Monday was an important transition day for everyone. New friendship time is valuable as we need to know who we will be working beside, who knows where 'stuff' is, and who has the correct answer to our questions. Once the Holocaust Survivors arrive, verbal communication is vital and everyone's time needs to be focused. We are a multi-national team and discovering about a person and their faith walk is so helpful.
Each morning will start with a devotional for all team members and staff (several do not speak English). We will do this each morning with a different leader and BCE has all the first ones. We then received our job assignments for "flipping" the camp. Today's focus was on cleaning the cabins our guests will be staying in. They had not been used since last summer. Five cabins were assigned so three people cleaned a cabin. These are very rustic and you mop a floor without sealer so it is dry before the mop is reset.
After lunch, folks went onto other tasks. Some cleaned the building that most of the staff and our team stay in. Matt, Kirby, and Mike are bunked in a room in the chapel. The men started to assemble a large tent that is approximately 12 feet tall by 18 feet wide and 30 feet long. The Polish instructions were difficult and Jeff found the American ones. One thing we heard often,"I told Sonya I needed to bring my trunk!"
In the evening Lisa and Sarah went for a swim in the lake. Kirby tossed a guy in and then left. It doesn't get dark here until around 10:30pm and sunrise is 4:30am. Matt had a team meeting in which one of the directors answered questions about the Survivors and then we prayed for each other and our families.
I (Mike) have two extra prayer requests. The first is for a team member's friends 5 year old son who is in the Children's Hospital in Indianapolis with a massive brain tumor. The second is for a team member whose father is physically impaired in the Ukraine and she is his caregiver. She is praying for the caregiver who is there now and that her stay here can be extended.