We're Home!

Thanks, everyone, for your prayers yesterday. We left Zakosciele at 4:30am, as planned. Both our flights were on time, and logistically everything went according to plan. Our dear friend Thomas picked us up from LAX and took us home, through Friday afternoon traffic. Thank you, Thomas!

The trip was exhausting for all of us. We had a short layover in London, where we had to go through security again. As we took our bags off the conveyor belt, David saw his blanket, pulled it down onto the floor, and lied down on top of it. He was ready to go to sleep, right there amidst the bustle of airport security! We sat in the "bassinet seating" for the long flight from London to LA. While David is still young enough to qualify for the seat, you can see from the pictures below that he's really too big for it now. After he had been awake on the flight for several cranky hours, we asked God to give him just 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Within minutes, he was fast asleep! Then exactly 2 hours later, he woke up! Thank you, Lord.



We got home around 6:45pm last night. Within minutes (5 minutes, max), David and I were both asleep in our respective beds. Wonderful Larry brought in the bags with Thomas and he, too, was asleep shortly thereafter.

On our last day in Poland, we went into Tomoszow to help a little at the preschool and visit the church and elementary school. At the church, David and Kenji found their way into the ballroom:

Later that day, David befriended one of the campers. He followed him around, speaking gibberish to him. Everybody had a role to play during our trip. :)

Coming Home

Here we are, folks, on the eve of our departure. It's 9pm in Poland right now, on Thursday night. We're pretty much packed and ready to go. Our flight departs from Warsaw at 8am tomorrow. Would you please pray for us over the next 24 hours? Here's our schedule:

10:30pm (tonight) - Attend the leaders party, where PROeM will say goodbye to us.
4:30am (Friday) - Leave for Warsaw
8am (Poland time) -Fly from Warsaw to London
12pm (London time) - Fly from London to LAX
3pm (CA time) - Arrive in LA.

Since our travels begin at 7:30pm CA time tonight, would you please pray for us before you go to sleep tonight? By the time you wake up on Friday morning, we will have hopefully made our connection and be on our way over the Atlantic.

We're looking forward to being stateside again. Thank you for your prayers!!!

Tuesday of our last week

It's Tuesday now. We'll leave Poland on Friday, so we're down to our last few days here. In fact, this is the LAST CAMP OF THE SUMMER! I think it's the 7th week of camp here and we can sense the excitement in the air as the leaders and staff enjoy only a few more days of heat, rain, mosquitoes, camp food, cabins and homesick kids. But joking aside, it's been a great summer here, with hundreds of kids coming to know the Lord for the first time. His name has been glorified here in Poland.

What are we doing this week? Not as much as last week! Larry and Kenji are leading the morning devotions for leaders each day; Larry spoke on love in last night's evening session; Heather and Kenji are teaching English during "club" time in the morning; and we're all taking turns standing guard over various locations on the camp. (For example, David and I stand at the swinging bridge, making sure no campers jump off it.)

The best way to escape from the heat is with ice cream from the snack shack:

When we went into Lodz to see the Real Action program, we spent a couple hours at the Manufactura, a large mall. David found his favorite spot quickly:

Tomek has been at the camp all summer, since his parents are PROeM staffers. I think he's had a better time than anyone:

Another ice cream break. Who's having more fun? Sammy (in the foreground), David (in the middle), or Heather? It looks like the local kids were jealous:

David LOVES the hammocks, a new addition to the camp this year:

David and Sammy:


Last week, one of the campers made a "Lary Boy" doll for Larry:

Some of our campers:



Larry, Rafal (PROeM staff), and their boys:

On Saturdays, after the campers leave their cabins, someone needs to go through and collect all the sheets for washing. If you look closely at this pic, you'll see Kenji and Heather, driving a car across the lawn, filled with sheets from the cabins. Nice!

Recovery, Diplomas, Parents and Lodz

It's Friday night now in Poland, and I'm happy to report that today was much better for all of us. Heather, who was struggling with sickness and having trouble sleeping, is on the mend. She also got a full night's sleep last night and she seems like a new person today! David, who was suffering from exhaustion, was up again last night, but took 2 naps today. He's now peacefully sleeping and we're praying he remains that way.

