STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNGGGG!!!!!

AAAHHHH!!! Who has the best husband and friends in the world? This girl. Last night, The Police played in a city near Katowice (2 hours from us). Our friend Andy had a ticket to go see them with our other friend, Pete. Pete had one extra place in his car and kept asking Scott if he wanted to go too. We were pretty excited for Andy to get to go...I was secretly SUPER jealous though because my brother and sister had seen them the past year in the States and I SSSOOOO wanted to see them too and they were going to be SSSOOO close to us! So, the concert was yesterday and Scott and I headed back into the city (from Olawa) for a day out and Pete was going to pick up Andy here in Olawa, so we said bye and wished Andy a great time. Scott and I go to McDonald's for lunch and I just assumed we'd be spending the day out by IKEA and as we're sitting there eating lunch, here walks Pete into our McDonald's. I immediately knew what was going on and practically ran out of McDonald's to get in Pete's car to go see The Police. AAAAAHH!!!!! When we got in the car I assumed we would stop by Olawa to pick up Andy and that's when Scott told me that Andy had given up his ticket so Scott and I could go together. What a guy. I love that kid...what a gift to give up his ticket to see THE POLICE so I could go with my hubby.

It was AMAZING. AMAAAAAAZZZZING!!!!

Here is a clip from someone's cell phone from our concert. For now, enjoy and I'll write more later.

Time is a flyin'...

It's been one quick and very busy summer. This is why I haven't written since...well, since I haven't written. Scott and I are in charge of summer teams when they come over in the summer. "In charge" meaning: planning their daily schedules, making sure they know how to get around, and making sure they're fed properly. This week we are in Olawa doing a "day camp" of sorts for English students here. I am responsible for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day for 7 people. Whew! Matter of fact, I have to start lunch soon so I don't have much time to write. Anyway, I'm enjoying it. I love cooking and I love taking care of the team so it goes hand in hand. :) During the days while I'm here shopping for groceries and cooking the team leads games & activities from 1-3pm. At 6pm we have a 2 hour cafe each night where we play card games, Scott and Andy play some acoustic stuff, and then we watch a Nooma video. Last night was our first night and it went really well.

Scott and I had the opportunity to make friends with a guy who lives nearby and joined in on our cafe last night. He's in his 30s with two boys - 11 & 13 and his wife of 15 years is about to divorce him. We're hoping we get more chances this week to love on him a bit. So, keep him in your prayers...his name is Jurek (Yoorek).

Okay, time to get back to work!!

HAPPY DADDY'S DAY!!

Let me take a very important moment to say...HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the greatest man in the world, my Daddy! :) This guy has been through a heck of a lot the past couple years...not sure how the four of us kids got so lucky to have such a great Dad. We are incredibly blessed, that's for sure. Love you Daddy! :)

"Proud to be a coal-miner's daugher!" Here he is licking the wall at the Wieliczka Salt Mine...testing to see if the walls were really made of salt. :) (They were!) I think this was Dad's favorite part of the trip. ;)

Here he is with my Mom on a tram in Vienna catchin' all the sites. ;) I love my parents. :) Mom & Dad...enjoy your time alone now cause in just a few weeks you'll have a full house again! :)

And another BIG HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the greatest Father-in-Law in the world! I'm one lucky gal to have married into such a great family. :) Love you Jim!

Prince Caspian

Last night we were able to go see Prince Caspian, the new Narnia movie. There are very few movies that move me the way the Narnia movies do. It was amazing. There's just something about the way they portray Aslan that really really gets to me. So, C.S. Lewis was a Christian when he wrote these books and it I feel like he hits the nail on the head with Aslan. It literally makes me speechless. When I see these films and Aslan comes on the screen I just automatically well up inside, I tear up, and I even get butterflies in my stomach. I feel as though it is this perfect image of the Lord. That's what my Lord is like. In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe the comment is made, "He's not a tame lion, but he is good." Aaaah! Love it. In this second movie it's just perfect. Aslan has the ability to make [even the waves obey him], but his relationship with Lucy is like a loving Father to his child. It takes my breath away. Aaaaah!!! If you haven't seen it....go! And when you do...let me know what you think! Here's an international trailer.

Breathe...

It's been a while. Our team arrived a week ago this past Friday and time is already flying. We went to a city about an hour train ride from Wroclaw and worked in a primary school there. The team (the 5 of us) were split up into three different homes for the week. I have no good words to tell how great that experience was for us. Andy stayed with the young pastor of the church, Pawel - a single guy right at 30 yrs old who LOVED NBA Basketball (especially the Lakers), the girls stayed with the missionaries there we've been working with for two years - Gary & Ewa and their two kids...a Polish/Australian family with bilingual kids...can't get much cooler than that. Scott and I had the priviledge of staying with one of the single gals in the church, Ola - 30yrs old and the sweetest gal you could ever hope to meet. Last week we were able to go into the classroom and openly share the Gospel with each primary class and talk about how God is loving and forgiving. We also had a campfire at the end of the week for the school hosted by the Baptist church (which is a BIG DEAL here!). It was great...very fruitful, however - the best part for us was staying with each of these hosts. We experienced the body of Christ in a very practical way last week and it was so refreshing. These hosts went out of their way to make us each feel welcome in their home. Each morning, Ola set breakfast on the table for us. :) We all had really great oportunities to spend some quality time with these families. It was a great week.

We're so busy though. I woke up this morning with a very sore throat, but still went about my business today. This week we're "leading conversation classes" in the school. We decided at the last minute to really open the door to talk about God...and mainly the difference between RELIGION and FAITH. Anyway, I really enjoy being in the high school classes - the kids are really open and very curious but I'm afraid I talked too much today. My throat has gotten worse as the day goes by. Scott got me some pretty potent throat drops so I've been sucking on those to numb my throat. So the team is out hanging with the high schoolers in the Rynek, and I'm here trying to rest my voice.

We've been so busy, thus leading to a lack of me spending much time with the Lord (which is no excuse, I know)...thinking about this fact, I thought of a wonderful Nooma video. You all who read our newsletter know how Nooma videos were a big part of the ministry here last year. Well, I found it on YouTube. :) I don't know...since we've been here the Lord has just really done a lot in our lives...opened up our minds a bit. Like every other Christian in the world I'm sure, I get frustrated with the church. Not the "church" that Paul refers to in the Bible, but the church we see today. The ones that focus too much on politics, constantly provide us with a list of things we can and cannot do, have fundraiser after fundraiser to raise money to add a movie theater and a ferris wheel to their list of attractions, all the while not batting an eye at their next door neighbors who are going through their trash looking for food or cans to recycle. I'm not saying every one is like this, but we can all be like that sometimes can't we?

I say all of this to promote the reading/listening to/watching anything done by Rob Bell. Rob Bell is the pastor of a church in Grand Rapids, Michigan called "Mars Hill Bible Church." Also, I HIGHLY PROMOTE the listening to/reading of anything done by this guy:

Rick McKinley.
Rick is the pastor of Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon. You can download podcasts by
Rick McKinley and Rob Bells off of iTunes and they are FANTASTIC. Funny, witty, truthful and relevant messages. You can also read Rick's Blog at http://rickmckinley.net/

So, anyway...I LOVE LOVE LOVE this Nooma. It's one of my favorites...it's called "Breathe." Enjoy. May you allow the Spirit to move this week.

Part 1


Part 2