Blech...

I know...I've been a slacker. To tell you the truth, not a whole lot has been going on recently. The majority of our students are back in their hometowns because it's winter break, so we have a lot of down time. BUT, we have been able to just spend some time with friends, which has been great.

We missed church this morning...first time in a long time, actually. I have a mixture of the stomach bug and sniffles. It's just been nice to stay home and rest today. I feel a bit better, but my sneezing & runny nose is getting worse. But, I did manage to complete a towel today! My sister, Kellie, has gotten me into the habit of embroidery. Lots of fun and a nice stress reliever! :)

I just got a package in the mail from her with a new apron (that she made) and some fun new dolls she's starting to make! They're filled with lavendar so they smell WONDERFUL, not to mention they're adorable!

While siblings are on my brain, ya'll pray for my brother Shea...he's come down with the black plague. He may resort to leeches if it doesn't go away soon. ;)

Chocolat

So...today was/is sort of a "blah" kinda day for me. We had a meeting today about a summer camp that we'll be working, which was productive and exciting. Then we decided to eat lunch. Poland tends to have an abundance of "Kebab" places. Kebabs are this... a combination of some type of meat (usually chicken or pork) that they shave off of a giant rotating stick, and stick it in a pita with a ton o' vegatables on top. The meat looks like this: It's been over a year since I ate one of these...mainly because I got DOG-SICK after I ate it. Blech. Since then, when I'm in the mood for foor...this shaved meat soaked in garlic sauce is the LAST thing that my tummy craves. But today, the people we were with wanted to go so I just went along hoping that this experience wouldn't be as bad as the last. Well, it wasn't as terrible afterwards this time as it was before...but pleasant it was not. I would have much rather had some good 'ole Subway. No more kebabs for me! So, after we ate I was dying for something to relieve my taste buds. We headed to the mall where I was anticipating purchasing a double chocolate chip cookie. This is the SECOND time I've been to this Subway and they've let me down with a lack of freshly baked cookies. :( We continued to walk around the mall and ventured into the "World Cuisine" store where they sell American imports. Today, they had things like a boxes of 8 poptarts (blueberry, strawberry, apple-cinnamon, or smores) for about $12 bucks! Apparently poptarts are a delicacy here. They also had some random things like...one box of Betty Crocker Brownie Mix, one box of Chocolate Chip cookie mix (all ridiculously overpriced), marshmellows (big and small), about 4 gargantuan bottles of Worchesteshire sauce, Ceasar salad dressing for about $7, and some more randomness. It's just a fun store to go in and look around to see what things make it over and how much they charge people for imported American foods. This store had imports from Great Britain, Africa, Japan, and lots of other places. BUT...as we were leaving I spotted this little bar of goodness and couldn't resist . It costs me about $2 which wasn't terrible I suppose. It's been SO LONG since I had Hershey's chocolate. Europe does have some pretty fabulous chocolate, so I'm not complaining about that...but there's just something about Hershey's. It just melts in your mouth and it has such a distinct taste from other chocolates. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. :)

Speaking of Chocolate, we did have our "Chocolate Cafe" last Friday night (I think it was last Friday) anyway, it went over INCREDIBLY well! We had a blast! About 15 students came, we ate lots of chocolate, watched the movie "Chocolat" and ended with a promo for our new coffeehouse ministry "The Well." We had a really positive response from all of the students who attended so we are really looking forward to starting this ministry up on the 29th!

A 12 foot Pope!

So, last Sunday me, Scott, and Andy went to a birthday party for our good friend Jurek (Yur-ek). His wife Maciejka (Ma-chea-ka) invited lots of friends from church over. We had such a great time! This picture shows Jurek sporting his daughter's lovely hat. ;) This picture is of me & Jurek's wife Maciejka. She is wonderful! :) And, here are friends Bogusia, Beata, and Gosia. Sweet, sweet ladies. :) Okay...so, on to the Pope. Jurek is an INCREDIBLE sculptor. He is commissioned by cities in Poland to make sculptures to put around the city. He has done several that are here in Wroclaw. Currently, Jurek is working on a statue of Pope John Paul II. It is absolutely amazing. AND MASSIVE! The detail in it is incredible, the resemblance in the statues of pictures of the Pope are unbelievable. This man is so talented. Anyway, here is a picture of us with the Pope. :)

Here's some video of so you can here a little Polish and see some of our friends. :)

Here's a little of us playing "Charades" (well...a mix of Charades & Pictionary) This is Maciejka trying to get her team to guess the word "Bi-Polar" (or the Polish equivalent). I love these people. :)

An update on our Chocolate Cafe will be coming soon! It was GREAT!!! :)

This is what it's about...

