Today has been a very good day...so far!
I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Not that I haven't of other days...but there was a LOT of driving involved in the past few days...and being 6'4" makes those drives uncomfortable. Oh well...
We got a chance to sleep in a little this morning...seven thirty was much better than five thirty! Ate a quick breakfast...cold cuts with bread and jam...and then loaded the bus to head to church inside the city. Bob has us split into two groups...one of the projects we are working on this week is a promotional project for this church. Very cool church...modern and laid back. Katlyn and I got to film all of the children and their activities (playing outside on the playground!) and Ayla, JT, and Joe shot stuff on the inside...worship...speaking...fellowship...the good church stuff like that!
Katlyn and I got the good job...a very good time. Got some really good shots, awesome pics and amazing footage. We ended up meeting a little guy who spoke English (thankfully) and Polish. Katlyn has a little pocket translation guide...so we begain to clean up on our Polish (more like learn for the first time!). David...very cute little kid...wish I could bring him back as my little brother...helped us with our Polish skills. Gave us all the correct forms and sounds...the nicest little kid! What a rockstar.
We got back to camp and ate lunch...the biggest meal of the day here in Poland. We had some kind of soup...lots of Tomatoe in it...pretty good. We then had a beef cutlet...cucumbers in something along the lines of a cream...really good...and finsihed with potates and juice.
After lunch...we headed to the volleyball court! We got it on...fo sho! It was team Indiana verses team Arizona (even though JT is from Missouri...we addopted him for the game). First game went to team Indy...second game to team AZ...and to clench the title...team Indy came out on top! (That's what she said!) It was a very heated match...lots of trash talk. An awesome day.
From there, we headed down to the beach and the river...went for a little swim. Cold at first...but once we got in and got going it felt really good. Se then showered up and that is how I got to this porch overlooking the camp...very good sights here.
Our day is far from over...we have worship tonight and dinner...and so much more. The basketball camp is in full swing...we start our project (TBD) tomorrow! Can't wait to get going.
Pics are coming up tonight...I have a little more editing to do...and then we will be good to upolad!
Enjoy the stories.
Alex
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Poland...Days 1 and 2
Well...this has probably been the longest two days of my life...both of them AMAZING!
So, here goes the longest blog you will EVER read!
Day 1
We boarded a plane in Indianapolis...very tiny...very hot! And I was not the one that brought the heat (neither did Bob). Met the rest of the crew in Chicago...headed off to Poland. There is too much in that whole time period to try to explain. One quote from Gordo... "Are you two dating?" (That one is for you Ayla and JT)
Okay, so we arrive in Poland...get through customs...get out luggage...and meet the video guy at the camp...his name...Tomek...means Tomas in English...or so Ayla thinks!
Get in the car...almost hit the wall in the van...and get on the road. Something to learn about Polish drivers...they drive very fast...even if you are only going three feet. Speed limits are posted...but NOBODY follows them.
As SOON as we get to the car...we head to Warsaw and go to a museum all about the uprising of the Getto in Warsaw (pics to come tomorrow...my bad). After about an hour or so there...we headed into downtown to tour the city...absolutely gorgeous city. Lots of pics...awesome stories that I am too tired to remember.
Get back to the car...and take about a three hour drive to a little restraunt called Guarski's....authentic Polish food. I had a sausage the length of my arm...so good. Shard some perogies...a noodle stuffed with mashed potatoes and a cottage cheese like supplement...very interesting! (You should see my tiolot!)
Got to the camp...crashed on my bed super hard...amazing day!
Day 2
Woke up...late...missed breakfast...which was way too early at 6:30. Oh well. We hope in the van for a "supposed" hour and a half drive...ended up being three hours. But it was worht it...we ended up at Auschwitz...very sobering experience. All the pics are from the outside...we were not aloud to takes pics inside...but the experience was so life changing...so moving. Pics are coming...over three hundred of them!
