Nie Roziem

"I don't understand", was the major theme of the conversation between the hair cutter and myself.  "How difficult could it be to get a trim with some layers and bangs?" I thought to myself as I approached the salon Rich had told me about a while back.  His experience had been very good: he was served espresso.  My experience was good, but in a much different way.  As i sat in the chair i prayed for divine intervention as the hair dresser took up her shears and began to snip away.  It all looked well and good, for the most part like what i would expect in Arizona.  And then it was dried...i am no hair cutter, but i knew there was something off.  Trying to explain that to her using only motions....not so easy.  I tried, and it got better, a little, but i still feel very lopsided.  :S  I calculated in my mind how i could possibly communicate to this woman that more needs to come off in order to balance this out.  Visions of plus signs, the word "mas" (more in Spanish), counting on my fingers came to mind....poot.  It was hopeless.  But!  If i can only find some sharp scissors, i think i have figured out what it is that is wrong and how to fix it.  So my first haircut as a missionary equals a very fun, interesting and faith building exercise.
Right before the exploring that led to my hasty decision to get a haircut without the benefit of a translator, a new friend named Klaudia was helping me to get my Tram card.  A funny thing....at home, most of my friends walk so slow it is almost painful for me to walk with them because i feel as if i am in slow motion, but here!  The people understand the value of a brisk pace!  : P  Hahaha, yes, it may be small and silly, but it is one more thing to add to my list of ways i can "fit in" here.
Tonight i will be going to Bible study.  Monday nights we are studying Jonah.  :)  I am certainly looking forward to it!  It will be a small study, but i hope and pray there can be some additions soon.
Made some chicken soup and rice for supper through this week.  i am pretty sure onions are no that strong in America!  They were so powerful!  Can't wait to taste it.  Don't have the typical spices i would use here but....i am sure it will be tasty!

It's Official

So here i am, sitting on my "new" bed that i will call my own for the next almost-five months.  :)  It was delivered to me yesterday--baby spiders and all!  LOL.  Yes, i  know, "But you are terrified of spiders!" you may say....well, yes, i was terrified of spiders.  But i have found that to be a most inconvenient fear; and i have decided henceforth that i will no longer be terrified of them.  So to all those, who for all those years, answered the cry for help to kill a spider, i am sorry i did not come to this realization more quickly.
Of course i am so grateful for a bed to sleep on!  And i am also stoked because i just got a phone today....unfortunately, now i forgot my SM card in Gniezno!!  Oi!  First no phone and a SM card, now no SM card but a great phone!  Ah well, Wednesday will come soon enough.
Grocery shopping was....FUN!  Trying to figure out the best deals here is nearly impossible for me without having a very good handle yet on the language or the metric system.  It takes three times the effort to understand which item is actually on sale and how much i can actually save and configure in my mind if the price is right because i need to compare it in dollars.  Maybe i should have paid more attention in math classes.  But i got some good stuff.  Fruits and things to make chicken soup, crackers and cream cheese and jam, "manna" and oatmeal, eggs and rice.  They drink a lot of tea here!  Which i love so much.  But not a lot of water, which i do not like so much.  I bought two huge 6 liter things of water today, that i hope will last me the next three days or so.
Today was my first real Sunday and i was introduced to a few new people and got to say hello and mingle with people i have already met.  :)  The message was in Ephesians and Brin showed a video that was very moving. I have seen it before, but a long time ago.  This is the link to the video.  It is really powerful for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfrbIleVf58
I was crying.  Yes, I, one of the few girls who doesn't cry in, "The Notebook", cried in church, because of this.  I think that the song that accompanies the skit makes it as moving as it is.  And it is a song i want to reflect my life, "You're all i want.  You're all i need.  You're everything, everything". 
After service, Brooke, Adalyne and I went to lunch before heading to do our grocery shopping and i had the most delicious soups!!!  Bardzo Smaczny!!  The Zurek soup, which is a "traditional Polish sour soup".  It has chunks of sausage in it--like Polish sausage--and it tastes kind of "pickly".  It is VERY delicious; i am sorry i can't describe more competely the flavor.  The second was a mushroom soup!  It's a good thing i am the one person in my family who likes mushrooms, because they are pretty big over here.  And it was so creamy and ....mushroomy.  LOL.  Yeah.... like i said, trying to explain the taste of foods new to me, with nothing similar to compare it to, not so easy.
So a very good day, and looking forward to the next week.  Dobranoc everyone!  (Goodnight!)

