Smashing Good Time

So last night was pretty much awesome.  Normally, Tuesday nights are dedicated to FoF college group, but since it had been cancelled, i was able to get together with some girls i have begun to get to know!  we were thinking to go out to dinner, but i am so glad we decided instead to meet at Ana's flat and each prepare a dish for a meal!  We had some AWESOME food and great fun together cooking and chatting.  Ana prepared some tomato soup--from scratch--and it was SO delicious!  I made some potatoes--with the spices i was blessed with from Denise and my Grama!  The girls LOVED them!  they really liked the herbs and spices i used!  So thanks Grammie and Denise for being part of blessing these friends of mine.  :)
When i told them about biscuits and gravy for breakfast, they all looked at me like i was crazy! "Isn't that ....strange?  You don't literally mean, biscuits and gravy do you?  And you eat it for breakfast???"  LOL.  it was pretty funny!  We were talking a lot about the differences between our cultures: I represented the USA, Ana is from Germany, Amelia is from Great Britain and Judit is from Austria.  :)  It was a lovely bunch let me tell you!  And the Lord really blessed my time with them. 
I was also able to talk to a guy who shares the same flat as Ana--Tomas.  He is from Belgium and also lived in France for several years.  When he learned of my reason for coming to Poland and what i was doing there, we got into a discussion about God.  He told me that he believed in "god" but that this god was unknowable.  "Why would God make himself unknown if he were God?" i asked curiously.  To which he frowned for a moment in thought too.  "Well", he said, "maybe not that he can't be known, but that because of all the things in society we are unable to move forward in knowing him."  Only now can i see the dozens of responses i could have had in order to move this discussion in a truly thought provoking direction that would have taken us deeper.  But in the moment, i failed to think of such responses.  but! i do know that Ana was listening in on these conversations i was having with Tomas and began asking me questions of her own once Tomas had left.  "I have never heard anyone talk about religion the way you do" she said.  Which made me smile, because although i feel as if i failed in some measure, i know that God was using me even in that lack.  :)  Praise God.
With Tomas, if i ever see him again, which i hope i do!  i hope that i can ask him, what kind of God it would be who couldn't make himself known in spite of the conditions of man and that he does speak rightly of a human condition that keeps us from knowing him fully, and that is our very own nature and the blinders that our own sinful pride creates.  Anyone have some good verses to go along with those principles?  I am pretty sure those lines of thinking are Biblical....but if someone sees a misperception, please let me know!
As all of us girls sat down to our meal, we were about to dig in, when i felt the Spirit urging me to offer to pray for our food. Kind of weird...but i followed His lead!  "Would you gals mind if i prayed for our food?"  Without hesitation they all agreed.  :)  I was so blessed to be able to pray with them.  My thinking is, if i am sowing God's Words into their lives--not just my own by sharing verses with them or directing them to read certain scriptures--and if i am leading them in things or actions that are Spirit led and Spirit filled--like worship or prayer or coming to church--that investment is not going to come back without interest.  Because i know that God wants their hearts for Himself and cares for them even more than i do!
So after our wonderful dinner and delectable dessert, Judit, Amelia and i walked to catch the tram....well, we waited....and waited.....and waited some more.  "Until FINALLY, the night bus came.  "Heaven does not look like blue skies and white clouds, it looks like the bright headlights of a bus coming out of the darkness!" i said as we all sighed with relief and then laughed at the sight of the bus.  I  seriously felt like my toes were going to break at the joints when i took steps, lol.  Not an experience i want to relive, but i know i can expect to! 
Tuesday i got to have my first day with my second class of students in the public school!  They were so enthusiastic and FULL of questions!  I survived without a computer, but i was bummed, because i would have loved to show my movie clip from "The King and I" when Deborah Kerr sings "Getting To Know You", which i have decided is my teaching philosophy and will be a part of my future classroom introductions.  :)  After the class, Kasia asked me how i would feel about starting some kind of "theater club" for the students after hearing about my love for theater!  I was so thrilled, but she told me to give it some thought, because she knows i am already very busy.  So i will have to think over that and pray, because i know i do not want to begin something i cannot finish or put my best effort into. 
This morning i met two new students and had my first lesson with each of them.  :)  Olga and Grzegorz.  Olga is a wonderful lady who is going through a rough time with a divorce, so i hope that i can be an encouragement and light to her.  Grzegorz is a younger guy who has gone through the New Life Center program and yesterday i asked him about things he enjoys and he mentioned motorcycles....so being the amazing teacher i am (*wink*) i prepared a lesson that used motorcycles as the topic for our conversation.  Motorcycles are something he knows about and interests him, so that combination gives him an initial interest in learning the comparative English terms and also a sense of confidence, since he is telling me about something he knows a lot about.  We looked over pictures and read over for sale ads, and in the end, we did a "role play" where i was interested in a bike he was selling and he as answering all my questions about the bike.  :)  It was A LOT of fun.  I may have had more fun than he was having!  And i learned some Polish vocabulary along the way!  YAAAAY!  That always makes me happy. 
I am thanking the Lord for all these blessings in the past few days becuase this morning, my mom tried to call me a few times nad the phone kept cutting out.  The only thing i knew was her back was hurting real bad and she needed prayer.  i literally fell to my knees in prayer because i miss my mom and she has told me of htis pain before.  And being htis far away, when i know she must really be hurting to call me and ask for prayer, is very hard....so right away i knew i needed to take it to the Lord.  I have just memorized Philippians 4:6-7 and right away tat verse gave me peace, just as it promises.  :)  Praise the Lord.  I guess my mom was so busy worrying about me and i was so busy trying to keep her from worrying about me, i didn't really realize that i would also have to worry about them while i was away.  I am not afraid for myself--something bad happening to me--but i have been increasingly anxious about what could happen to my family while i am away.  That's why this verse is so wonderful a promise for me.  :)