Day 14 - Saying Goodbye

Monday morning came sooner than any of us expected. The weary travellers arose early (those who had gone to sleep, that is) and prepared to leave the hostel. Some unnamed people chose to begin their packing right as the taxi arrived, resulting in loud voices that echoed down the hallways and woke the remainder of the group up.

The Canadians, Peter Mahar, and our New-Yorker left first, at 4am, or perhaps a little after that due to late risers. Pawel and a few taxis picked them up and brought them to the airport and left only the Alaskans, the RCC group, our fine Japanese friend, and the foursome that was to travel further for another week. The foursome includes us (the Dukes) and David.

We struggled to hold back tears as the RCC group left us at 5:15 am. Many friendships were made on the part of all 3 remaining groups, so it was an emotional farewell indeed. When Pawel arrived to pick up the RCC group, we gave our last hugs and parting words and then waved goodbye. Thus left a sad little group of persons at the almost empty hostel.

Miwaza left us at 8am to travel by train to Poznan, where she would then take a plane to Tokyo, Japan. Her sense of humour and her unique personality shall be missed. And also her photography skills.

The Alaskans and the small Canadian group were now left. So, to pass the time, we all made the walk into town one last time and ate breakfast at a bakery. After some confusion, we finally settled down and ate our last meal together before parting ways. We then returned to the hostel to finish packing so we could leave with Pawel by 11am. We exchanged hugs and goodbyes and then left the Alaskans alone at the hostel. Those wonderful people will be greatly missed. They were to leave at about 1pm.

Now, alone and free from a large group, we, the fearsome four, travelled with Pawel to the airport, where we went through security with no problems and then wandered around for a time before catching a plane to Berlin, Germany.

By the time we arrived, got out of the airport, found a hotel, and got ourselves settled for the night, it was quite late but we were all very hungry. We cured this by searching around for a restaurant and finally settling on Mexican food. Which is funny, since it's supposed to be Germany.
The waiter was really friendly and gave us great service, allowing us to leave with our stomachs full and satisfied.

Sleep overcame us quickly as we went back to the hotel and got some much-needed sleep in preparation for the busy week ahead of us.

The mission trip to Poland was absolutely amazing and we accomplished more than probably any of us ever expected. But none of this would've happened without Pastor Bubu Jarmulak and Pastor Pawel Bartosik. They were our brave leaders and faithful companions, and through their strength and faith, we were able to do much in Poznan and Gdansk. Thank you so much, Bubu and Pawel! We are all very grateful for your work and perseverance and your strong faith in the Lord. We look forward to meeting you both again in the future!

We are also very thankful for each of these pastor's families and their individual faiths. They have all been wonderful to talk to and get to know and they have made the trip all the better!

Praise the Lord for these people and our work in Poland! We are truly and eternally grateful! The precious moments we have all shared together will never be forgotten.

Day 13

Sunday was a great day filled with fellowship, fun, and relaxation. We started it off with dragging our groggy selves out of bed just a little too late than we should have, racing the clock to get ready, and then walking down to Pawel's church, just a short distance away from the hostel. They rent the chapel of a school, but it has wonderful acoustics and is a great place for worship.

Now fully awake, we were happy to sing 5 or 6 songs for the congregation before the service began. We then listened as Pastor Vanderveen preached and Jola, Pawel's wife, translated. We sang the Nicene Creed and the Doxology simultaneously with the same hymns sung by the Polish people, and then we went up for a finale, which was met with joy. On our last song, I'm sure many of us got sentimental, as we knew it would be the last time we sang together.

15 new people attended the church, all people who had seen us sing in the streets or at our evening concerts. We felt blessed to be able to speak with most of them after, and even more blessed that they seemed very interested in the church and the Word of Jesus Christ. There was one Catholic lady present and an amber craftsman named Wojciech (pronounced Voy-check) who has been struggling for many years. Many of our visitors say they plan to attend church next Sunday, including Wojciech, who has obviously been convicted and has been very blessed by our work in Poland. Please pray for him and for the others who attended church.

After a wonderful service, we enjoyed more fellowship with each other, Pawel, and members from Pawel's church. We had an excellent lunch that the ladies of the church had prepared for us, and then we watched an unofficial concert put on by Pastor Pawel and two other men. They played guitar and sang songs in Polish, and then invited anyone else up who wished to perform. Joseph and Benjamin Forster played some guitar duets and then Mr. Unger and Rebekah came up and sang. It was a great time and definitely a highlight of the day.

