Poland

July Prayer Letter

Hi prayer partners.....

Our day of prayer and fasting on June 15 turned out to be a great day for both of us, and as we've heard, for many of our partners as well. I would just like to give you some highlights of what God has shown and provided in the time since we arrived in Canada.

Visioning

During the month of June, Jay was able to take in 8 workshops put on by the Halifax Christian Church on the subject of Vision, Mission,Values,Goals and Strategies. It was a valuable time being able to observe others as they went through the whole thought process of articulating who they are becoming. It was a tremendous time of affirming and confirming what it is we believe God has called us to do in Poland.

Praise God for His clarity and calling in our lives.

Destination-Graceland

When Colette and I met up again in Calgary, we were able to sit and talk about what the Lord had been impressing on us during the month of June. One main word rang clear for both of us: DESTINATION. Graceland Ministries intends to become THE destination of choice for middle class families and business people who want to be where the action is (this applies to Polish people as well as those who come to minister to them). As mentioned in the past, we have been encouraged to put our lamp on a stand to have a broader and more extensive impact in Poland. In order for that to happen we need to have more Graceland schools, more Graceland teachers, more training of those teachers, and more God-honouring curriculum for them to teach.

Thank God that the Polish church leaders see the tremendous opportunity for expansion of English Outreach Ministries across Poland, and have asked US to make it happen.

Curriculum

So, beginning with the end in mind, we have been very focussed on the curriculum during July. Our aim is to provide this God-honouring curriculum to more and more people. Now many of you wonder, haven't you been complaining about the curriculum challenge for what seems to be years? Well, yes we have! While we have been creating curriculum as we go, we see the areas that need tweaking and the areas that were not effective, so before we provide this for others, we are cleaning it up and making it very user friendly for both the teacher and the student. We have two major projects that we hope to finish before the middle of August: a re-write of The Life of Joseph and a new business curriculum that we are tentatively calling Power Up!

Please pray that we will meet the deadlines with quality materials. We also desperately need an editor and a desk-top publisher to help this come together.

New Graceland School

A church planter in SZCZECIN (pronounced Sh-ch-ech-een) has contacted us and told us of a tremendous new opportunity. He will be teaching English to a group of University Economics Students. He has asked to go under the Graceland umbrella and provide quality materials for his class. Because we have only taught one other business course, we are writing this one from scratch. It is fun and exciting to know that it is not US trying to convince someone of this new opportunity, but that he came to us. How wonderful! We have 2 more locations just waiting to happen, but we need teachers.

Praise God for this opportunity. Pray for boldness and courage of this young teacher and the openness of his students.

New Location for Graceland's Home Base in Poland

We mentioned in our previous note that it seems that Graceland will need more space than what we currently have in order to fulfill all we believe we are being asked to be. We are amazed that the building that we looked at two years ago is still available. It went up for auction just last week, and lo and behold, with a reduced price, it still didn't sell. We have to wonder if God isn't holding this great location just for us. The Polish leaders from Warsaw will be looking at this location in August and will make their recommendation whether or not they think we should proceed. Two years ago, we had the building inspected by a Canadian/Polish inspector and he HIGHLY recommended the building. It was German built and used as a casino. Would it not be a powerful turnaround for that building to be used to the glory of God?? Wow, imagine a ministry centre that provided a great location for English classes, a place for dynamic cultural exchanges and concerts, a training centre, a mission destination for N. American teams and a place that provided a venue for Bible discussion groups and worship experiences like Podroz. While this is still a huge question mark very much in the dreaming stages and while it would involve a huge financial commitment, we are very excited to think that such an ideal spot is still available.....within the same city block as our current location.

Would you pray that God would make it abundantly clear to ALL of us whether we are to proceed on this building or not.

Team Members

Without people, the work cannot be done. Verone Caspell, Anndi Mikolaj and Christy McGregor will be starting up the school year for us in September. These three women are very dear to us and we know they will give their best to the Lord and to the students who come. Our co-worker Janusz will be joined by our dear Polish friend Krzysztof to help meet the increasing needs of the student body. Janusz will oversee most administrative details and Krzysztof will be available to meet with and counsel students. We are thankful that these two men are friends and have caught the vision of using English as a way to reach out to the lost and hurting people of Poland.

