Be ready! “Faith , Hope & Love” is on the way !

 On 29-30 June, the leaders from the “Faith , Hope & Love” project   met in Zielona Gora to discuss and organize the  Youth Exchange. So, we all, from different cultures, came together to work, but also to visit and have some fun, and knowing each other better as a team.

   Friday was a travelling day for all the leaders, and our Volunteers went to welcome them  and pick them up from the airport in Berlin.

   Our first meeting day started Saturday at 11 a.m., when we had the chance to get to know eachother through some ice-breakers and games that were really fun. The meeting continued with some presentations about each group, their countries and cultures and their work in their churches and organizations. We could see clearly that our team is coming from a variety of cultures and places: cities villages,catholic and baptist churches, and organization, and also different age, from 18 to 51.

   We discussed the schedule in the 8 days that we will spend in Zakopane, and we talked about everyone’s role in the Exchange as a team.

After so much work, and a great lunch, all the team, together with the voluntaries and youth from the church

went to Bowling, where they could interact and get to know eachother out of the working context.

At the end of our day together, we decided to go for a walk in the Old City, to visit the main attractions of Zielona Gora, having as a city guide Marta Sidoruk, a volunteer in the Baptist Church of Zielona Gora.

   Sunday, we had the chance to participate in the morning service of the Baptist Church and also make a short presentation about each group. 

   The polish service was interesting for some, because it was different than what they were used to, but there were songs that some knew because of the melody, so we could worship together. And thanks to Agnieszka’s Borek English translation, another polish volunteer, we could understand the sermon also.

After the church service, we went to visit Palmiarnia, a really nice Palm house, and the portugese group finally felt like home, with such a hot weather inside :)

We all went for lunch at Pastor Mariusz Socha’ s house where again we were delighted by the great polish food that Ania, Mariusz’s wife

cooked for us.

   Next stop was the Ochla Village Museum, a great place where we could see old houses brought there from all over Poland.

We continued our work after some nice grill, and discussed about the trips that we will take in Zakopane, and also details about transportation, accommodation and other questions that each group had.

After such a fruitful day, we relaxed playing the two favourite card games: Ligretto and Uno, where we had a lot of fun that together with all the other fun times,  gave us a joy that would last until everyone meet again in August.

See you soon, people!