Thanksgiving in Poland

This past week has been busy. I made my first solo turkey (and then made another one, a ham, a green bean casserole and 2 pies) to freeze and take to Poland.
Thursday morning we loaded up and drove to the Elim Christian Center in Poland (arriving in time for dinner). Friday I spent the whole day in the kitchen helping make a traditional Thanksgiving meal for about 400 people. My feet were very sore at the end of the day- but it was worth it.
On Saturday we went to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. It was drizzling while we were there which only seem fitting for visiting such a place. As we left however, the rain had stopped and we saw a gorgeous sunset over Birkenau. The picture of us has the gate to the camp behind us. It says "Work makes you Free." Only by working so hard that it killed them were they able to be free in death. I can't begin to describe what it was like being at Auschwitz- so I won't even try to explain the feelings I had at seeing the site where so much had happen and so many had died.
On Sunday we packed up and returned to Mannheim as the end of the Thanksgiving weekend approached.
I am so glad that we went and had the opportunity to serve, reflect, fellowship with others from our chapel and give thanks for all our blessings.
My friend Stacy went on this trip and her blog describes the weekend far better than I did. To read her blog click here.(Go ahead, click it- it is really good and you know you want to anyway....)