Praise God for these women and men who labour tirelessly alongside us.

New Supporters

If you're not growing, you're shrinking. We understand this principle and know that we must expand our financial, people, and prayer base. From mid-August to mid-Ocotber, we will be heading into Ontario, Quebec and the United States to meet with new churches, missions teams and individuals regarding, our financial, personel and spiritual needs. We are hoping for at least 6 new financially supporting churches; for 6 people to commit to coming full-time (2 years or more) and for 6 new groups of prayer partners.

Please pray that we would be able to find the new support that we need.

In closing, there is more that we are up to; writing a policy manual and revising our application process and Polish-language upgrading. We are extremely busy and are burning the midnight oil on many nights. We ask you to pray for our stamina, our creativity, our time-management and our spiritual growth and health.

Thank you for your partnership! We love and appreciate each one of you.

God bless you as you travel this summer and take time to be refreshed in Him.

Your co-workers,

Jay and Colette

P.S. If you will be in the Calgary area on August 7th, we invite you to a Friends of Graceland BBQ--burgers are on us--just tell us you're coming. Call 403-239-6196 and leave a message. Address: 107 Woodland Lane (take Crowchild Tr. west past Sarcee Tr. and Bearspaw Rd and then turn right on Woodland Road, take the first right on Woodland Lane) Hope to see you there.

Jay and Colette - Home Service

So what's happening on this Home Assignment?

Greetings from Edmonton and Halifax.  Now doesn't THAT dound odd?  Odd but accurate.  Colette is in Edmonton and Jay is in Halifax at the time of writing.

June has been designated as a time of refreshing and seeking direction from the Lord. As we wrote in our last update: A Day of Fasting and Prayer for Graceland, there are many changes in the wind and many opportunities before us in Poland. We want to be crystal clear in understanding what it is that the Lord is doing in Poland so we can join Him. Both Colette and I and the Graceland team will be spending time completely focused on the future direction of the ministry during June. Please do pray and fast with us on June 15. May God direct us in The Next Wave.

July will begin a busy time of meetings and preparations for The Next Wave. Jay and Colette will meet up in Calgary and together with the Graceland Board will establish the parameters for The Next Wave.

And then we're done right? No way!

As well as setting the course, we will be updating/creating a new and improved policy and governance system for the ministry. This is essential as our team continues to grow with members from both Canada and the USA.

And that's not all!!

We have been writing and field-testing Christian English Curriculum for a few years now, and are ready to finalize it and make it available for others to use. July and August will see us doing the final edit on 4 different levels of curriculum and formatting it in such a way as to provide others with a hard copy, teachers' notes and a CD to enable them to print copies for their students. This has been a long time goal of Graceland and it's rewarding to see it come to fruition. While finishing this curriculum is exciting, it's not over, we will be working on new curriculum, this summer, as well.

Colette will be planning out the podroz series for fall and winter.

We will both be working on moving our Polish Language skills to the next level during this summer also. (Polish is a full time job for us linguistically challenged gals!!)

Expanding our territory will move us into partnering with new churches in the US and Canada.

In September and October we will be traveling hither and yon connecting with Missions teams, speaking to congregations and presenting Graceland with the hopes of forging new partnerships. As Graceland grows, we need to continue to broaden our financial base, our prayer base and our personnel base. We need more workers on the US, Canadian and Polish fronts in order to accomplish the great task of helping make fully developing followers of Jesus Christ.

Returning to Poland in October will not inhibit the start of school in September, because our faithful team members - Janusz, Anndi, and Verone will be there to get things rolling. Our long time friend and co-worker Christy MGregor will return in September to help the team until we return. We are thankful for these co-workers and trust them completely with the smooth operation of the ministry and the care of Graceland's students.

And there you have it--Home Assignment 2005.

