Tag: Poland

Here we GO!

Hey everyone,

Well Alexis and I are almost packed, just a few things to put away before we head to the airport tomorrow morning! Thanks for all of your prayers, financial support, and simply being our friends! While we are in France and Poland we’ll be seeing many of our friends there, many whom we only see about once a year. Our hearts are to encourage them in their faith and walk with God. As Paul says in Romans 1:12 (NLT) – “I’m eager to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other.”

We are still in need of financial support, all of the bare minimum things are paid for, such as transportation and lodging, and food for most of the trip. However, due to a strong Euro and weaker US Dollar, and an unanticipated two night hotel stay in Lyon (due to overbooking at the camp’s location) our team is short by about 1,000 Euros (that’s $1,370.8996). We know God will provide for us, if it’s through people’s donations or through provisions in other ways we are confident that God’s will is at hand. Any amount would help us in offsetting this deficit for the rest of the team.

Thanks again!

To donate please send a check payable to “Mission Dispatch” and put “Mielonen” on the memo line. OR donate via PayPal on the right!

Mission Dispatch
RE: Travis & Alexis Mielonen
21911 76th Ave W., Suite 211
Edmonds, WA 98026

Thanks!




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In the Swiss mountains.

In spring of 2004 I had the opportunity to go to our denominational meeting for Europe, it just so happened to be in Emmeton (I think I butchered the spelling), Switzerland (near Luzerne). During that time I was privileged to hear from the outgoing European leadership, who were Americans living in Frankfurt, Germany. The Shaws had been living in Germany for 16 years, first as missionaries to plant churches in Germany, than as the head of Foursquare Europe.

While I was listening to how God had moved them into different seasons the Lord moved on my heart with such passion that I really can not explain how I felt, except that it involved tears for the better part of two hours. I also knew one thing for sure, God was calling me back to Poland; and more than just another year, he called me to an undetermined amount of time, the question, at that point, was, how long?

It has been a little over three years since that day, and I don’t regret a minute of it, and the desires, dreams, and visions only get stronger. With each trip back to Poland it becomes more apparent that it is the place for us to be. Hearing God’s voice in such an emotional way can be very confusing, yet he promised it, so we seek, we ask, and we knock. With each and every step of obedience, from school, to ministry, to focusing on our personal priorities and walks with Jesus, we know we are in the grace and will of our God.




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This one day in Poland…

I was driving to the next town, about 20 minutes from where I lived in Zakopane, Poland and listening to a CD that a friend had sent me, of this group that at the time I had never heard of called “Casting Crowns“. Then it happened, track three came on “Voice of truth“.

You see I was by my self that week, the missionaries I was helping were off in Switzerland for a sabbatical. I was on my way to pick up a couple of people for our Wednesday night meeting with young adults. Earlier in the day a number of people had pretty much cancled, and the two I was going to pick up weren’t even really sure they wanted to be there. I was very upset, and when that song came on it’s like a flood gate of emotions came out. I so badly wanted these friends of mine to understand the relationship that Jesus wants with them. I also was feeling rejection, unqualified, and not so motivated to be in a place that seemed so dray, so unforgiving, and uninteretsed in the ONE that I love without condition.

On that day I learned a valuable lesson, that Jesus is the voice of truth, I can not let the opinions, actions, and words of people sway the calling on my life. In the short year that I was there I went from being very excited and optimistic, to down right depressed. Yet God was quietly spoke the truth of who he was calling me to be. Although I ranted and raved and told God I hated the country, He created an even bigger passion than I thought I could ever have, and I love Poland, her people, her history, and everything about her in a way that only God could ever lay on a person’s heart. Alexis is right here with me in the same boat reading the same page, it’s a journey and a promise bigger than us, keeping us humble for his service.




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Momentum

Alexis and I are slowing gaining momentum in our missions plans. This coming March/February we’ll be going back to Poland, and only Poland, with possibly 8 others. This is great because it allows us to begin creating a network of people, to serve, and to serve with. As more people begin to see our vision for Poland the momentum will gain.

There is another couple who have been instrumental in the entire Poland process since day one, they have created a new initiative called “12×12” which is to have 12 new church plants by the year 2012 in Europe, specifically Germany, Poland, and Holland. They want to help build up leaders, train, equip, and release them to do ministry in their homelands… sounds familiar, it is, this is what Alexis and I have been saying all along about Poland. This couple is teaming up with us right here in our home church, along with their vision and skills, we can see that God is bringing all kinds of people together to build His church.

