Crazy Love

I'm reading the book, Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. It is such an amazing and influential book even though I'm only 60 pages into it. Today, as I was reading this book it talked about a girl named Brooke. I wanted to share with you the essay she wrote when she was 12 and about what Chan wrote about her from the book.

“Since I Have My Life Before Me”
By Brooke Bronkowski

I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.

You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have moments, good and bad, but I’ll wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact that’s all I remember, just good moments, nothing in between, just living my life to the fullest. I’ll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world-changing plan, and nothing will hold me back. I’ll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.

I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!

Brooke Bronkowski was a beautiful fourteen-year-old girl who was in love with Jesus. When she was in junior high she started a Bible study on her campus. She spent her babysitting money on Bibles so she could give them to her unsaved friends. Youth pastors who heard about this bought her boxes of Bibles to give away. During her freshman year in high school, Brooke was in a car accident while driving to the movies. Her life on earth ended when she was just fourteen, but her impact didn’t. Nearly fifteen hundred people attended Brooke’s memorial service. People from her public high school read poems she had written about her love for God. Everyone spoke of her example and joy. I shared the gospel and invited those who wanted to know Jesus to come up and give their lives to Him. There must have been at least two hundred students on their knees at the front of the church praying for salvation. Ushers gave a Bible to each one of them. They were Bibles that Brooke had kept in her garage, hoping to give out to all of her unsaved friends. In one day, Brooke led more people to the Lord than most ever will. In her brief fourteen years on earth, Brooke was faithful to Christ. Her life was not wasted. The words from her essay seem prophetic: “You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age.” Sadly, many people die while living selfishly…. The truth is, some people waste their lives…. I think it’s easy to hear a story like Brooke’s and just move on, without acknowledging that it could just as easily be you or me or my wife or your brother whose life ends suddenly. You could be the next person in your family to die. I could be the next person at my church to die. We have to realize it. We have to believe it enough that it changes how we live. A friend of mine has a particularly wise perspective on this subject. He was asked if he weren’t spending too much of his time serving and giving too much away. His gentle but honest response was, “I wonder if you’ll say that after we’re dead.”

I know lots of old people or at least lots of people older then me, alive. People say they will go to college, get a good job, marry a wonderful spouse, have lots of kids, make lots of money, grow old, and to simply live a great life.

Is that really how it works? Not in reality.

I may sound like a downer but you just have to know that tomorrow isn't granted. The interactions that you have with the people around you may be the last you could have with them in your lifetime, is the truth. What if we stopped concentrating on what time we needed to be someplace and when the next event is on the schedule? Instead we started to slow down the pace of life to make conversations, friends, and to share the love of Jesus Christ? If we stopped grumbling about how long the line is at Starbucks or how dumb school is but enjoyed the moment and lived it to be the best that it could possible be. To stop living a selfish life and to become selfless. To not look at our interests all the times but take interest in others. To loose our identity, our hopes, our dreams but instead to find them in God.

I don't know...it's just an idea.

Butterflies have Wings Too

Blue Skies and Summer Breezes

What is one thing your grateful for today?

That's one of my favorite questions to ask myself. Everyday could be different answer but everyday could be the same. I feel like we don't take enough time to pause in the middle of our days, let alone think of something we appreciate.

Yesterday, I spent the day out in St.Paul at a friend's house. We had fun touring the neighborhoods, driving around, and gawking at the houses on Summit Ave. We went downtown and bought fresh food from the farmers market and brought it back to her vintage decorated house to prepare a meal for us to sit down around a table and eat. We all come from different backgrounds of families. One left his parents. Another has parents but they don't play the role of parent. One has a mom and dad who loves and cares and another has the same just it's her moms who raise her without any dad.

We sat sipping our soup and forking our salads, as a cool summer breeze blows though the kitchen. We made small talk about the weather and how everyone's weekend was until I asked, when the awkward silence began, "What is one thing your grateful for today?"

