Interkosz Ends, Realna Akcja Begins.

What a beautiful day. This morning we got up early to wish the American group goodbye. This was such a great group, and so willing to contribute. They literally ran this camp all week. It was awesome to get to know them. They have such hearts for what they do. It was a great week.

I spent a lot of time with Maciek this week. I didn’t realize how much I am going to miss him until mid-week. His heart is SOOO big, and he encouraged me in more ways than he could understand this week. To see him pour his heart out to our small group of guys was just incredible. We spent the week discussing the gospel with 7 eighteen year old guys from Lithuania. They are unbelievable basketball players, and I think they are starting to understand who God is. It’s such a beautiful picture.

The week was really busy from all of the scheduling I had to do, but today was a great day to relax. We had the entire afternoon free, so I was able to catch up on our reading, work on the rock wall, watch a movie and Skype with a few people. I wished my parents a happy anniversary (28 years), I got to catch up with Paul Phillips and we got to talk with our Kenya team for a little while. They’re doing great, but struggling with the same life decisions we are. They are preparing for a medical initiatives conference this week, so please keep that in your prayers.

Tomorrow, after church, Erich and I leave for Sandomierz, Poland for a week long service project. We are going to blitz the city with different projects that need to be completed. Please be praying for our safety as we stay the night in this unfamiliar city, as well the conversations we will have with the locals. Pray that we are effective in out outreach.

Thanks again for following us. It means the world. I will try to update this week, but I may be hindered from doing so because I won’t be bringing my computer to Sandomierz. Have a great week, and we will update you by next Sunday!

-Dane

Narrowing Down the Days

It's hard to believe that our time here is almost over. This is something that I do not like to think about just because of the great relationships that have been built here as well as the love for the country. I keep thinking about how God has continually moved to get Dane and I here, and how Sovereign He is. Without any of our doings, we got here. And now that we are here, we are learning a lot, loving people and just having a great summer. Like any child when the summer ends and they are about to go back to school, we are feeling the same way.

I would say that for both of us, one of the things that we can take out of this experience is that we now have an idea of where we need to be going. The path we were going down before this trip has been completely changed and the new direction seems so much nicer and better and more fitting to who we are and how we operate. I know that this adventure will shape the rest of our future. How we do not know, but I think after a few weeks of being back home we will see some of the results of what has taken place.

This week has been a completely different week. Basketball all week. I haven't experienced this since I was little and going to Rick Pitino's Basketball camp. 5 different countries in one place to learn about basketball, play basketball and learn about Jesus. It doesn't get much better than this. I have been coaching a team and after 4 days of playing, I finally got a win last night. I have been instilling into my kids the importance of team work and passing and making smart decisions. That it is not about winning and losing but to work as a team and to be smart in the decisions that we take. I started thinking about this and how much this applies to our relationship with Christ and one another. It's amazing how we can learn a lot from basketball.

Well I am off to rehearse for this morning. Continue to pray that God will work through us Mi2'ers (Kenya and Poland)

Love you guys.
Erich

Busy As Always

It’s been a great (and yet still hectic) start to Interkosz, Proem’s International basketball camp. The kids have been enthusiastic so far. It’s so cool people from multiple different competing and laughing over the game of basketball. This week, we have kids here from all over Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the Ukraine. The weird part is, after weeks of kids camps, this week consists of all kinds of guys over 6’2”. It’s pretty intimidating.

As well as camp starting this week, we got to go with Southeast’s short-term group to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Kraków. What a humbling experience. Words cannot express the feelings I felt being there. At one point, we stood in a gas room that was used to kill thousands of innocent lives. You could still smell the scents of the suffering that took place.

Overall things are going really well. I’m constantly busy with various tasks, and unfortunately rarely find time to read The Call (which we started last week). I need to keep up with it, so pray that I find that quiet time during the day. Also, I’ve been placed in charge of scheduling games each day, which has taken another hour or so out each day. It’s exciting, and it’s a way I’ve actually been able to use the things I learned in school.

I hope all is well, wherever you are. Please keep these last few weeks of ours in you prayers. This weekend we are supposed to leave fro “Real Hope”, so please keep that inner-city mission project in your prayers as well.

Love you all!

