Wheatland Salem Church and Video Link

We met at Wheatland Salem Church today for the 11:00 service. Piotr and his daughter were in from Poland. The American team: Pam, Josh, Randy, Cathie, Emma and I were able to make it. Diane was in California looking at colleges for her son. Emma was so cute. She handed everyone a black-eyed susan. It was almost like it was a sign from God that we were together again. One branch with many leaves (or flowers!!). We are all God's family.

My daughter, Callie, put together a short video of some of the highlights of our experiences with the children at our Christian English camp. She put many hours of time into the 4 minutes that was the final cut. There were so many pictures, videos and memories...it was hard to choose as the camp held different experiences for each person.

Here is a link if you would like to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSxAijM1Ugw

She reads the blog...so please comment if you like it!!

Even after a month ,the mission trip still feels so fresh. I feel so connected to both the American and Poland teams. (Modern day e-mail and facebook really helps.)

The trip made me realize we are all one church under one God. It doesn't matter what building we worship in or what language we speak. We are all God's children. Hopefully, I have made an impact on at least one child in the camp. Maybe it would be something I said or did that will make them stop and think.

It is my hope that next year I will be able to be part of this wonderful team again.
God will provide. I just hope it will help me make it to the other side of the ocean!

My hope for all of you who have followed our blog that you were able to follow our day to day activities with us. I know you have all supported us with your prayers throughout. Maybe we have touched your life somehow. Maybe you would like to join the team next year. If you would like more information on how you can do just that please don't hesitate to contact us. We would be more than happy to talk to you.

Prayerfully yours,

Judy

New Pictures

Check the main site.
We added some new pictures.

Was This Just A Dream?

We have not written for awhile…getting everyone home took top priority.

The last day began with classes for every level. Our level played Jeopardy, which was a big hit. It was a fun review for the children. After snack, all the campers gathered for class presentations in the dining hall.

Level One read the story of The Lion and the Mouse. They had beautiful illustrations most likely made by talented Maryisa.

Level Two read the story of Noah’s Ark, complete with American Sign Language.

Level Three presented an entertaining video they made broadcasting camp news later in the evening.

The children were surprised to find out they could have free time for the second learning session so the American team could furiously pack many suitcases and bags with all our classroom supplies. One very special camper, Emelia, graciously helped us.

Our tie-dyed pillowcases were rinsed and hung this sunny morning. What a colorful sight they made hanging on the improvised line, strung by Josh. Thanks to all who donated the pillowcases. The children were very excited with their creations.

Diane, Pam, Josh, and Judy rewarded themselves on the first sunny afternoon without rain with a ski lift ride to the top of one of the ski resorts for a delightful view of the charming villages nearby. When we were surprised by a light rain on the way down the lift it didn’t bother us at all.

Evening arrived all too soon. Piot, said he did not recognize the children so he went around the circle and asked who they were. It was a costume party! Some of the favorites were; The Babuska Grandma’s, James Bond, Roaring Twenties Twins, Little Red Riding Hood, with her grandma and the wolf, mime, with our master of ceremonies Lukasz took center stage with his rendition of a babka from another country. He was most entertaining!

Randy led our worship playing the guitar and singing. The children readily joined in. They then praised God joyously again with their favorite song/videos. A video photo collage presentation by Lukasz led to laughter and tears as we prepared to say our good-bye’s. The boys and girls had a chance to dance and sign books, shirts, pillowcases, with signatures of their new friends.

The next morning many of the children stumbled out of bed at 6:30 a.m. to send off part of the American team. There were hugs and tears as the van left with the children running down the dirt road after them.

Pam, Josh, and Randy left for Germany. They had a five hour layover so they took a bus to the city of Frankfurt. It was much easier than they anticipated. They were able to eat lunch and take in a little sight-seeing. It was much better than sitting in the airport. Cathie and Emma took a flight to London to visit some relatives and friends before making their final trip back to Chicago.

Diane and I were taken to Krakow for a few more days so we can officially become tourists. More importantly, I wanted to visit the town of my grandfather’s birth just two hours away. Lukasz, Piot’s son was hired to translate for us. Edward, a member of Piot’s church drove Diane and me east to the Wies (village) of Gebiczyna. The very narrow and winding roads were beautiful. Edward and Lukasz were as excited as I. They were pretending they were on a scavenger hunt. To our amazement, the village only had one “store” about the size of small bait shop, and one church. Diane and I both were in awe of the scenery. Our car climbed into a hilly, pine forested area and emerged onto rolling farm lands overlooking pastures and crops. We kept traveling down the dirt roads and asked someone at the first house we saw if they knew of any one with the surname of Podraza. Yes! They did and it was only the next house away. We walked down the street and over a hill and knocked on the door. An old lady answered, our interpreter Lukasz, talked the fastest Polish I have ever heard. The lady, Danuta, smiled and told him I would be her cousin!! We took her back into the car to the first people and found out they were also my cousins. I couldn’t believe my feet touched the ground where not only my grandfather walked but also my ancestors.