If you know anyone who would be interested in helping with policy and governance, with writing curriculum, with desktop publishing and editing, with fundraising and recruiting or by becoming a prayer or financial partner, please have them contact us at: jay@gracelandministries.ca

Please pray for all that we will be working on during this Home Assignment 2005. Pray that we can keep our minds clear and focused and that all we do will bring Glory to the One for Whom we do these things: our Gracious Lord and Saviour who moved us into a new land, a land of grace. . . . a land of grace.

Mving on to The Next Wave

Jay and Colette

ps - please remember the day of prayer and fasting - June 15

Note #1: While we are on Home Service, please email to: jay@gracelandministries.ca

Note #2: Please do not designate funds on your support cheques. Please attach a "sticky" note to the cheque indicating the project or fund you are supporting. Anything not specified will go into the general fund.

Donations may be sent to:

In Canada                                 In the United States

4604 Charleswood Dr. NW          555 Greenside Dr.

Calgary                                     Painesville, OH 44077

T2L 2E5 44077

Graceland Ministries

ul. Sienkiewicza 33A

06-400 Ciechanow

Poland

May Prayer Letter

Ciechanow, Poland

3 May, 2005

Hello folks!

The semester has drawn to a close and we are now into our Special Events Month. Some of these events are intended for pure fun and enjoyment, others for spiritual edification and others for planning for the future. Please read on and mark your calendar so you can pray for these special events as well as for the times that we will spend one on one with various students (which are too numerous to name in this note).

Shrek week at Graceland. May 4 and 5 we'll be showing Shrek to our students and their friends. We have lots of fun giveaways and door prizes thanks to our church partners in Dover, Ohio!

Graceland's Annual Spring Graduation and Kielbasa Roast will take place May 6. Students will receive their certificates and awards and will enjoy an evening of games and fun including a marshmallow roast!

Podroz Round 5 will be May 8 and 15. This series has been creatively entitled, "Are you bad enough to be a Christian". The series will focus on God's grace and mercy in the hopes that those who come will understand that God can't be bought and that being good enough isn't good enough! During our 8 previous podroz events we saw an average attendance of 28 (not including the core team of 6 Polish, and 7 English workers). Of the 28, we had an average of 8 newcomers per week. Of the 8 newcomers, an average of 5 came more than twice, and 4 came as many as 6 times.

The elders have asked to meet with us to determine the future of Podroz on May 10.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, presented by the BBC will be shown to Colette's most advanced class on May 9. While not all of the students liked the story during class, many of them understood and loved the allegory of the Gospel message and how God triumphs over evil in the end.

May 9 will also begin the new Graceland Kid's Club for children ages 8-12. Charlene Davis who is here for two months will be working with Anndi on this kids' club until the end of June. The focus of the time will be God as Creator. They have many wonderful activities and events planned for the children. Most of Jay's kids' class have pre-registered. And we are hoping for up to 40 kids for this time of fun and learning about God.

May 10 will be the start of the Prince and the Pauper teen girls' drama class. Anndi and Charlene will coach these girls who have read the story during the school year, on how to make Tom Canty and Edward Tutor come to life. They will focus on confidence building, drama skills and the message of the MERCY of the New King as is seen throughout the book. This is a tremendous time for young women who struggle with self-confidence issues and we look forward to their final performance at the end of May.

Castaway will be shown on May 11 to the class that studied Robinson Crusoe this past year. The students will compare the life of Crusoe with the Tom Hanks character. Crusoe has provided a wonderful backdrop for many spiritually oriented conversations.

Our dear interns from Impact Ministries will be leaving us on May 12. Sarah and Lisa have had a wonderful impact on the work we do here and have become a beloved part of our team. We will miss them and trust God to show them His plan for their lives.

Our wrap up with the Podroz core team will happen on May 18. The core team has been dedicated and faithful and we are looking forward to celebrating all that has happened this semester with them.

