"...we get to sing in English"

 Today was a great day with the kids.  We played games, sang songs, had devotions, did crafts, and built eternal friendships.  The older group spent some time today writing encouragement letters to each other, and one of the girls, an MK form France, took the time to write a letter to us.  It brought tears to our eyes when Tommie read it to us tonight during our prayer time.  

"Dear all Teachers,
     Thank you for showing your interest in all of us and praying for us.  I'm sure that at some points in life everyone needs prayer.  Thanks again for all the great songs, crafts, AMERICAN snacks and fun!  It's pretty rare that we get to sing in English with other friends like this.
                                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                                          C" 

                                                      

            They have such a hunger for Christian fellowiship that many of us take for granted.                                 

The Missionaries Have Landed

Today was the first day of the mission conference, and this place has come alive!  It is like nothing we have ever seen.  There are over 300 missionaries here, and they are like one big happy family.  Yesterday the missionaries trickled in, but today they arrived by the busload.  The lobby was filled with laughter and excitement.  The missionaries have landed!  Again more big Texas hugs and lots of joyful reunions. 
The official registration time began at 2:00 this afternoon, and when 2:00 came, we were off and running.  After dinner we had a short evening program while the parents were in their initial session.  There are 22 kids in the 4 to 8 year old class, and 22 kids in the 9 to 12 year old class.  Our team is divided up, 4 of us in each class.  Things were busy in each of the classes, but very fun.  We spent the evening getting to know the kids, and we were blown away by these bright, beautiful, intelligent, spirit-filled kids.  We have some amazing future theologians, pastors, and evangelists in the groups.  One 8 year old boy drew a shamrock and explained to the kids the meaning behind the three leaves. (One is for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit.)  The other kids in the class were attentive and hung on to his every word.  These are some amazing kids.  As Sharon G. expalined to us before we left, we are arriving late to a meeting.  God is at work in the lives of these kids, and he has been for a very long time.
We have been splitting up for the meals and sitting with the missionaries, and each one of them has an amazing story.  I will tell you one of their stories tomorrow.  I just can't decide which one to start with.

  Please pray for us; we need all of the energy God can give us for these next few days.  We are so thankful to be here and to be blessed by these amazing children.    

We're Ready!

Today we unpacked and sorted our 300 pounds of books, crafts, and candy. We are divided into two classrooms, one class is for ages 4-8 year olds, the other class is for the 9-12 year olds.  We spent the majority of the day setting up our rooms and going over the biblestudy materials.  Tomorrow is the big day, and we couldn't be more excited!
The GEM missionaries are arriving today, and it has been really interesting watching them reconect with each other.  This is the only time of the year where they get to see each other, and the joy that they have for seeing their brothers and sisters in Christ is amazing.  It is just a tiny glimpse of what things will be like in heaven -  A Perfect family reunion.  They were greeting each other with big bear hugs - not those polite side hugs - I'm talking Texas size hugs.
 Speaking of the missionaries, we have met a couple of the children that we will be taking care of, and they are very sweet and excited to see us.  We can't wait to get things going!
  
This afternoon we took a walk into town and came upon a music festival.  Several groups were dressed in traditional costumes and were singing old Polish songs.  Gina sat between two of the men in a group and we managed to snap this picture.  The man on the left put his hat on her head and let her hold the hatchet that he was carrying.  He is a perfect example of the people here - fun and good natured.  

Once was lost, but now found

Well, we finally made it to Wisla, Poland.  It was a long trip, but wonderful in every way.  Our group is complete, all 8 of us.  We had a bit of a scare with the luggage today.  We were told when we landed in Prague to collect all of the luggage in order to go through customs.  So we dutifully waited and waited and waited some more for our 6 bags of VBS supplies to come through the baggage claim.  No bags appeared, so we spent the next 3 hours talking to the lost baggage people, attempting to locate our helpless bags.  We had to email our people back home to let them know what was going on and to expect a call from Delta.  Sadly, we left Prague without our bags but with lots of prayers that they would be found.  God is in charge, as he soon reminded us, because on this last flight the airline folks decided that Ruth's carry on bag was overweight and would need to be checked in.  This turned out to be a blessing because when we arrived in Krakow we had to go to baggage claim to get Ruth's bag, and there were our 6 joyful bags.  They found their way to Krakow, Poland!  If we did not need to collect Ruth's bag we would have passed by the baggage claim, assuming that our 6 bags were lost somewhere in the mysterious universe known as airline baggage. 
Our first GEM missionaries that we saw were Peter and Margre Hayes.  We actually saw them in Prague; they were on the same flight to Krakow as us! 
As we are all getting settled into our rooms we are listening to the cool, relaxing melody of a soft evening rain.  :)
Tomorrow we begin the work of sorting the supplies and getting our conference rooms ready for the kids.  Thank you so much for your prayers; they are felt and appreciated.
Pictures to be posted tomorrow....... 

Poland Team Takes Off!

We have traded in our salsa for some Polish Kilbasa, and are on our way to Wisla, Poland!  We will arrive in Poland on Thursday at 3 p.m. Poland time (8 a.m. CBC time).
  We can not thank everyone enough for your prayers and support; without you we would not be able to go.  Our team consists of 8 women from CBC, and we will be leading a Vacation Bible School program for 36 missionary children.  The missionary organization, Greater Europe Mission, is holding their annual conference in Wisla, Poland, and we will be serving the parents by providing fun-filled, Christ-centered activities for their children.  Missionary kids need spiritual encouragement as much as their parents.  Many MK's do not have Christian friends, and they live in spiritually dark countries.  Ask any MK and they will tell you that they are missionaries, not just children of missionaries.  We are so excited to be able to serve these servants!
Please continue to pray for us as we enter this phase of our journey.  Please pray for safety for us and the missionaries as we travel to Wisla.  Also please pray for our hearts to open up to the missionary kids and that they will be receptive to our love.
Thank you again for sending us!  Everyone at CBC is a part of this team!