Blue Skies

WOW! What a week!

Last Thursday afternoon we went down to help the TAG team with the outside field renovations after Jordan opened the shop. That night we walked Old Town. It was a nice night to see the place.

Friday Russ began to feel much better : ) Jordan went down early to take care of some details for travel plans for the weekend, bus tickets. Then she opened the shop. That night was the concert at the school. We rode with Dawid and Simona. The concert was fabulous! TNU sang three songs and participated in the famous legend of Gdansk. Afterward TNU thanked all involved to make the week happen. Several students wanted to join us for dinner. We all went to Sphinx restaurant in Old Town. We got a big table together and shared food family style. It was great!

Saturday the TAG team arrived in Kowale around 9 am. They split up into teams: 1) painting the fence at the parish and 2) landscaping the back yard of the coffee shop. That morning we also had family hour at the shop. Four families came! Our biggest number yet. Igor and his family, Ola and his family, and two other children and their parents from the local preschool here in Kowale. We played duck-duck-goose, sang head-shoulders-knees-and-toes in English and Polish and then we made the climbing man. It was fabulous! The parents even got excited about the craft. We gathered their contact information to continue through the summer.

The team had lunch before noon and then headed out to join the community clean-up event. This is one of the first times that people in this community gathered to do something positive. TAG did a great job. The lady was so pleased for their help that she gave them certificates of appreciation. The team really helped to make a positive impact on the community.

That afternoon the team finished up their projects. At 6:30 we all joined at the local pizza place for dinner. It was so much fun to all be together and fellowship. They finished up everything after dinner and headed back home at 9 pm. The job they did looks incredible! Several people asked if we had professionals do the work : )

Sunday Adam offered to take the team on an outing to Gdynia and take them to see several important historical places so we got the day off. We slept in, got caught up on our lives, and even went on a date. It was nice to be together and do things we normally do.

That night the team arrived at the shop to have our type of service. We served everyone coffee and sweets. Dawid read form Romans 12 and everyone shared feedback from the week in how the Lord was working in their lives. Some of the kids are spot-on. Love is the answer! It's about being Jesus! Living in community! Oh, they really are starting to latch on; it's so exciting! We ended the evening in prayer and song. It was powerful to pray together. The team thanked Thea for all her hard work; it meant a great deal to her. We saw the team off to the bus and spent the entire night save 2 hours preparing for Monday.

Monday we woke early and were taken to the school by Dawid and Daniel. We got the team working on the sports fields by 8:30 am. Pan Radek, the sports director at the school, brought his classes to assist the entire day. We couldn't have done it without his help. It was so great to see this project becoming a truly joint project. As the team was coming to a time for break, several girls spoke up and asked to continue pushing through until they were completed. The rest of the team agreed. What amazing hearts! We went to get the team lunch while they worked and finished up. The fields look absolutely wonderful!

We rode home with Dawid and had our team meeting. It was nice to be just the Poland team. We really are family and this week was so busy. After a short rest we headed back into town to say farewell to the team here in Gdansk. Simona came and presented gifts to the students. Later that night there was a  discotec and we stayed for a few songs. Simona took us home. She felt their time was well spent; very pleased with the overall trip.

Tuesday we were up at 3:00 am to take a 4:30 am night bus to the train station with Dawid. We got a coffee at McDonalds while we waited for the team. The train for Krakow was on-time and we rode in a cabin with all the return students: Matt, Mark, Sarah, and Justin. It was nice to be able to talk with them; they are the closest to our age. The conversation was great; some deep and some quite humorous like bakers and ovens. : ) Anyway, when we arrived the team grabbed lunch in the Galeria and headed to the hostel. The tours were on-time. 11 went to Auschwitz and 4 to the Salt Mines. The Auschwitz tour was excellent and the Salt Mine tour was fun.

Wednesday we rose early and had breakfast. The communism tour began at 9 am. It took place in cars from the 80's which looked like cars built in the 50's only made out of plastic. The tour was a parody, the information being good, but also presented in a fun way. They dropped us off at the main square. We split up to do some shopping, lunch, etc., before the bike tour. Dawid and us found an excellent fun place to have the final team dinner celebration. The bike tour was by far the best tour of the two days. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable. We saw the main square, the first University (the 5th in the world), where Pope John Paul II stayed, Wawel castle and the dragons lair, the Kazimierz district (Jewish section and ghetto at the time of WWII), and Oscar Schindler's factory. This one place was the most heavily populated Jewish region in the world (70 million) before the time of WWII, even over Israel. Currently there are only 138 Jews living in Krakow today. This was particularly fascinating to us after our time in Israel.

We again had several hours of free time to finish up shopping. We walked with Matt and brother Mark in search of soccer jerseys. After several hours of search and a good cup of coffee to go, we found Mark's jersey on sale! Then Matt decided he liked a jacket he saw at one of the second stores we visited. So we went in search of this store and Matt found his prized jacket. Russ really liked it so he got one but in a different color. Then Mark decided he better have one too so each got the same jacket just in a different color. The three guys are growing close to each other and hopefully this relationship will continue to grow beyond this trip. Such wonderful servant hearts these young men have.

The restaurant was fabulous! Caesar and greek salad for appetizer. Grilled chicken, ribs, or steak for main course. And a variety of scrumptious desert. Every member shared one or two significant lessons they are taking away from the trip. We finally got to share our story of coming to Poland and what the Lord has been teaching us. The team thanked us personally for all our help and Dawid gave a speech to thank us as well, as our time is now coming to a close. After dinner we found an open store for people to get chocolate to take home. Most of us were up all night packing and talking and just being together. 

Thursday the van to the airport picked us up at the hostel at 4 am. Everyone was in good spirits and ready to return home. We had prayer at the airport and short goodbyes. The driver took us and Dawid back to the train station for us to leave at 6 am. The train ride was uneventful and much was spent in dozing sleep. Simona picked us up and took us home. She and Jordan went to pick up more mulch to finish the back landscaping and Jordan got supplies for taco making (thank you Momma Doris!). 

Friday we got up early and went to the local kindergarten to say our farewells. The kids made us special drawings and thank you cards. They are so precious. We took a nap and went to our team meeting. Dawid is ill, pray for him. Jordan took over his shift from 4-9 to help out. Today again we're covering the morning shift and returning at 6:30 to help with the concert tonight. We think we'll be running until we get on the plane, but we're feeling healthy. Pray that we stay that way.

We love you all very much and are looking forward to sharing our stories in person with you. Please keep checking the blog as our final entry will be later this week before we land in the United States.