A Journey Back… Again

Posted on January 27, 2013

After Ben’s trip to Poland in 2009, he occasionally mentioned that that he wanted to return as soon as we could do so together. He “journeyed back”, this time with me (Rachel) and many of you followed this blog of our experiences ministering to the Holocaust survivors and encouraging Christians in Ostróda and other nearby cities. When I’ve returned from short-term mission trips in the past I felt it had been a great time of service that I would always remember, but it felt complete. When we returned last spring, however, it didn’t feel complete. We had this sense that there was more involvement in this mission to come. We began talking about not only returning, but taking the kids. Crazy, right? They’re too young, it would be too expensive, they won’t eat the food…. a hundred objections. Yet that was the nagging desire of our hearts. Anna remembers Ben going in 2009, “To tell people Jesus loves them. People need to know that.” Both children learned a little more about serving God through missions when they saw both of us go last year and we discussed with them the reasons and the stories of the people we met. Yes, they are young, but we want them to experiencing ministry… starting now. While at Ostróda Camp we kept thinking that there wasn’t any reason they couldn’t have come with us. Andrzej and April’s kids would make them feel right at home. But more than that, there is no reason they couldn’t be serving along side us… cleaning, working on the grounds, forming relationships with people and showing them God’s love in action. So we began asking God if he wanted us to continue to serve the people of Poland.

As we prayed for God’s leading on this decision, wanting to make sure it was His plan and not our own, Ben received an invitation to serve on the board of directors for Polish Christian Ministries. Shortly after, we received notice that he was given the vote of approval and officially begins fulfilling these responsibilities in the spring. We feel this is God’s resounding “Yes!”, that this is indeed a way in which He wants us to serve Him. We asked both Dave Hatfield (PCM Executive Director) and Andrzej Korytkowski (Ostróda Camp Director) how they felt about us involving the kids, and that too was received with approval.

As a family, we will work to prepare Ostróda Camp for the upcoming season – landscaping, fixing things, construction, cleaning, making cards for the visitors… whatever is needed. (We may even get the opportunity to plan and build a prayer walk through the camp grounds!) The kids will be involved in every way they can be at their young ages. We hope to have the chance to be involved again with the Holocaust survivors, and may also be able to help with a week of children’s camp as well. We’d like to reconnect with those we met in nearby Christian churches to encourage them and help support their ministries.

We invite you to join us in two ways. First, we need your prayers. If you are willing to commit to praying for our trip, the ministry there, and the hearts of those who will hear the message, please sign the Prayer Support page by posting a comment at the bottom. We can’t tell you how important your prayers are. Second, financial assistance is also needed to make this family mission trip possible. It is very difficult for us to ask for dollars, but our personal budget cannot make it happen despite our willing hearts. We do not yet have an estimated cost, but we know that it will exceed the $5000 we needed for last year’s trip. If God places it on your heart and you are able to financially contribute, please visit the Financial Support page for more information about ways to donate.