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Moving Day

Here it is, the morning of my big move!  I am all packed up and ready to move in with Karolina and two other Polish girls in Poznan.  :)  All ready i have more than i came with!  LOL.  I have a bag full of sheets and towels and a comforter, a bag with some food and teas, a hairdryer and curling iron--all given to me by former missionaries whose service is taking them to different places.  Praise the Lord for these things because they were all needed items and having them given saved me a lot of money!  I am working on a newsletter article right now, and will hopefully have that posted soon. 

Moving Out

Tomorrow begins the real adventure!  Moving into the apartment with three Polish girls--Christian!  Talking with Karolina (the girl i share a room with), we may share a futon the first few nights because my couch isn't there yet!  So close, so soon?  Haha, well, i did say i would imagine i was at Summer Camp for five months when it comes to the shower situation so....sharing a futon for a few nights should be a piece of cake!  Doing all of my laundry as we speak.  Looking forward to this next step; confident that i have the transportation in Poznan pretty well figured out.  And the Lord is providing some options for a phone it looks like!  Praises.  I can't wait for church this Sunday when i get to meet more of the people who come!  Last Sunday was an all day conference so it wasn't the whole body, but this Sunday I will get to meet everyone! One of the ladies i will be teaching English to will be helping me learn to cook some Polish food!  I am so excited for that!  Today was spent with Adalyne.  :)  We had a fun time together making jokes and watching "101 Dalmations", a movie i haven't seen in forever! Brooke went to take a missionary couple to the airport and Rich left this morning to raise support for Bread of Life in the States.  Bob and Sue gave me a hairdryer and curler and some pillows.  :)  I was able to talk to my family today which was very nice--got to hear my little sister babbling in the background.
This morning in my devo i was in Ephesians 3 verses 1-10.  And i know it isn't revolutionary really, but just the first three verses were really key for me. See, many people i have met seem to think that those who spread the Gospel were out for some kind of power over people through it.  That their motivation was manipulation, not salvation.  But these first three verses of Ephesians 3 communicate to me just the opposite.  Paul is a prisoner on their behalf--he is suffering for the message he has been made a steward of.  He isn't gaining some sort of power over them through his message, but is being stripped of his earthly power.  And he points out that the revelation was not given to him only but to the saints and the apostles as well.  So he is not trying to monopolize the "revelation" as many prophets of other religions do, when they claim they alone have heard the right words of God. 

Oh, the Places You'll Go

When Mom asked me a few days ago what I missed most about home....I had a bit of a hard time answering her.  I mean, this is a civilized country, I had only been gone less than a full week, and I am not all that "needy".  But, within the past few days i have definitely come to the conclusion that what I think will be the biggest thing for me here is....WATER!  The other day I paid 4 zl for about 5 oz of waterand then I only paid 7.50 zl for my entire dinner!!!  Sure my cup of water was treated like a celebrity, accompanied with a plate of lemon and lime slices, leaves of mint and even ice, but I almost cried knowing that in the states I usually drink about four glasses of iced water with lemon for FREE. So what do I miss?  Free water, lol. 
Today I went to Bible study and a staff meeting.  We are really studying Ephesians in depth.  I love it.  This morning while I was looking into Chapter Two, about how "formerly you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working int he sons of disobedience...lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and mind,and were by nature children of wrath" but God "made us alive together with Christ...and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus", God gave me the revelation and wisdom to understand something new from that that really impacts my thinking.  Before we come to know the Lord as our Savior--as we live for ourselves and our own ideas of what living is--we are really dead because we are not living a life that is filled with purpose and meaning that God created us for--to bring glory to Him and to be in fellowship with Him.  They do not have an eternal mindset, they are living to die.  They know that one day they will die and they try to milk all they can out of this life--they indulge their desires and lusts of the flesh because it is all they can think to do, believing that this physical life is what there is and there is not future inheritance with a risen Savior.  But we who believe, we are dying to live.  We realize that we were created and with a purpose higher than to fulfill our own desires and lusts.  We die daily to ourselves and the things that in our former nature as "children of wrath" we were in bondage to  but which we are freed from in Christ.  And we look towards the eternal inheritance we have with our Savior when our life on earth comes to an end. The world lives to die, we die to live.
An eternal perspective.  Remembering the extent to which Christ went to save us.  Remembering He lived so that we may live, and He died so that we may live.  Remembering that we "who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ"; we who have been brought near were once "by nature children of wrath, even as the rest".  And it is "not as a result of works"  but by faith that we are saved--the gift of God. We too were once living to die, I hope to help people too see how dead they are without Jesus, but give them hope in the life that He alone gives.
The last thing I would like to share is about my experience with the trains and trams and busses!  I really love "getting around" using public transit.  It is a lot of fun for me.  I hope it opens up some more doors for ministry.  Today on my train between Gniezno and Poznan, i was bale to talk a little with three different young ladies.  They didn't speak much English, but enough to have short conversations.  They seemed so surprised and quite delighted that I would take the time to talk to them.  I find the people of Poland to be a little bit.....standoffish at first.  Yet they are such a very aggressive, up-close, culture.  There are not people smiling, or much conversation as people walk, even in restaurants people somehow look so somber and are so quiet.  And yet, as I stood in line to get my ticket for the train, Rich clued me in, that if I am not right on top of the guy in front of me in line, I am not in line!  So here i was, thinking i was being so considerate by giving this person the space i would appreciate, when in reality, it is not something they value--in fact, it is devalued because it puts "me" at a disadvantage.  So I guess that pops my "space bubble".