To not make it anymore uncomfortable for people I told them that I would start first. I shared how much I was enjoying the cool weather and how it's nice not to have it so hot for a change. The next person who went was thankful for the food we made and how delicious it was. Another person was thankful for the friendships that she had and the fact that she can bring friends from different parts of her life together. After mentioning our gratitudes there was almost a peace of contentment surrounding our table. Like a sudden thought of, hey, maybe life isn't that bad.

I guess the moral of the story is to be thankful for what you have. So, what are you grateful for? I'll give you a few examples, here are seven things I'm grateful for about my summer.

1. My Niece- She brings so much joy to our family not to mention a lot of excitement and random-dance-parties-of-entertainment.

2. Classic Disney Movies- Great memories, good time with friends, and the movies, they just never get old.

3. Kids- They're beautiful, so innocent {sometimes}, and make the best comedians.

4. Wonderful, real, genuine friends-There are only so many "real" people you can find in this world. I'm glad I found most of them.
(P.S. I apologize if you didn't make it in this picture BUT you were obviously thought about as being placed in the blog under most Spoko Amigos)

5. Blue Skies and Crisp Breezes-Lovely, need I say more.

6. My Trip to Poland-May it never be forgotten.

7. And Last but not least, I'm thankful for Ice Cream - yum.

July 31st, 2011-The Story of My Summer

Minnesota. A sweltering hot, tropical 98 degree Fahrenheit day. In Warsaw right now, I bet the weather would be about 17 degrees Celsius. I miss the cold.

The weather isn't the only thing I'm having a hard time adjusting to. Day three of being back, that would be last Friday, was probably one of my hardest days. Life here in america is so different. So not Polish. All the things I was complaining about when I first was in Poland I now miss. I hated it, at first, how unstructured things were. How I didn't know what I was doing until the day of or maybe even a half hour before. Back home, I have all of this week planed already and I didn't even really plan it. Tuesday I have cross country in the morning then I'm going to Maya's house and hanging out with friends. Wednesday night I'm running with the Augsburg cross country team. Thursday I have cross country with Washburn. Friday I'm going to grandpa and grandma Olson then I get back on Sunday night and I help with my churches VBS.

The first day I was at camp for breakfast I found it very disappointing that there was no fruit. All breads. All carbs. All day. I miss that too. I love having fruits and veggies again, in fact that's basically all I've eaten the past week I've been back. This evening I sent my dad to go buy tomatoes, cucumbers, and hard bread so I could make an open-faced sandwich for dinner with a cup of tea.

I eat like a European now. I eat almost everything now not with just a fork but with a knife and fork. I even ate Ice Cream Cake like that without even thinking twice what I was doing.

Above all the quirky things that I miss about Poland, what i miss the most is all the relationships, bonds, and friendships I had with the people there.

Earlier today I was reading a combination of my journal, blog post, and prayer entries and began putting them inorder of when I wrote them. Reading over the summary of my trip though my writing really showed me how God worked during my trip.

The first week through the middle of the second week I truly felt like I didn't belong in Poland. I though, ya, this is a good trip and maybe God will show me something but I don't think Poland is the place for me. Good experience for Morgan. I also felt like I shouldn't have even come. I felt bad for raising so much money because the things I was doing at Zako I could have done at any other camp in american. At least then I would have been able to talk to the kids and they would have been able to understand me.

But God said, Morgan, be still, and know I am God. (Psalms 46:10)

He knew what he was doing and knew that I felt like. He knew that I would do anything for him but what I didn't know is what he had planned.

I feel like the first talent show is where I could really see him use me. I did a interpretive worship dance to the song that my friend wrote. God used my talent of dance and the following week I taught dance everyday to a group of girls at the camp.
That same week I fell in love with Jesus, again. You know the song by Bruno Mars, "I would catch a grenade for you, throw my hands on the blade for you, I'd jump in front of a train for you, you know I'd do anything for you..." That song came to mind that night. The theme of the message was, "People do crazy things when they're in love" and to realize that Jesus loves me more than Bruno Mars could love any other chick or any other person could love me is pretty outstanding.

