IPC Men Go to Gdansk

Gdansk samples Bob's BBQ.

2010-09-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

The tools are put away, the bags are packed and the BBQ has been served. God was gracious in introducing us to Godly Polish people and gave us the opportunity to serve His kingdom in a very small way. And it was all good. Poland is a beautiful country with a wealth of history and loving people who served us as we were trying to serve them. Several parishioners made a point to make sure we thanked our spouses for allowing us to come and serve them. It reminded us what great wives we have and how blessed we are. We acquired three pork shoulders and made a makeshift BBQ pit. Bob, Reid, Kyle and Sam stayed up all night and fed the fire (and made sure the locals didn't take them off early). We smuggled into Gdansk, BBQ sauce and rub from our famous BBQ establishments and demonstrated how pork should be prepared Memphis style. There must be a genetic issue with polish hogs, because the pulled pork from 3 shoulders didn't make it to all comers. I think they are pygmy pigs, but they were of normal size. Of course Garrett will claim his cooking stole the show, but I stand by my pygmy theory. We all had a grand time and dread getting up at 3:15 to catch our flight home. Thanks to all who prayed for us on this trip and supported us. We should pray as a congregation for this small church in Poland. These are precious people and are very thankful for your prayers and support..

Govan

Final Work Day.

2010-09-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

It seems as though this day has flown by. We completed all of the tasks (except one - stay tuned) we had planned. The building has made a strong transformation in the last week. There are still many things to do before they can hold services here, but not many. It was quite invigorating to see the locals get energized by what they see now. We were even getting comments from the neighbors about how good the building looks now. It has been a load of fun working on this project with 11 godly men. We have shared a lot of ourselves with each other and the entire team has grown closer to Christ because of it. We are preparing to share a little bit of Memphis with Gdansk and are looking forward to that! We were visited by a little hedgehog that seemed curious about all of the commotion happening around him. In the same way, the neighbors are curious about the 'new' building and hope they come on in and visit. We have all been really moved at the excitement we are generating! We have lots of cool stories to tell! Next up, BBQ Bob!

Govan

More than a church project!

2010-09-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

Poland has been a wonderful experience. The people are what I think about the most. Many different types with as many different stories and experiences. Just like us but very different because of where they grew up and under a difficult form of government for so many years. The children appear to be as happy as the happiest US children. They smile all the time and are friendly. The older adults look like life has beat them down pretty hard. Many in between.

The church renovation has made a lot of progress. The food has been great and much better than I could have imagined. The castle, Old Town, Train Ride, Work Camp all have been great experiences. Worshiping with the 50 Polish People who will build this church was the best most memorable time for this trip. I hope that I never forget it. Thanks to Beth for giving me this opportunity.

Dickie Meena

History of Stuttoff Begins Another Day In Poland

2010-09-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Another day in Poland began with Stasiek and Jeff ferrying us to the Stuttoff Concentration Camp. Somewhat of a partial day off. We have all seen the images of the camps of this era but nothing compares to being on the actual grounds. Viewing the place where the human condition was subjected to such unthinkable things was quite sobering. Hard to believe the human heart can be drawn so low. The countryside of Poland being so beautiful as we drove to and from the camp only added to the conflicting emotions. Lunch was in old town Gdansk, a city of great beauty that has been preserved for tourists and locals alike. Work continued at varying times for the team members in mid-afternoon and continued until after 9 PM. Excellent progress for the week. We are thankful for a complete lack of injuries and for the relationships developing with the church mermbers. For us, it was not just another day in Poland but another day to serve God and His people. It was a good day. Mark

2010-09-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

Dearest wormwood...no wait, that's another audience.

Dearest Blog Buds, we started earlly today. Lots of progress. We now have a place ready to support an actual worship. In actuality, we have had the privilege of turning what used to be a "beer joint" into a reformed baptist church. There is some finish work to do, but the building is already servicable. We went to church two days ago in a building built by communists (now being used as a Christian church), and we are now building a church out of an ex-beer joint...pretty great picture of redemption. It's fun to be redeeming creation for Christ.

It's late. Ready for bed...Gittup Laz.

