Kraków (clap,clap,clap)...Wisła (clap,clap,clap)

The local women's professional team has made it to the national finals. It is very similar to the WNBA in that they have a 7 game series to determine the champion. As it stands now, Krakow leads 3-2 with a chance to win it all this Friday night. Here is why I am mentioning this...since McKenna is on the junior team, she gets to participate in all the festivities. Her and the other girls get to go on the floor before the actual players come out and shoot layups and free throws in their uniforms. Then as the players are introduced they hold hands with a junior player as they come onto the floor. It has been quite an experience for McKenna. The player that McKenna has been with both times is Kara Braxton, former Georgia player and current WNBA player. There are four girls from our team and four from the other that are currently playing for teams in the WNBA. They come here to play in their offseason. You can find out more about the Wisła team by going to their website at http://www.wislacanpack.pl/ ...You can also see a picture of McKenna in the photo section of their website from their last game (1st pic, she is in the background).
Below are some photos and videos from some of the games.

Busy and Blessed!!

We had the privilege of having our second volunteer team here. They were a group of 12 from Harvest Baptist Church in Covington, Georgia. They were involved in several of our ministries such as coffee house, sports night, tract distribution, and Polish school involvement. They were a great encouragement to us and God really blessed their time here. I was able to take them to an "integrated" Polish school one of the days they were here. This school was one in which there were very good students, troubled kids, and disabled students. We were able to meet about 80 students, have English conversation with them and even perform a few songs that the team had prepared. It was a great time and the principal even invited us back to do more (uncommon to do so). The team also participated in our International Fellowship. They brought us some good 'ol southern gospel and Pastor Richard Culpepper preached a great message!
In the midst of this team being here, it was also very exciting to have a great friend from high school come for a visit. Lance Posey and his wife Kathy are currently living in Manheim, Germany working for the DOD as an assistant principal and teacher on the base there. They have lived in Turkey and Japan and were recently transferred to Germany. This was their spring break week and so they decided to come for a visit. You know, there are some people in this world that we will always have that special friendship with...someone that you can be open and honest with, someone that encourages you, prays with you, and someone that you can always have a good time with and share many, many laughs and it doesn't matter how far away you may be from them...for me, Lance is one of those friends!!
Also, one other blessing...and prayer request, The coach for McKenna's basketball team asked me if I would want to help with practice, and of course I agreed. Thursday was the first practice where I was involved and it was really great! I get to practice my Polish with the girls (which seemed to be very funny, for them) and it puts me in a great position to reach out to the parents and coach!
Below are some pics from the week...
HBC at coffee house
Jennifer and Claire
Megan and Christina (HBC)
Lance and Kathy
Lance and the kids

The Wisła Junior Team....

I am quite sure that I have mentioned the fact that there is a women's professional basketball team here in Krakow called Wisła (Viswa). They have a really good team as they were champions of the European Basketball League last year. Long-story-short...through a connection that we have with a local hostel where we will be putting all volunteer teams, I found out that there was a Junior team around the same age as McKenna. We went to check it out a few weeks ago and she has begun to practice with the team. She is having a blast playing the game and meeting the girls on the team (they are either 10 or 11 and several speak some English). The coach speaks English and is very helpful in practice. She is a former professional player herself. The practices are challenging, but fun!! Some of the drills they are doing I didn't even do in high school. Did I mention that she is loving it?...of course it doesn't hurt my feelings at all that she wants to hang up the cleats and spend some more time on the hardwood! Below are some pics from one of her practices...

Krakow Tigers Update and Video!

I wanted to update everyone on the events of last week. Seven coaches from Bryant, Arkansas were here to do a camp for the team. It was an extremely busy week but the Lord used these guys beyond all my imagination. They were able to share their testimonies on two occasions in front of the whole team. Also, all of these coaches got to share their faith with several of the players on a more personal level. The guys on the team were so appreciative of them being here and teaching them more about the game. It is really hard to put into words how much God blessed. These guys have helped open up the door for further spiritual discussion for myself and Mark. It was such a huge blessing and they were such an encouragement to me during this time. Below is a video that we showed the team at our coffee house on Friday night. It was Krakow Tigers night!!! The starters were recognized and it was also a time for the team to get to know the coaches more. Special thanks to Seba for creating the video!

Please continue to pray that the soil will be loosened...it is very, very hard here. However, God is at work and He used these coaches to not only soften that soil, but to plant seeds as well.

Here are some photos from the week...

...Jason

...Doug & Chris

...Kevin

...Clay

...Anthony

...Jordan

...The Tigers!!

Krakow Tigers update!!!

Well, this last Saturday was an inaugural day. The Krakow Tigers played their first game under our leadership. It was an incredible day as they won their first game ever in their short 2 year history. After all was said and done, the final score was 61-18. And more importantly, Mark was able to share the gospel, in Polish, with the president of the team (Michal) and his assistant (Marcin) as we traveled back home. Please pray for these two guys and our continued relationships with the entire team. There are some great stories to share and I will tell more in the coming days along with some pictures. Thanks and keep praying!

New friends and volleyball update!!

I wanted to share with you some photos of our new friends. They are an incredible family who have been a great encouragement to us. There names are Isabella and Sławek (pronounced Swavek) and they have two children, Kamilla and Sebastian. They have great testimonies and love the Lord with all their being. They have been attending our international church since the beginning. Please pray for this family as they become more involved in the ministries that we are involved in. Last week they invited us to their house for dinner and it was a great time of...well, yeah, you guessed it (if you know me)...EATING, and of course fellowship. Isabella fixed an incredible Polish chili and it was a great time of getting to know them more.

Also, I wanted to update you on our Wednesday night sporting event. We switched from basketball to volleyball and we had over 25 people show up the first night!


...dipping up some desert!

various photos from the past few weeks...

Claire and Philip at their school!

Claire's teacher...she loves her teachers long hair and talks about it often!

Rachel caught this shot of the princess...

who said ducks can't walk on water??

...typical "sled face" for Claire

Awesome wipeout video!!

McKenna decided she wanted to go down this monster hill...I am taking the picture from the bottom and I have the camera zoomed almost all the way in. This is definitely a "Wood" trait, cause soon after here came Rachel.

Of course it doesn't matter where we are, Poland or Hixson, Philip is going to find a hill! (another trait not received from his father)

We had a real hard time getting McKenna to smile for this photo...but, eventually she came around!