Update 10

Update 10- July 16, 2007

Today we got up early for breakfast at 5:00am so that we could leave at 5:30 for our trip to Auschwitz and Krakow. It was about a three and half to four hour drive from Lubin to Auschwitz. We were blessed to have Kamas and Ann come with us. Ann is a student at Moody Bible Institute that has been teaching English here in Poland for two months. She will be heading back to the states in a couple days and had not had a chance to visit those places yet so we had her come with us. Kamas is one of the guys from the coffeehouse and a regular at the Bible study that Rich and ZB run. He heard that we were going on a trip and asked if he could come. This was a great opportunity to share our faith with him. Paul and Rich feel he is very close to understanding and accepting the Gospel, because he has been asking seeking questions. Please pray for Kamas and us as we talk with him about our faith.
Visiting Auschwitz was a sobering experience. It was eerie to walk in a place where such evil took place. The atmosphere takes all words away. You can only think why? How? Going to Auschwitz was a very emotional experience for everyone. Its very hard for us to find words to express what we saw and felt.
Before we left Auschwitz for Krakow, we at lunch picnic style. It was about an hour drive, but it felt much longer because of the blazing heat. It got to 33° Celsius, which we learned means really hot. As we got to Krakow, we parked and got more water, then walked to the castle. Wawel Castle was absolutely beautiful! It was in great condition. We went down to the famous Dragon’s Lair. It was our favorite part of the castle because it was underground and very cool. The walk from the castle to the Renic was filled with tons of laughter. We saw banners saying that Krakow was celebrating its 750th anniversary as a city this year. Now that is just amazing. What was even more amazing was St. Mary’s Basilica, the church where Pope John Paul II was a priest before he was Pope. The inside was gorgeous. We all just sat there in awe looking at the intricate paintings and carvings that were done without the help of modern technology. Then off to dinner at another Polish restaurant. It was so good to sit down and cool off and the food was good too. Then we hit the tourist shopping spots for souvenirs. One really funny story that happened is when we all met in the Renic we sat down for awhile. Andrew then felt something on his neck and just assumed it was Matt P. messing with him. So Andrew said something to Matt about it and Matt yelled out that Andrew had got pooped on by a pigeon. J (Don’t worry we have pictures) It was also cool to see the city transform as more street performers came out. It was like what we tried to recreate at our Poland banquet. Then we left to go back to Lubin. We got back at 2:15am Tuesday morning. So as you can tell we had a busy day and have another one tomorrow. So please pray that we would have energy to keep being effective in our ministry. Also pray for Rich, he is not feeling well at all.

Update 9

Update 9 – July 15, 2007

This morning we went to church. Four people left early and went with Paul to Gwogoof Baptist Church, so that three of them could share their testimonies (Andrew, Cassie and Kaity shared). This is the mother church of Paul and Carlene’s church plant. It was good for them to see a larger church worshipping together. Then all of us met at the coffee house for that church service, where three more of us shared our stories. (Dawn, Sarah, and Matt P.) After church, we hung around the coffee house for a while, because Paul and Carlene had to talk to the head of the women’s shelter some of us will be working at next week. Some of the girls will be running a mini-vbs/kid’s club for the children who live in the shelter on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We are looking forward to that. Then we went to a fancy, traditional Polish restaurant called Oberza. The food was sooooo good and everyone enjoyed hanging out. We took everyone from Paul and Carlene’s team with us, which includes Paul and Carlene (and their kids) Zbigniew and Boguslawa (and their baby Lydia, they are Polish nationals) Rich (a missionary from IMB here for 2 years), and Pat (a single woman from Georgia who is here full-time). It was very nice to spend time with the whole team.
After Oberza, we raced back to the hotel to change our clothes. (Lunch took all afternoon) Then we headed straight back to the coffeehouse for human foosball at 5:00. We hung ropes and turned the parking lot/courtyard into a life-size foosball table. After playing for awhile in the blinding sun, everyone came in and played games. It was so hot. Since we are going to Krakow tomorrow, we made it an early night and left the coffee house at 7:30. We went back to the hotel and had a debrief and went to bed.

