Gifts that warm the heart

Now that summer is over and people are back from holiday I’ve been able to meet with people that I haven’t been able to see in a while, one of those being my language teacher and her family. Her family was one of the first I connected with when I arrived in Poland 3 years ago. Not only has Monika been my language teacher but she has become a good friend and I know I can go to her if I every need anything. Her family is a true testimony to the generosity of the Polish people. Well, last week we meet for tea and to talk about our summer holiday. I shared with her all the Lord has been doing and how at our family camp we had many new salvations. She shared about their family time spent at the beach. As they were leaving my apartment their oldest daughter gave me a gift. It was a little tin full of sand and shells that she had collected from the beach. Monika said that her daughter thought of this gift all by herself and wanted to give me something from their travels. I was so touched that a little 5 year old and her family would remember me and think to get me a gift. This little but kind act warmed my heart and showed me once again that the Lord always puts special people in our path.

Sunday Tradition

It won’t take too long living in Poland to realize that Sunday church is an all afternoon event. After the morning worship service and prayer time you a quickly whisked to the “fellowship hall” where tea, coffee and wonderful little cake

s and cookies are awaiting you. I’ve been known to bring a cake once or twice myself but usually its just a boxed cake mix from the States.

Well I decided to step it up this week and make a 100% homemade from scratch cake to share. Below are the recipes and pictures of my cooking endeavor. Just call me little Susie homemaker:)

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Fresh Strawberry Upside down cake

Step one: making a yellow cake mix from scratch...

Easy Yellow Cake

2 eggs beaten1/8 tsp salt1 cup sugar1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup hot water
1 Tblsp butter

Beat eggs 5 minutes, adding salt, beat in sugar and vanilla, Sift flour and baking powder together, and add. Melt butter in hot water and add. Use an angel food cake tin. Bake at 350 till done.

Recipe from a 1953 cookbook

Step two: ma

king a Fresh Strawberry Upside down cake

Ingredients

1. 2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
2. 1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin mix
3. 3 cups miniature marshmallows
4. 1 (18 ounce) package yellow cake mix, batter prepared as directed on package (or homemade cake)

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Spread crushed strawberries on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Evenly sprinkle strawberries with the dry gelatin powder, and top with mini marshmallows.
3. Prepare the cake mix as directed on the package, and pour on top of the marshmallows. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen the sides, and turn the cake out onto a serving tray. Storecake in the refrigerator.

Language Victory

It seems in Poland no matter what you do.. whether its finish high school or counting to ten you’re given a certificate.

Well yesterday in the mail I got a certificate but this ones a little more important than most. It was my European Consortium For The Certificate Of Attainment In Modern Languages (ECL) Polish A2. What that means is this...

Back in April I took a trip to Warsaw for the European (Polish) language test. The test took about 4 hours and was made up of four parts [reading, writing, listening and oral]. I personally took the A2 level test. There are four levels of tests you can take. A2 being the first level that you must complete and C1 level being the final level which basically means you’re fluent.

Now that I’ve passed the A2 portion I can continue to study and try later to take the B1 test. Knowing I can take another test and see if I can improve my language skills is great. However, right now I’m just happy to say i’ve mastered the first level! Taking and passing this test has always been my language goal since coming to Poland. My language teacher and I had been working so hard to get me to this point. Its so great knowing that I’ve completed my goal.

Throughout the last three years of learning Polish I’ve cursed the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) many a times and wished for another day of Pentecost to come (Acts 2):) The lows have been low but the language victories have been so sweet. Through it all I just have to remember why I’m called to Poland and that is to tell the great news of Christ. That is my motivation.

....“We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Acts 2:11

PRAWO JAZDY

So after having an American drivers license for ten years and an International license for three its now time for me to obtain my Polish drivers license. No longer will the simple AAA international drivers license suffice in Poland.

In a way I feel like I’m 16 again. Having to spend time learning all the road signs and rules and being nervous over the thought of taking the test and wondering if I’ll pass it the first time. However, this time there is a different twist that I didn’t have to worry about when getting my American license.....THE TEST IS IN POLISH! Now granted I can bring in my own translator but still its just an added stress to think about.