Today we had some very good friends over. This is a couple we have become especially close to these past two years. Scott met Boguś when he came over for a one week mission trip in March. When we arrived last year we connected with them and started inviting to English Clubs, Nooma Meetings, Cafes and eventually got to the point where they felt comfortable enough around us to just hang out two-on-two. This is the second time they have come to our house for dinner. Boguś & Dorothy are very very busy, very smart students. Both attend church regularly and enjoy talking about spiritual things. The first time they came over for dinner I cooked a nice Cajun meal (jambalaya) for them and they really enjoyed it. This time, I cooked a good down home southern meal. BBQ Chicken with corn, fried potatoes, & corn bread. Then bought out the hot brownies & ice cream for dessert. :) We had a LOVELY time! This couple is very precious to us. Their relationship is one that is very rare here...they are not living together. They've been dating over 4 years and both still live with their families. That is incredibly rare. Tonight at dinner we had a chance to just talk and enjoy time with them. Boguś is leaving to study in Denmark this week. He'll be there until July so this is one of the last times we may ever get to see him. Dorothy is staying behind and we assured her that we would take care of her while Boguś is gone. We had a chance to share about our marriage and show them one of our Nooma videos on love, relationships... depicted in the way they were meant to be. They loved it and we believe it provided encouragment for them. We talked about the church and they mentioned that sometimes it could be boring. We were able to give them the name of a wonderful Catholic fellowship for students that is doing great things here. Hopefully they'll visit sometime. Before they left Scott asked a very personal question, if he could pray for Boguś before he left. He willingly accepted as Scott put a hand on his shoulder and thanked the Lord for our friendship, for their relationship, and for safe travels and all the blessings the Lord had given to them and us. It was a big step...but they were blessed by it, as were we by their company.

A common question that always comes up when we're in the States talking about our mission work here is "How many souls have been saved?" "How many people you led to Christ?" This is not why we're here. Of course it's our hope that all people will come to know the Lord, but if it's through our work, if it's through the testimony of someone else, if it happens and we have absolutely nothing to do with it....that's not the point. When Jesus was here he LOVED people, he CARED for people, he LISTENED to people. He did not keep a tally of how many followers he gathered up like fish in a net. Being a missionary isn't about numbers, it isn't about converting the world to your denomination, it's about loving people and BEING the Gospel, representing the love that Christ has for all of us...in a tangible way. Loving these students and letting them know how valuable they are, how much we care for them, but most importantly how much Jesus loves them and desires their hearts. That's what matters. THIS is what it's about.

Lots of goings-on...

So...hhhmmm not sure where to start? There has just been lots & lots going on recently. Let's start with something nice & simple! So...I got a hair cut! About a week or so ago Scott and I had a "date" day...very nice! We started out with a hair cut that took a LOT longer than expected! Apparently I have VERY VERY thick hair. So my hair has gone from this:To this:
I kinda miss it...my hair's never been that long before. :( Oh well...so after a haircut we went out to dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant near us...AMAZING food!
After dinner we went to our friend Konrad's Karniwal (or Carnival) ball at our church. Here is a clip of buddy Konrad dancing with his dance crew. Konrad's the kid with long curly hair wearing the mask. :)

So, we only stayed at the ball for about an hour then we had a show to see! Our beloved British friend, Bev provided us with our "date day." She scored us some fantastic seats at a musical here and provided us with the funds for food that day! :) The show we went to see was called "Swing" The Duke Ellington Show. Minus a little unexpected culture shock, it was a spectacular show! Here's the add for it...just because I thought it would be neat for you to hear what a typical Polish advertisement sounds like. :) And the goofy guy with the trumpet...that guy is definitely in the show.

