Month: October 2003

So there I was, I just finished teaching English, and I was about a quarter way into my 30 min trek back home. I was walking through the center of Zakopane, when I was struck. Yes I was struck, by a certain gold/yellowish glow of a building. I entered the doors of said glowing building. Walked up to the counter, asked in Polish, if the she could speak English, she said ?enough?, I said ?Good?. I ordered a chicken sandwich, a small fry, and a small coke which I didn?t want, but it was to hard to explain that I wanted a strawberry milkshake instead of the coke, so I just took both. Yes, the golden arches tempted me, and I gave into the temptation. But it was SOOO good! I tell you, I have never had Coke that tasted so good in my life! I actually sipped on it to savor the flavor, and the McChicken was delicious, and actually had lettuce on it! The strawberry milkshake was just thick enough that I didn?t suck my lungs inside out, and the fries were done just right, and went great with the tarter sauce I discovered earlier in the month. Ah? the small things? it?s like home, sort of.

About an hour ago, I hung up the phone with Alexis. I never thought I would be apart of a romance story. I have to admit I?m on cloud nine, and I know there are hard times ahead, I know we will argue, I know at times we will not feel ?in love? but I don?t believe love to be just a feeling, it?s an action. Put love into action and the feelings come afterwards.

My prayer for us is this:

I will build for all time

A house of memories

Just for you and I

There you’ll find

Rooms inside

Filled with laughter, joy

And your daddy’s pride

Around the table

And down the hall

We’ll chase each other

Till the laughter makes us fall

In the evening

We’ll lay our heads down

And thank God for these memories

[Ten Shekel Shirt: Much: House of Memories]

I give all credit and praise to God for our romance; it would not be possible with out him. Only with God can a marriage be complete, completely full of love ? action packed love. You see, I do not worship Alexis, and she does not worship me, we worship our creator and savior. We worship him with our lives because he unconditionally loves us, loves us with everything he has.

I have no problem being a hopeless romantic, God created romance, God wants us to be in intimate relationships with others, and he wants us to love as he does. A man is joined to his wife, to become one, this signifies how God?s character is, and he is both female and male. When we are married we are joined together in a unity which, if God is truly the center of this new life, will not break apart. Times will be rough; sometimes a couple will not feel as one, sometimes they will even not ?feel? the love. But in God?s word love is always followed by action, Jesus always moved with compassion for the people. Love is hard work, which is why God came to be human, to feel our temptations, to know our struggles and to have compassion for us, because he loves us.

Just reading the news today I think I have a glimpse of the agony God goes through every moment of every day. The horrible fires in California, starving people in Africa, horrible abuse here in Poland, the sexual abuse in Asia, the hopeless people all around the world. So many people, so much devastation, my heart is aching for all of those souls. I am at a lost of words, how can I help? Our world is definitely enemy-occupied territory. What can we do? Where can we go?

I am ashamed that we have mega-churches in the states, I believe that when a church gets too large we lose the real fellowship, plus it can also mean people are going just to “look good”, get a ?happy? feeling; a church should be a place to get real authentic fellowship, training, and a place to prepare us to go out to the rest of the world. A church should not be a place to feel happy or to make us look good; those things should only be the result of us doing work for God; besides if you do work for God you will be truly filled, and not need the baby?s milk. Church is not the place to make our own little Christian cliques, or be separated from the world. We should not be as the world, but we should be salt to the world, that means we should be in the world, affecting it. Don?t get me wrong, I don?t think everyone is called to do a mission in a foreign nation, but I do believe we all should actively make a conscience effort to intercede on the injustices of our world, in a Godly manner. That means we need to actually be in deep relationships with people, we actually need to open up to people tell them our deepest fears, open up and be passionate!

This is just one of the many clock towers in Bern, the capitol city of Switzerland, it snowed the day we came in. Did you know that Switzerland has no president or prime minister; they have a group of seven people which act as the executive branch of their government.

Here we are in front another of the clock towers. From left to right ? Annia (our children?s pastor), Denise (one of the missionaries from Seattle), Paulina (a Polish girl from our church, doing an internship in one of the Swiss foursquare churches), and me.

Just an upwards view at a typical Swiss (and most of western Europe) courtyard and style.

A view from one of the bridges crossing the river which goes through the city (I forget the name of the river), I loved the feel and look of the Swiss cities.

A church clock tower and residences in the ?old town? of Bern.

More of the ?old town?, the house we stayed in was about 230 years old, it was huge, and very beautiful, sorry I didn?t get any pictures of it.

One of the ?Bern? Bears, the city was named after the first animal the founder killed in the area, which was a Bear; ?Bern? is bear in Swiss-German.

