Stories from the Field

The Adventure Camp program consists of three parts: Summer Rafting Trips, Extreme Prayer Hiking Trips, and Leadership School—all focusing on sharing the Gospel and discipling youth in Transnistria. Year-round adventures (rafting, hiking, leadership school) combine challenging activities (ropes courses, rafting, wall climbing, zip lines, riverbank slip-n-slides, hiking) and spiritual development—encouraging participants to contemplate their need for a Savior. Through Adventure Camp, 123 young people participated in 8 weeks of rafting trips, and several hundred heard the Gospel through all the activities in 2023.

Through the program, teens are discipled. “I watch how the teens that have participated in Adventure Camps sometimes experience difficulties and trials in their life journey and how they rely on God,” says Sergey, the program director. “It shows their faith and trust in the Lord and makes me happy to see them growing spiritually.”

The benefit of this program is seeing students come to faith and grow in a personal relationship with Jesus and then being motivated by Christ’s love to share with others. Sergey says he has seen growth in the program participants this past year as some have started their own ministries, like tea houses at the local church, specifically as opportunities to interact with and evangelize other youth in their communities. “Some of my students are also bringing their adult friends to God,” Sergey told us. This past year, “one of them reconciled with God, and three others began attending services at the local church.”

At Adventure Camps, some hear about Christ for the first time. Each adventure provides teens with opportunities for growth in maturity and spirituality throughout the year and mentorship along the way, all of which have led to the eternal impact in the lives of hundreds of young people and more to come.

What’s New?

• The program is growing, and a new team has been formed in Grigoriopol. They are trained and ready to lead camps this coming summer. They are waiting for God to provide the necessary funding for a raft.
• Sergey has a vision to establish a Child Evangelism Center in Bendery, Transnistria, to reach children and teenagers from non-believing families. He also would like to open a Children’s Rehabilitation and Animal Therapy Center in the capital city, Tiraspol, to reach disabled children in Transnistria with the good news and love of Jesus.

Summit Missions International provides funding, camping, and sports equipment.