Fetchitup Zel. bg

Long Day, significant progress

2010-09-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

   We worked for 11 hours today and we all felt great about what was accomplished. We laid the hardwood floor in the sanctuary, worked on sheetrock, painted part of the exterior walls, hung doors, plastered part of the exterior, and other miscellaneous items. We could barely drag ourselves to get pizza down the street.
   Faye fixed us a traditional Polish dish of stuffed cabbage and potatoes. I do not understand how Stasiek is so thin, lunch was very good, and we are very grateful for the lunches our polish friends are supplying.
   We are going to the concentration camp tomorrow and then to the old town, which was established in 996. They just had their 1000 year anniversary. After that we will go to the church and work late.
   We are planning on cooking BBQ for the church Friday night at the new building. Nobody has a grill large enough so we are digging a pit and doing it the old-fashioned way.
   A few of us took a detour while on a walk and saw some incredible architecture. Their is a soviet era building, next to a 18th century building, next to a beautiful contemporary. We all consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be able to travel and help our friends. After a long days work, some of them come and work on the new building...very committed. God is good! Good night all.
Matt

Olson Blooms

2010-09-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

Cześć (hello) from Gdansk

Dear Diary, today was a great day. Much progress on the work today... Tasks are really coming together as each member of the team is finding their role and filling it perfectly. The Sanctuary is taking shape and Straw Boss Olson is begining to participate.

Tonight we found a local dining establishment in Poland named Scruffy Obriens. Happy Anniversery to Bethie and Dickie Meena 13 years.

Styrofoam Celings are much more attractive than we would have ever imagine.

Please let anyone calling Sam Coates know that Polish time is 7 hours ahead. Therefore Bob is about to light his phone on fire.

What love is left,
Room 116
(Dad, Reid, and Sam)

P.S.- Fetchitup Zel

Castle Tour update

2010-09-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday after church, we loaded up and headed out to Marlbork castle. This castle was nearly destroyed during and immediately after WW2. The Polish government has been in the process of restoring it since. The castle was originally built around 1282. It consists of 3 parts (hmmm, sounds familiar), an upper large castle where the knights lived, the middle castle where the delegates from other lands stayed and the lower castle where the servants lived. It was all very interesting and there were many very old relics on display, from intricate carved gold in-layed grand chapel figurines to weapons and suits used by the knights. The Polish people we met during the tour were very nice and proud of their heritage. We finished up the day with a sampling of the local cuisine before heading back to Gdansk.We all had a great time and did a lot of walking and stairs! Now, off to work on the church!

Govan

Church service followed by castle visit.

2010-09-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday we were given the opportunity to work along side our brothers and sisters at the job site and get to know them more personally. Sunday we stood side by side and worshiped the very same sovereign God in two drastically different laguages, DZENKUE BOG (translation: Thank you God). The service itself included: worship through multiple songs, of which a few were familiar to us; the individual prayers of the church members were mixed throughout, a neat element to me; Jeff (from Jonesboro, TN) preached out of Luke 14, the cost of being a disciple. The service was followed by announcements and then they proceeded to bring out tables for cookies, coffee, tea, etc. as a venue for everyone to fellowship and take the time to visit. Not a concept we are real accustomed to, since"Americans' time" tends to be so valuable.

After church we were off to Malbork, a castle of the Teutonic Knights, to enjoy an afternoon of Polish history. Pierogi, potato dumplings, were what's for dinner. Then it was back to base camp to rest up for another productive work day.

Gindobre (good day)

Kyle

What an incredible day!!!

2010-09-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

We worked all day with our Polish friends and it is truly amazing how much we accomplished. The building is really starting to look like something. I am so proud of how hard the guys worked and how they dropped whatever they were doing when priorities dictated a shift of emphasis. We mixed the Poles in with our people and it worked out better than you could ever imagine. Today another couple brought us lunch and it was a Hungarian type dish on rcalled something like "Lintel." Not sure what was in it, but the crew scarfed it down. I am so thankful to be able to go to places and meet Christians on other continents with different cultures and seeing that they pray to the same God and receive the same grace. God is good!

Off to dinner, Matt

Toto, We're Not In Kansas Anymore...

2010-09-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

...or as the Poles would say, "Wjskzdarski, sojygfdzlt no Kansas zchegski!"

(also, No Starbucks Here...or as the Poles would say, "Dear Mom, send coffee.")

