Our Jewish Friends

Posted on June 14, 2017 Updated on June 17, 2017

The Holocaust Survivors arrived Monday evening, and we’ve been busy. Maxim shared with the US team that several people who have come to this retreat before have talked about it continuously since, and have been eager to return. He said one man still has pages and pages of notes he took while he was here and he still gets them out frequently. Andrzej asked me if I had brought journals for them like I did a few years ago when I was in charge of crafts for this week. I hadn’t, so when we went into Ostróda for some shopping and ice cream, I managed to find some inexpensive journals in a bookstore. I hope they will use them to write their thoughts and memories about their time here in Poland, but I also hope it serves as a gift that tells them that we are so glad to be with them this week. Oksana showed me how the Russian so I could inscribe them with “Ostróda 2017 – Love, Rachel & Ben”. ♥

One familiar friend shared his story last night. Today we traveled with them to the beautiful cities of Gdańsk and Sopot on the Baltic sea. They decided not to visit the concentration camp at Stutthoff this year.

There is so much more to tell that I cannot post online, but we look forward to sharing with anyone who is interested when we get back. For now, just keep praying for all of our friends!

This just never gets old. Love Gdańsk.