POLAND 2009 - Skateboarding Outreach in Belchatow

Bełchatów, Poland
Friday, August 14, 2009
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Skateboarding Outreach in Bełchatów
After going to Radomsko to do outreach at the skate park for two days last week, I felt that we should go to the skate park in Piotrków-Trybunalski this week. I was able to do some outreach at this skate park two years ago. But when Damian, Jonas and I pulled up to the skate park, there was a tent set up and a “bouncer” who told us the skate park would be closed until Monday due to a concert that would be taking place Sunday night.

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So we headed 30 minutes west to the skate park in Bełchatów. This is also a skate park I was wanting to do some outreach at. The skate park in Bełchatów is a nicer one. But when we pulled in, there weren’t any skateboarders. There were a couple of younger kids on rollerblades and some other youth hanging around. We asked them if there were usually any skateboarders who come and skate there. They said that there were, and that they would show up soon. Sure enough, a car full of skaters pulled up and as they entered the skate park, they all came and greeted us, shaking our hands, as seems customary here in Poland, not just at the skate parks, but in churches, too, which is interesting. People here are so kind and polite.

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I just started skating with them for a while. Then I noticed that they looked really familiar. So I asked them if they were from Bełchatów. They said that they were from Piotrków-Trybunalski. I told them that they looked familiar, and asked them if they were among the guys who were at the skate park in PT two years ago, in 2007, when I was there. Three out of four of them said that they were there and that they remembered me! One of them I have already been friends with and communicated with on MySpace over the past two years. They already heard my testimony back in 2007! They were excited to skate with me again, and we got to shoot some video, which I will include a short film for Bełchatów as I did for Radomsko. I asked them about any local skaters from Bełchatów, and they said that they were all in university now. But I was so excited to connect with the guys that I connected with two years ago, and continue to develop relationships and shine the light of Christ. We skated, talked, filmed and had a blast. Damian once again connected with the younger crowd, which is great. We really get to team up as we are going to these skate parks for outreach. This next week, Damian, Jonas and I will be in Warsaw for three days working with a mission team, and are hoping to hit one of the skate parks there as well. I will keep you updated on our continued evangelistic efforts at the skate parks here in Poland.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Visiting South Poland with Daniel and Ania

Zakopane, Poland
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
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Visiting South Poland with Daniel and Ania
The Lord blessed us so much with great weather today, enabling us to view the stunning, majestic mountains around Zakopane that we were unable to see in the daytime yesterday. I don’t know about you, but when I look at such breath-taking sights, I marvel at the greatness of God. I mean, He is truly an artist, creating such lovely things. And He created it for our enjoyment. We thank Him for allowing us to enjoy His wonderful creation.

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We ate dinner last night at a lovely restaurant translated, “mountain trout” in Polish. It was really good food. This morning, we started a hike up the mountain side near the place we stayed the night. It wasn’t too steep of a climb, and it felt really good to get some exercise in such fresh air. When we got to the top, we got to take in the view. Again, the mountains surrounding the city of Zakopane in the valley is an amazing sight. There is also an architecture in Zakopane that is quite unique to this region. The houses all look very much like they belong in the mountains, with steep-pitched, A-frame roofs, and many of these homes are built from wood, rather than brick. There is a big walking path up at the top of where we hiked to, with all kinds of shops and attractions along the way. They sell a special cheese made and sold in these mountains (pictured below) that is very salty in flavor and is sometimes from cows, goats, sheep, or a mixture of them. We decided to take a gondola down to the city to get some lunch. We all had a blast getting in and cruising down the mountain, being suspended in the air, but the kids especially enjoyed it. We ate lunch at the same place we ate last night, which was fine by us. After lunch we decided to take the train back up the mountain, and then hike back down, rather than up to where our cars were parked.

