Random Thoughts...

This is just a random picture of one of my favorite scenes here in Poland...after dinner coffee and conversation with Amber and Patsy. Amber and I have really enjoyed learning to cook here in Poland and have enjoyed having Patsy over frequently to sample our creations (pray for Patsy!). I, of course, love eating the food, but the best part as far as I'm concerned is sitting around after the meal, drinking coffee (and maybe eating a little chocolate) and visiting. I've loved getting to know these two women and am so thankful that God has put them in my life. They are truly a blessing and I am grateful that God knows our needs and has plans to meet these needs before we even encounter them. It's so easy for me to fret and worry about the future, but that's when I need to remember God's promise:

"Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." Matthew 6:32-33

The more I get to know Amber and Patsy, the more I see God's wisdom and sovereignty in putting us all here together and it encourages me to trust that God is in control and has perfect plans for my future.

"The Lord says, 'I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you' " Psalm 32:8

Warsaw Pictures

This is our fearless "Magellan" getting directions to TGIFridays from Sean. Notice that I was so clearly not involved in the direction process that I was free to snap pictures. I would have been the village idiot who tagged along with Lewis & Clark and said "what are we doing next guys? Where are we?"

Above: New purses!!!
Left: needs no explanation!











OK. This was the sign for the women's restroom in the Warsaw metro station. Ummm...who really wants to look at this sign and think "yeah, that looks like me, it must be the women's room!"

Amber and Patsy and I (that's my hand) shared some kind of turtle sundae thing at Friday's. Yum!

An American in Warsaw

We survived our first ever solo trip to the big city! Amber, Patsy, and I braved public transportation and went to Warsaw together this past weekend. This summer, there will be lots of volunteer teams coming to Olsztyn from the States, and we'll be responsible for picking them up in Warsaw and getting them back, so we needed to go try it out on our own this weekend! It was a great time to get away for a while and enjoy some "American culture". I know, it sounds funny in Warsaw, but I'll explain.
So, we left early Friday morning and caught the train from Olsztyn to Warsaw. It was about a 4 hour trip and was really neat to see the Polish countryside as we travelled. What was NOT cool was the woman next to me whose TWO cell phones continually beeped and buzzed and rang. I promise you I was within an inch of grabbing BOTH phones and chucking them out the window.
We safely arrived in Warsaw and emerged from the underground train station to...utter chaos. We decided that the best plan would be to head over to a huge mall nearby and get some lunch before we headed to where we'd be staying. Simple plan, right? Too bad we couldn't figure out how to get across the street! Amber (who has earned the affectionate nickname of Magellan, although being from Missouri she prefers Lewis & Clark) had all kinds of maps and bus lines and plans for how to get to the important places we needed...what we did not have was a way to cross the street! Needless to say, we found a way and got some lunch (Subway!!!), and found our way to our room. After a cup of coffee, we headed back out to see some sights in Warsaw, then found our way to TGIFridays! (after a stop over at a little Indian shop where Amber and I bought the most beautiful purses)
Saturday was another busy day, including meeting a family at the airport (they've lived in Poland for almost 2 years, but will be moving to Olsztyn this weekend!), hanging out with our friend Joe, going to a huge mall, riding all over Warsaw in trams, busses, metros, and a Fiat, going to the Harley shop (I would NOT make something like that up!), and eating dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe. It's so funny, but when you're living in a foreign country, anything American is suddenly your favorite and feels so familiar. I didn't spend a lot of time at Harley shops in the states, but going to this one felt like home.
Sunday, Amber and Patsy and I had church together, then headed out one final time to yet another mall where we did a little other shopping and ate some lunch. Then we headed to the Warsaw train station, caught our train and headed home.
It was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to going back again this summer!

The Purse or the Toilet Paper????

This is why I love Europe. To my knowledge, in the States we don't have packages of toilet paper with handles for convenient carrying. What a great idea! Clearly, this is marketed for the pedestrian shopper, which includes us!

The only question is: which to carry for an afternoon out? The purse or the toilet paper? Hmmmm...

(and mom, you will notice that this is a new purse...it was the equivalent of $3! What a deal!)

Friday afternoon we went out to Nowe Kawkowo to do an after school program for the kids there. It was a great time! There were about 12 kids (a lot of the kids left after school...it was a beautiful day, can you blame them? Meanwhile...the teachers were having a meeting at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon. How do you think that would fly in the States???) and we had a blast. After we were finished, I got to run around with some of the girls and they showed me their classrooms and their school work. There is a precious girl named Kasia who speaks good English and translated for me. Please pray for her. She's 13 and has been to the summer camp the church has done for the past few summers and is the sweetest thing! Please pray that she'd put her trust in Christ and find her real life in Him.

It was a great time with the kids and the best part for me was a bear hug from a little first grader as we were leaving! I don't know if there's anything better than that.

Easter and Not-So-Wet-Monday

I had to quickly get another post on here to replace the ginormous picture of just me. I just couldn't take it any more!

