Poland: Intro
Hello friends!
So why don't I start by removing all the formalities and just say that this trip was amazing! It is going to be impossible to sum everything up in one blog, and so over the week of being home I have decided to break it up nicely for you by week.
In addition to that, I will add small pieces of my daily reflections that I wrote during my trip. Obviously this will take more then a few days to write about, so just keep checking and up to date with my Facebook posts.
For now, I want to give you a little peek-a-boo into what it was like.
My first week was not what I was expecting at all. My entire year I had been warned about how busy and chaotic it was going to be overseas: we ended up easing slowly into the hard work. We arrived on two Holidays and spent few days getting to know the small town of Pultusk.
It did not take long to realize that God had placed us in a town that did not have much, but was so rich in history and amazing people. As we began our ministries on the fourth day we were there, spending time with children in the park and enjoying the company of Seniors, I began to fall in love with all that made Pultusk beautiful. Many would ask us - why Pultusk - and with good reason. As I said before there was not much to do there.
I did not see that though: I saw people in need of loving. Everyone I met was so kind and friendly. It did not matter if they were a part of the church community or not, people never gave an unkind look or word. Relationships are evidently important to them.
Quality time is so crucial to building these relationships: I saw relationship grow as my team and I spent time with the students in the dormitory that we stayed with for our three week duration; I saw it in the way that the seniors smiled as we laughed at their songs and the way they pulled us into them with clapping and dancing.
How much more did I see it in the joy that shined in the eyes of the children we spent time with in the parks and schools as we taught them about Canada, blasted Hillsong in the background during our free time and laughed at the silly monkey faces they made through the windows in the halls.
We did not do a lot of the things that we thought we would do. As I said earlier, we had been prepared for so many things this year and I did not expect what I came face to face with. We arrived and began to work with a church that has only begun. It is growing slowly but surely.
In all our work through the city in the following two weeks I did begin to wonder - what are we doing here? Is this enough? How are we sharing Christ with the people here? And I began to realize that we were planting seeds. Whether or not we saw the harvest we were playing a very important part in the building of the church. We had the amazing privilege of coming to encourage Pastor Piotr and the families that are on the front lines. If all we did was encourage the families, and plant seeds in the hearts of the youth in the dormitories, and in the one youth in the church community, that is enough for me. Not because we are enough, but because God is enough.
As we gathered as an O team at the end of our trip, one of our overseers said, "You guys laid the foundation of what God is building in Poland. You laid the first few bricks."
What a beautiful picture: we often want to see it all done at once, but we must always remember: God doesn't need us. We are just the tools in his tool box he chooses to use because he loves us. He plants the seeds with us, and then the Holy Spirit makes them grow. How that looks is not up to us.
I experienced a change in heart: a new perspective of missions, a faith that has been built on: I saw God move within my heart, the heart of the people there and in the hearts of my team. I know that God was moving in Pultusk before we came, he moved while were there, and His Holy Spirit is continuing a work now that we are gone. God's work is so beautiful, and o so worth being a part of. There is no place I'd rather be, and nothing else I'd rather do then serve him.
So why don't I start by removing all the formalities and just say that this trip was amazing! It is going to be impossible to sum everything up in one blog, and so over the week of being home I have decided to break it up nicely for you by week.
In addition to that, I will add small pieces of my daily reflections that I wrote during my trip. Obviously this will take more then a few days to write about, so just keep checking and up to date with my Facebook posts.
For now, I want to give you a little peek-a-boo into what it was like.
***
It did not take long to realize that God had placed us in a town that did not have much, but was so rich in history and amazing people. As we began our ministries on the fourth day we were there, spending time with children in the park and enjoying the company of Seniors, I began to fall in love with all that made Pultusk beautiful. Many would ask us - why Pultusk - and with good reason. As I said before there was not much to do there.
I did not see that though: I saw people in need of loving. Everyone I met was so kind and friendly. It did not matter if they were a part of the church community or not, people never gave an unkind look or word. Relationships are evidently important to them.
Quality time is so crucial to building these relationships: I saw relationship grow as my team and I spent time with the students in the dormitory that we stayed with for our three week duration; I saw it in the way that the seniors smiled as we laughed at their songs and the way they pulled us into them with clapping and dancing.
How much more did I see it in the joy that shined in the eyes of the children we spent time with in the parks and schools as we taught them about Canada, blasted Hillsong in the background during our free time and laughed at the silly monkey faces they made through the windows in the halls.
We did not do a lot of the things that we thought we would do. As I said earlier, we had been prepared for so many things this year and I did not expect what I came face to face with. We arrived and began to work with a church that has only begun. It is growing slowly but surely.
In all our work through the city in the following two weeks I did begin to wonder - what are we doing here? Is this enough? How are we sharing Christ with the people here? And I began to realize that we were planting seeds. Whether or not we saw the harvest we were playing a very important part in the building of the church. We had the amazing privilege of coming to encourage Pastor Piotr and the families that are on the front lines. If all we did was encourage the families, and plant seeds in the hearts of the youth in the dormitories, and in the one youth in the church community, that is enough for me. Not because we are enough, but because God is enough.
As we gathered as an O team at the end of our trip, one of our overseers said, "You guys laid the foundation of what God is building in Poland. You laid the first few bricks."
What a beautiful picture: we often want to see it all done at once, but we must always remember: God doesn't need us. We are just the tools in his tool box he chooses to use because he loves us. He plants the seeds with us, and then the Holy Spirit makes them grow. How that looks is not up to us.
I experienced a change in heart: a new perspective of missions, a faith that has been built on: I saw God move within my heart, the heart of the people there and in the hearts of my team. I know that God was moving in Pultusk before we came, he moved while were there, and His Holy Spirit is continuing a work now that we are gone. God's work is so beautiful, and o so worth being a part of. There is no place I'd rather be, and nothing else I'd rather do then serve him.
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