Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Polska Part 5 - The End

The last full day of camp, my feelings were a confusing mixture of "Hallelujah!!! FINALLY!!!!" and "WHAT?! No!!! How?! Why???" It seemed like we were FINALLY figuring out how to run our English lessons and get the kids to open up. How was it almost time to leave them? 

Sports time was pretty disorganized this day, which ended up working kind of perfect in the end. We had water balloon volleyball, a craft station, and ping pong and fooseball tournaments. Ola and I were on a fooseball team together. Though we lost pretty quickly, we certainly didn't go down without a fight! Since there wasn't a lot of structure there was a lot more opportunity for really good conversation.

I wasn't quite as relaxed as I should have been. Though everyone was having tons of fun, I was getting anxious because the fooseball tournament ran about 20 minutes longer than planned, which cut into the time for the evening program, which cut into the time for the Poland's Got Talent theme night - the one I had done a lot of the planning for. The teams ended up only having about 20 minutes to come up with an act.

The evening program presented Jesus' sacrifice, what it was for, what it meant, and what it continues to mean in people's lives and throughout the world. There were some really great questions raised by some of the kids in their Polish cell groups.

While they were discussing the message, the Americans scrambled to throw together the decorations and show order for the Talent Night. In spite of all my stressing turned out perfect.

Each color teams put on an act - Red presented a chin-face skit, White had their "funny family" try and perform everyday tasks with different people's arms, and Grey and Blue had dance-offs. My beginning class prepared a little interpretive dance number, 3 girls sang Adele, one girl performed a jazz dance routine, we had a showcase of weird party tricks, and Adam, Kuba, and Marta put on an absolutely hilarious skit. The final act was pastor Daniel ripping up a piece of paper and turning it whole again to illustrate how Jesus makes us whole no matter how broken we might be.

The campers all had a pizza party, but most of us teachers were so busy we didn't get a chance to eat, so a few of us went back to the Market Square to find food at around 10pm. The first place we tried wasn't serving food that late, but there were two entertaining little boys who were absolutely mesmerized by our Asians, and even went over to our vacated table to sit in the Asian chair. Luckily, we found a pretty decent sushi place, which was kind of a surreal experience. Never thought I'd ever get sushi at 10pm in Poland...

The last day was a half day. We had final English lessons and then gathered as a group one last time to do the camp dance, announce the winning color team (RED WON!!!! YEEEEEAAAAHHH!!!!) and say our goodbyes. I knew saying goodbye would be hard, but I had no idea it would be THAT hard and come that quickly. 




It was just so incredible to see the change in these kids over the course of the week. One little girl in particular, Ola, started the camp very quiet and sullen, looking like she didn't want to be there at all, not talking to any of the other kids. She was in my beginning class, and the first couple days I didn't hear a single word out of her. But by the end, she was laughing and dancing with her friends, she spoke up in class and shared her ideas, and at the end, she came up to me, gave me her sheepish smile and hugged me for a long time. 




After cleaning, debriefing with the Polish team, and practicing worship for Sunday service, we all headed back to the hotel and waited for our Polish hosts for "Take Home an American!" Tracie and I went to Sylvia and Leszek's. Their house was on the outskirts of town, about a kilometer from the small airport across a field. Their house was so beautiful and cozy, with their mother's art everywhere and bits of everyone's personalities here and there. We ate in their big backyard with fruit and nut trees. They had a big, sweet dog named Baki who I became instant friends with, and I caught a wild frog and named him Phillippe.



The family was so sweet and welcoming and just kept bringing us more and more delicious food and sharing countless laughs. They reminded me a lot of my own family.


Fly Fest was going on that evening, so there were planes flying overhead doing tricks. We all went out onto the field to watch the F-16s, but as we were walking back, their grandmother pulled me aside with tears in her eyes and said in broken English, "I remember from when I was a little girl." In the 1940's. In Poland. My heart broke as I hugged her. It brought everything into stark reality. The Poles have a history of tragedy on such a scale that we Americans can only imagine. And yet, the people are all some of the most joyful, creative, and resilient souls I've met.


Church the next day was absolutely wonderful. Playing with Adam, Kuba, Marta, and Lydia was a pleasure and an honor, and doing it to worship God in another language was just indescribable. There were a few kids from the camp who showed up at church to say goodbye to us one more time, and I'm so glad they did.




We had a quick dinner after church with Kuba and Filip's family, which was delicious as always.
That afternoon, we all drove out to this tiny community of believers in a rural village about an hour away. Kuba, Adam, and I huddled around Łukasz with our instruments and read from this tiny hymnal with old Polish hymns. Some of them were actually pretty hard, but again, it was one of those special experiences you'll never forget. After the service, Adam and I had a little jam session, some people played darts, we went for a walk down the creek, and we all roasted homemade kiełbasa over the fire. It felt like exactly what we all needed to release all the stress and emotion from the week and just enjoy being together. 










It was so hard to say goodbye. It always is. But I wouldn't have traded a second of this. I found that the more I push myself, the more people I meet from different places, cultures, and backgrounds, the more I realize we're all just people. We all want to be loved and heard and I can provide that wherever I am on the globe, whatever my function is, and that's pretty comforting.

Our last day in Poland was the hardest. I woke up that morning with Tracie frantically knocking on the hotel room door. "You know the bus leaves at 8, right? It's 8:06!!!" I had forgotten to set my alarm and both Sammie and I slept through hers. I don't think I've ever packed that fast in my life. Everyone was waiting for us downstairs. The Polish team had all come to see us off. I hugged each of them and gave a few sentiments, but we had to get on the bus.

We got stuck in a traffic jam along the way, stepped out, ate some berries and 4th of July muffins from the Hales, and then turned the bus around and drove along the median to an exit behind us, which is apparently a thing you can do in Poland...




We arrived in Wrocław, a gorgeously majestic city, very different from Piotrków! We had an awkward dinner at Pizza Hut, debriefing, and then more dinner with the rest of the JosiahVenture teams. The debriefing was good to start sorting through everything that had happened, but I still felt like it was too soon. I still couldn't believe it was over.







We had to leave for the airport at 4am the next morning, so the older and younger spectrums of our team went to get some rest after our fancy dinner. The rest of us spent the night exploring Wrocław, getting snacks, and just sitting and talking, trying to make the most of our last few hours in Poland with each other and with Adam. It was intense that night, emotionally. A lot of fears and past hurts came out, but we were each able to speak something into someone else's life that they needed to hear in that moment. These people quickly became some of the dearest friends I have ever known. I found family in each of them.


Adam rode with us to the airport. As we walked inside, we saw probably the most gorgeous sunrise I'd ever seen in my life, and I'm glad I didn't take a picture of it. There are just some things that can't be captured, the weight of things that can't be conveyed no matter how many angles you shoot from or how many words you use to describe them.

Dziękuję. Do widzenia, Polska.