Today was our last day of English classes. (The camp ends tomorrow.) Every camper got a special diploma to confirm that they finished the class. Very cute. I think there should be some sort of Final Exam before diplomas are distributed, but I'm told that takes the fun out of it. Hello, isn't this English camp? But I digress. :) ... Larry has one last talk to give as "Lary Boy." He is doing a GREAT job. It seems a new talk is posted at proem.tv every day, so be sure to keep checking it! His last talk tomorrow is for the parents! I know he's a little nervous. It's one thing to do all that in front of a group of 200 kids (even if it's eventually posted online for the world to see). It's a whole different experience to add parents to the mix!

Right now, Larry, Kenji and Heather are out meeting with Rafal (a dear friend and one of the PROeM staff) to learn more about where PROeM is headed this year. In particular, they are planning a church plant in the city of Lodz, about an hour from here. The church plant and community outreaches that already take place in Tomoszow (the city closest to the camp) have been tremendously successful. Now PROeM is hoping to take the Gospel to Lodz, the second largest city in Poland. (Warsaw is the largest.) They are praying about renting a building that will require very little renovation, and then serving the community next door to it, as they start the church. You may recall that Heather and Kenji were in Lodz during the first week of our trip, serving with Real Action. That was, in many ways, the kick off to this new church plant.

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Please pray for health and rest. As mentioned above and on previous posts, please especially pray for Heather and David.
  
• Please pray for "Lary Boy" as he prepares his final lesson for the campers and their parents.
  
• Please continue to pray for our relationships with the staff here and with each other. Pray that we seize the opportunities we have to connect with people and share our lives. Pray for unity within our team (Larry, Chrissy, David, Kenji, Heather), and that we be filled with the Spirit so that we can display the fruits of the Spirit.
• Please pray that God would bring the Gospel to Lodz, however He wills. Pray for the men and women of PROeM, that they would discern His voice and follow the Lord wherever and however He leads.
  

A Rough Day

Greetings, Friends! We posted a short post this morning, so if you didn't have a chance to read that, please see below. The talent show is now happily behind us. It was, uh, your typical talent show. (The hokey-pokey was mediocre and Larry's kids' skit was, let's say, very creative. They had a lot of neat costumes and props.) Today was a rough day for us Soderlunds because David is, I think, exhausted. He doesn't sleep as much as he needs to here and I think it's catching up to him. We had a long afternoon filled with discontent and typical grumpy 2-year-old behaviors, ending with him losing his lunch. (Sorry, this blogsite has had far too much vomit in in.) He hit the pillow early and we're hoping he can get a full night's sleep tonight. Will you please pray for that right now? (Chances are, you're reading as he sleeps.)

In other news, Larry's first introduction as "Larry Boy" is now up at proem.tv! A few things to notice: (1) The spelling of his name: "Lary Boy." Kids roll their "r's" here and apparently more than one "r" confuses them. Picture them rolling their "r's" indefinitely. Ha! (2) David screaming in the background. He cries every time he sees his daddy on stage. (3) This is his 1st time as "Lary Boy" and he's still finding his character in this episode. Larry isn't thrilled with the idea of us sharing this with everyone, but he does want you to know what we're doing here. He says that future episodes will be better, but I think he does a great job in this one.

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Please pray for Heather. She is sick (with a head cold) and having trouble sleeping. She lost her voice today too.
  
• Please continue to pray for Larry as he prepares his Bible lessons for the rest of the week. He'll speak on Friday morning, and then give a short re-cap for the parents on Saturday.
  
• Please continue to pray for David's rest. Last night he was up again, from 4-6am. His sleep time is usually from 11am to 10pm, California time, so if you think to pray for him in the afternoon, that would be wonderful.
• Praise God for PROeM. I don't know exactly how many kids came forward last night, but there were dozens of them. God is clearly working to spread His Gospel through this organization.
  
• Please continue to pray for our relationships with the staff here and with each other. Pray that we cease the opportunities we have to connect with people and share our lives. Pray for unity within our team (Larry, Chrissy, David, Kenji, Heather), and that we be filled with the Spirit so that we can display the fruits of the Spirit.

