The Kurdish portion of our June appeal has already produced one tangible result. Because of gifts that came through our Launch Fund, GO was able to provide the remaining funds needed for this summer's Maranatha Camp.

This summer, 88 children, teenagers, leaders, and volunteers gathered for a week centered on one message: "Jesus Is My Best Friend." More than half of the children were attending for the first time, and many came from Yazidi Kurdish families. (Learn more about the Yazidi people.) For them, this was much more than a week of games and recreation. They experienced Christian love and care, heard about Jesus, prayed, asked questions, and built relationships with believers who'll keep walking with them long after camp ends.

Let me tell you about Lika. She's thirteen. Her mother described her as extremely quiet, shy, and reserved, and it was her first Christian camp — for the first several days she barely spoke. But she was listening.

Gradually, she began asking questions about faith and what it meant to have a personal relationship with Christ. One evening she began to pray and cry, and when someone asked what was happening, she said, "I feel something very unusual, and I understand that Jesus went to the cross for me."

On the final day, this quiet thirteen-year-old walked onto the stage and told the group that before camp she had heard about Jesus. Now she believed she had experienced His presence personally. She said she wanted to tell others about Him when she got home.

That's what you helped make possible. A number of children who attended for the first time have stayed connected to the ministry and started attending Sunday school. Camp wasn't the end of the ministry. It was the beginning of new relationships.