English Camp in Wisła, Day One!

We are done with day one and I am blown away by how our camp is doing! There was an immediate feeling of family and even the discussion groups were great! I am in a group this year and it is a great thing! I even introduced my self and said 7 things about myself IN POLISH!!!! It was great!

I will put some pictures up so you can see how we are doing! Many of these happy faces do not happen until later in the week! I am so grateful to God for a WONDERFUL DAY!

Toto! We're NOT in Kansas, so what's up with the weather?

Take a look at this video! It happened just days ago and about 2 hours from my home! THIS NEVER happens! Well, now it does!

There were 7 injured and many house roofs blown off. I could not believe it when I saw the video! It was in the news though and it is said to be very rare. It has been EXTREMELY hot here and over the past few days, we have had cooler days. Hot and cold air produces. . . . TORNADOES!

Tragedy for Poland

A bus filled with Polish pilgrims lost control in France and burst into flames. It is reported that 26 lost their lives. Click here for the story. The Polish President is considering a national day of mourning.


My heart sank when I saw this report on CNN international. All I could think about was the families who's lives are now changed and how they will react in the deaths of their loved one.

How do you mourn the death of those who do not believe and who are forever lost? I thought of this too. There are 40 million Poles in this country and under 5% are believers even though the rest call themselves Christian. This country knows religion better than most, but they do not know about a relationship with Christ. When stories like this hit, I am overwhelmed by the need and the lack of resources here in this country. There seems to be a church at every corner, but they are mostly spiritually empty. Even though the name of Jesus is known in this country, WHO he is, is basically unknown. There are two generations who are now growing up as "agnostic Catholics." How will they hear who Jesus is, if no one will tell them. . . please pray that more will come to Christ and that we will get more workers to share Jesus' love.

So I have wondered babbled long enough. Just wanted to share my thoughts with you.

I Am Going to Win!

That was the decree that Jacob Hash announced last night as Dan, Laura, Krista, and I last night as we had dinner together and played Seafarers of Catan. If you have not played any of the Catan games, I HIGHLY recommend any of them! They are great to play and you can tell who is truly competitive and who is not. Strategy and "charm" is used in this game as well as wit.

Last night was a great time of playing Seafarers with great friends twice and drinking great coffee. I did not think I wanted to warm myself up even more with the wonderful liquid, but I can not pass up Starbucks.

I love relaxing, summer nights like this. It is a wonderful oasis in the middle of a very busy summer!

PS Krista won both games! Sorry Jake! :)

Transform and Roll Out!

Okay, so I agreed to do a review of Transformers. Jacob wanted me to and I love the kid! So here you go Jacob.

Two words: INCREDIBLE ACTION!

If you don't know anything about the Transformers you are either over 41 or under 6 years old. It is the epic battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons and Earth is both the battlefield and the "prize".

I won't tell you the storyline, except that it is a great classic good vs. evil plot and humans are both victims and warriors.

The special effects are AMAZING! My mom went to see it and she wondered how they did all of the battle scenes without people getting killed. She then smiled and said, "Yeah, I know special effects!" That is how real the movie seemed though.

There have been very few movies where I have not been able to pick out at least one part of a scene that is CGed. THIS movie was one that I could not tell what was CG and what was real. Amazing visually. Bumble Bee was fantastic! The personality that they were able to bring out of a car was GREAT! :) I did HATE the product placement though. What car manufacturer do you think will be the good guys and who will be the bad guys . . . I will let you figure that one out. (The bad guys do NOT have logos on their cars, but you can tell by the look of the car model.)

The story: I liked it. I was a teenager when Transformers came out as a cartoon. I spent my Saturdays watching them! Loved them! The movie held close to the original story that I remembered. I loved the fact that freedom, loyalty and friendship was once again promoted in this movie. I did not think it was quite up to the Spiderman caliber but CLOSE. It was better than Fantastic Four.

When I was back in America, I went and saw only ONE movie with my bros. It was one that I was hoping to see with them. It is a great tradition for us and one thing that I have had to grieve about not being able to do.

Wow! Now that I am talking about it, I think I want to go see it again! :)

How Long Should It Take To Get Luggage?

Sixteen days according to United. I finally got my luggage and United did NOT arrange with Lufthansa to deliver it, so I had to drive all the way to the airport to get it. What a mess! I opened it and everything is in there including my wedding present X1000! Yes, after going back and forth who knows how many times, my wedding gift for my bro and new sis came back to me in 1000 pieces . . . szkoda! (what a pity)

I did get it back though and I must be happy for this. Thank you for all of you who prayed for me during this time. Now I have to put together a nice little "Thank You" note for United.

Another Picture of the New Couple!

Just another picture of my Bro and his new bride, Donna! Wish we lived closer guys! Love you!

Hello? Miss Robbins? We have your bag.

Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call on my new Vonage line today. It was a very nice and efficient man from United's Baggage Claim in Chicago. He had no foreign accent and did not say, "We're sorry for your inconvenience." I was happy to hear a mid-west (Chicago) accent since the others have only given me bad news.

