Author Spotlight
Caroline Beal
Senior Elizabeth Starr sat at a convention in Warsaw, Poland, listening intently to a young Ukrainian woman relaying her biggest struggle during the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian War.
“Her biggest complaint was there are no single men around between the ages of 25 and 50,” Starr said. “They’re either in the war, hiding because you can just get drafted off the streets or they’ve fled the country.”
Over the summer, Starr spent 10 days touring and volunteering in Poland with nine others from the Church of the Resurrection’s youth group. They spent half of their time sightseeing in Krakow and Tarnów and the other half at a Methodist church conference in Warsaw.
While in Krakow the group toured Auschwitz, where they saw gas chambers, torture rooms and prisoner barracks.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Starr said. “When you imagine it, you just see the pictures from history class, and it was really interesting just to be able to see that in person.”
Church of the Resurrection’s Student Ministry Director Megan DelGrosso visited Auschwitz with Starr and also witnessed the horrors of the camp. While touring, the youth group was taken aback by the strong emotion that overcame them.
“While we were at Auschwitz, we went to Birkenau, which was one of the [labor] camps, and while we were there, there was also a Jewish youth group there that was walking around with Star of David flags draped around their backs,” DelGrosso said. “[They were] going and praying at different places around the campus…honoring the people and their faith in their culture.”
Although it was a heavy visit, the group learned from the tour and the people they just met.
“[W]hat the tour guides and a lot of people kept telling us over and over again is [the Holocaust] didn’t start with murder, it started with words,” DelGrosso said. “And so a lot of our conversation[s] throughout the week kind of centered around that.”
After touring in Krakow and Tarnów, they headed south of Warsaw to attend a spiritual renewal conference that focused on unifying American, Polish, and Ukrainian Methodists.
Their days started with breakfast and socializing with everyone at the conference. Afterward, Starr and the other youth group members separated into small groups with children ranging from three to young adults. The Methodist Church members shared testimonies, played games, listened to worship music and got to know the lives of others, especially the Ukrainians.
During the convention, the youth group became more steadfast in their faith and community and found joy in their time of worship.
“[E]veryone we met, even the Ukrainian refugees, were so happy,” DelGrosso said. “They were joy-filled, they were kind, they were hospitable, they were so gracious to us.”
A majority of the convention was filled with members of the Methodist church coming together to uplift each other, however, at other times, the conversation turned somber, when the Ukrainians began speaking about the war and violence at home.
“I think one of the most shocking things we heard while we were there is that they will get bomb alerts on their phone like we get amber alerts,” DelGrosso said. “They just silence it because there’s not anything that they can do, and they have to just keep going about their day.”
Although Starr was overcome with emotion after hearing stories of war, one obstacle turned out to be the most uplifting part of the trip. In order to overcome language barriers, the convention used music, Google Translate and each other to communicate efficiently and form meaningful bonds.
Starr felt undeniably connected with those around her and was grateful for her time in Poland. The trip gave Starr and the other members of the youth group a closer look into how people react to disaster and how it can bring others together.
“It was really traumatizing and horrible but so powerful and inspiring in a lot of ways,” DelGrosso said. “[It] was such a heavy trip, but I mean, just to see people coming together like that, I thought was amazing.”
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