Volleyball entertained us for the remainder of the afternoon after Racha attempted to make a net with plastic bags tied together. Thankfully, the janitor of the school had hung around so he provided us with red caution tape to tie between two basketball nets. Our net held well and we played fast-paced and competitive games of volleyball before going back to the hostel to relax....

Or so we thought. Most of us relaxed, but some of us were convinced to play the highlighted sport of the trip... Frisbee. It was super fun and wild dives for the frisbee were included in the game, resulting in less clean clothes than we had come outside with.

Our game was interrupted when Peter and Miwaza came out to interview everyone on what they thought the best part of the trip was and what they learned. My favourite part has definitely been getting together with similar churches from around the globe and getting to know all the awesome people. They are all amazing people and I know that many of the friendships made will be long-lasting for a lot of us.

I have learned a lot as a result of the trip, probably even more than I realize. I've learned how to be more bold and step out of the bubble called my world, and I've learned how to be far less anti-social than I tend to be, and how to serve others instead of myself. I am extremely thankful for the work we have been able to accomplish in both Poznan and Gdansk. I hope and pray that the light we have shone in a dark country will further the glory of God's Kingdom and bring many unsaved ones to Christ. I am certain we have not only blessed those in Poland by this mission trip, but also others who have heard of our work and success.

After our short interviews, we played a few more rounds of frisbee before changing into clean clothes to have our last dinner together at the catering place. We were all sad to be eating together this last time, and some of us got slightly emotional as Pawel handed us each a thank-you certificate for our work, a Gdansk souvenir, and an old Polish coin. We are truly blessed to have Pawel as another example of a fearless Christian leader, just as Bubu was and is.

The rest of the evening was our time to do whatever we wished and get in our final hours of fellowship with one another. Some people went into town to get some of Gdansk's famous waffles, while everyone else went back to the hostel to sit around and talk, play even more frisbee, and play crazy games of Spit, a card game.

Some of us purposely energized ourselves for an all-nighter, a night full of card games, hyperness, and fun. We couldn't imagine sleeping while we only had a few precious hours left until we had to leave each other. While several wanted to stay awake all night, only a few red-eyed people succeeded. Some dozed off for a few hours, only to wake up to the sky just beginning to lighten up and noisy teenagers still playing cards and chatting away.

Day 12 - Our Final Big Day

Saturday was our last working day in Poland. We woke up to find Elyse, Landon, and Nathaniel gone from the hostel and then shortly after devotions, we discovered that Bubu would be leaving us soon as well. We were all saddened by this news and wanted to make the best out of our last day with him.

Bubu is truly an amazing person. He has put in so much effort to make this endeavor to Poland happen and he is a great example of how a Christian should act. We will all miss his unique personality and his witty but "serious" humour. He has some amazing kids and an even more amazing wife, and we are continuing to pray that God will bless his church and make it grow and flourish.

To begin the day, we all dispersed from the devotions room to go to various places around town. Some of us wanted to stay in Old Town and help hand out flyers or do some shopping, while others decided they would make the 20-minute walk over to the mall and spend Bubu's last hours in Poland with him. After an hour or so of wandering the mall's shops, we gathered in a cafeteria and had some coffee and nice chats for 15 or so minutes.

At 10:30, we headed back to the town square so that we would be in time to sing at 11:00. We sang a couple times before our stomachs decided to make noises, and then we ventured down to Subway to eat a good lunch. While there, we were entertained by several breakdancers who had set up their station in front of the restaurant.

We bid our final goodbyes to Bubu and then went back to the evangelizing station to sing once more. After singing a few songs, we walked downtown towards the St. Mary's cathedral and received permission to sing in the church. It was truly an amazing experience singing in a place with such great acoustics. What was even more amazing was that we were singing Reformed hymns in a Catholic church. What a great way to minister to the Catholic saints of Poland! Afterwards, we invited a few of the members of our rather large audience of tourists and Gdansk residents to our final concert later in the evening.