I’ve been told that this test is made to trick people. There is an answer bank of 500 questions and you are randomly selected 25. Out of those 25 you can miss 2 and still pass the test. I’ve done a lot of things in Poland that I’d never image I’d be doing and this is just another one to add to my list.

*My favorite Polish street sign. Its to show there is a cross-walk ahead, but to me it just looks like "WARNING..watch out for small girls with lollypops"

The faithfulness of God

“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means!” Romans 3:3-4

This last week we had a team from Arkansas come and help us along with some national believers host a family camp for non believing families. To be honest from the very beginning I had my doubts about the camp. There were struggles getting American families committed to come and help and the Polish families we invited keep dropping out. Until three days before camp we were wondered if we would even have Polish families attending the camp. Finally last Monday two American families and one single along with Team NE Poland, two Polish believing families and four non believing families arrived at camp and the week began.

The camp included games and activities for the whole family as well as craft and games for the children while their parents were in workshops. The people who came from the States taught workshops on debt, love languages, Alcohol, and child rising. The evening were filled with movie nights, ping pong, and other fun events.

I had bathed the week. I assumed we would have a good turn out and that the families would hear the Truth and the need for Christ but I personally limited God. I figured just like so many other times the event would go well but at the end of the week we would have no salvations. I’ve grown to chalk it up to the “hard soil” here in Poland. I fell like many times we are still tilling the ground in hopes that one day a harvest would actually spring forth.

Well, Praise the Lord He is still faithful in our faithlessness. The week resulted in 8 salvations. Every adult that came to family camp left with their lives drastically changed and the assurance of heaven. Along with the adults two teen boys also gave their lives to Christ. I were blown away!

The camp ended Friday and everyone went back to their homes and daily routines. For me I waited for Sunday to come to see if those families would actually come to church. Still even after camp I was hesitant of what would happen when Sunday rolled around. Once again the Lord showed himself mighty and in control. Every family came to church! The once small “country church” exploded with new believers who were coming to get feed and share in the precious gift of fellowship.

Praise Him from who all blessing flow!

Also to add to the excitement the same week there was a sports camp in Kraków Poland. The camp resulted in 16 salvations! The Lord is working in Poland! Please continue to pray for the Country of Poland and its people.

Language learning

Oh the joys of learning a foreign language. Some days are great and you feel like you are really understanding and doing well while other times you realize that three year olds and the local dogs understand more then you do. Now add learning Polish to the challenge of leaning another language. People have told me that the hardest language to learn is the one that you are currently learning. Well, I don’t believe they have every tried to learn Polish. Don’t miss understand... I love learning Polish! Daily its a challenge and after language class my head hurts but I find the whole process extremely exciting and fulfilling. Even with its great difficultly it’s just one more thing that will always be dear to my heart.

Extended family

My wonderful American-Polish family! AKA...Team NE Poland.

Texas bound

July 28th-September 28th I'll be in Texas with family and friends. I'll be returning to Poland September 29th. Look forward to more blog post about what is happening in Poland once I return.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Boża Ciało

What is it?

Corpus Christi is a Catholic observance that honors the Holy Eucharist. It is also known as the Feast of the Most Holy Body of Christ, as well as the Day of Wreaths.

What do people do?
In commemoration of the Last Supper on the day before Jesus’ crucifixion, many around the world receive Communion on this day. In Poland the consecrated bread is paraded throughout the streets.

Background:
Corpus Christi is a festival that has been celebrated by many in the Catholic Church, in honor of the Eucharist since 1246. The name “Corpus Christi” is a Latin phrase that refers to the body of Christ.

The wonderful world of tea!

One thing I love about living in Europe is the wide range of teas you can pick from. When at the grocery store it's my favorite aisle to go down. I could spend hours there! When I finally make it back to the States hot tea is one thing about Europe that I will miss for sure.

Eyjafjallajokull..thats a mouth full!

