Saturday, Camp Day 1 from Mr Mac Nagy

            Cześć. Dzien dobry. Dziękuję. These are a few of the Polish phrases that have become commonplace throughout our team. Despite our minimal (at best) comprehension of the language, the Polish students with whom we began camp today have a much more expansive understanding of English than we do of Polish. Today, after the months of preparation, we began English camp. We walked our soon-to-be routine route from our hotel to the school to kick off the day. We continued with making banners and chants with our color teams that we will compete in throughout the course of the week. After the presentation of our chants, we preceded into English class. Despite the relative quietness that comes with the first class of the week, we had established a rather relaxed atmosphere by the end of the day as most of us played “Toothless Fruit” with our classes.

            After our classes, the camp dance was presented to the camp. This gave me an opportunity to show off my 45-year old dad dance moves. This combined with my lack of physical coordination probably provided quite the amusing sight for all present to see.

             After we all nailed down the dance, we entered the evening program, which we started off with a strange competition based off of a strange handshake that we learned in Poznan. We proceeded as Abby gave a message that ended on a cliffhanger on what happens in the events of Genesis 3. After this, the campers were divided up into their small groups (or “cell groups”) with which they would discuss the evening program while we prayed for the evening.

             After ending the day at camp, we all headed back to the church where we enjoyed very expansive servings of spaghetti. I doubt there was a person between our two teams who had an empty stomach tonight. We concluded our day by having our daily camp debrief at the church, which has always been one of my favorite parts of this trip. Copious amounts of Mint LifeSavers and Prince Polos were ceremoniously consumed during this meeting.

            Despite the extreme weariness that comes with the first day of camp, I think all of us are pleased with how it went. We are beginning a process that I hope and pray will be transformative for the young people here. There is a sense of optimism among our team that will certainly be justified within the next week of camp.

            I figure I should probably head off to bed soon, as the sun will likely wake me up the joyous hour of 3:30 A.M. tomorrow morning.

Peace and love.

God bless.