Dear Family and Friends,

Here is a link to a Powerpoint Presentation with some highlights from our Poland trip:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18nP8k1oEeo1KBkO-lXME570Vov85ZLu6/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101492520863669232584&rtpof=true&sd=true

By now we are fully adjusted to the new timezone. :-)

Also, our luggage made it home safely, after getting lost between Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Atlanta for a few days. 

Annika, Timaeus, and I are very grateful for your support and prayers and would like to share additional stories with you. 

Looking forward to catching up in the coming days and weeks,

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

Days 7-9

The last three days were filled with goodbyes, some gift shopping, and travel… lots of travel! :-)

On Friday morning we left Poznan by train to get to Krakow from where we will fly back home. While in Krakow we visited the town square and had a nice traditional Polish dinner at a local restaurant. On Saturday we visited Auschwitz... Being in that place and seeing the Museum was both sad and sublime, a once-in-a-lifetime must-have experience. We definitely need more time to process everything! Goodbyes are not easy and neither is the flight home through Amsterdam. -:) After one cancelation, we seem to be back on track for arrival in Atlanta on Sunday evening.

Thanks for your partnership and prayers every step of the way!

Yours sincerely, ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

P.S.

(This book was recommended to us by our tour guide, should you be interested in a good read!)

Day 6

On this day we had the opportunity to serve in a refugee center. The “New Life” Center, located about an hour away from Poznan, hosts about 23 Ukrainian refugees mostly grandmothers, mothers, and children. Our crew did some crafts and games with the refugee children, while a Ukrainian reporter recorded some incredible oral histories of flight and fight from the refugees. In one of these stories, we learned about a nuclear engineer from the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant who urged the rest of his family to leave their house as soon as possible. The Russians attacked the plant on March 4^th trapping all the workers inside and causing a dangerous fire that nearly missed one of the nuclear reactors. The father of the family is still in Ukraine working to maintain the power plant operations, but the rest of the family left the country the next day. The father experienced so much stress during the Russian aggression that his black hair became entirely white, overnight. Needless to say, the rest of the family is safe in Poland, but they are anxious to go back to Ukraine and be reunited with their father.

Hope everyone is having a good day,

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

Day 5

Today we had a great opportunity to talk about the US culture and history to our day camp students. We used the Thanksgiving Holiday theme to highlight some uniquely American traditions, but we also introduced the Star-Spangled Banner anthem, country line dancing, and some culinary signatures such as American hotdogs and s’mores. Our campers were really happy and grateful, indeed, and so were we for the opportunity. 

In the afternoon, our team chose to bless a family of Ukrainian refugees with a “total landscaping” project. We installed a new set of patio furniture, a new grill, a family-size swimming pool, and some potted flowers and garden herbs to create an inviting, beautiful, and relaxing outdoor space for our Ukrainian refugee family. I can’t express the emotions this family experienced after seeing the final project. They only came to Poland with three bags of clothes and a stroller. Now they can finally enjoy a little outdoor space for their family and kids.

Grateful for another fruitful day!

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

Day 4

The highlight of today was distributing food to Ukrainian refugees and also to needy Polish families. Our local hosts from the “Bread of Life” Foundation partnered with local grocery stores to collect and distribute free food twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. This mercy and justice ministries project serves the needs of about 8000 people on a regular basis. Running such an operation is no easy task, as we found out firsthand today. A crew of about 20 of us worked all morning and afternoon to prepare for the 4:00 pm food distribution. We might feel sore from lifting heavy boxes of food, but meeting and talking to the people receiving them was a source of joy and rejuvenation.

Hope you had a joyous day, too!

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

Day 3

Today we had a full camp day filled with sports and crafts. The Ukrainian refugee kids and some of their hosts seemed to have enjoyed it thoroughly, as you can see from this short video clip. We hope to get to know some of these kids in the days ahead. One of these precious kids shared how he misses his father who is fighting on the front lines of Eastern Ukraine. We hope and pray that he will be able to reunite with his father and return home to a safe and secure Ukraine.

Have a bright day,

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

(pictured: authentic Polish dumplings)

Day 2

This day was our Sabbath day! After a good night’s rest, we attended worship at Poznan International Church, a diverse English-speaking, non-denominational community church, comprised mainly of international students, but welcoming also some Ukrainian refugees. We were truly impressed with the dedication of its founding members who serve such a unique group of people, caring both for their spiritual and physical needs. One particular student from Sri Lanka shared her story of finding faith, family, and friends among the Polish people, after escaping war-torn Sri Lanka.

Our afternoon was spent visiting the city of Poznan and learning a lot about the vicissitudes of the Polish people who endured their own share of Prussian, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman occupation during their millennial history. We ate some delicious Polish soup and dumplings for dinner and spent the rest of our evening preparing a variety of games and activities to engage with the Ukrainian refugees over the coming days.

Please pray that we will be a source of encouragement for the refugees that we will meet every single day of the coming week. Thank you, ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

(pictured: some members of our team sorting through different gifts and games for the Ukrainian refugees)

Day 1

After a long 20-hour trip across the Atlantic and Northern Europe (including two flights, a bus, and a train ride) we made it safely to Poland. All our luggage, games, and humanitarian aid supplies arrived intact and timely, as well. Our friends and partners from “Bread of Life” welcomed us very warmly at the Poznan train station. We had dinner with them and discussed a schedule for the upcoming week.

The highlight of the day was meeting a first family of Ukrainian refugees consisting of two children ages 8 (eight) & 16 (sixteen) and their mother. Presumably, their dad is home in Ukraine, fighting for his country. The mother and the children left eastern Ukraine in early Spring and are not fully integrated in Poland, hoping to call it home for the rest of their lives. I was impressed with two particular things. Despite being refugees themselves, the mother and the children are now helping out with the Ukrainian refugees, volunteering their time with Bread of Life. Secondly, the 16 old learned Polish in a record time, over the last four-month, and has already enrolled in College here in Poland. Out of all the subjects she can study, she declared a double major in Social Activism and Political Science in order to learn how better to help her native country of Ukraine. This is truly remarkable!

Have a great day,

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

(pictured: outside of the train station in Poznan)

Dear Friends and Family,

Today is the (departure) day! We made it to the airport and went to security smoothly. 

If everything goes according to plan we will be in Poland in about 15 hours from now. 

Thank you for your support and prayers,

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, Romulus)

Dear Family and Friends,

A quick note of gratefulness...

As we start to pack our luggage for Friday (our departure day, June 24th), we want to express our gratefulness to each of you for supporting us in your prayers and for contributing to our Ukrainian Refugee / Poland trip.

Annika, Timaeus, and I are very excited about this service opportunity and looking forward to sharing with you some of our stories. 

Happy Father\'s Day to everyone,

ATR (Annika, Timaeus, and Romulus)