That same week there was a girl, nine years old, who refused to eat her food because she thought it would make her fat. My friend Jenna and I tried to talk to her but she didn't speak much english. So Jenna got up and out of all the other people in the room got Estera. Estera talked to the little girl, scared her by telling her how she doesn't want to be really thin. Told her that she would lose her hair and be really cold all the time and have bad finger nails. I thanked Estera and ended up talking to her later about her story, and I shared mine. We both cried.

The following Tuesday, we lead a walk to a field where Estera and I and an unexpectedly high number of kids joined us to hear about our battle with eating disorders. Thirty kids came out to the field that day and we told them if they needed anyone to talk to they could talk to us. We had a follow up with four girls.

God showed me how if I didn't go to Poland I wouldn't have been able to meet with the people that I met that week. He showed me how he used the relationships I had with people that week to transform other people's lives and help break down walls people had created in their lives.

The most significant things I think that God showed me during my time in Poland was 1. Actions speak louder than words-During the first two weeks, when the kids didn't speak much english I really learned how to be there for people with out feeling like I need to give advice say anything. Instead he showed me how to love people through teaching dance and smiling and through being Christ-like example to others. 2. How important relationships are. Most of the time when we think if mission trips we think of serves and how we are going to go someplace and do all these good things for people. I feel like this mission trip ministered to me as much as I ministered to other people. I can't emphasize enough how much I am changed by hearing the testimonies of other people on this trip and how important it was that God brought together all the friendships that I have Poland.

Leaving Poland was hard but being back in the U.S. is harder. As I said before, I miss Poland so much. I went to a Polish Festival yesterday with my dad. It was behind this house that was owned by the Catholic church across the street. It was small but being there I felt at home with the Polish language being spoken and the food that reminded me of the campfire at Zako. I didn't know any of the people there but when I started to talk to some of them I felt like they were my long lost family members.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, I mean I've only been back for a week. But the warm fuzzy feeling I have for Poland now, I hope it doesn't leave. Who knows, maybe God wants me there. It's amazing how He works. A little country. A difficult language. I felt like I didn't belong and now I can't stand to be away.

Philippians 1:6-"And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

Hurray!

July 8th, 2011

Today I received a package from my parent containing joy and happiness, my camera batterie and adapter! Tak! I was able to upload all my picture from Iowa, Chicago, London, and Poland. You probably want to see them. We'll you'll just have to wait. I'm only going to give you bits and pieces of my trip now but when I'm home I'll show the pictures to people when they come and visit me. Then I can tell stories and we can share laughter...? :)

As I sit here sipping my "Bobo Frut" and contemplating on what picture or pictures I should show you guys, it's very hard to pick. One reason is because the girls in my cabin keep on asking me to sign their shirts (I'm pretty popular here, you know) but the other reason is that there are just so many great memories and things I could write about.

So I decided I'll write about the kids.


This picture is of Hela. She is a little girl I had last week. The littlest in my cabin. She's 7 and was only staying in my cabin because he sister who is 9 was also in my cabin. Hela became my little sister. I'm pretty sure she was a unsure and somewhat nervous of me at the beginning of the week but by the end of the week we became very close. She was adorable. The first thing she did when she moved in was organize her clothes. She put them in piles by the day, each little outfit including a pair of socks and underwear.



At breakfast later in the week, I sat and waited for her to finish her tea. When your that little it takes a very long time to eat a piece of bread and drink a glass of tea. So I grab a spoon and say, "polska?". "łyżka" she said. "Wishka?", I ask, "ok...". I grab the knife. "Polska?". "nóż" she replied. We did this until I learned little spoon, big spoon, fork, and knife. She should teach Polish at Washburn.

One night I asked her for a hug. She just looked at me for a second, then ran into my arms. She hugged me as tight as she could for about a minute. Then I put her back down. She smiled at me and walked away.

This past week it was hard to grow close to any of the kids in my cabin because of the language barrier. The most I can say to them is hello, goodbye, how are you, thank you, please, and just simple a couple word phases. The girs in my cabin were around nine years old. Only one of the girls were pretty good at english, the others could say as much in english as I could in Polish.

Some nights I would get frustrated because I wanted to be able to hear and understand what they were talking about both the deep things and the little conversations they were having.