My grandfather, Jakub Podraza lived in a log cabin on the very soil I was walking on…how cool is that?? We were invited in for tea and wafers. The air was filled with excitement as everyone tried talking at once. I now have living, breathing family I will keep in contact with in Poland!

The team has really been blessed to experience this trip. God has truly been part of our mission teaching children the English language so they will have better opportunities in our ever changing world. Piot has been an amazing pastor not only to us but to the children.

Thank you for all your prayers and donations to this wonderful cause. We hope you have been able to see Poland through our eyes and experience the wonders of God’s beautiful world.

Dzjenkuje!

Judy and Diane

God's Whisper

Thursday, July 7, 2011

                My name is Mary. I am one of the Polish leaders supervising the camp (probably one of the youngest ;). I must admit this is my first time, but I also have to agree that I really enjoy it. I love teaching. I think children have a great potential, and they haven’t disappointed me this time. I am of the opinion that if we approach them skilfully they may achieve so much that they will be surprised themselvesJ.

                When I look at them, something from the past comes to my mind. A few years ago a young girl came on the stage. Confused, stressed… but happy… . She was supposed to sing a song selected by herself. The title she chosen was “Dreams (do) Come True”. The message of the song was so powerful for her, she felt she can change others’ attitudes by making them familiar with it. She wasn’t the greatest singer in the contest. She did not win any prize,  but after the performance she kept smiling to herself remembering the verses of the song and believing they are true -so deeply. She did not have an outstanding choreography. Filled with self-consciousness she barely could stand on her feet (making mechanical steps from one side to the other) like a pendulum.

              The message conveyed to audience was her prize. The hope that maybe at least one person in the whole room will stop and think for a little longer about his or her dreams and the way to make them come true. She was aware of the fact that not all of them can become reality, but she enjoyed thinking about them anyway (and then….).

                It happened that the young girl was called Mary. And… yes, that was meJ.  Now I am at Christian Language Camp, here, in Białka Tatrzańska (and suddenly) where some of my dreams came true….those which I thought about singing that song years back. I got to know wonderful, faithful /trustworthy people, always eager to help and smiling even when the rain annoys everybody and when tiredness, flu and cold overwhelmed us.  I found unforgettable friends here. I must say the day after tomorrow is going to be not necessarily wet because of rain but because of tears…

                Another dream that came true is the fact that I could communicate in language I am so passionate about. What is more, I could develop my teaching skills through (thanks to) the cooperation with Pam. I feel we taught each other many things, from attitude to techniques used during lessons. But most importantly, we have built a bound with the students we have been teaching. Even though these were only 2 weeks,  I bet not only me but also Pam will miss the kids.

                Another dream was the ability to have  a closer relationship with God. To let Him speak through various things and people.  I don’t know why I lost my dialogue with God. I think before this camp my prayer was mostly monologue. Now I have been listening and waiting for an answer whether it be through other people or signs.  Now after experience a real friendship with God and others, after seeing God in each pair of the eyes of the leaders on our team, I realized He is there all the time with us. He is speaking and acting through us…Let us give Him the opportunity to use our eyes, our mouth, hands and hearts to make the world better. To make others believe that what happens around us is meaningful.

                Now I have the feeling that God waves to us and whispers to us all the time. With every rain drop coming down from the sky. He looks at us with the sunshine. He touches us with the mild wind. He talks to us whenever we stop for a while and find quiet in our heart  in order to listen to our inner voice. Let’s enjoy the beauty he created and let’s help Him develop the greatness of it not only in our lives but also in the lives of others.

                Today’s day was wonderful. It was the sunniest day of the camp. The moment I opened my eyes I screamed with joy  seeing the sunshine filling my room.  “God bless the sun.” Thank you for listening to our prayers about the weather. It gave us an opportunity to conduct our lesson in a bit different way than usually—outside at the river—close to nature and to God. The kids really enjoyed that lesson. They also enjoyed the evening a lot. Today we organized a Mini Playback Show. The children were presenting mainly dancing. They were dressed up and they really did their best. It was a wonderful day. Thank you Lord for this day. Thank you once again for the friendships, experiences and adventures the camp provided me with. Thank you for the great power and enthusiasm in the hearts of our American guests who made it possible to make our dreams come true and to give students an opportunity to take part in one of the greatest camps In Poland or even Europe or the whole world.

Witam wszystkich (blogowiczówJ)!

July 6 by Randy

Only a few days left.

Would you believe it has rains EVERY day we've been here? Thus, many of the activities I was looking forward to didn't happen. Instead we were couped up in the "house" all day. But this has not een a necessarily bad thing as we've been happy to get to know one another better.

