THE STORY OF YOUTH
A glimpse on the Youth Work & Ministry in Jordan
Manara Youth Ministry – Gilead Camp
RUNNING SUMMER CAMPS FOR KIDS AND TEENS HAS ALWAYS BEEN OUR PASSION SINCE 1985.
We have received 105 campers ages 8 to 10 at the 3,4,and 5 grade camp and 99 campers ages 11 & 12 at the 6, and 7 grade camp, with around 50 counselors and staff members serving and helping at each camp.
For over 30 years, thousands of campers have experienced Gilead Summer Camps programs; helping raise generations of kids and teenagers. We are happy to share our passion with our campers and to welcome them back to our summer camps year after year, from generation to generation.
Gilead Camp is an annual summer youth camps providing a healthy, enjoyable, enriching and life changing experience for kids and teens aged 8 – 18 years; there is something for all ages at Gilead Camp, which through worthwhile games, indoor and outdoor activities, music, leisure, bible study and educational activities makes a constructive contribution to the personal development of our Campers. They develop a sense of responsibility and an awareness of their potential and an opportunity to discover what it means to be a Christian in the 21st Century.
Many campers come back several years in a row, and it doesn’t end there! After turning 18 a good number of campers become counselors. The majority of our counselors have had camper experience themselves and carry on sharing it with new generations.
It is with great pleasure that we repeatedly see the transformation and friendships formed during the campers’ stay at camp extend to later in life.
Lifetime transformation, lifetime memories and lifetime friends as a result of Gilead Camps!
Camp Gilead receives 700 campers annually, 500 of them are new campers, which are separated according to age and grade into 5 different camps. Each year our camp includes a theme and a message we want the youth to learn. Camps are currently geared towards nominal Christians and thankfully over the years many have come to know Christ!
Camp Gilead had and continues to have a tremendous impact on the church of Jordan. Many of our current church leaders came to know Christ in this camp. They are now leading churches, preaching and leading their own church camps.
Pray with us for Manara Youth Ministry
Pray for those youths who do not yet know Him that they would be convicted of their need of a Savior during the 5 camps starting of June 4th until June 30th, so that they may come to faith through the word of God and the witness of their friends and these youth fellowships and ministries.
Pray for our Lord to protect them from the wiles of the enemy who would seek to undermine their trust in Him but rather equip each one to look to Jesus rather than to the things of the world. May they grow in grace and become an effective witness to friends and family, not only in what they say but in the godly way that they behave.
Pray for our Lord to draw each one closer to Himself and they may grow spiritually.
Thank you for your compassion and for your friendship. You are a constant encouragement to all of us at Manara International. May the God of peace be with you and those you love.
Lift up Manara Youth Ministry, that the Lord will lead and guide those that are in leadership positions seeking to share the Love of the Father and His truth about the identity of each camper from the different age groups. Pray that God will give them more of His passion and compassion for the younger generations.
When Pastor D. B. Hrudaya of Orissa, India, first heard of the Mankidia people group, they were among the most nomadic and illiterate peoples of northern India. They were known as “monkey hunters” and forest dwellers. There were no believers in Christ among them. They worshiped evil forest spirits. Their culture was rampant with oppression and hopelessness. They could boast of no high school graduates, medical knowledge or social graces.
Into this picture, stepped a man named Musu Marandi. He is one of Pastor Hrudaya’s field staff. Hrudaya and his team had been praying for an opening among the Mankidia people for over 10 years but with no breakthrough. They had reached the point where some of Hrudaya’s workers had learned the Mankidia language. With some outside support, the ministry was able to send Musu into the jungle areas where they lived. Finally, on one of the weekly market days, Arun met Musu in the market. After a lengthy conversation where Musu shared the good news of Christ with him, Arun decided he wanted to know more about the wonderful person of Jesus.
Though funding has been very limited for this wonderful project, much has been done to raise the living conditions of the Mankidias. Efficient farming techniques have been introduced, land for growing crops has been provided to them, medical clinics have been held and literacy centers have been established. The first Christian Mankidia marriages have been celebrated. The Mankidia project, initiated in 2014 in order to introduce the Mankidias to the God who made them, loves them and died for them, has developed them in every way. The included pictures bear testimony to that reality.
A team from
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As on our first visit, we witnessed firsthand 
Cebien’s
On a fun note, w
It’s been a terrible season of natural worldwide calamity. With the disasters facing our own country brought by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, our attention and hearts are naturally drawn to help those closest to us. That good work must continue. 
The recent hurricanes have taken a huge toll on property and livelihoods. Many pastors and evangelists have lost their homes and property. Three destroyed houses of believers in Cuba are pictured here. In Haiti, the sister of Pastor Clovis, a co-worker of our partner Cebien Alexis, was killed from flying debris at their church. The government in Cuba, which in past hurricanes has offered some aid to the victims is not doing so this time. They are just too overwhelmed. Even food distribution that was previously offered free of charge now comes with a price. There is significant risk of starvation and disease among the people. 
To call the road rutted would be an understatement. Better to say the deep ditch ahead looked daunting. But we had been driving on such roads for several days in our travels to see the work of Cebien Alexis and his ministry, Army of Ch rist, in Haiti. Our HBI team, consisting of Christie and me, and our longtime friends Jim & Ann Witkower and Mark Bodycombe was getting used to such conditions. 
We had almost reached our destination, the school in Robinette, where Hope Builders’ donors have helped fund a recently opened church building and is helping with school and agricultural development. Our hearts were stirred with excitement as only a few years before the only school structure here consisted of some wooden benches under a rusty tin roof held up by bamboo poles. Today we would serve lunch to 75 beautiful young school children, who meet in cinder block classrooms while a large school and agricultural training building are going up nearby. Their songs and words of devotion to the Lord brought smiles to our faces. Everywhere we went the believers greeted Cebien with hugs of joy. 
Thankfully, as time went on, the weight of glory began to shine through. We watched Cebien serve with joy in his natural environment, and met Kathy and Alice, his dedicated American co-workers who have served with him for 40 years. We saw the smiling faces of the children in their care and began to get a feel for the magnitude of their good work in the face of opposition, government instability and corruption, the deadly influence of voodoo, poverty and danger. Our spirits were lifted. We found the Lord and his Kingdom in the midst of the chaos. 
We attended lively church meetings and a pastoral training gathering of 70+ leaders. We met more of those that Cebien works with and through whose leadership the Gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached. We saw the grounds of the university where a nurse’s training program is housed and where very soon training in careers as an electrician or mechanic will be provided. As mentioned, we traveled four hours to bring lunch to children in the area of Robinette and meet their teachers and the local pastor in that area. The foundation for a large new school has been laid and the building waits for additional funding in order to be completed. The church is growing and the local people are encouraged. Agricultural land has been purchased here to train believers in effective farming techniques. The potential is evident. 
Another day’s journey took us over the top of a mountain from which we could see a large red tin roof, provided by HBI that covered a seemingly massive church building. Though construction is not finished on the inside, over 200 Haitians already meet to worship God there. We sat by the nearby river with local believers and were treated to some fine Haitian coffee, sweet and strong. We found out that this is one of the areas where goats will be provided to Haitian families that will enable them to earn income. Through the Lord’s mercy and your help, we have provided enough funds to give three goats to each of forty families at $200 per family. We look forward to sharing photos of some of those families with you as the goats are provided.
On top of all this, Cebien, who is also a doctor, continues to see upwards of 100 patients a day in his medical clinic, located on the school compound. Patients began lining up as early as 5:30 in the morning to receive his loving care. 