It's Thursday

Hi Everyone. First, we want to thank you for your encouraging emails and your comments on this site. We know there are many of you who check this blogsite and don't comment; we are so grateful for your prayers too!

Thursday is here and it's hard to believe that English camp is almost over. Last night was the invitation, but we don't have an update yet on how many kids came forward. Larry already gave his Bible lesson as "Larry Boy" this morning. Today's miracle is Jesus healing the paralytic who is lowered down through the roof (Mark 2:3-12). In a few minutes, we'll teach our English lessons. Tonight, after campfire, there will be a talent show, in which each English class will have an opportunity to perform. Chrissy is thinking about having her kids perform the hokey-pokey, since their vocab for today is parts of the body. Larry might have his kids do a skit or learn a song like "My God is so Big..." Talent shows aren't exactly our forte. We'll post more when we have a minute!

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Please pray for Heather. She is sick (with a head cold) and having trouble sleeping.
  
• Please continue to pray for Larry as he prepares his Bible lessons for the rest of the week. He'll speak on Friday morning, and then give a short re-cap for the parents on Saturday.
  
• Please continue to pray for David's rest. Last night he was up again, from 4-6am. His sleep time is usually from 11am to 10pm, California time, so if you think to pray for him in the afternoon, that would be wonderful.
• Praise God for PROeM. I don't know exactly how many kids came forward last night, but there were dozens of them. God is clearly working to spread His Gospel through this organization.
  
• Please continue to pray for our relationships with the staff here and with each other. Pray that we cease the opportunities we have to connect with people and share our lives. Pray for unity within our team (Larry, Chrissy, David, Kenji, Heather), and that we be filled with the Spirit so that we can display the fruits of the Spirit.
  

English Camp is ON!

Thank you for visiting our blogsite and for praying for us! We count it an honor to be sent by you and are so blessed by your support.

It is now Tuesday - Day 2 of the week - and English camp is well underway! I thought it might be fun to show you our schedule for most days:

7:30am - Devotions for leaders
8am - Breakfast
9:15am - Large Camp Meeting
11am - English Classes
12pm - Meeting for English teachers
1pm - Lunch
(1:30pm - David's naptime)
3pm - English Games
4-6pm - Free time
6pm - Dinner
7:15pm - Large Camp Meeting
8-9pm - "Guard duty"

It's a full day, but if we can rest at night, then we're ready to tackle the day. Most of our work is at the beginning of the day, as Larry teaches from the Bible in the morning meeting and we all teach English classes. I still need to get a picture of Larry in his "Larry Boy" costume, so stay tuned for that. On Monday, he spoke on Jesus Feeding the 4,000. Today, it was Jesus Calming the Sea. The theme for the whole camp is Jesus' miracles. Since tomorrow night is invitation night, tomorrow's miracle will be Jesus' resurrection from the grave.

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Praise God that the English lessons "miraculously" came together. We have different lessons for the different fluency levels of our kids and, with minor tweaking on occasion, they're very effective.
  
• Please continue to pray for Larry as he prepares his Bible lessons for the rest of the week.
• You must have been praying over our understaffed situation. The leadership managed to find 2 girls who can watch David (and a couple other kids his age) while we teach our English classes. Praise God for making the logistics work!
• Please continue to pray for David's rest. You may recall that he slept through the night only once last week and he has been crying a lot more as we put him to bed, regardless of how tired he is. This is improving (he slept through the night 2 out of the last 3 nights), but still has a ways to go. His sleep time is usually from 11am to 10pm, California time, so if you think to pray for him in the afternoon, that would be wonderful.

"I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world." Romans 1:8

Reunited

Guess who we saw tonight?! Kenji and Heather! We're happy to report that they're alive and well. They had a trying but rewarding week at Real Action, and are on their way back to camp as I write. We (Soderlunds) had an opportunity to go to Lodz today to experience a bit of the big city and to attend the Real Action closing concert. We met people whose lives were transformed (one actually came up to me, speaking polish and I mistook her for a drunk woman - oops), we enjoyed the music of a polish gospel choir, and we got to hear all about God's love for the people of Lodz. We're excited to learn more from Heather, Kenji, and the other Real-Action-Goers in the next couple days.

