Day Two; More work at the Church - Another school visit

From Macey Moreland:

Today was a day of great blessing. The children of Tomaszow were better at basketball than I expected. As a group of us went into the school today, we didn't expect much, but it became a blessing in disguise. The children were so excited to learn basketball skills, and I was excited for them, too. We invited them to the get-together on Friday. I hope thay come.



From David Whitlow:

Today was very interesting in our first visit playing sports in an elementary school in Tomaszow. We were definitely the American novelty. They stared up at us as we watched them bustle to and from class. They seemed a little apprehensive when they walked into the gym, but soon warmed up to us.

We divided the boys and girls and taught them basketball drills on either side of the court. Their skills in ball handling were quite surprising. It was obvious they had played before. We also taught them how to shoot an accurate lay-up: off the left foot, up with the right hand and off the backboard square. This proved problematic for the southpaws.

We played a little scrimmage in which we showed them the international rules of the game. They caught on quickly to the traveling violations, but not so fast with double dribbling and hand checking. After our game, we mixed things up, playing knock-out with both boys and girls. It came down to just one boy and one girl, and the latter took the glory! The girls erupted in cheers and they pulled off the upset.

The tide turned for us Americans as we played soccer (football), however, for even the children had more skills than we did! It was a blowout!

Our time with the children was very fun and engaging. What a blessing it is to share the universal language of athletic competition!


From Shannon Thompson:

For the past two days, the efforts of the Poland Mission Team has reminded me of the efforts of the workers mentioned in the 26th chapter of Ezra who were clearing away the rubble before rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. In the past two days, we have cleared away the rubble of years, consisting of lumber, rocks, bricks and trash that has accumulated around the building. We also have removed up to a foot of dirt that was covering octagonal paving stones around a courtyard we didn't really know was there. We have had to remove some, repair them and re-lay them.

We have also, in cooperation with the city of Tomaszow and surrounding neighbors, scraped and removed layers of paint from an outside wall directly cross the street from the church. We then repaired and primed it and hope to paint it in the next couple days. This wall will be used by the church to reflect via projector messages events at the church. The staff is very excited to have this portion done as they can begin bringing the church to life with this 'message' board.

We have also fit into our schedule a little sightseeing, visiting schools and the pre-school. It has been an exciting and exhausting week so far and we can't wait to see what God brings for us to do tomorrow.