A typical street view in the city of Bern, I can?t tell you enough how much I enjoyed Switzerland, I definitely want to visit again.

A statue in the city hall of ?Basel? the second largest city in Switzerland, of about 480k people. Another very nice city, we were here just to visit some of the youth pastors in a Foursquare church there.

The ?Poland? team standing in front of the Basel city hall. From left to right ? Carol (the other Seattle missionary), Annia, Me, and Denise.

I guess the speed setting on my camera was wrong, and so this picture came out kinda funky, but I like it. The lady in black is Sylvia, she is one of the Swiss youth pastors in the Basel Foursquare church.

There was a city-wide carnival happening in Basel the day we visited (which was the same day we left Switzerland, the Ferris Wheel you see is one of the largest in the world, it is 160 feet high at its highest point. It is placed at the highest point in the city, so we took a ride, and the views were great?

Here is one of the pictures from the top of the city.

A church which was in the same square as the Ferris wheel.

Another picture from the Ferris wheel.

A view across the ?old town? of Basel from the Ferris wheel.

A view looking down.

A picture overlooking the city and the ?Rhine? river.

Another view down.

This is kind of a cool picture, in our workshop for Youth leaders back in Bern, for the conference, Denise talked about taming the wild horse in youth, and focusing that energy into a positive life changing energy, just as a horse trainer uses a choral to train the horse, the church should be an area for learning, teaching, and training for teenagers. Plus the trainer makes a relationship with the horse, just as we should invest the time and care as a horse trainer does for the youth. So, the picture is of a ?wild horse? balloon which escaped the hands of some child, to meet heaven.

A picture on one of the ferries across the Rhine river. Left to right ? Carol, Sylvia, and Prisca from the Basel foursquare church.

A picture from the ferry, I tweaked it because it didn?t turn out very good, so I made it look artistic.

A better picture of the same view.

From the ferry looking up at the Ferris wheel.

Sylvia and Prisca with the Ferris wheel in the background from the ferry.

A very cool water fountain in down-town Basel, I antiqued it, since it was too dark otherwise.

This is about 12 hours into our trip home, a view of the Tatr mountains in Slovakia.

There it is a glimpse of Switzerland! It was truly an amazing time, I truly thank God for the believers in Switzerland, they are so supporting? and I hate to say, but even more so than our connections in the States? (as for Carol and Denise that is, my connections still have time to prove themselves? j/k) The Swiss believers are incredibly dedicated to helping us plant our church, and providing us the ability to make relationships for our young people. I truly feel like there is a family here amongst the believers, even though they are separated by 15 hours (by car)? if that can happen here, it can happen anywhere, even around the world. Thank you for your prayers, support, and simply maintaining the communication with me.

Sorry not to mention to everyone that I was going to be in Switzerland the past couple of days. It?s been really busy around here. Anyway, GOD is so good. Switzerland was an amazing time, lots of fellowship, good things to hear, great worship (even though it was in German), and simply a great time of being spiritually fed. The reason we went to Switzerland was to join in on the Foursquare Switzerland National Conference, which was in Bern, the capitol city of Switzerland. I?ll post pictures as soon as I recover from the ?driving lag?, it took us about 15 hours to drive.. First from Zakopane to Bern and back?. We drove straight through, first we went south from Zakopane Poland, to Bratislava Slovakia, then we headed west in Vienna Austria, then we cut through the southeast corner of Germany in Innsbruck, went through the southern portion of Austria and the Austrian Alps, which at one point we drove through a 14 KM tunnel, then we crossed into Switzerland and down southwest to Bern. Switzerland is a beautiful country, I felt very at home, especially since I was able to go to Starbucks, TWICE, while I was there, and I have a free drink waiting for me the next time (they forget about my drink, and so they gave me a free drink, but only in Switzerland, oh darn?). Well, like I said I?m recovering, so I?ll write more, and post pictures when I?m up to it.

Today it down poured on my way to the English school. When I left it was okay, it looked like the rain had just stopped, but nope, it was just beginning. By the time I was 5 min into my walk, it was pouring, and I didn?t have an umbrella, because I couldn?t find it, and I wasn?t wearing my rain jacket because I was running late and had already put on to other jackets to stay warm. By the time I made it to the school I was drenched, water was dripping down my face into my eyes, my hair was completely soaked, but thankfully the Banana Republic jacket I bought just before I left worked very well at keeping me dry. The teaching time was okay, I had a little bit of trouble motivating the students to talk, or read, they don?t volunteer for anything, and I hate choosing someone to read. But I think things are getting better and they are realizing that I don?t think of them any less, just because they are students (which is something pretty normal in Poland and a lot of Europe, not just Eastern Europe either).