Verone Caspell who has been with us all semester, has decided to keep her apartment here in Ciechanow so that she has a place to return to in the fall. That's right! She is planning on coming back and we are very excited about that. Verone has connected on a significant level with the Polish Teachers' Discussion group as well as her regular classes. We are excited about rekindled relationships with Aneta (formerly from our homegroup) and Lidia (the judge). Verone is looking forward to many more conversations with them and others throughout May as well as into the fall.

We (Jay and Colette and Verone) will be returning to Canada on May 26. Anndi, Charlene and Janusz will "hold down the fort" until the end of June when both Charlene and Anndi will be heading to North America. Jay and Colette will be taking Sabbatical leave this summer for the purpose of evaluating what we have learned over these past 6.5 years in Poland and to seek God's direction for the future. It is abundantly clear to all of us that we are at a crossroads here in Ciechanow.  While God hasn't released us from this place at this time, we know that there are significant changes in the future of Graceland. We need to be abundantly clear as to what those changes will look like in the practical day to day of the ministry. Stay tuned for more on Sabbatical 2005 in the weeks ahead.

We think that's a full enough prayer calendar for you!! We are excited for all that has happened this semester. We are excited about what we believe God may be leading us to in the future. We are very thankful for your faithful prayers on our behalf and we are very encouraged by your emails and financial support. May God bless you as He has blessed us.

From our hearts to yours,

Jay and Colette

Note #1: Please do not hit reply to this email. Please respond to: jay@gracelandministries.ca

Note #2: Please do not designate funds on your support cheques. Please attach a "sticky" note to the cheque indicating the project or fund you are supporting.

Graceland Ministries

ul. Sienkiewicza 33A

06-400 Ciechanow

Poland

phone: 23-673-7303

Poland Mourns the Pope

Dear Praying friends,

Thank you for your prayers for our students and the people of Poland in this past week.

It has been a week filled with tears and high emotion.  As we look back on the week, we want to give you a sense of what we experienced.

The Majority of the people of Poland truly felt John Paul II was THEIR FATHER.

On Monday night students in all classes were still so overcome with the Pope's death that Most were unable to talk without crying....man and women of all ages.  The phrase that tearfully rang out in our school classes was: OUR PAPA IS DEAD!!

When asked if it is possible to find joy in death, most of our students answered NO!!

For most of our students, there is no assurance of salvation, and apparently the Pope is no exception.  When asked why they were praying for his soul, they answered, to help him find his way to perfect peace.  Digging deeper, it became quite evident, that they were not sure of the Pope's salvation, let alone their own salvation.  This opened the door in 3 classes for a full presentation of the Gospel--which of course assures those who put their hope in Christ of their final destiny.  These were new thoughts and certainly new scriptures for many of our students.

This is a time of great openness.

Our students were more open than ever to discuss spiritual things this week.  Even those who normally shy away from such topics were willing to share what was on their heart and willing to hear what we believe as well.  We sent out a condolence letter to 118 students with a scriptural prayer for them and their response has been overwhelming.  The calls and emails have steadily been coming to thank us for the care and concern we showed them in the death of their beloved Pope.  We are praying that many more will consider coming to our 4th Podrez series: Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why does God allow Evil and suffering in the world?

Cultural Photos

Coming from such a secular society as Canada is, it is interesting to see how people cope with the loss of a spiritual leader in another culture.  We are attaching pictures taken Friday morning at the peak of normal business hours.  Every store, office and business in the city was closed (shops don't even close on Good Friday here.)  There were no cars or people on the streets.  Shop and business windows displayed pictures of the Pope with candles, flowers and ribbons.  Flags flew from homes, businesses and apartments with black mourning ribbons at the top.  There are 3 photos of Ciechanow  for you to see: #1 is a shop window, #2 is the deserted main street and #3 is the flags with black mourning ribbons.

(Click on the picture for a larger image.)

         

                                                                                  

Please pray:

• That the openness to spiritual truth that we have experienced this week will continue.
• That we will have the wisdom to know when to seize the opportunity to engage in discussion that points people to Christ.
• That we will continue to be sensitive to the felt needs as well as the real spiritual needs of our students and friends.
• That as a result of this time of grief, people will be willing to come to church or to homegroup Bible studies or to Pedroz.
• That many will come to know Jesus: The Way THE Truth and THE Life.

