our lifes and marriages in God's hands to govern it and give us really rests an and clean us.
The presentation about the source of family conflicts showed that most conflicts are caused by different expectations concerning marriage models, which we bring with us from previous families. During the workshops, the participants had to map their expectations and models concerning previous experiences, the family background they come from, and they had the opportunity to discuss about these models in the groups. Concerning the second presentation about the recovery from marriage conflicts they had to work out the ways by which these earlier models can be turned to the benefit of their personal marriage lives.
My experience is that God blessed these discussions greatly and he touched the hearts of the participants. Some of the feedbacks say "It was astonishing how we, my husband and I, could pay attention to each other." "Now I understand why our conceptions of marriage are so different, and this can be of great help in finding solutions out of the impasse." "Now I understand and try to deal with my faults which I have brought with myself from childhood. I'm working on them, but I am not angry with myself any more." "I decided not to attempt to change my husband..." and so on.
Our children's camp this year was held in the Dragan-valley (Dragon-valley), in a nice camping place, with 41 participants. The children were very interested even before we started planning. They kept on asking when the camp would start, so that they may have not somehow missed it. Our primary purpose was that the children get to know Jesus Christ, and in achieving this goal we kept our camps open for any children, from any denomination. And they came. There were quite a few of them from the Catholic Church, Unitarians, and Adventists. God blessed our meetings with his presence. The pictures included will most likely convince you about the great joy we were allowed to experience during those days. It is especially important that this time, with one single exception, all of the organizers and the staff came from our youth group. They were voluntarily doing this quite difficult and exhaustive job. The central theme of the camp this year was: The real treasure. Through the story of the young rich man the children were able to recognize the treasures which our life sticks at. Through the story of the fool rich man from Luke 12:16-21, they understood what a nonsense it is to put our trust in earthly riches instead of heavenly treasures. Finally, the children were put to think about Jesus as our real treasure. Pray for these children, so that what they heard during these days may become real values in their everyday lives and that they may recognize our Lord as the treasure one should look for as the utmost value in human life.
The youth camp we organized this summer was held together with the youth group of two other congregations. The place of this camp was the wonderful Les-lake, for a group of 80 people. The theme of the camp was: (Without) Boundaries. There were several subthemes such as Boundaries, which narrow our perspectives; Parental boundaries; Boundaries in man-woman relationships; Protecting boundaries; etc. This was one of the most blessed camps I ever attended. It was marvelous to see God's glory shining. But the start was quite difficult... The first day I and the other organizer saw that there would be problems. There was no power in singing, no power in the presentations, people were quite indifferent in listening. As if the preaching was stumbling against an invisible wall. The second day the same... The third day we called every co-worker to pray. We knew we were not fighting against flesh and blood. There was a stronger power standing in the way of the gospel. We implored God so that he may come and put aside every stumbling block from the way of his gospel, to touch every heart present there. After this spiritual battle we looked forward with peace in our hearts to the evening devotion. And... it was great to see how God listened our prayers! In that evening from the very first song it was already visible that the Spirit has come, and our hearts were opened. The Word was proclaimed with power, and the presence of the spirit could be felt in the prayers , the testimonies every day thereafter. The atmosphere changed in the camp: teasing, banter, hurting words, mockery just vanished, and their place was filled with good will, joy, clear faces, open discussions. After two days, in the small group discussions many of the youth people started to talk about their occult problems... Then we realizes why were this difficult start. But God was mighty and His powerful presence was glorious between us! On the last day of the camp on the pilgrim afternoon even the hearts of the most resistant were broken. The mountains around were echoing the music, the song, and the joy of those standing around the camp fire until long in the night. We were allowed to go home filled with God's blessing, with songs of praise in our hearts. To mention just a few feedbacks from the participants: "... Now I understand a lot concerning my life. I think I have got much closer to God and can turn back home purified and happy." "The presentations have caught my attention and my heart. There was blessing on this camp, and I could feel it! On our pilgrimage I felt as if being purified and received a new life. This means pacifying with God and receiving his great love." "It was good to hear God speaking." "What this camp meant to me was: love, peace, faith, trust, energy, blessing." "This camp has helped me especially in getting to know the will of God and getting to know Him. His word has touched deep my heart." "In two words: this camp meant for me love and joy." "This camp was to me a real experience, I feel myself very close to God, and now I know that I am converted and He has plans with my life."
