The Poland team and I are fully funded! Thank you for your interest!

Hello!

I am excited to share with you that I am going on a short-term mission trip to Poland. Elmbrook Church supports field workers Malcolm and Julie Clegg in Eastern Europe, and part of their ministry is supporting an English camp called Camp Arka for middle and high schoolers. I will be joining a team to teach English as a native speaker and lead vacation bible school programs for the campers. The families know that Camp Arka is a Christian camp when they signed up for the program.

Poland is a post-Christian society, where Christianity has slowly eroded from their culture. Therefore, this trip is an opportunity to share Christ’s love with the students and break language barriers. I am humbled to respond to God’s calling and to be part of His mission.

The camp is located outside of Wrocław, which is not to be confused with the popular city of Warsaw. Thankfully, the camp is on the opposite side of the Ukrainian border. It is located on a lake with a sand beach surrounded by a beautiful forest, where we will be sleeping in cabins. It matches your mental image of a camp.

While I have experience leading a Bible study, teaching is outside of my purview. And while I am a native English speaker, I cannot say that the subject of language is my strong suit. [ChatGPT did half the work of proofreading this letter!] Nevertheless, I trust in God’s guidance and wisdom to help me lead and teach effectively.

I am looking forward to learning how to lead vacation bible school content, loving on students through games and activities, and getting to know Elmbrook field workers better. There is a certain energetic and light-hearted attitude that it takes to work with students, and I pray that The Holy Spirit would give me this gift.

Gift-giving is one of my love languages, and I am excited to share American hot sauce with the campers. One of my tasks is to share a small gift with the students in my English class as a token of accomplishment and appreciation. Would you please pray for wisdom in choosing a gift and that Christ’s love would be shared through this?

Would you pray for me? Please pray for a positive and cooperative attitude while working with the team, confidence in teaching, energy while working with students, and safety and peace with the ongoing Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

If you would like to support the team financially, there should be a button below for you to do so. You can also mail a check into the Elmbrook Church office, by printing off and following the directions on the coupon below.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Sincerely,

Jacob Ertel

P.S. The camp is currently limited by the number of native English speakers that are willing to volunteer their time. Maybe the Lord is calling you to join next year?

Volunteer