Saturday ---

The day of my talk! I slept great but still didn’t really want to get up. I had to force myself out of bed and into a shower to wake up. Up until this morning, I really wasn’t too freaked out or worried about everything dealing with myself talking. I had written some things done but it sure wasn’t 50 minutes worth of info. The morning finally came and I sure was not ready and was out of my comfort zone. Thank God Hunter spoke before me which helped me for some reason. Finally my time came. I was just praying that I wouldn’t talk for 10 minutes, then have no clue what else to say and would have to come up with 40 more minutes. I pretty much just talked about my mission trips, that your age does not matter because my first mission trip was when I was 10, the fear that some feel when they are going into the unknown, and then ended with some fun stories that had happened while on trips. I believe that I only really spoke for about 35 minutes but it was alright. I have no clue how they reacted or anything because it is all blurry. I do know that I talked about how different people have different callings (gifts, talents) because one of the young ladies asked me about my photography. I was like oh didn’t realize I said anything about that. Like I said it was a blur. I could finally breathe once the talk was over but I am glad that I did it.

In the afternoon, we headed back over the border into Poland and to a city called Bogadynia. We ate lunch there and then had some free time. Hunter, my mom, and I headed off to the park and then around the city. We then decided to head to the Czech border so that Hunter could put his foot on Czech soil. This was only a 10 minute drive away. We waved down a taxi and finally was about to explain to the drive where we wanted to go. Once at the border, the taxi let us out and we walked across the border. We went through passport control, then walked a few feet into Czech, and took photos. It was great fun and no problem. After a few minutes, we turned around and went back through the passport control and back into Poland. Mom finally found us another taxi and we had enough time to get some lody (ice cream) before we had to be back at the church.

The Christian band from Warsaw that was booked for the evening time had to cancel due to some problems so we had to improvise. The youth pastor decided that his group needed to just enjoy some time together since they are from all over southwestern Europe. He picked out a movie and they watched it. Hunter went off with two Polish teenagers to make some phone calls and mom and I were able to take another walk and then we played with this little 3 year old Polish girl, Mariska. While playing with her, my mom was able to talk with her mom, who spoke good English, and now she has another connection in Poland with another Christian school. God is good!!

Once the movie was over, we had dinner, drove back to Germany, and crashed!

The city center
where the retreat was held.

(Germany)

Eva - Polish teenager
at the retreat

Mariska -- 3 year old Polish girl at retreat with parents

Penny & Kimi
finally legal in Czech
with their passports!

Hunter and his Gofry -- waffle with something like whip cream and toppings like nuts, chocolate, strawberry, toffee, banana, and many more different kinds of sauce.

Friday morning, with only 15 minutes worth of sleep, Hunter, my mom, and I set out to catch a train to southwestern Poland. We were headed off to a retreat for the weekend and then an English camp the following week. I had the idea that since I was having a hard time getting use to the 7 hour time difference that I would stay up most of the night and then be so exhausted by the time the evening came that I would just crash at around 9 and up for breakfast the next morning. This would get the jet lag over with and get me finally on the right time schedule. I was praying that this idea would work.

The train left Krakow at 6:45 and we were all aboard with our 10 various bags with clothes, food, retreat supplies, and English camp supplies. We traveled through the southwestern part of Poland for about 8 hours until we reached our destination – Jelena Gora, Poland. The youth pastor, Andrzej (English – Andrew), arrived to pick us up. This was not the true end of our traveling. It drove through many different cities and stopped to pick up people, drop of luggage, and switch cars. Andrzej was our driver and he had just received his license (he is in his 30s). For some this is very expensive to get and the older generation do not want their license and most don’t get one. Plus there are busses and trains all over so a car is not that necessary. However, the younger generation has become more reliant on cars for transportation and therefore the train system has had to cut down on the number of trains that are traveling because there aren’t enough people traveling on them anymore. Anyway, just a little bit of useless information for you all to know!!!

Do you know how it feels to ride with someone who is new at driving a stick shift? Well, let me tell you it teaches you how to really really pray!! Andrzej was not the worst driver I have ever ridden with, but I will say that there were times when I wasn’t sure that we would stay on the road. Those times I learned how to really pray! He is a great guy. He would be extremely serious on the road and then he would be able to joke around and laugh at himself. After getting lost a few times because the lead drive would drive off to fast for us to keep up, we finally made it to the border and went into Germany for the retreat. The retreat was right across the border. We were starving and ready for some dinner. By this time I am exhausted, and ready to eat and crash. However, it was still early and mom had to speak. This retreat included about 25 people from all over southwestern Poland, with ages ranging from 10 to 30. My mom spoke about what a missionary really is and about being sent out by God. She did a great job! Once over I was ready for the bed!!!!! My head hit the pillow and I was out until morning. Praise GOD!!!

