Day 5 and Family Night

Today was a long day but rewarding in many different ways. Today's Bible theme was about salvation. Many kids and teenage helpers have been asking many questions about God and salvation. We presented a Polish Bible (Old and New Testament) to a teen helper that did not have a full Bible and is continueing to grow closer to God.

Today in crafts was very fun for the kids and the leaders. We bagged up all of the crafts that the kids made throughout the week, added candy and gave them to the kids during family night.

In English we learned about colors. All the kids had fun learning the colors in English and playing a game with the famous colorful parachute.

Recreation got to play a couple new games and one that everyone played earlier in the week and loved. We did paly inside the gym today because earlier this morning we recieved a good amount of rain that made the grass very wet, but also cooled the air nicely.

Family night was very enjoyable with about 20-25 parents coming to see what their children have learned and watch them sing songs. We presented flowers, many left over supplies (construction paper, scissors, tape, etc.), and many sports balls to the director (pricipal) of the school that we used. We also gave out gift bags with candy to the teenage helpers. All had a great time.

For those keeping up with the Kielbasa count, today was a bad day with Chad not feeling well (having a headache all day) and not able to eat anything. Maybe tomorrow the count will explode with it being the last day to consume authentic Polish Kielbasa.

Day 4, English Course '09

Today was another great day. The temperature rose into the 90's, so it was a great day for water games in recreation.

It's 1am here and my brain is struggling just a bit.
Crafts went well and English class is always a hit as Jenny lays it all out everytime and does a great job teaching and entertaining the kids.

Bible continues to be a place where questions are being asked by the kids as well as the Polish helpers.

11 kielbasa's down in 7 days, 1 angry non-english speaking waitress and 11 team members (in disbelief) being outeaten by 1. Chad orders kielbasa for dinner and dessert. He has contacted researchers at NASA about a kielbasa injection that can go straight to the bloodstream.


Here are some random photos from the day....enjoy!

Day 3, God is True.

Today was another great day of camp. We had nearly the same numbers as yesterday. As you can see, kids really enjoy the music time in the mornings.



In recreation, Gil and Chad led the kids through games using the parachute.

In crafts, Cindy, Kristin, Freida, and Elliot made keychains and a good time was had by all.


In Bible, Leigh and Sarah taught that God is true. The older kids are asking a lot of good questions as they continue to learn more. Please pray for their continued interest and that Sarah and Leigh will have the right words to say.


In English class.........poor Ethan. He learned today what it feels, not to walk in Jenny's shoes, but in her shirt, skirt, sweater, princess shirt, belt, and more as the Polish kids practiced naming articles of clothing.

In snack today, I performed well.


Today was a two kielbasa day for our heavyweight champ. That puts the count up to 8 in 6 days. With proper training.....look out Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi.

English Course, Day 2. Who nose how today went?

Day 2 was great. Our numbers grew as did our strength and confidence. We had 40 children come to the school today. We had one Polish gentleman bring his daughter and say that he had heard some good things and wanted to come check it out. His first words, spoken in perfect English were, "Does anybody around here speak Polish?" Quite funny when you think about it.

Cindy, Elliot, Kristin, and Freida reported a great day in crafts. Children made picture frames and will receive a picture of themselves to put in it as a gift to take home later in the week.


Day 2's theme was God is Love.


The day went well and we hope to have even more kids tomorrow. Check out the Flickr account to see pictures of the camp.



This afternoon we toured the town square and the underground part of the city. These underground vaults were first built in the 1400's and have been updated in most parts since then. At one point on the tour, we were 10 meters (32 feet) under the town square.

For those on Kielbasa watch 2009, there is controversy as to whether or not to count the small sausages we are having at breakfast. If we count them as 3 smalls equal one full size sausage, the total could shoot upwards to epic proportions. We may have to call in P.E.T.A. At this rate, Chad may single handedly eliminate the swine flu by eliminating all the Kielbasa, thus all swine. (I know swine flu does not come from eating pork) :)
According to Chad's Kielbasa Klub of Polska daily e-mail, there is a rumor circulating that Krakow may have a 24 hour kielbasa stand. Official count as of 12:17am on Wednesday, 5 full days in Poland and 6 kielbasa's have been fatally wounded. More to come.

English Course, Day1

The day started with absolutely beautiful weather. We arrived at the school anxious to see what God has in store. Kids began to trickle in and by the time we were up and running, we had nearly 30 children and about a dozen Polish youth as helpers. Jenny, with Gil and 2 Polish youth on guitar, sang with Ania (pronounced like on-yuh). The kids sang and danced and had a great time. They were dismissed and began their rotations through Bible, English, crafts, recreation and snack. As you can see from the pictures on Flickr, a great time was had by all. We spent the evening at a local mall, taking in some food, shopping, and a trip to the grocery. Chad, once again, had Kiełbasa. For those of you keeping score, that's 4 days in Poland and 4 Kiełbasa's consumed.