After Auschwitz 1 we headed over to Auschwitz 2...totally destroyed...very sad to look at. This is the camp in the scene from "Schindler's List" when the train rolls through the tower...very sobering experience yet again.
After a very peaceful and depressing morning...we headed to the city of Krakow...about three hours from where we are staying. Very cool city...amazing city square...awesome style. Great food today...yet again...look at my tiolot!
Shopping was fun...all kinds of people. We ended up attending a Catholic wedding...by accident. We went into this gorgeous cathedral to tour and take pics...adn we looked downt the isle and saw the bride and groom...kind of an awkward situation...but I just kept snapping away. I had to pay 5 zlote to take those pictures so. They were pretty good.
Well, then we began to drive again...we did a lot of driving today...and we slept in the car a lot so. Drove about three hours to another authentic Polish restruant...had pork chops this...pooping was a little easier!
Got back to the camp...and am now where...writing about my life...crazyness! Very exciting.
I will have a whole list of pics to put up tomorrow...almost 800! I love my new camera.
Hope you are enjoying the stories...and can't wait to get a little more in-depth when i get time! Enjoy your time...love to all!
In Christ...
Alex H.
So, here goes the longest blog you will EVER read!
Day 1
We boarded a plane in Indianapolis...very tiny...very hot! And I was not the one that brought the heat (neither did Bob). Met the rest of the crew in Chicago...headed off to Poland. There is too much in that whole time period to try to explain. One quote from Gordo... "Are you two dating?" (That one is for you Ayla and JT)
Okay, so we arrive in Poland...get through customs...get out luggage...and meet the video guy at the camp...his name...Tomek...means Tomas in English...or so Ayla thinks!
Get in the car...almost hit the wall in the van...and get on the road. Something to learn about Polish drivers...they drive very fast...even if you are only going three feet. Speed limits are posted...but NOBODY follows them.
As SOON as we get to the car...we head to Warsaw and go to a museum all about the uprising of the Getto in Warsaw (pics to come tomorrow...my bad). After about an hour or so there...we headed into downtown to tour the city...absolutely gorgeous city. Lots of pics...awesome stories that I am too tired to remember.
Get back to the car...and take about a three hour drive to a little restraunt called Guarski's....authentic Polish food. I had a sausage the length of my arm...so good. Shard some perogies...a noodle stuffed with mashed potatoes and a cottage cheese like supplement...very interesting! (You should see my tiolot!)
Got to the camp...crashed on my bed super hard...amazing day!
Day 2
Woke up...late...missed breakfast...which was way too early at 6:30. Oh well. We hope in the van for a "supposed" hour and a half drive...ended up being three hours. But it was worht it...we ended up at Auschwitz...very sobering experience. All the pics are from the outside...we were not aloud to takes pics inside...but the experience was so life changing...so moving. Pics are coming...over three hundred of them!
After Auschwitz 1 we headed over to Auschwitz 2...totally destroyed...very sad to look at. This is the camp in the scene from "Schindler's List" when the train rolls through the tower...very sobering experience yet again.
After a very peaceful and depressing morning...we headed to the city of Krakow...about three hours from where we are staying. Very cool city...amazing city square...awesome style. Great food today...yet again...look at my tiolot!
Shopping was fun...all kinds of people. We ended up attending a Catholic wedding...by accident. We went into this gorgeous cathedral to tour and take pics...adn we looked downt the isle and saw the bride and groom...kind of an awkward situation...but I just kept snapping away. I had to pay 5 zlote to take those pictures so. They were pretty good.
Well, then we began to drive again...we did a lot of driving today...and we slept in the car a lot so. Drove about three hours to another authentic Polish restruant...had pork chops this...pooping was a little easier!
Got back to the camp...and am now where...writing about my life...crazyness! Very exciting.
I will have a whole list of pics to put up tomorrow...almost 800! I love my new camera.
Hope you are enjoying the stories...and can't wait to get a little more in-depth when i get time! Enjoy your time...love to all!
In Christ...
Alex H.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Big News About My Trip!!!
