Do not fear for I am with you.

I wanted to share with everyone a little bit about how I have been encouraged lately....

A few days ago I received a lovely package, I was a little confused as to who the sender was and it became quite the surprise. Inside was a lovely card from a teacher at Stouffville Christian School corresponding with a letter and six separate envelopes numbered by weeks. To my delightful surprise I learned that during missions week the youth pastor Alex from Springvale Baptist Church told the students of the school about my trip to Poland and the students decided to encourage me by writing me letters. It was overwhelming reading letter after letter after letter from kids who mostly I had never met, encouraging me, praying for me and sharing what they think about my trip. It blew me away! When you have an 8 year old sharing scripture with you and talking about the gospel  I must say you become incredibly humbled. It was such a beautiful thing to me hearing from these children and it made my week knowing that these children are supporting me through prayer, it is probably one of the most encouraging things on my trip thus far.

Today I opened the second envelope of letters which contained another 10 notes from kids on top of the 16 I read last week. It brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes reading the thoughts and prayers. My favourite letter so far came from a girl I know who used to be my camper at the camp where I spent the last 3 summers working. I was so delighted to read her letter and I was encouraged by her bible verses.

Isaiah 41:9-10 "I took you from the ends of the earth , from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 

Hayley's letter put a smile on my faced and deeply warmed my heart; her verse is one that I will keep close and turn to in the next few weeks when things become busy and stressful. Isn't it so comforting to know that God is always with us? 6999.5 km away from home I know that God is here on the good days and the bad ones and that is what keeps me going when I get up in the morning. I hope that wherever you are and whatever life is throwing your way that those verses can be a comfort to you through good times and the rough ones. God has got it you don't even need to break a sweat. Pretty cool right?

Anyways those are my thoughts on this rainy evening in Bielsko. I will check in again real soon, I promise!

- Kat

My letters so far! 

You make beautiful things! You make beautiful things from dust.

Hey friends!

It is great to catch up as I relax and rest after an action packed, busy, awesome week! This last week was spent putting on my first English camp of the summer in Poland and I must say it was an unbelievable experience.

I was reunited two weeks ago with the 10 other Poland summer interns (which was wonderful in and of itself) and we got ready for the first ever summer English camp in Jastrzebie (pronounced ya-shjem-bia). After lots of prep and prayer we loaded up a trailer with supplies and squished into one van like a clown car... and we were off. We weren't really sure what to expect, this was the first camp in this town and even though we had advertised in a bunch of schools we really didn't know what would happen. So we stepped out in faith knowing that God had a plan.... and let me just tell you it was beautiful!

Things didn't go exactly as planned, we were prepared for the camp to be heavier in soccer than English but every camper pretty much signed up for English so that changed things a little bit. But we quickly adapted and just went with the flow (a skill necessary when planning English camps). So Sunday rolled around and campers began to show up and it became very real, very fast. We had approximately 25 campers come (which may not seem like a lot to you... but to me it was an answer to prayer!) and we began our week showing how there is a life Greater Than this one.

This week seems like a blur (a very hot blur I might add... fun fact there isn't really air conditioning in Poland)... it was full of English Lessons, lots of dancing, games, Hawaii night, pool day, me losing a toe nail, sweet worship and most importantly we got to talk about Christ through the story of the Prodigal Son and tying it into our summer theme Greater Than. I quickly became attached to everyone who was at camp this week and we became like a family. I have a special place in my heart for each and every one of them, and I am so thankful that God brought this camp in Jastrzebie together.

I was able to share my testimony over two of the evenings at camp and teach on the final evening. My absolute favourite part of the entire week was watching God move in the hearts of campers. It was so special for me to have been able to be a small piece in God's puzzle at camp. Most of the campers I would say have been soaked in a society of religion their whole life, but one thing that each of them said by the end of the week is that they have never experienced the idea of a relationship with Jesus and they were stunned by the passion and joy they witnessed through the interns. And what touched them the most was hearing the personal stories of lives that have been changed by Jesus.

I got the chance to meet an amazing girl who I connected with very quickly. Before long I was visiting her home and we began to build a relationship and talk about everything. She is so precious to me. To see her heart touched by Christ in a real way was the best part of my week. Getting to sit with her and share my story and talk about the hope I have in Jesus was unreal. I believe that her life will never be the same and that is all thanks to God and his love.

It is hard to sum up the week of camp but as we danced our camp dance one final time yesterday I was overwhelmed with a feeling of incredible joy. Maybe it was the realization that we had become one big family and maybe it was because I had an incredibly fun week. But I think that the main reason was because I new that God had been SO good and that this was the beginning of something amazing that God is going to do among the youth in Jastrzebie.

Thank you for all of your prayer and support, please continue to  pray for all of the campers from Jastrzebie. Pray that this wouldn't be a fun memory of a good feeling they had about God but that God would transform them from the inside out and they would hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with Him.

So, I am back in Bielsko Biala and it is bittersweet after an awesome week in Jasterzebie, but I am so excited to get closer to the youth here in the next weeks as we prepare for our camp here that begins on the 28th. It is going to be awesome!

That's all for now!

- Kat