A few Photos from the Scavenger Hunt

Wednesday

Greetings to all from Poland!

Camp is in full swing! Last night we enjoyed a wonderful time together with the famous (or infamous) Olympics, despite the rainy weather. After a day and a half of rain, the Lord has again blessed us with sunshine and warmth. This afforded us the chance to play the relay games we had to postpone two nights ago.

I am amazed at how competitive the Polish people are! Camp games are, by nature, quite silly. Yet, with a jovial sincerity, these people seek to win at any cost. For a straight-laced American, this is quite amusing to watch!

This afternoon we ran around camp engaged in a photo scavenger hunt. I will try to get some pictures up tomorrow morning. The internet connection is overloaded this evening, making it difficult to upload.

As for prayer, I would ask for the following:

-Continued health for the team

-Many of us are having wonderful conversations in our Bible reading times. Pray for these to continue, and the hearts of unbelievers to be opened.

-Pray for our translators! They have a lot resting on their shoulders this week, and work quite hard at this.

-Pray for Conner and Nate, who respectively will give their testimonies in the coming two evenings. Give thanks that Danelle’s, Bob’s, and John’s testimonies all went well, as did my own.

We are most grateful for your partnering with us on this journey through your prayers. We all are most encouraged to know how many people are back home thinking of us and holding us up to the Father. You all are a genuine blessing to us!

Day 1: Complete!

The first full day of camp was a great success!  I have put some more pictures below.  Right before them is a brief explanation of each.

So on day one we had our first Bible reading time followed by English testing.  The goal of this is simply to ascertain their present competency with the language.  This was explained to them clearly, but I still found many of the Polish people still anxious regarding this.  The results spanned the spectrum, from those who could only point to the cat, to those who speak English as well or better than I do!  Nevertheless, this was a most fun experience.

The afternoons are fun for the campers, and work for the leaders.  Most of us spent our time preparing for our first English lessons for tomorrow.  Vocabulary, grammar, and some games attempting to make this fun and interesting…not as easy a task as one might expect!  Here’s a bit of tomorrow’s lesson if you are curious:

Vocab: bygone; annals; armistice; chronicle; dissension; eon; epoch; surmount; venerable; forefathers; forerunners

Grammar: the difference between the past tense and the present perfect tense.

(Keep in mind, I am working with the college students, all of whom are relatively advanced speakers.  Most others don’t have as difficult of lessons.)

This evening our outdoor games were rained out, forcing us to move the relay games to another night.  So we played a couple other crowd-breakers, sang some songs, and listen to Danelle give her testimony.  Nobody seemed bothered by this.  The Polish people love it all.  They are such a wonderfully easy going group!

So that’s day one!  The whole team is most grateful for your continued prayers.

Enjoy the pictures!

1. Daniel Jones, a familiar face to many, sits with Jacek (pronounced Ya-tzic).

2. A game of paper, rock, scissors wherein the looser has to follow the winner around with their hands on their shoulders.  Makes for a couple of long snakes at the end.

3. A game winner, quite happy.

4. Worship, sung in both Polish and English

5. Danelle, from Nebraska gives her testimony with translation by Piotr.  This is a nightly event.

Camp Begins!

Camp Begins!  We’ve been here about 24 hours now and almost everything is running well.  The entire team is finally here, and everyone is reasonably healthy.  Please do pray as some are still fighting fatigue or the onset of a cold.  Below are a few pictures from earlier this morning.  Check back this evening, I hope to have more up from our evening activities!

This IS fun! (Pictures!)

We made it!  Bob and Will arrived rested and ready as they enjoyed a few days in Berlin prior to coming to Poland.  Jim and Charlotte caught all their flights without trouble.  And Mike, Justin, and Toby arrived after quite an ordeal leaving Seattle, a SHORT stay in Paris (hardly long enough to board our second flight-not the misleadingly reported 24 hours by Mike to his unsuspecting wife…and still without boarding passes for our second, third, and fourth flights), a correction to the destination of our bags in Oslo, Norway, and a surprisingly uneventful layover in Copenhagen, Denmark.

After a good night’s rest, we enjoyed some time together as a team going over the plan for the week ahead.  This afforded us the first chance to meet our partners from Nebraska; a most kind group of brothers and one sister in Christ.  The church here is most excited about the camp this week.  There are going to be over 60 people there who have no connection with a gospel centered church, which they are most delighted about…and a bit overwhelmed.  All together, there will be over 160 people at this camp for the week.

We had a brief opportunity to look around the town we are presently in, Chojnice.  It truly is a gorgeous land and a wonderful people.  We were also taken to the location of where the other camp was held a week ago.  This only served to heighten our excitement.  Charlotte and Will got to do the bungee trampoline, and the rest of us enjoyed watching…except Jim who seems slightly nervous about his daughter doing two back flips in one jump!  (See below)

This evening was spent resting.  We enjoyed delightful food and wonderful company.  I cannot speak for the Zell or Duncan gangs, but in the homes Mike, Toby, and myself are staying in, we had a most delightful time of conversation.

It is just after midnight now, so I must be off to bed.  We thank you for your continued prayers as we worship with the church in Chojnice tomorrow morning and begin camp tomorrow afternoon!  Here are a few specifics:

-Pray for Diana as she is traveling, hopefully arriving tomorrow evening.

-Pray for Chuck, the leader of our friends from Nebraska, as he too is arriving tomorrow evening.

-Pray that our two lost bags full of supplies for camp this week will get here in a timely manner.

-Pray for adjustment to the new timezone.

-Pray that God would do an amazing work in the life of every person going to this camp.

