REACH Polska

I finally took the time today to check out some videos that our missions organization (Foursquare Missions International) has posted on Facebook and my heart and soul were filled with joy at the great things God is doing through our church “family”.  There are a lot of amazing organizations out there, and we plan on working with all of the Church and Foursquare is just a small piece of what God is doing – we’re just excited to be a part of something has held onto the importance of relationship over structure.

Check out all the videos here.  My favorite and most exciting one for me is this one.

Another quick update, we are in the process of finalizing with Foursquare what our ministry in Poland will look like.  We are excited and looking forward to the months ahead.  We have a lot of faith steps to take, however we are so thankful for our church family, our friends, and all of the support we have received to date.

Many days we feel stuck in some kind of no-mans land, we know life will be dramatically changing and we know God is preparing our hearts for this.  Some days are so full of excitement for the future and other days we dwell on our friendships and relationships here that we won’t be in day to day contact with, in many senses the grieving process is beginning.

Continue to pray for us as we walk both in the now, and into the future.

Just a quick update from the training – check out some pictures on the Foursquare Missions‘ blog of our training time here in Los Angeles.  It has been an incredible time here, amazing people, and we feel so blessed to be a part of such a great work, and a great family of people whose heart’s are with the Lord and whose only desire is to continue the work began with the Apostles in Acts!

This is them in the airplane after just arriving in LA, Emma loves that little white kitty.

We are here in LA doing a missions training intensive. We are finaly able to meet new people we’ve heard so much about. It is an awesome thing to be around people with a likeminded passion.

We're in the room we're staying at

In April we will be going to Los Angeles to Foursquare Headquarters for a missionary training intensive. It is 10 straight days of all-day instruction, much like a college intensive.  We have a number of reading materials to get through, such as:

• Ministering Cross-Culturally by Sherwood Lingenfelter and Marvin Mayers.  Please take tests on pages 29 -35 prior to training and bring these with you to Orlando.
• Doing What Jesus Did by John and Sonja Decker
• Cross-Cultural Conflict by Duane Elmer
• Disciples of All Nations: Continual Mission Until He Comes by John Amstutz with workbook by Gary Matsdorf     Please complete workbook responses prior to training.
• Re-Entry by Peter Jordan
• Culture Shock Poland

Some of it is required before the training and other parts are before we are deployed.  Eitherway it’s a lot to get in for a fully invovled family.  We are also scrambling to find someone to come with us (airfare & expenses paid, thanks to our Church) to baby-sit Emma while we are away during the days.  We’ve had a few people be interested but it just hasn’t worked out for anyone.

So that’s a quick update on what’s going on with our missions work.

This past week has been a lot of prepping for paper-cuts.  Next week we will be printing and stuffing over a hundred envelopes full of the plans for our future.  This is a very important first step into our official fund-raising phase, getting the word out.  Our goal is to have at least 100 monthly donations of $30.  There is a lot out there “fighting” for people’s money, so we are spending a lot on presenting ourselves in a serious and professional way that communicates what God has put in our hearts for not just the “people” in Kraków, but our friends.

Keep us in our prayers, for the paper-cuts to be minimal, that printers print what we need w/o wasting envelopes (which we have had custom made), and that God leads us to send these “kits” to the right people.   We are also raising funds for our last short-term trip this coming July – which is a separate beast in and of itself, the team is looking to be a great and amazing team – which we are all very excited about – and that’s another prayer point as well.

I must say that as details are being put together for our next trip in July, excitment is building. It’s incredible how large this team will be. And I believe it is because of our relationship with each one. When people think of missions and where they would like to go, they usualy think of Africa or Mexico. (for us Americans) How amazing that our heart and love for the Polish is being caught by others here! This is our desire. No matter how many hours of planning, our love for the Polish is catching!
However, one huge detail we need to begin is taking Polish lessons here in the Polish community. How awesome it is that we have a neighborhood here that is proud to be Polish and welcomes others to learn their culture and language. Thank you God!

It has been a few months since we returned from our last mission in Poland in October, 2008. It was a learning experience that we will never forget. From the exhausting flights and layovers to sickness and injury then to miraculous healing and building of new relationships we gained a new desire for the Nation of Poland. Our resolve has never been stronger to see our friends there receive healing in the area of relationships and freedom from bondage and strengthening in their relationship with God.

We learned that there are communications barriers that we need to overcome and while this is true here in the states as well as in other parts of Europe, Poland is where our heart is. The uniqueness of Poland is the population of Bible believing Christians is less than one percent. While the country is 99.99% Catholic, there is still need for truth and healing.

We are looking to head back in late July. Outreach is on our list of things to do, as well as create a video of interviews from the Christian Polish community to find out what it is that they want for their people. What is it that we can bring to them that is tangible that they can take to their families and friends in order to release healing and start a move of Christ that will encompass the city of Krakow.

We have a support and newsletter that will be coming out soon to ask for your support for this next trip. The trip will be 2 weeks in length. We will need prayer and financial support.

You can donate by following the Paypal Link on this page!

This new year marks the beginning of a very important phase in our ministry.  Beginning this month we begin our long-term mission campaign!  Our church council and missions team have cleared the way to send us as long term missionaries to Kraków, Poland.  From this point forward we’ll be seeking at least 100 donors to donate $30.15 on a monthly basis from now until August 2010 – this will help put $61,155.00 into our reserve account for us to start out (includes funds for living, ministry, and travel). 

We’ll be getting the word out very soon to our current donor network.  We have a lot of logistics to get through and we’re feeling the stress, not in a bad way, but in a very “this is fo real” kind of way.  Please keep us in your prayers, consider being a monthly contributor, and each of us who personally know God are in the ministry as well, so we wish to hear from you, so we can pray and support what God is asking you to do and doing through you in your lives as well,

Back in October when we took our 2 week trip to Kraków we had 5 hours a day, Monday through Friday of intensive Polish language lessons.  As of today, we have practiced all but a mere 5 minutes.  We are creating a new schedule which will make practicing Polish a priority, and one of our Christmas wish list items is Rosetta Stone for Polish – even though we have a lot of basics, it will help with our practice and for Emma.  We also hope to begin practicing with some local Polish community members here in Portland but need to make the time to do it.  Dobry wieczór!