Anyway, he said that they found my luggage and that I needed to tell him where I wanted it to be delivered. I said, "Katowice, Poland." There was a slight pause and he said,
"What is your address?"
I asked him what he had, since I had already given it to the people that I was talking to last week. He told me and it was not even close, so I gave him the corrected address.

I told him of my problems and he proceeded to tell me that United had taken away the lost baggage claim office from them and gave it to a company in India. I have no problem with outsourcing as long as the quality does not go down . . . but it has! He is hoping that with enough complaints, United will give it back to them. So, United will be getting a nice letter on how terrible their choice in a lost baggage claim company they have made. I am also letting them know that in 10 minutes, a UNITED employee got my bag on a plane and headed to me!

I hope that by Monday, I can report that I have all of my stuff!

Is it Culture or Torture?

Okay, so today I went back to Polish class. They are doing it a bit different than normal. I thought I understood what was to happen (from an American perspective), but I did not! I America, you would get a student teacher to teach you a whole series or even a whole semester. NOT HERE!

I came into class jet lagged, a bit shell shocked being back in Poland and reminiscing on how wonderful it was to sit with the USA MEN'S Volleyball team from Frankfurt to Katowice when I was hit face on with Polish! The classroom had 4 students in the front and 20-25 student teachers in the back while one was in the front trying to teach. I knew I was in trouble when I was asked to move from the back of the room to the front. I did not quite understand what was about to happen though!

After just five minutes, my brain just wanted to scream and get the heck out of Dodge! The level that the student teacher was teaching was above me and all I could say was "Nie wiem." I don't know. I did not understand most of what she said although many of her words were familiar. For the first 20 minutes I kept on thinking about how the student teachers in the back must think that I am really stupid but then the Holy Spirit calmed me down and made me realize that this class is not about me, but about teachers learning and I am to be a part of it. I saw that I needed to love this teacher like Jesus would. To be a good student and try to learn all that I could even though I had no idea what she was saying. I had to stop warring about what others were thinking and help this student teacher learn how to teach me. After that, I calmed down and tried to concentrate on what I could understand.

After class, I explained in my very broken Polish that I did not understand because I was a level A0 student. Relief washed over her face. I could tell that she was doubting herself more and more as time when by during class and I encouraged her in the fact that it was my lack of knowledge and not her lack of teaching that was the problem. I hope it encouraged her.

How intimidating it must be to have all of your fellow students watch you succeed of fail right in front of them. They could very well see her as the problem and not me. I want these women to succeed and to become the wonderful teachers that I had this past four months!

So tomorrow I have two other student teachers trying to teach me things that may or may not above my head. I am going to go in with an open heart and mind and try my hardest to help them succeed and to learn as much as I can.

The lost luggage was worth it!

Wow! My brother is married! Not only is he married, but he is married to one of the most wonderful women I have ever met! I know, I am a bit bias! :)

The wedding was wonderful. It was short and so full of passion and commitment. I have never seen my brother look in amazement or wonder at a woman like he did when Donna was coming down the isle. He kept on mouthing "Wow!"

Jerry Nelson, our pastor voiced what I was thinking when he said that he had never heard a couple say their vows with such emotion and certainty. It was a great way to start a marriage!

Donna was the princess that she always dreamed of being and Bill was her prince. It was a blessed, holy time. Kudos to On the Boarder and Ted Lucas! I have been to MANY a wedding and have NEVER had a better reception than this one! The food was AWESOME Ted! Thank you!






Here are a few more picts:



Wonder Twin Powers Activate!





















Me and my bros!




















FYI - I still don't have my luggage!

The Land of Luggage Purgatory!

My journey to America was quite interesting.  I started at 2 am to do my last minute packing and getting into the car to travel to the airport.  I found the guarded parking lot and then went to go check in.  As I was waiting, I was surprised by my neighbor coming up to me and saying that she was on the same flight!  We had great fun chatting!  She went her way in Frankfurt and I went mine.  On my Frankfurt to Detroit leg of the trip, I was sitting next to a woman who I thought wanted both seats so she SPREAD OUT!  I was pushed against the window and the man in front of me decided that his seat needed to be fully reclined.  I am SO glad that I am not claustrophobic!  I got into Detroit and went through immigration.  The man was very efficient but I could tell was having a bad day.  He was over checking EVERYONE.  I only had 1 hour to get to my next flight and I still had to get to customs and re-check my baggage.  I searched for 20 minutes and could not find my bag.  The Lufthansa rep told me to just go on and the bag should follow.   So I did.  It took me 30 minutes to find out where to go to get to the next plane and I just made my flight!  Whew!  

When I got to Denver my bag was NOT waiting for me.  I filed a claim and smiled and said "Have a nice day!"  

It is no day FOUR and I still have not received my bag!   They have NO idea where it is!  I had to go and purchase everything besides my make-up and electronics.  I don't even have a wedding gift now!  AHHHHHHH!  

So my bag is in LUGGAGE PURGATORY!  HELP!

If this entry makes no sense. . . well it is due to luggage lost stress!  I wonder if there is a support group for that?