LCMS World Mission Blog

“Just a few short days after Fourth of July, Dziegielowie experienced its own version of the holiday with the arrival of 33 Americans. Okay, so they didn’t exactly come for the fireworks; they came for the English camps! After two days of orientation, we sent the teams out to their first week locations-Lidzbark, Wegrow, Walbrzych, Zabrze, and Lasowice Maly. Another group parted from our company to go to Tisovec, Slovakia. Following the first week, two groups continued on to new locations-in Katowice and Dziegielowie -while the other three groups went to a debriefing/evaluation session in Zelow. After completing their second week, the last two teams then joined together to debrief/evaluate. While we encountered a few challenges, the Holy Spirit was still at work! About 190 children and adolescents (many of whom are not Christians) were able to learn about God’s amazing love for them-some for the first time!

“The first week of English camps, I was blessed to be the team leader of the group in Lasowice Maly. My amazing ‘family’ for the week consisted of Rev. Paul and Christine Garchow from Wisconsin, Betty Noffke from Nebraska, Kathy Johnson from Nebraska, and two translators-Ania and Pieter. Our 20 students ranged in age from eight to 18, and each of them found a way into our hearts. We studied Jesus calling His disciples, the parable of the Good Samaritan, the feeding of the 5,000 men, the healing of the deaf, mute and the blind men, and Jesus’ death and resurrection; we also taught some English, played games, sang songs, danced, and made crafts. The highlight of my week, however, was watching the transformation of the older girls. This was especially evident during the Bible story time. On Monday they were only present physically, but by Friday, as we were acting out the events of Holy Week one at a time, I saw two of our girls’ eyes light up as they finally understood the reality of Christ’s sacrifice and what it means for us. It still gives me chills to think about it! God is awesome!

“The second week, I joined five other wonderful Americans for the camp in Dziegielowie. During this week, my group (the ‘Green Geckos’) consisted of nine mischievous 11-13 year old boys. Some were strong Christians while others were forced to come by their parents and did not want to be there. The oldest, smallest, and most eager to please was Kamil. His father had left his family when he was little and his mother is not a Christian. However, Kamil heard about Jesus at an English camp he went to a few years ago and has since attended church and camps on his own so he can continue to learn more about Jesus. I met him during a previous crusade when I was leading games for children. I was glad that I was his teacher last week so we could continue our friendship and I could answer some of his questions. On the other hand, I could barely get another boy, Kuba, to do anything. He kept telling me, ‘I don’t want to!’ On Thursday, instead of playing a game with the other boys, he was sitting at the table, so I went to talk to him. I was surprised when I found him looking through the Book of Luke we had given him. I asked him what his favorite part was and he turned to the part where Jesus was crucified-he liked the soldiers. When we talked about that story the next day, it was the first time he actually listened! Please pray for both of these boys, that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in their lives so that the Bible would be more than just a ‘cool story.’”

• Support the ministry work of Terri Bartel in Poland
• Want to learn more about short-term service opportunities with LCMS World Mission? Listen to an audio interview with Jennifer Mustard!
• View photos:  5 teams conducted 7 English Camps across Poland in July, 2009

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