Update #8

Update 8 – July 14, 2007

Today we were able to sleep in a little bit later which was a very nice change. We heard about a big market that takes place behind our hotel, so we went and checked it out after breakfast and devotions. It was very interesting; we saw garage sale type places and used car part sellers mixed in with clothing stores and brand new furniture. We joked that Mr. Hartman would have been in heaven, because we were told you could literally go through the market and build an entire car, but not only that but also in make it all in the same color. Dawn did find shoes for $3 though.
Then it was off to the coffee house to set up for our VBS Finale. It was like a carnival. The kids showed up and we had a great time. It was probably the water games and the slip and slide that won over the 20 kids. Everyone was laughing and having a good time playing the games and eating kielbasa! We all feel it was a major success. Another of the kids favorites was the face painting and tattoos. Matt P. Sarah and Dawn did a great job with the face paints. They painted everything from butterflies and flowers to Polish flags and Lubin soccer symbols. Cassie and Julia did a great job with the stick on tattoos. They were busy sticking on American football players and bugs and all sorts of other things. The face paint and tattoos were then washed off by all the water games. Our slip in slide water turned black. J The other games they could play were huge successes as well. Devon was on horseshoes, Kaity was on one of the bean bag games, and Katie and Mrs. Parker were on the other bean bag game. It was so nice to see everywhere you looked the kids laughing and having a good time all day. It feels really good to know that we were a part of something that hopefully they will remember for a long time. After the kids left the whole team pitched in and cleaned up both outside and inside the coffeehouse.
Then after a little break we went to the nearby town of Polkoviste to their aquapark. It is a big indoor water park that we went to with five of the teens from the coffeehouse. We all had a great time at the water park on the slides, rock climbing wall and lazy river. After the water park, we all went out for pizza and once again had a blast! The pizza here is a little different. We saw pizza with hard boiled eggs and goat cheese on them. Matt P. even had some with a pork chop on it. Pepperoni pizza has jalapeno peppers on it. It was a great day and we were so happy that we could do something special for the teens here. They do not often get to have a day like that and we felt privileged to share it with them.

Thanks,
The Updaters

Update #7

Update 7 – July 13, 2007

This was our last early morning!! Woo Hoo! We got up this morning and ate breakfast while we continued our study of the book of Matthew from 7:45-8:45. We then went to the coffee house and prepared for VBS. At VBS, today was the resurrection story and salvation invitation. Although we do not know of any decisions, many seeds were planted and hopefully this week has mad an impact on these kids. We had a total of 28 different kids attend. (Sorry for the earlier miscalculations)

After VBS, we had a familiar lunch, spaghetti. Then we retreated to our hotel for a three hour nap time. After nap time, we returned to the coffeehouse and hung out with the teens. Rich, Matt S. and Dawn taught Jacob how to play Euchre and he and Matt beat Dawn and Rich. Also, Jacob told Joel that he will be at church on Sunday. Obviously Jacob is searching and thinking seriously about his spiritual life. Please pray that his heart would be open to what Joel says and that God would reveal his grace to Jacob. After several intense Uno games, some ping-pong and a connect-4 tournament, we all migrated outside and played volleyball on a make shift net then we built. We finished the night with debrief. Please pray for us as we look forward to a big weekend on Saturday. We are hosting a VBS fun day for the kids and their families. Please pray that this time would impact the families involved. On Saturday night, we are going to a water park. As of now, no Polish teenagers have committed to go with us.

I know that this update probably won’t arrive until Saturday afternoon or night, but please pray that some students would come with us. On Sunday, Joel will preach and Jacob will be there. So pray that God will bless that service. After church on Sunday we will have a fun night with the teens, including human foosball. Everyone is doing well, besides being a little sleepy. Thank you for your prayers, they are felt and thank you to those who email us. Emails are awesome and we love to hear from you. Thanks

~ The Updaters

Update 6

Update 6 – July 12, 2007

Today was yet another great day at VBS! We are averaging about 21 kids a day, but have had about 32 different kids come to VBS so far. Cassie taught the story of Jesus and Peter walking on water. Then had the kids do feet painting! We took off their shoes and put blue or purple paint on them. Then we had them step on pieces of paper so they had their footprints and then walk off the rest of the paint on a large piece of paper on the floor. Games today were all water games. We did relays with sponges and balloons. Then we did throwing a water balloon between partners. The kids learned the verse in both Polish and English and then they went home.

Lunchtime rolled around and it was grilled pork, French fries, and something very similar to coleslaw and soup. Once again the reviews were mixed. Then the team had Horizontal Hours. (Naptime, free time, a break) After that we went shopping for Lubin Soccer gear. The soccer team here is the Polish champions this year. Then out to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant. Yeah, that’s right a Chinese restaurant in Poland. It was our first experience really ordering in Polish and we had to translate Polish and Chinese.