Our spirits lifted considerably and we left to prepare for our last concert together in Poland. We held it at the outside theatre in Old Town again and we attracted several people, many of which had heard us sing in the cathedral. This was probably the best turnout we had ever had out of all our concerts. We made our best attempt to sing, even while sweltering in the unpredicted heat, and then listened as Mr. Unger preached a short but strong sermon that brought curious responses on the faces of many onlookers.

We were able to converse with a few people afterwards, and we felt blessed because of their willingness to receive God's Word. We even invited several of them to church the following morning, in hope that they would come.

Before dinner, most of us returned to the hostel to freshen up, while some of us walked along the harbour to look at several boats that had pulled in. There was a Russian boat, several sailboats, and even a large ship from a 1970's movie called "Mutiny on the Bounty." After these excursions, me met at the evangelizing station to walk to a restaurant for dinner.

Dinner was at a fancy Turkish restaurant along the pier of Gdansk. We had great food, fellowship, and much laughter on behalf of a few unmentioned members of the team. In between waiting for our food to arrive, we wrote in each other's journals and picked up some more great quotes for Peter's quote book.

The food was delicious, when it finally came, but most of us waited for at least 2 hours to get it. By the time everyone was ready to leave, Sam and Rebekah had still not received their dinner, so they went out for pizza instead, along with a few others. The rest of the group either went back to the hostel to relax after a full day, or they stayed in town to do some last shopping, listen to beautiful violin music played on the streets, or get colourful hair pieces braided in their hair.

We finished off the day with frisbee, an encounter with a hedgehog that someone named Trevor, and a UFO discovery. The "UFO" was actually a giant floating lantern that had burnt out, along with a number of other duplicates.

Sleep was the next thing on everyone's mind, as we all wanted to be rested up for worship at Pawel's church and great fellowship with the people there.

Day 11 - The Baltic Sea

Our first day of full sun in a long while came on Friday. We praised the Lord for it and spent a glorious day at the Baltic Sea after a 20-minute train ride, where we had the pleasure of dipping our toes in the sea, walking along the pier, playing a mad game of frisbee that included diving into the deep sand, and just breathing in the salty air. Some of us felt impulsed to jump into the sea, clothes and all, while the others, including me, were content with just walking in the water till it washed over our feet. Most of the guys were not satisfied with just that and, wanting every guy to be just as wet as the other, they pulled Joe in, making his white pants sopping and covered in sand.

About half of the group stayed behind in Gdansk Old Town with Pawel, to hand out invitations and relax. The other half decided this was not enough and instead enjoyed a pleasurable excursion to the beach, led by Pastor Bubu. After this seaside adventure, those of us who swam changed their clothes and we trekked back to the train station to return to the town square for another Subway lunch. We met up with the others, who were a step ahead of us and had already eaten their lunch.

Lunch passed quickly and we met at the appointed time to do a round or two of singing. The in-between times were spent wandering around town and doing a little shopping. Our first concert of two was at 4pm in the outdoor theatre in town. We had a pretty good turnout, despite the rain that was threatening to break loose from the sky. Fortunately, we only witnessed a small attack from the army of raindrops, which did not at all affect our singing. We had a large group of people who stopped to listen, and several people sat in the seats set out for them. We sang quite well and Dr. Horvath delivered a strong sermon. We were all quite satisfied with our performance.

We rushed over to the catering place to eat dinner, and then prepared ourselves for the next concert at 9pm. The 2nd concert of the day, held at La Fontaine again, did not have as good of a turnout as the earlier one did. This is partly due to the fact that it was raining... no, more like pouring. This forced us to huddle under a canopy on the "stage" where we sang, which actually made us sound better because it changed the acoustics. We did have some of the attendants stay and watch though, which made it nice.

After our tired voices sang out in our 2nd last official concert of the trip, the younger crowd went back to the hostel, while those above 18 went back into town to celebrate Elyse's birthday and eat pizza. They wanted to make the best of Nathaniel, Elyse, and Landon's last night in Gdansk, as they were going to leave us the next morning to tour Prague and Vienna for a week.

The party animals got back late and many of them stayed up all hours of the night and into the early morning, but the younger ones were wise and decided to go to sleep at 12am so that they would be fully prepared for the weekend.

Please continue to thank the Lord for our progress so far in ministering to the Polish! We hope this will lead into many new members being added to the body of the church.

