With the blessing of Archbishop Anastasios, and under the care of the Gjirokastër Metropoli, a camp with the youth of the area was held from July 10^th-20^th in the St. George Monastery.

This was the third camp held in this monastery which is also now under restoration. After restoration it will be a spiritual center with proper conditions for different religious activities of Orthodox believers, especially for Orthodox youth. The leaders of the camp included catechists, members of the youth office, and students from the Theological Academy.

This camp was meant to create an atmosphere in which the youth could learn the teachings of our Lord, based in the Gospel, and cultivate these spiritually. The camp theme was “Blessings” (from Matt. 5). The atmosphere encouraged the effort to live in accordance with God’s will in Christian communion through spiritual, cultural and entertaining activities.

Church services opened the program and afterwards all the boys gathered together to hear the message of the Gospel. It is necessary for every Orthodox Christian at the beginning of the day to pray to God to bless his day.

Next was breakfast after which the boys prepared to go to the sea. The sea was about 15 minutes away from camp and the boys had the chance to spend hours in the heat and the crystal waters. Lunch always included surprises such as songs, comedy, impersonations, dances, etc. Every group, which held the name of a blessing prepared a creative Christian song. The afternoon was full of sports activities organized into leagues with each sport: soccer, volleyball, ping-pong, chess, and dominos.

Every evening the campers were called together to hear a spiritual talk. The theme of the talks were about the different blessings and were directed by catechists. The spiritual discussions intended to give boys that joy, not of this world which consists on satisfying the passions, but the full joy which is eternal existence, the source of which is God.

 The way to receive it from God is by hearing and following God’s commandments, for as He said, “Blessed more are those who hear and obey the word of God” (Luke 10:28).

Sunday was a special day for the boys with an excursion. First they participated in Divine Liturgy in Saranda in the St. Harallambos Church. After Liturgy they visited the monastery of St. John the Theologian and other different churches.

A special blessing was also the visit of Fr. Dhimitri who takes care of the camp. During the days at camp three boys, who had taken catechism lessons, decided to be baptized in the Orthodox Church and in such a way became members of the Church.