Recent Posts by Jennifer

Jennifer Morrow
Wrapping up the week

Jul 25

Hello from Warsaw!

 

{Most of our team is currently on the flight back to Atlanta (via London), but I (Cameron) have stayed in Poland an extra day to connect with colleagues in my company\'s Warsaw office. Edelman is a big part of why I\'m here, so I\'m grateful for the opportunity to meet with people in the office.}

 

What a week we\'ve experienced! You\'ve seen Casey\'s update about the kids\' camp we facilitated during the week, and that was only a portion of what the team was able to do alongside the other volunteers (as he mentioned). Collectively, aside from the kids\' camp, we painted and repaired local rundown apartments, painted a mural on a city park wall, coordinated a concert/festival/kids\' activities in the park one night and more. Our team relished getting to know the other volunteers and staff at Realna Ackja - people from Ireland, England, France, Belarus, Germany, Poland, Australia, Canada, USA and more. The daily schedules were such that we had time to serve the community and share meals, worship together and play together. Volleyball was the most popular group activity - fun to play AND watch.

 

One of the many cool stories of the week came from the city park where some of our team was painting a big wall mural. A student from Germany named Caroline was visiting her mom in Ostroda for the week, and stopped by to inquire what we were doing. We explained the project to her and told her about the organization who led the service efforts. She asked to come back the next day to help us paint. She did return the next morning, while we were having difficulty with the stencils. Rather than feel our time was wasted while we waited for the issues to be resolved, we were able to talk with Caroline and help her practice her English; it was a blessing to see her interest and that our time was well-spent. She assisted with painting and seemed to really enjoy her time with our small group. We shared an official \"Realna Ackja\" shirt with her and snacks, which she also appreciated. God knows what He\'s doing! Even when our time could have been wasted, He used us to connect with Caroline and hopefully make an impact.

 

After our time at the camp in Ostroda, we took a train to Krakow, where we toured the city and visited the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. Of course, we were moved by what we saw and heard from our tour guide. He explained everything eloquently and answered all our questions with ease. We rode a train back to Warsaw on Saturday night, and spent Sunday exploring the city. We heard a Chopin concert at noon in a local park with hundreds of other attendees; we shopped for souvenirs and explored the Old Town area of Warsaw. The 5:00 service at International Christian Fellowship was a time of sweet worship and teaching, and Matt H. and Deborah shared stories with the congregation from our time in Ostroda. We had our last team dinner at a local Polish restaurant in Old Town with a few fellow Realna Ackja volunteers before heading back to the hotel to pack.

 

As you know, we are tremendously grateful for our support team of prayer warriors. Please keep praying for the people of Poland, particularly those we shared our lives with this week, as well as for the other volunteers and our team. We all need safe travels home and restoration to full health and rest. We\'ll get back to our daily lives, but truly we won\'t be the same after this trip. We\'re eager to share more stories (and photos!) with you when we return. If you want a glimpse of a few preliminary photos, search for the \"Realna Ackja\" group on Facebook - they\'ve posted some on the group page.

 

Thank you for reading this lengthy post!

 

-Cameron-

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