So, in its place, here are some pictures of Easter and the notorious "Wet Monday", which in fact turned out to be not so very exciting after all. Perhaps because we woke up to snow on the ground Monday morning, it deterred the "Wet Monday" festivities. Whatever the cause, we didn't get to see any action, which was kind of disappointing. I was picturing a song and dance scene from a musical or something, but instead we got this. Notice that there is NO ONE out walking, which is very unusual for Poland. That's how hugely anticlimactic this day was. Nice. (by the way, this is the view from my bedroom window...check out the striped buildings...almost like a Barbie dreamhouse, huh mom?)

We spent Easter afternoon with the Stevenson's and had a great time. We ate yummy food and helped the girls with their indoor egg hunt. The best part of the day came when Becca made Amber her very own pinata. Apparently, Amber's family Easter tradition is to have a hot dog roast and break a pinata (which is often a Christmas-themed pinata that was bought at an after Christmas sale) that is tied to the back of a tractor. She didn't know this wasn't "normal" until about two years ago! So, after hearing this, Becca retreated to her room for a while and came out holding a homemade pinata constructed of construction paper and lots of scotch tape. She ran outside and returned carrying two sticks; one to tie the pinata to and one to hit the pinata with! How funny! So, I can officially say that I've had my first Easter pinata. Good times.

(this is Amber thoroughly enjoying herself and this is me freaking out and waiting for someone to end up with a massive head wound...just imagine my dad freaking out about all of Amber's family running around eating hot dogs and sure to choke...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!)

The Hi-Light Reel

So, I once again apologize for being a bad little blogger. I do actually have an excuse though. For the past week, we've been in a town about 2 hours away from Olsztyn for our Annual General Meeting (AGM). We left on Friday the 30 of March and got back the following Friday. It was a great week filled with meeting new people, talking about different ministries and strategies, hearing from a great Pastor and having times of worship in English!!! The meeting also happened to be held in a fabulous hotel with a huge indoor water park. Nice. The hotel was also in a little town that was on a lake! I got a lake-fix and it was wonderful. One night, a group of us walked down a long pier as it was getting dark. Ahhhhh. It was a great week, but I still feel the effects of the lack of sleep. The good news is, tomorrow is a holiday here in Poland, so our language class is cancelled and we can't leave our flat until at least after noon. Seriously. It's called "wet Monday" and it's a tradition here that young boys and men throw water on women who are walking around outside. Don't ask. I honestly have no idea what to expect, but just in case, Amber and I have been advised to wait it out inside until at least after noon. Up and down the aisles at the local supermarket, there are tons of water guns for sale right alongside the Easter goodies. Like I said, I have no idea what to expect, but I'll be sure to get some pictures!

Since it's been such a long time since I last updated, I'll fill you in on the hi-lights:

*we met with another group of four girls and had a great time; that makes two groups that we've gotten to meet with now and made contact with nine girls all together. Please pray for these girls, that they'd have a hunger and thirst to know God more

*we went into Agnieszka's classroom and spoke with her students; we got to share with several of the classes why we are here in Poland and it was so interesting to go into a Polish school...all I'm saying is that I'm convinced that teachers are the same on any continent. I'm pretty sure I even saw some women wearing clothes from Christopher & Banks =) Check this out though: none of the teachers have their own classrooms, they all meet in the lounge and have little cubbies where they put their things then go to their assigned classroom each period! Can you imagine?!?!?! Oh wait, yes I can imagine...I lived that for four years. Thank God for crates-on-wheels. Hey dad, I think those would be a hot commodity here...think you can get ahold of several thousand of those that mom could find space for in the house??? =)

*we got approved for our VISAs! However, the letter we received stated that we were valid for one year, although we'd applied for a two year VISA. Sean's going down to the office Tuesday to figure it out. Please pray that everything would be taken care of in a simple and quick manner!

*our friend Ula called and wants to be a part of our Bible studies, which is awesome news because, um, she speaks Polish. And we don't.

*AGM was awesome. I don't even know how to sum it up. The one thing I do know, is that it was so refreshing to worship with a large group in English. Knowing this, I ask you to please pray that the Lord would continue to give me the discipline to continue learning this language. Just as I loved worshipping and hearing God's Word in English, the Poles need to worship and hear His word in Polish.

*Since we got home, the keys to our stairwell haven't worked, so we've essentially been at the mercy of people coming and going to let us in...thankfully, Sean came to the rescue today with some WD-40 and we're back in business!

So, in a nutshell, that's the past two weeks. Phew. I'm going to attach some pictures that go along with this post and work on a post about my first Polish Easter. It's been a great day so far and all I'm saying is that I had NO idea the Poles had so much soul...

--the first picture is of the pier along the water that was lined with restraunts and shops

--the next picture is of the bridge we had to cross to get to the pier

--the final picture is the view from our room! how beautiful!