You Can Call Me "Super Bird"

Hey all, it is Jen! We have been having a really great trip and we appreciate your continued prayers! Today was our third day at English camp and it started out with our English classes. I am teaching the higher, and bigger, of the two intermediate classes (with my helpers Bridget and Chad). When we had our first day of lessons, it did not go as well as I would have liked and I was really discouraged. I really saw God work through my prayers as the second day of class went so much better! I had much more fun and I am hoping that the students did as well. After our classes, we had three hours of free time. This was a great chance for us to explore the town more and eat some Polish food, which is always awesome!

We then went to the beach for our team games. My team name is the “Green Machine” and we are dominating! Whoo! Our team cheer is “Green Machine, Green Machine! You can’t stop the Green Machine!” and it seems to be coming true, so hopefully this continues! The times on the beach, when we are playing sports, have been great opportunities to reach out and bond with the students.

We then went to our evening program where Dan introduced sin through the story of Adam and Eve disobeying God in the Garden of Eden and then the Flood. We were excited to talk about this subject so hopefully this message will resonate with the students. Several of the discussion groups ran late during the discussion.

We ended the night with my favorite part: Superhero Night! Bridget did an amazing job leading this night and everyone had a great time. We played games with our teams and I even got wrapped in toilet paper and became Super Bird. It was awesome! I feel like this was the first night that we were able to really connect with the students and I loved that. We are so excited to see where God takes the rest of this camp! Thanks so much for your prayers. Dad, Mom, Em, and Sarah, I love you...btw, no postcard is coming!!!

Seeing God in Unexpected Ways

Hey everyone, it’s Chad. It is Monday night and I just wanted to share with you how I have seen God working while I have been here. As many of you may know, I got very sick on the way to camp on the train and all of Saturday. I was sitting in the hall on the train and had been in and out of the bathroom and one of the pastors of the Polish church we are working with came up to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and, in Polish, he began to pray. He was praying for me and my health. I had known Adam, one of the pastors, for only a day, but that did not matter to him. His prayer for me, even though I could not understand it, showed a tremendous amount of compassion and concern for me. I have never experienced something like that. I was very encouraged by this and thanked God for showing me his love through Adam.

Aloha from Poland

Hey it’s Mekayla! Today is Sunday July 27th, and we had a great day with the Polish students at camp. We had sports time at the beach where we made our team flags and played with this giant blue ball. After sports we had our first English class. So far the lessons went well, but pray that the students will be able to feel more comfortable with us so that they will participate more. In our evening program Dan told two stories about God creating the angels, earth and the first humans. Several of the students were interacting in their discussion groups afterwards! Tonight we had our Hawaiian Theme Night which was a big success. The Poles loved the leis, Limbo, crab soccer, and dancing to Hawaiian music. We finished off the night watch the USA vs. Brazil match while listening to Chad's country music on his iPod. Overall, we have had an awesome start to our camp and we hope the rest will continue to get even better!

Pictures

We've got pictures up on the sidebar of our trip! Check them out!

English Camp 2009 - Day 1

Hey it’s Laura!!!!!! So today and yesterday we were on a fourteen hour train ride. From the earlier blog you know that several of the team members got sick on this train trip. For those of us not sick, sleep was almost impossible with train cabins filled with seven or eight people and checking in on those who were sick making sure they had water and easy access to the bathrooms. Most of us got an hour or two of sleep. It was so amazing when the Polish students found out about our sick ones and began praying for them in English as well as Polish in groups with us. An update about everyone, Chad was in bed all day but was able to keep down water and a Gatorade as well as Jen and Mekayla. Jen and Mekayla were up and about between naps and lead the games tonight at camp. Today was our first day of camp and it is nice having a small group of about 50 campers so friendships are forming fast! Once we received our room arrangements (boys on bottom floor and girls in balcony and rooms upstairs) we settled in and went on an outing to the beach! It was so much fun to see the Baltic Sea. The water is cold but the sand is really soft. There we played some volleyball in groups and had a great time doing it. Dan’s talk was really good and I thought it was received well. He spoke about how our stories are very little but are a part of a bigger story, THE STORY. I am so encouraged seeing how the Polish students have received us so far and I am so excited to see what God does in everyone’s heart throughout this week. Love you Mom, Dad, bro’s and family! Thank you for your prayers. I will see you in about a week and I have tons of funny stories to share!

