Crazy food and transportation

Fun was the name of the game for most of the Poland trip!

I got to try a bunch of neat new foods. Polish cooking is pretty good. However, one of the weirdest things about Polish cuisine is that everything is served with Dill Pickles. For breakfast, yep – you guessed it – Dill Pickles.

One night, Rich and some of his friends from the coffee house made an old Polish favorite – Pickle Soup. Yes, it’s made with Dill Pickles. It was okay – it tasted like warmed up Dill Pickles with sour cream.

I also had a Polish Sausage. Of course, in Poland it isn’t called a “polish sausage,” it’s just called sausage!

Rich drove this really cute car. It’s a Fiat and is super small. It’s about the size of half a normal car. You should have seen Matt, Rich and I squeezed in there. One time, there were four adults riding in his car. One person just over six-feet tall is actually longer than Rich’s car.

We had a major break down enroute to the airport. It wasn't Rich's car, but a Polish friend's. A belt broke about half way there. So, Matt and I climbed out and tried to hitch a ride with anyone who would pull over. We made it to the airport (via a taxi) just in time to catch our plane.

Another great part about this trip is that Matt and I were able to hang out with the youth in Poland. We played ping-pong and helped with the BIG tournament for ping-pong and foozball. I also had a chance to share with the church about work in other areas of the world.

Poland

There are just some things that totally blow your mind. I walked around old town in Warsaw, Poland. I saw shop windows with the Star of David. They looked as if they were straight out of a World War II movie about the Jewish Holocaust. Not far from this area of town, I saw a monument to the Jewish children who used the under city sewage system tunnels to escape or hide.

Not far down the road, I visited a Catholic church with a statue of Pope John Paul III.

It blew my mind to think that I was walking the same streets as the Nazis in World War II. I saw houses where Jews hid or were arrested and sent to prison. Then, seeing the Pope’s memorial made me realize that I was in a country that does not know a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The country has survived rough times, but still seeks hope and peace.

My assignment in this country was to follow around Rich. He works with a coffee house ministry. Through this coffee house, a small church reaches out to their surrounding community. They work with a women’s shelter, teach English classes and work with youth.

Rich’s main job is to hang out with the local youth at the coffee house. He spends his nights playing ping-pong, foozball, and making coffee. The youth in the area have nothing to do but smoke and get into trouble. The coffee house provides a safe environment for them to hang out – and hear about Jesus.

A small Bible study group has started from the youth at the coffee house.

Please pray for Rich and his ministry in Poland.

Weekend at the Lake, Kenya

Janet and I celebrated our birthdays this weekend. Our birthdays are just days apart - so it was very fun to get together. A friend of ours invited us to their lake house for a few days.

We drove up through the tea fields, then across the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe the scenery in this part of Africa. The bright colors of the roadside stands stand out against the different shades of green and brown. Bicyclists grab onto the back of trucks trudging up the steep slopes.

When we turned off the main road, the path became two tire tracks going through a pasture. We bounced our way across the field when we had to stop to allow some zebra to cross our path. On our left, some giraffe stopped chewing on leaves long enough to look at us.

Out at the lake house, we enjoyed tea time with our friends and some great meals. At night, hippos come up from the lake to eat the grass. The yard has a big ditch around it to keep the hippos from getting too close to the house and people. Every night I fell asleep to sounds of nature.

We took walks through the fields. Often troops of baboons ran in front of us – just far enough that we were safe from them. On the left of us, Thompson’s Gazelle and zebra grazed. We walked to a scenic overlook. We could see the lake below and the beautiful layers of mountains and hills. One afternoon we visited Crater Lake. This small lake is at the bottom of a crater. It is supposed to have special healing powers for skin problems.

It was a great way to spend time with my friends and celebrating two birthdays! Africa is at its best when you are out of the city and close to the animals. It’s the romantic Africa described in books and depicted in movies!

Thailand

Floating down the river on six pieces of bamboo, tied together with a few strips of tire tubing, I had to pinch myself. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming – a sudden crash into the rocky bank told me I was awake and was not only soaking wet but that I was really in Thailand.

I went for a meeting, but we managed to sneak out one day to go river rafting and riding elephants. We rode elephants up into the mountains. Village boys rented out their “family” elephant for us to ride. Of course, they went along with us to tell the elephants where to go. It’s always weird to be on top of an elephant, when I am used to the much larger and wild elephants in Africa.

We spent most of the week learning new skills. We took these new media skills out in the evening and tried them out. One night we went to the night market. Some in my group learned how to shoot video, others pictures and still others learned how to capture digital audio. I was in the audio group. My assignment was to come back with sounds depicting the night market. I chose to capture all of the international voices and accents. I recorded people from 20 different countries – from all over Asia and Europe – as well as a Canadian and an American.

We took some more training opportunities at a traditional Thai dinner and dance. While we had fun eating traditional Thai dishes, we got down to work recording what was happening in a variety of ways. Dances in bright costumes danced and entertained us.