Items for the Family News category
Re-entry
Posted by Alexis in Alexis' Thoughts, Family News, Personal reflection on February 4, 2012
We’ve been ‘home’ for about 2 weeks and when friends have asked us how our trip was, we’re finding it hard to explain. Yes, we were able to express about our time with our friends but it seems less and less like a foreign place where we need to process what we’ve seen/experienced/done. It seems more like Seattle. Gone for a bit to visit those we love and are back in Portland again. We feel like no re-entry processing is needed.
We are, however, fortunate that we didn’t have any problems with the time difference. We were able to pick up right from where we left. I can remember a friend asking me if it was difficult at all coming back to Portland.
I was internally surprised. Well yes, obviously, we wish we were living in Krakow right now…but it’s become more familiar to make this trip that it seems to get easier and easier.
One hard part is that here, we are not able to visit with our Polish friends like we were able to this trip. Who knows, maybe the next trip will be with visas and tons of suitcases! 
American Baseball
Posted by Alexis in Alexis' Thoughts, Family News, Personal accounts on August 9, 2011
We were given FABULOUS Mariner tickets by my dad and step-mom for our Polish friends to experience an all American baseball game.
And it was fabulous. In every way. No kids, great weather and the best seats I’ve ever had. Oh and it gets better- we actually won!
It was a fabulous time and we had a blast. Lots of laughing,, yelling and watching out for pop fly’s.
Heck, even Jesus himself visited the game!
We also chummed it up with our friend of ours there. You might know him. He goes by one name. Ichiro.
He’s nice. Kinda quiet though.
They tried our wonderful healthy baseball stadium food. I chose the nachos with liquid cheese and spicy chili, Travis had a light beer and they had pepperoni pizza. Oh and the freshly squeezed lemonades. Sweet beautiful lemonades.
Lastly, they heard TONS about the ‘seventh inning stretch’ and were so excited to be apart of it. And it lived up to their expectations.
At about the 7th inning, the fans who are still there don’t care how good they sound. It’s probably the amount of beer they’ve consumed but I like that carefree thinking. So we sang loudly too.
We also did the wave. FIVE TIMES around the stadium. I worked at having a good attitude but think I failed.
It was cold, late, I was exhausted from spending the morning playing at the beach, I didn’t feel like jumping with liquid cheese in my stomach (which almost came out in the car later) and overall I was easily annoyed/pissy. Did I do a good job defending my mood? …I know, I know…but at least I didn’t bite someone’s head off. But poor Trav got a few verbal bullets flying past his ears.
So anyways, we did the wave. 5 times.
Let me refrase that: I watched our friends do the wave 5 times. I took the pictures.
Can you believe the Mariners won?!!!
Great picture huh. Great people. Great game. Great night.
*her hair is not that blond. Weird lights. But I like that color on her don’t you?
Polish Preschool
Posted by Alexis in Alexis' Thoughts, Emma's Thoughts, Family News, Personal accounts on April 13, 2011
There is a constant tug of war with my attentions and heart when it comes to Poland and living here. Take preschool for Emma. Travis and my hope was to enroll her into preschool IN Poland. Not here. But as our plans changed, so did the details- like Emma’s preschool.
Yet through all the changes our family has had this past year,we have also seen God take care of all the details of our life. For example our wonderful home. It is perfect for us in every way. And every time I walk through the front door I smile. Perfect timing, perfect rent, perfect location.
And now God is showing us how He’s taken care of Emma’s schooling. Yes, we are not in Poland (boo) but there is a Polish preschool here in Portland! Not only do they do the entire schooling in Polish but she will also be able to learn about Polish culture and we will hopefully create some wonderful relationships in the community there.
I am so excited but nervous too. She obviously will be behind language wise but with her friendly and open personality I am sure she will make friends quickly.
I haven’t heard back from them yet so if you could lift a prayer up we would be so grateful.
Leaving the fog
Posted by Travis in Family News, Fund Raising, Poland on April 12, 2011
We have not been good at updating people in the past six months in regards to our plans with Poland. This has been somewhat intentional, and somewhat because we’re not really sure how to address everything. In short, we are still 100% on board for becoming full time missionaries to Poland. Our vision and goals remain, REACH.
