Prayer Request

The 10-day forecast is predicting rain in Katowice on Saturday and Sunday (can't see after that...).  PLEASE PRAY that we will get a break from the rain so the teams can play soccer Monday - Friday.  We leave a week from today!  Can't wait!!

Team Bio: Jason Adam

Hey guys,


My name is Jason Adam.  I will be making the trip to Poland.  I am a member of Rivertree Church in Huntsville, AL.  I am married to a wonderful super dupe supportive woman - Jessica.  Her age is....err...(I guess I should move on to the next topic) :)  We have 2 beautiful children: Kayla (6), Noah (4).  I am 32 years old and this will be my first international mission trip.  My wife and I are originally from North Dakota.  We have been down south almost 10 years.  I am an aerospace engineer with NASA.  I work at the Marshall Space Flight Center.  I enjoy carpentry, grilling all kinds of things, football (Go Minnesota Vikings!!) and homebrewing craft beer.   This team seems like a really great bunch of people and I am super excited for our trip!!


For more about me just look me up on Facebook under Jason Adam

Fundraising at the Farmer's Market

The Birmingham team has been raising funds for our trip at the weekly West Homewood Farmer's market, held every Saturday from 8-12 at Shades Valley Community Church (www.shadesvalley.org). We have shirts, jewelry, arts, bags and other hand crafted goods! We would love to see everyone come out!

Team Bio: Johanna Frack

Hey everyone! 

I'm Johanna Frack and I have blue eyes.  I am 19 years old and this year (when I turn 20) my birthday is on Thanksgiving day! I'm very outgoing and most of my friends think I am crazy (a very well founded conclusion about me).  I am very talkative.  I love to be silly and to encourage others around me.  I also like learning things because I am a nerd.  Currently, I am teaching myself how to play the guitar (I already can play the clarinet).  Also, I like to be very active.  I used to be a ballerina, a crew member, a gymnast, and a hockey player (unfortunately I am not good at mainstream sports, like soccer).  A warning to those who will spend any time around me:  I seem to be accident prone.  I tend to find ways to injure myself and embarass myself.  Feel free to laugh heartily when those moments happen.

I've been going to Rivertree since the summer of 2007, which is when my family moved to Huntsville, AL from Virgina Beach, VA.  I've been a Christian since I was a young girl.  I've grown up in a family of believers who are continually seeking the Lord, which I appreciate greatly. My parents have taught me how to search for God constantly and to seek answers to my questions. (thanks mom and dad!)  Oh, and I have two brothers and two dogs.

Right now, I am a student at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington (I just finished my first year!).  I'm studying to be nurse, but I am not sure what type of nurse just yet.  I do know that I want to be a light for God wherever I go in life.  Hopefully, one day God will call me to be a missionary and I can use the skills I learn in the mission field.

I haven't been on alot of mission trips, only the ones that my youth group were involved with.  This will be my first international mission trip!  But it isn't my first time out of the country. My dad has been in the Navy since before I was born, so we moved around alot.  I have lived on both sides of the United States and also in Italy.  And because my mother is a German citizen, we often go to Germany and France to visit relatives. Also, I have two citizenships:  USA and Germany.  I think that's pretty cool.

I am so excited for this trip and to do God's work! It's going to be amazing and a memory I will keep forever!

(Here's a picture of me! I'm blue like a smurf!)

Team Bio: Emily Flack

Hi! I'm Emily Flack. I've been a part of the Shades Valley family somewhere around 6 years by the doings of my neighbors who invited me shortly after I moved to Birmingham from Colorado. I'm a bit shy and it's taken me awhile to really get connected. With that said, I'm super excited to finally be doing something like this with SVCC and the crazy folks that are participating. This will be my first overseas mission trip and already I've learned so so so much about God's faithfulness. And we haven't even left yet!

I LOVE: road trips, excessive photo taking, experimental cooking and adventures that have no patience for safety.

I can't wait to get to know our Poland team better and to see what amazing things God has in store for us and the people we encounter while traveling.

TEAM BIO - Blake Rymer

Hello World!
I realized the other day that I had done 23 short term mission trips since returning to the US in 2000 from 2 years full time on the mission field in Budapest, Hungary. I guess those 2 years were very significant for me and for my family. Leading this team is a special privilege for me. Not only do we have some awesome team members who aren't part of my family, but three of them are family - one daughter Meg and two sons-in-law, Jeff and Josh!!

I'm married to Sandra, a woman who is devoted to God, to me and her family. We have three daughters who are married to fine men and 7 wonderful grand kids. All our kids are mission minded. One of them serves with her family in Poland. I love music, golf, walks, writing, chocolate, red wines, visiting the grand cities of the world, Alabama football, spending time with family and good friends, and telling folks about the scandalous love that Father has for them. For me to live in Christ!

First Team Meeting

Recently, both the Huntsville team and Birmingham team met for our first official group meeting! We met up at the Cullman County Public Library in Cullman - which was comical considering the size of our team and the size (or lack of) their library! But all was well albeit louder than they would probably prefer. We conducted some research on the economical, political, historical and topographical (!) data of Poland and shared our results with the group. We learned a little about the Solidarity movement which started in Poland and began the decline of communism in Europe and the role that the church had to play in that movement. Poland has a very rich and interesting (and long) history. We were also blessed to have Erin Skrobarczyk present at our group meeting to give some personal experience with the people and culture of Poland.

After our library meeting, we moved over to the famous All Steak restaurant in Cullman to continue getting to know one another and eat dinner. Thankfully, we had our own meeting room where we did "Speed-Friending", prayer time and worship. The Lord gave us some really awesome ideas for ministry in Poland during our prayer time which we are working to develop before we go. Our waiter was awesome and even said he wished he had time to hang out and worship with us - hopefully a taste of the response we'll get in Poland, too! All in all it was a great meeting with good results - one of which David Wolnski put pretty well the Sunday after - "Now I'm stoked to go to Poland!"

Thank you to those who have already been praying for us during our team prep time - God is really showing up in huge ways. A few people have already received all of their necessary support, there have been a couple of big donations to the team fund, AND we've gotten some awesome ideas for our time there. Please continue praying that support will roll in (MORE than enough so we can flesh out some of the ideas we have for ministry), protection from the enemy against anxiety over funds and feeling overwhelmed, our upcoming fundraisers, team building and coordinating team meetings, and that the Lord would continue to show us what he wants us to do while we're there.

Thank you!

Our team at the Cullman Library

At All Steak:  Jeff Stalcup, AJ Wolnski and David Wolnski

Anna Gamble, Ben Gamble, Kim Bevel, and Daniel Frack

Erin Skrobarczyk, Blake Rymer, Meg McClung, Josh McClung and Emily Flack