Summer in Poland !!!!

We are loving summer in Poland! Some of the days are getting a little hot with no air conditioning, but it may get worse before it gets better. I'm sure we will look back on the unbearable days with fond memories once the winter months hit! We are doing lots of things to beat the heat ............ mostly just getting out of our home and into the breeze. We have found a local pool that is great, we dine on the balcony, the kids get outside to ride bikes daily, and we get a little frisbee and baseball time in there as well! Here are a few pics:

OH, how we love the water !!!!

Notice Arin's newest feat --- no training wheels !!!!

We have some pictures of the Softball team that came the first week of July. They opened up amazing doors of spiritual conversations with many of the athletes. Some of the athletes attended worship with us for the first time as a result of these ladies' invitation! Our team may also have an open door to begin working with our local YMCA as a result of the week these servants spent with us! Please pray wisdom for our involvement!

Games at the YMCA -- Kaleb's about to be dizzy !!!

The team (plus 2 dressed up princesses)

Arin and Claire love all the attention they can get!!!

Kirstin was able to attend a weekly prayer group that meets in our neighborhood for the Polish church we attend on Sunday mornings, Misje Laski. It was completely in Polish, which means that my understanding was limited and I arrived home exhausted just mentally trying to grasp anything that I could. But it was such a sweet blessing to sit among brothers and sisters in Christ and hear them cry out to the same God I know in their heart language! Have I mentioned before what a BIG God we serve?

Albert had a chance to preach his first sermon last night at our International Fellowship! He did a great job challenging believers and non-believers alike to examine the intimacy of our relationship with the Father through the lenses of our prayer life. He left us with a tangible way to examine and apply the Bible's teachings this week. Our interpreter said that he was personally challenged as he translated Albert's words into Polish .............. Here is our family preacher, along with Slawek, our translator:

On another fun note, we were finally able to take Kaleb and Arin to see the Wawel Castle, the centerpiece of this great city we live in. Most importantly, we got to take the tour into the Dragon's Den! This cavern beneath the castle is over 10,000 years old and it holds the famous legend of the city's mascot ........... the Krakow Dragon! As you exit the cavern, you see a bronze representation of this Krakow Dragon who actually breathes out fire every few minutes ...................... it was so exciting! ! (Except I think Arin was a little disappointed that we did not get to see the "real dragon.")

Hesskews at the Castle

The Wawel castle sits along the Wisla River.

Ice cream treat -- to beat the heat !!!

Inside the Dragon's Den

The fire-breathing Dragon!!!

Our princess outside the Castle wall

A shot of the bell tower

Back home in Poland !!!

We are back home safely from Greece. We brought home piles of laundry and tons of great memories !!! The week of conference was truly uplifting...........great worship, great accountability and encouragement brought from the Word, and great fellowship with fellow overseas servants! As our company begins a restructuring, the current group of missionaries serving in central and eastern Europe took time during this conference to celebrate all that God has done over the past years among Europeans --- the testimonies of how big our God is was overwhelming!!! We are really blessed to be alive to witness and take part in Kingdom work! Kaleb and Arin's days were filled with fun and adventure, from swimming, making crafts, singing songs, and getting prizes for memorized scripture. The volunteers from the US who spent their time and money to come across the seas and bless us could never be thanked enough!!!

We had some free time to spend as a family at the pool and the beach, and then also just time as a couple! Here are a few shots from our time together:

We also got to take 4 personal days as a family, so we toured Athens, Greece! It is a beautiful city with many amazing sights!







Parthenon on the Acropolis

Souvenir --BAKLAVA!! Yummy !!!



Athens Olympic Stadium

One of the reasons my blog post is so delayed is because we have been busy ministering alongside a volunteer group of Softball players from Arkansas since we hit ground back in Krakow. They have done kids sports camps, clinics for our newly formed men's baseball club, and sharing their passion for Jesus Christ !! Please pray for the new contacts this sports emphasis week has opened up for our team here in Krakow. Many of these new faces came to worship with our international fellowship tonight and heard a clear message of how Jesus desires a personal relationship with us !!!

Off to Greece !!!

We are leaving at the crack of dawn (literally) this Sunday morning to travel to Athens, Greece for a company meeting. We will get to meet all the missionaries in our European region and see old friends from Orientation! This annual meeting is a time for refreshment and refocus on the tasks God has placed before us among our people groups! We feel very blessed to be able to take part in this year's meeting even though we just recently arrived on the field. There will be volunteer groups from churches in the States who come overseas just to minister to us and our children. Kaleb and Arin will have the time of their lives partcipating in a full blown Vacation Bible School and eating American snacks!!! (Does this plant any ideas in the hearts of you, church members?---- another great way to get involved in God's work!!) Please pray for our safe travel, safe travel for the volunteer teams, and tons of God's glory to be shown !!! We promise to give you pics of Greece when we return (on July 1st).

At the top of our list of updates on ministry, we must share with you our continued excitement about the FCA Bible Study! These young athletes faithfully come on Wednesday nights simply to dig deep in God's Word. Albert is so honored to get to usher them to the throne of our God every week! Please pray that the head knowledge they received this past week would work it's way into their hearts.

In the meantime, here are another couple of amazing shots of our beautiful city that I snapped on the way to Coffee House tonight! This old wall is one of the few remaining pieces of the original wall that was built around Krakow to protect it from invading countries --- amazing -- right in the middle of our city!!!

You never know when a beautiful sight like this is going to sneak up on you !!! Are you looking for God's glory today? He can really knock your socks off if you'll pay attention........wherever you live!!!

Random Memories

We have had a busy and great past week and a half. We have some great pics that we wanted to post although many of them are unrelated. There are just so many "new" things to capture................so, we hope you enjoy and can make sense of the random memories we are making daily !!!