The time frame of course has changed a bit, and we have slowed down to take care of ourselves here. The last year was full of warfare and it seemed, for a while, that we were in a fog. Thankfully, we have held on strong to God’s call, and with the support of our church, family, and most of all, our friends, we have been moving forward.
Currently we have raised about 30% of our monthly budget – this is fantastic news, as we haven’t really “began” fundraising. As we gear up for the “real fundraising” we are excited to see how God provides.
We have found a lot of rest in these past six months, and we know the next will be filled with a lot of activity, so we thank God for what he has given us. For Alexis the fundraising activity means a lot of follow up, and communication with many people. Since Travis works full-time, this essentially becomes a full time job for Alexis – it takes a lot to invite multiple couples over every weekend to hear about the vision.
Thanks again for sticking with us – and as we ramp up again, we promise to keep communications more open!
Language and funds
Posted by Travis in Family News, Fund Raising, Mobile post, News, Poland on November 10, 2010
Well the holidays are not the best time to start raising support, but hey what is God’s timing is His timing right? We will be going to Los Angeles next week for a support raising seminar that Foursquare Missions International (our sending agency) is putting on. It is three 8 hour days of focus on raising support for the mission field. We’re excited, even though fund raising is not a fun thing at all for us; we’re hoping this seminar changes that for us! We’ve figured that if 200 of our donors averaged $35 a month, starting now, we would have 100% of our deployment funds by next fall, and at that same giving rate, have our full field budget as well! See support details here.
The other area we are focusing on is language acquisition, knowing Polish well enough to have a conversation (even if it means some clarification is needed) is our goal. We try to use Polish as much as possible in our home and with Emma. In January we hope to begin lessons with a friend in Poland using skype!
That’s all for now folks, keep us in your prayers and always feel free to ask questions, it’s not easy to cover everything in tweets, Facebook, blogs, etc. We’d love to have dinner, desserts, or coffee with any of you too!
Shipping out?
Posted by Travis in Family News, Fund Raising, Poland on August 22, 2010
Some of you might be wondering what our departure status is, and right now the best we can say is that we are in a holding pattern. We’re feeling lead by God to take care of some things on the home front here prior to leaving. There is a lot to address before we depart, everything from fund raising, storage, medical things, employment, visas, language learning (hard to do in the midsts of everyday life), and many other fine details.
We are prayerfully looking at each step, and will keep on knocking, we know God’s promise of REACHing Poland is true, and we look forward to the day we land and start the next book of our lives.
Fund Raiser update!
Posted by The Mielonens in Family News, Fund Raising, News on July 16, 2010
Today! Sunday 7/18 – We still have lots of items to give away with your donation! Come by and give a donation to receive a gift in that category! Our house is full of items that we need to get rid of, so please come by and see what you might get! - All gifts are tax deductible and go towards our deployment fund. Thanks!
Our house address is: 2546, NW 3rd Terrace, Gresham, OR97030
Items for a suggested donation of $3
Items for a suggested donation of $5
Items for a suggested donation of $10
Items for a suggested donation of $15
Items for a suggested donation of $20
Items for a suggested donation of $50
Items for a suggested donation of $75
Items for a suggested donation of $100
Items for a suggested donation of $150
Items for a suggested donation of $300
Items for a suggested donation of $500
It’s time! We’re moving away
Posted by The Mielonens in Family News, Fund Raising on June 22, 2010
Friends! Pass this along….
We’re auctioning off (almost) everything!
Save the dates! We will be auctioning nearly everything in our home on Sat/Sun July 17/18 and 24/25! All proceeds will go towards our deployment costs. Our goal is to raise three months worth of our living and ministry budgets – $17,000, our emergency reserves. All winnings/gifts are tax deductible. Pass it on, let others know!
Details can be found on the events page.
We’re leaving Portland, for a little while
On July 31st we will start off on a three month journey, to do an intensive internship with C.A.R.E. in Baldwin, Michigan. C.A.R.E. is a ministry for survivors of traumatic abuse, usually resulting in memory loss from early childhood trauma. God has lead us this direction to equip us with the tools to address survivors in Poland and to equip ministers throughout Poland in addressing the needs of traumatic abuse victims and survivors. Through intensive prayer therapy and unconditionally loving survivors through the memories of their trauma C.A.R.E. directs God’s truth and love to the deepest wounds imaginable.
