A few weeks have passed since the end of SMS Camp, but the campers are still inseparable. Taking walks together, looking at pictures and sharing memories are the motivations that bring them all together again and again. All of them would probably say with certainty that the best days of the summer were those they spent on the picturesque banks of the Vorskla river near Golovach.

 

SMS Camp, which started on August 4, was the most ambitious project of the SMS Club this year. A whirlwind of activity descended on the campers before they even reached the camp site. It started as soon as they got off the train: orientation to the locale, finding the team captain, and unbelievable riddles to solve. Finally the flags of all six teams were flying on the camp flagpoles.

The next days flew by in a series of training sessions and competitions. Everyone had the chance to try their ability as a sharp-eyed archer, or skilled mountain climber on the climbing wall. Paintball, canoeing, a volleyball and waterball tournament, and a head-spinning obstacle course were enough to engage even those who ordinarily didn't like sports.

"Only one way to victory" was the theme of the camp song, and all the campers looked for that one way over and over, working out new strategies and moving from stage to stage. In addition to speed and agility, they showed their smarts and resourcefulness in hunting games. And every evening the teams showed their creative abilities in talent competitions, performing play-commercials or dramatic interpretations of well known fairy tales. Our friends from the country of Georgia especially surprised us with their abilities - their team became the champions of SMS Camp. The surprises on the last evening were the entertaining parodies and unexpected musical number performed by the camp organizers.

Enjoying the delicious meals together, preparing for the next competition or just sitting around the campfire late in the evening, the campers didn't notice that they were becoming one big family. Like old friends, they both joked around and had serious discussions on deep topics. Every day there was a new motto, provoking reflection on truth, the Bible, love, sin, choices and more.

When the champions were recognized and the camp flag was lowered it was time to return home, where everything was different: you don't have to win at eating breakfast, or pretend to be an ingenious detective, or prove that your old pen (or lipstick or whatever) is the most important object in the world. What you brought back with you is the most important - new memories, new aspirations, new friends...

Many of the campers were strengthened even more in their choice, continuing every day to learn from, depend on and trust God. Some, perhaps, heard for the first time what for them was a new truth. But in any case we hope that the lives of each of the SMS campers would by truly victorious.

Vlada Ryabukha

The camp photo album is here