Rich!

Our missionary friend Rich is featured on the International Mission Board web site. Rich is a journeyman in Poland. Click here to read the article about what he's doing in Poland. You can also read a bit about how he became a Christian here.

One of the Ministries...

One of the ministries of the church at the coffeehouse in Lubin is teaching English classes and having English conversation. See, there isn't much work for people in Poland, wait, scratch that, not much profitable work. Many businesses will hire someone and then fire them just before benefits kick in. So, many people in Poland find work in other countries, and English is spoken in many surrounding countries. The church offering English classes at a competitive rate has opened the door to relationships with the community.

Last year we met Michael. He told us that his older brother made more money working one summer in fields and vineyards in France than he would have working all year using his degree in Poland. Michael wasn't around much the two weeks we were there, but Chase did have a short opportunity to talk to him. When asked what he does for money, Michael's response was that he is a "housewife" in Ireland. Chase figured he meant housekeeper.

So knowing English is very valuable to the people of Poland, and it works out great that the first language of the missionaries in Lubin is English. Also, Bogusia, one of the church leaders, is an English teacher at a community college. Please continue to pray for the Baptist church in Lubin and the relationships they're building through teaching English.

We Made It Home!

We made it back and so did all our luggage! We arrived home around midnight last night.

We spent our last day in Poland in the van in some Polish woods looking for a baptism, then being tourists in Wroclaw, and then hanging out with some German kids we met at our hotel.

This is Joy having the time of her life in Wroclaw:


And here's Aaron & Rich sharing Christ with some German kids in a lounge at our hotel:


We're getting some rest, and we'll keep on updating this blog with more pictures and stories from this trip. So keep coming back and checking it out!

The Last Hoorah

Well, tonight is our last night in Lubin. We did a crazy Amazing Grace Race with the youth from Wroclaw (Vroswav) to Lubin where we had some tasks to accomplish (like climbing over 300 stairs in the tower of Deitrich Bonhoeffer's church!) and we actually made it back safely! Now we're getting ready for some final hanging out.

Some other things we've done include: singing/conversing English in schools, painting faces at a festival, hanging out with people at a special needs school, and kids club. Here's a picture of Andrew doing a craft at kids club:


We may not get to update again for a while, but we'll have more once we're stateside!

E-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d

I don't know about the rest of the team, but I'm extremely tired. I was okay until we made the trip to Prague on Saturday. We left at 5 a.m. and didn't get back to our hotel until about 3:30am on Sunday. We spent 10 hours in the cars that day and who knows how many miles we walked. It was worth it though. We got to spend some very good time with some of the youths who joined us for the trip. Because of the exhaustion, we've not been able to update as much as we'd hoped. We will post plenty of photos and stories when we're back in the States.

However, I was not too tired to play basketball with some of the kids on Monday night. Aaron and I were challenged to a game by Dlogi (pronounced "Dwoogie") and Kamis (pronounced "Commis"). At first, I was not afraid at all. I thought it would be impossible for a couple Pols to beat two semi-athletic Americans in basketball, but then I saw that Kamis was very fast and Dlogi was 6'4". Rest assured American friends. We represented well. We won 30 - 24. Look at me go...

Faces of Lubin

Here are just a few of the youth you can pray for:

Dlogy

Paulina

Bartek

Piotrek

Jakob

I probably spelled most of their names wrong (and Dlogy is a nickname), but now you can see some of the youth we're working with and we hope that you pray for them. Since Chase (a.k.a. Cheetos) is becoming quite the photographer, I'll leave you with three more pictures from Prague...

Late Nights and Early Mornings

We had a couple late nights and early mornings, but now I think I've got a chance to update. Friday we went to Glogow for some English conversation at a community college, and let me tell you, Aaron is quite the hit- not for his English, but for his Polish. He'd done an eight lesson Polish language tutorial before coming, and he's cracking the Poles up. Here he is with his fan club at the college:


He got a chance to share with these young women why he's a Baptist and why he believes what he believes. I got a chance to tell my group a little as well. And here's Bonnie & Joy dropping some Gospel bombs, too (outside the coffeehouse):


Later that day we had Kids Club. Saturday was Mother's Day here in Poland, so we had them decorate some picture frames and put their pictures in the frames to give to their mothers.

Natan with his frame

All the kids club kids and some of their mothers

Can anyone spot Bartek? (Back row, greenish shirt) He was there, and he participated! He's been hanging around a lot. Also, we found out that he's 15. He showed us his passport. It's crazy how young some of these kids look.

Friday evening Aaron, Chase & Rich put on a concert where Aaron got to share some more about Jesus.


And then on Saturday, we got up at 4 in the morning to go to Prague. Here's a castle behind some shops and hotels, and then a crazy statue:



We just don't have things this old in the States. A lot of the buildings and sculptures we saw are more than five times older than our entire country! It's crazy to think about.

Here's a picture of Bartek in his element:

Yesterday we got up and went to church and then to a battered women's home for some more music, meals and to play with their kids. We've got pictures from that, too, but I'll post some later. I've got to get ready now because we're going into a local school to do an English presentation on America... I think.

Gospel Bombs

Some Gospel Bombs were dropped today! We did some English conversation and had a concert. Tomorrow we go to Prague with the youth... 5 hours in a van there, and 5 hours in a van back... plus all day chaperoning some youth who barely speak the same language. It's getting late and we've got an early day tomorrow! We leave at 5:00 AM!!! Hopefully we'll have more (and pictures) later!