Thank you!
Thank you so much to all our friends who gave to Last Bell’s camps this summer! You provided warm afternoons at the sea, honest conversations during evening gatherings, meals together, parents and children playing together, games in the sand… We’re so thankful for you.
We held two special camps for two special groups of orphanage graduates: our Stop the Cycle families and our Educational Outreach youth.
Educational Outreach Camp: Learning Forgiveness
Many of our orphaned students are still raw from the way their parents or caregivers treated them—filled with grief, resentment, loss, and loneliness. In this story, shared by staff member Katya T., it’s easy to see how the days and hours at camp draw our youth into trust relationships that bring healing.
Olya’s mother blamed her little girl for all the family problems. Even before camp, Olya had begun to share with the staff that she couldn’t forget these terrible feelings or forgive her mother.
Then, toward the end of camp, one of our staff spoke to the group about love and the power of forgiveness. Olya burst into tears. That evening Katya and Olya talked for a long time. Olya poured out her heart. She had tried to forgive her mother, writing all her pain in a letter, but she never finished writing it.
“I had the opportunity to share my story,” Katya said, “and how God helped me to forgive my dad. We talked about important decisions in her life, and the power of forgiveness—that only God can help, and He wants to help her and loves her very much.” At the end of the conversation, Katya prayed for her.
After camp, Olya told Katya that she felt like a changed person. She starts her morning with prayer. She expressed her gratitude to Last Bell for her very first trip to the sea—made possible by you!