Day 10 - Malbork Castle

Day 10 was a day to revitalize and give our voices a rest. In doing so, we took a 1-hour train ride to Malbork to sightsee for the day and visit Malbork Castle, the largest castle in Europe and the biggest castle in the world that is made out of bricks. It was truly an amazing sight to see and we learned a little about the history of the castle because of a guided tour through most of its rooms and halls. Most of us would've liked to take a little more time in each room, though, as the tour was very rushed.

We saw many armour and weapon exhibitions and we even got to sing The Nicene Creed in an election room with great acoustics. It sounded amazing and other tourists walking nearby stopped to watch and then applaud us at the end. After this adventure of sorts, our enthusiastic tour guide led us outside to the courtyard to end the tour. Then, Pastor Vanderveen gave us two choices. To eat, or not to eat. Those of us starving beings who chose to eat left the boundaries of the castle to hunt for a place for lunch. The others stayed behind to climb up the steep tower of Malbork Castle.

We eventually found a cheap outside restaurant with delicious food on the outskirts of the castle wall. Having satisfied our stomachs, we trapsed back into town and met up with the other group. A certain few of their members bragged about how they got to go up the tower AND eat lunch, and still finish before us. But I argued that we finished long before they did.

After a wild rush to the train station to catch our train back to Gdansk, we settled down on benches and realized we still had plenty of time. The train screeched in sooner than we knew it, and we all piled on, once again causing the panic to rise in the hearts of many other passengers. It took us some time to find seats, and when we did, most of us crashed in exhaustion, while others chattered away. The hour ride back left most of us leaving the train in clumsy steps and with drowsy spirits. I'm sure many of us were thankful that we did not have to push ourselves to get through another night of singing.

Instead of a concert and our usual eating out for dinner, we had the pleasure of a "home"-cooked meal by Elyse and her trusty kitchen crew. The kitchen was a bustle of activity and happy songs as the crew worked together to make spaghetti and salad for over 35 hungry stomachs. Elyse had also recruited a few of the young and able men to prepare the table in the devotions room for eating on. While Tanaya picked flowers to decorate the table with bouquets, Sam made nametags and placed people wherever he wished. This proved to create conflict within a certain few, as they were not satisfied with Sam's choices.

Those of us who were not chosen or did not volunteer to help with dinner preparations stayed out of the way by playing an exciting frisbee game of "monkey in the middle" for a time. When the time came to eat, everyone was more than ready for it. We all filed into the adjoining building of the hostel to enjoy a hearty meal, followed by a mass cleanup afterwards. I took charge of the cleanup crew and began the arduous work of washing the plastic dishes and the pots. Thankfully, I did not have to complete the task alone. After washing nearly half of the dishes, Elyse recruited the troops and an army of fearless warriors charged in to take command of the battle station. In no time at all, the dishes were washed, dryed, and put away.

Mafia quickly became the next activity of the night, but we had many distractions and left the kitchen (which was also our games room) winner-less. After a brisk walk outside before curfew, we climbed into our beds to get our last rest before a long and busy Friday that was to come.

Rejoice in the Lord always! He is good!

~Julia, blogger in chief~

Day 9

Day 9 in Gdansk, Poland began with the usual breakfast together and then devotions afterwards. The one thing of note that happened was that Pastor Vanderveen locked his keys in his room and had to call in a man to assist in breaking and entering his steadfast door.

We spent the morning riding on a seeming magnificent pirate ship. It was beautiful, although rather fake looking once up close, and the rain plundered down on us as we rode the waves and toured around the harbour. Actually, the ship was more of a restaurant on water, as hot chocolate, coffee, and tea were available to puchase, as well as food. After a half-hour cruise alternating between hiding from the wind and fearless drops, and facing the wind at the bow of the ship, we arrived safely on shore. We then walked around an unfamiliar part of town and came across monuments to Polish soldiers who had fought in WWII, some WWII ruins, and a gift shop, where several people purchased bullet necklaces.

After a few hours of this "sight-seeing," we headed back to the dock to catch the boat back to the Old Town of Gdansk. While we waited, a number of us dangled our feet over the side of the dock and munched on trail mix that a few of us had brought along.

The ride back was even more beautiful than the first had been. The rain had subsided and it was now a gentle wind that blew into our faces and lightened our spirits (or so I can imagine). We all almost reluctantly removed ourselves from the ship and headed to our evangelizing station to sing and hand out more fliers, and then trapse over to Subway for lunch.