A Verse for all

We leave you with this prayer that we included in our condolence letter to our students.

We pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  We pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And we pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as well as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.    Ephesians 3:14-20

For those who mourn,

Jay and Colette

Graceland Ministries, an affiliate of Team Expansion

Going Out with a Bang!

Hi Friends,

Spring Graduation came and went and what a party it was. We lost track of the number of people at 92, they just kept coming. This has indeed turned out to be one of our most successful events of the year. It's like the old commercial, "....and they told two friends, and so on and so on....."

Tonight was an amazing night watching the Spirit of God move across the parking lot as waves of genuine emotion welled up and people poured out their hearts to us.

Words on the screen cannot do justice to the God-moments that happened tonight. So we won't try and we promise to tell you stories in person when we see you this summer. Suffice it to say, we laughed, we cried and we called it a night after 3.5 hours of visiting.

We will be in Calgary and travelling throughout Alberta in May. We will be in Halifax and travelling throughout the Maritimes in June. We will be at the North American Christian Convention in Phoenix in July. Please email us if we are in your neighbourhood or you are in ours. We'd love to chat over a cup of tea (hot or iced) and tell you everything that God has been doing in us, through us and in spite of us.

Thank you for your faithful prayers on our behalf.
Jay and Colette

Love Resurrection

Dear Praying Friends,

A number of years ago, Allison Moyet had a top 40 hit called Love Resurrection. I always thought of it as a powerful song. This week I had a conversation with one of our homegroup members and this song has been in my mind ever since. Let me tell you about Monika.

Monika hasn't been attending homegroup for very long. She is attending because one of her friends came for classes here in the fall and Monika was determined that we should give her private lessons. Since we don't give private lessons, we offered her the opportunity to come to our homegroup Bible study. She was very reluctant and it took literally all fall for her to get up the courage to come. In the new year she came for the first time, and she was too nervous to come alone, so she brought one of her co-workers with her. He has been attending ever since and she has missed only a few times.

Monika is a very determined young woman. She is young and single and focussed on her career right now. She loves to talk about spiritual things, but until this past week was really reluctant to admit that anything in her life needed to change.

Colette has been leading a super series around the theme of the movie The Passion of Christ. It is intended to be a seekers' or skeptics' style study and it is perfect for those who have been attending. This week's study, revolved around why Jesus had to die such a brutal death. The group learned all sorts of new words and their root meanings, like excruciating, which literally means "out of the cross". It was a good night for expanding advanced English vocabulary, but it was an amazing night to see what God was doing in people's lives.

One of the quotes of the night read something like this, "if there was ANY other way to bring us to God, then Jesus died for no reason. But he died in our place because he was the only one worthy to make full payment for our sins. Any other conslusion makes a joke out of Jesus's death." Monika looked at me and said, "This is a revolution for me." I probed for more information. She said, "Don't you know that this is not what I have been taught? I've been taught that you are saved through the church. You are saved by what you do in your life. This says, that what I believe isn't really true."

I told her that it wasn't really a good idea for her to simply listen to what me or Colette or any PERSON told her but that she ought to read the New Testament to find out what God has to say. She does believe in God and she does believe the Bible is true. The study continued. The last point was: Why were Jesus' last words, "It is finished?" We talked about the fact that this was the conclusion of the price paid for mankind. This was the end of the story of redemption, there was no more need for sacrifice, there was no more need for trying to earn God's love. It was finished, Jesus stood in our place, accepted our punishement and gave us the right to be called children of God. Monika took one look at me and said, "That settles it, I must read the New Testament. Why have I thought for so long that I must work to be good to have God love me? Why haven't I been told that "it is finished"? This is a revolution for me."