Tomorrow (Sunday), we'll attend church at Tomy Christian Fellowship, PROeM's church plant in Tomoszow. We're VERY excited to visit the church. Then in the afternoon, campers will arrive for English camp. We've been working all week on the lessons for this camp and hope to have them ready in time! Larry will teach the morning Bible lesson every morning, on the miracles of Jesus. The staffers in charge decided that his character will be "Larry Boy," whom many of you know from the Veggie Tales series. They're working on a costume for him. So for now, here's a picture of the real Larry Boy:


For those of you who read the PROeM TV post and clicked on the link (www.proem.tv) , Larry's character is much like the "Coach Sportek" character from last week. He's supposed to be really funny and exciting, while also conveying the message of Jesus' miracles.

Later each morning, we will all teach English classes. Our English lessons will be based on the miracles about which they learned with Larry. For example, on Monday they'll learn about Jesus Feeding the 4,000. We'll review the story in our lessons, and then focus on vocabulary words related to food.

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Praise God for a successful week of Real Action in Lodz.
  
• Pray for the English lessons for next week's camp - that they'll come together smoothly and that they'll effectively teach the kids.
• Pray for Larry as he prepares his lessons for next week.
• We were slightly understaffed last week and definitely felt it. We'll be understaffed again next week and we're running into a problem: Larry is asked to do something (say, belay for the campers at the rock wall) while Chrissy is asked to do something else (say, work the Snack Shack), and suddenly we need to figure out who will watch David, etc. Logically, this seems like something everyone here understands, but in the moment, it can be stressful when we're pulled in several directions. Will you please pray over this situation? Specifically, I'm starting to wonder about what will happen when we both need to teach separate English classes every day next week.
• Please pray for David's rest. He slept through the night only once last week. He is also crying a lot more now as we put him to bed, regardless of how tired he is. This isn't normal for him and we're pretty sure it's due to the jet lag and strange environment.

PROeM TV

Hi Everyone! I just discovered something cool: PROeM has been posting online videos of several talks from this summer. Most of them are in polish and I don't think you'll see us specifically, but it gives you a flavor of what we're doing over here. This week's camp is called "Junior 3 Multi-sport." Here's the link: www.proem.tv

David Mingling with the Natives

We're out of practice when it comes to taking pictures of ourselves, but we always find time to take pics of David. Here he is with his new best friend, Sammy, and with some of the campers.

First pictures

Okay, folks, here are the first pictures uploaded from our camera. Enjoy! Unfortunately, they're not in chronological order, but I think you get the idea.

Larry speaking on Tuesday night (subject: sin):

Our most eager camper:

During last night's salvation message, the speaker created this painting as he spoke. In the end, he filled in the letters on top, which read "Jesus Forgives" (in polish, of course). 73 campers came forward to accept Christ last night. Incredible.

Proof that we're managing to have a good time. We visited our friends' home for lunch today and they made fancy-schmancy ice cream sundaes. We'll do a lot in the name of relationships:

Now, back to the beginning. Here's the team at LAX, awaiting our first loooooong flight:

Travel took its toll on all of us:

Yep, it took its toll on every single one of us:

Here is the highly acclaimed souvenir soccer uniform from Heathrow:

Busy busy busy

Today (Wednesday, Aug 4) is Kenji's birthday. If you have a chance to email him or send him a message on Facebook, I'm sure he'd appreciate it!

How can it already be Wednesday? PROeM has kept us running around this week. We've been in the Snack Shack (working, of course... and maybe purchasing a few treats too); we've been preparing lessons and related material for next week's English camp; we've chased after David and other little ones; we've attended the campers' meetings; we (Larry) belayed on the climbing wall; and we've had several meaningful conversations with our friends here (focusing on those relationships!).

Last night, Larry spoke at the kids' evening meeting. He spoke on sin, a subject leading up to tonight's invitation message. Larry used a backpack (with the help of one of the campers) as an illustration of life. We fill our lives with "good things" or "bad things." To illustrate sin, he added weights to the backpack. At first, sins feel relatively light (maybe a small rock in the backpack), but sins quickly become heavy (20lb weights), and then we feel trapped (it's hard to move with a heavy backpack on our backs). He used Isaiah 59:2 to define sin, Romans 3:23 to remind the kids that all have sinned, and Luke 5:24 to lead into tonight's message. Christ is our only freedom from sin.

