From the voice and heart of Katie Bitzer

I am not sure how to put into words the things we are experiencing here.  But here it goes….

The best way to describe today in one word is “goodbye”.  I said goodbye to Sisters in Christ whom I had an instant connection with because of our shared love of the Lord.  I said goodbye to a new friend (who was a stranger when we sat near one another in church only one week ago) that challenged my faith with the depth of her questions, the depth of her wrestling with God.  I said goodbye to people who challenged me by their humility, love for others, and willingness to serve this incredible God that created us to glorify Him.  We, as a team, said many goodbyes to campers that attended church today with us.  We also said goodbye to much of the Polish team that we have been serving along side.

The day began with worship, which never fails to be a highlight for me on a trip like this.  Worshiping God with songs that are being sung in two different languages tend to make my understanding of God stretch a little bit bigger as I realize I am part of a much-larger-than-Nisswa body of Christ.  Add to that the fresh perspective of the fact that I have a part to play in that body and it is easily becomes a humbling and uplifting experience at the same time. 

The church in Skoczow celebrated the fact that another successful English camp was complete.  We had the opportunity to do our camp dance, Abby and Domi shared about our incredible God and what he is doing here, we shared communion with them, and heard about Paul, Barnabas, Silas, John Mark, and Timothy.  We heard about the challenges and difficulties that they faced with steadfastness and how God brought people to His kingdom through them.  It was a timely message that was encouraging and motivating to not only finish out the last few days of our trip strong but to continue on in His strength after we return home to the place God has us MN. 

We walked from church and had pizza for lunch in a park near the hotel with the youth group members.  We then debriefed for the last time, talking about what worked and what didn’t during the 8 day camp.  This was followed by a little free time and then we were off to dinner in Cieszyn.  We enjoyed another meal together in a formal restaurant, followed by a wonderful walk to get mango ice cream. 

It is easy to fall in love with this place, the people and their culture, the old architecture and the town squares, the food and the constant trips for ice cream. It is hard to say goodbye.  Partially because the work is unfinished and I suppose will be until Christ calls us home.  Partially because we were transformed here, changed to be one step closer to Christ.  And partially because some of the friendships we formed will never be forgotten. 

Thank you for your prayers for us during our time in Poland.  God has provided in ways that are beyond our comprehension.  He has given us strength to be upright when we thought for sure exhaustion should be setting in.  He provided words when we were speaking His truth to our new friends.  He provided peace when we needed it the most.  He provided when we were hot or tired or hungry or sad.  This trip has not been without hang-ups, injury, or even disunity at times.  God has shown he is greater than all of it. 

As we finish out our last two days, I ask that you please continue to pray for the Love of Christ to shine through us, even through the difficult day of travel that is ahead of us, especially to one another.  I ask that you also pray that God continues to use the events of our time in Poland to transform us into closer and more effective disciples for His Glory when we get home.  That this is not a mountain top experience all on its own, but a springboard into a more faithful walk with our Savior. 

Hallelujah Hallelujah His love makes us sing

From the heart and voice of Carol Nagy

Today was our last day of camp, a day of many emotions.  We started off the day with a focus on finishing strong.  Many of you know -  that is a challenge with the schedule that we have.  Throw in some boisterous neighbors, and we have a tired crowd of leaders.  We have been blessed to have the Polish Team that is experienced and so devoted.  The camp dance and JUST DANCE!  was a big hit.  Funny how something so simple can make a group of people so happy.  It was the last day of English lessons, and it was so obvious that the students had soaked up much information.  The things that were difficult for them to conceptualize a week ago were easy, breezy sentences today.    The Polish students had a lot of fun trying to teach us a few things during their last lesson.  We had our last competition, and instead of colored teams, it was Poles versus Americans.  Yes, the Americans lost again.  Many of us were focused on trying to not slip and slide on the death trap soccer field, that’s our excuse and we are sticking with it.  At one point in time there were 5 people down on the field, Megan sustaining the worst injury.  After soccer we had our last group meeting and it was announced that the BLUE TEAM WON!   Our goodbye was the longest Minnesota goodbye ever.  The students were just wanting to hang out and be with us, collecting hugs, signatures, prizes, etc.  Ollie had the delight of exchanging e-mails with a young student- it was really cute.  We are still trying to comprehend the love and grace of God, yet not use a measuring stick.  We have been working and praying for God to open doors and give us tools for so long, and it is with mixed emotion that we can see where God is working.  We pray that God will continue to soften hearts.  There were many students that were obviously affected by the worship, the songs, the friendships, the Labyrinth and Gods mighty work in their heart.  We pray that we will see some of these students at church tomorrow.  We pray that these students will want to be involved in youth group, and that these young people will continue to move into leadership roles.  We acknowledge that this is a work that needs to continue to have momentum.  Tonight, The kids all went to stay in a host, Polish home tonight, and they are having a good time playing games and having a bonfire.  The leaders had the pleasure of eating out in a restaurant near the square- good food, great conversation, and again- a boisterous crowd nearby.  We look forward to church tomorrow.  It is a beautiful thing to worship in Polish and English, it gives you just a little glimpse of heaven.  God is good. 

