Tech Team 2011

A nice thing about having almost your whole mission body on one continent is that we can all get together on a regular basis.  So right now I’m in Poland (Krista & Alex are arriving soon) working with a group of techies who are giving up their vacations & paying for the privilege to work on missionary laptops.  So while the missionaries (including myself) are in the meetings, these guys (no ladies this year) will be working diligently on fixing computers so that the missionaries can work more on helping people know God and less on struggling with computer issues.

This is my fourth year working with this group (some of them change every year but they all come from the Mark5Ministries) and it’s a blast to be with the geekest geeks.  Just as a little bit of how geeky they are – they started pulling out all the electronics they had in their pockets (and only in their pockets – not what was in their backpacks or luggage).  That’s what in the picture to the right.  There’s only 5 guys and they still had all of that in their pockets.

Wondering what kind of issues they encounter?  Below are two issues they had last year – one is where a screw was coming up through the motherboard and case shorting the motherboard (no one knows how that happened) and the other is a seriously messed up screen.

More pics of the Kyle Dillard Band

Well, I uploaded my photos about our time in Poland in the Photo Album. Be sure to check them out.

Also, Durand with GEM’s CreativeWorks ministry also did some blogging about our concerts and has his photos (and a video) on his blog here.

Guys, can’t wait to do it again! (Just next time, I don’t want to get sick, OK?)

It’s a Wrap

Well, we finished the last concert today. All of them seem to have gone really well. Several of the prisoners were definitely impacted (talk to the band members for more info about that). More importantly, the local church we have been working with has really been encouraged.

Oh, and when I said that Kyle was sick but I thought it was exhaustion. I WAS WRONG. Dude was sick. But he did not want to cancel the show so he played with a trash can on stage. Well, I don’t want to go to much into all that but again, ask the band for more info.

Tonight is a going away bar-b-que and then we fly out tomorrow to head back to our respective houses. Pray for safe travels.

It’s was Kyle’s fault(s)

Whenever you’re on a short-term mission trip, things are going to go wrong. In an effort to be more efficient, we decided that instead of spending a lot of time figuring out who’s fault it is – a person will be assigned to be the fall guy for each day. To make things even easier, we took a vote and decided that Kyle was to be assigned for every day. So, just as with every day, everything that goes wrong today is Kyle’s fault.

Well, yesterday was our first concert in a maximum-security men’s prison. The prison was about two hours outside of Warsaw on a normal day. But yesterday was the day before a 5-day weekend, which means there was a lot of traffic. So we were late getting to the prison (Kyle’s fault) and had to rush to get everything set up. We were hauling the equipment up three flights of stairs (Kyle’s fault) past guards who made you wonder what they were thinking – personally, I think they were thinking “Fresh meat” but that’s debatable.

Now you musicians out there know that some of the best equipment is made in the good ole USA. Well, the Poles know that too so half of our equipment we are using comes from the US (including the soundboard) and the rest is European. European equipment is rated for the 230V power supply we get out of the walls here in Poland but with the US equipment, we have to use transformers (that’s another blog altogether). Now everyone’s in such a hurry to get things setup that this whole concept of certain equipment getting plugged into the proper place is lost and yep, you guessed it, Kyle plugs the soundboard into the 230V supply. Let’s just say the lights were pretty for the second that they were on and then quickly gone. Yep, the board was blown (Kyle’s fault – literally this time). Luckily the board had a fuse so Martin (pronounced Mart-scheen) stripped a piece of wire and jammed a piece of copper into the slot where the fuse had been.

Now I’m not a musician but I thought they actual concert went really well. (Good job, Kyle). Now the prisoners on the first two rows did keep giving the guys some “special” looks, which could have meant – “Wow, these guys can really play!” or could mean something else. So we chalk up another “Kyle’s fault” for the ways the guys felt over those looks because I think his excitement and giggle laugh caused those looks.

After the concert, we got to have tea and coffee with the vice-warden of the prison, which was a cool time. On our way back to Warsaw, we kept trying to find a place to eat but due to the amount of people and the fact that we were hauling a trailer with all of our equipment, we couldn’t find a safe place to park it. So we had to skip lunch (Kyle’s fault). Also, due to traffic, we couldn’t get back to the hotel before dinner so ended up having to stop and IKEA for a snack (yes, in Europe, IKEA has a cafeteria – a good one at that) Then we headed off to a nice restaurant where we were going to celebrate Martin’s birthday with his family.