We're excited for tonight's message, as the kids hear the Gospel, some of them for the first time.

A quick update on Heather and Kenji: It looks like they have only limited internet access in Lodz. From what we've heard, they have had an awesome ministry there, but we currently don't have any details. We'll inform you once we have more to say!

From the comments on our last blog, it sounds like there are some of you who really do want to hear about the vomit incident (event?) on the airplane. So here we go. If you're not interested, please scroll down for today's prayer requests.

Our flight from LA to Heathrow took off at 4pm Friday. David fell asleep in his little bassinet seat around his usual bedtime, but woke up 2 hours later because the baby next to him started screaming. (Many of you have heard David scream, but he's a quiet little mouse compared to that baby!) David didn't go back to sleep at all after that. He wasn't crying or upset, just awake and fidgety.

As we prepared to land in Heathrow (around 2am Pacific time), we had to take D out of his bassinet seat and put him on our laps. I did that. Right after I picked him up, he threw up, mostly on himself and on my pants. I think he just had that "am I nauseous or hungry?" feeling that we all get when we don't sleep. Plus, we had fed him to keep him happy and he's not used to eating in the middle of the night. So up it came. But not a problem! Mommy brought a change of clothes for him! We changed him quickly and buckled up for landing. After we landed, as the plane taxied around, he threw up again. Big time. The through-the-nose kind, like he's never done before. How many extra outfits did his mommy bring? Only 1, and now it was all puked out.

Poor David didn't smell very good as we made our way through security at Heathrow. During our layover, he ran around in just a diaper while Larry searched the airport for new clothes. There aren't any children's clothing stores at that airport, in case you wondered. He found a souvenir soccer uniform and that did the trick. If you thought food was expensive at airports, try shopping for souvenir soccer uniforms! It's D's most expensive outfit to date. But I don't mean to complain; it was nice to have something for him to wear. I'll post a picture of it once I upload pics from our camera. Somehow, we survived, hopped on our plan to Warsaw, and have since washed the last of the puked out clothes.

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Pray for Heather and Kenji, and the other 200+ people serving at Real Action in Lodz right now.
• Pray for the campers here in Zakosciele, as they will hear the Gospel tonight.
• Pray for David, who's still having a rough time with the time-change. He hasn't slept through the night yet. He's also sleeping in the same room as Mommy and Daddy, which is another distracting change to his routine.
  
• Pray for the relationships that we're trying to strengthen during our stay.
• Praise God for health so far!
• 
  

Sleep is a gift from the Lord

Okay, we're here. We arrived at the camp last night around 11pm. We all went off to sleep; David was up for a few hours around 3am, but after that, we got several hours of sweet, uninterrupted rest. What a gift! Heather and Kenji left this morning for Real Action in Lodz. We're staying back at the camp, but may see them sporadically if we find our way to Lodz later this week. (It's only an hour from here.) SO, if they find internet over there, you can get updates on Heather and Kenji at Heather's blogsite (http://heatherannem.blogspot.com/).

Here at the camp, we're a little understaffed, since so many workers are at Real Action. Larry and I have been assigned to the Snack Shack (alright!!) and to overseeing some of the other volunteers. Thank you for all your prayers so far! They carried us a long ways.

One more thing: Tomorrow (Monday, Aug 2) is Larry's bday. He'd love to receive an email or comment on the blogsite from you. Also, since Poland is 9 hours ahead, maybe you could wish him a happy bday right now??

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Pray for the team in Lodz (including Heather and Kenji), as they serve the city.
• Praise the Lord for minimal jet lag! Please continue to pray that we fully adjust to the time zone (9 hours ahead of CA) quickly.
• This week's camp has just begun. Please pray for the children attending, that they would turn their hearts toward Christ.
  

We made it!

