Auschwitz

The team arrived in Krakow safely. They went straight to Auschwitz for a tour and they were eating dinner at a grill in Krakow when Dan called around noon our time. He said the team is in excellent spirits and they are very excited to be there. After dinner, they will head to the hotel to get a little rest. They will catch a train/bus in the morning to Zielona Gora. They will not be able to blog anytime today, but they will try to post again tomorrow night.

Link: More about Auschwitz at PBS

Seat 32b

Jon here, I just got a call from the passenger in seat 32b (Dan) of the flight from Chicago to Poland. They're on their way!

*and there was great rejoicing*

Audio blog from Chicago

Press Play to listen to the team from Chicago talk about how it has been a blessing to have this time there.


If that isn't playing, you can click here to leave the blog and get the mp3.

Are We There Yet?

We found this sign yesterday! Just kidding, but we are excited to get on our plane tonight and arrive in Poland before y'all wake up!!!!! I'll be calling Jon to post a blog about our departure tonight so stay tuned!!!!!!

Comments Open

Thanks to Antof9, who just left a comment about this...

Comments are now open to anyone. To leave your name, select "Other" not "Anyonymous."

By default, comments are restricted to only let registered Blogger.com users post comments. Now it is open to anyone.

Sorry about that!

Jon

English Camp Prep at the Hoiday Inn

Last night we decided that it was time to start getting ready for camp! As you can see from the picture we had the laptop on top of the entertainment center in a room learning the motions to our theme song by Big Daddy Weave. We are getting ready for camp!!!!

Here are the lyrics to our theme song from Big Daddy Weave "What I Was Made For."


I used to think that I was never good enough to cut it. I bought the lines that were selling time after time. But when You opened up my mind and I refused to shut it. You brought me to a place where I could leave it all behind.

Good-bye to my old life. I don't listen to those lies anymore. You've given me new life. Loving you is what I was made for.

It took a while for me to see but when I finally saw it. I knew I had to leave my sordid past in the past. I couldn't get there on my own it was Your grace that taught it. My sin is covered by Your blood and I'm not looking back.

Good-bye to my old life. I don't listen to those lies anymore. You've given me new life. Loving you is what I was made for.

It is our desire that this song will cause our students and the students at camp to Think Again!

Photo Album: In Chicago

We spent Wednesday June 28 in Chicago.
Click on a photo for a description.

Previous Slideshow: Denver to Chicago

Our Updated Schedule

Wednesday

Panera Bagels
The L to Downtown
Sears Tower
Chicago Pizza
Michigan Ave.
Dinner

Thursday

Travel to Krakow - YEAH!

Friday

Auschwitz
Stay the night in Krakow

Saturday

Travel to Zielona Gora
Pre Camp

Sunday

Church
Lunch
Travel to Camp

This is all tentative...hee hee!

Random Things We Are Learning...

Duke drinks 8 packets of sugar with each glass of tea and doesn't know what the word diabolical means.
Tierra is quite engaging when it comes to talking about science!
Josh is consumed with Sudoku.
Julie W.'s family leaves sooo close to where we are.
Lee may want to be an engineer that designs cars or engines.
Stacy loves broccoli and cheese soup at Panera.
Kate is sooooooo cool!
Brianne ate a Reuben for dinner tonight.
Rachel doesn't like Ranch dressing.
Elizabeth likes chicken tenders.
Kevin and Dustin eat non-stop...then eat some more, and they shared a bed last night!
Jen R. wants to have coffee with Alice at Coffee Heaven.
Tim and Kasia are waiting again to get to Poland.
And me...I haven't spent much time thinking about how random I am...I think I just AM!

We're Going to Rolling Meadows!

We got to Rolling Meadows at the Holiday Inn Express and we are loving life! This hotel is about 17 million times better than the Best Western we stayed in last night. Here’s what’s happened.

We got vouchers for this hotel at the airport (Kevin is standing in front of the desk we went to - CLICK on the Pic to read the sign!) and have to go back tomorrow morning to get vouchers for tomorrow night. We hopped on the free shuttle (no taxi rides…PRAISE THE LORD) and made our plan for the night! We headed down to Panera for a quick bite to eat and then it was off to Walmart. Walmart wasn’t on our radar screen for this trip but we you need “underpants” (Kate Goddard’s comment, not mine) you must summit the Walmart PEAK! We stopped back by Panera and bought bagels for breakfast!

We are using our meal vouchers for dinner tonight at 8:00 p.m. After dinner we are going to meet as a team to debrief what has been happening, go through the schedule, study a passage of Scripture and spend some time in prayer!

Dan L. writing on Tim's account!

We’re in Palwaukee?

