Global Outreach Website

Aug 12

I hate it that we didn't get a chance to blog while we were in Poland.  It was a wonderful trip and we had lots to share with all of you.  Let me share just a little bit about what we did while were there.

We worked in the city of Lodz.  It is the second largest city it Poland and it is very old and poor.  The residents are mainly blue collar workers when they can find work.  Our partner in Poland, Luke Bajenski, orchestrated all the work that we would do in and around the city while we were there.  There were over 100 volunteers from all over Europe and the US that worked at 23 different work sites.  We worked in orphanges, nursing homes, women's shelters, individual apartments and help an outreach event for the week for the children of Lodz. 

Our team of 8 was split up so we only knew one other person on our work team but it was great to connect with so many others in the larger group.  The teams we were split into worked in orphanges, apartments and nursing homes.  We sanded, painted, cleaned and generally made living conditions better for those that used those facilities.

I noticed that at the beginning of the week the Polish people were a bit stand-offish and skepticle of what we were doing and why we were there.  But...by mid-week we received smiles and welcomes and "dzien dobray!" (Good day!).  Polish thank-yous were also heard from those we were able to help.  The great thing about what we were able to do was that the Polish people saw someone besides the state or the Catholic church working to help them.  They consider the Evangelical church to be a cult and so seeing the love of Jesus poured out to them in a tangible way went a long way to dispelling that notion. 

By the end of the week we were the good kind of tired from working hard all day and meeting in the evenings at a local church for praise and worship and a sermon from several of the volunteers.

We also had the opportunity to visit the city of Krakow one day and to go to Auschwitz.  While it was a solemn place and very difficult to see the work and death camps it taught us a lot of the suffering the Polish people have endured and how very fortunate we are as Americans.  The Polish people are proud, and rightly so, of their heritage.  They suffered first under German tyranny then under the Communist regime but they are strong people.  When you take time to talk with them and listen to them you find that they are warm and gracious people.  We are much the same.  We love our families and friends and we need Christ in our hearts and lives.

It was wonderful to be part of this Compassion in Action trip, or as Luke's group calls it "Hope in Action".  It was good to see at the end of the week that we were able to bring hope to those who so desperately need it.  It was even better to share with them that the real hope is Jesus!

Thank you for supporting us financially so that we were able to go and work, but even more for your prayers while we were there.