Krakow! From the voice and heart of Tori Senica

I am at a loss for words. So much has happened these last 2 weeks it’ss hard to find the words to describe my feelings in a brief blog update. Saying good bye to people always breaks my heart. When leaving for Poland on the 6^th , I cried. (I cry a lot). I was sad to say goodbye to my family and friends. I was super excited about coming to Poland the months leading up to it but, when the time came, I panicked. Once we pulled out of Timberwood, the homesickness kicked in. I really struggled for the first few days, especially at night. The enemy was flooding my head with lies about how I wasn’t needed in Poland and that I shouldn’t have ever left Nisswa. A few days after camp began, I was able to see that these were lies because of evident work that the spirit was doing in us and through us.

             As the week went on, more and more bonds were being made and the Holy Spirit was moving through the hearts of the campers. Being that yesterday was our last day with these campers, my heart was shattered. Lots and lots of hugs and tears. I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that we would be staying at the homes of the incredible Polish youth that evening.  It made me feel much better. Us students all had a bonfire where we ate lots of sweets, roasted some sausages, and shared lots of laughs. As our very enjoyable night came to a close, we had to say goodbye to our dear Hungarian friend Gina. We took her to the train station and sent her back home. Although it was very painful to say goodbye to another exchange student from my small group, my heart was full because I know that the Holy Spirit is so ready to use her beaming smile and amazing heart to shine his light in Hungary.  

            We said more goodbyes at Church this morning to the campers who came and to the amazing people in the community of Skoczow. We had some lunch, packed our bags, and headed to Krakow.  The 17 of us arrived in Krakow and went to the square to have some dinner.  Yes, I said 17. Domi, Ania and 3 of the Polish youth group members came with us! This was exciting news to us all. After we ate, we all went back to the square admiring the beauty of this city. It was surreal. It felt as if we were in a movie. Beautiful buildings lit up, people everywhere dancing and singing to music.  We were all caught up looking at the beautiful scene in front of us, when a storm rolled in. We all ran as fast as we could back to the hotel, laughing the entire way. We arrived at the hotel looking like we had just stepped out of the shower. We were drenched. The people in the lobby just stared. It was awesome. We all hung out for a few hours longer. We played games, shared stories, and laughed a lot.  We are looking forward to spending our last day in Poland together and in this beautiful city.