Sick in Świnoujście

We made it to camp this morning after a 14 hour train ride. 5 of our team members became really sick on the train: ME (Dan), Justin, Mekayla, Chad and Jen. Chad and Mekayla and Justin were hit with the worst of what we believe was food poisoning. I am staying back with Chad and Mekayla right now as the entire camp is at the Baltic Sea. Please pray for Chad and Mekayla as they rest. Justin, Jen and myself are feeling better. Chad and Mekayla are both feeling better and need a good night of sleep. WE ALL NEED A GOOD NIGHT OF SLEEP! Although last night was tough for our team I am so proud of the way they handled it. Everyone was caring for each other and it was awesome to watch them serve each other.

We'll have a student blog tonight! We have WiFi at the church so you'll be hearing from us everyday until July 4th! Have a great Saturday! Tonight I begin my series of 7 messages on The Story of God! PRAY for God to begin move in the hearts of the students at camp! THANKS!

Wake Up! Wake Up! - Camp Song

Our camp song this year is by Everyday Sunday! Camp starts today!



Here are the lyrics

Feels like I’m going through the motions in the dark
In a world that leaves me with an uninspired heart

All I know is I’m so tired
Living life I barely feel
Give me hope, give me fire
Give me something real

Cause I don’t wanna keep sleepwalkin’ through
Endless days I’ve had enough of
Going nowhere, God I want to
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

It’s now or never come and pull me from this dream
Where everything is colorless and nothing’s what it seems

I believe only You
Can make me come alive
Help me be so consumed
Open up my eyes

Half asleep
I’m so bored
Counting sheep

Skoczów & Traveling to Camp

We are in Skoczów! Pronounced "sko-chewf!" We stayed in a hotel last night that had bathrooms in the hallway! That was interesting! :) Today we are at the church working on camp. Our students are meeting with Polish students working in their various areas of responsibility. The team is doing extremely well and really adjusting to the crazy schedule. The Polish youth group is very energetic and several of them are deeply in love with Jesus. It's been awesome to watch our students interact with them yesterday and today. Our students are excited that we are having pizza for lunch!

At 6:15 p.m. Poland time we head to camp in Świnoujście! We have a 13 hour train ride of ahead of us! We should be to the camp around midnight MST on Friday after we cross the water to the city! :) It will be interesting to see who actually sleeps on the train sitting up the whole time. Poor Justin, he has the longest legs! When we get to camp we have 16 hours a day of programmed activities for seven straight days!

The pizza is here! I am out! Have a great day!!!!! - Dan

Auschwitz & Travel to Skoczow

Hi it’s Bridget! WE ARE HAVING AN AWESOME TIME!!! Today is Thursday the 25. This morning we had to say good bye to Dan and Laura Hash and Alice Robbins to go off to meet the English camp leaders. Before we did that we went to Auschwitz. It was a rough but interesting experience. I know that we all learned a lot and will be able to grow from it. After that we met all of the Polish youth group leaders in Skoczow that will help us at camp and had a blast practicing the camp song and getting to know more about them. We are getting really excited to go off to English camp tomorrow, I hope all is well there, we miss you all.

Krakow

Hey it’s Jadon!!! We were in Krakow with the rest of the American and Canadian students and leaders who are working with Josiah Venture. There are five English Camps taking place this week! Dan and Laura Hash and Alice Robbins were all with us to talk about what we would be doing at the English camp. After several sessions of prep time we were finished for the day and went shopping in an indoor market in Krakow. After supper we went back into Krakow square and walked around… and ate ice cream… and watched break dancing. It was an awesome day and we are all really excited to be here. We will see you all in a little more than a week… so bye for now!!!

Flight delayed in Germany!

Our flight has been delayed here in Germany due to the wind! Only one runway is open for the whole airport!

It's not LSD

We had an interesting flight to Germany on our sweet Airbus because of the Rugby team from Georgia, not the state trust me. These massive mounds of flesh couldn't fit in their seats so they were constantly walking around the cabin hitting on women and asking me if I played for the Denver Broncos because I was wearing my sweet Broncos shirt! I had fun explaining to them why a 5 foot 8 inch red head could not play in the NFL.

When it was time to start taking Melatonin, to help us sleep, one of the Rugby players asked Jensine, as she was passing it out if it was LSD! She informed the massive man that it was a "legal" sleeping aid and that it wasn't LSD!

We are excited to see what team we have on our next flight from Frankfurt to Krakow!

History of Poland in 10 Minutes

This video is worth the 10 minutes! It's a good summary of the history of Poland!

Stories - Camp 2009

We are heading to Poland on Monday! Our theme for camp is going to be Stories. We are so excited to share The Story of God at camp! We are making final preparations! We are so excited!