Mark 5 Ministries

My Auschwitz Reflections

srobinson — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:30:57 +0000

I initially posted on my blog when we first got back from Auschwitz some general reflections, but since then I have been working on another post about it. I just finished it and thought it would be good to post here on our trip blog. So here below is my post. Thanks to all.

After some time to reflect more on the Auschwitz experience and also time to talk to the others on the trip, I keep coming back to two different quotes. The first is by Edmund Burke and is one of my favorite all time quotes: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.” The second is a quote that is engraved right next to the exit of the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, it is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller and goes like this: “They came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.” These two quotes just fit the emotions of today perfectly. We have always had good men throughout history, and we have also always had evil men. The question is which is going to triumph in our time? If you are a Christian you know that in the end the Lord wins and ultimately will defeat evil but that does not mean that evil will not have victories along the way. The facts of history show us many times and places where the forces of evil have triumphed over the forces of good. The mass extermination of the Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, and others by Nazi Germany is definitely a time where for a while the forces of evil triumphed.
The two camps at Auschwitz that we visited are a gripping reminder of the fact that there are times when evil triumphs for a period. The first camp at Auschwitz has the sign above the gate that was a cruel joke by the Germans that said basically that “Work brings your Freedom.” There were many people who upon arriving at the camp truly did believe that upon entering the camp and working for a while they would receive their freedom. I really wonder how many hours or minutes it took for them to come to the realization that they were not going to become free at this camp. Surrounding the camp was two barbed wire fences separated by a small road. Each of these fences were severely electrified and many folks chose to fling themselves into the fence and be electrocuted rather than face the horrors of the camps on a daily basis.
The deep hatred that was displayed by the Germans towards the Jews and others is overwhelming visible when you visit these two camps. They were both designed for one thing and one thing only, the extermination of human life. The camp at Birkenau is a huge facility and every square inch of that camp was designed to degrade the human life to the point where it was acceptable for those guards to kill the residents of the camp. When you stand in the barracks and you see where these human beings were given 5 seconds at two separate times during the day to do their bodily function, it will blow your mind the inhumane condition that this must have been. When you see these things it makes you wonder why more people were not standing up for these people at the time. I understand that if people had stood up to the Nazi regime they too would find themselves in these camps, but look at the work of folks such as Schindler and his work in the city of Krakow to keep Jews from going to the death camps and you wonder why there weren’t more that did the same thing. Dietrich Bonhoeffer sums up silence in the face of evil very succinctly: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
I had a huge internal struggle while walking around the two camps with one part saying we need to tear this place down because of what it stood for but then there was another part of me that said we need to keep this place as a reminder of the atrocities that occurred. We must keep these places because if we demolish them they can so easily be written out of our history books within a generation. Then today I see a story in the news that there are some schools in the UK that are dropping the teaching of the Holocaust in their history because it might offend Muslims (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-445979/Teachers-drop-Holocaust-avoid-offending-Muslims.html). This makes my heart hurt because it means it is already starting to happen. How can we as humans sit back and allow this to be taken out of history because it might offend someone. Yeah it isnt exactly the brightest time period in the history of the world but if we do not learn from our history then we are doomed to repeat it. We have seen time and time again that when we do not learn from our mistakes in the past that we will make those mistakes again, there are many many examples of this throughout history. Please stand guard so that we NEVER forget the atrocities of the past whether that be the Holocaust, 9/11, the killing fields of Cambodia, or those committed by dictators such as Pol Pot and General Mao. It is our duty to remember and pass on to the next generation.

Thank You for Making this Trip Possible!

Corey — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:45:40 +0000

Sam’s post did a great job at explaining our looong journey home! We did all make it home safely.

We wanted to thank all of you who followed us on this journey and helped support us in so many ways; by prayer, finances, emails of encouragement, transportation to and from the airport, and just by being interested in our trip. Your outpouring of love and support has truly been humbling. Furthermore, after hearing from the GEM missionaries how much they appreciated our help and being recipients of their “thanks”, please know that by helping make this trip possible for us, you have been a part in furthering God’s kingdom in Europe and North Africa.

I think we each could tell you many stories about how appreciative the missionaries were for our technical expertise and for the care we took in helping solve their computer issues and walking them through the transition to their new email and document sharing platform. More than just “fixing computers”, we were able to minister to the missionaries in one area where they needed help.

