Week #51 of our 78-week humanitarian mission to Slovakia and Poland is in the books.

"Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue

in others." - Rosa Parks.

Poland fact of the week . . . Poland is home to the world's first upside down house. The topsy-turvy wooden house was built the wrong way up in a forest, and it looks like something out of a fairytale. Visitors have to enter the house through the attic windows and can stroll through the furnished interior, reminiscent of Communist Poland during the 1970s to symbolise how the Communist rule turned life upside down in Poland. You can find the house in the tiny Polish village of Szymbark, – which only has around 500 residents.

We receive permission before taking photos.

Our plan is to spend the entire month of August in Slovakia. We had a variety of to-dos in Poland so we headed north and spent this week statusing a few projects and meeting with potential new partners, which resulted in several very encouraging meetings.

The Lord works in mysterious ways . . . Kelly and I participated in 'The Ride for the Living' a few months ago, sponsored by one of our key partners, the Jewish Community Center of Krakow. As I rode the 60 mile route the survivors of Auschwitz walked to Krakow, after they were liberated, I met and rode the entire route with two members of the U.S. Army. Their assignment is to play a liaison role between charities in need of support with funding sources. A match made in Heaven. 'There are no coincidences'.

Kelly and I met with Ruslan and Zach, the humanitarian soldiers currently assigned to Poland and Ukraine, the night before we were to meet with Community Organized Relief Effort in Rzeszow, about two hours from Krakow. CORE was created in 2010 when a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti. Since then, they have become one of the most respected international relief organizations. They fill funding gaps, mobilize resources, and establish trust and collaboration from within communities to empower them during times of crisis. We have been meeting with Jack Haffner and his team over the past few months to discuss how we may work together.

As we wrapped up dinner with Ruslan and Zach they told us that they had just moved to Rzeszow from Krakow. 'There are no coincidences'. We asked them to join us the next day when we met with CORE. The meeting went really well and it appears that our three organizations may be able to cooperate so we can create a few meaningful projects. Stay tuned for what will hopefully be exciting updates.

We have mentioned in previous posts that we have not had the type of positive impact in assisting the Roma as we would have liked. After nearly a year into our mission we may finally have a project that can truly make the type of difference we have hoped for. These people continue to be marginalized and prejudice continues to limit their progress.

We have now met with two new partners, the Roma Educational Association "Harangos" and Jududoro, on several occasions to discuss the potential of creating a project to support their initiatives to enhance the lives and to promote self-reliance of the Roma in Eastern Poland. They work together to manage and support Roma villages, more than 1,000 people, that are located close to each other. We traveled to an area about three hours from Krakow to meet at the largest village. As a result of our productive meetings we will begin the process to define a significant project to submit to our humanitarian directors.

We had a busy week as we traveled extensively in Poland. I enjoy relaxing at the end of the day by walking the streets of Krakow and taking photos.

We pray you are well and that you will have a wonderful week.