Enjoy a few pictures.  Lord willing, more will follow!  I should note, the first picture was Toby in the airport in Norway, but it could have been any of us.  At this point all three…Mike, Toby, and myself, were only semi-conscious.  Each of us at various moments most suddenly and randomly dropped off to sleep.  30 hours of traveling will do that to anyone!

Well that was fun…

So here’s the first update.  Three hours after we were supposed to leave we are still in Seattle…but leaving soon, Lord willing.  Our flight was going to be delayed to miss our connections, so after standing for over an hour we finally got a new route.  The good news is that we are still going, and still arriving Friday.  The bad news is that it adds a flight, and puts us there almost 9 hours later than scheduled.  Please pray for our endurance.

Here is the new route…forgive me as I don’t have all the times these flights are.

Seattle to Paris (leave 2:50 p.m., arrive 9:40 a.m.)

Paris to Oslo, Norway (11:10 a.m., 1:30 p.m.)

Oslo to Copenhagen (?????)

Copenhagen to Gdansk (???, arrive after 9:00 p.m.

Until 3:30 a.m….

Until 3:30 a.m. on the day of our departure, it was mainly stress. There is so much to do getting ready to go. With both my wife and I gone for almost 2 weeks, there are all the responsibilities around the house that need to be taken care of in addition to packing as tightly as possible for a two week trek overseas. On top of that are the Bible studies I plan to teach while there that needed preparing. Oh! I am also giving my testimony the first day of camp there! That needed to be all ready to go too. So, when people asked if I was nervous or excited, I could indeed say that I was a little of both. But mainly what I felt was stress.

Last night I finally rested with everything done. The stress had finally passed. With a few butterflies I fell fast asleep. Then sometime about 3:30 a.m. I awoke and immediately thought, “I’m leaving for Poland today!” No more sleep!

There are a few of us on this trip for whom this trip is brand new. And it is exciting. It is exciting to see what the church is like in a completely different part of the world. It is exciting to partner with a local church in another country that is seeking to reach their community with the good news of Jesus. It is exciting to meet Christians who live in a different culture and have a very different view of the world. It is exciting to anticipate the work that God is going to do through us in the lives of these people. And it is exciting to anticipate the work God is going to do through them in our own lives.

The nerves have also set in a bit! For my own part, I have never been in a situation where I cannot understand what everyone around me is saying. (Sometimes I feel this way working with youth, but even there I can comprehend bits of the conversation!) I have no idea what it is going to be like using a translator. Earlier I mentioned giving my testimony. The trick in Poland is that I will be delivering it through a translator. What is this going to be like? What about adapting to a different diet for two weeks? How will I cope with the jet lag? And teaching English?! I barely speak English!

With this there is also a bit of sadness. All of our team is leaving family behind. It would be dishonest to deny my sadness in leaving my own young family for two weeks. I will miss our church family as well! Exciting as this trip is, it can still be hard to leave.

All this to say that after 4 hours sleep, I am not tired. But I know I will be soon. We will hit 35,000 feet in a few hours and the emotional and physical weight of all this will come down…and I will again sleep.

But the stress is over.

And yes, I am excited…

…a bit nervous too!

“May the LORD guard our going out and our coming in from this time forth and forever.” Amen.

(Psalms 121:8)

Leaving on a jet plane…

All our bags are packed, we are ready to go…

You know the tune.  Its been stuck in my head.  In just a few hours the whole of the Poland team will be in transit to Poland.  Please be in prayer for us.  Lord willing, an update will be posted within a day or two of our arrival.  If not, please be patient, I will do the best I can to post pictures and information!  If you are interested, here is our basic flight information:

11:00 a.m. Leave Seattle for Newark, NJ…arrive 7:12 p.m. local

8:00 p.m. Leave Newark for Oslo, Norway…arrive 9:35 a.m. local on Friday

11:20 a.m. Leave Oslo for Gdansk, Poland…arrive 12:55 p.m. local on Friday

Talk to you from Poland!

All that’s left is the finishing up!

Almost time to go!  The team’s supplies are all packed, and most of us are in various stages of personal packing and preparations.  It is exciting and nerve-racking all at once.  Now all those little things that must be done before leaving home for two weeks are pressing in.  Please keep praying!  Here’s a few specific items:

-Health: for those traveling and for the families remaining home.  How stressful to have home responsibilities all for yourself, and to be unwell at the same time!

-Safe travel

-Uneventful travel: Delays due to mechanical issues or weather (no volcano eruptions!) that are generally minor inconveniences can become major headaches on long trips.  Pray that God would make our paths both straight and smooth!

-Finally, pray that we all will grow in knowing and loving God more through this trip.  For some of us it is the first time doing anything like this.  For others it is routine.  Pray that the newbies will not be so overwhelmed by the experience that we forget why we are there and whom we are serving.  Pray that the vets among us will continue to be overwhelmed by the grace and mercy of God in their lives and working through them.

Mrs. Kimmel was right…

In preparation for going to Poland, and more specifically for teaching English in Poland, I thought it a good idea to “bone-up” on my grammar. I don’t anticipate needing grammar as much as vocabulary, but figured it might be helpful. So, off the shelf I pulled a couple familiar volumes from my college years: Webster’s Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation and that old standard The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Additionally at Barns & Noble I found a couple of “Spark Charts”, one for English grammar and one called ESL Grammar. I got both as each had helpful strengths. In looking through all of this, I have come to a few realizations:

1. I am clueless regarding the mechanics of the English language!

2. When something has more irregular forms than regular forms, we ought to reconsider what we call regular and irregular. Likewise, when rules have more exceptions than applications, we need to reconsider what we call a rule.

3. Mrs. Kimmel was right…if I had paid attention to her in second grade when she tried to teach me all this stuff, my life would be much easier now!