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We then drove back down to where the main walking path is in the city, and stopped in to have a coffee before we hit the road back to Piotrków-Trybunalski. Again, the fellowship with Daniel and Ania has just been sweet. We have been able to encourage one another, and just enjoy each other’s company. It was a lovely end to the last two days in the mountains. We then got into our cars and made it back to PT in relatively good time, with favorable weather and driving conditions. We praise the Lord for this time we’ve been able to have with our friends who the Lord has brought into our lives. Being an evangelical pastor in catholic Poland, as Daniel is, has its’ challenges to say the least. Part of our calling as missionaries, I believe, is to bless and edify local pastors in the countries that God brings us to. I truly hope that we have been able to do this with Daniel, his wife and his family. They are dear people who we love very much. Please pray for them as the Lord brings them to your mind. Thanks guys.

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Christian Young

SLOVAKIA 2009 - Visiting a Historical Museum

Zuberec, Slovakia
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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Visiting a Historical Museum
A few months ago, Daniel, the senior pastor of the evangelical church where we have been staying and ministering, asked if we would like to take a trip to the south of Poland with he and his wife Ania. We thought it was a great idea, and the trip was supposed to take place a couple of weeks ago. I ended up getting sick so we couldn’t make the trip. So we decided that this week worked out best for everyone, and headed to Zakopane in the south of Poland.
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We all agreed that we would remain flexible in our plans once we got to the south of Poland, depending on the weather. Daniel told us that we were making this trip in faith, because the forecast was rain for both days. And man, did it rain on the way to Zakopane! Anyway, after a five hour trip, we made it to Zakopane, dropped our things off at a lovely, yet very inexpensive “hotel,” and decided that we would drive further south into the country of Slovakia. We were in a hurry to get out the door this morning, and I forgot to bring our passports. Thank the Lord, that after praying for favor at the border, no one was there to stop us going in or coming out of Slovakia. They are now using Euros for currency in Slovakia, so Daniel and I changed some Polish Złotys out at a Kantor near the border.

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Daniel and Ania decided to take us to a museum about a half hour drive south of the border that they had been to with their family once before. Slovakia is the eastern 40% of what was once Czechoslovakia. They speak Slovakian which is still a Slavic language, and according to Daniel, Poles can understand about 80 to 90% of Slovakian, where they can only understand maybe 50 to 60% of Czech. I noticed only little differences between the two languages, but it is written differently that Polish, closer to what we saw when we were in Czech. The landscape and architecture changes when you cross over from Poland to Slovakia. Even the people look a little different. It is a much more secularized nation than Poland, and according to Daniel, evangelism is much more fruitful in Slovakia than in Poland.

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The museum was actually an outdoor museum where they had taken different domiciles from different eras and from different places in Slovakia. It was very interesting to walk around, using a pamphlet that explained what each building was, and what kind of person had lived there. While it was raining in Zakopane, it was just a little damp and misty outside in Slovakia. If you notice in the pictures of our family that Jordan’s eye looks a little strange, it is because she got a mosquito bite on her eyelid last night, and when she woke up this morning, it was completely swollen shut! Poor thing. We stopped and got some medicine before we headed out of town, and she was such a trooper.

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We are really glad to be able to spend time with Daniel and Ania. They are lovely people, and we sensed a great connection with them ever since our team from Whipple came to Poland two years ago. Daniel has such a great sense of humor, and I enjoy joking around with the both of them. We have been having a lot of laughs together on this trip, but at the same time, encouraging one another in our faith, and having great talks about God, life, family and all kinds of things. Europe seems so small. I can’t believe how many countries we’ve been able to travel in since we arrived in January. Slovakia is the 11th country in Europe that we have visited. What a huge blessing to be able to see so much of God’s creation, and experience so many different cultures in less than nine months. It has been really neat to shine the light of Christ in these countries. And the cool thing is, it took only a little over 1/4 tank of gas in our little turbo diesel Audi to get down in to Slovakia! If these things weren’t so inexpensive for us, there’s no way we would have been able to travel like this. Thank you, Jesus.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Skateboarding Outreach in Radomsko

Radomsko, Poland
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
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Skateboarding Outreach in Radomsko
We only have one more full month, the month of August, as missionaries here in Poland before we leave for Mozambique in early September. I have felt led by the Lord for this last month to really concentrate on doing outreach at local skate parks and building relationships with local Polish skaters. I picked up a new skateboard while we were in Kraków last week, and have been excited to hit the skate parks.