Prayer Walk

Waking up this morning to a fanatic barking dog, does not get Kimi in a good mood. However, my mom confirmed to me that yes I will be speaking 50 minutes at the retreat, which made my day. This just meant that I needed some extra prayer. After really waking up and finally getting ready, Hunter, my mom, and I headed out the door to go on a prayer walk. As we walked up the steep hill to the forest, I realized that I needed much, much, much more prayer. Prayer not just for my speech this weekend but also that my calves wouldn't fall off. Man were they burning. I knew I shouldn't have run through the Amsterdam airport! I suffered through it, however, and had a great prayer time and some silly times with Hunter. We walked around the forest for atleast an hour and finally ended up at the zoo for some lunch and to relax!

"Mom's forest" that is by her apartment. This is where we did our prayer walk! It is very beautiful!

Penny, Kimi, & Hunter praying on the rock where
the Virgin Mary statue once stood
(now it is broken into pieces down the hill)












Being strong and proud of the accomplishment of walking miles up and down hills, especially since my calves were killing me from running through the Amsterdam Airport!

Day at the Zoo

After our long walk in my mom's forest and prayer, we ended up at the Krakow Zoo. We were ready for some lunch and a rest. Once at the zoo, we ordered some lunch and sat down to enjoy it. Hunter was excited that he was able to order his food in Polish. The next step was the zoo. It only cost $4.00 to go into the zoo and we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. It was great fun and we saw some cool animals ranging from exotic birds to vultures, from wild cats to leopards, jaguars, and a tiger, from flamingos to ostriches, and also wallabies, elephants, and many types of monkeys. It was a great break in the day!

This evening we got are getting ready for our weekend at a retreat and the English camp next week. We are heading off on a train at 6am and heading over to East Poland for a 3 day retreat. At this retreat, my mom has to speak for 60 minutes and Hunter and I are each speaking for 50 minutes, this includes enough time for them to translate. Please pray that I know what in the world to say!!!! Then after the retreat, we are going to be joined by an other Polish lady, Justyna, and a Bulgarian lady, Ligia, and her 6 year old son, Michael. All of us will then conduct an English camp.

Hunter trying to get the squirrel monkeys to play with him.

Awesome Flamingos

Timon, meerkat, greeting us!

Hunter's kin coming to visit us!

Castello

Sforzesco

Castle in Milan

(dates back to the second half of the 14th century)

Finally in Krakow, Poland

I finally arrived here in Krakow Poland after about a 27 hour trip starting from Texarkana to Shreveport to Houston to Amsterdam (10 hour plane ride there) to Milan (with 7 hour lay over) to finally Krakow, Poland. Never missed a plane although it was promising. I had to run through the Amsterdam airport so I wouldn't miss my flight to Milan. This airport is massive and I had to run (ok jogged) atleast 3 miles to finally get to my gate. Once in Milan, I had the opportunity to leave the airport and make my way into the city center (40 minutes away by train). Hey why not. So, I jumped on the train with some help from an Italian man who made sure I was on the right train. He even sat by me and noticed my bagde on my carryon and so wanted to talk about Texarkana. He even pronounced it correctly before I even said anything. He said that he had heard of my city because of movies and how in the movies they drive through Texarkana going to Mexico. I thought that was interesting and funny! He was really nice and made sure I knew how to get the train back and everything before he left me. Once in Milan, I walked around and saw the castle. I have to admit I didn't go too far into the city in case I got turned around or lost track of time and would miss the train back to the airport. I did walk around the castle there. It was neat and I figured that it must be a great place for tourist and stuff because there was a lot of Japanese people there taking many photos (that is how you know it is good.) :-) I walked around the streets for a little bit but then my feet started to really hurt (got two blisters now) and my pursue and everything was killing my shoulders. So I decided to head back to the train station. Let me tell you, the weather there felt like I was back in Texas. It was hot! Anyways, I got a soda at the Italian Burger King and then went and bought some ice cream and even did it in Italian. I just listened to the folks in front of me and how they pronounced some things. It worked because I recieved what I wanted and was able to pay the right amount! I was shocked. When I was finished I headed back to the airport with no problems and got on the plane with no problems. We did have to wait once on the plane for a few minutes while they unloaded and then reloaded our bags back under for some odd reason. However, I kept myself entertained by this guy infront of me and to my right who was having a good time playing with his nose!!! Nice I know! I finally arrived in Krakow around 11pm (Poland time -- 4 pm Texas time) with all my luggage showing up and my mom and Hunter waiting on me. (Hunter is a young American missionary who was a missionary 8 years in Mexico where my mom always travels to. He is joining us this summer here in Poland until July 3 and helping us with missions stuff).

Until next blog, good day and God Bless!!!