Speak Out English Camp

69 Hungarian Student Staff + 30 American Volunteers + 22 Hungarian missionaries were hosting over 330 non-Christian students and sharing Christ with them as well doing evangelism on the beach, and in many other cities. We've trained a team from Slovakia - they've came to observe how they could start this camp in their country. Also, we've sent a team to Albania and Romania to reach students there.

I would like to transmit to you a letter, Eszter, who participated in Speak Out English camp as a staff. Eszter is a leader in our campus ministry. I thought you would better see the camp through the eyes of a student.

Dear Ibi!

It is just one week ago that I arrived back from Speak Out. I would like to say thank you for your support and to share with you some wonderful things that happened to us in this month.

For us, staff, the camp started on 27^th June when the group of 41 enthusiastic Americans arrived to Keszthely. Our orientation week consisted of talks, trainings and games that prepared us to the challenges and difficulties of the next few weeks and they also helped us to become a team that is ready to serve together – not just towards the campers but also towards the people at Keszthely and each other. The deep spiritual teachings of this week meant a source for all us in the following 3 weeks, and so did the prayer chain that deepened the unity even more. The prayer chain started on the last night of the orientation week at 11 and we all took part in it, even the staff families. We were praying by rooms for the campers coming in the following weeks: each room prayed for 6 campers by name. The chain was symbolized by a candle that was received by each room and passed on to the next one after 15 minutes of praying. So the way of the candle started at 11 and ended at 7. Our room was to pray from 2:45 to 3:00. It was simply wonderful to see how this team could faithfully pray through all night and how God strengthened us to be able to wake up and pray for unknown students after that tiring week.

That is how we finally started the first camper week on 4^th July: full of enthusiasm and ready to challenges. It was an awesome experience how we could see God working daily at the camp: on Sunday we started by chatting with the campers, but by Tuesday these conversations turned to serious and were able to build a relationship on them. Through them the campers finally understood why we, staff are so different from them, why we are so ‘normal’ (as one of the camper girls said). And even though the love they could experience among us and towards them was already a testimony, we also had the chance to share the gospel with all of them during the 3 weeks. Related to this I would like to share with you one of my deepest experiences that happened on the first week. I got the chance to see how the image of God changed in a camper’s mind. His name is Mike. At the first tutor time he declared himself as an atheist, but in spite of that he was thirsty to hear about spiritual issues. Other campers spent the nights having fun but this guy I always saw sitting in the hall, talking to his tutor about spiritual issues. And even though he did not get to point where he gives his life to God, but the way how he thinks of God and Jesus changed radically by the end of the camp. This is just one of the miracles we experienced – there were hundreds. They way how God was holding us through this month was also a miracle. We didn’t have strength by ourselves for all these overnight conversations, for evangelism four times a week, for the cheerful presence at the programs of every night, for the tasks we had to keep in mind and to organize: we got our strength from God who is source of everything. If we had wanted to do this by our own, we would have failed on the first week for sure. But as we fully relied on God, we were strong enough to do that. Personally, I lived through the strength of the Holy Spirit and of the prayer like never before. These experiences seriously transformed my relationship with God.

One thing I also learnt is that we always need to be ready to share our faith. There were days when I felt like I was useless for God’s purpose because I was so tired or busy with my own problems. But I realized that these were the times when God was using me the most in conversations with the campers or during evangelism. Maybe because my strength was not enough any more so I just let God talking through me. Everything, including the trainings, the fellowship, the Bible study, the ministry was teaching me how incapable I was to live the Christian life by my own. We shared the gospel with 1599 people (including the 336 campers), 94 of them decided to give the control of their life to God and we made the follow-up with 55 people so that they could experience the wonderful life God wants to give them. It would have been literally impossible by our own.

And let me tell you finally what was the most astonishing for me – and I think for the campers too – during Speak Out. The whole staff was made up of 99 people. 30 of us were Americans and 69 of us were Hungarians. Each one of us came from a unique background, situation of life, family, some of us had problems or difficult situations left behind. But in spite of all that these 99 people could serve together with such a godly love and unity that this could be a testimony towards the world. We prayed a lot for this unity before the camp and even throughout the camp. And one thing that everybody experienced this summer is what it means to form one body in Christ and what Paul writes about in 2. Corinthians 3:18: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” That is why it was really hard to say goodbye to this team, but one thing comforts me and it was actually said by an American guy: “The good thing is that when we, Christians say goodbye, we never say it forever, because we know for sure that we will see each other again.”

I just want to say thank you because you supported me and helped me to experience all this. I am very thankful for the financial and prayer support. I am thankful because I could be the part of such a blessed ministry and a wonderful team. I am sending you some pictures with my e-mail that was taken at the camp and also a list about the students that I personally talked to during the 3 weeks and who got closer to God. I will keep praying for them namely and I ask you to pray for them too if you can. Thank you once more!

God bless,

Eszter