Also, I think that each one of us would tell you that in some way our lives cannot be the same after going on this trip. Knowing how much the missionaries need technical support makes us all the more passionate to continue to find solutions for their technical issues. Being able to hear stories from the missionaries about their lives and about their bringing the message of hope and salvation touched us all deeply; we must also be the catalyst for bringing the transformational love of God to our own communities. Having so many people thank us for our time and help is a humbling experience, knowing that we were a part of helping to make their work for the kingdom of God more effective.

Thank you again for your help in making this trip possible. We thank the Lord for your “partnership in the gospel” (Phil. 1:5); please know that “your work in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
~ Corey

The looong journey home…

srobinson — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 23:55:09 +0000

Our day started when the alarm went off at 6:30 am Krakow time (9:30 pm Pacific Time on the 5th), the day ended at 12:45 am Pacific Time on the 7th when I crashed into my own bed. The day was filled with planes, automobiles, and even a train. After breakfast we all caught the train from the Krakow train station out to the airport. We got all checked in at the airport and thus began our long journey back to the States. The six of us on the tech team all were on the flight from Krakow to Frankfurt. When we made it to Frakfurt it was time for the six of us to split up. Eric had to go to the C terminal to catch his flight, Ben had to go to the A terminal to catch his flight, and Peter, Craig, Corey, and myself had to go to the B terminal to catch our 10+ hour flight from Frankfurt to Vancouver B.C. The flight from Frankfurt was delayed in pulling away from the gate and then after we pulled away from the gate we sat on the tarmac for a while, all in total we were around an hour and a half late in taking off from Frankfurt. These delays meant that our already narrow connection time in Vancouver was now even narrower. Vancouver airport is a rather interesting one for international travel, when you arrive you must go through customs declaration, then pick up your checked luggage, and then pass through customs one more time before heading out to go back through US customs when you are flying to the US. Therein lies where our problems started. We arrived and made it through the first customs declaration and were waiting for our checked luggage to arrive, we waited and waited and yet our luggage did not show up. We were not the only ones whose luggage didn’t show up. There was a group of close to a dozen of us from the Frankfurt flight who did not receive our checked luggage, we checked with the airline and apparently they had gone and done something that only Air Canada is supposed to do and passed our luggage on to the next airline and US customs without us taking possession of the luggage. So here it was 4:20 by the time we finally got this all figured out and it was time to run to the Air Canada counter to attempt to catch our 4:45 flight to the US. Well of course we werent able to catch the flight so we were booked on the next available flight from Vancouver to Portland, that flight was at 8:30pm. This meant that we had almost 4 hours to kill in the Vancouver airport, we all grabbed some dinner and then some of us used the time to catch up on some much needed sleep as we had already been up for a long time. We caught the plane and landed in Portland at around 9:45 pm and met friends and family at baggage claim. The other three guys all were going back to Salem and I started my journey back to Eugene. It was a long day but it was a good day, and a good way to end our journey to Poland. We all had a wonderful time working on the computers for the missionaries and ministering to them so that they can go out and minister to the people in their countries. It was a wonderful time getting to know many new people, traveling to foreign lands, and trying many new strange foods. Thanks to my team members for being there and assisting whenever I had a question, thank you to the missionaries for bringing us your computers, and thank you to everyone that contributed support whether that be prayer or financial.

Hugs, Pictures, and Applause

estraw — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:49:42 +0000

Our work at GEM AC2010 is finished for another year.

Hugs
Pictures taken of us
A long standing ovation
And many, many “thank you”s
That is how the missionaries have shown their gratitude.

We serve them so they can serve others – all for the kingdom of God.

Sometimes the work we do is simple. The fix for one missionary took about 15 minutes. She was so excited about being able to type in Georgian (Republic of Georgia) that she threw her hands up in the air and let out a cheer. She was ecstatic. The simple thing we did is going to make a big difference in her ministry.

Sometimes the work we do is difficult. Several techs spent hours working with a missionary to address security issues. And, because of security issues I can not share any more about that situation. Just know that this missionary is much better off because of our work.

The appreciation the missionaries show is overwhelming. When we stood on the stage and the president of GEM asked all those who had been helped by our team to stand, I was moved by the number I saw knowing that we are impacting kingdom work in Europe. When the GEM missionaries broke into applause – standing and applauding for way too long – I was moved to tears. We serve, like so many others, like the missionaries whom we serve, because God has equipped us and called us. It is a privilege to serve. An honor.