When you think of a natural disaster you often think of hurricanes, tornados, flash floods and such. However, I bet many of you, including myself never thought of volcanos as a part of that category. Well with the Iceland Eyjafjallajokull volcano Europe is currently at a standstill when it comes to air traffic. Due to the volcanic ash the EU has shut down airspace over much of Europe leaving people stranded and halting others plans. Like my roommate Ashley and I. We are currently scheduled to leave out of Warsaw on Sunday morning and heading to London, and then head to Cork to run our half marathon. We are praying that by Sunday the volcanic ash will dissipate and we will be able to continue our vacation as planned. To ease the stress caused by the volcano my roommate and I have been thinking up other ways to get to London incase the airspace doesn’t open up.

The following are our possible plans; some are more realistic than others…
1. Take a train from Olsztyn Poland to London (21 hour trip)
2. Backpack through Europe till we reach London
3. Run there
4. Wait out the volcanic ash and reverse our trip...Ireland first, London second

What is all comes down to is…we hope this natural disaster leave as quick as it came. Please pray along with us that our trip will not be hindered by Eyjafjallajokull as well pray for all those stuck in airports.

Mourning for the lost

With yesterdays tragic events the country of Poland stands in shock. Many may know but yesterday a plane carrying the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski and his wife along with 96 other polish dignitaries on their way to the Katyn Massacre memorial crashed one mile from the airport in Russia due to thick fog and killed everyone onboard. Praise the Lord the transfer of political power has been smooth and without any problems. The speaker from the lower chamber of Parliament will take over for now. Due to the Polish constitution they have 60 days to elect a new President. Regular elections were scheduled for this fall but due to the tragedy they are moving up the elections and start in about two weeks time. The Polish prime ministry has issued a week of mourning for the lost as well as at 12:00 (Sunday) Poland observed 2 minutes of silence. All Buses stopped, all church bells tolled and all emergency vehicles sirens blared. It was a sight to witness as the Polish people joined together to honor those who were lost.

Walking along the streets in any Polish city right now you will find the Polish flags draped with black ribbon along with candles and flowers surrounding government buildings. In Warsaw at the Presidential palace there has been a steady stream of people paying their respects for the late President and his wife.

Please join in praying for the country of Poland, the families affected, and the polish people as they grieve this lose.

Ten Fun facts...Poland

1. Poland is the 9th largest country in Europe.
2. In Poland the name day is considered more important than the birthday.
3. Amongst all the members of the European Union, the residents of Poland marry the youngest. 4. Poland boasts 17 Nobel prize winners, including four Peace Prizes and five in Literature.
5. 90% of Poles have completed at least secondary education.
6. Marie Curie (born Maria Sklodowska ; 1867-1934), the first and only Nobel laureate in two different sciences and first female professor at the Sorbonne University.
7. Polish born astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person to propose that the earth was not the center of the universe.
8. In Wroclaw there is an annual city-wide medieval festival, including jousts, horse archery, medieval dances and other activities.
9. Natural resources include: coal, sulfur, copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt, amber, arable land.

10. Pizza in Poland does not contain tomato sauce. The waiters bring sauce to the table in a pitcher, and you pour it on top. Sometimes the sauce is just ketchup.

...and we're running

I wanted to share one of my goals for 2010....

One of my roommates and I wanted to take up running and actually enjoy it. So we decided to start training for a 1/2 marathon. Our end goal, whats keeping us going during these cold Poland days is knowing that in May we will head to Ireland to run in the Bay Race. I am so excited to think that in May I will have the chance to go to Ireland and to run in a 1/2 marathon. It's going to be so cool to say that I have actually ran a 1/2 marathon!

