Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Tuesday, July 31st

Today was a B-E-A-utiful day! Filled with adventure and LOTS of new experiences. The a majority of the camp went on an amazing hike through the mountains that surround Wisla! The views were spectacular! The trail took us right along the border of the Czech Republic and Poland.The kids were so excited about that part. We over looked the Wisla area which was a sight to see! Even made a few stops along the way to bask in God's amazing creations! The kids enjoyed the hike and even us Americans and Polish Counselors had a blast getting to know the kids on a more individual level and make amazing connections.It was a looooooooong walk, but an experience none of us will forget. We finished the day by making our Polish versions of S'mores, roasting kielbasas, and playing dodgeball! All and all it was another superb day here in the beautiful Poland. courtesy of Rikki, Amy and Chelsea! :)

Monday, July 30, 2012

Have you ever been to a restaurant and tried an unusual cuisine? Today many of our groups had "Food Day" and as a part of the lesson the students tried a variety of sweet, chewy, salty, crunchy, spicy American snacks. Giving the students samples is a fun way for them to experience the different vocabulary words we use daily to converse about food. The best faces came when they tried Hot Tamales and beef jerky. The Polish cuisine is a mild cuisine and as such there is little "heat" to their foods. Today we also played one of the most popular camp games, capture the flag, however, not without a few scrapes and bruises. We also had on of our staff have a bad reaction to several ant bites but thankfully the staff member is doing much better and had the opportunity to call home and chat for awhile. After capture the flag we treated the students and staff to a new experience, ice cream floats. In Poland they do not have root beer so we used Coke and orange soda. The floats were a hit! (I wonder if the floats will become a regular treat?) Today also marks the tearful journey toward the close of camp. We only have two full days left before we begin our journey home leaving a piece of our hearts with the students and staff that we have come to know and love. Written Pastor James

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sunday, July 29th

Today started out with church. We were treated again to listening to Pastor James preach to us about being clean in the blood of Christ. He talked about the polluted life of the world but that Jesus came into the world to wash our sins away. We have the confidence to know that because we believe in Him we will one day go to heaven. We got to meet some of the parents of campers. That was a great to talk to them. They really see this camp as a way to help their child. I got to teach an idiom today, as it rained, cats and dogs. I put the washing out on the line in sunny weather and as it was almost dry is started raining and Pastor James and I went out and got soaking wet as we pulled the washing off the line. With one big strike very close to us we lost internet for the whole afternoon. This afternoon, most of the American counselors went to Wisla for a Polish Festival. Some of us stay back. The campers decided it was time to pick on Lisa with the "Go Big Red" chant and trying to get me to say "scissors" in Polish. It was a relaxing afternoon. I worked on the camps power point and helped in the scavenger hunt. We are thankful that Vicki's injury of a third degree sprain is not a fracture. We are also thankful that Robert, one camper, is getting better and will be able to return to camp tomorrow. GOD IS AWESOME!!! Please pray for them that they continue to heal. Then tonight the most amazing thing happened, a camper came to me crying that she didn't know if she was clean enough to go to heaven. I got to share with her that we all are not clean enough to go to heaven but Jesus came here to take away that sin so we can go to heaven. That if she feels scared or does not know what to say to a friend that doesn't know our God or believe in our God, he will be there to help her and hold her hand. That is the only reason I am here on this world. It is the only reason I come here! Written by: Lisa

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Saturday, July 28th

It started out with my favorite Bible verse saying from Isaiah 41:13, "I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand, and say to you, 'Don't be afraid; I will help you.'" As I write this we are praying for the help of one student and a counselor, who are under the weather. We are asking God healing hands to get them through in their time of need. What a warm day here today. It got up to 90 degrees today. Pretty hot for this area in the mountains. We had many things to keep the campers cooled down. We had swimming, a water balloon fight, and many buckets of water being tossed around. There weren't too many dry people in camp today. Many counselor and teacher were thrown into the pool. We went through all 675 water balloons that Lisa brought to Poland. Today we have practiced the drama,the Bible in 5 minutes or less, and our songs for church. Hopefully everything will turn out good. As we always said at our school a rough practice before the performance always makes for a good show. So hopefully that will work out in our favor tomorrow. The campers had fun learning about our clothes names and we made airplanes in crafts. Written by: lisa

Friday, July 27, 2012

Friday, July 27

Happy Birthday to one of the Polish Counselors, Ewelina! (This blog post brought to you by Victoria Zidek :p) Today was another beautiful day in Poland as the MOST team taught the classes either about food or the body. Of course we started the day off with a wonderful devotion from Lisa which talked about how even when we are tired, God is always there to help and guide us. After that, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with the children and Polish counselors. We went to chapel, sang songs and heard a message about Baal and how Elijah was able to show his faith in God. Within break time many played outside or prepared lesson plans. Within each class, there were many activities such as the hokey pokey, duck duck goose or labeling body parts on the teachers! The children had a GREAT time going outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather. After we ate pickle soup and spaghetti ( many tables had seconds or thirds of the spaghetti!!). With another lot of free time, many of the children went outside to play or just chilled out. During the workshop times the children made friendship bracelets, sang songs and played volleyball. For dinner we ate dumplings with pork inside and bread. The night activity, to celebrate the Olympics, was our own version of Olympics with the kids playing games such as: Boot toss, relay, basketball, soccer, rock run and football toss. Resulting from good behavior, the children are now allowed to stay up until ten when many games and more good times will be had. It is hard to believe that camp is already half way over. The children, home made food and counselors are really making this trip the best it could ever be. Though some within the team may miss home, we will all definitely miss this wonderful place and the people. God is wonderful in all He does and the opportunities He has given us here will always remain with us :) GO TEAM U.S.A!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Thursday, July 26th

