Seriously though, this weekend in Poland has been amazing. God's presence has been felt since we arrived and at the bottom of this post I will share about the ministry times we have enjoyed.
We arrived on Friday night an hour late since our plane in Warsaw was having trouble, but when we finally arrived Mary Jill Callery was there to meet us with her sweet room mate. After all the hugs and kisses etc. we got in the car and headed toward Jan and Basia Skarbek's home which was about an hour and forty minutes from Krakow. We arrived around 9 and Basia had a delicious meal waiting for us.
We fellowshiped for several hours and finally got to bed around 12. It always amazes us how small the world is but also how no matter where you go in the world, if you are with fellow believers it is as though you have known them forever. That was definitely the case on Friday evening.
Saturday dawned early......the sun comes up around 4:30 or 5 a.m. and we woke up to bright sunlight in our room. It was a real treat. Plus the air was warm already and near 65. Poland is having an early spring and all the flowers are blooming, trees are green and the air is scented with fragrance from all the flowering bushes. After breakfast Basia and Sherry took a walk in her village.
This is a stork sitting in its nest that we saw on our walk. They are beautiful birds and build their nests on top of poles.
This is a predominately Catholic country so it is not unusual to see these little shrines on the side of the road especially in the villages.
Here is a house with a built in shrine between the windows.
This is one of the village yards.
After our walk, we awaited a visit from our friend Valya and her husband Machek. Valya used to be one of our translators in Ukraine and moved to Poland after marrying Machek. So it was a real blessing to be able to see her and meet her husband. They took us into Tarnow to the Jewish quarter to treat us to lunch at a Jewish Restaurant. It was so much fun and we enjoyed catching up while eating our meal.
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| Valya, Boris, Machek |
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| Dinner was amazing. There is salad under the pita that is eaten inside the pita. Oh my |
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| Our waitress with the pre WW2 head dress of a Jewish waitress |
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| The inside of the Restaurant. Notice all the black and white photos of Orthodox Jewish men on the walls. |
Here we are sharing something funny from our story
You can see the knots hanging from the ropes. Each person was given one with a scripture attached.
While we were sharing many were crying. As always we are always amazed at the way God uses our story to touch hearts. At the end the invitation was given and we were privileged to minister to over 35 people . The line was from the front of the Church all the way to the back. It took us over an hour to pray for them all but oh the joy. One woman came and said she wanted to know God and we led her in the prayer of repentance and she gave her life to Christ. We were so full by the time we got home we were energized.
This morning at the Lord is our Banner Christian Center we had the joy of worshiping with our brothers and sisters and sharing the word with them. The worship at this Church is amazing. The presence of our Lord is felt from the first song and we believe it is because this body is in unity. The people are encouraged at the end of worship to come up and share anything that the Lord said to them during worship and about 8 people came up to share. The theme was love. The love that flows through them to each other is palatable. Pastor Jan has done an incredible job of bringing them to this place. PW preached one of the most anointed messages he has ever preached taken from Psalm 133 on unity and how the Lord commands a blessing as a result of walking in this kind of unity and then also shared how God is able to do things in our lives that we could never even imagine possible. Once again a man came to the Lord. At the end of the service they presented us with a gift bag and a surprise cake and flowers for Sherry to celebrate her birthday and then they took us out to eat and for a walking tour of Old City Tarnow. We spent time in the Jewish Ghetto and were awed by the beauty of this old city.
Here are some more pictures to enjoy.
He was on fire.
My cake and beautiful flowers
The congregation this morning
Jan and Basia
It is early evening and I am sitting outside in the warm air typing this and trying to absorb all that the Lord has done this weekend. The testimony's from the people are touching and we are so thankful that God has allowed us this privilege of coming. They have been like sponges and as a result it has pulled out of us all that the Lord has deposited in our hearts. It makes it so easy to preach to people who are hungry. Pastor said they are like this all the time.
Pastor Jan has invited us to come next July to speak at their family camp and to do a marriage seminar. We are very excited for this new open door. Years ago the Lord sent several prophets to us at different times telling us that we would be going to the nations. At the time we could never have imagined this happening. And here we are all these years later doing just that. PTL from whom all blessings flow.
Thank you so much for all your prayers. Our Church has been such an integral part of our trips. When we go you come with us. We carry you in our hearts. We have sensed God's favor from the time we got on the plane leaving Cleveland. This has been an amazing trip.
Tomorrow we are going to a nearby village to see special painted houses. I will post pictures tomorrow evening after we return from the prayer meeting.
Much love,
PW and Sherry
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