I have some very exciting news to share with all of you about my tirp to Poland.
I went over to Ayla's house last night to watch "Schindler's List" before we left for Poland. I get there, and Bob (Ayla's dad, the director of our trip) calls Ayla and I into his office and has us take a seat. His wife, Jane, comes in the room and they close both the doors.
I thought for sure something major was messed up with our trip. So, Bob looks at us and says, "Guys, I hate to say this...but the trip has been canceled...just kidding!" It was a good thing I was wearing my big boy pull-ups because I think I slightly wet myself!
After that scare, Bob got to the serious part of our meeting. Apparently, when Bob meet with the other directors, they planned out out trip with the camp, and made all the necessary reservations and what not.
Things were looking good, and we got all of our info and the who deal taken care of. But, what we didn't know is that the directors of the camp in Krakow (where we will be staying in Poland, also where the majority of the movie "Schindler's List" takes place) decided to swap their outreach week and their media week...and they forgot to tell us! Yeah, major mistake on their parts.
That mistake happened in January...which was 6 months ago. So, Bob got a phone call yesterday morning form the directors of the camp. They had been reviewing our itenary and all of our plans and realized that we were supposed to be there for the media week, but we were actually going to be there for the outreach week...which was a basketball camp...not much media in that!
The director of the camp felt really bad about what had happened, so he gave us a few solutions to our problem.
Our overall project has changed...we are going to be working with a local, more modern church, on producing some illustrational teaching videos...like the Rob Bell Nooma series. We will also be shooting some footage for the camp and producing a promo for them about all the camps they do.
The second part of the solution...the AMAZING part...is that the director offered to keep us out there for a second week...which will be the media week! He is going to pay for our room and board, and the price that it will cost to change out tickets.
This extended our trip from 10 days to 18 days!
Satan tried to make our trip fall apart, but God had a better plan for us! We are so excited about being able to stay for both weeks of camp. Such an amazing experience.
As of now, Ayla and I are the only two students who can officaly stay for the second week. The team from Arizona has to leave because of prior commitments, and we are not sure if our friend J.T. will be able to stay with us or not!
This is such an amazing opporutinty...and I am so excited to embark on it!
Thanks for all the support and prayer!
Enjoy the stories...
Alex
I went over to Ayla's house last night to watch "Schindler's List" before we left for Poland. I get there, and Bob (Ayla's dad, the director of our trip) calls Ayla and I into his office and has us take a seat. His wife, Jane, comes in the room and they close both the doors.
I thought for sure something major was messed up with our trip. So, Bob looks at us and says, "Guys, I hate to say this...but the trip has been canceled...just kidding!" It was a good thing I was wearing my big boy pull-ups because I think I slightly wet myself!
After that scare, Bob got to the serious part of our meeting. Apparently, when Bob meet with the other directors, they planned out out trip with the camp, and made all the necessary reservations and what not.
Things were looking good, and we got all of our info and the who deal taken care of. But, what we didn't know is that the directors of the camp in Krakow (where we will be staying in Poland, also where the majority of the movie "Schindler's List" takes place) decided to swap their outreach week and their media week...and they forgot to tell us! Yeah, major mistake on their parts.
That mistake happened in January...which was 6 months ago. So, Bob got a phone call yesterday morning form the directors of the camp. They had been reviewing our itenary and all of our plans and realized that we were supposed to be there for the media week, but we were actually going to be there for the outreach week...which was a basketball camp...not much media in that!
The director of the camp felt really bad about what had happened, so he gave us a few solutions to our problem.
Our overall project has changed...we are going to be working with a local, more modern church, on producing some illustrational teaching videos...like the Rob Bell Nooma series. We will also be shooting some footage for the camp and producing a promo for them about all the camps they do.
The second part of the solution...the AMAZING part...is that the director offered to keep us out there for a second week...which will be the media week! He is going to pay for our room and board, and the price that it will cost to change out tickets.
This extended our trip from 10 days to 18 days!