Note from Abby ::

            Some of you have heard that Megan was brought to the hospital today as a result of the slippery soccer field and a hard fall to the hip. She is doing GREAT. She sustained a bad and painful sprain. We saw so many God moments in those 4 hours, including the fact that the sprain was the worst of it, that it is hard to share them all here- please praise God along side us for this! Megan was a trooper the whole way through. She is now resting soundly in bed. 

Camp Day 7- Megan Malecha!

Day seven of camp seemed to end before it even started.  As I sit here and think about what has happened so far this week, I don’t know where all the time went.  It’s hard for me to grasp that we have been in Skoczow for eight days already and only have two left.  I am so not ready to leave all of my new friends behind… Anyways back to today.  I have to say that today was another amazing day.  God has not, and will not, fail to provide for us on this trip.  He has been here every step of this journey, and He will continue to be with each and every one of us forever.

So what did our day look like?  As with every other day we’ve been here, we started off by eating breakfast as a team and then moving to a morning devotional led by Ollie.  He was reminding us that we can’t do this alone; that we need to rely on God to give us the strength we need to get through the day.   We then made our daily twenty-minute walk to the school where we started setting up our classrooms for English lessons.  Then it was time for our morning program where we danced to a Just Dance song, looked at a slideshow of pictures from the day before, and practiced the camp dance.  Then it was time for our first hour of English lessons.  Jim and I teach English together, and I am so thankful for that.  He is bold in his faith, and he is able to think on his feet.  Today we handed out our God First bracelets to our class.  They were so happy to receive one!  In between our two hours of lessons we had a break where we ate some cinnamon roles and talked with the campers.  Then it was time for lunch.  After lunch, we all gathered into one part of the school and headed out to the shopping mall in Skoczow.  We organized a flash mob where we were to dance to our camp song.  It was such a blast!  We then bought some “lody” (ice cream) from a shop nearby and ate it in the town square.  Then we headed back to the school for our workshop time.  Today’s workshops were: cartooning, origami, volleyball, and card making.  I participated in the cartooning workshop that was taught by Jim.  He did such a great job leading it despite having to talk over some of the campers.  After workshops we headed outside with our camp t-shirts on to take our camp photo!  We then played a game of tag.  It was a lot of fun even though it was difficult.  Then we headed inside for the evening program.  We started off with dancing to another Just Dance song, then moved to the camp dance, then to a game, and then to camp scores (GO BLUE TEAM!)  After all of this, Abby came up to give another one of her amazing messages.  Tonight she talked about how we need to be all in.  We can’t have one foot in the Upside Down kingdom, and one in the kingdom of this world.  It’s either all or nothing.  Ellie came up during Abby’s talk to tell us about how she is all in and how she knows she’s all in.  It was a very touching story to many of the campers as well as myself.  Then we moved into our last theme night: Chinese night.  It consisted of many games and dancing!  I have to say it was a lot of fun.

At the end of the night I was saying goodbye to one of the campers that I’ve really connected with this week despite the language barrier that is between us.  Her name is Aga and she is 14 years old.  She is very shy, but is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met.   Tonight she gave me a really big hug and told me that she had so much fun today.  She then looked into my eyes and said, “I really like you, Megan.”  It brought tears to my eyes and made my heart smile.  It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to her tomorrow…

That pretty much sums up day seven here in Skoczow.  Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers.  I just ask that you keep praying for us as we go into our last day of camp tomorrow, and that you can pray that the light God has brought into the lives of these campers will still be there long after we are gone. 

One last thing before I go.  Just in case you want to know what Americans do in their spare time, ask Ollie.  It is one hairy situation… Goodnight and God bless.

-Megan