GEM Annual Conference is Over, but was a Great Success

Corey — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:18:01 +0000

As of tonight (Wednesday), GEM’s annual conference is officially over. Our tech room is all packed up and we all attended the closing session where we were able to pray with the missionaries in small groups. Earlier today, all the teams that served at this conference (including the Tech Team) were given a very warm “Thank you!” for all our work.

Although the “official” count of number of computers were worked on was “52″, that did not count a number of “Intake Forms” that were not numbered, nor does it take into consideration that one person brought in about 6 computers (counted as 1), nor the 15 to 20 others who walked into the computer room and were helped with email or other issues (without filling out an Intake form). My guess is that we directly assisted about 70 to 75 missionaries.

Besides working on the computers, Eric and I were able to attend a couple of the sessions held at the conference; the sessions talked about the church planting movement and about the “tangible kingdom”. I would have to write to many pages here to begin to explain to you what that means and all we enjoyed from the conversations with the missionaries about these topics. (But ask me sometime; I would love to tell you about it!) I think that I will just list here the “Core Values” of GEM; these mean so much more to me now than they did at the beginning of the week.

1) “We are followers of Jesus who reproduce disciplers”. (That last word is not a typo; it means we are producing not only disciples, but those who will disciple others.)
2) “We are living the reality of God’s Kingdom.”
3) “We are people who move forward by prayer.”

- Well, in the midst of typing this I just had an hour long conversation with the director of IT from GEM about using technology effectively for missionaries, etc.; I was tired when I started this blog post, now I am beyond tired. So, I hope you enjoy this post without further explanation.
~ Corey

Posting about Pools and Ponderings from Poland, by Peter

Peter Buhler — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:46:54 +0000

Well so here we are at day four or so of the conference, we have received and processed quite a good number of machines. As of this moment we have finished or are currently working on 51 laptops. We are running like a well oiled machine. With Corey manning the front desk, while the rest of us are working on laptops and all of us helping out wherever we’re needed. Some times it is pretty slow other times we have waiting lines going out the door and stretching out into the hallway. It has been quite the whirlwind of computer questions, email settings and viruses. I even found a laptop with a screw driven all the way through the motherboard, coming out onto other side of the laptop. (I wasn’t able to do much on that one, but I was able to save the data on the machine). Thankfully for the most part though things are running very smoothly. We have done quite a bit of training and preparation for this trip and our hard work has paid off. We also have a great team, we work well together and also have lots of Fun in our own geek/techy way. To give an example, many of the common phrases that one might hear is “because it a Mac”, or “Because it’s a PC.”

Anyways for me, it has been quite a blessing to be traveling with and working here in Poland with the rest of these “tech guys.” From the humor and the tech advice, to the conversation and theological insights of the ‘professors’(Eric and Corey), this whole trip has been amazing.

Even though things have been busy around here, our group was able to find some free time today, during the morning sessions when we officially close our tech room to the missionaries. We all went off and did something other than working on computers for that time. Ben and myself decided that we would go and explore the water park located here at the hotel. Its was lots of fun. There were about 4 different water slides all of them pretty fun. The really interesting one was one that was basically a giant punch bowl. You would enter through a tunnel and come out into this giant bowl where you would circle around several times before falling through the hole that was in the middle which dropped you into another pool. It was a blast. We also spent some time in the wave pool, hot tubs and some kind of weird salt thingy that was supposed to be healthy for you. A pretty good day over all.

Afternoon was pretty basic, filled with lots of questions about a new email system that GEM is implementing.

Tomorrow we will begin to start wrapping things up, as we will be packing up tomorrow night and preparing to leave Wisla that next morning. So now we are basically just pushing to finish everything we are currently working on before everyone leaves.

That’s it for now.

Here lies in honored glory….

srobinson — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:02:12 +0000

Today while we had a break in the number of machines and the conference attendants were all in the required sessions, I set out on a walk. While out on my walk I saw a sign that looked to say “Community Cemetery.” I always find it interesting to look at a cemetery and see how an area treats their dead. Even though it is a sad place, one of my favorite places in Washington D.C. is Arlington National Cemetery. The honor and respect that is attributed in that to each and every man and women that is buried there is so humbling. The cemetery that I found here in Wisla was a very quaint little place nothing like the scale at Arlington. It is placed up on a hill overlooking the amazing valley below. The various headstone ranged from the very ornate and intricate to the a plane and simple cross with the name on it. The contrast was very great but the honor and care shown for each stone was all the same. There was a group of about 4 people there at the cemetery when I was there going around and washing all the stones and washing the marble on the stones that had marble. There was not a single grave in the place that did not have some sort of flower bunch with it. Yes some had several dozen bunches of flowers while others only had a couple but each grave had flowers showing that each person is still being cared for even in their death.