Satan tried to make our trip fall apart, but God had a better plan for us! We are so excited about being able to stay for both weeks of camp. Such an amazing experience.
As of now, Ayla and I are the only two students who can officaly stay for the second week. The team from Arizona has to leave because of prior commitments, and we are not sure if our friend J.T. will be able to stay with us or not!
This is such an amazing opporutinty...and I am so excited to embark on it!
Thanks for all the support and prayer!
Enjoy the stories...
Alex
Monday, July 14, 2008
Polish Preperation
My friend who I am traveling with thought it would be funny to add some lovely decorations to my car...to get me in the mood for the trip!
3 Days and Counting...
The trip is getting closer with every minute that goes by...three days from now I will be sitting in an airport in Chicago...waiting to board a planed headed for Warsaw, Poland! I am so excited about the trip...nothing to worry about.
Here are the last minute details of my flight plan and all that fun jazz!!
I leave Indy Thursday night at about 6:30. We fly to Chicago. We leave Chi-Town at about 9:30 and head straight to Warsaw...nine and a half hours...wow...that is one long flight with a very, very, very tiny bathroom!
We arrive in Poland on Friday...and then drive three hours south of Warsaw to the camp we will be working at. We get settled in...and get adjusted to the time change.
Saturday...probably the coolest day...we are heading to a few different concentration camps to take tours. A very eye opening experience.
The camp starts on Sunday night...and runs until Friday morning. As soon as the camp is over, we load up...drive three hours north to Warsaw, and hop on a plan headed for New York City.
From New York, we fly to Washington D.C., and then from there all the way home! We arrive in Indy right around midnight!
A long and crazy trip...but a once in a lifetime experience for me!
Thanks again to all of you for your support! Without you, there is no way I would have been able to take such an amazing trip!
I hope you enjoy my stories and pictures from Poland. I can't wait to share them with you!
If you would like to call me while I am in country, feel free to! I have a phone, and it is a normal rate to call me. Just look in my earlier post on Poland information, and the number is in there!
There is a six hour time difference. For example...if it is 4:00 p.m., it will be 10:00 p.m. in Poland! My phone will be on all day, but PLEASE do not call me in the middle of the night!
Again, thanks for reading, and I hope through my stories I can bring you to Poland!
In Christ
Alex
P.S - feel free to e-mail me while I am away. aholt21@sbcglobal.net
Here are the last minute details of my flight plan and all that fun jazz!!
I leave Indy Thursday night at about 6:30. We fly to Chicago. We leave Chi-Town at about 9:30 and head straight to Warsaw...nine and a half hours...wow...that is one long flight with a very, very, very tiny bathroom!
We arrive in Poland on Friday...and then drive three hours south of Warsaw to the camp we will be working at. We get settled in...and get adjusted to the time change.
Saturday...probably the coolest day...we are heading to a few different concentration camps to take tours. A very eye opening experience.
The camp starts on Sunday night...and runs until Friday morning. As soon as the camp is over, we load up...drive three hours north to Warsaw, and hop on a plan headed for New York City.
From New York, we fly to Washington D.C., and then from there all the way home! We arrive in Indy right around midnight!
A long and crazy trip...but a once in a lifetime experience for me!
Thanks again to all of you for your support! Without you, there is no way I would have been able to take such an amazing trip!
I hope you enjoy my stories and pictures from Poland. I can't wait to share them with you!
If you would like to call me while I am in country, feel free to! I have a phone, and it is a normal rate to call me. Just look in my earlier post on Poland information, and the number is in there!
There is a six hour time difference. For example...if it is 4:00 p.m., it will be 10:00 p.m. in Poland! My phone will be on all day, but PLEASE do not call me in the middle of the night!
Again, thanks for reading, and I hope through my stories I can bring you to Poland!
In Christ
Alex
P.S - feel free to e-mail me while I am away. aholt21@sbcglobal.net
Friday, July 11, 2008
Music
Sitting here in a coffee cafe in Avon...listening to my good buddies band...it's their first gig.
