Spring Mission Teams

We had two mission teams on Krakow soil at one time...............a sports team from Oklahoma and a team from our home church in San Antonio, Texas.  Between having 2 mission teams on the field, managing full time language school, transporting kids to/from school, and family life, we really needed help.  Our team members stepped in and helped coordinate all the ministry for the San Antonio Team while Albert managed the sports team.  Half of this sports team was made up of high school baseball guys, and they showed so much passion and fervor for sharing the Gospel in every situation.  They were stretched in big ways as most of them had never been outside of the US before, but they were molded by God through their experiences and they ushered several into the Kingdom of God through their investment into Polish lives and their willingness to share their faith.

  

Baseball camp

  

Coach making the spiritual application for the day..."where is your focus?"

 A couple of the guys went to Czestochowa with Albert to work with the football team.

Luke sharing his faith

The guys also spent time in fellowship with the athletes, hanging out, riding trams, touring the city.............this is where the spiritual convos happened!!

The San Antonio team worked side by side with our Polish church serving as English conversation partners for a new ministry our team members have started.  They did a great job making new contacts, multiplying the number of native speakers for our Polish friends learning English, and encouraging the believers in our church.  Their last night in Krakow, the men did street witnessing and met with new contacts from the week and the ladies conducted a cooking class for their new contacts.  We were able to participate in this event since the Oklahoma team had left earlier that day !!!

Both teams really brought encouragement to us missionaries and revealed again how much God is at work here on Polish soil in these hearts.  We have alot of God's work to be a part of, and we are so thankful for the support of YOU back in the States..........whether through prayer, written encouragement, or physically coming to serve alongside us.  We are thankful for YOU and feel honored to be the extension of the Body of Christ here in Krakow.

Winter Break 2014

During our winter break from school (all 4 of us), Nana and PawPaw scheduled a visit with us !!!  

We celebrated a delayed Christmas together........

Arin re-enacts the Christmas story while Kaleb reads it.

Christmas baking with Nana

We enjoyed lots of winter sports --- ice skating......

We also took the opportunity to have a family photo shoot at our local castle...............where else could you do that besides Europe !!!

During our second week of winter break, we took a few days to see the winter sights in Zakopane and the Polish mountains...........

And we played alot !!!!

We made some wonderful memories together during these cold winter months !!!

Now back to school for Kaleb and Arin, and to language school for Albert and Kirstin.........

Playing Catch- Up !!

Semester in review !!!!  Sorry for the lack of updates.  We decided that having both of us in the intensive language program was taking its toll on our family.  So this past Spring semester, Kirstin stayed in the intensive program one more time while Albert took a less intensive language option.  (this intensive schedule is the main reason why we've had no blog updates..................sorry again!)  In Kirstin's class, God placed 6 other girls that she got a chance to get to know and spend time with during the 16 week semester.  These ladies represented 5 countries (Germany, England, Japan, South Korea and USA), and although we certainly studied the Polish language alot, we also spent time outside of class together..................here are some of the documentation of our fun times together:

Most of these ladies lived in the university dorms, with no access to a kitchen, so we had several opportunities during the semester to invite them to our home so they could cook for themselves, bake desserts, and spend time together outside of the classroom.  It was a simple way to minister to them and had opportunities to have some great conversations about life and faith during those evenings.

Here we are cooking up Oliwia's lasagne and Rosie's favorite desserts from England:

  

  

One of our final lunch celebrations............eating famous zapiekankas together !!!

I (Kirstin) am so thankful for this group of ladies God placed in my class this semester.  Although it was a hard semester and a rough season of life, the friendships formed with these ladies brought a smile to my day so often and reminded me of our purpose here in Krakow.

Stayed tuned for more updates from our semester..................(it may take a while since I' m so far behind.)