God's people and your support

December is here and so is the LOTTIE MOON CHRISTMAS OFFERING. Every penny given to this offering is used to support the 5,600+ Southern Bapt. missy’s as they share the Gospel overseas. This year’s goal is $175 million and the theme is “Who’s Missing, Whose Mission?” It focuses on overcoming barriers to hearing and accepting the Gospel in various parts of the world and the mission that the Great Commission gives all Believers to “go and make disciples of all nations.” The shortfall in last year’s offering has resulted in large reductions to the number of new workers that will be sent to the field in 2010. Petition that Southern Baptists will give generously this year, so that those called can go and that the Good News will continue to be proclaimed to those who need to hear.

who said "black Friday" was only in the States?

Since here is Poland they don't celebrate "black Friday" the ladies on the team decided we would create our own black Friday shopping trip. We loaded up and left at 5:30am to head down to Warsaw for a day of shopping and big city life. Below are some pictures of the day.

* Stacey and I on the bus to Warsaw

* First stop: Starbucks!

*Polish Pottery shopping!








It was a very long but good day! Its a new team NEP tradition!....I hope:)

some kind of crazy

Hey everyone! The last month or so has been crazy busy! Between moving into a new apartment and going to Germany for a company conference along with new ministries that have started up here in Olsztyn I can easily say I have/had a lot on my plate. However, through it all the Lord has been amazing and I thank Him for all the new ministries going on here and getting to reconnect with both American and Polish friends. Below I attached a link so you can see some of the pictures that I took in Germany. I still have not posted the new apt. pictures but once I do I’ll make sure I post the link to that as well. Hope everyone is doing well.

Prayer request:
· The big coffee house launch this Thursday-please pray that people will come and that through coffee house we can meet new contacts and share the THRUTH with them.
· Alfa Groups- This is a Polish discipleship group that meets in our apartment. Pray that those coming to seek would find salvation is Christ alone
· All saints and all souls day (oct.31-nov.1)-This is the day that people will go and place candles and flowers on loved ones graves and pray for them in hopes to get them closer to heaven. Pray as we prayer walk the cemeteries that Christ light and hope would shine through us.


Pictures of my time in Germany:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058058&id=55500445&l=8d4be4a353

Polish Christian Rap

To end the week of GROM (evangelism training) in Olsztyn they brought Kola in to share the TRUTH through his awesome talent of rap. Below is a clip of Kola preforming in old town. He was able to stand on stage and promo for his concert later that night.

Update...

Things have settled down since my last month of travels. This next month’s big ministry event will be the 9th-21st when I work with the local believers as they learn and develop new discipleship strategies. Along with helping the Poles I am also very excited about revamping our existing coffee shop ministry. At the end of this month I will travel down to Krakow (south Poland) where I will meet up with another M who runs a coffee shop ministry to share ideas and ask questions. The hope for the new ministry is to meet weekly in a hotel conference room. Each week we will host a different theme (ex. Movie night, game night, bring in live artist/musicians). The draw of the place will be offering free coffee and English conversation along with the scheduled activity for that evening. All this of course is to build new relationships and share the gospel.

Prayer request:
*We can find a place to live in a new area of town which we hope to start ministry projects come fall: We are hoping to find a big enough place to allow all the Journeygirls to live together as well as have discipleship groups meet in our home.
*pray as we collaborate as a team to create new ministry projects: projects like bible distribution and starting a new church
*For our new revamped weekly coffee shop ministry: pray we continue working out logistics such as location, advertising and weekly themes
*GROM: for two weeks in August (9th-21st) Poles will be training Poles in street evangelism and discipleship techniques.

Praises:
*We have had over 15 people request a bible and a monthly discipleship program.
*weekly new people are coming to church
*The weather has been warm and sunny!

Revelations 1:9-11

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea." Revelations 1:9-11

*outside the cave where Paul wrote Revelations

While in Greece I had the chance to visit the spot where John wrote the book of Revelations. It was a neat experience getting to see the place where John would have walked. However, at the same time it was disheartening to hear others around me tell their children and friends the account of Paul as just another story or even fairytale. Praise God for giving us the Bible and the ONLY source of truth!

I was not allowed to take pictures inside the cave where Paul was sentenced and the spot where Revelations was written but I was able to get picture of outside the cave and around the island.

*art work outside the entryway of the cave

*view from the island of Patmos