Thursday and Friday Outreach

After our free day at Auschwitz and in Krakow, we continued our outreach on Thursday and Friday.  Anna, Emily and I (Meg) returned to the single mother's home to continue ministering to the women there.  On Thursday, we planned a "spa day" and craft that Emily found on Pinterest.  We washed the women's feet and did pedicures and Kimberly (from the California team) shared her testimony.  Emily showed the women how to make scarves from T-shirts and while waiting on the women to finish their pedicures, had a wonderful talk with Agata, a 17 year old Polish girl who helped with translation.  They talked about the differences between Agata's experience in the Catholic church and Emily's experience as a believer and her relationship with God.
 
Friday, we only had time in the morning, so after a short prayer walk around the property, we sat down with the women outside and shared the gospel with them.  Please be praying in particular for Sandra, a Roma (gypsy) women with a very difficult past.  She is very angry because of all the horrible things that have happened to her and is looking for someone to blame.  She was involved in church previously and thinks that God made all the bad things happen to her.  She was open to us praying for her so we had the opportunity to pray for her and all the women.  We said goodbye to the women and they thanked us for coming, spending time with them, and said they wished we could stay longer.
 
Friday afternoon we watched the After-Euro soccer tournament finals.  The Polish youth are very talented at soccer and were fun to watch.  After the finals, we went to a local Catholic church (St. Michael Parish) for a festival to conclude the week.  There were trampolines, inflatables (moon bounce), music and trophy presentations.  All of the soccer players, foster kids and single mothers were invited to attend.  There was a big turnout - probably 200 or more people came! The church invited the international guests for coffee, food and desserts.  It was a great way to end the week!

Single Women's shelter activities

Quickie post: good day at the safe house with gardening, mowing, playground maintenance, spa day and conversations

Visit to Auschwitz and Krakow

Today was our "off day" and we planned on taking a trip to Auschwitz and Krakow, however the day started off in a difficult way. Johanna woke up around 4 am with severe pain from kidney stones. Luckily she packed some prescription pain meds since she has had this before, however it was little help since she couldn't keep anything down. Kim selflessly decided to stay with her as Greg took them to the hospital while the rest of the team loaded up on the bus with the Swiss team to head to Auschwitz. We went through the initial concentration camp and saw various areas where prisoners were kept as well as documents and their material belongings. I'm sure there's a Wikipedia article that could better explain everything in the camp and what happened there but it was without a doubt very intense and emotional, however nothing compared to what we saw at the "expansion" camp known as Birkenau. It is less than a mile from the original Auschwitz camp, and much larger. During our tour there we came upon a Jewish woman who had survived the camp and returned to visit with her family. It was incredible to see her with all of her offspring and hear the story of how she was the only member of her family (Father, Mother and multiple brother and sisters) to survive the camp. She even had the tattoo the Nazis had given her to identify her. After leaving the camp we rode in the bus to Krakow and ate at a restaurant known for bringing basically a trough of meat and traditional Polish foods to be shared by 4 or more people at a time. Needless to say we were not able to finish and left with a good amount of food for later.
The latest we heard from Johanna is that she is feeling much better since getting pain medication at the hospital but the kidney stones have still not passed. Please keep her in your prayers as well as the rest of the team as we continue outreach tomorrow.

Second Outreach Day

Here's how our team has been broken down the past couple of days:
Soccer Tournament: Josh & Ben
Women's Home: Ana, Meg & Emily
Kids Club Improvements: A. J.
Practical Team (repairs and improvements at the women's home): Jason & Blake
Kids Ministries/Orphanage: David, Daniel, Kim, Johanna & Jeff

For the second day at the soccer tournament we had another five games. We had a lot more support at the field we were at since the other two were done. Ben and I were referees for a few games and afterwards played with some of the kids that stuck around. After that we went to the Kings Kids Club where A.J. had been working. They are cleaning and painting the new club.
We will be going to Krakow tomorrow and will also visit Auschwitz concentration camp. On thursday will be the semifinals of the soccer tournament with the finals on Friday. Continue to pray for strength, good rest, boldness with who we meet, and safety for our team. Thus far everyone has been good, we're just getting really worn out!

Getting Better

Yesterday I honestly I thought I would not make it. Today was much better after some decent sleep. The weather has been cooler and sunny. Not bad. What a great team we have! Everyone works hard and they are loving the time here. Thank you all who made it possible.

First day at the women's shelter

Today was our first day working with the 12 women at the women's safe house. Meg and I and the team went in with a grand plan that we felt very blessed to have come by with lots of prayer and planning. We determined a day by day schedule that would incorporate both an interactive event with the women plus our testimonies. However, as it goes with being flexible and trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide us, our plan did not play out at all - but in turn we had an even more intimate setting than we could have ever imagined. In turn for planting a garden and doing light landscaping, we were greeted with homemade soup and a very tiny room filled with lots of people. But conversation was deep and meaningful, and a few of the ladies were excited to receive prayer. Excited for tomorrow.

First day of children's camp!!

Today was the first day of our neighborhood children's camp. It was awesome!! We had about 25 kids. We sang songs, played games, threw frisbees and taught the children about Jesus' love through the story of the shepherd leaving the 99 sheep to find the one. We made lots of new friends, and look forward to seeing them again tomorrow. I also want to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and financial support. I appreciate you all so much.

God bless you guys,
Jeff