We're safe and sound at the camp in Zakosciele now. We arrive a little before 11pm tonight (Saturday) and are beat. The flights were uneventful, unless you count vomit as an event. More on that later for anyone who expresses interest. Trying to convince David that it's bedtime now. Slept a total of 4 hours since Friday morning, so we'll write more later, when we're thinking coherently. Thanks for your prayers!

6 days until lift-off!

We're down to our final preparations for Poland. On our list of last-minute supplies to purchase are earplugs and chocolate for the lucky passengers who get to sit near us on the 11 hour flight. Don't you wish you were one of them? (Thanks, Beth, for the idea!)

Thank you for your prayers in these recent weeks. We estimate that our support is up to about 70% of the $4,000 we hope to raise. If you take a look at the numbers on our last post, that's a big jump! We have also been in contact with PROeM, discussing English lessons and Bible lessons. Through these conversations, God has excited us for our time there. A week from now, we'll be at the camp!

Here's how you can pray right now:

• Please pray for our hearts as we finish this final week of preparation. We are fighting anxiety and need to "let our requests be made known unto God" in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (Philippians 3:16). Also, we're ready just to get there. Do we really have to endure one more week of preparations, plus a loooooong flight? Can't we just get there already?
• Please pray for our minds, that we will seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, above all other things (Matthew 6:33).
• Please pray for our health. Chrissy and David are recovering from a nasty cold. Pray that we're healthy before Friday and that Larry remains well.
• Please pray that God would be glorified in what's going on in Poland right now.
• Please continue to pray for our financial support. We're almost there!
  

Preparing

We just learned that PROeM scheduled an extra week of camps this summer. This means that during our final week in Poland, instead of filling in the gaps around town, we'll be working at the camp. Together with Heather and Kenji, we've been working on our lessons for the English camp, where we'll each have our own class of polish kids. The camp's theme for the summer is "Cudowne Lata," which means "Wonder Years." Kids will learn about the miracles of Jesus.

Heather had a great idea: let's incorporate the camp theme into our lessons. Each day of the week, our english classes will focus on a different miracle of Jesus. For example, on Monday we'll focus on Jesus calming the storm (Matt 8:23-27). The kids will learn words like storm, boat, waves, disciple, afraid, and so on.

Thank you, prayer team, for lifting us up during this time of preparation. Our support is currently at 27.5% ($1100 of our $4000 goal). We have a ways to go, and only a few weeks in which to get there, so if you are planning to give financially, would you please let us know?

Here's how you can pray for us right now:

• Please pray for our financial support. God has always provided and we are confident that he will continue to do so.
• Please pray for our hearts as we prepare. It's easy to worry at this point; we'd rather focus on our relationships with Christ and pursue his heart for Poland, than worry about things beyond our control (such as how we'll survive the long flight with David, jet lag, etc.).
• Please pray for PROeM. This year's camps are already underway. In fact, right now, their most popular camp, "Fishart," is taking place. Over 180 campers are there as we write!

3 weeks in August

Below is what we're scheduled to do, week by week, while we're abroad. David is super-excited about it!



We're scheduled to fly from LAX to Warsaw on Friday, July 30. We'll arrive late on Saturday, July 31. During the first week of August, Real Action will take place in a city called Lodz. You may recall that last year we attended Real Action. It is a week-long event in which 100+ Christians partner with a polish city to perform repairs on public and private property, to provide a VBS camp for children, and to share the Gospel with the people. While Real Action takes place, PROeM will also host a children’s camp back at its camping facility in Zakosciele. We Soderlunds are praying to discern where we can best be used that week. Right now, we believe it will be at the children’s camp, but we are awaiting feedback from the PROeM staff. If they have a need for us at Real Action, then we will happily go.

The second week of August is the English camp for children. We’ve been asked to teach English classes during that week. We'll likely be preparing lessons and then spending several hours with a small group of kids throughout the week.

During our final week, we’ll fill in the gaps at the camp, doing whatever we’re asked to do. We'll fly home on Friday, August 20.

We're going back to Poland in August

Yep, the rumors are true, friends: The Soderlunds are returning to Poland this summer to serve with PROeM ministries. What's more, Heather and Kenji are returning too!

Watch this website and your email inbox for our support letter, scheduled to arrive within the next week.












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