Yesterday, Wednesday was one of the best days of this past week. The boys and leaders plus Natalie went to a home this morning to chop wood for a family of 12. That meant they were not home all morning... Haha, this week the camp has become our home!
During small group time I had the opportunity to talk with one of our leaders, Nadia, through translation. She told me about the boy who she has been teaching all week. His name is Yaslav. This boy is completely nonverbal but very high functioning. So this week Nadia was teaching him how to use a picture book. His mom said it was no use because they had a picture book at home but he did not want to use it. But Nadia quickly realized that it wasn't that he didn't want to use it, it was that he did not know how to use it. So from just 8 days of working with him, Yaslav learned how to use it. I could tell that he was so happy to be able to communicate. It was cool to see this unfold in such a short time! It continues to amaze us what God can do!
Yesterday was also our camper Demas birthday. He is probably the biggest guy you have ever seen but his mind is that of a 11 year old. So after dinner his mom brought our small group a whole platter of food to celebrate. She had all kids of chocolate, cookies, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and fruit juice. Sasha went nuts and started eating and soon chocolate was all over his face and he was the happiest I have seen him all week! It was super fun to see that and it was fun to eat good food too.
One of our leaders, Anton has gotten really close to Sasha. Nat and me have been talking about how close they have been talking about this and how Anton has been Sasha;s "father' all week. So after session Sasha came up to Anton and gave him a huge hug. Then Anton looked at me and Nat and said, "he is like a son to me". Right when he said this we broke down. It was so touching to see Anton love Sasha like the father that Sasha never and will ever have.
It was a great day and we ended it by going to the bonya!!! Soooo relaxing! The bonya is like a sauna that gets really hot and then there is a freezing cold pool that you jump into when you are too hot. Then you get hit by beech branches! It is the most relaxing thing in the world! You will all have to try it sometime!
Such a good day! (: God is good! Thinking of all of you back home, my family, friends and all of you who have supported me and are praying for all of us here.
Love,
Ashley
