Day 1
We left Kona approximately 9:30pm. We hopped on the airplane
and left Hawaii. I never really sleep well on planes, but I think I slept about
4hrs. and 30mins. It was not bad at all. It was night time so it was quiet and
dark so I think that helped. We arrived at the San Fransico Airport at about
6am. We were all pretty tired, seeing as it was around 3am in Kona. I fell
asleep on a chair for about an hour. It was really cold in the airport, I was
definitely not use to being in the cold weather. Soon after many people left
and went into the city. I didn’t really want to buy anything or pay to leave
the airport for 3 hours so I just stayed with Elisabeth and Richard. Richard
and I went to get food, and we ate at Fung Lung it was a Chinese restaurant. It
was actually really delicious. In the San Fran airport its weird because they
have really nice restaurants to eat inside of the airport. We each got a $30
allowance for food for our entire travel time, which is pretty awesome.
Day 2
We boarded the plane to Frankfort Germany and we were off, a
10 hr venture. It was so easy, that is really the best way to describe the
plane. We flew on Lufahansa. This is probably the nicest airline. About an hour
into the trip they served us drinks, then our dinner. We had a choice between
pasta or chicken and rice. Of course I
went for the pasta, expecting the worst I was pleasantly surprised that it
tasted delicious. On our tray of food they gave us pasta, ceasar salad,
tiramisu, bread and cheese. I was extremely happy. The only downside to the
flight was where I was sitting. I was sitting next to a man who sneezed
frequently and apologized because he was just getting over a cold, and to my
otherside I was sitting next to a woman who had no interest in even making eye
contact and behind me, a 3 year old little Indian boy, who was constantly
kicking my seat. I watched a movie on the plane too, it was called the
Descendents. It was kinda weird and sad but it was alright. It’s funny because
it was a movie that was all based in Hawaii and about a family in Hawaii.
Ironic... Then I went exploring to find everyone else on my team because the
seats were sectioned off and no one was sitting in my section, I had to go
through the “kitchen” area and through the curtins to find more people on my
team. I looked and I saw Dominique and next to her was an open seat. PTL! I
went and got my stuff and scurried to sit next to her. Soon after the stewards
brought us a midnight snack, a delicious chocolate bar and asked if we would
like tea or coffee. We both asked for tea. It was so fun sitting with Dominique
because we got to talk a bunch and I showed her pictures of my friends and
family back home and got to tell her stories and she did the same. Dominique is
one of my leaders. She is 23 and probably the most incredible woman I’ve ever
met. She is from Canada but grew up in Pakistan her parents are missionaries
and were Pakistani missionaries for 25 years. She showed me pictures of the
village she lived in and the people. She grew up with 2 camels and her mother
had to walk 30 minutes with the other woman and get water daily. No
electricity. She is beautiful and so wise, and I can just really see that she
loves God with her whole heart. I feel really blessed to be on her team! After
talking for a bit we watched the movie, New Year. It was pretty good. Then we
landed!
Once we arrived in Frankfort we had to wait about 2 hours
for our next flight to Warsaw. We had a crazy time because we had to go through
security again, none of us know German our gate was so far and after a long 10
hr flight none of us really felt like walking too much but everyone was so good
at being joyful and pushing through even though we were tired. We got to our
gate and everyone fell asleep on the chairs except a few of us who now have a
goal to memorize the entire book of Colossians before outreach ends. We got up
to verse 4 because we were going to do 2 verses a day. We finally boarded our
last plane and all of us were knocked out we were so sleepy. Our flight was
only 1 hr. and about 50min. We finally arrived in Warsaw and were so excited.
We went outside and we were freezing. It was about 50 degrees outside. It was
so cold. From the airport we took a bus ride to the train station and from
there we waited to figure out what train we were suppose to go on. Our train
ride was about 3 and a half hours long. On one side of the train station was
metro like looking trains and the other side was apparently different trains.
The train we got on looked like a train they used 50 years ago. Paint chipped,
red, green, brown cars. We had all of our luggage so we needed a lot of space.
We didn’t realize the train had little rooms and if you didn’t get there in
time you wouldn’t get a room. The girls all sat in the same room with these two
older polish business men and the guys stood in the hall with our luggage. It
was bitter cold outside but the train was pretty cozy. I’m really thankful for
the guys watching our stuff and us. Again everyone was pretty much asleep. It’s
about 10pm now on Thursday night. We didn’t get to the house we were staying at
until about 11:30pm. Once in Krakow we met Paul our contact from YWAM. He met
us at the church we are staying at. We were pretty hungry when we got in. We
went to the Kabob place a 24hr food place that sells really delicious pita
bread and kabob stuff. We finally got to sleep all the girls sleep in the same
room on little cots on the floor. The boys sleep downstairs in a room near the
kitchen. The “sanctuary” is right next to our room it’s very small probably as
big as a extra large living room of a house. The house everywhere has these big
windows and its beautiful. We have a great view of the park right outside of
the sanctuary windows. It’s really perfect because we are allowed to use the
sanctuary at all times. The best part about it is that there is a piano in
there it is so fun.
