Not quite Africa.....

I'm going back to Poland again in August. I had pretty much decided before my plane even left Krakow last year that I was going back. When Terri e-mailed me a couple weeks later asking me if I wanted to join them again, I didn't hesitate before responding with a YES.
I think it's hard to put into words what happens to you on a mission trip. It takes your pre-conceived notions and turns them upside down for one thing. When I told people I was going to Poland to help with Habitat for Humanity, I did get a few strange looks. Kind of like, if you're going on a mission trip, why Poland? It's just not quite Africa. When you hear mission, you think third world. I did the same thing. But third world kind of scares me. (Lord, if you are listening.... I don't want to go to Africa!). I like my creature comforts, and malaria and bugs and dirty water is a little more than I can deal with at the moment. And I felt kind of guilty for feeling that way, and I definitely didn't like to use the word mission in conjunction with my trip. I wasn't going to help people in extreme poverty... I wasn't going to preach the Word to people who'd never heard it.... I wasn't helping orphans... or feeding starving children. I was "just" going to Poland.

Well let me tell you about the people I met. We had a chance to spend an afternoon with one of the families that will be living in Building 8. A family of 4- Alexandra, Stanislaw, and their 2 children- Nicoleta who is 12, and Andrew, who is 2. Nicola is the sweetest little girl. Her English definitely put my Polish to shame. They took us to their flat- a one bedroom apartment. The kids slept in the bedroom, and their parents slept on a pull-out sofa in the living room/dining room. Their entire apartment could have fit into my downstairs living room. But oh, how happy they were! Their apartment was filled with books and games. No computer, no video games... none of the stuff that we tend to plug into. Nicola spoke the most English, but Alexandra knew quite a bit as well. Between Nicola, and a dictionary, we managed to laugh our way through the afternoon. Several times Alexandra would be trying to find the English word for something. She'd get flustered and start flipping through her dictionary. She'd try and describe it, and I'd suggest a word and it was the one she was searching for. Her face would light up and she'd beam at me and say "yes, yes, you understand me!" It was so precious. At one point Alexandra was trying to thank us for coming and building a house for them. She got so choked up that I don't think she could have even said anything in Polish. She held out her hands to the three of us, then folded her arms across her heart. I cried. In that moment the barriers between a spoiled American and a "poor" Polish woman fell down. Love is a language that is universal, and needs no words. She was thanking us, but I should have been thanking her. A need is a need, and what this family needed was a house. No, this wasn't a family living in poverty in Africa.

But not everyone can go to Africa. My pride was taken down a few pegs that afternoon. I was thinking that because I wasn't "sacrificing" by going to someplace like Africa, then it wasn't really worthy to be considered a mission trip. Well I learned that day that I wasn't "just" in Poland. It changed my outlook on the week ahead, and what we were there to do. And in the days that followed in the midst of some frustrating moments, I would remember Alexandra's happy, tear filled eyes, and suddenly the situation didn't seem so frustrating.

August can't get here quick enough. And just a little plug- if you'd like to consider donating to my trip--- it sure would be appreciated. Alexandra and their family's story is just one of many. This housing complex we are building is changing the lives of so many families that just need a little help.
I have a special website set up that you can donate to online, (check it out here!)and it gives a little more information about the trip, what your donation will be going to, and some information about Thrivent Builds/Habitat for Humanity. Also, if you missed it and would like to catch up through last year's blog, here is a link to that too. (Which was written in part by yours truly!) Since I was the "official" blog writer on the trip last year, I really didn't get to write alot about the week from my perspective. I don't really do well writing from a third person point of view. I'm definitely a details, feelings, me-oriented, type of writer. This year is someone else's turn to write the team blog, so I'll have time to write whatever I want on mine. Stay tuned! :)