Ballymena teens go on aneastern ‘exodus’ for Jesus

Two Ballymena teenagers, Ruth Foster and Emma Simpson, recently made the reverse journey to Poland and had ‘the best experience of their lives’ as part of an Exodus Team.

Explaining how and why she got involved, Emma said: “One of the teachers in our school’s Christian Union, Miss Toni Bassett, told us about things we could do over the summer.

“She mentioned that the Exodus team to Poland still had some spaces available. It really appealed to me because I had never done anything abroad before”, she said.

The team spent their first week at a basketball camp in Zakosciele.

Talking about what they did there, Emma said: “We helped the organisers to run it; so we would set up and clear up at meal times, clear out the bins and keep the general area tidy. We also scrubbed down and repainted decking and railings where the paint was peeling off.”

Week two was spent at the’Kontakt’ volunteer festival in the city of Lodz.

Here, the Northern Irish crew got involved in some very rewarding community work,

Remembering this, Emma said: “For the first two days I was in a day care centre for the elderly and we renovated the main living room and dining room - their hangout space.

“The third day I visited an orphanage for disabled children and just played with the kids all day. The next two days we brought a lot of colouring books, skipping ropes and face-paints and went into a ‘poor’ estate. We brought a translator along, got the children out and set up a kids’ club in the main area. It was really good to see them because they were really shy at first. Then they saw all we had and we played with them for a day which ended up being two days. It was fantastic”, she said.

The manager of the elderly people’s day-care facility was also really grateful for the work completed by the young Exodus team.

Another of her personal highlights was making friends both within her own team and with the other young people who attended the basketball camp.

Recalling a particularly happy time, Emma smiled: “One evening between dinner settings, we were sitting on the steps and burst into any song that came into our heads. It was an international; camp with lots of people from central Europe. They all came over and we were singing and dancing together. It was so surreal but also fantastic.”

Summing up her first overseas mission trip, Emma said: “It was the best two weeks of my life – such a good experience.”