It's pretty cool listening to the polish folk carry on a ten minute conversation and never use a vowel. And, it's pretty cool to think that, cuturally speaking, sheetrock on the walls is a taboo, but it is expected that your exterior walls and interior ceiling will be covered in styrofoam...Willy Wonka, you could make a killing here!

But I like their style. As Dick McCallen's dad used to tell him, "Plans [blueprints] are for people who don't know how to build houses!" Well, Dick's dad was right, and church house plans are for people who think they need to get it right. There's not much danger of that here.

We are doing our best with materials we normally don't use, construction methods we are unfamiliar with, and plans we do not control. This is exactly what I love about mission trips, and I suspect this is why people become missionaries...God is at work, and we are never more aware of that fact than when we are "working out of control". What a privilege it is that God would choose to bless us with gifts and then use us through those gifts to further his purpose! Who'd a thought of that?

Friends, you have a big God. A very big God. We are here doing what we enjoy, and folks are interested. Curious. This is not their parent's or grandparent's god. Staseik and Faye are being used by God to show Jesus to the Polish people...Why would an east memphis girl go live in Poland to spend her life telling others about Jesus?

Truly we are not in Kansas anymore.

Fetchitup Zel. bg

The Gang is all here!

2010-09-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

Happy day! More help arrived as the rest of the IPC team arrived in Gdansk. All of the team members arrived with no side adventures! We wasted no time putting everyone to work applying insulation to the ceiling of the worship room and filling cracks in some of the walls. The team also began work on the outside insulation (it gets really cold here in the winter) and the interpreter booth. We had a nice lunch of chicken and potatoes with some slaw on the side. We made great progress today and look forward to finishing the insulation work tomorrow. Off for dinner and more local cuisine!
Govan

Plotting and Scheming

2010-09-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Gdansk! Matt, Bob and I made it very safely to Gdansk today! Thanks you to all who have included us in your prayers! We arrived in Gdansk in the early afternoon after a couple of hours in Oslo. Stasiek was waiting on us with a giant smile as we walked out of the baggage area. We spent the day assessing the structure and lining up the tasks for the next week. The precious people that are trying to make a church home were very excited to see us and spent the afternoon telling us about the history of the building and the local community. It was; however, an exercize in East- West relations! Matt and Bob did a great job of walking through the items that are needed to make the structure suitable for worship. We have a lot of work to do! We have the makings of a plan and spent some of our evening at the local hardware store acquiring provisions for the tasks ahead. I was also able to capture a lot of before pictures and of Matt and Bob in supervisor mode (Now I know I won't let anyone else have the camera!). The building is adjacent to a park where the local kids play and there are many community housing structures. It appears to be a good location for a church. Now we just have to make this structure habitable. The weather was a little chilly compared to Memphis with showers off and on during the afternoon and mostly 50's and 60's for the temps. The Lord showed us his own approval by giving us a beautiful rainbow later this afternoon. See the pictures below of our first day!

Govan

In route to gdansk

2010-09-02T01:28:00.000-07:00

Bob, Govan, and I are in oslo awaiting our flight to gdansk. great flight over the pond. Bob and Govan sure do snore loudly. ready to hit the ground running. everybody smiling and nodding their heads. i guess they don;t speak southern. they say ya a lot here.
matt

Hello and Preparation

2010-08-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the IPC Gdansk blog! We are just a couple of days from departure and I am getting more excited as the days pass. I am so anxious to see what the Lord has in store for us! Matt just sent the team an email from Stasiek that gives us a peek at our project(s). It looks like we will be doing a lot of tile work both on the ceiling and on the floors and some other finish work. I am still in the preparation mode of trying to get my work closed out and handed off for the trip. I know all of the men are in the same mode. It will be such a nice break from my routine to do something different in a different land! Matt gave me the assignment of setting up and keeping this blog up to date. I will do my best! I am taking my camera, so watch for pictures of our progress. I will also recruit entries from some of my teammates. I am not sure how much access we will have to the Internet, so be patient! I am so looking forward to doing the Lord’s work. I can’t wait to see how he uses me! Now, how many clothes should I take? Let’s see, Stasiek says the temperature is 55 right now, so I had best take some long sleeve shirts! I won't miss this Memphis heat! I KNOW I will forget something essential. I doubt Wal Mart has reached Gdansk, but you never know. More as the trip unfolds!

Govan Hornor