Monika isn't the only one who has been having this personal revolution. Danka has had meetings with Janusz and the pastor and this week one of the elders of the church. Aneta is struggling with going to see the Passion with us this coming week because she is afraid of what it might do to her. And all I can think of for all of these dear people is: We all need a love resurrection, just a little divine intervention. These people need a love resurrection indeed. They need to know about the love of Jesus that has freed them from their bondage of sin and death. They have not been taught about grace--for them grace leads to to a place where they have to finish the job. They say that Jesus does 99% of the saving work and then they have to do the rest. That is so not true!! That is so anti-biblical.

Please pray for our students, all of them, and for our homegroup, that as they go and see the Passion of Christ this week, that the blinders would be torn from their eyes and that they would see that this excruciating death of Jesus was it. All they have TO DO is believe. It's almost too simple to believe and yet that's what scripture says--believe. Please pray for Danka as she has requested a long meeting with the pastor and Janusz this coming weekend. Please pray for our homegroup that they would move to the next level and accept Christ as their ONLY way to be saved.

Here are the words to that song:

LOVE RESURRECTION
~Allison Moyet~
what can I do to make light of this dull dull day
what switch can I pull to illuminate the way
show me one direction
I will not question again
for a warm injection
is all I need to calm the pain

we all need a love resurrection
(just a little divine intervention)
we all need a love resurrection
(just a little divine intervention)

what seed must I sow to replenish this barren land
teach me to harvest, I want you to grow in my hand
let's be optimistic, let's say that we won't toil in vain
if we pull together we'll never fall apart again

we all need a love resurrection
(just a little divine intervention)
we all need a love resurrection
(just a little divine intervention)

show me one direction
I will not question again
for a warm injection
is all I need to calm the pain

Thank you for standing in the gap for us and for our students. We need you to turn up the heat in the prayer department.

We love you all,
Jay and Colette and the whole Graceland team

Only a Slice of Pizza…

By Beth Taylor,
Ciechanόw, Poland
(Poland Team, with our Graceland Partners, pictured above)

In this last month of ministry, God has opened my eyes and heart to what reaching out to people looks like. I use to think that sharing about Jesus with someone had to be in the perfect setting with only the most meticulous wording. Of course, I believed that these perfect words had to come from attending class after class on how to share the Gospel correctly. Basically I thought you had to be a perfect Christian to share about Jesus. In my mind, was this vision of a “Super Christian” flying through the air with a Big “C” on their cape to save the day! Then in the last couple of years, I moved from that picture, to thinking that it was all about how deep your relationship was with that person. It was as if I thought that God could not use me to share the Gospel if I had not known a person for quite awhile, and had personally spent numerous hours each week with them. I thought that “you could not tell them they had a friend in Jesus until they knew they had a best friend in you.” By holding these views, I placed a lot of pressure and stress on myself, and put God in a very tiny box. This, however, is starting to change in these last couple of months in Poland…
In this last month especially, I have seen God work in such powerful and surprising ways. He has used me in areas and with people that I never imagined. My first story is with a girl named Ania. She has been coming to the English discussion group we have on Sunday nights since it started this summer. Although she comes from a Catholic family, she is not interested in anything connected to religion, the Bible, or God. We were constantly surprised when she showed up every week, since she was very skeptical and argumentative. It was obvious that something kept bringing here back, and we knew that God was tugging on her heart. In this time, Tasha and I developed a great friendship with Ania, and we hung out with her on many different occasions, even getting invited to spend time with her family! This last month she became really ill and was hospitalized. So, Tasha and I went to visit her at the hospital, and brought little gifts of encouragement. I felt that God wanted me to bring this postcard that had the “Footprints in the Sand” poem on it. It wasn’t expensive or elaborate, but God chose to use this small gift to touch her heart! I had no idea she would respond to this gift, but only a couple of days after she was released from the hospital, she asked me to pizza. Over only a slice of pizza, she told me how she didn’t want to read the postcard because she figured it was something “religious”, but that she did anyway. At this point I was sitting there in shock. Ania continued to tell me that she read it over and over again, and that she really loved the ending. It made her think, and she said that she was sharing it with a lot of people she knew. In this moment, I saw a whole new side of Ania – a side of gentleness, sincerity, and most of all, openness. I have no idea what God is speaking or showing her right now, but I am in awe that I was used in this way. It didn’t happen over a fancy speech, or as a result of any plans I made, but it was the power of God moving, and I was just a tool in the Master’s toolbox! I am excited to see what will happen in her life, and the ways that God is working in her heart!! Please keep Ania in your prayers!!!