Dane

Praising God Always

Psalm 150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

This verse has been in my head the past few days. Last night, it all came flooding down like a monsoon of emotion and glorification. Thursday morning Brian Sites led us in devotionals and mentioned Psalm 150. This is the last Psalm and all the other Psalms we read about times of pain, suffering, enduring, glory and remorse. And at the very end we read, Praise the Lord. Amidst all suffering, all remorse and pain we still praise the Lord. I had to start looking at this really hard earlier this week, when I found out I had pink eye. Never had it before, never really even wanted it. And I found myself wanting to be miserable and feel sorry for myself. But looking back, God's grace was upon me. It allowed me to get some rest and to just refocus my attention on God.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

But last night was a worship night that was so amazing. Hearts pouring forth songs of praise and adoration to our Creator. I just found myself so caught up in the moment that there was nothing I could do but pray. Pray for the hearts in that room that the praise they were singing was for God and not just a cool sounding song. And then at the end, God was glorified. The kids wanted an encore. And then another encore. It was so amazing. It was so glorifying.

I keep thinking about the word glory and glorification and praise. I think of us as creatures created to serve the purpose of glorifying God. But if God is glorious and is the definition of glory, then how can glory be given to the Gloriest of Glory? It has been on my heart recently, along with the idea of God being a jealous God. El Qatar. And yet these two concepts work together. God is jealous. What does he want from us. He wants us to glorify Him and praise Him. He wants what is rightly His. I know that there is more to God being jealous and wanting our praise and glory, but these are the concepts that are on my heart right now.

I look at all that has happened these past few months and I am in awe of who God is and what he is continuing to do. Please continue to pray that Dane and I can find comfort in knowing that God is in control and that we may not really know what our next step is after Mi2, but that God will reveal this in His right time. And pray that we, as a body in Poland and around the world, even back home, know what it means to really give glory and praise God.

Love you guys.
Erich

Life Has Been Great

In case you can’t tell from my 1 1/2 week absence from Blogging, life has been great. The last camp finished well, with 8 of my 12 kids coming forward to ask questions about God. This week has been relaxing, but continually busy.

Although I am only leading a guitar workshop and working in the snack shack this week, I have been busy with other things. Erich and I had to start reading the book the Call (Os Guinness) this week, so that had taken some time, and we have spent a lot of time with the Southeast group that is here right now. There are 6 people here from Southeast, and Christian Academy of Louisville sent a group of 4 girls and 1 adult. So we’ve enjoyed some new relationships that remind us of home.

Wow. We have 22 days until we leave. It feels like just the other day that we arrived. I don’t know where the time has gone, and I don’t know if I have much more clarity in regards to the future. Just confusion.

This week has served as a reminder of God’s love. I guess I had just grown numb to it. In Exodus 34, God calls himself Jealous. Like, he says it’s his name. He is Jealous for our affection. Not in a worldly view of jealousy, but in a way that resounds I care about you, and I understand that you will never find anyone like me. Therefore, I am Jealous, because I know what is best for you.

It’s crazy to begin to understand that. It changes my habits and the ways I interact with people.

Lastly, please be in prayer for the High Schoolers here this week. They are hearing the word preached in full, so please pray that they are receptive. Also, please pray for my direction. This has been a big worry on my heart the past week. I am praying for clarity.

Thanks again. Sorry for the absence, but know that I have been fulfilling the ministry in my time away!

-Dane

Also, Erich suffered from some sever pink eye earlier this week, and is almost finished healing. Please keep praying that he heals fully and that it doesn’t spread to anyone else.

I need to scream...

So this week has not been as great as the last one. Though the group is a totally different aspect compared to last week. My group, all together, would be great if I didn't have 2 kids in it. Right now I have 2 brothers who are driving me up the wall. They are loud and have no clue as to how to listen to a simple request such as be quiet. Everything is taken as a joke and makes it really hard to keep them under control.

I think tonight has been the catalyst of it. I came back to my room with a toilet that wouldn't flush with a surprise in it, a sink that was filled with water and was not draining, a kid who proceeded to use the toilet again, a kid who is kind of sick and they were trying to kill mosquitoes on the ceiling. Needless to say it was very frustrating.

But the Lord is good. I have so much to be thankful for right now. Thankful that God has chosen to put me here in this situation at this moment. Thankful that I am able to serve a loving God with a rejoicing heart. Thankful to be blessed with friends to surround me and help me whether it be language problems or just someone to talk to.

I am so amazed at the friends that I have made while here in Poland. It is one of those amazing things that continues to baffle me. The more and more I think and pray about it, the more I seem to find myself wanting to come back for a longer period of time. Even amongst all these times of frustrations and weird encounters, I love the land, the people and the work that is being done for God.

There are some amazing things that are continually happening. The dependence on God has been amazing and very surreal to me. Sometimes I thought that I depended on God but now I have seen it in a whole other level. Maybe there are different levels of dependency. But it is also amazing to see how God provides.

