The Scripture is the power of God to change lives. The lives of high school and university students are changing when they meet God through the Bible. This is the testimony of Drago? Vlasceanu, following the English camp for high school students, organized by OSCER Pitesti. Miki Stan totally agrees:
We discussed, during camp, about the principles on which she builds and leads not only her present, but also her future. We discussed about her hobbies and we ended up talking about cookies – because I love baking cookies. After camp we kept in touch, we met and talked about Christianity. I explained her how my faith differs from Muslim or other faiths. At the end I challenged her to discover the living Jesus, because, among the differences, I mentioned that we worship a living Jesus, so that she could see for herself, without me influencing her. I was pleasantly surprised when she wanted us to read the Bible together. Since them, we keep in touch. Her name is Diana and she just turned 14.
Dragos is also offering us proofs supporting his statement:
Alex is a high school student; he is in the 12th grade, attending our camps since 2012. I kept in touch with him and we started studying DISCOVER, from the Bible, developing our relationship. This year, in the camp, God spoke to him in such a personal and deep way, that he decided to follow him. His plans did not go as he wanted and, while opening his Bible in Romans, he understood that he had a stone heart and it was time for him to turn to Christ. Alex is now reading his Bible every day, is eager to be in fellowship with other Christians and is part of a growth process in the local context in Pitesti. Alex is a living proof that God is at work and he is using OSCER.
The organizers of the Adventure English Camp, done by the OSCER Craiova group, also offer us encouraging info about the experiences they had and about the changed lives.
After so many years I am fascinated to see how God moves the hearts of people in just a week and how he plants into them the need to learn and understand more of him. We had 80 people attending the camp this year, 43 of whom were students who did not have a personal relationship with God. At the devotional time, each morning, we had one person sharing their testimony, showing how God impacted their lives. The impact of these testimonies was tremendous. The young people were very surprised to see those people being publicly vulnerable and this encouraged them to be more open towards us, during the camp. I just want to encourage you not to minimize the power of your testimony and the way God brought change in you. Share it with your colleagues, your friends and families, anytime the occasion arises. Do not lose opportunities.
Here are two testimonies from participants:
Emma Maria:
In this camp I learned what God’s love really means and I was surprised to see how different people from different countries and continents can form such true friendships. A few takeaways for me are: to cherish the true friendship, to quit having prejudices and to be more open and receptive to new things.
Bogdan Stoian:
For me the English camp was a very pleasant experience. The whole environment helped me get closer to God. When I left, I could not stop crying. I hardly wait to attend the next year camp.
After this blessed time, the students are now focusing on sowing seeds. Anca Maties, a new member of the OSCER coordinating team is challenging:
It is time to go into our college, at our workplace, in our church and show love, kindness, humility and the salvation that can be received through Jesus Christ. It is God who makes the seed grow and we are the ones called to sow it. Whoever sows in the Spirit, will harvest in the Spirit the eternal life! (Galatians 6:8) Let us share and live the Gospel! This is my challenge for this new beginning.
Those in the OSCER movement need support in prayer, so that more and more students will get to know Jesus and make him known to their colleagues. Prayers are also needed for the coordinating team and for people who would serve for the next years. Also, there is a need of prayer for the funds needed for a new worker and those dedicated to train and build leaders.
Following you can view some pictures from recent activity in OSCER:
