We took the kids swimming, without incident! Some of these kids are good swimmers for being so young. Trinity (7) and Zarah (5) took to the pool like fish in water and swam so much their lips turned blue! For all the concerns we had had over taking the kids to the pool, we had a fun and relaxed time with them there.
We were requested to come up with some games for the missionaries and their children in the evening. We played a good game of Guesstures to start off with, and finished with a crazy game of "Do You Love Your Neighbor." Wendy Szymczak (Poland) and Michelle Robinson (Czech Rep.) fighting over the last chair in the latter game was definitely one of the most hilarious moments of the trip.
Friday, July 3:
The last day! I don't think any of us wanted it to end; the week flew by incredibly fast. The kids painted picture frames in the morning, along with our usual worship, Bible study, and small group sessions. We also played Simon Says and soccer. After lunch, we weren't responsible for the kids, but most of us ended up hanging out with some of them and their parents at the pool. After dinner there was a "program" of sorts to wrap up the conference and officially end it. Susan and Wendy gave each member of the team a piece of beautiful Polish pottery as a thank you for our help, and we also received cards signed by every one of the missionaries at the conference.
Saturday, July 4:
Happy Independence Day! After packing up and saying our goodbyes to the missionaries we headed about fifteen minutes away to a series of Nazi caverns. They were used as a weapon-making facility, and had they been joined with another set of underground caverns, would have been the largest weapon-making area in the world, and the war would have gone quite differently. Afterwards we all went on a short zipline, ate lunch, and headed back to Wroclaw. There we went to the Panorama, which is a large painting of a battle where the Poles beat the Russians. We followed that with dinner at a Polish restaurant (where we gave Wendy and Susan cards and Willow Tree figurines), ice cream, and souvenir shopping.
Sunday, July 5:
We packed up any extras we had taken out or bought the day before, weighed our suitcases, and headed off to the airport. Our travel home was uneventful... until we tried to leave Washington.
Everyone on the team had boarding passes except for Phil and I, and after they and everyone else flying to Detroit had boarded, and others had been issued last-minute boarding passes, we were informed that we would be put up in a hotel for the night and flown home the next morning. There was a great deal of argument and anger for the next ten to twenty minutes--Phil and I with the gate agent; Elaine, Sue, and Heather with the flight attendants--as we tried to figure out what exactly was going on. Suffice to say the airline handled the situation poorly and Phil and I only got home due to Heather and Rachel's generosity in giving up their own seats for us. It was a definite damper to the end of the trip, but we're thankful that everyone got home safely.
Tuesday, July 7:
Miraculously, at last minute notice, we were all able to meet to debrief. Us girls met at Heather's house and put in a call to Phil via cell phone. We discussed many aspects of our trip and how we were readjusting to life in the States. We also felt it was a good meeting to have prior to our presentation to the short term missions committee on either July 12 or July 19.
Thank you immeasurably for your prayers and support. We could not have done any of what we did without you faithfully lifting us up in prayer. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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