Good evening! Rather, good afternoon to those of you in America! What a day we've had! It's been threatening rain the last two days but then the clouds go back into their hiding places and the sun comes out. Our verse in chapel this morning was "Blessed are those who endure when they are tested." (James 1:12a) Now I'm not sure how much we're being tested, this is way too much fun! But we are enduring 61 children with more energy and enthusiasm and stamina and smooth skin (ha!). I wish you could hear the music that floats out the church windows, the screams as they play games with the teachers and counselors, or their mouths as they pronounce the 'th' sound in words. I wish you could see them as they do actions with the songs, struggle to write words or paragraphs in the English language, play 'Capture the Turtle,' display acts of kindness to one another and to the adults, or chow down at mealtime. Supper today seemed to be the children's favorite: pancakes. They were the best pancakes I've ever tasted! Good night to all of you. We can feel your prayers as God keeps providing us with all we need to tell His story in Poland. Written by Jean Riley-Schultz

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Wednesday, July 25th

Today was an awesome day...it was overcast this morning, sprinkled some and cloudy. But then God blessed us with sunshine for the afternoon and evening. The children are very motivated in learning their lessons and it is great to watch and hear them saying English words and phrases. They are learning new songs in Music and practicing for the Drama that will be done later in the camp. Many of the team members are bonding with the campers and the campers are getting to know the teachers more each day. The team is working together and helping each other with class projects and sharing ideas. It is called "flexibility" as each day you have to be ready and able to do things that were not in the "plan". The sports is going very well, Pastor James is keeping them busy with a variety of different active games. His helpers, Gerry(Gery) and Vicki are great in being able to keep up with the campers. Each afternoon they do 3 hrs of "sports" and then in the evening it is another hour. I am not sure who is more tired at the end of the day,,the children or the team.'' Arts and crafts are going well, today we did tie dye t-shirts and it will be interesting to see all the different patterns/colors at the end of the week when they are all done. We'll send pictures when they are all hanging on the lines. Keep the team in your prayers as we continue to share God's Word and love and for the children as they continue to learn English. Submitted by Roxann Leidel, Team Leader

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

First Day of Teaching July 24

I am not a teacher strategies are not professional, but they produce results. The children were a little shy until the first one responded and received a small piece of candy; then the answers came flying! The candy stopped but the answers are still coming. The children (kids are what my class said they were) know many words and are trying, shyly, to use them. We have has a wonderful sunny day with children chattering and playing with lots of joy and happiness! WHAT A BLESSING!!! Written by Judy

Monday, July 23, 2012

Monday, July 23rd The Children Arrive

The day started out with devotions by Lisa. She did them one that God Cares for each and every one of us. She gave us turtles with "God Cares" and a pouch to put our students names to pray for them and their families. We had a meeting with the Polish counselors and found out who are helpers are and where we would hold our classes. Then the campers started to arrive and we played Frisbee and Volleyball with them. For lunch we had mushroom soup, green beans, potatoes, and fried eggs. After lunch we got ready to evaluate the campers and did the evaluations. This is always stressful for the campers. We even had a couple of tears shed during the process. We got to meet our students after dinner. That was great! We set up our classrooms, had closing devotions and then played our favorite card game and finished our blog!! God really does care for us!! Blessings to all of you at home reading this!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Today started off with a church service lead by a guest pastor as Peter's Dad was on vacation. The service was about making your church be a priority and enhancing your Christian life with Jesus and the Bible. After our team meetings, we got to enjoy the company of our Polish counselors who were now coming to camp. We had a wonderful lunch of soup, chicken, potatoes, and a cabbage salad. After getting introduced to all the Polish counselors, we started to set up the church and rooms for camp! We moved furniture, got the craft stuff out, blew up balls for the sport games in the afternoon and then taped the squares for 4 square. After all the set up was done we got to enjoy a game of Frisbee throwing, playing cards (Prawlo Jungli), talking with everyone, and trash can tag! This is the first time I remember ever spending this much time and fun so early in the camp with the Polish Counselors and American Counselors. Then we all enjoyed the Sunset!!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

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Victoria and I are here in Krakow

Well two of the team made it safely to Krakow. We have about an hour and a half wait to see if the rest of our team makes it. We do know that the Nebraska crew was delayed leaving there and they had a tight flight schedule. So we have to wait. We are enjoying a fruit tort at the airport and looking on the internet while we wait.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Today we all leave

Today we will all leave for Poland. Please pray for safe travel for my team and myself. Also pray for our families we leave behind that they will be safe and healthy too. Have a wonderful Friday and God bless!!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Poland Mission Trip

As I sit at the computer, I am thanking God for giving me the ability and means to go back to Poland. He has seen fit to grant me the strength to work three jobs this year and so I can afford to go back to Poland. I love children over there and sharing God's wonderful message of salvation and grace to all of them. I am grateful for the return of Pastor James and his daughter Chelsea to be able to travel again with me. We have 12 others that will be making their first trip to Poland with us. Roxanne our leader is a returnee and seems very nice!! I look forward to meeting my other teams mates along the way. Please pray for us as we travel to Poland and for our preparations as we get ready to go to Poland. (LSS)

New Orleans

couple more pictures. Some wouldn't load :(

Breakfast at Brennan's

Here's the most expensive breakfast I will ever eat!! Lori's friend recommended it to us! I ate the cheapest!
Here's our Air Boat ride. I loved the ride. I didn't like the gator wrestling. Lori was taking the pictures and I was praying that the guy didn't get hurt!!!

Pictures from Bourbon Street in New Orleans

Here are some of the pictures from New Orleans walking around.