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.