Have our plans changed?
Nope! We still plan on leaving for Poland (pending all our deployment funds are raised!) sometime in November, we will return to Portland in November, and if our deployment funds are good to go, we’ll be leaving on a jet plain, not knowing when we’ll be back again. If fund raising still needs to happen, we’ll remain in Portland to continue fund raising. We see this internship with C.A.R.E. as the icing on the cake in our training and equipping.
From our two year associate degrees from the Oregon College of Ministry, our years of serving and leading the young adults group at East Hill Church and cultivating our home group, we feel God’s hand in each part. It’s been many years, much learning, a lot of heart ache, always an amazing encounter with God and although unplanned, we know C.A.R.E. will be a cornerstone in building the DNA we wish to impart to Polish leaders and new church families across Poland.
Let us tell you why in under 3 min!
Watch this quick clip and let us explain our heart for Poland. More to come soon, this is just the beginning! See it here.
House for sale
Our land lord is selling this wonderful house we have called home for nearly 4 years. He hopes to have it sold by the time we vacate. Click here for more info and pictures of items going on auction!
The next trip!
Posted by Travis in Family News, Fund Raising, News, Poland, Trip updates on November 9, 2009
We have been fairly low key about some plans which have been brewing for a little while… a trip to Poland in January! It will be from January 11th to the 28th, God has provided essentially all of the funds already, so no fund-raising! We are excited and at the same time in a lot of prayer, we will be meeting with friends and leaders learning about many of the details it will take for us to make the big move. We ask for you to intercede with us now, as we know there will be many details and more obstacles which can seem overwhelming.
The goal of this trip is two fold. First, take as much opportunity to observe ministry, with our friends in Kraków and in Wrocław (we’ll be there too, more on that in a minute). We’ll be attending every event we can, having coffee with every person we can, and praying a lot. We need to begin making these appointments now – which can be difficult, so please be praying that people’s schedules allow us to be used by God.
Second, we will be meeting with other Foursquare friends, leaders, and missionaries in Wrocław (about 3 hours west of Kraków). They are the leaders of The Rock church and we are excited to share with them what God has laid on our hearts, to learn from them, and simply fellowship and glean what God is doing through them.
We covet your prayers and look forward to what God is doing! If you’re Polish and reading this, let’s schedule some time for coffee! :)
Video Recorded!
Posted by Alexis in Alexis' Thoughts, Family News, Fund Raising, Personal accounts, Poland on October 10, 2009
So last night we were able to do the video. Lets just say that Travis was made for this and me…not so much. I think I prefer the stage. One good thing is that there will be bloopers at the end of the video so make sure to wait for it. It will be 95% me and the rest maybe Emma. (Yes, she is on the video and did fabulous. Here are some pictures of our adventure last night. Enjoy.
Trip to Seattle
Posted by The Mielonens in Family News on August 22, 2009
Recently we were in Seattle for about two weeks, catching up with friends and family. One of the things we did was meet with Jeff Roper the Foursquare Missions area missionary for Europe, pretty much he’ll be our “boss” once we leave next fall for Poland to live there!
We took the oppurtunity on our way to Alexis’ cousin’s wedding on Bainbridge Island to take a family picture on a ferry.
An update! Finally!
Posted by The Mielonens in Family News, Fund Raising, News on July 18, 2009
The radio silience of this blog has certainly been an indicator of our real life, but finally we have taken the time to make a newsletter. Check it out. Hopefully some more action will take place around here.
The heart of our missions family…
Posted by Travis in Family News, News on May 30, 2009
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.
Moving forward
Posted by The Mielonens in Family News, Poland on May 17, 2009
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.
April Missions Training
Posted by The Mielonens in Family News, News, Poland on March 21, 2009
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.
Emma’s dedication
Posted by Travis in Family News on August 17, 2008
Emma was dedicated last night, see pictures and read more about it on Travis’ blog.
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The Mielonens' Adventure
- Misja Polska, Mission Poland -
Releasing, Equipping, Affecting, Connecting, and Helping REACH poland with Jesus' personal work.
Foursquare Missionaries to Poland
Our sending Church is East Hill Church in Gresham, OregonDonate
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