Okay...so that was a fun day! What next?....Hhhmmm...I do have a video clip from youth the other night. :) Scott had the kids doing some kind of goofy game where they had to work together..."Being the body of Christ" kinda game. Here are our kiddos. :)

So...here is where much of my time & prayer has gone recently...

To my Pops...he's just had a rough year, but a stubborn Stanley he is and he just kept on truckin'...all over Europe as a matter of fact! He just had his back surgery on Friday and everything went smooth as silk...save for the giant epidural they stuck him with. ;) We told him if we'd known they were going to do that, we'd prayed for that too. He's a trooper! At home recovering now. The surgeon said it was a miracle that he was walkin' with the shape that his back was in! Duh. We already knew that, didn't we? ;) The surgeon sent him home after surgery without rehab and without a back brace! Praise the Lord! It just kills me how people can witness these kinds of miracles and still not believe...kills me. Anyway, thanks to all you faithful folk who keep on prayin' for us. We love ya! :) (And yes...in the picture, my Dad is "reading" a newspaper in Czech.

On to the next event...Ladies' Potluck! YEAH!! Last week, I had invited all the ladies from the church over to my place for a Ladies' Potluck. Lauren & I did this in the hopes that we could just get to know some of the women in the church better. So, this past Saturday, I had 10 here in my little flat which was a splendid number...just right. They all brought TONS o' grub...mostly sweets. We ate Pickle soup (my favorite! REALLY!), lots of sweets, and played a games...these women go nuts over door prizes! ;) So, this is not all of them...but I wanted to tell you who these gals are because I adore them all and we all attend church together. This first pick is Ewa (a Polish gal in our church), Jennifer - Missionary from Lexington, and Victoria - Ukrainian teaching English at a Christian language school at First Baptist Church.

This next pic is of Becky & Gosia. Gosia is the mom of one of youth - Michal (they're the ones who make us Pierogi when we go to their flat!) Becky is British and she's also working as an English teacher in the Christian school at First Baptist Church. I LOVE this gal! She is adorable and she has the loveliest British accent! And she's funny! :)

Next, Gosia (again) with Bev. I just cannot explain to you how much I love British people. I ADORE them! They crack me up. Everything they say is either hysterically funny or it just sounds SO....proper! My precious Bev...I just love her.

I know this isn't the greatest quality picture...but I love these two Polish ladies as well. Ewa L. (the mother of our youth-Dawid) and Bogusia in the back (mother of our other youth-Mariusz). All of these women feel like family to us. :)

And lastly, here's me & my gal Lauren. I am so glad that she's here. :)

So, that was our Ladies' Potluck. The women had so much fun they want to keep doing it! Gosia even asked if we could do it again the next Saturday! We decided this should at least be a monthly thing! Next time, Bev's going to lead it (here at our place) but she's going to make it a Curry Fest! This chick loves Indian food. I'm pretty excited. :)

So, what's on the schedule now? Well, Andy came over today and helped us put together care packages for our students. We'll be giving them out in class tomorrow before their exam. Then, on Wednesday we'll be setting up our "Free Tea/Coffee/HC" stand which will be a big hit. I'm terribly excited! Please pray that I have the courage to actually share my faith with students when they say "Why are you all doing this?!?!" ;) It's bound to happen. I want to be spiritually & mentally ready to be bold. :)

A new season

I normally don't promote TBN...I would hardly EVER suggest for someone to watch it because I have some pretty strong opinions about it. I would never in a million years suggest a non Christian to watch it. I think most of it is a scam and has nothing about people's true relationship with the Lord...just one HUGE infomercial trying to sell Jesus to people like one might sell a vaccum cleaner. So, please disregard the fact that the following has a "TBN" label on the screen ;) I'm chosing not to judge Shane & Shane by their actions. ;) Anyway...I'm entering a new season with the Lord...maybe I'll share about it later but right now...just a tune for you! :)


Please pray for my Dad!! He's having surgery tomorrow on his back at 8am in Evansville. :) Thanks! :)