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“And whoever welcomes a little child like this
in my name welcomes me.”
Matthew 18:5
The orphan weekend 3-5 October 2003 at the Baptist Seminary, Warsaw, Poland. It was so good to have had the opportunity to invite 20 kids from the orphanage and 10 underprivileged ones from our neighborhood. The Covenant Players performed for them, we also had “The Red Riding Hood” play performed by our
Joy Fellowship” Baptist Church kids, we worked in groups: Bible stories, sports, crafts, arts and multimedia. We sang a lot and there was a blessed revival. We had quite a few volunteers helping us for these three days. ABC Missionaries Jim and Karen Ross helped us a great deal, it is good to have partners that you can count on.
Most orphans from the state run orphanages are being invited to homes for Christmas by their relatives and friends, but not all of them. We invited over 30 orphans and poor children for a Christmas camp where we shared God’s love with them. For many of them it was the very first Christmas Season where they could sit at a table covered with a white table-cloth and candles eating good food. We sang Christmas carols, prayed before meals, read the Bible and Christmas presents were given to them. Together with a missionary and a trumpet soloist, Scott Brookins and his family, we were able to organize such a wonderful Christmas camp in the Polish mountains 21-28 December 2003.
During the winter break from school in February 2004 with a great help from Gardendale First Baptist Church we were able to organize a big orphan’s ski camp in Wisla. We had almost 100 participants. Children from orphanages, after-school clubs and poor families enjoyed this camp very much. Together with Brother Leon Zalenski and his team we prepared a very good program for the whole week. It was the third camp in a row supported by this Church. We pray and hope to continue this wonderful partnership in mission.
As well as at Christmas we were able to prepare Easter food baskets for the poor families in our neighborhood. For many of these families it was the only sign of Easter in their homes.
In April together with another Christian Foundation and a team of volunteers and relatives of Annie Byrd – IMB Missionaries we organized an orphan weekend for over 50 children. It was a blessed time not only for the disadvantaged children but also for the team. As always, in our camps there was a time for sport activities and fun, but also for Bible classes, prayers, testimonies, Christian songs and great fellowship.
In the meantime there were many single cases in which we were able to help many people in need. God is great and He continues to bless us richly.
Let me share with you our future projects and prayer requests. The first weekend in June 2004 we want to organize a trip to Barycz where we are building the Christian Orphanage. Forty children will go there and will enjoy spending time with their Christian friends.
 July 4th – 11th, we are organizing a Christian Orphan’s Camp in Barycz. We have a team of 10 young people from Kentucky with the Upward Basketball coming to this camp. There will be 60-70 of us on the camp. It is going to be great! We are going to use the nearby school and its facilities. We talked with the management of the school and everything looks great. We will have street-ball competitions and other sports activities. Many local children and teenagers have been invited to take part in this event. We are all very excited about what God is going to do there. Please pray with us.
We would like to continue with the construction of our Christian Orphanage being built in Barycz. It would be great to be able to complete at least the heating system with the upper two apartments so that next year we would be able to invite two Christian families to move in with orphans. Once we complete the whole building we will be able to organize Christian camps and conferences throughout the whole year. That is our biggest project and prayer request to you all.
I am always very glad when I can help people in so many different ways. Sometimes it is food that they need most, sometimes it is medicines, coal for the winter, electricity, rent and utility bills. In many cases the needs are clothing, shoes and school supplies, but also transportation and legal aid, assistance in visiting different offices and writing application forms. Scholarship for Christian camps and seminary studies are also very much appreciated.
It is very good to cooperate with state run orphanages and build a trust with the children and the management. The best recommendation you can get, is one of a child who has been at our camp and shared with the Director of the orphanage about how wonderful it was. Then there is no problem to get children from orphanages for future camps. Many times when I have invited orphans for a camp, the next day I have a fax with a list of children going to the camp.
In September, we would also like to open a soup kitchen and an after-school club in Otwock and maybe also in one other place. We do not have any partners or support for these projects. We need help to be able to provide such a help. In this way we also want to support the planting of new Baptist Churches there. We have the people – volunteers, and the facilities, but we need to cover the other expenses.
Every month we want to organize at least one orphan weekend where we could continue to build our relationships with the poor children. We also need a vehicle to transport the orphans. The Christmas Orphans’ Camp seems to be a very good project. We want to repeat it this December also. Please pray and see if you want to be a part of any of these projects. I am always thankful for all the prayers, financial gifts and offer of practical help.
I pray that God will bless you as you have blessed these disadvantaged children with your support.
Yours in Service for Him,
Henryk Podsiadly
Foundation President
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