We were able to do the kite making tonight, which seems to be a success - though with the wet conditions and lack of wind- was an untried experiment in practicality. They can take them home to try them if the weather doesn't improve.

Also, the halls of the lower level reverberated with the sounds of mallet striking tools as the kids their leather crafts.

On a lighthearted note, upon arrival, we'd heard the camp dog's name was "Chopek". Conveniently, after about 10 days we were informed by our hosts that we'd been pronouncing the name wrong. His name should be said, "ChAHpek". Nice to know that we'd been hollering his name throught the streets of town incorrectly the whole time...especially when you consider that the incorrect pronunciation was the name of a butt medicine. Those crazy Americans.


Hard to believe two weeks are almost gone.....

Polska Perspektywa

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Czesc!

As somebody has already mentioned, I was supposed to post my thoughts on this fine blog to give you a glimpse of how the Polish team sees things and how important the presence of the American team is to us.

The last few days have been pretty tough for everybody here. A couple of us have felt sick after our excursion to the swimming pool and at some point I personally felt like running out of gas, as the weather stayed merciless and kids kept being restless. Still, one of the first things I got once I realised my sickness meant missing some of the activities, was a deep feeling of disappointment and eagerness to leave the bed. It made me realise that every minute with these wonderful kids and leaders is dear to my heart.

In the face of the indisposition of some of us, the Americans were ready to jump right in and help us in spite of the fact that they still had to prepare their own classes. By the way, I suspect Pam, Diane and Judy of being cyborgs, since they used to be still up everytime I was going to bed in the middle of the night. The amount of heart everybody puts to this camp is remarkable, which brings us to the very crucial question that Pam and me kept asking ourselves as veterans at the camp (it's my eleventh time already!).

What keeps us coming back each year? God, people and the unique atmosphere were the answers we both agreed upon. As a young kid, I always appreciated that one factor that made the camps organised by Peter stand out among hundreds of camps organised in Poland, namely the feeling of being important and genuinely cared for. Today Peter gave us all a beautiful example of dedication and sincerity. Being locked inside a building (the rain is relentless!) serves as a great opportunity to observe the kids both in they relations to us and to each other. It was only today that some of us realised, independently of each other, how important the kids were to us and how much concerned we were about what influenced their minds and spirits, as we discovered many of them listened to foul music and behaved in a very improper way when they thought we weren't keeping tabs on them. In reponse to that, Peter preached to them during our daily worship, but instead of accusing them of doing wrong, he stressed the importance of the fates of each and one of them to us (it would be to hard for me to repeat all of his words, especially since I believe they were truly inspired by the worship songs we had sang). Anyway, what is of utmost importance is the way his speech affected the kids. Some of them seemed moved, some seemed to be happy that they are actually being cared for, and I can only guess that some of them felt remorseful, but not guilty. I think this is the thing that made me stick to these camsp as a kid and then decide to come back here and strive to become a true leader for t kids - each time you care for somebody and voluntarily do something for them, there's a huge chance that they will do the same for somebody else. I believe that people who have been leading these camps throughout the years (both from Poland and the US), have showed me some of the best examples of how to live my life "for the joy of the Lord". May it stay that way.

All in all, the whole Polish team wants to thank our American friends for all prayers and material support. It's priceless. Keep praying for the weather to get better, because we would all love to use the two remaining days to the maximum!

Dziekujemy, and may God bless you all.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

To Be Blessed

The Poland and American teams meet each morning for reflection and prayer let by Piotr, our camp director, and pastor of his own church in Krakow. He prayed from his heart and asked us to take today and bless someone and to do something nice for that person.

Since it was our first day back to English lessons, we surely were going to need as many blessings as we could get! The children rose to the occasion and were very good...maybe the children were just tired.

Ms. Diane was a guest speaker and went to the Level III classroom all dressed as nature guide. She taught about tracking forest animals by the way they hop, leap, waddle or walk. Did you know, Poland does not have chipmunks? Or as least the children don't think so.

Ms. Pam's class played a competitive game of Jeopardy, which reviewed all the topics we have covered so far. The children brought sunshine inside with posters of the sun and listed things that make them happy.

Ms. Judy held down the fort in the Lever II room while Ms. Diane was upstairs and taught the Our Father prayer in sign language. She also had the children draw a sun and list things that made them happy and played some games. The children played restaurant and used their English skills as they pretended to be waiters and customers. It was very comical!!

We kicked off Carnival Night with a video that Randy and Cathie selected. It was about the American nation and words of wisdom from leaders throughout history. The children went to booths to enjoy face and hand painting, bozo shoes, crush-a-cup, photo booth, cookie eating contest, craft table and finger crochet bracelets. The children enjoyed winning prizes and having fun with their friends.

We are truly blessed not only by Piotr but by everyone here.

We thank God for all He has done for us.

Pam, Judy and Diane