We will soon be fundraising year round, it’s huge, it’s way bigger than us. Best of all it is so exciting and we know and are confident in our direction, the details are coming into place, and the support base is building. Thanks for all your prayers and support, in both finances, and in wisdom.




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Politically stupid and harsh, yet true.

From the Warsaw Voice.
PM Kaczynski says Poland would have more power in EU if Germany had not reduced the population in WWII

Warsaw, Poland
June 22, 2007

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on public radio that Poland is essentially challenging the new EU voting mechanism on grounds that Poland would have a higher population if Germans had not killed so many Poles during WWII.”If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million,” Kaczynski said. “We are only demanding one thing, that we get back what was taken from us.” While the PM’s comments have a good deal of truth to them – namely that Poland would be a very different country if not for WWII – they are very undiplomatic. The EU is considering a voting system that takes into account each country’s population – it says a majority is formed by 55% of member states accounting for 65% of the EU’s population.Poland has proposed using the square roots of national populations to narrow the voting power gap between large states like Germany and smaller ones.




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My missions cloud of ideas

This is simply a list, a cloud of ideas that somehow I want to, eventually, incorporate into our Poland missions, both our short term, and our long term trips.

  • Genesis process – how to prevent addictive cycles (drugs, alcohol, sex, food, avoidance, and much, much, more) before they happen, and how to deal with current addictive issues.
  • Wounded by shame and healed by grace – Shifting from a shame based lifestyle/paradigm, to a grace filled one. Deals with child-hood issues that filter how we view the world, and most importantly our relationships with others.
  • Healing of the father wound – How the absence (either spiritually, mentally, physically, etc) of a father affects our relationship with our Heavenly father.
  • Boundaries – How to create healthy boundaries that actually promote amazing relationships, creating doors/gates and not walls. Not allowing the guilt trips of others to control you, nor allowing the guilt of your past to control you either.
  • FMO/FWO (For Men Only and For Women Only) purity groups. Not just sexual purity groups, not just accountability groups, not just “post-crisis” groups, these are groups that hold us to the high road. Groups that promote grace-filled truth telling, holding us to our priorities for the call that God has you in that particular season, weather that be a stay-at-home mom, or dad, an employee, a minister (which we all are), a disciple of Christ (which we all are), a friend, etc…

As I mentioned above, these are all a “cloud” of ideas, the actual time line for these things is not in stone, although elements of all of them will be used on all occasions. I will always put myself through these processes each time, as I know God has something new to reveal through them each time. How each thing will look, I have no clue, but I do know that these areas are trans-cultural, it’s kingdom culture based, it’s biblical, the delivery will certainly be different though.

Thoughts, comments?




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Persecution in Central Europe

This kind of stuff happens on smaller scales all the time throughout Central & Eastern Europe, and sometimes on larger scales but never reported. Poland, at least to this point, appears to be more tolerant, however, there is still resistance, mostly from the established church at this point. Legally it is very hard to register a protestant church in Poland, but many non-registered fellowships exist without any government intervention…

Persecution comes in many other forms though, such as propaganda from religious radio stations stating that protestant churches are running Bible camps to brain wash their children… We’ve been on the receiving end of that one… not too much of an affect though, praise God. When I lived in Poland my roommate lost his job at a college because he was simply accused of “converting” or “attempting to convert”, he simply was inviting people to our fellowship, but that was enough… poof he lost his job. Most people in Poland have begun looking other places, pray that they look at a relationship with Jesus.




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Poland creating/embracing her true identity & removing past wounds

I hate it when blogger or my computer (in this case) freak out after I’ve typed at finely worded post. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. So this is take two.

I’ve been following Polish politics for a little bit, and I’m glad to see that Poland’s government is on the road to creating a real identity for their country. Poland has been lorded over, split up, been the battle field for other’s conflicts, had her people stolen, killed, mocked, and then “freed” by a regime that controlled her for nearly 50 years. It’s good to see that in these two articles that her new leaders, while not perfect, and at times overly proud, do see the importance of creating an identity that reflects Poland and not her past occupants (she’ll always have that, but moving forward with a fresh identity that embraces both history, yet removes the things that can are monuments to something which does not exsist anymore).

The first article explains what the government is doing with Nazi and Soviet monuments, the second one talks about Russia’s some-what negative reaction.




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