The rest of the night was a typical coffeehouse night. We hung out with the teens and played lots and lots of Uno. Rich (one of Paul and Carlene’s team) said they run an Uno ministry here! J Let’s just say that Uno is the game that has really bonded us all together. Most of us were bummed that we had to cancel our hiking trip today due to rain that we have been having almost all week. It is been a little chilly. But it is looking like next week will be much hotter.

During our debrief time we just realized that we have been here for a week. Many of us feel like we have been here so much longer because of the great relationships we have made. We all have been discovering many things about ourselves. We also did some crazy things like the guys picked up Rich’s car. It’s a Maluch. (Its about the size of a golf cart) As I said before, it is only been seven days and we still have 10 days left. So if you would please pray that we would be able to keep out spirits up and give strength to stay alert during our ministry. (We all need long naps)

Update 5

Update 5 – July 11, 2007

Today the day started great. Our devotions were fun today. Everyone was really into our conversation. We have been reading through Matthew and today we read chapter 13. After devotions, we left for the coffee house to get ready for VBS. When we got there, VBS started great. The kids looked like they were enjoying themselves. It is fun for all of us. Kaity H. taught them the story of the prodigal son. She did a great job. We also did games with a parachute. We also played a coin game where we passed a coin between us and someone had to guess where it was. After VBS, we had breaded pork for lunch. Good stuff! We all took a long nap time after that. We were all very tired. Tonight we went to the coffee house and met some of the Polish teens to play football, both European (soccer) and American. It was America versus Poland . We lost at soccer. (I don’t think they were even trying their hardest) But we kicked butt in football. It was a great time. We had a blast. After that we came back to the coffee house to just chill. We all slept like rocks.

~The Updaters

Update #4

Update 4 – July 10, 2007VBS started today. The team was really excited to begin as we got to the coffeehouse. Our point for the day was that God is real. Katie D. told the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 and did an experiment with vinegar and baking soda. Then the kids went to Dawn and did crafts. They made a paper basket with fish and bread in it. Next it was off to games with Sarah where we played with the parachute in the school gym. As we came back, we ate our snack and learned the verse in both Polish and English. This was quite an experience for the team that was teaching that day because it was the first time for some to talk with a translator. Everyone was so excited that we had 20 kids at VBS today! Doubling what they had last year on the first day. After VBS, we ate our real polish lunch; Yum Periogis! Then we had a couple of hours of free time to relax. We spent some of it at Real, a wal-mart type store with mall stores built inside the front part. Then back to the coffee house to grill and have kielbasa. We probably consumed a ton of it. (At least the boys did) The rain cancelled our planned scavenger hunt for CX, so instead we hung out in the coffee house and played games with the teens there.So far, the food here hasn’t been too bad. Monday we had chicken, potatoes, veggies and chicken soup. We all loved it. Today, like I said we had periogis, soup and beet salad. The opinion on whether the beet salad and soup were good was definitely split. We are definitely looking forward to what we will have tomorrow. Monday was probably our first taste of polish food in Poland, except for those who ate kielbasa at the Castle we visited on Sunday.. Carlene and the other leaders spoiled us by feeding us familiar food and letting us go to McDonalds after church on Sunday.Every night before bed, we meet as a team to debrief the day. Starting with VBS, it came out that watching Katie Dean teach was like watching her mom Jan teach a story. It was like she was channeling her mom while she was teaching Jesus feeding the 5000. Then we started sharing fun stories about our night at the coffee house. Matt S. challenged us to go around the room and share how we had seen God working in this trip or in our lives. We laughed, Katie D. cried, but mostly we laughed. We discovered that we had a new team record for most kielbasas eaten in one sitting. Matt P. holds the record with 11. Most of the girls could only handle one. We have one prayer request for Jacob (Say the J like a Y) He is a teen from the coffee house that Pastor Joel and some others have been talking with. He claims to be an atheist, and Pastor Joel and the guys say he is so close to believing. Please pray for Pastor Joel and the guys as they talk with him about Christianity and for Jacob that he would just be open to God’s leading.~ The UpdatersP.S. Devon says hi!Important Information for the Leaders…The team asked us today to remind everyone that they are unable to respond to you all in email, because we have such limited time and access to internet. Please know that they are receiving all or your emails and have found it very encouraging. So please continue to write them. There have been some complications with sending out pictures so from now on to see pictures go to www.sgcyouth.com and look at Pastor Joel’s blog. We are also posting the updates there. There have been other issues with not all of the emails getting through to everyone on our support team, but know we are doing everything in our power to make this a smooth process. Despite the issues with emails, we are doing our best to keep our focus on what God has brought us to Poland to do. Please be patient with us.Thanks