Music is amazing...an all acoustic set and I am loving in.
But it reminds me how much I love music. It reminds me of what music does to me...takes me somewhere I can't go on my own.
Most people just sing along to songs and don't even know what they are saying...but when you actually listen to music...listen to the lyrics...it moves you. Wherever it takes you...it's someplace exciting...someplace now.
The lyrics of tonights music takes me to a time when I played music...back to my acoustic guitar days. It is a cool feeling...looking back on what I used to do.
Music...something so simple...yet something so moving and amazing!
Peace until next time...
Alex
Music is amazing...an all acoustic set and I am loving in.
But it reminds me how much I love music. It reminds me of what music does to me...takes me somewhere I can't go on my own.
Most people just sing along to songs and don't even know what they are saying...but when you actually listen to music...listen to the lyrics...it moves you. Wherever it takes you...it's someplace exciting...someplace now.
The lyrics of tonights music takes me to a time when I played music...back to my acoustic guitar days. It is a cool feeling...looking back on what I used to do.
Music...something so simple...yet something so moving and amazing!
Peace until next time...
Alex
Thursday, July 10, 2008
One Week To Go...
Counting down the days...seven days until I step onto that plane and leave the country.
I am so excited about leaving, and so thankful that I have been supported through all of this. It is amazing to see the support come in from people. THANKS AGAIN!
I can't wait to go and teach my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ about the Good News of God, and how they can use what they love and enjoy to spread His message.
Please continue to pray for the team and I, that we can make an impact in somebody's life while in Poland.
Thanks and God Bless
Alex
Monday, July 7, 2008
What are you Broadcasting?
Broadcast...
What does that mean to you?
This word was introduced to me at BigStuf last week, and since I have been home I have been thinking about what it really means to BROADCAST?
What am I broadcasting?
What is the church broadcasting?
What is the world broadcasting?
What are you broadcasting?
We talked about it on the way home from BigStuf, and we decided we our broadcast is "Love God, Love Others, in a culturally relevant way"
So how do we bring this home? How do we broadcast this message to the world?
Tell me what you think...
Friday, July 4, 2008
Poland Information
Here are the dates and a few other things you might want to know for my trip to Poland...
I depart the U.S. on July 17, arriving in Poland on the 18
I depart Poland on the 25, arriving in the U.S. on the 26
There is a six hour time difference. During my evenings (from probably 10:00 or so on [Polish time]) I will have access to my blog, as well as my phone. That will be 4:00 p.m. [U.S. time] It is a local call to call my. I have a system set up through my computer so. My phone number is 1-317-641-3195. This works just like a normal phone, so call and if I don't answer...leave me a message and I will get back to you.
I will have stories and pictures up every day. Can't wait to begin my journey, and I am so excited to have all of you following me through this amazing time. I hope that trough my stories I can pull you away from reality for a few moments, and take you to a new and exciting world!
In Christ
Alex
BigStuf 2008
HOLY CRAP!
I just got home from one of the greatest weeks of my life...a week on the beach in Panama City...with 1500 other students who were head-over-heals in love with Christ...I don't think it gets much better.
The trip started of late on Saturday night with our departure and drive through the night to the beach...14 hours on a packed bus...not the most amazing way to get going!
I am a techie...if you couldn't tell...and so when I walked into the Grand Ballroom where the main worship center was...I about peed my pants right then and there...it was so amazing.
Session gets started and my mind is just blown away...drool starts running down my face...and I am in a severe state of shock...totally immersed in this experience.
As the week goes on...amazing things begin to happen in the lives of my friends...and my self. We begin to see this theme of BROADCAST come to life. Amazing stuff was happening all around us.
Now I am home...back to the real world. But I am not worried about how things will unfold. On the way home, we had a discussion about how to bring this theme and passion back to our lives. The conversation that took place made me feel all warm and fuzzy! I could see and feel God moving through my piers and I, as we began to talk and live out this live we are called to Broadcast for Christ.
What message do you Broadcast?
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