Computers, computers, everywhere

bfunkhouser — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:58:36 +0000

The end of our first full day of receiving computers is almost done. What a day it has been! We opened to a slow morning and even had time to take a quick trip into the small town of Wisla (pronounced Viswa). Yet a technical storm was brewing, and this afternoon the flood of computers came rushing in the door. After an hour or two of frantic processing and discussing many computer-related problems, the storm subsided and the work began. We have been working steadily throughout the afternoon and are about to close up shop as it is about 10:00 pm (though later nights may be ahead).

Despite the work and the craziness, the work we are doing is truly satisfying. It has been great to meet missionaries from all over Europe. They truly appreciate the work we are doing and I’m sure the feeling is mutual.

Signing off…

Laptops received: 30
In process: about 15
Completed: about 5

-Ben Funkhouser

An Update from Wisla Poland

Peter Buhler — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:28:20 +0000

So here we are at the end of our first full day at the GEM conference, The hotel we are staying at is quite an amazing place, complete with water park, bowling alley, and health spa. It’s a very big place place too with 10 floors stretched out across a pretty big hill side here in Wisla. We are all staying on the second floor, which is actually the third floor for those in the states, and our tech room which is pretty big is almost right next to us on the same floor. Which makes our job easier. One of the first things we did today was to set up our room so to get everything ready to start working on computers. We have several desks set up for people to come in and use the internet. There is our intake station where we will intake and process all the computers that we will be working on. From there the Computers will go to our workstation area, which is a bunch of desks made into a U-shape, where each of us can set up the computers so that they can be worked on. We also have a training area were we can sit down with people to help them with any training that they may need or to answer any questions that they may have. And we still have plenty of room left over. Each year the space we have been given has been steadily been increasing in size. We’ve been told that we have become more and more appreciated and been give a higher priority for our tech room location. That’s always a positive thing to hear.

So far we have taken in 6 computers. We are expecting things to get a lot busier with tomorrow, as all the rest of the missionaries arrive and as more and more people remember to bring in their computers/hear about us. We will be having some pretty full days, our tech room is going to be open from 7am till 9pm with small breaks for evening and afternoon sessions, we are always open during the meals so that the missionaries can drop off their Laptops or check their Emails at our internet Kiosks. We take our meals in shifts where half of us eat while the others man the tech room and then we swap.

The Meals here are pretty European with lots of meats and cheeses for all of the meals and weird-ish things like meat in jelly, But overall the food here is pretty good, with a nice variety and a bunch of tasty desserts.

One of the things that I enjoy the most about being here, is being able to interact with the missionaries and to see how much they appreciate us being here to help them with their technical needs. Also with this interaction we meet all kinds of great people from all over Europe and are able to talk with them and to hear all the amazing ways that God is working in their ministries.

So that is a little bit about things here in Wisla, I look forward to being able to continue to help the people here and to help to use my gifts to serve them just as they are using their gifts to serve God.

-Peter

Our Time in Krakow – then Starting the Annual Conference

Corey — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 20:19:00 +0000

We spent a couple days in Krakow before heading to the conference. It was good in that we had some time to recover from our long flight, to see some sights, and do some team building.

Krakow has the largest medieval European square. We were able to see the castle in Krakow and (my favorite thing) to enjoy some “drinking chocolate” off the old town square at a place that has had 150 years to perfect the art of making chocolate.

We arrived at the hotel for the GEM annual conference last night (Friday) and the conference actually started tonight with the opening session. More missionaries will arrive tomorrow when we expect to get real busy.

We have a great room for our computer work this year. One missionary came by to tell us that a few years ago the “Tech Team” room was a little room in the basement with no windows. The rooms have slowly gotten better in the last few years. This year we have a very large, centrally located room where everyone will pass by. He said it just shows how much they value the technical support work that we do for the missionaries. We are both honored and humbled at the opportunity to share our time and talents to help further the kingdom of God by supporting these missionaries.