Poland {Part Two}

In 1996, I went on a mission trip with my church to Poland.

You can read Poland {Part One} here to learn more about our work there.

We road trains across the countryside of Poland (and Germany, if my memory serves me correctly). 

 I'd never been on a train that had sleeper cars and passenger cars.

Here we are in the sleeper car.

I'm on the left.  My friend, Brandi, is in the middle and our pastor's daughter, Lori, is on the right.

I believe this photo of the horse pulling the cart was taken near the children's camp.  I think we were near Swietajno, Poland.  It's in northern Poland.

We worked at a children's camp. 

You can see that the buildings weren't very modern.

Here's Mark (our former pastor) at the camp and a couple of men working on a building in the background.

Let me explain...

This is a hot water heater.

This hot water heater does not heat water by using electricity or natural gas.

It heats water by using coal. 

Anyone wanting to take a shower, which was to the right of this, had to shovel coal into the bottom.  This was my first and last experience shoveling coal.  I still have such a vivid memory of this.  It seemed so primitive compared to all of the modern conveniences we are accustomed to in the United States.  At that time, I had really long hair and it took a lot of water to wash it.  The coal hot water heater didn't make a great amount of hot water so by the end of the shower the water was extremely cold!  That experience has taught me to never take for granted simple things like a hot shower.  To this day, there are times I stand in my nice warm shower and think about washing my hair in the cold water.  I'm thankful for simple things like hot water that don't require me shoveling coal.

Next week I'll share Part Three and tell you about Mark and Susie's ministry.

Part Four will consist of what we did after we left Poland and before we came home to the U.S., and I'll show you my sentimental souvenirs from Poland. 

I'll be linking up again to Cha Cha at Sit Relax and Read.

Visit her and others who share what they are feeling sentimental about.