Cliff-Hanger...

"What's it like to be famous?"

"Who us?"
"Yeah, everyone knows about you, you're the famous "Polska Chicks"."
"Famous?"
"Sure, everyone knows you guys!!"
This is a conversation for movie stars, rock stars, opera stars, and even famous evangelists! But us? No way! We're just a couple of working women who now live in Poland and do "our thing" for the Lord on a different continent. You've got to know, “famous” was never in our vocabulary and we actually laugh out loud when people say it. Now we know that our name isn't quite as hot as Brad, or Britney, or Julia, but it's still overwhelming to be known by so many people that we've never even laid eyes on. Overwhelming? Let's rephrase--it's very humbling.
Now, we have to tell you that we're just a couple of business women who were led by God to come to Poland. We have no real formal training for what we do. We have no delusions of grandeur that we are experts at what we do, in fact some days, we slink home knowing we could be a lot better. We are not English majors, we are not grammarians, we are not entrepreneurs, we are really very ordinary in every way. We struggle with the day-to-day pressures of work and life and the challenges of health and aging parents. We get stressed, we get ticked, we get tired and we get frustrated. We are pretty ordinary people.
What we do have going for us is two things:
1) God. When God takes you to the edge of the cliff, you have two choices; turn and run or jump and let Him catch you. Poland has been the biggest leap of faith for us, and every day, we find ourselves having to squeeze a little closer to our great God, lest we plunge to our death (not literal) off that cliff.
2) Aarons and Hurs (now we're not talking potential husbands here). When it seems like we are fighting a losing battle, we are surrounded with a fantastic group of Aarons and Hurs back home. (There's a great snippet out of Moses' diary about these two guys who held his arms up when he couldn't go one minute longer. Check out Exodus 17:12-13) Our Aarons and Hurs are those of you "at home" who pray for us, who write to us, who listen to us share our dreams, or complain bitterly with equal interest for both, who support us financially, and who love us in spite of ourselves. We have a group of devoted friends and "carers" that hold our arms up when we can't go a moment longer . . . that would be YOU!
These 2 points were proven yet again in what we call "Miracle on Sienkiewicza Street." You see, December came and financially we were in rough shape. The car that we thought was the perfectly timed gift of God was still not paid for, there were other outstanding debts and salaries to be paid and, well, it looked pretty bleak. So one more time, we went to God and asked if this is the way He wanted it to be. And He answered! December was the biggest month of giving that we can recall (aside from summer teams coming with designated housing and food funds). It was exciting to read emails every few days with the GOOD NEWS that the money was pouring in. By month end, the car was paid off, bills were paid to date and even some back salaries taken care of. What a glorious month it was. That was just one side of it.
The other side was the people. We received close to 80 Christmas Cards and letters from so many dear friends, but the shocking part was that a good many of them were people we have never met. That just makes you cry. That someone would take time to write a note of encouragement, put an expensive stamp on it and send it in time for the holidays . . . well that's above and beyond for most of us, but for those we've never met, it's -- yes, humbling!
As we start 2004, we are still on the edge of that cliff . . . we're beginning to believe that God likes us there best because He gets bigger hugs when we're there!! We are challenged with waiting lists for classes, with children wanting to be taught (we begin at age 13), with people hungering for more Bible studies, with a need for way more space than we and the church have, with more finances needed for new ministry opportunities and for retirement plans. As much as ever we need to know that we are firmly in the grip of our wonderful God and that we have our Aaron's and Hurs standing with us.
Thank you for holding up our arms and trusting God with your own cliff-hangers. We love and appreciate you more than you will ever know in this life. May you hug Him closely throughout the year, and may you feel our hugs coming your way too.
The Girls on Sienkiewicza Street,
Colette Ladan and Jay Bowyer