Before dinner came, we handed out invitations, sang some more, and, in between those times, we rushed over to the mall to do a little shopping. The day was not quite as rainy as other days, so we had a pleasant time wandering around town and doing our long waited for missions work.

Dinner was at the same catering restaurant as the previous night and then we returned to the hostel to prepare ourselves once again for another concert. The concert was held in the town square at an outside theater and we had a fairly good turnout. Pastor Vanderveen delivered a sermon while a curious crowd listened. Thankfully, the weather held up and only brought down a light sprinkle of rain.

After our tired voices sang as many songs as Joseph had planned, we dragged our feet back to the hostel and re-boosted our energy with rounds of Dutch Blitz and Poker. Our weary heads were very ready to rest as we settled down to sleep our 3rd night in Gdansk.

We are continuing to praise God for the work we have been able to accomplish in Poland!

Note: I will be posting pictures soon.

Day 8

Our first morning in Gdansk began with everyone dragging themselves out of bed to eat an early breakfast and have devotions in another building. We listened to Elyse while she gave her brief spiel about a scripture verse, and then we dispersed and prepared to venture out into the Old Town of Gdansk.

Upon reaching our determined destination, we hung out around town, sang in the streets after every hour or so, handed out invitations to our evening concerts, and then took a break for lunch at Subway. We also got to meet Pawel, his family, Mariusz, and Ewa. After a satisfying meal, we repeated the same process minus handing out invitations. Instead, a large group of us went to Saint Mary's cathedral and climbed up the several hundred steps to see a magnificent view. The beauty of it was glorious and really reflected God's creation.

Dinner was eaten at a catering place near the hostel and, after we had consumed our fill of chicken, potatoes, salad, and soup, we went to the hostel to change into our concert outfits. We then took a tram to our first concert in Gdansk at an enclosed area called La Fontaine. We had a pretty good turnout and we listened as Mr. Unger delivered a short sermon. The people there seemed to be blessed by our singing as we talked to many of them afterwards, thanking them for coming. It was a marvelous night of singing and having refreshments that the people at La Fontaine had so graciously laid out for us.

It was a satisfying day. The weather was warm again, but still cloudy. It was altogether a wonderful first day in Gdansk.

Walking up the rather steep stairs leading to the tower of the Saint Mary's cathedral.

The beautiful view at the top of the tower.

Inside the cathedral.

An interesting calender/clock thing in the cathedral.

The presentation picture that Pawel painted and talked about during our street evangelizing.

Day 7

The first half of Monday, Day 7 of the adventure, was spent riding on a train to Gdansk. We got up early, packed all our belongings, locked up everything, and left the hostel in Poznan. We then took a tram to the train station, where Pastor V. bought tickets and where we ate breakfast at KFC until the train departed.

We were sad to leave the shining city of Poznan, but I'm sure most of us were extremely happy to go to the more country part of Poland. I know I was, and still am. Gdansk is a beautiful town with a seaport and ships, tall buildings, and green rolling hills. Everything balances out almost perfectly. Even the weather seems to be accomodating itself to our arrival. The sun is out and the weather is once again back to its warm self.

The train ride from Poznan to Gdansk lasted for 6 hours, but it went fast because we occupied ourselves with switching cabins every now and then and mastering mafia, whist, and even poker. A certain few of us got in some sleep, but the others were just too overcome by the scenery that flew past us to even bother thinking about closing their eyes. It was a long ride, yet totally worth it in almost every way.

Upon finally reaching the train stop that was really ours, instead of just stops at other stations, we piled out and headed down to our new hostel. A few of our members had near encounters with poles once again, as we trekked down to the place that was to be our home for the next six days. The hostel itself is a lot nicer and more well kept. The only minuses are no internet connection in the rooms themselves, no washer and dryer, a shared building between the guys and girls, and beds that are not the most comfortable.

We settled ourselves in and then clambered our sleepy and hungry selves out of the hostel, heading towards the Old Town of Gdansk and to a restaurant where we had reservations for dinner. It was at the Sphinx once again, and as we sat down at outdoor tables, we felt a chill surround us. The sun had gone behind the clouds and most of us had not brought coats. Occasionally, throughout the course of dinner, beggars would come to our table, asking for food and money for beer. Of course, out of the kindness of our hearts, we didn't give them anything and told them to leave. I know, so kind, eh?