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Yesterday was the first day of these trips to skate parks, and I chose Radomsko as the first city where I would go to do some outreach. Jonas and I swung by Bełchatów to pick up Damian on the way to Radomsko around noon. Jonas, Damian and I each prayed in the car on the way to Radomsko about the outreach we would be taking part in. We prayed for divine connections and a preparation of people’s hearts. We first stopped by the Pentecostal church, since we weren’t sure where this skate park was. Anneta heated us up some killer lasagna, and then after obiad, her husband Janek, went with us to the skate park. Before we left the church, we packed a box full of tracts that had the address of the church and the service times along with some New Testaments to hand out as the Lord would lead us.

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When we got to the skate park there were a few younger kids who were just learning to skate, which was really cool with us. The skate park in Radomsko is really just a few small ramps and a box on some pretty crummy asphalt. But, hey, it is something. I started out by just skating with the younger kids. Then after skating with them for a while, I introduced myself to them, along with my history in skateboarding and starting Skate Church in Vancouver, Washington. They were very interested in hearing about these things. I tried to teach them a couple of tricks. Damian actually ended up spending most of his time with these young people, encouraging them in their skating, sharing more of his testimony with them. He even ended up giving some tracts and a New Testament to one of the kids. They continued to ask questions about tricks and other things in life, and we talked to them about all these things, and about Jesus.

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A group of older youth began to start coming to the skate park as well. Just as in Polish churches, when they began to arrive at the skate park, they would go around and greet everyone present with a handshake and a few words in Polish. As Damian stayed and connected with the younger kids, I began to skate with and connect with the older guys. They were from ages 18 to 23. They invited me to play some games of S.K.A.T.E. with them and as I skated with them, I was just automatically accepted as one of them. You may remember me talking about my experience doing outreach at the skate park in Piotrków-Trybunalski, when we took a team from Whipple Creek Church to Poland. It was very similar to what went on then. All of the skaters were very warm, friendly and accepting. And I think they really dig that I know some of the same tricks as them, as well as other ones that are new to them. Overall, these older guys are much better than I am at skating, especially after my back injury as I continue to take it easy these days.

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I also got to share about my history in skateboarding and starting Skate Church with them as well. All of the older guys had grown up in the Catholic Church, and were saying that they believe in God, but don’t believe in church. I’ve heard this a lot, not only here in Poland, but in the States as well. After I told them about Skate Church, they said that if there was a church like that for skaters here in Poland, that they would go to that church. I thought that was really cool, and feel a little sad I don’t have more time here in Poland to see what God could do, perhaps starting a few Skate Churches here in Poland through me, like back in the States. But who knows what can happen in this month. Perhaps Skate Churches will start. I told these guys that I had injured my back, but that I really like filming and putting together videos. We all decided to shoot some footage, and that I would put a small video together for these local skaters from Radomsko. I have really missed skateboarding ministry over the past six months, and am super excited about what has begun today. We will continue to come to this skate park here in Radomsko every week to build relationships with these guys, skate with them and film. After talking to these guys, they would like us to go together to the nicer, larger skate parks in Częstochowa this month, as well. We will also be going to the skate parks in Bełchatów and in Piotrków-Trybunalski every week to do the same. This sort of outreach is so natural to me, and fun, too. I can’t wait to see what God does this month at these skate parks.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Visiting Friends in Katowice

Katowice, Poland
Monday, August 3, 2009
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Visiting Friends in Katowice.

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