We're In Poland!

Hi everyone. We are so sorry that our updates have been few and far between. We are currently in Poland and have been for the past 3 weeks. There is so much to catch up on, but I am limited on time because I am using internet on a public computer. I will try to give you a snapshot of what has been happening.

We got into Poland 3 Sundays ago. We are living in a small church that we have also been serving with. We are so blessed because we have a kitchen with a fridge, stove, sink, and tons of dishes to use. We have 2 toilets and even shower. Sean and I even have our own room! We have a male student that sleeps literally right outside our door, and the female students and our leader Jodi sleep in the sanctuary. The lack of privacy has been difficult and living in small quarters with 7 other people is difficult, but we are appreciative for what we have.

Our first day, we had to go grocery shopping and experienced culture shock right off the bat! Polish is so different than other languages I have heard. It took us a while to get our shopping done and it was so hard to order food that first day, but we did it! We were even able to figure out the bus system enough to make it home. It has only been 3 weeks since that first experience and we are already holding small conversations with the locals. It's amazing how quickly you can adapt when you are immersed in a new culture!

So far, we have been involved in the following ministries: we teach English to adults, we've been to a prison, we've been to 2 nursing homes, we lead worship at the church we are staying at, we help with a YWAM program that works with local youth called King's Kids, we've worked with a single mom's home, and we have served the homeless. We even got to lead a church service in a church in Katovice. We did a drama, we lead worship, we gave testimonies, and Sean got to preach! (We're learning what it is like to work with an interpretter!) It was amazing. Our message was on letting Jesus and Jesus alone be the one that guides you to salvation. Too many times people say it is Jesus and...generosity, good works, going to church, etc. The holy Spirit was working through us because we asked if we could pray for the congregation (about 30-40 people) and several people came forward. Many were even in tears. And the cool thing was that we had a few people that prayed with an interpretter, but most everyone else we prayed for had no idea what we were saying and they still showed how appreciative they were to have been prayed for. We had lots of hugs and even a few kisses from people!

While here, we have also had a chance to visit Auschwitz. It was very surreal walking through a concentration camp. The strange thing is that we were walking through a place responsible for executing around 1.5 million people and you would never know it had carried so much death. The place almost looks like a school or factory or something. It was a lot to take in as they had pictures up everywhere, showing the history of events. I had no idea of the animosity that Germany once felt towards not only the Jewish people, but Poland as a whole country. There goal was to literally remove the identity of the Polish people by taking away their dignity and there country. When we get a chance, we will post pictures.

We also had a chance today to see Spiderman 3. We felt "normal" being able to watch a film. I think we have both had reality kick in that we are very far from home in a culture that we are not familiar with, with a language that is very hard to understand. We know God has us here and we see how he is using us, but that doesn't mean that the feelings of being homesick don't exist. We've been missing our own home, our pets, our families, our friends, our church, our favorite restaurants, our privacy, our church...please keep this in prayer. We know it is okay to have these feelings, but we also understand the need for daily surrender. It can be easy to give in to negativity when things are uncomfortable and we want to choose to walk with Christ daily. We also understand that we are here fighting a spiritual battle as we serve the people of Poland, and this nation has a lot of depression that lingers (both from WW2 and from Communism which finally ended in the 80's). It also fights a lot of complacency as many people struggle with alcohol. This nation has a HUGE unemployment rate. But one thing about this culture that is so beautiful is there sense of servitude and giving. Because they had nothing but each other for so long while under communism rule, they value people. They listen intently, they want to know about who you are, they want you to feel welcome and serve you at every opportunity. There is a gentleman that comes to church who has recently overcome an addiction to alcohol (since Dec 06). He is homeless and lives at a shelter, but not only does he come to church, he faithfully serves doing maintenance around the place and he refuses to be paid. One morning, he even bought our team a cheesecake to share. How humbling is that!? A man with nothing still willing to give what he can. And that is what God wants from each of us...to offer what we have. And that is what has us here in Poland. We are offering God our lives of service to him.

I hope that this update allows you a glimpse at what has been going on in our lives recently. Hopefully the next time we write, we'll be able to be more detailed on our God stories. Just pressed for time.

Thank you so very much for making it possible for us to be here. Thank you for remembering us even though we are not in your weekly routines. Thank you for praying for us. The joy of the Lord is our strength! We miss you all so much and we love you dearly!

Cheers!
Sarah and Sean