Poland Video No. 1

Ok, here’s the first video. Hopefully, it will work fine. However, if you have troubles, please note this with a comment on this post. I may not be able to help directly (obviously), but I’ve asked Jon Green to check occasionally to make sure people can view the video.

A German Vendor Learns How to Sell to Americans

Dave here. Right across the street from the church is the Promanad (mentioned in Jensine’s posting), along which are many shops where vendors sell everything from Clothing to Kielbasa. On our first day here, Will discovered that one of these vendors - a German woman - kept a few Cokes in the bottom of her cooler (cold beverages are not really a priority in Poland).

He shared this with us and yesterday he ventured to the same stand, along with Dan, Julie and myself. We were saddened to learn that she only had one Coke in the fridge. Alas, three of us had to settle for lukewarm soda this particular afternoon. And you know what the Bible says about being lukewarm . . .

Today, I stayed behind (at the church) while the camp went off to the beach (more on why in a sec.). Well, I just returned from across the street . . . and I can’t wait to tell Will, Dan and Julie that she has at least 20 Cokes in the bottom of her fridge today!

The reason I stayed behind today is that I’m working on a video that we plan on showing to the camp later tonight. And, if you stay tuned, you may get a preview of this video as I am hoping to make it our first video blog posting of the trip. Although the “stay tuned” probably only applies if you’re one of those 4AM early-risers :-)

Soccer Match 2007

It's Julie! Well… including today’s game, my record in the Poland vs. America soccer match is now 1-4 (and I’m pretty sure that we only won my first year because of some poor planning by the Polish coach leaving their star players out too long). For those of you that know me, you know that I don’t like to lose very much! However, when it comes to this game every year, the fact that I know we are going down seems to lessen the blow. The Poles grow up playing soccer (a lot of kicking), and Americans grow up playing football or softball (a lot of throwing – and that’s right- I said softball not baseball).

I had the honor again of being the goalie. The flailing all over the place was much kinder on my body this year seeing as last year we played on pavement and this year we got to play on the BEACH!!! How cool is that? Unfortunately, I don’t think that the sand improved my ability to stop the puka (ball) from traveling past me. Our team had a fine showing though. We scored the first goal, and then a huge portion of the first half past with the score of 2-2. Soon though, the Poles put in the Socha brothers (pastor of the church we work with and his two bros) and the ball began to look like a rocket that I just couldn’t seem to catch. We had the game early this year because Dan Hash was here. He, although the oldest member of our team, is the best player, and the Poles took pity on us and let us have the game today. Tuna and Molly were terrific on the offensive side, and Jensine is surprisingly aggressive on defense. Will, who had no experience playing soccer, decided that throwing his weight around was going to be his area of expertise. Phat (Cale) scored a goal, Cheetoh (Luebcke) scored two, Chatterbox (Boyer) got one and B.W. (Will) got one.

Hello to all of my family and friends. Thank you for praying for our team. I love you all!

Day 3 @ Camp

Hey everyone!!! I am having a wonderful time in Poland. I am meeting so many new people and I am experiencing so many new and wonderful things!!! I think that all of the new food that I have tried has been so amazing and wonderful…well for the most part!!! JUST KIDDING!!! Today was so much fun because we went to the beach and had a soccer game…U.S.A. vs. Polska. Jennifer made all of the “jerseys” for the team and my name was “Miss Congeniality”! We also went to this one place called The Promanad, which is a little street mall that is really close to the beach. Also, the English class that Dave, Cale, and I are teaching is going really well. I feel like the students are starting to get the hang of the of our language. I just want to say thank you to everyone who is supporting the team. We couldn’t do it if it wasn’t for all your prayers!!! So thanks again…and we’ll see you soon!!! Love you all!!!

Day 2 @ Camp

Hey everybody, this is Jen Carpenter! I hope everything back in the US is going well. I am going to tell you all about the second day at camp, which was much less stressful than the day that we arrived. We were able to regroup and begin to feel how the rest of the week was going to be. I am rooming in a rather small room above the sanctuary with about 15 or so other girls. It has been fun to meet them all and I really feel like I connected with a few of them last night around midnight before going to sleep! Haha. The Polish students are very kind and open to the Americans and it has been a great experience to meet them, so I can’t wait to see how the rest of the week will play out.

