www.mwb.org.nz

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Last year’s camp in Bulgaria ran for 10 days and was for 100 children. About 70% of children attending camps there do not have a Christian faith, so the camp offered the chance to get to know God and hear the Good News about Jesus Christ.

Children like Gergana (“Gerry” to her friends). Gerry’s family joined our first sponsored families in Bulgaria in 2009 in Krupnik, a very poor community south of our office in Sofia. Her dad and mum can’t find work after the Forestry Department work ran out. For Gergana (11) is

one of four children. Her older brother got to go to camp in 2011, so when she heard she could go, she could hardly wait.

We caught up with her afterwards and she told us that the camp experience was “the most precious gift anyone has ever given me”.

“I was looking forward to the camp from the moment I heard I would be able to go. In the beginning, I was a bit scared by the large number of children who I hadn’t met.

June 2013

MISSIONWITHOUTBORDERS

T h e q u a r t e r l y n e w s l e t t e r o f M i s s i o n W i t h o u t B o r d e r s N e w Z e a l a n d

22 MWB in FOCUS | JUNE 2013

There were older boys and girls and also some younger than me. I stuck close to Temenujka, because she is from my village. Then I was put in the “Servants” team led by Harry and Emilia. I got to know my teammates and after the first day at camp, I felt at home and enjoyed every part of the programme.”

What Gerry heard about God in the very first Bible lesson surprised her. “In the lesson, God was described as someone that I never knew He was. I learnt that God is holy and powerful and that He hates sin, but loves people.”

One of her highlights was the excursion to Kapinovski Monastery. “I liked this trip, because

there was a big field with trees and a playground with a swing and a slide. We played the whole day and visited the monastery...

I made friends with so many children and I will miss them, but I really want to have the chance and go on camp again next year. Will it be possible?”

Gergana had a life-changing experience at Summer Camp and would love to go again.

Your gift is life-changing, brings hope, normality, and most of all it allows children like Gergana to encounter Jesus and experience His love, all of which are critical for their future lives. ♦

“Camp is the most precious gift anyone has ever given me”

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When a child like Gergana goes back to her family or State Home, and school re-starts, what happens then? Does all the good become a distant memory, or can we build on the foundations laid at camp?

The good news is that we have programmes already in place to keep the momentum going. Things we provide include:• Special one-day follow up events for many children who

went to camp.• Access to Bible correspondence courses and children’s

Bibles.• Christian outreaches to State Homes and community

centres, including puppet shows and drama, DVDs, singing, Bibles lessons, treats for birthdays and special events.

• Radio broadcasts for children and teens (Romania and Ukraine).

• Human trafficking prevention classes (Moldova).• Child sponsorship (Ukraine, Romania and Moldova) and

family sponsorship (all 6 countries where we work).

If you would like to make a financial gift to help us provide the above follow up, it would be very much appreciated by the children. And if you are interested in becoming a sponsor to provide regular, on-going help, please contact our office.From Top to Bottom: A play with a message – a Christmas party; Boys with their Bible Correspondence Course certificates; Human trafficking class for State Home teenagers (Moldova); Camp follow up event, Bosnia

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QR codes We are trialling QR codes in some of our publications. In case you wonder what they are, they are like bar codes for people who have “smartphones” so that they can quickly look up a page on our web site using their phone. The example here goes straight to our New Zealand web site’s Home page www.mwb.org.nz – which you can of course visit by using a computer.

oveRcomeRs magazineIf you want t o r e a d more about ou r work in Eastern Europe for yourself, or need one o r m o r e copies to show others, we have copies of our annual Overcomers 2013 magazine available. Please call us toll free at the office 0800 469 269 or email us your details nzadmin@mwbi.org so we can send it to you. We are keen to grow our base of Kiwi supporters. Can you help us do that?

The Annual Magazine of Mission Without Borders New Zealand

it’s summeR camp time!Summer camps began in Ukraine on 27 May and the last one will finish in Romania on 26 August. A big THANK YOU to all those who have so generously responded to our request for help to send children to camp. We have had a great response from our Kiwi supporters and are heading towards our target. We think camps are one of the most dynamic ways of bringing hope to children from State Homes and poor families. If you would like to help pay for a child or children to go, but haven’t yet, you still can, either by cheque to our PO Box, by direct credit to our account or by credit card over the phone (toll free 0800 469 269). It costs just $20 a day for a child to get to camp (camps last up to 10 days).

4 Helping to Change Lives in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine

Direct Credit Payments: Our bank account is 06-0185-0122206-12 If you would like us to issue a receipt for tax rebate purposes, please include or email us your name, supporter number (if you have one) and a reference code: SC: Summer Camp SM: StreetMercy WMN: Where most needed For Bibles, please use account 06-0185-0122206-25 but please note that gifts for Bibles do not qualify for tax rebates.

MISSIONWITHOUTBORDERS (NZ)PO Box 56264, Dominion Road, Auckland 1446 Phone 09 309 6969 Email nzadmin@mwbi.org Website www.mwb.org.nz Reg. Charity No. CC37218

stReetmeRcy follow upMany of our supporters were touched by the sad news about one of the homeless people we had just met in our new StreetMercy programme in Chisinau. Alex was only 33 and on the streets with his mother because they had lost everything after falling for a con artist’s ploy. Alex’s death from frostbite complications seems pointless and preventable – but this is Moldova, not NZ.

We are hugely grateful to all our supporters for getting in behind StreetMercy, which

now provides daily hot meals in the cities of Chisinau and Straseni (Moldova), Craiova (Romania) and Sofia (Bulgaria). The heart of God is full of love for these vulnerable people. If this has touched your heart and you would like to respond, you can give a one-off gift or set up a regular payment to help (details are below).

Alex