REACH Polska
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Archive for category Culture
Portland Polish Festival
Posted by Alexis in Alexis' Thoughts, Culture, Personal accounts, Poland on September 26, 2009
We just came back from the Polish Festival and boy are we exhausted. It was a lot of fun though. Tons of amazing food, singing, dancing and little trinkets that people want to clutter their houses with…it was nice. We invited a few friends with us and they loved it! They especially liked all the authentic Polish beers.
Enjoy all the pictures, I know there’s a lot. Some things that we have learned through this festival: our children will play with swords and shields not guns, Polish pastries are better than ours by a landslide, Alexis wants to learn their wedding dances, it is officially IMPOSSIBLE to not love their Baltic Sea Amber, Polish Cheese Pirogi will be served in heaven and lastly we are more than ever excited to be there again.
(*The picture of pretzels is for you Sabina. Whenever we are at your home you always have a trusty bag of pretzels that we all munch on. And when I saw these I smiled and thought of you
These are Easter eggs that are given on Easter. They are super beautiful and shiny in person.
When Polish creeps up on you
Today I was doing some work for a company called “Nova Wealth” – which isn’t odd or strange… it’s just that when you’ve been studying a language that uses “w” instead of “v” for the same sound, it kinda confuses the head. So I was kept typing “Nowa” instead of “Nova” – and “Nowa” in Polish means new – all so confusing – but I ’spose this is a step forward in language learning.
Language woes…
Posted by The Mielonens in Culture on December 1, 2008
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!
Staying connected
Posted by The Mielonens in Culture, Personal reflection on November 6, 2008
It’s been a couple of weeks now since we returned from Poland, and at times it feels as though we were never there, which deeply saddens me. Then other times we seem to have such grief it’s hard to move on with life here. We go back and fourth as if on a see-saw and at times the frustration leaves us feeling stuck. Then there arte moments, when we are with our church family, worshiping, praying, being in God’s word, that we are reminded of the meaning of this in-between season.
Soon we will be revamping our schedule to include Polish lessons, time for correspondance with our friends in Poland, and making learning and communicating a higher priority than it is at the moment. We realize we need this so that we can allow God to move in our lives.
PS – At the moment we’re looking at our next trip being in late July! We need at least 10 people to get the cheaper tickets
So if you are interested in coming, let us know, fundraising commences just after Christmas – and this time no complaints ( well, I’ll try).
Learn something about Kraków
Posted by The Mielonens in Culture on November 1, 2008
There’s many place on the Internet to learn about Kraków but Wikipedia’s article is pretty good, if you wanna know more about the place where Alexis and I will be living in just under two years, take a look, interesting history, and much more. Also, we’ve been looking around at different neighborhoods, and this past trip we visited the district of Prądnik Biały, one of the northern districts of Kraków, particularly we looked at the area around the Krowodrza Górka neighborhood, links to a development company, but gives idea of housing available in the neighborhood. Take a look, we love sharing our future life with people.
Grandpa’s Cafe
Posted by The Mielonens in Culture on September 19, 2008
We’re going to Grandpa’s cafe, it’s a Polish cafe in Portland, just below the Polish community association library, and across the street from the Polish catholic church, tonight! Great food, cash only, but cheap! Google’s street view is a bit outdated as it doesn’t show the stairs and door leading to the cafe under the library, but it’s there!
A whole community in need…
I just read a very interesting article in The Oregonian, it seems the Portland area christian Slavic community is struggling with integration. One of the comments on the article comes from someone who moved from Portland to Kraków, he has an interesting point of view, although not from a Christian worldview, but fairly healthy. Shows that there is a lot to be done within the Slavic community here in Portland, the Polish community here seems to have integrated fairly well, but as we visit the Polish cafe here more often we hope to build some relationship here.
A Polish perspective
I hope this finds you well.
This is a bit longer than I know most of you will read, but I’ll throw it out there anyway, because I believe God will move on this.
A while back I asked some Polish friends of ours, this question “How do you think we could effectively reach Poland for Jesus, from a Polish point of view?” Here is one Polish perspective:
Briefly, from my point of view Poland needs to be taught how to do cell groups and encouraged in the first years. This structure has to know that it is a part of a bigger project. Accountability projects for men and women need to be put together as well. Of course, the more people are taught, grown, and sent to evangelize among their peers the better. For me personally there is got to be a sturdy mentor program in place as well, so that people are not led astray by unsound theologies, or life circumstances they don’t have the skills to face etc. Apart from that, there is a dramatic need to show teenagers and young-adults that Christianity can be a fulfilling and cool lifestyle – there are too many connotations built around Catholic Church altar boy boring Christian life.
The greatest challenge – the tradition of the Catholic Church. It has its blessings and surely leads people to Jesus, but at the same time labels anything other than the CC a sect. There would have to be a conduit through priests to spread the good news and recognition of at least some efforts by the CC to change that. People in Poland who are not Christian go to church as well because it is their tradition!!! People in Poland don’t think that they need somebody else coming and telling them that they need Christ because they have been through all sacraments, and that fixes all dues with God. There is a warped perspective of what it means to be a Christian in Poland and it runs deep as it’s solidified over generations and centuries. There are unchurched countries, or countries that are openly hostile towards Christians, but Poland is a country, which believes to be Christian (plus following the one and only right church) although it’s very heathen. This belief that we’re Christian comes first when filling out opinion polls etc, but it comes last in actions and viewpoints.
I hope this helps in seeing the bigger picture, what we do in Poland is not just a vacation, or a visit with close friends, it’s a chance to bring what God has trained us in, equipped us in, and is calling us to do – to a place that has very little workers, and a lot of confusion and push back. Read the “Why Poland” page and you’ll see that our vision is supported by the words above.
Help get us there this October, we need just 430 more donations of just $15…
Click to donate
Thanks for your support and prayers,
Travis, Alexis, and Emma Mielonen
“Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is.” – C. S. Lewis
Furniture in Poland
Looks like Poland doesn’t have a shortage of furniture, at least we know we’ll have plenty to choose from.
Poland is third largest furniture exporter in Europe
Warsaw, Poland July 21, 2008
Poland is the third largest furniture exporter in the EU, after Germany and Italy.
Last year, Poland exported more than EUR 4.4 bln in furniture to European markets. According to a report published by the Centre for Industrial Studies (CSIL) in Milan, Poland is among the ten biggest furniture manufacturers in the world, with around 3% share of world furniture production estimated at $307 bln.
The overall value of the Polish furniture export amounts to EUR 7.6 bln and increased by 22% when compared to 2006.
Taken From:
http://www.warsawvoice.pl/newsX.php/6559
Starbucks and Church
Posted by Travis in Culture, Personal reflection on July 18, 2008
I’m sitting in a Starbucks here in Gresham, had devotion time with Marcus. In the few hours I’ve been here I’ve overheard at least four different conversations around me… all people discussing ministry, mostly people in worship/music ministry. So I began thinking, wow, here I am in one of the most “unchurched” states in the nation and multiple people, who probably don’t know each other, all serving the Lord in some way or another, enjoying fellowship.
Then I think about my friends in Poland, for them to hear a casual conversation from other Christians in a public place would be like finding a lost family member. I’m amazed, thankful, grateful, and reminded of the calling we have in Poland. A place where there are less evangelical works in the entire country than some Middle Eastern cities (see our Why Poland page). I’m sure that in Oregon, with only a population close to 4 million, has more bible believing, walking with the Lord, Christians than the entire 40 million of Poland.


















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