VISION update Friday, May 15

First, a disclaimer: I apologize for many of the photos that I’m posting. Since I shoot mostly video, I depend on the ability to freeze frames from the tape in order to have still photos for the web and e-mail. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring the proper type of memory card for my video camera, so I can’t freeze frames directly. The only way I’ve been able to come up with is to pause the tape and shoot a photo of the camcorder screen with my cell phone camera. The results? Really bad! But, if a picture is worth a thousand words, these photos might be worth at least a hundred...

So, if a picture looks decent, you can be sure it came from a real camera, mine or someone on the team’s.

VISION XVII on departure day!

Wednesday morning, May 13, we met at the campus to load up the vehicles, have a few little traditional ceremonies and a time of prayer, and head for the airport.

As she has nearly every year since she was on VISION from 1997-2001, Bethany Myers came and presented each team member with a little bag of goodies for their trip. Bethany is the all-time champ when it comes to VISION trips. She took a total of five. As a small gesture of appreciation, we presented her with a nice signed thank you card.

It’s also become a tradition to recognize any VISION members who have just graduated from SDCC. This year there are two, Amy Lambert and Luke Valenti, both of whom are also completing their fourth year on the team. Each of them received a photo mug with many pictures featuring them in various VISION outings and missions trips over their years with the team.

When we arrived at the San Diego airport, we were early enough to be offered the option of taking an earlier flight to San Francisco, which gave us a little more time to relax and get organized before the l–o–n–g, 11-hour overnight flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

Air travel, European style – ride a bus from the plane to the terminal, this time Frankfurt.

We were joined in Frankfurt by Caleb Weeks, the SDCC alum and VISION member from both earlier Poland trips (2002 and 2003). He had flown from his current home in Nashville, TN, via JFK in New York and Heathrow in London. All went very smoothly, thank the Lord!

While we waited between flights, Teagan and Sasha spread out their strings and colored beads on the airport carpet to continue preparing “Wordless Bracelets” which convey the gospel message through their colors. We will use these in children’s ministry.

Our final one-hour flight brought us safely to Poznan, the third largest city in Poland, in the mid-afternoon Thursday, where we were reunited with ALL our luggage and equipment (that doesn’t always happen!). After a short delay, during which we sat around and sang worship songs in the airport, we were met by Katie Yates, our other VISION alum who has been serving full-time in Poland for the last few years, and Jan Tomczyk (pronounced “YAHN TOM-chik”), a Polish pastor who has helped plan all three of our trips to his homeland.

Worship-while-you-wait at Poznan airport

They brought us to Camp Eden, a Christian camp in a beautiful lake-front setting, where we will spend the first few nights of the trip.

The team arrives at Camp Eden’s main building.

We had a wonderful Polish dinner of breaded chicken, boiled potatoes, and cole slaw, and soon settled in for a long overdue night of “make-up” sleep.

VISION is in good hands, thanks to the Polish ladies in the kitchen

As I write, it is Friday morning and I’m sitting with the team in a sunny meeting room at the camp, overlooking the lake. They are trying to finish memorizing their Polish lyrics for their first program tonight in the nearby town of Janikowa.

Caleb is rehearsing with us for the first time, though he had some of the music in advance. Katie, who has learned Polish very well, is helping us with the last few details of pronunciation. In case you think this is easy, here’s just a sample of what we’re singing:

Ześlij szansę wolności, pokoju, radości,

Ześlij, to co przyniesie Ci chwałę,

I wiem, że przyjdą dni, gdy życie przyniesie łzy,

Lecz jeśli to ma wywyższyć Cię,

Jezus, ześlij deszcz.

I hope the various accented characters of Polish came through OK. We often have trouble with that in various software applications that don’t “speak Polish.”

The weather is beautiful, sunny but cool, 40s at night and 60's in the daytime. We’re actually at the same latitude as Canada, say somewhere near the bottom of Hudson Bay, so it doesn’t get too hot here, especially in May. Rain is a definite possibility here, but not today!

Be in prayer for the team, their health (which is excellent at this time), their Polish (which is not exactly excellent but getting better), and above all, their ministry as they bring God’s message of salvation to unbelievers and encouragement to believers. We don’t know all the opportunities God has in store for us, but with His strength we’ll be able to meet each challenge and serve Him effectively.