Update #3

Update 3 – July 9, 2007

This morning our group devotional was great. Our friend Zbyszek joined us. It was good time talking together about community and the church.

Today was our day to set up for our VBS. We all wish Mrs. Fischer was here. Ha ha. Set up was good and our grounds crew really got their hands dirty to make the coffee house look great. We all work hard and our out come looks fantastic. It is still a little tough to get used to the eating styles here. (A light breakfast, a big lunch, a light dinner) We are making great connections with the youth here. We have an activity called Creative Exchange or “CX.” This is where we get with the teens that spend time at the coffee house and just hang. We watched X-Men 3 tonight and had a great discussion afterwards. We were able to talk about where our faith with an atheist named Jacob who comes to the coffee house, because of some things that were in the movie. Everything here is great and we can’t wait till VBS starts early on Tuesday. Please keep us in your prayers and thank you.

Love,
The Updaters.

Update 2 - July 8

Update 2 - July 8, 2007

Church (at the coffee house) started this morning at about 11. (Poland time) We attempted to sing the polish songs but… yeah! Matt Schnaars and Julia Fetters both gave their testimony with the help of a translator. Joel taught the majority of the service. Shortly before the service ended, we took communion.

Following the service, we headed out to further immerse ourselves into the culture. (McDonalds) Happy meals taste about the same as back home. After our quick “Polish” meal, we left for Ksiaz. (A castle in Walbrzych, which is a city) J

We did not go inside the castle, but we toured the gardens, terraces and veranda. It was amazing! So many pictures! And now we are at Paul and Carlene’s house eating kabobs. Good stuff.

We are having a great time here and thank you for your prayers.

Dziekuje (Thanks)
The Updaters

Poland Update #1

Thursday (Chicago)

We made it to the O'Hare 45 minutes early. Traffic was amazingly good.
We flew through check in and baggage. No problem with security. Our
red shirts sure made us stick out. On the plane we all sat together in 4 rows.
When we boarded the plane we had a delay for about an hour. Dumb cargo
door wasn't working. Most people were able to sleep through the ride.
Our on board movie was Wildhogs. ( good movie.) Because of our delay
we all thought we were going to miss our connecting flight. But it was
delayed too! One reason our plane did not take off was because a
luggage bag from Chicago was missing? (Oh no) All is well though we
don't know whose bag it was, but we all got all of ours. Apparently
it was found.


Friday

By now it's Friday at about 2:00pm Poland time. Rich, a man who is
Paul and Carlene's friend, met us at the airport. He got us our
van and our ride to the church where we would be staying around 7:30.
We exchanged some money and went shopping for supper. Our first
Polish was meal Spaghetti wooo! And we had some fruit salad.
Cooking was quite an adventure. After dinner we had our first
debrief time.



Saturday

We made breakfast, and had our team devotions and took off on a great
adventure. We intended to take the tram, but the tram never came, so
we walked to the square which was about 30 minutes; we were quite a
sight people couldn't take their eyes off us. We walked around
for a good part of the afternoon, and even though we saw some familiar
stores this didn't feel like home. Our first Polish restaurant was
Pizzaski Hutski (Pizza Hut)! We walked to the mall and it was no
Concord Mall and we had Lody (which is ice cream) and even Dawn and
Matt say that it was better than Cold Stone! Afterwards we met Rich
and Paul at Sand Island; they were their to take us to the Eager's
Home and later to the Coffee House. So far it's a great time and
we love it. Thank you to everyone who helped us, and thank you for
praying for us. Czesic (bye).



~The Updaters

Jacob Tyler Wolfgang

My brother is going to be in concert here in the youth room on June 6th. You wont want to miss it. Some of you will remember Jacob he led worship for us at Reality Check this past February. You may also remember that Jacob gave a little concert while we were up there. Many of you stayed and listened and waltzed. It was great! Well, we're bringing him back, this time Jacob has a new CD (he'll have copies for sale - $5, I think). I've heard it - its great! You can listen to several of Jacob's song on his myspace.