I am helping with the drama team and on Friday night we perform our play. I get to play an out of place American Broadcaster. I think it will be extremely fun and cannot wait to see how it goes. Pray that this week will be a blessing for the kids and that we can make an impact on some of them. Also pray for our friends here who are staying for 2 to 4 camps that they are energized and not let down by stresses that can occur from being a counselor. Love you guys!

Erich

So We Disappeared For A Few Days.

Sorry guys,  but our schedule got a little inconsistent the past few days, so I haven’t been able to update. The first week of camp ended, and I am actually really happy about that. Adam and I just had a very troublesome group, and it was quite a struggle. He said in all his time working at Zako, he has never had a group quite like that. Therefore, I was extremely excited to move on to the next week.

The last few days of Junior English camp, our kids started to come around and began to truly bond. They even won a competition to create a song and preform it in front of the rest of camp. They were TRULY awesome, and it was really cool to see them come together for that.

We went out to Górski last night to celebrate Erich’s 25th birthday. It was a good time to relax with Dawid Wojnar, Jake, and Adam Śmórek. We had a blast, and sang happy birthday to him today.

Also, today kids arrived for Junior Fishart camp. This camp is a mix of multiple different kinds of art, such as music, dance, video, photography and other art. I will be teaching the medium-level kids guitar. Our name is Green Day, because we are just plain cool. Pray that I am effective in doing so. I’ve never done this before.

Lastly, I am the leader of a group this week, as well as leading devotions for the staff again. I was also asked to be in charge of the rock wall, but I am working on handing that responsibility to Erich. He is only an assistant this week, so we think he will be more able to take care of the rock wall. It will be quite busy, but I am ready for it. I have one kids in my room who studied English in an American school for 3 years, so he is extremely fluent. Also my guys are just a big ball of energy (like, REALLY good energy). They are excited about everything.

I hope all is well wherever you are. I should be updating in the mornings this week, so definitely look for it. Thanks once again!

-Dane

I need sleep...

So tonight/this morning was interesting. I was woken up many times during the night to hear people come into my room and get video of the kids sleeping/drawing on them/waking them up. It is currently 5 in the morning and I am ready to go. With about 3 to 4 hours of sleep I cannot go back to sleep.

Yesterday was really good. We had a forest excursion with the kids, which tested my patience. We then had some time to worship, teach English and have free time. We then had a camp fire which included the usual Polish sausage and bigos. But there was a pleasant surprise from the Southeast team that is here and that was a good ol' American S'more. It was delicious.

I do not know what this week has taught me other than to just trust that God has something bigger planned. I am unsure of how God has used me in this time with the kids as a leader/counselor. It has been difficult in many aspects and there are many times that there is frustration. But the nice thing is that above it all, I know that God is in control of the situation and there is a reason for the role in which I, and Dane, are playing. We just pray that God will use us any way possible to reach the youth.

Today is the last whole day of camp. There are 62 kids that are staying for the next camp, which means that some counselors will have to keep working throughout the weekend. I think that none of my guys are staying so it will be good to get time to rest and relax a little bit for one day. Rest and relaxation is an understatement since we will still be working to get the camp ready for the next week.

Other than that everything is great here. We are constantly amazed that God has brought us here for almost 3 months. What an amazing blessing.

Please Be Praying Tonight

Today has had it’s ups and downs. The good news is, God has received glory, and that matters most.

My group has been pushing the limit with our leader (Adam Sokół), and after a long heart to heart conversation last night, not much changed. One our of guys went home because of sickness, another is mentally home, and another is only here right now because his father pleaded that we let him stay. Please, keep these 12 guys in your prayers. This has been a struggle for both me and Adam.

Also, I’m struggling with the cultural differences of the kids. I have quickly learned that I have no authority over these kids. I’m not sure why, but when I call a child over to me or ask something of them, they completely ignore me and don’t listen. It’s getting rather frustrating and VERY difficult. Please keep my patience in your prayers as well.

On the other hand, things have gone great today. English class went very well (I think they really enjoyed it), my morning devotion went extremely smoothly (I said what I needed to say, briefly) and the preaching was phenomenal. John Crozier spoke to the students this morning once again, and was extremely effective. He brings such a creative twist to such basic teaching.

At night, Adam Smórek spoke. I can’t compare him to John because they teach so differently, but I haven’t been so excited about someone teaching the gospel to children in a long time. God was present in the room, moving Adam’s heart and speaking through him, while simultaneously speaking into children’s lives. At least 1/3 of the campers came forward after the message to speak to their leaders about God. It was SOOOO cool.

Again, please keep praying for the things above. Also, I am leading the devotional again tomorrow morning, and am not nearly as prepared as today. Please pray that the spirit moves and that my words are effective.

I love you all. Thanks for the support!

-Dane