Hello there!

 

I hope your summer is going well! I wanted to share about my summer plans and ask you to pray for me please!

 

This summer I've been blessed with an opportunity to go serve in Poland. As you know, there was a lot of fighting going on in Ukraine and Poland has taken in over 3 million Ukrainian refugees, which is about 10% of the population in Poland. Our long-term partners in Poland asked my dad to send a team of people to come and assist them. Really they just want us to smile and cheer them up. Every home in Poland has Ukrainian refugees and they are starting to feel really tired. The people in churches are also feeling tired of serving all the time in a crisis situation. This trip is not about politics or war or anybody's opinion on those things, but it's just about trying to help a part of the body of Christ that is tired and has asked us for help.

 

I don't know exactly what we will be doing there but it could be anything from renovating a hotel for refugees to playing with kids to organizing medical supplies to send to the border to cooking food for people and generally encouraging everyone. We have to be flexible and ready to do whatever they ask us to do. And we have to do it with a real smile, even if we are tired or not feeling well. I am looking forward to this trip because it will be a chance to serve people who are displaced and missing their dads or brothers in Ukraine, or people who are really tired of serving others. I want to lift their mood and encourage them and help them do whatever they need.

 

I would appreciate it if you could pray for:

 

--My heart and mood would be cheerful and ready to serve the whole time I am there. Please pray that I would think outward, not inward. This semester was hard because of my concussions, I feel like I wanted to be more selfish and I was really discouraged almost every day. Also, just being a self-centered teenager, that can be hard sometimes, especially if I just want to go home and sleep. But now I can remember that feeling and try to help other people who are also feeling discouraged and tired. Even if it is just for a little bit, I want to push through and be there for them.

--I know we will make a difference regardless. Please pray that we will make a good difference, not a bad difference, and point people to Jesus. We can't talk about religion that much so we just need to show them through our actions about grace and Jesus' love. Also, I don't speak Polish, Ukrainian or Russian.

--Safe travels

 

I will be sending emails before I go, while I'm there and after. It's like a journal for me. If you don't want to read them you can just unsubscribe. Thank you for reading and for praying for me. It really means a lot because I can't do anything without Christ there. Thank you!