We're coming back!

We are excited to announce that we are going to Poland during the summer of 2009!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Video on Youtube

It was cool today to get on youtube and search for English Camps and find our videos. Great job DAVE!

I watched them all and had so many memories flash before me.

What a great trip! To the group in ZG...we loved our time with you!

Polish President in the USA

We've been home a little over two weeks and I found out today from this article that the Polish President was in the USA on July 16th!

I had no clue.

Did you?

Is Poland the Rodney Dangerfield of the nations as the author suggests?

The Tuna Report

Yesterday in our Sunday morning worship services Tuna got the opportunity to speak in front of the church and give a brief report of our trip! He did a great job giving an overview of what we did and talked about how he saw God working through the relationships that were being built during pre-camp and camp!

I want to thank Scott, our worship leader, for making this possible. It was the first time we've done this in our services and I think it's a great way to give the community a quick update and thank them for their support! I love Scott's commitment towards involving all ages in our worship services!

We're HOME!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it home and only had one bag not get on the flight from Chicago to Denver. Sorry Sweeney! We had a great trip over. Several of our girls were wired most of the flight and provided some great entertainment! In Chicago we had a 45 minute delayed and after all was said and done I laid down my head around 2:45 a.m.

More to come this week after the fog has lifted!

We're coming home

We are coming home!!! In a little over 24 hours our team will be landing at DIA! The team is upstairs eating breakfast and their is a buzz in the air. We are heading into Krakow for one last trip and some lunch. Our flight from Krakow to Chicago leaves at 4:00 p.m.

We'll be in Denver at 11:56 p.m.

We will keep adding things to this blog in the next few weeks so don't think it's over!!!!!!

Debriefing the trip

Monday night was the highlight of the trip for me. We spent almost 6 hours debriefing the trip. We had an amazing meal at a really nice place and came home to Dan and Laura's to finish up. God moved in many significant ways in the lives of our students. Will, Dave, Julie, Molly and myself had the great privilege of getting a front row seat to hear all about the work of God in their lives. It was amazing. I can't wait for their parents to hear these stories!

Camp Video No. 4

We were hoping to get this video finished before camp ended, but technical difficulties prevented us from doing so. In any case, here you are.

The Polish National Anthem

This is Dave. At one point during this trip, Dan Hash told us that the Polish National Anthem is a car alarm. In 14 years of living he has had his car(s) broken into 14 times (and all of them have had car alarms).

In the past two weeks, I've heard more car alarms go off than I have in the past year, living in the states. Perhaps the makers of "The Club" need to expand their demographics to include Poland.

Hello from Train Station

We recorded this video just before we boarded our sleeper train from Swinoujscie to Katowice - where we are now. We had three rooms: two slept 6; and Julie & Rachel shared a 3-bed "suite" with another woman who boarded at midnight.

To give you an idea of space: the beds were three on each side of an isle 2 feet wide. We also had to make room for our luggage. Most of us had a backpack, suitcase and an extra piece of luggage containing camp supplies. It was tight, but I think most of us were tired enough to get at least a few good hours of sleep.

Right now we are at the Hash's. We have a huge meal planned this afternoon with tons of meat - enough to offset 8 straight days of bread and toppings!

Reflection on how God is moving in Poland

This Bethany and this is part 2 (kinda) of my post from last night. It's basically my thoughts on how I have seen God moving in Poland while on this trip.

Overall as a team we are very tired, more like exhausted. I’m sure you can see from our pictures, but I can truly say that I and the others on this team have not only bonded in an amazing way but we have poured everything we have into these students. God is doing amazing things. I will share one brief example:

Thursday of this week was a hard day. I really see it as the turning point when I look at it now. I hadn’t really bonded with any of the students. I had no idea where God wanted to use me. I was really struggling with just wanting to be home and give up on, what I saw as, pointless investing in the lives of the Poles. But last night during Gospel night I asked God to use me. I didn’t want to be on the sidelines. I wanted to see God work in an awesome way. And I can honestly say He did.

I was sitting with the group of students that I have come to know best. Then Julie asked me to go sit with a girl named Asia (Asha), who was talking to Dan Boyer. I was somehow able to work my way into the conversation and we talked for 2 ½ hours. It was awesome! She is not a Christian but I know God has definitely planted a seed; and it has been awesome to watch our relationship grow and develop. It is hard that we are leaving [today] because these people have become so dear to me. But I am CONFIDENT that God will work whether or not we’re here; that we’ll get to meet some of these awesome students in heaven! I am praying daily for Asia and I am so grateful that you all are partnering in prayer with us. Even though the tough part of our trip is wrapping up there is still so much to pray about. There are many students in which truth was planted and we will keep praying that God grows that and nurtures it till it’s ripe for the picking.

One last thing, this week has been so much harder than I initially expected. I have truly struggled with giving my everything to be here. On Wednesday Dan reminded us of the hundreds of people that are praying for us and it was the most motivating thing I have ever heard. Thank you so much for praying. Knowing it moves me to tears to think of those of you who have committed to pray for us! How awesome is our God. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I say THANK YOU!