Andy and Jamie in Poland

I hope that you enjoyed a wonderful Easter and that the spring weather is being kind to you!  Here is our April Newsletter!

April 2011 Newsletter

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27

Over the past couple of months I’ve had the great joy of spending most Tuesday and Friday afternoons at the Dom Dzieci (Children’s Home). Dom Dzieci is not only a home for orphans, it’s a home for kids in what we would call the foster care system: kids removed from their families for various reasons. During these afternoons of English lessons, games and coloring, I’ve developed a deep bond with several of the kids, friendships in varying degrees with others and a deep ache for what each of them is experiencing. My goal for each and every visit to Dom Dzieci is to show the kids an unconditional love. Some respond by running and jumping into my arms, others by slinking stealthily into a seat at the table to listen while I speak in English, others just say hi when I walk by, but each one knows that I keep coming back because I really do care.

Music and Laughter

Because of language barriers and the informality of my “lessons,” I really wanted a chance to share with the kids my faith in Christ in a more structured setting, hoping that this combined with my weekly visits would paint a picture of our living, loving God. The Easter Party was a great platform from which to do that. However, I didn’t want this to be a church service, something boring that the kids would feel they had to suffer through. I wanted it to be joyful, loud and fun. And I wanted it to demonstrate Jesus’s love as well as talk about it.

Crafts

There were many moments in the planning of the party that I knew God was behind it. One of the things He blessed me with was a partner. The daughter of our church’s pastor was excited about the idea, and helped to take care of some of the things I couldn’t do myself, like talking to the director of Dom Dzieci. Another huge blessing was the donation by Messiah Lutheran Church’s Sunday School kids. Their donation to the project, $500, paid for supplies, prizes, food and gifts to orphanages. When we thought that the party had fallen through, God sent another unexpected partner. One of the workers at Dom Dzieci also works at one of our schools. Through her contacts, we not only were able to get the kids at Dom Dzieci to attend the party, but kids from three other orphan homes! Finally, I was greatly encouraged to have eight students from our school volunteer to help out with the party.

Juat a Few of the Gifts

We held the party on Thursday, April 14, in the chapel of our church in Wałbrzych. Between 35 and 40 kids from 4 different orphanages participated. Eight students from one of the high schools worked as volunteers and multiple adults from the four orphanages were involved as well. We had three craft competitions with prizes for kids in three different age groups. There was a table filled with snacks, juice and soda. We had a sing-a-long led by three of the student volunteers that had the kids and the adults singing, laughing and dancing along. And I gave a short talk about what Jesus did for us on Easter, accompanied by a presentation of gifts from the Sunday School kids at Messiah Lutheran Church. I explained that these kids had heard about the Easter party and wanted to make it a great day for the kids here. Gifts included games, sports equipment and colored pencils and coloring books. Each kid also received a bar of chocolate.

Me with One of My Kids

Since the party, I have heard from several involved how thankful the kids were. It has opened the door wider for my work with the kids at Dom Dzieci. For example, Andy and I will be spending Easter morning with the kids and adults there for an Easter breakfast. It also made possible a very helpful conversation with one of the Dom Dzieci workers about what the situation of the kids is and what they really need. Plans are being put together by both our Polish church family as well by me to help meet some of those needs. Also as a result of the party, I was able to visit a second orphanage and arrange to visit and hold English lessons on Fridays. God truly used this event to push this ministry with orphans and foster care children farther than I could have dreamed.

For more pictures, check out my Facebook album LOVE.

Andy and I had the chance to visit a grade school today with one of the teachers we teach with at School Number 8.  The two classes we saw were sixth grade classes (mostly 12 and 13 year-olds).  Not only did we talk about who we are, but they shared about themselves.  They also welcomed us and thanked us with songs!

We had such a great time!  And now we are enjoying getting to “talk” to them more on Facebook.

For a few pictures, follow this link: New Faces Album

Check out this month’s newsletter here . . .

March Newsletter

And as always also under the newsletter tab.

Enjoy the start of spring!  We sure are!!

Wow!  We’ve been in Poland for six months already!  This month’s newsletter looks back at our time here and forward to our future in Poland.  As always, find it here or on our Newsletter tab.

February 2011 Newsletter

Miss out on a past newsletter?  They are all linked on our Newsletter tab.  And don’t miss out on future ones!  Join our email list.  Send us an email at  Andrew.Koenig@LCMS.org or Jamie.Koenig@LCMS.org.

As winter break at our schools draws to a close, we had one last chance to see some of the sights right around our very own city.  Just across the border in the Czech Republic (about an hour from Wałbrzych) is the Adršpach Rock Town.  We spent a couple of hours walking around and marveling at some amazing rock formations. 

