Krys and Ola

This week we had the opportunity to meet and get to know a beautiful couple: Kris and Ola. They are around the same age as us and have been married for almost a year. They’ve been attending family camps for the past five years. In fact, Kris made a decision to follow Jesus at one of these camps a few years back.

We spent a lot of time with these two this week; on our last day in Poland, the two came and picked us up in old town Gdansk and we spent the afternoon together. They shopped with us and helped us find good bargains, translated for us, then took us to see the Baltic Sea, and finally we went back to their flat for coffee and great conversation. We ended up having dinner together and even went shopping at a hardware store to help them pick out paint colors. I’m having a hard time describing this new-found friendship because it feels like we’ve been friends with them for years.We’ve only known one another for 8 days—but we’ve made such a deep connection. It’s great to see how God brought this all about. I’m looking forward to seeing how our friendship develops over time.

This new relationship is another small picture of how God works at these camps. First, Kris developed a relationship with Jesus during this camp—it was just what he needed to give him that extra push in taking a step of faith. Many people who attended the camp this week felt this same push. Some decided to put their trust in Jesus at camp, but many more were driven one or two steps closer to God because of how He worked in the camp. Who knows where these people might be without the experiences they had at camp. Second—Kris and Ola’s marriage is another testimony to these camps. Ola mentioned that a few years ago she spent a lot of time talking with an Ogallala woman about marriage and what a godly marriage should look like (this Ogallala woman is the late wife of one of the men—John--from our church who came to serve at the camp this year). Now, Kris and Ola are married and are in a relationship that is glorifying to God. Kris and Ola’s marriage is also a blessing to John in that he could see how much of a blessing his wife was to this young couple. Finally, I feel invigorated to have met Kris and Ola. Because of them I am challenged to work more at my marriage and to make sure that God is the center of our marriage. I realize that camp isn’t the only event that caused all of these blessings to occur, but there is no denying that the way God works at these camps has played a role in many of these blessings.