Dear friends:

Sorry for the delayed update. Our family has been recovering from sickness after we returned from the mission trip.

Our team hit a perfect storm for our departure Sunday before Memorial Day. As a result, only Jing and Alisha took their originally booked flights. Thankfully, 10 members reunited in Krakow as planned. However, team leader Lori and Ping eventually arrived in Warsaw after a 3-day delay (The delay enabled us to bring the renewed passport of a dual citizen team member to avoid the troubles of coming back to the US). This setback taught us that God doesn’t make mistakes despite human limitedness and errors. We are His workmanship.

During the 2 week trip, our team was divided into small sub-teams for various tasks. One dedicated team worked on a rundown apartment and completely renovated it so that it could accommodate Ukrainian refugees.  We rotated to do the following tasks: 1) Our Polish partner church was situated within walking distance of the Ukrainian Consulate so the church entrance area was used for the Ukrainians to get free copies of legal papers. They could also take breaks there to have snacks/sandwiches with water/coffee/tea/cocoa. 2) The church downstairs provided temporary housing for Ukrainian refugees (It also had a room that provided clothing and household goods). Our team cooked meals for all who stayed or visited each day. There was a café area where we helped to provide snacks and drinks all day. We also helped to keep all the upstairs and downstairs rooms clean. 3) We assisted the church staff to take care of Polish and Ukrainian preschoolers. 4) We prepared large amounts of sandwiches and delivered them to the neighboring refugee center. We also assisted in the refugee center (similar to a co-op) after we delivered the food.

While working on different needs, God provided opportunities for us to get to know some Ukrainian refugees and Polish people.  One day working upstairs Ping met a Ukrainian family of 4: Grandma Lucy, Mother Nadia, and daughters Sonya and Anna. Because 12-year-old Sonya’s favorite school subject is English, Ping was able to listen to their story and get to know them through the aid of Google Translate. Although the 2 girls were happy to eat their meals, Ping saw the heavy heart and hesitance of the grandma who was concerned with her husband and son-in-law. God moved Ping to offer prayers for their family. Despite the language barrier, Ping saw a change in the grandma’s countenance and the comfort that the Spirit brought to the family. Two days later Ping met the family again on the street by chance. The family made a trip to the church to see Ping without knowing it was the last day we were there. We prayed together again for their family’s reunion and eternal hope in Christ.

Jing met a Ukrainian family who lives in the church: Julia, a single mother with 3 kids. The oldest is 13 years old and the youngest is 6 years old.  At first, the family ran around everywhere, and they couldn\'t find a place to stay long.  Fortunately, a Polish church member met them on social media and invited them to stay in the church.  Jing used Google Translate to spend time and listen to their lives and struggles. Later the 13-year-old Natalia handwrote a note “…In Ukraine, we were scared we didn’t know what to do, but here we found new friends. We are very glad that we have you who are helping…Dear friends!! Let there be a language barrier between us, but you managed to love… Thank you very much for having us! 我们爱你 (note: We love you in Chinese)…”

Here are some of Alisha’s thoughts about the trip: “Going to Poland was not about what I would gain, but about what the Polish people needed us to aid them with. Through providing meals, aiding refugees with documents, and serving at a refugee center, we spent two productive weeks in Warsaw volunteering. The strength and perseverance we witnessed are beyond inspiring, both from the residents and the refugees. The refugees I spoke to still believed they would be able to see their homes and friends again and still loved their country deeply, something that has stayed with me to this day. The refugees who come for help are deeply appreciative of the smallest things. Despite their hardships and the seemingly unending war, the refugees still persevere. This crisis is ongoing and devastating, and I hope that just because we are an ocean removed from this conflict, we will not forget the people who need concrete assistance.”

The pastors told us they appreciated that we could be there to give them respite for their prolonged work for the refugees. We are deeply humbled by the Polish Christians who have been serving the Ukrainian refugees day in and day out for over 3 months. The Polish people embraced 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees this year. We were deeply moved by the full-time church custodians Erik and Luke who served faithfully and kindly. Jing’s go-to person for guidance and support at the Polish church was Erik. They walked to a convenience store to get hundreds of rolls for making sandwiches one day and carried bags of dirty bed sheets to a laundry store the other. At the end of the day, he always said to Jing “super, thanks”. Back in the church, he always kindly greeted and served visitors even when multiple people came to him with assistance requests. He then would mime to show Jing what exactly they could do to help. Whenever Jing looked straight into his eyes, he saw no weariness; rather, they were filled with joy and gentleness. Without the strength from heaven above, Jing didn’t know how Erik could still serve strangers humbly and gratefully every day, not to mention more than 700 refugees who sought help every day in the prior 2 months. Before we departed, Luke said to us that if we didn’t see each other again on earth, we would surely see each other in heaven. We thank the Lord for the eternal bonding and hope in Christ.

There are many more precious moments like these we encountered. We thank God for your prayers and financial support, which made this trip possible for us and our team. It is truly a privilege we won\'t forget, and as partners, you share the fruits of this trip!

With much gratitude,

Jing, Ping, and Alisha

p.s. We\'re trying to upload some pictures here but not sure it they are successful 

Our team 

Jing with Julia and Natalie

Ping with Lucy, Nadia, Sonya and Anna

Making 400 sandwiches early morning and serving at the refuge center

Dear friends:

In less than 24 hours our family will join with the rest of our team for our Go journey to Poland.  We are humbled by God\'s grace through your enthusiastic responses and generous support.  God has answered many of our prayers and you are a part of the effort.  Here are some of the specifics:

• We were able to join meaningful team trainings and prayers.  Our family was able to pray together amid challenging schedules.

• Because of your generosity we’ve exceeded our support goal.  The extra donations will cover team costs and also the Ukrainian relief effort.  We are moved by your many words of encouragement and your commitment of prayers.  Our youngest supporter is a six year old girl (an unsolicited donation) who was willing to sacrifice her birthday gift money to help the people Jesus loves.  This is just one precious glimpse of gracious responses we received.

• Jing got his new passport 3 days ago.  Alisha had a good ending on her semester.  God was very merciful to give us a timely closure for a drawn-out family matter just this week.

• We were made aware of European travel rule changes just this week and were able to reroute flights with no additional cost.

• We got news this Tuesday our Poland partner church got an initial 3 year rental for a hotel even though the company had other better offers.  It is a huge answered prayer.  It will be used initially for Ukrainian refugees and eventually become a base for ministry of missions.  It will be formally voted on by the company’s board June 8 so our team will not directly work on the hotel project, but we have 3 more teams after us who will be involved.

• A member of our church has a connection with a frontline ministry opportunity.  He has obtained hundreds of pounds of medical supply donation, and our team will help to get them to Ukraine.  It saved hundreds of dollars to bring them with us and the ministry partner there will take them to Ukraine.  Pray that these supplies will travel safely through all the routes to their destination.

As you can see, God inclines His ear to our prayers and acts for those who wait upon Him. In His time He will hasten it for His glory (Isaiah 60:22).  As we go, you go with us with your faithful prayers and sacrificial giving.  Thank you!

Serving with you in Christ,

Jing, Ping and Alisha