Take a look at the photo album here: FB photo album.

But, be forewarned, I took A LOT of pictures of rocks . . .  Now, back to school on Monday.  And, I think we’re both excited to get back to seeing our students!

This past weekend I had the awesome experience of traveling to and from Krakow on my own.  The trip was amazing, mostly because my good friend Justyna lives in Krakow and was my own personal tour guide to the city.  But the trip also was a huge milestone for me in living in Poland.  It was my first solo attempt at traveling by train and bus.  And for the most part, it was a success.

For the non-Polish speaker, traveling in Poland can be a bit of a challenge.  First, and most obviously, everything is in Polish.  And when your Polish skills are limited, it makes the process that much more interesting.  On the trains, there are no announcements letting you know which stop you’re at or which stop is coming up.  You have to keep track of where you are by watching the names of the stations as you go by in order to get off at the correct place.  And navigating your way around the train stations can be quite an adventure if you don’t already know where to go.  Once you manage to figure out the platform your train leaves from, you still have to listen to the announcement (in Polish) to figure out which side of the platform or section of the platform your train will leave from.  Basically this necessitates finding someone kind enough to help you. 

On my way to Krakow, I had some trouble with switching trains.  I got off at the correct station, found the board that announces arrivals and departures, but I just couldn’t make heads or tails of it.  I stood there for a while, freaked out, hoping for some kind of revelation.  None came.  I called Andy, but without being there, there wasn’t much he could do aside from advise me to ask someone.  Of course, this freaked me out even more.  I’m not the boldest person, it makes me nervous to ask people at home for directions or help or whatever, but to try when the chances are no one will understand me . . .  So, instead, I stood there for a few more minutes, hoping God or the sign would take pity on me.  No go.  That meant I had no choice but to ask for help. 

I turned around, targeted a fairly nice looking young woman, walked over, and in my best Polish butchered “Which platform Krakow?”  I might have said, “Who platform Krakow?”  I showed her the paper I had which listed the stops for my train.  And she said:  “I think you are on my train.  I will show you to the platform.”  I can’t tell you how relieved I was.  I waited with her while she finished her cigarette and then we went to the platform together.  She waited near me, and when the announcement revealed which side of the platform our train was on, she directed me to the correct spot.  Once on the train, we lost each other.  I walked down the car, trying to find an empty seat, preferably by someone who didn’t look intimidating.  Unsuccessful, I turned around to try again, mentally coaching myself to just go with the next open seat.  After a few doors, I saw the same girl.  She stopped me and told me there was an empty seat next to her! 

Do you know that feeling of joy and hope you get when a stranger does something nice for you?  Take that times about 1 million and you’ll get an idea of how I felt.  This woman was truly a blessing for me that day!  For all intents and purposes, I was completely helpless in my situation.  Had this woman not showed me kindness, there’s a good chance I’d still be standing in the snow, staring at that departures board, hoping to figure it out eventually.

On the way home, I had a completely different experience.  I managed the train station switch with hardly any problems.  I figured out the board, and found the right train on my platform.  It was at home, in my own city that things got a little messy.  I got off the train, and found my bus stop, only to realize I had no idea which bus to take (normally I walk everywhere I need to go).  Hoping that it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out, I consulted the bus schedule.  Once again, I didn’t have a clue how to read it or figure out which bus I even needed.  Once again, I stood there for a while, hoping for some sort of miraculous revelation.  Once again, no go.  So, like before, I targeted two young people.  I walked up to them, and in my best Polish, butchered, “Which bus main square?”  Except this time I know I said, “Who bus main square?”  But this time, all I got were freaked out stares, frantic head shaking and backing away.  So what do you do when you have no idea which bus to get on, your phone is dead and the only two people you can see for several blocks don’t know English and are freaked out by your attempts to speak in Polish?  You pick the next bus going in the general direction you want to go and get on.  Sadly, it wasn’t the right bus.  I ended up lugging my bags in the snow quite a few blocks.  But I did make it home. 

So, why am I telling you this?  Other than the fact that it’s an interesting travel anecdote?  Not knowing the language of the country you’re in is hard.  Even if you’re trying to learn, fluency takes years.  So, next time you’re in a situation with someone who doesn’t speak the language, be kind!  Don’t be frustrated with them!  They’re probably trying really hard.  Take the time to figure out what it is they are asking.  How you react could be the difference between them finding where they need to go or dragging their suitcase through the snow.

The newsletter page has been updated (yes, I know–long overdue!) with the January Newsletter.

You can also read it here:  January 2011 Newsletter

Thanks everyone!

A sample of the polonez!  Enjoy!

I just added a few pictures to the studniowka article.  See below. 

I’m still working on video!