We promote national Youngstars Movements which support free time activities for young people in collaboration with churches – achieved by training and coaching leaders to teach christian values in an informal way
First summer camp in Latvia
Michelle and Andi Flückiger, outreach in Latvia. Michelle was an intern at Juropa a few years ago.
Joy and at the same time nervousness and uncertainty about how it would all turn out accompanied us when we got off the plane in Riga. But after the Youngstars training and the Youngstars camp, we were very enthusiastic. Excited about how God provides…
We arrived safely in Latvia, but our main luggage did not. And in it was all the rope material we would need for the training the following day and the camp. On the way from the airport to the church, we brought the situation before God in prayer. On Saturday we started training and then we got the news that our luggage had made it to Riga. During the lunch break we were able to pick it up and so it turned out that we were able to set up the rope bridge on time for the course.
Delighted with the Latvian leaders
In the run-up, we experienced many of the Latvian team as rather reserved. But during the course and the camp we were surprised: the leaders were open to new ideas, ventured out of their comfort zone and came up with their own creative ideas. And at the camp, everyone played a part in the Joseph enactment and they did it with such commitment and passion that the children were spellbound by every scene. The children really lived and felt the story.
One leader said, “The Joseph story also speaks into my personal situation.”
Delighted with the Latvian children
During the explanation of a game, a girl came up next to Andi and said, “This game sounds very cool!” With every game and activity we offered, the children were enthusiastic. Rarely have we seen such enthusiasm in children. They were also interested in questions about faith: When in a small group time the topic came up that children are valuable to God, one boy asked, “How much? How valuable in euros?”, to which the group leader was able to reply, “So valuable that God gave his own Son for us.” Many of the Latvian children heard the Gospel message for the first time in this camp.
Delighted with what God does
We sometimes wondered beforehand whether a summer camp preparation can succeed with a team that doesn’t know each other? Plus the distance as well as the cultural and linguistic differences? But in the preparation and also in the camp, we experienced a unity that only God can create. All of this inspired us.