Then I realized, I don't have to speak Polish to tell of Christ's love. I can show it to them. Yea, it sounds chiche' but it's true, actions speak louder than words. One night, all the girls in my cabin and I all sat up on a top bunk and "chatted" (which also means we played charades) for a while. I know that for me to take interest in their activities and what they are doing means a lot to them. I also know it's important for them to have that sister who really cares about them in their life.

July 10th

The day after writing the post above, the kids left. Sad day. I was really stressed out during the morning because we had to clean our rooms before the show that we put on for the parents. I was leading a dance with the kids to show for their parents so I had less time to clean. The performance went great though. If I was a parent to one of the kids who we taught the dances to I would be proud of my child.

After receiving a million hugs from the girls who were in my cabin, especially Julia who gave me at least 20 in one morning, one of the girls who I said hi to only a couple times during the week came up to me with her mom to give me a hug goodbye. She was so happy to go home but she also expressed how much she would miss me. Like I said I barely new this girl. Her mom saw how much her daughter was going to miss me and reached out and shook my hand and with the little english she knew told me thank you for being kind to her daughter and a good friend to her. She then asked for my adress so that her daughter could write me letters.

Sorry to say I don't know the name of this girl but it really shows how you can influence people without even knowing it. Obviously this girl looked up to me and without me knowing it I was being a role model in her life. It makes me want to be more aware of even the little things and the choices I make because of the younger kids who look up to me.



Other friends from camp had the same story. One said that a parent came up to her and told them thanks for truly caring for his daughter.

This week it's a whole new story. Most of the kids speak english fairly well. Most of them are my age. Some of them are older than me making them not really kids. I'm basically diving into the deep end this week. It'll be scary meeting all the kids but I think I'll handle it fairly well. Most of the kids/teens/people who come her are from catholic families and don't really know who God is and what he did for us. This week my main goal is to lead by example and to listen. These kids have lots of baggage and the least I can give them is friendship.

I'm a camper somewhat sorta but I'm also leading a dance workshop with another person and a "club" which me and my friend designed called "Girls Only" which main purpose is to help girls struggling with eating disorders.

Please pray for me this week that all will go well and God will guide the conversations I have this week and impact the lives of the campers.

The Culture of Poland

The Polish Culture is funny.

For example, they are so relaxed and yet they always look so nice! Even at camp. This is a woodsy, outdoorsy, camp and the people here are dressed like they are going to walk down a runway while I'm in my plain white T and running shorts. Blah.

They don't use bells or alarms here unless your waking up. At camp you will roll into the next schedule event without even knowing. Sometimes the only way I know that we're doing something is when I look around and realize that there's only one other person with me and that all the children are missing. I have no idea how they know what's going on.

Another thing that's funny is the structure of their meals. First of all they eat so many carbs and not much fruits or veggies; and yet they are they the skinnest people! America's got it all wrong I guess. For breakfast they eat bread with jelly, butter, or bread with meat, cheese, tomatoes, or cucumbers. Weird right? Who eats open faced sandwiches for breakfast? I tried it anyways my tummy wasn't completely alright with it though.

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. They always have soup. Then they have a side of meat, potatoes, and some type of veggie. Midday they have a snack, then dinner is the same as breakfast with maybe an extra something. They hardly ever have dessert and if they do it's like a piece of bread unless you get a Magnum Ice Cream Bar or a Lion Bar from the Snack Shack :)

The Polish people hardly drink water. They tell the kids to remember to drink it and yet they NEVER serve it at our meals. It's always tea or a waterdown juice. They sometimes have coffee in the AM. I'm becoming an addict to coffee. It's getting stronger by the day. Otherwise tea is the main liquid here.

The weather here is also very strange. Other people from the states say that their weather is weird like it is here but I have never been anywhere where the weather is always changing like it does here. Poland has weather bipolar bad. It's always cold in the night and during the morning. Then during the day it might be sunny and hot, hardly ever humid. But if it get's rainy and hot then it's humid. If the clouds go infront of the sun then it's all of a sudden freezing.

I just don't understand...