Quick update 1

Kłodzko, Poland

Hello all. I've just finished the first week of camps, which was with 35 6-10 year olds. It went quite well from our point of view - there's only so much conversation practice you can have with kids who don't understand words like "where" and "how much"! My group of 8 kids did a lot of colouring in, singing and playing games. Outside of 90 minutes a day of English, we took them on hikes, to the (murky) swimming pool, to play baseball and around the campfire.

The team I'm part of consisted of 7 'native speakers' - Rebecca, Jenny, Britney and Katlyn from the USA, and Jamie Clegg, John Guddat and myself from England. In addition there were four Polish staff members - Dominika, Ela, Łukas and Jacek, who kept the kids in line as much as possible!

We're staying in the hills near the Czech border (in fact, my cellphone thinks it's in Czech half the time) in very pretty countryside, although we're a long way from anywhere. The local shop has a sign outside advertising its wares: bread, sausage and beer; two of which have been our staple diet! We have cereal for breakfast every few days, and some pasta to vary the supper diet a few times. Yesterday the pasta was served with strawberry sauce! Bizarre.

Next week we'll be with 40 teenagers, from 13-18 years old. I'll be teaching the highest level group which I'm looking forward to, as I shouldn't have to lower my English level when I'm speaking, and we can talk about subjects other than my family and other animals.

That's all for now! Please continue to pray for us as we seek to meet the felt needs of the kids, and thus the real spiritual needs...