Then on my way back home (which is about a 30 min walk) the rain had thankfully stopped, but I was bothered by two drunk beggars, one of which seemed to get quite upset that I didn?t speak Polish, and tried to follow me, but I just walked faster. When I got home I was freezing, but at least the heat has been on, at who knows what cost to us, because we still don?t have coal so we are still using the electric furnace, which everyone says is going to cost us an arm and leg, but its not up to me to get the coal thing going, since I sorta don?t speak the language. So, I wasn?t in the best of moods, and I decided I wanted to eat something, like a meal. But I don?t want to upset Chris by eating something which is designated ?dinner?, he?s been a little stressed lately and doesn?t like things to be out of ?wack?, such as food that he thought was there, being gone. So, I decided I?ll just have some toast and whatever else I can find. Well I tried to cut myself a few slices, and it is the most frustrating thing when your hungry and you just can?t cut bread into slices with out them breaking apart into pieces which won?t go into a toaster. So I just took the pieces and put jam on them, I was very frustrated. So, now I?m making French fries, but because we don?t have a microwave, I?m using the oven, which is okay, but it takes a lot longer.

Basically I?m complaining, some things are beginning to get on my nerves. The way people think around here is so confusing to me. For instance, we are trying to reserve a hotel for this pastor?s retreat we are hosting? well the hotel receptionist on the first day didn?t seem to have any problem? then on the second day, the day we are suppose to make our deposit, another receptionist says, well I don?t know if this is going to work because we are painting some of the rooms. Then the receptionist looks at us, as if we are suppose to solve the problem. We tell them, well, if it isn?t going to work then just tell us? we are thinking ?Do they want our business or not??? The receptionist looks at us baffled, and says ?I?ll need to call them and see if they can move your rooms around?? why? We don?t know. So we took the papers, didn?t make the deposit, and decided we?ll talk to the management ourselves. This is pretty typical business thinking? basically not being able to make a business decision, or accommodate the customer. Anyway, all of this is stretching me, my patience for one, I haven?t lost it, but surely it’s being used.

So now, i’m enjoying my french fries and tarter sauce.

I don?t know how Carol and Denise do it, what do I mean by ?do it?? Well, get enough fellowship, worship, and good Christian ?food?. I?m feeling pretty low these days, some days are better than others, some moments are better than others, but overall, its just not what I?m use to. Which, that is exactly why I?m here, what I get here, is 100 times more than what other Christians in other parts of the world get, and what I got in Seattle was 1000 times more than what I get here? And you know what?s crazy? Seattle is one of the most ?unchurched? cities in the USA, and by unchurched all that means is people who don?t attend any kind of ?worship? or ?religious? service, it?s doesn?t mean just ?Christian?. But how to make it enough? How do I keep myself from going crazy with starvation? I?m not quite sure, but I have a good feeling God is going to show me. The hardest things for me are two of the most important things to me. One is worship, around here it is very hard for me to worship, one because it isn?t in English, and two, it just isn?t full of the same emotion I am use to, I want to express my love and adoration to God in ways which the environment just isn?t allowing. Some of it is me, being conservative around people I can?t communicate with, and the other part of it is, the language barrier, and songs I?m not use to. Worship just isn?t music though, thankfully. It is so much more, it?s my entire lifestyle, and musical worship is only 25% of the entire ?worship? deal, and the other 75% I?m doing pretty well. The second thing I?m dealing with is a good message which speaks to my heart, the messages we share with others, have been helpful in reassuring me of who I am in Christ, but they are not helping me to grow in Christ. I?m very excited for me to receive some tapes from Mill Creek, that will be a huge blessing, hopefully they come before I go to Switzerland on Wednesday. Anyway, those are my current struggles.

But I do have some triumphs, they are not as clean cut as the struggles, but I?m sure in a few weeks, I?ll be able to clearly see them. I am beginning to clearly see the direction God is giving us, which is to personally make meaningful relationships with the people here. With these relationships, we can open their hearts to God, and to letting Jesus not only be there Savior, but also their Lord, and let him take their hardships. The young adults group is in a desperate need of understanding that Jesus will make them a new person, if they let him. They must let go of the things in their lives which keep them bound to sin, or to unhealthy feelings about themselves.

Please pray for the young men in our group, currently there are only three on a regular occasion, me, Chris (my awesome roommate), and Piotrek (not the one I asked for prayer earlier), and each of us are in a healthy growing relationship with God. Men play an important role in the Polish society, and if we can disciple some good strong Godly men, we can certainly help make a difference, especially when it comes to this strongly male dominated culture. Please pray that each of us (everyone here) are fed appropriately, can worship God freely in their own personal way, and is able to truly disciple others into a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. Thanks!

