Call in the Work Crews

Our family spent the summer at Fala's camp facility H2O. There were 3 work groups that came through the summer: Foothills Bible Church (our home church), another crew of 3 groups together (Arizona, Poland, and Ireland), and the 3rd crew from Wroclaw (west Poland).

Call in the work crew!!


Click here to read the full story of the H2O summer and the teams.

In Two Directions!!

Summer began with Greg and Josiah Venture Poland's Summer Interns headed to NE Poland for English / Sport Camp

Greg with the Intern Team

Kids enjoying the day

Learning vocabulary!

Lovin' It!

Heidi, Kelsey, and Jillian flew to California to visit Heidi's family as well as Grandma Carlson.

Girls with my sister, Aunt Linda

Oma, Jillian, Uncle Cliff, Aunt Linda, Aunt Terri (sister), and Kelsey

At the beach with Grandma Carlson and Oma

With Uncle Cliff

Last Day of School!

Jillian completed 2nd grade and Kelsey 5th grade. Here they are on their last day; Jillian with her teacher and classmates, Kelsey with her classmates. Greg and I are so proud of what our girls can accomplish in their second language. Way to go girls!!

More fun

This morning as I drove the carpool to school I had some classic music playing quietly. The kids were talking and during a lull in conversation noticed the music. They turned it up and within 5 seconds they all at the same time announced "That's Bach!". They then went through the selection naming the composers: Bach, Beethoven,...

When I was 11 I was trying to memorize that rap song "I am wonder Mike and I'd like to say hello..." or something like that.

These kids have all 3 High School Musical releases memorized as well!

Fun time in life.

Just for fun..

Mirek and Ania joined our home group last night. Since it was their first time, Greg asked if they could share how they met and married. They met at a youth retreat in 1983 and had a conversation. Afterward Mirek kept thinking about Ania and so he wrote her 2 letters. He didn’t know her last name and knew only that she lived in the city Bielsko Biala (about 45 miles from his home). After asking around, he got her address and traveled by train to her city. However, at that time in Poland, under martial law, he needed permission to travel out of his county into the next county, which he didn’t have. Did you read that correctly? From county to county, not country, traveling papers were needed. At each train stop militia asked for identification and traveling papers. Somehow he made it to Ania’s house, dropped the letters in her mailbox and returned home; he didn’t even knock on her door.

Their story goes on and of course they got married, but what struck me was that was only 25 years ago! So much has changed here in Poland. It’s no wonder there is such a huge gap between parents in their 40s/50s and their children. Today Poles can travel Europe with only legal identification (like a drivers license or social security card) without permission or checkpoints.

Oh may this generation of young people who have freedom their parents never had at their ages know that their true freedom can be found only in Jesus.

Summertime

Summer is here - school is almost over and camp season has begun! This weekend throughout Central and Eastern Europe, Josiah Venture summer interns will be serving in Evangelistic English camps. This summer's theme is Stories.

As you look at our logo, its look is a familiar "block" apartment building, but you can see lights on in some apartments. This is our endeavor, to shine our lights right where we live. Pray for us and our summer team.

Pray that God's story will capture Polish hearts this summer. Please pray for our Poland summer interns: Kaylanne, Michal, Jordan, and Jessica. Pray for our camp staff: Laura, Jola, Dan, Alice, Krista. And pray for the polish youth groups that are hosting these camps.

This summer H2O will have several teams coming through to renovate!! Greg will be overseeeing them this summer. Pray for wonderful conversations as Polish youth groups work alongside North American church groups as they build a camp facility together!!

See on the left for both a slideshow of H2O and our "H2O Extreme Make Over!" blogsite.

Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime...

Renovating

I read in TIME (April 13) of a renovated 1889 bank in former Eastern Germany turned classy 5 star hotel in Berlin’s mint section. After WWII, the marbled flooring and detailed walls were covered up because it was too ornate for the soviet look. The renovation was 102 million dollars.
This caught my attention because we are in ongoing renovation of H2O, a camping facility. A week ago we heard good news about applying for European Union grants designated to small towns in Silesia, Poland – right where H2O is located. The maximum amount possible is equivalent to 3 million dollars. The article made me wonder where the classy bank / classy hotel renovation funds came from. Investments? Loans? European Union grants?

Old classy buildings torn down or redesigned for new buildings I see everywhere here. Old buildings become coffee shops, office buildings, hair salons, add class to new modern shopping centers, or, as in Berlin, a 5 star hotel. Oh how I long for an old coal mining recreation site to become an active, fun, camping experience for Poland.