I'm often asked what I do exactly in Poland or what does a "normal" day look like for me. I realize that they are just trying to get a picture of my life as a missionary. Sometimes it is difficult to describe because I don't live in a jungle or work in an orphanage. My days vary so much that it is difficult for me to find a rythym. But the best answer I can give is that I do whatever my hand finds to do that extends the love of Jesus and brings hope into the community.
I have always been a "want-a-be" athlete. I played some sports in school...but I was more of the encourager than the "star". Like most of us, we have grown up with at the very least a pick-up game of baseball in the neighborhood or that occassional trip to Safeco field to root for the home team.
Over the past few months I have been invited 3 times to teach the teens and children of Maniowy to play baseball. It is amazing how challenging it can be to explain a game that "no one" has ever seen played. Especially in a foriegn language.
Yet, the minute the equipment comes out young and old are drawn like to a magnet. I am always moved by the awe on each face when they hit the ball for the very 1st time or the mystery of a mitt and that it is worn on the left hand.
Some might ask what does baseball have to do with extending the Gospel? HOPE....
Hope that you can do anything...
Hope that people will care about others even if they aren't paid...
Hope that regardless of your size or shape you can be part of something special...
Hope that every child has a good side...
Today about 50 kids have a desire to play baseball and the principal of the junior high is looking to acquire baseball equipment for the school. And those same junior high kids are looking for a team to play against.
Who will teach them?
Who will invest in them....hope?
...hope for a good future?
It doesn't take much...but it does require openness and faithful obedience to do whatever your hand finds to do.
Thanks to Pastor Grant Esborg, who GAVE what he had during a time in life's "desert", I'm equiped with everything to teach baseball.
In the US we have survived on a culture of giving and serving others. Random Acts of Kindness ... and Adopt a Road programs are common place. But in other parts of the world those are the responsibility or have been the responsibility of the government. The current world financial crisis has strained those resources that once paid individuals to "care" for the environment and the individual needs of the most needy. Resulting in unmet needs and societies that have little or no experience with volunteerism.
Natalia, my intern, has formed an association that is dedicated to meeting some of those needs in their villages. They have organized workshops for children, youth, women, and whole family. One such activity was to clean up around Lake Czorstyn. These amazing young adults: solicited funds, prizes, advertising, community partnership, and participates from all age groups.
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