Imagine this: A kind of time lapse video, with dramatic music, sometimes fast, other times slow, it?s in color, but its not ?real? coloring, it?s like someone did a water color, then oil painted, its colored by humans in some way.

The video starts out overlooking a huge prairie, with mountains on all sides of it, the grass is about knee high, and is lightly blowing in the breeze. There is a guy just walking through the grass, enjoying nature. From a distance comes the sound of drums, many of them, all drumming in sync. The drumming is getting closer, soon the sound of many people marching in sync is heard. He sees them aproaching, they are all dressed in black uniforms, their faces are covered, and not an inch of skin is showing. They move at a steady pace, not slowing, and not quickening.

He soon realizes it is an army. He starts to quickly walk the other direction, then out of the edge of the forest; more appear, this time on horse back. The army is surrounding him, but they are only moving at a walking pace. The guy starts to walk faster to an opening; the army begins to move faster, he moves faster, they move faster. Soon he is at a full run, he?s trying to get away, but he has no help. The army soon surrounds him, they are silent except for the sounds of their breathing, which is heavy and deep. The leader approaches the young man. He motions to him to step closer, with seemingly no way out, he does as instructed. He feels helpless, the leader tempts the man into going with them, where he can experience all kinds of great pleasures. The man knows these pleasures will never fully satisfy him. He remembers something his father once told him ?ask in my name what you need, and you will receive?. So, the young man calls out his fathers name, and asks for him to rescue him. Soon a bright light comes from the heavens, trumpets are heard, and thousands of men on white horses wearing unimaginably white uniforms race out of the heavens, in full armor, prepared for war. The black army prepares for battle.

The leader drags the man off towards the mountains. The leader of the white army, the man?s father, suddenly appears in front of their path. The young man is full of joy, but his father gives tells him to make the choice, who to go with. His body tells him to go for the pleasures, his heart wants to be with his father. The father tells the man to be strong. The man fails, he is weak, he gives in to the temptations of his body, and evil desires to have pleasure now. His father sadly, lets the leader take him away to the mountains.

From the mountains, the man falls down in despair, screams out to his father ?Come rescue me, for I have forsaken you?. The white army, comes gloriously into the mountain depths. The father approaches his son and says ?are you going to fight for me now?? the son says ?Yes Father, honor and glory to you forever?, ?Then join my army and fight?. The son becomes a solider for his own father, he fights the black army side by side of all the others of the kingdom of his father. He cries out to his father ?The cry of my heart is for all the nations to be with you, for you are good, you are compassionate, you are glorious?. From that day forward, the young man fought for the kingdom of his father, distant shores and the islands saw the light as it rose on his father?s kingdom.

Take a little tour of my site, please. I have all kinds of useful information on my sidebar… Visit some of the blogs I read under “departures”, or jot down my contact information, maybe make a donation if you feel lead to. Anything, I?m just letting ya’ll know its there.

In other news, Alexis called me today! If you want to, you can too, take note of the phone number on the sidebar, and the times.

Prayer requests:

Pray for our ministry here to always keep in mind the effect and love we must make on others, sometimes we can get caught up in the culture issues, and forget why we are here.

Also, pray for a guy named “Piotrek” or “Peter” he isn’t a Jesus freak, yet, but he’s asking all kinds of questions, and coming to our meetings, he said to us “I’m looking for God”, and he’s talked to the Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, etc., and he really feels welcomed and encouraged in our group, and he loves that we allow him to ask questions, and really see who God’s character is. He’s a intellectual, he has had a hard family life, and is having a hard time with understanding that Money and Success is not what Christianity is all about, he sees America as “Christian” and therefore our “riches” are because we are “Christian” and God is blessing is… which in some cases is true, but he also knows that the USA is dishonest in a lot of its actions, and that people are very greedy sometimes, and why don’t Americans take care of the rest of the world… we are Christian, so this is what we should do… He doesn’t quite understand that Americans are not all Christian… and the majority are not.

We truly want to see God’s kingdom expanded, and his blessing on the people of Poland. We want these people to be free of the hurts of their pasts, and the bitterness which comes from being a “second world nation”, they are proud people, but only by their own will, which is makes them stubborn. This is very general though, and many of them are also, open, and really looking outside of their culture. So thanks, and i’ll have more to come later this week.

God Bless!

This was taken only five min. ago! And now we have big flakes, and lots of them. But the batteries in my camera have died… and the charger unit is fried… so i’ll have to go buy new batteries.