I want to let you in on a secret - we are going to be video recording the show for his website that night, so we want a ton of students there that night. Bring your friends (friends like to go to shows)! There is no cost - just come and have a blast!

Summer Schedule

Hey an updated summer schedule is posted here on the website you can get it here.

Keep checking back for updates!

Cedar Point

Calling all Senior High students! This also includes those just finishing 8th grade, and those who just graduated.

We're going to Cedar Point. If you've never been this place is a blast. I've talked to a few of you who don't want to go because of the coasters don't let that stop you! Yes, they have some of the bigger coasters in the world, but they also have a lot of other cool rides.

We're going on Tuesday, June 12th, we will meet at the church at 6:30am and get home at 2:00am. This is going to be great!

The cost is $30, I couldn't believe the price when I heard it. We're also going to take care of dinner - lunch will be on your own.

You have to check this out!

Cluster Blogging

Oh No!

I really don't want to be one of those people who blogs 6 post on the same day once a month, but here it goes anyway!

Lots of stuff today:
Reel to Real on Friday
Cedar Point Trip
Jacob Tyler Wolfgang in Concert - my bro!
Summer Schedule

Well, maybe not 6, I must say I feel a little better!

The Springs!

Last week many of you had quite a bit of interest in going to camp this summer. I just wanted to clear a few things up.

1. The cost of camp is $200 if you register (pay a $50 deposit and send in your registration form) by June 1st.
2. We will provide transportation for Senior High week 1 - June 24-30
3. We will provide transportation for Junior High week 1 - July 9-14
4. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me about them.

I really hope that many of you will choose to go to the Springs this summer. My life is completely different because of the experiences that I had there.

Summer Schedule Coming Soon!

Hey guys I just wanted you to know that the summer schedule is coming very soon. We have a great line up of summer activities and events. You wont want to miss out what is coming!

Praise God!

Most of you know that on Sunday Morning the Poland team gave a presentation of what we will be doing on our missions trip this coming Summer, and we asked people to give finacially towards the trip. Well, they did, God provided! Almost $3,000 came in on Sunday Morning! Praise God!


If you would like to listen to the service you can here.

Christianity 101

Our new series during The Pursuit is Christianity 101. We are going to be looking through the book of I Thessalonians at what the Apostle Paul deems most important to tell brand new believers about Christianity. You wont want to miss this!

Friendship Evangelism Challenge!

Ok here are the 5 steps to the Friendship Evangelism Challege; are you in? If so, leave a comment!

1. Tell your friend that you are a Christian
2. Invite you friend to an appropriate program
3. Tell your friend why you are a Christian
4. Tell your friend how you became a Christian
5. Ask your friend if they want to know more about Christ or if they want to become a Christian.

They aren't hard. You just need to practice them. Ok - now who's in? Do you love Jesus so much that you want to tell others about him? Are you in? Let me know!

So as promised the 75 year-old Youth Leader

I saw this and thought that it was pretty funny and I thought that I would share it.

Let me know what you think.

Check This Ad Campain Out!

I saw this and about died of laughter!

Filled With The Spirit

Sorry I could get this to work for Wednesday Night, but here it is!

Hotel, Hotel

Hey here is the video from Last Wednesday Night! I hope you guys liked it!

Winter Retreat!

Hey it is not too late to go to the Winter Retreat! You can still sign up and go!
If you need a brochure you can get it here.
You can also ride up on Saturday morning - call the church for details!
This will be an extremely cool time. You wont want to miss out on this opportunity!

Welcome to the all new blog...

This is an attempt to make my blog more accessable and more userfriendly, and I think this looks a whole lot cooler. Well, why don't I give you a little window into what I've been doing over the last few days:

Friday

• Drove to Indy with Shari
• Attended the National Youth Ministry Conference
• Saw a very cool video - (I think we'll show it at the retreat)!
• Went to a Building 429 Concert!

Saturday

• Went to lots of meetings had great conversations
• Met with youth pastors from all over the country
• Saw another cool video
• Went to a Salvador Concert!

Sunday

• Again attended the conference.
• Saw some amazingly cool things
• Went to a Toby Mac Concert!

Monday

• Came Home!
• Had a lot of fun
• Drove home with Shari!
• It's time to get back to work