Poland Service Learning 2011

We arrived safely in Krakow at about 2:30 this afternoon.  We were surprised to find that the Krakow airport is actually quite small – smaller, in fact, than the Akron Canton Airport.  We walked down stairs to the tarmac, road a bus to the terminal, collected our luggage, and headed for passport control.  No one was there, so we entered Poland without anyone looking at our passports!  We then saw a man named Pavel holding a sign, “Malone University.”  He said, “You are fourteen?”  So the 14 of us followed him to a Mercedes taxi bus and trusted that he knew what he was doing, and twenty minutes later were checking into our hotel and meeting Betty Orr and Jonathan Watland, our local hosts.  We ate a wonderful dinner and then split into groups to explore the city.  I’ll attach a few photos before Krashing in Krakow.  (I’m going on 45 hours with only about 15 minutes of sleep, so the bed is calling.)  We are all safe and soon to be asleep!

Krakow

We will be working with Don and Betty Orr, Canadian missionaries who have lived in Poland for the last decade.  They provide training and support to local pastors and congregations.  We will fly into Krakow, where we will enjoy a meal and concert in a Jewish restaurant in ul. Długosz, part of the historic Jewish quarter.

Auschwitz

The next day we plan to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Dąbrowa Górnicza

Sunday we plan to travel to Dąbrowa Górnicza, where Dr. Entwistle will preach at a church pastored by his friend, Jarek Ściwiarski.  We will have the opportunity to worship with our Polish brothers and sisters and share our stories of what Christ has done in our lives. We will be hosted by the church for the next several days, and will work with the church in its ministries to the community.

Our last few days will be spent in Warsaw.  On Thursday night we will meet with young people from the International Christian Church.  On Friday, we will spend the afternoon at Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego, a University where Dr. Entwistle has been a visiting professor.  We will meet with Polish students and discuss the current cultural and political situations of our respective countries. A final night of exploring historic Old Town, which was completely rebuilt after being destroyed in World War II, and then it will be time to leave Warsaw early Saturday morning for our return to the United States.