That’s right! We got to the Best Western right by the Palwaukee Airport around 1:00 a.m. After a crazy taxi ride with United vouchers we made it to the first resting spot on our trip. This wasn't on our itinerary! :)

We’re pretty sure we missed our flight because of the lady who freaked out while we were almost to the runway. Turning the plane around took us an extra 35 minutes which means we missed out 10:45 p.m. arrival! Lot waited until after 11 for us but it was to no avail.

I've spent the morning on the phone! I just realized that my cell phone charger is in my bag! Dan Hash just laughed and feels bad. The upside for Dan and Laura is that today is their anniversary so they went out to dinner tonight!

We are on our way back to the airport to see what will happen next! We are pretty sure we are done with our stay in Prospect Heights!

BTW: We are having fun...check out this picture!



Dan

Photo Album 6/26-6/27

To reduce load-time, I'm only going to have one active slide show on this blog at a time. Here is a link for the 6/26-6-27 "Denver to Chicago" slideshow.

A night in Chi-town

Hello everyone! Well, well, well, what a day they have already had! I'm not sure if you've checked out the Poland blog yet, but it's been quite the adventure so far. The plane in Denver took way too long to take off soooooo, they missed the flight from Chicago to Krakow. Here is the latest:

Lot Airlines is currently putting the team up in hotel rooms for the night while they work the problem. Here is the problem: there is not a direct flight to Krakow tomorrow so they are trying to figure out another way they can get 20 people to Krakow. They might have to fly through Warsaw or maybe even Munich...not sure at this time.

The good news is that this is the only team from America meeting Josiah Venture at this time. So, it's really not a huge deal that they need to shuffle around a little there in Poland. It will obviously cut into some of their time in Krakow, but overall, not too big of deal.

Dan will be calling me later tonight or early tomorrow morning to fill me in the situation. I'll email again as soon as I hear anything. I am volunteering at VBS all week long so I won't be able to email in the morning.

God is good and he has taken care of all of them so far. It might be kind of nice to get some winks anyway right?

Talk to you soon,

Julie Luebcke

Returning... to DIA

7:55pm, just got a call from Dan.

As the plane was all ready to go, and heading toward the runway, a passenger on the flight changed her mind, and is afraid to fly on this plane today. So right now the plane has turned around and is heading back to the terminal to return the passenger to DIA. Apparently she's kinda scared and making a scene so they have to return her. Doesn't she know we're trying to get to Poland? Leave, plane, leave!

I think this link (click) will connect to the flight tracker.... Though it says they've already taken off... Maybe it meant they were heading to the runway. I'm not sure if I got the right flight number... but the status makes me think this is the one.

Failure to Launch

Jon here, just got off the phone with Dan Luebcke, who is on the plane, still sitting at DIA.

Just as he called the Pilot came on the intercom system and announced that a hydraulic door on the plane opened, and they don't have an explanation. As soon as they figured this out, and the paramedics were done they'd be on their way. This, at 6:35, for a flight that was supposed to leave before 5pm.

Wait... paramedics? Yes, an employee was under the plane, the door opened, and knocked him unconscious!

The flight from Chicago has been delayed until 10:15, instead of 9:35, according to the ticket counter at DIA. This first flight may not make it until then. I do know we have at least one parent lobbying Lot airlines to see if they will delay the flight for our team - they did purchase a lot of tickets.

We interrupt the typing of this blog for:

*Update Update*

6:58pm
Dan just called.... "Just calling to tell you, we're still sitting here"

At the end of the (original) phone call, the pilot came over the speaker again:

Folks, we really apologize for the delay, at this point we are not certain when we will be departing, though we don't think it will be long. Because we don't know exactly how long the duration of the flight will be, we're going to try to squeeze a movie into our time together. In a few moments we will be beginning the film.....

"Failure to Launch"

Will they make their Poland flight?`

The flight from Denver was delayed until 5:50pm, arrive in Chicago at about 9:05pm. Flight for Poland leaves at 9:35.

Julie will be sprinting ahead across to the international terminal to try to hold the plane for the rest of the trip. Julie is John the Baptist, preparing the way.

Getting Ready

As we have for the last several years, we are sending a group of high school students from Southern Gables Church's student ministries, 180, to Poland to work with Josiah Venture and a local Polish church teaching a week long summer English camp for Polish students, mostly high school aged.

Jon (JontheCanadian) here, writing this on Sunday night, June 25th. It's almost 11pm, and I'm sure some of the staff and students are just starting to pack for the trip. They board the plane tomorrow mid-day, and will return Tuesday July 11.

The team will land in Krakow for a few days of training, then spend the next two weeks split between Zielona Gora (translated "Green Mountain"), where the church is, and in the mountains where the camp is.

Throughout the trip (starting on Tuesday morning), we'll have blog postings direct from our students and staff in Poland! Feel free to add comments (at the bottom of each blog posting), as that is a great and easy way to communicate with the team, though they may not get your comments for a few days, depending on their schedule.

We'll also try to get some photos up and maybe even some podcasts (audio) and videos. Who knows!