Sunday services and English Course prep time.

This morning we awoke to cooler rooms, thanks to evening rain yesterday. There were even rumors of people using a blanket. We attended worship at the local Baptist church where we were warmly welcomed. Gil gave a short message over the fruits of the Spirit and Jenny sang a song. Video below.

After lunch at a local restaurant serving traditional Polish dishes, we head to the school to begin planning for the upcoming English Course. We are planning for 50 kids and praying for more. We have some Polish youth that will be helping us lead the children as well as translate.

We are gaining our momentum back after the long flight and heat. Please pray that we wake up refreshed and renewed.

Thanks for reading and pass it on that we have this blog.
Thanks.
gh

From Krakow to Rzeszow

Last night we spent the better part of the night sweating away in our beds to sound of Krakow night life.

This morning, Saturday morning, a few of us headed off to Auschwitz while the others stayed in Krakow and toured a museum and one of the cathedrals that has a famous alter made by Veit Stoss in the 1400's. I repeat, 1400's. At the museum, we saw pieces from Poalnd, Rome, Egypt and several other places. They had pieces from early A.D. and even a few from B.C. We also were fortunate to see an original painting by Da Vinci and Rembrandt.

After grabbing a traditional Polish lunch at McDonald's, we began the 3-4 hour ride to Rzeszow. This is the city where we will conduct the English Course. We arrived at the Hotel Iskra and met the American missionary that we will be assisting, Amber. There are currently 14 of us here since Tom and Beata Baker have joined the group.

Tomorrow morning we will attend worship at the small Baptist church where Gil will be giving a sermon. The church currently has 25 members, so our addition of 14 will do wonders, based on percent of increase.

A few personal notes........
Leigh can sleep in any temperature in a matter of about 3 minutes.
Sister Mary Jenny is excited about her new teaching job.
Freida and I spend most of our day trying to hear what the other said.

We have made it to bed, finally!!

We left Cynthiana at 7:30am on Thursday, drove to Lexington, flew to Chicago, flew to Frankfurt and then arrived in Krakow at 10:30 Friday morning, local time, which is 4:30 in the morning your time. We are just now going to bed for the first time since Wednesday night.

We had great flights full of great landings and God blessed us with good health and gave us travelling mercies. It is always amazing to look down from an airplane and see the beauty of His creation and His creativity. Flying over the Great Lakes, seeing Niagara Falls, the Atlantic Ocean was down there somewhere, not a good time to look, there's no turning back or a good landing choice at that point. Flying over Ireland as the sun rose was amazing. Seeing the farmland, the forrests, the mountains, the rivers and lakes, just spectacular.

Once we arrived in Krakow, we went to the castle to tour the armoury and was able to see various weapons and armoured suits and such from the 16-1700's. It was pretty cool.

It is now 10 o'clock Friday night and most everyone has crashed for the night. Nevertheless, Chad is on a seek and destroy mission for a Kiełbasa. (Correction, it is now 10:25 and Chad just returned, destroyed 2 Kiełbasa's and ice cream.)

Leslie, if you are reading this, tell Vernon to get that tail light fixed.
Jimmy, picture it. Krakow 2008, Chad has his personal space violated by some drunk guys and steams out of the restaurant. Nothing like that yet, though he said he saw a man and woman fighting and almost jumped in.

Remember to check the Flickr account with can be found by clicking the link on the right side of this page.

Pray for our continued safety and that we can get rested and regain our strength.

Have a blessed day.
GH

Independence Day 2009

With July 4th quickly approaching and end of this working vacation I am on ending soon, I thought I would post some information in the spirit of the holiday. As I sit here being a computer geek while my family is at the beach, I was thinking about July 4th and "Independence Day" and all the celebrations and parties that will be thrown. I am told that I will be part of one of these parties as soon as we get back from the beach.

What is independence day? Dictionary.com says that independence is the state or quality of being independent. So after learning nothing, I looked up the word independent as it states that being independent means that one is not subject to anyone else; free.

I know that we celebrate July 4th as the day we broke away from England, but are we truly free today? We are free from England, but to say that we are not subject to someone else is something that many people can't say. As Christians, we are free. We have been bought and paid for, and we are free. As we prepare to head to Poland, think about the gift of freedom that we have. We are going over to run an English Course, hug necks, make crafts, and do whatever, but are going with the sole purpose of telling these people about the freedom that we have and the freedom that is waiting for them? The single most important thing we will do in Poland, in Cynthiana, and in our life is to share this freedom. Poland is just becoming free politically, and praise God we can be a small part of the spiritual freedom that He freely offers.

Remember that freedom is not free. The price for freedom has always been blood. The blood of soldiers past and present give America her freedom. The blood of Jesus Christ gives us our freedom from the world. Let's live like we are free. Let's love like we are free. Love is a verb.