Introducing Poland

Life as a missionary....it is still so crazy to hear people refer to me as a missionary.  It's like what I imagine it must be to wake up on a movie set and realize, you are there, you finally made your big break and you are a star.  Of course, there are some very major differences, even beyond that of fame fortune and glamour!  But still, I feel that same sense of excitement and surprise everytime I hear it. 
The past week the Lord has made ever more clear to me His reasonings for bringing me here.  Not only is there so much to do here in the country of Poland--where less than 1% of the population are considered born again believers and those who claim a Christianity based on a personal relationship with Christ are considered a cult--but there is so much to do even within my own mind and my own heart!
I am studying Ephesians here with a group of ladies Thursday mornings and we are also studying Ephesians at church Sunday mornings.  The study of chapter one confirmed for me that my prayers are in line with my Fathers will.  Paul writes to the Ephesians with thanksgiving of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love towards the saints.  He prays three things for them in verses 17-19: a spirit if wisdom and revelation that the Ephesians may know God more richly, the eyes of their hearts enlightened that they would know the hope to which God had called them, and that they would realize the immeasurable resource of power we have through Christ to fulfill all that He calls us to do.  These things that Paul was praying for the Ephesians, every one of them, are my prayers to the Lord for my time here.  That I would know Him more, that I would go where I can serve, and that I would rely on Him for what I need to serve where He directs me. 
The three are so vitally connected--that we know the God whom we serve, that we follow His direction in where we serve, and that we allow His power--the same power through which Christ conquered death (vs 20)--to be the power that equips for the "good works, which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10).
And how has the Lord been answering such prayers to get to know Him more, understand His call and fulfill the call?  My personal studies with the Lord have been characterized by revelation of who God is and who He  has been to me in my life personally.  He has been revealing to me more of His character and how He ministered on the earth.  Important things for me as I try to model Him.  He has directed me to several young ladies in various circumstances.  Some of them I will continue to get to know, and others, it was for only a limited time on a train ride.  And I continue to be constantly reminded of how much I need Him here, where I am the "outsider".  I need Him just to find my way around, I need Him to strike up conversations, I need Him to keep my eyes open when I feel like sleeping, I need Him to have an attitude of grace and patience when I feel more inclined to shake my head in annoyance. 
Reaching Poland with the Gospel is not what many may expect--it certainly isn't what I would have expected.  During the years of the Reformation with Luther, Poland was not reached.  Poland's traditions and rituals in the Catholic Church are much the same as they were before the Reformation of Luther--they pay (with money) for the forgiveness of sins, they pay (with money) to have their ancestors freed from Purgatory, they value relics, there is no Bible in the modern Polish language.  They truly are a people in the dark, under the oppression of the Father of Lies.  They are told we are a cult, we, being those who claim a relationship based faith in Christ and they are stigmatized and persecuted harshly when they leave the Catholic Church to become followers of Christ who claim a personal relationship with Him.  There is a saying that to be Polish is to love soccer, drink vodka and Hail Mary.  Hail Mary!  That is how deeply confused Poles are of what the importance of Christ truly is.  Please pray for those who are serving here in Poland.  The work is hard and takes dedication and TIME, so much time.  Pray for strength and encouragement and that the darkness and the lies that have infused the culture of this people would be lifted.