Gelato icecream was our dessert and then we explored Old Town until the time came to return to the hostel. The remainder of the night just flew by after that, and before we knew it, the building grew quiet and everyone was asleep.

Outside the train station in Gdansk.

The gorgeous river we pass as we travel to and from the hostel.

Some of the older buildings and ruins in Gdansk.

Day 6

Sunday! We had a nice relaxing day and started it out with visiting Bubu's church in the second floor of a comfortable little barn. We took a bus ride from the hostel that was about half an hour long, and then walked through the mud and rain to get to the barn. We listened to the Polish people sing Polish songs and attempted to sing them as well, and then we, the English speaking folks, had our turn to lift our voices to God. Pastor Jack Phelps preached the sermon, while Bubu translated, and then we blessed the congregation by singing a few of our evangelizing hymns.

After the service, we had a delicious homecooked lunch of lamb, bread, and fresh fruit. There was also plenty of wine laid out on a table for people to drink. Following lunch, we walked along a beautiful park, took some group shots, and saw a gorgeous mansion. We also met a cool blue beetle which someone named Turtle and some other red and black bugs crawling all over a shire-like door. After an hour of nature walking and taking in the beauty of God's creation, we said our last farewells to Sarah, David, and Eva, Bubu's wife. We are going to miss having them grace us with their company, but alas, they had to return home. After this, we took the bus back to the hostel to prepare dinner.

The boys cooked sausages on grills while a hyper Elyse V. joined our group due to a long plane ride from BC. We ate our dinner, heard about Rebekah U's encounter and debate with an American Mormon, and then had devotions outside, where we had eaten our dinner. Our stomachs were satisfied and our hearts were warm when we all finally left the outdoors to get some "beauty sleep," as Pastor Vanderveen likes to call it.

On the bus going to church.

The barn we worshipped in.

One of many old and really cool trees in the countryside of Gdansk.

The red and black bugs that I know not what their names are.

Welcome to the Shire. Just cut off the corners of the door and round it a little and you have a hobbit's home.

The mansion we walked by.

The back of the mansion. Still just as beautiful.

One of the oldest oak trees in Poland.

Saying goodbye to Sarah.

A cathedral in Poznan.

Day 5

The weekend has come upon us, and with it, a strong wind and a light sprinkle of rain. Everyone had their umbrellas up and open, but the wind prevented us from holding them still for much longer than 2 seconds. But before any of this, choir practice and devotions were held in the girls' hostel again and then Pastor Vanderveen gave us our instructions for the day. These instructions were that we would have a free morning to do whatsoever each one of us pleased.

A number of us trapsed into the Starbucks in the mall and had a lovely time guzzling hot drinks and listening to jazz music. It was quite a relaxing time. Somehow, our conversation dropped from normal talk to stuff about ninjas and other weird things. This is when I quote Sam. "Everyone's a ninja at heart."

After our starbucks adventure, everyone wandered around and shopped a little in the mall and around Old Town. It was a great time for most people, but Nathaniel V. was not so lucky. He pulled a cartoon stunt by turning around and smashing into a glass door, squishing his face against it. Meanwhile, on the outside of the mall, Rachel did an imperial march with an umbrella in hand, pretending to be Mary Poppins. She can really pull it off, I must say.

Lunch came around the corner before we realized it, so the small group I was in, consisting of four other people, headed to the food court in the mall and ordered salads from a salad bar. It was very good and and nice to eat fresh vegetables for a change, instead of the usual cooked meats and veggies. Sam took pleasure in making a tower-type structure with the empty dishes, cutlery, and napkins when we had finished eating.

The hostel awaited us yet again as we came to get ready for our next concert. This time it was on a dome type stage in the middle of a park outside. Thankfully, we were under cover, so the rain did not hit us, but this caused only a few people to actually show up to the concert to hear us sing. Occasionally, some people passing by would stop and listen, but most of the time, they steared clear of the wet benches and scurried off to search for a warmer climate elsewhere. The concert went well overall, and one elderly lady applauded and grinned from ear to ear each time a hymn was completed. Mr. Horvath spoke in a loud voice to deliver his words to the people standing or sitting near.