Today, the second day of camp, was also our first day of English class. I am helping Will G. teach the level four English class. Today was a lot of fun and I am really excited to get to know the kids in my class better because they are a quality group. Because I am in a higher class, our English class is more conversationally-oriented, so it is very nice to be able to talk to the Polish students without being hindered by the language barrier. In my class, Will has the students do push-ups if they ever speak Polish or if they speak when we (the teachers) are talking. The leading student is up to 105 push-ups. It is very fun to be in his class!

Besides English class and midnight talks, the rest of the group is connecting with the Polish students through volleyball and fun card games. I would still greatly appreciate your prayer for our group. I feel that I am unable to really get involved in the Poles’ activities at times and I know that other members of the team feel that way too, so prayer for that would be awesome! I can’t wait to see how the rest of English class is going to go, but I am sure I will have many stories to tell you all! If my family is reading this, I love you all!

Thank you so much for your constant prayers!

Communion 6,600 miles away

Hey this is Dan Boyer sending this to you after possibly the coolest experience I have ever had. Yesterday morning we went to church in Zielona Gora on Communion Sunday. It was nothing short of amazing to take communinon with brothers and sisters in Poland. That experience just ministered to my soul. Knowing that God is in Poland and is still the same for the people here as at home is kind of the pinnacle of spiritual community.

The church service was also phenomenal. Hearing Mariusz speak in Polish and then hearing his words translated into English was awesome. Cale got up and spoke about our church. Dan preached from Matthew 1.

Another experience I will take home with me is the music and songs from Sunday. Hearing and singing the same songs with the Poles singing in Polish and the Americans singing in English was just amazing.

These experiences filled me with a sense of how much God is active and not just watching on the sidelines. Which is something I tend to lose focus on in the states but becomes obvious over here. Thank you once again for all your prayers which truly mean so much to all of us.

Will da Beast

Meet the Will da Beast. AKA Will Gosch, one of our trip leaders. Will received this lovely nickname from Tuna (Cale, if you haven't been tracking with the blog). Will has set a new standard for being an English teacher.

If a student speaks Polish or interrupts in his English class they do five push ups. Jacek nailed down 105 push ups on the first day of class which was Monday. Apparently Will's military training is coming in handy!

Later that night, at a random point during the evening meeting, we heard a voice yell out, "NO MORE PUSHUPS!"

I'm sure there will be more from Will da Beast in the next few days!

--Dan

Photo Album 4: 7/2/07

Click here to access the blog and see the slideshow

A night full of bugs

We arrived just after 9:30 pm to camp!

We canceled the evening program because we had dinner and had to find where we were sleeping. All of the guys are in tents out on the church lawn. It was priceless watching everyone get in the tents at 11:15 p.m.

Every guy ate bugs for dessert! Can anyone say bug spray?

Tuna and Boyer had to sleep in the church because there was no room in the tents. They felt like Jesus...no room in the Inn! Tonight we will set up another tent and rearrange everyone.

All of the girls are staying inside the church and couldn't escape the bugs either although they did get to sleep on a bed.

It's fun because many on the Polish guys have never camped so they are really excited.

Both the guys and the girls have two toilets and three bathrooms for 70 campers! Can you say creating spiritual community?!

We are excited for what God has planned for us here!

--Dan

Cale's Polish Accent

Cale is sweeping through camp with his high pitched "singing" Italian accent as he learns to speak Polish! Never before have I heard a student do this. The dude is slaying me, the rest of our team and all the Polish students. Here's a great quote, "There's a party on the plaza (beach)!"

More from the tuna...I'm sure!

Dan

On our way to camp

We loaded the bus at 7:20 am your time and are headed to camp. The bus is packed full of students and luggage. All of what we have done leads to this time, and our team is pumped!

All of the girls will be sleeping in the church, and the guys in tents behind it!

The team is doing great. The families that hosted us were wonderful! It feels like all we did was eat!

This morning we went to church and got take communion. More to come after we arrive!

--Dan