Well, the story would end there except that last night, I spent most of it either on or kneeling at the porcelain bowl. (Again, Kyle’s fault). It’s taken me 6 hours to write this blog and I’ve missed being with the team today. The worst part is that Kyle came back to the hotel after the concert this morning feeling a little ill himself (although, I think he’s just exhausted).

So over all, Kyle has been blamed for a lot but he should be congratulated for a lot too. He is leading blues concerts that are making an impact here in Poland for the kingdom of God.

Please pray for the following:

• Health for the team and especially Kyle. He’s an essential element to the whole blues concert.
• The concerts on Friday and Saturday. Both are in prisons with Friday being a women’s prison. Pray for the prisoners that will hear the Gospel and that they will respond to it.
• All the Poles that are helping transport us, feed us, drive us around, translate, etc.

Thanks.

[UPDATE: Kyle was not exhausted as I suspected but rather was really sick. But he wanted to make sure the show went on and had to sing with a trash can next to his microphone stand - just in case. On the ride back to the hotel, he had the driver pull over. Kyle barely made it out of the car. An old lady walking by was crossing herself and just giving him a pitiful look.]

No picture, not much said because I’m tired

Well, we just got back from a long day of concerts. We did two concerts today, one in a high school and one in a juvenile. Both went off really well with a majority of the teens getting really into what was being sung and said. When the guys get back, you’ll have to ask them the stories from today. I’ll try and post some pictures tomorrow if we get some time but honestly, I’m tired and need some sleep. We have to get up early for an 11 AM concert at a prison (I think a high security prison). Keep the prayers coming.

Bride with an Axe to grind – literally

Ok, she is still in her wedding dress and she already has pulled out an axe to chop off her husbands head. Well, actually, the guy behind them does this improvisational stuff to get money on the streets here in the Old Town of Warsaw and the bride and groom were off to get their photos done when he grabbed them. It was cute.

This morning’s concert went really well and the band is really getting into their groove. I have to say it has made me really homesick for my home church hearing these guys play and being around them. Its really cool to hear southern accents all the time.

Tomorrow has changed a little bit for us as soon as we finished playing this morning, a person came up to us and wants us to play at their school. So now we will be doing a “high school” (its the polish equivalent) concert in the morning and then a prison in the afternoon. We’ll be getting up early to assemble and pack all the gear. We’re all really pumped.

Today, after the concert we got to enjoy some traditional polish food and then visited a museum about the uprising of the Warsaw people against Hitler that killed many people during a two month period. It was really eye opening as to what humans can do to other humans. Then we toured the old town area. Well, its not really “old” as it was 90% destroyed during WWII but they have rebuilt it using old pictures, architecture plans, postcards, etc. Its really pretty awesome. I’ll try and post some of our pictures soon.

Please continue to pray:

• for those that will be hearing the Gospel message. Let their hearts hear what is being said.
• for one of our team members that is sick. We think it might be some bad food but he hasn’t been able to eat and has had very little to drink all day.
• for the logistics. There’s a lot of equipment to be packed, moved, set-up, torn down, and repacked for every concert and we have very little time to do it.
• for the whole team as we work side by side. May we have the attitudes of Jesus with everyone we meet.

Thanks for praying.

Visiting the Triangle

Would you know that the above door is to the restroom? Would you know whether or not that that was a men’s restroom or a women’s restroom? We’ve been joking about all the different phrases that there are around the world about going to the bathroom without actually saying that you are going to use the toilet.

So as soon as we found out that we were to use the “Water Closet” (WC – the term used in most of Europe for restroom) marked with a triangle (circles denote a women’s restroom) – a new phrase was born – “I’m going to go visit the triangle!”. Yes, this is the type of talk you get when you have an all male team.

Now back to why we are here. Yesterday’s community concert went really well. We didn’t have a huge turn out but those that did come were really into the music and the band sounded great. A Polish man named Tommy, well we call him that anyway, joined the group as the sax player. He is excellent (even Kyle was extremely impressed and those of you that know Kyle know that’s a huge compliment) and will be joining us for many of our other concerts this week.

Today we are having a concert here in a vocational training school where they train people to work in a local auto manufacturing plant. We expect at least 250 students to be there. Then tomorrow we will start hitting the prisons.

Please continue to pray for:

• Health. Sickness has hit one of the team members but he should be better by the end of the day. Just a stomach thing.
• the students. That they will hear the Gospel through the music of blues.
• the band. Keep them safe, energized and in the Spirit as they play.
• the logistics. There’s a lot of equipment to get moved around, set up and torn down quickly over the next week.

Thanks.