Poland: Communicating Through Gestures and Pictures

On Tuesday and Friday we visited an evacuated Ukrainian orphanage of disabled children and young adults. We put on a performance reenacting different Bible stories, we sang and danced with the kids, and we did arts and crafts with them. I admit that I was nervous at first because I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to communicate with them. We could put on a performance, we could dance around and hope that they dance too, and we could give out art supplies and teach some of the older kids how to make pizza (or, rather, they taught us), but how was I supposed to communicate on a heart to heart basis with them?

I thankfully didn’t have to worry about language barriers because all I had to do was make an effort and learn to be teachable. There was this boy I sat down next to and I colored alongside of him. He had a difficulty reaching for the crayons, so Tina and I would give him options of colors and place the crayon into his hand. After a fair amount of time had passed, he squealed/grunted and looked over at me. I laughed and he started laughing. He started to do it again and again and we did this for an hour, going back and forth dying in laughter. Our smiles were so big and we had made a connection by making each other smile without even using words.

I was amazed at how God could work despite language barriers.

A little girl with down syndrome came up and would hug everyone so enthusiastically. She made me smile so much and I began to reflect on the simplicity of happiness. All we have to do as people is try. Extend a hand, smile at someone, hug them, make them laugh. It’s so simple, but we find ourselves overcomplicating happiness. Why can’t we find our inner child and reconnect with the happiness we once experienced?

Another person who overwhelmed me with happiness was my forever friend Emily.

Emily is the daughter of the Pastor from Krakow from my first day in Poland. After church on Sunday, there was a thing called Teens Club where we got to connect with the teens as they took us on a tour of the city. I met a girl named Anya who was fluent in like six languages and who gave me a history tour of the city which I thought was so cool. There was a girl named Merelisia who worked at the coffee bar at the Church and we stayed in contact after I left.

The cool thing about Emily is that she has a passion for photography. She immediately wanted to take pictures of everyone because she saw the beauty in people. She made sure each person got a photoshoot and she helped them feel comfortable and seen. I have never experienced anything cooler than a sixteen-year-old girl from a different country posing and styling me, even taking off her jacket and swapping it with mine because it fit with my outfit better, because she wanted me to feel seen. She walked out her faith in such a beautiful way because that’s what God says to us. He says, “I see you. You are beautiful and you deserve to be seen authentically by others.” She changed my perspective on how I see myself because I had been having such a difficult time with the act of being seen. I didn’t feel seen before I left for Poland. But this girl came right up to me and showed me she saw me by spending an hour taking pictures of me.

“Smile like a кіт.” -Emily

Gestures and living out your gift can speak way louder than words. Even though I thought I wouldn’t be able to connect with some people due to language barriers, I thought wrong. Connection isn’t only made through words. You can hug someone, smile and laugh, or do something you’re passionate about like setting up a photoshoot for someone. You can make a difference in someone’s life just by trying to make a connection with them. I will forever remember how deep our connections with others can go, how our gestures and actions speak louder than words, and how our love for God can connect us.

ps: Emily joined our group in Rzeszow for two nights and we taught each other languages and learned from one another’s culture. я тебе люблю, Emily!