Our adventure started in Kiev, where we gathered in order to travel onward to Vorzel. Even though Kiev was only a stop-over, we still decided to use this opportunity to see some sites in the capital. We went to the "PinchukArtCentre" and of course we visited the most frequented restaurant in town “Zdorovenki Buli”. I can’t even tell you which place we enjoyed more!

So how did this all get started? We were invited to the conference for Christian Youth Camps 2009. The theme of the conference was “Take it to the fire!” (It is important to read this in Ukrainian which sounds like “nesi vohgohn” or else we’ll sound like our Russian friends who say “nesi vagohny” (meaning take it to the wagon) and of course it raises the question; “Why is the conference called “take it to the wagon”? Since that is how they read the Ukrainian words.

So what is CYC? “Christian Youth Camps” is an association which unites many Christian camps throughout the world. These conferences are also held throughout the world, where they run various courses for leaders at these camps. So, that said, it follows that anyone who takes part in a Christian-organized camp can attend the conference in winter and spring and then put everything into practice during the summer at a camp. And, of course, these conferences give us a wonderful opportunity to make new friends, socialize and share our experiences with others.

We gathered as a very fun team: Zhenya Klyus, Ruslan Guzanov, Dima Lukyanchuk, Vlad Shamayda, Igor Solodenko, Vitya Ionov, Yulia Pokudina and myself, Zhuzha – not only did we have plenty of fun but we brought laughs to those who met us! On such trips you always have the opportunity to learn many new things about the people with whom you are travelling – after all, it’s one thing to see each other once a week, and it’s another thing entirely to spend a week together side-by-side! We all handled it with much courage! And all in all, we got so used to each other that even after only one day back home we’d begun to miss each other.

The conference itself lasted 4 days (from the 26th of January until the 29th). These days were very full of activity: Each morning we had service with an awe-inspiring preacher, Johannes Raymer; then, the whole day was spent in seminars about different themes which we had each chosen individually. A few of the seminars were attended by the whole team: "Using time wisely", "Using finances wisely", "Resolving conflicts", "Modern Youth: How to understand them and what to do with them" and, "A transformation in Society". We will be glad to share what we’ve learned at Alpha and Omega on February 28th 2009 (Additional information can be found in the announcement section). I attended the seminar “A transformation in Society” (Johannes Raymer) and so I can tell you that it changed my thinking. It called for global thinking, not only in the areas of personal desires or problems, and not only within personal circles of friends. It called for the church, that is the people in the church, to solve the problems of society by transforming society through educating the culture of its nation, by understanding myself, who I am, what tasks God has placed in front of me and in front of me and my church. I am very happy that I attended this seminar. But the seminars aren’t the only thing we did, in the evenings, the most dynamic part of the conference took place. This was free time from our studies and people from different cities and even different countries gathered together in order to get to know each other, socialize, play, and praise God. People who take part in organizing Christian Youth Camps are really fun people! In every housing block on each floor there was something interesting planned, and each group could join in freely, even if you didn’t know anyone there! And since we had such a fun group from Dnepropetrovsk, on our floor there were also fun activities! We met people from Belarus, Kharkov, Kherson, Zaporozhe, Nikolayev Region, Zhitomir and also many, many others. You can’t get through this trip without some miracles! Yul’chik got sick with bronchitis. No, this isn’t the miracle! The miracle is that God healed her in just three days, and even in the peak time of her illness, God strengthened her so that she could go around to the seminars. We prayed for her and so did our friends in Dnepropetrovsk.

To end our trip we took a vacation to Shostka to visit our friends, or you could even call them our big family. Another two friends from Dnepropetrovsk met us there with our Pastor Aleksey Navrotskiy. Although they couldn’t be at the conference, they still had the chance to join us and visit Shostka. The time we get to spend in Shostka is special for us. The people there are just super-mega-hospitable and it would be worth it for all of us to learn from their openness and hospitality. What did we do there? We talked together, went to the services at their church and at “Alpha and Omega – Shostka” It was so pleasant, like being with one big family, even though we are all from different cities. God unites us and without Him, it is possible we would never have come to know each other, and so it is with this great joy that we carry on in fellowship with one another.

Inspired, satisfied, and re-charged with positivity, we went home. Each with a grateful heart to God for giving us this trip and caring for us each day. And we are grateful to Alpha and Omega for their help with the conference.

Photo gallery - A Trip to the Christian Youth Camp 2009 and visit to Shostka