Why Poland?
So, I've written a lot about my heart for missions, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. That's definitely where my passion lies and where I would love to be one day. But there is a place in the world that I wrestled with why I went there and what the point was. And that place was Poland.
I went to Poland in the spring of 2009 for my junior Week of Evangelism trip with LCU. I went with a team of 12 and we were there for a week. The trip wasn't exactly what we were all expecting. But it was definitely an experience that would never be forgotten. We spent a week traveling to 3 different cities, Bielsk Podlaski, Lublin, and Warsaw to encourage the churches there. We went and shared testimonies, sermons, Bible lessons with the youth and lots of food. We went to a total of 8 churches for a total of 10 services in which we were just there to be an encouragement to the body of believers there. It was tough at times because our team felt that we were just being put on parade and shown off and we felt we weren't making any difference. But then we realized that it was encouraging for those we interacted with because it helped them (and us) to remember that they are not alone in the body of Christ.
The Sunday that we were in Bielsk Podlaski, we went to an orphanage for children who have mild to severe disabilities. We only got to see the children for about 30 to 45 minutes. But they brought us so much joy. None of them could understand English and none of us could understand Polish. But they were so happy for us to simply be there playing with them and sharing toys. As simple as a balloon is... to them it was hours of fun. And those children were ones that had been forgotten about to an extent and just needed to be loved on. Being in that orphanage and seeing those smiles light up their faces was the highlight of the trip for me since that is where my passion lies.
Later that week we got to do the tourist thing and wander through Old Town of both Lublin and Warsaw (the cities are about 3 hours away from each other). We got to shop and simply walk around and enjoy the city. But one thing that was hard for all of us as we toured was our trip to Majdanek in Lublin. Majdanek is one of the Nazi death camps. It was built at the edge of the city and no one really knew what it was til the Russians liberated the camp at the end of the war. It was the hardest, most devastating thing I had ever seen. We took the tour and saw everything. The barracks, the gas chambers, the thousands and thousands of shoes that were found after the war, as well as the crematorium and the mausoleum that's filled with human ashes. It was so hard to walk across the grass knowing that men, women and children had been killed there simply because they weren't liked by a man who hated many. Part of the camp recently burned down (the barrack with all of the shoes actually) and it's hard to think that just a year ago I was standing there in utter amazement. How could one man hold so much hatred for a group of people? We all left Majdanek with heavy hearts and a new understanding of what really took place at that time of history.
Our trip to Poland was one that many of us weren't really sure about why we went. Or why we were needed. But as time has passed we have all come to realize that it was simply to encourage and be encouraged. As well as to learn how to identify with a group of people on more than just a give, give, give level. We were there to learn about the history of a nation and a people that had been devastated by hatred and war. And to bring encouragement to the people who were working to make things good again through their faith in God. It was a trip that was simply a learning experience and one that will never be forgotten.
Check out this video that one of the guys on our trip put together after we returned.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=663856495&v=box_3#!/video /video.php?v=529783189696&subj=161502283
I went to Poland in the spring of 2009 for my junior Week of Evangelism trip with LCU. I went with a team of 12 and we were there for a week. The trip wasn't exactly what we were all expecting. But it was definitely an experience that would never be forgotten. We spent a week traveling to 3 different cities, Bielsk Podlaski, Lublin, and Warsaw to encourage the churches there. We went and shared testimonies, sermons, Bible lessons with the youth and lots of food. We went to a total of 8 churches for a total of 10 services in which we were just there to be an encouragement to the body of believers there. It was tough at times because our team felt that we were just being put on parade and shown off and we felt we weren't making any difference. But then we realized that it was encouraging for those we interacted with because it helped them (and us) to remember that they are not alone in the body of Christ.
The Sunday that we were in Bielsk Podlaski, we went to an orphanage for children who have mild to severe disabilities. We only got to see the children for about 30 to 45 minutes. But they brought us so much joy. None of them could understand English and none of us could understand Polish. But they were so happy for us to simply be there playing with them and sharing toys. As simple as a balloon is... to them it was hours of fun. And those children were ones that had been forgotten about to an extent and just needed to be loved on. Being in that orphanage and seeing those smiles light up their faces was the highlight of the trip for me since that is where my passion lies.
Later that week we got to do the tourist thing and wander through Old Town of both Lublin and Warsaw (the cities are about 3 hours away from each other). We got to shop and simply walk around and enjoy the city. But one thing that was hard for all of us as we toured was our trip to Majdanek in Lublin. Majdanek is one of the Nazi death camps. It was built at the edge of the city and no one really knew what it was til the Russians liberated the camp at the end of the war. It was the hardest, most devastating thing I had ever seen. We took the tour and saw everything. The barracks, the gas chambers, the thousands and thousands of shoes that were found after the war, as well as the crematorium and the mausoleum that's filled with human ashes. It was so hard to walk across the grass knowing that men, women and children had been killed there simply because they weren't liked by a man who hated many. Part of the camp recently burned down (the barrack with all of the shoes actually) and it's hard to think that just a year ago I was standing there in utter amazement. How could one man hold so much hatred for a group of people? We all left Majdanek with heavy hearts and a new understanding of what really took place at that time of history.
Our trip to Poland was one that many of us weren't really sure about why we went. Or why we were needed. But as time has passed we have all come to realize that it was simply to encourage and be encouraged. As well as to learn how to identify with a group of people on more than just a give, give, give level. We were there to learn about the history of a nation and a people that had been devastated by hatred and war. And to bring encouragement to the people who were working to make things good again through their faith in God. It was a trip that was simply a learning experience and one that will never be forgotten.
Check out this video that one of the guys on our trip put together after we returned.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=663856495&v=box_3#!/video /video.php?v=529783189696&subj=161502283
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