Day 3
The next morning was Friday. It was a long few days of
travel. Everyone was able to get up at their own time we had this day off so
that we could get our stuff unpacked relax a bit. We went to the market in the
morning and got some food for breakfast since we don’t know how to speak polish
it was a little bit tricky figuring out the products to buy. We got mostly
normal stuff yogurt, oatmeal, bread, butter, jelly and grape fruit. We thought
we bought milk but when we got home someone poured a glass of it and realized
it was plain yogurt in the same exact bottle as milk. Milk in polish is mileko
and what we got did not say mileko. It’s a learning experience. This day we
went around the street area. We are basically in a city so I don’t really see
too many neighborhoods it mostly apartments and shops on the streets. It’s
pretty cool. It is absolutely freezing here and when we went to find some lunch
we were absolutely frozen. I felt as though I could barely walk. We went into
every bakery. It was pretty funny, because there is a bakery within about 5
meters of each other. It was about 5 minutes of warmth. Polish people have a
high respect for bread. They love bread, bread is life to Polish people. This
night for dinner we ate together our first meal, Porgies and Salad. It was
delicious we ate sweet tasting porgies so I’m not sure if we bought the right
kind from the store but whatever. Every night we eat dinner together as a
family. After dinner we did worship and
then we went to sleep.
Day 4
Today we went to the Catholic church to set up for the
Passover meal. We set up a meal for about 350 people got all the tables and
chairs and set it up as it would be for Passover. It was really awesome to be
apart of. These Catholic Monks are spirit-filled Jesus loving men of God. It
was really cool to spend time with these people because it definitely broke
down the stereotype of “monks”. So after a long day of setting up we went back
home to get ready in nice outfits to go to the Passover. It’s really incredible
because at this Passover we had people from all denominations; Catholic,
Protestant, and Mesianic Jews coming together and celebrating. It was about 2degrees
Celsius that night. A blessing from that night was the Rabbi leading the
Passover ceremony was an English speaker from New York. It was really good
because at first they started with songs that were all in Polish, and we were
thinking this is going to be a long night because we don’t understand anything.
But we were pleasantly surprised when it was all in English and translated to
Polish. After that we all went home and fell asleep quickly after.
Day 5
Today when I woke up it was snowing! It was so awesome. I
was so excited to see snow fall. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things
to see in the morning and throughout the day. It was actually the most
beautiful day we’ve had here in Poland yet. When it was time to walk to church,
around 10 the sun was out but the clouds were in just the right place where
there was sun and snow at the same time. It was wonderful. We walked to church,
everything is about 40 min. This church we went to was a prodastant church. I
was expecting to go to a catholic church and I was a little worried because it
was going to be all in Polish. We went to this hotel and on the top floor they
had the church service. It was so beautiful they had doughnuts and coffee and
were pretty charismatic. Everyone in the church would go up to the pastor and
tell him what they felt God was speaking or visions and the pastor would invite
them to tell the church. It was so cool seeing this church be so active in the
gifts of the Holy Spirit. It was so inspiring. It was pretty small about 50 people
in church. After church we went out to lunch where I got some delicious Polish
food, after lunch we went home and it started to blizzard. It was really
awesome Elisabeth and I were just playing music and got caught up in the glory.
Soon after people got home and we had spaghetti for dinner and it was different
but still pretty good. Then we did a bit of worship and just reflection on our
day and long weekend. It was really nice, I love the time we get to spend
together. It’s actually really nice to not have wifi because we aren’t
distracted by the computer constantly, we are always together and
fellowshipping because there is nothing else to do.
Day 6
Today was a really good day. We started off the day with
worship and intercession. We asked the Lord what He wanted to teach us over the
next few months individually and as a team. It’s so amazing just the way
everyone hears from God. I felt like God was saying He really wants to call me
into my destiny during this time. I’m excited to see what that is and what He
is going to reveal to me within the next few months. After that we had lunch
and Paul our YWAM friend and contact came over and told us about his testimony
and the history of YWAM Poland. He gave us such great information about the
Catholic church and just really what is going on in the church here in Poland.
They have really been trying to work on Unity within the church. The fastest
growing religion here in Poland is Jehovah’s Witness. It’s so crazy that there
is 500 Catholic churches and 30 Protestant churches and only a few of those
churches are really going out and evangelizing and really being the church to
the community. The Polish people are very relational. They love talking and
just being friendly and very respectful. I love being here. Every day is a
learning experience.