Family Camp 2015

In July, our home church of Quail Springs in Oklahoma came to help us run our first-ever Family Bible English Camp !!

The team arrived 2 days early to see our city and get over jetlag.....

Then we headed to the mountain city of Zakopane !!  The rest of our team from all over Poland met us there and we set up and got organized......

For five days, we lived in the above hotel with 95 other people from Krakow and Warsaw, Poland.  We had beautiful views of God's creation, but we "journeyed off the map" in VBS with the kids at our camp!  While our QSBC team worked with the kids, there was also a team that worked with youth and a full adult program of English classes and Bible discussion groups.

We made great connections with families from Krakow!   We had one profession of faith among the adults (one of Kaleb's teachers from school), and several others who are struggling through some hard concepts of discipleship to Christ such as forgiveness and grace.  Even our translators, (those who thought they were only coming to serve) were touched by the Spirit and moved to respond to the teaching of the Holy Spirit !!

We are so thankful for the success of this "first" for us, and the team from QSBC was such a key part of the success of this camp.  Many of the Polish parents commented on how well their kids were taken care of by our team of Americans.  We built a ton of trust during the week.  Many are already asking about the dates and location of the next camp !!!

To HIM be the GLORY!!!!

Mission Teams - Silo

Our second mission team came to us from Silo Baptist in Oklahoma...........with 4 familiar faces and 6 new servants for Christ in Poland.  This group may be mostly young people, but they came with a passion for serving and a deep desire to jump into the Polish culture with both feet !!

They had a baseball camp with the Krakow Kings baseball team here in Krakow.

They talked football strategy with Coach to help the Czestochowa Saints football team and made two trips with Al to Czestochowa to work with the team.

The Silo group shared some meals in our home and indoctrinated the girls in the ways of sports ministry.......in our living room...............

until they wised up and moved the game outside on the terrace.....

Our kids' school invited these young adults to come spend an afternoon with Kaleb, Arin, and 25 of their closest friends playing sports outside while the ladies provided and English craft class inside.

One of our close friends, Kasia, works as a supervisor at an at-risk boys home right outside of Krakow.  Kasia invited this group back out to the boys home to teach her teen boys some football.  They even gave them a memorable framed gift as a memory of the time they spent together!

This team also served our local church by painting the Sunday school rooms.........

THANK YOU meal prepared by the ladies in our church.

They worked day and night (literally) with the Krakow Tigers football team getting them ready for their season.

Mission Teams

Our first mission team of the summer was from our home church in San Antonio, Texas..... FBC.  They have been on Polish soil several times and brought some old and new faces to minister here on Polish soil.  They came ready to serve in so many ways!

When they were not working, we filled them up with scrumptious Polish food.........

They got the unique opportunity to be native speakers in an Ethics class, discussing in small groups the various ethical issues we find in relationships.  This topic allowed many discussions to turn toward spiritual directions, and we had the opportunity to connect with students we had met in previous meetings at this university.

Here's the whole group standing on the oldest street in Krakow !!

Enjoying the Rynek at night.............blessings the Hesskew kids and helping Kaleb celebrate his birthday!

The team got to eat a meal with us in our home, bringing part of our "SA home" over the ocean to us!

For 3-4 days, the whole team labored at our local Baptist church remodeling our common meeting and fellowship area...........our Cafe.  We even put some of their artist talents to work in painting a beautiful mural of the narrow road on the wall.  Kristi and Kate left a beautiful mark on this land!!

They got a traditional Polish meal prepared for them by ladies in our church as a THANK YOU !!!

They helped cheer on two of our favorite football teams, and our favorite local American football coach, Coach Al !!

They soaked up the beauty of Krakow, lived life with us, served us, and encouraged us !!  We are so thankful for our church home in San Antonio !!!