We hopped on the tram of many stops to catch our reservation for dinner at the "dumpling place," but first we visited an old cathedral, which had just held a wedding and was about to have mass. We waited till the bride and groom were safely out of the building before mobbing the beautiful floors of the cathedral. It was breath-taking how ancient and well-preserved everything looked. The moment you take your first steps in, you feel as if you have just passed the portal through time and entered the 18th or 19th century. The priests dress in gowns and hold mass every day.

We stepped back into reality after the amazing experience in the chapel, and we faced the brisk wind and rain yet again. Our umbrellas seemed useless for the situation we were in, but nevertheless, they were at least able to guard us a little bit from the rain.

Upon leaving the tram to head to Old Town, we dispersed and decided we would meet each other in about an hour to go to our dinner reservations. I decided I would race to catch up with Sam and Bethany, who had left to go coat shopping. The coats they had brought were hardly sufficient to hold off the shifting temperatures of the weather. After some trying on and looking around on the part of Bethany and Sam, they finally decided on coats and we headed out to go to dinner, but not before Bethany turned me around and told me she would buy me a scarf.

Dinner was good, but very filling. Not much happened at the dinner table except for lots of talking and laughing and having a jolly old time. Then, a number of the younger members of the group made our way to the good ol' hostel for a night's sleep. Or at least, we thought that's what we'd be doing. But a lot of people were locked out, due to their roommates not having returned yet, which resulted in the chucking of banana pieces into the boy's hostel, in Pastor Vanderveen's 3-story high window. This locked out business ended late at night, in which everyone finally returned and had a good night's rest (or so I hope).

The cathedral we went to.

Standing outside in the damp weather. This is just proof of all I've been saying about the rain.

~Julia, blogger in chief~

Please pray for us as we travel to Gdansk on Monday and pray that more people there would attend our concerts. Thank you!

Day 4

It's Friday! Yes, unfortunately, that song was sung by an anonymous person this very day. It is indeed Friday, and I cannot believe this week is already almost over. Two more days and then we move on to Gdansk to spend a week evangelizing there.

We spent the first half of the day practicing our choir songs in the girls' hostel, handing out more flyers, street evangelizing, and ending it by eating lunch at KFC. During our flyer distributions, most of us learned how to say the words for "We invite you to the concert," but several of us had trouble remembering the phrase. We have learned many basic Polish words over the course of this trip, thanks to Pastor "Bubu" Jarmulak's son, David, and his sister, Sarah. They love to laugh at us, though, when we say the words wrong.

After filling our stomachs with food, we marched out of KFC and handed out as many more flyers as we possibly could. Everyone split into small groups and we had fun saying our new Polish phrase to people as they went past and we held out the slips of paper. A couple hours went by and then came the time for us to return to the hostel to prepare for our first concert at a small church near the town square. We freshened up, dressed appropiately for a concert, and then walked down to the church while shivering because of a lack of warmth.

The concert itself went extremely well and we had a pretty good turnout, about 25 people. Pastor Vanderveen delivered a brief sermon while Bubu translated it into Polish. The Lord answered our prayers by giving us the voices to sing, returning Nathaniel V's lost luggage, allowing Benjamin F. a safe journey to Poland, and bringing more than just a few people to the concert. Some even stayed afterwards to talk more about the gospel with members of our team.

Following the grand success of the concert was dinner, which we ate in the mall at a restaurant called the Sphinx. It was delicious food, but the meat was a little dry. Afterwards, the weary travelers made their homeward, or rather hostelward, march back to rest their aching feet and close their eyes for a time.

This is the quaint little church we held our concert at.

Day 3

Day 3 was just as exciting, if not more, than Day 2 was. We met at the usual time and then boarded the train to go to the Christian school to practice. We would not walk the entire stretch again. We got mildly confused on which trains to go on, which resulted in a lost team member, one who mistakenly got on the wrong bus. Gary Duke (my Dad) had to run all the way to the next bus stop to retrieve Tanaya, the mistaken member.