We had a chance to help some Canadian believers with their ESL ministry and kids' camp. Kirstin got a chance to work one on one with a woman named Malgosia. The class was based on the movie, "The Prince of Egypt" and stimulated a great deal of spiritual conversations as we compared the truths of the film with the truths in the Bible about this man named Moses. If you have not seen it, I recommend it !!! Malgosia has a faith, rooted in her country's identity, but I don't know that she has a personal relationship with a Savior named Jesus. But she was more than willing to hear Kirstin testify of Jesus and participate in the application to her own life. We had some amazing "Aha" moments. Please pray for a personal-ness in Malgosia's faith as she learns about her God and how much He loves her personally !!! During the kids' camp, our kids got to participate since we were helping............and they loved it !! It was titled "Power Lab", so we learned about the power of our Lord Jesus and did lots of science experiments! Here are some pics of the fun times...........like being enveloped inside a bubble, and walking on water (and sinking) like Peter in the Bible:

This past week, Krakow had its annual Great Dragon Parade !!! The kids got to go to the parade where the school kids have a chance to make their own dragon to put in the parade. We got rained on toward the end, but it didn't matter to Kaleb and Arin!!!

Last weekend, Kirstin invited the Polish friend from Coffee House to a "learn to make American cookies" outreach event at another missionary's house. Aldona usually has classes until 7:30 on Saturdays, but this particular Saturday, her classes got cancelled !!! So, she accepted the invitation!!! We had fun making cookies with the kids (both Polish and American), then we got a chance to join in on a "Soul Food Cafe" devotion. Aldona was very confused about what a devotion was, but participated so much during the discussion. She was able to hear the story about how different Jesus can make our lives, how much we as sinners need His saving grace, and how to personally make Jesus king of your life. Her background instinctively made her very defensive, but she stated at the end of the evening that the discussion had given her lots to think about. Please pray for her as she processes the truth she heard !!! Aldona is the young blonde in the following pics.

On another random note, we went to the park today as a family, with tons of sunshine...........and Kaleb successfully rode his new bike with NO training wheels !!! He did great...........and we were so proud of how quickly he got the hang of it all !!! He's getting so big these days.........and fast !!!

Another park prayer request...............Kirstin met a girl named Anetta this week at our neighborhood playground while Arin played in the sandbox !!! Anetta was so friendly and invited Kirstin and Arin to a picnic right there at the playground to enjoy the fresh strawberries her and her kids had just bought at the open air market! Please pray for more divine meetings at our playground with opportunities to build a friendship with this sweet family !!!

More Birthday Fun !!!

Before I post some pics of Arin's b-day, I wanted to update you on Sports Ministry. Al travelled with the team for their second game this past Saturday, and they celebrated a 44-12 win, coming from a tie game of 6-6 at half time. They included Al in the festivities:

They have another game this Saturday out of town, so please pray for safe travel and spiritual conversations while they travel. On that note, the new FCA Bible studies have been increased to weekly instead of twice monthly...........the guys are really participating and digging deep into the Word together. Please pray for open hearts each Wednesday evening (Wednesday midday for those of you in the States)!

The week before Arin's birthday, we had a joint party for both Kaleb and Arin with all our friends here in Krakow at the new park we just discovered! We had a great time playing and they even got to ride in some paddle boats and small power boats! Here are some pics:

Arin's actual birthday is on a Polish holiday --- Children's Day !! Isn't that a great day to have a birthday? We were going to participate in the city celebrations at a big park, but the weather was not cooperating..........so we went to plan B, and it was a great plan B!!! We tried out an indoor playplace that our Landlord had told us about. The kids ran their little legs off for 2 hours inside this huge playground while the rain poured down outside. Arin thought it was the best birthday ever!

At home, we celebrated with lots of presents and a homemade doll cake! (Mommy was rather impressed with the cake herself! -- check out the pic!)

Now that we are done celebrating b-days for a while, we are anxious to share with you about ministry opportunities. We have a volunteer team coming in from the States this weekend, so we need prayer support for their safe travel, divine appointments with Poles, and wisdom in how to best spend their time here. They will be participating in Coffee House ministry, ESL classes, prayerwalking, and our FCA Bible study.

Please be praying for Kirstin's growing friendship with a Coffee House acquaintance, Aldona............we are getting together this weekend to hang out! Also, there is going to be a joint worship this coming Sunday of the 4 Baptist churches here in Krakow to build unity among the believers and share testimony of God's work! Please pray that God will use this time to equip the saints and send them out into this great city to share His story of love!

We had a chance to go to a Kindergarten orientation for the national Polish school that Kaleb will attend this next year! Kaleb had a great time playing with the other kids, and although we struggled with not being able to understand all the information being said, we were able to meet his teacher and see his classroom! He wants to know when he gets to go back to school already! Please pray that this simple involvement in the Polish culture will open doors for sharing about Christ during this next school year! We thank God for the gifts he has given Kaleb and for his desire to be with peers regardless of the language barrier !!

One final prayer request we have is for the financial support of our sending organization. The decline in the ecomony is forcing the IMB to limit the number of missionaries it can send out right now. It is a sad day for everyone involved. There is a certain hope that God is still in control, but it is a good reminder that He is our provider, not the resources of this world. Please pray for wisdom of the leaders as they seek God's direction in being good stewards of the resources He has given. Please pray even for some of our teammates who may not get to extend their mission work here in Krakow as their terms come to an end.

Thank you for calling to the Father on behalf of these stated requests. We truly feel there is power in prayer, and we need it desperately! Please let us know how we can stand with you in prayer..........e-mail us: thehesskews@gmail.com