The day began with instant heat, but ended in rain. And when it rains, it pours, with gigantic drops that you would not find in BC. We say Vancouver rains, but if you haven't seen Poland when it rains, you haven't seen rain. Because of this, we had to make a delay in our singing and instead decided to hand out pamphlets, inviting people to our evening concerts. We each got 140 or so pamphlets and had to hand them to people walking by. Some accept them, some don't. Thankfully, we had Anna with us, who has a gift for doing this sort of thing. It must have something to do with her charming smile. ;)The guys (that would be Sam and Joe) were a huge help at first, but once a fancy sport's car came into their view, they just HAD to take a picture of it. That lasted only until the owner of the car drove off.

When the rain finally subsided (or at least we thought it did), we began to sing our merry tunes. Several people just walked by us, but a few stopped to listen and even clapped at the end of every hymn. One man was obviously so blessed by our joyful singing, that he went up and kissed Rebekah Unger's hand. It was rather embarassing, but hey, if these people are blessed by our spreading the gospel, that's great! :P

After a few songs, we headed downtown to sing in a different part of town. We walked by a few chapels, sang some more lovely hymns, and got rained on. We repeated the same process until lunchtime, which consisted of McDonald's food in a mall even larger than the one in Old Town. After a hearty, or not so hearty meal, we decided we would explore the mall and its shops. The guys were interested in the shoe shops, while the girls were content with just browsing through miscellaneous clothes stores. Most of the group met outside at the appointed place and time of 2:15, while other wanderers were late and received a shameful comment by Pastor Vanderveen.

We boarded the tram to return to the hostel until dinner time, taking extra care Tanaya did not hop on the wrong one. By the time we returned, we were all literally soaked to the skin because of the rain cascading upon us. We had a couple hour's rest at the hostel, and some time to change into dry clothes, and then we went out yet again for dinner at a restaurant that I forget the name of. This time we were prepared for battle, ready to face the beating drops of the rain. At the restaurant, there was only a waiter and a waitress, and they had to serve our entire group. The waitress was rushing around constantly, probably stressed out because of having so much to do. Many of our meals didn't come until about an hour after we ordered because there was apparently only one cook.

Our last highlight of the day was blissful sleep. Yes, I say this is a highlight because we were all dead tired by the time we returned. But, what am I saying? This is not unusual. Not at all.

A beautiful fountain we passed.

I'm not quite sure what this is, but I think it's some kind of memorial monument.

Standing in the square, getting ready to sing.

Day 2 in Poznan

We spent our second day in Poznan walking around, eating lunch at Pizza Hut, and getting to know our way around Old Town and the mall. The Polish people are always in a rush, always seeming to have someplace to go to. To start off the day, we all cooked and ate breakfast in the hostel and then met outside at 8:15 to do some sightseeing in Poznan. The weather was gorgeous once again, although extremely hot! We had not been walking for 5 minutes before we started sweating.

We split up into smaller groups and explored the beautiful expanse of Old Town. There are numerous shops along the cobblestone roads and several unique buildings. After about an hour of touring, the team met again and we all went for lunch at Pizza Hut.

Despite the long trek through a forest path in order to reach a Christian school, our practice place, we made an attempt to sing. At first, we all sounded quite weary and worn out, but after a while, the energy began to flow in once again. We sang as much as our tired voices could handle and then dispersed to return to the hostel.

Upon reaching the hostel, we freshened ourselves up and awaited the small group from Alaska that was to add to our already rather large group. They arrived after a short delay due to airplane complications, and we trekked off to a quaint little restaurant to have our dinner. This consisted of dumplings, dumplings, and more dumplings. Any kind you choose. We were very much a dead table. Everyone was completely tired and some even fell asleep while waiting for their food to come. I'm positive the heat had something to do with it, but it was also the walking and the jet lag that I am sure many of us still possessed.

In order to get around town, we take buses, the kind connected to wires. They have got to be the most jerky machines ever running. If you stand up in them while they are moving and you don't take care to grip the handle bars, you are in for a fall onto the bumpy ground of the train. Racha seemed to have the most trouble, but the reason could be because she refused to hold on to the handle bar half of the time, so it resulted in near crashes.

After dinner came the time to relax. We finally got to go back to the hostel for good and catch up on much needed sleep.

Now, for pictures!

This is the boys' and men's hostel.

And the girls'.

The huge mall in Poznan that we went to for dinner at Pizza Hut.

And the beautiful buildings and streets of Poznan.

And of course, the people in the Polish team. Can't forget about them. ;)

I thought this was interesting. Cars 2 in Polish.

Until next time!
~Julia, blogger in chief~