Our First Month in Poland. . .Part Two

Drawing lesson with Tim

We continued to enjoy beautiful weather in September and maintain a school schedule.  Most afternoons, the kid enjoyed walking to town through the forest to buy sweets at their favorite store, Biedrunka.  We also bought fresh bread from a local bakery and a variety of sausages from another store (or sklep) nearby. 

Scarlett and Julia

Another Christian home-school family also lives on the Stebnecki's property.  They have a sweet twelve year old girl and cute little boy age two.  Scarlett enjoys spending time with Julia and Samuel has become Eliana's little shadow.  Their mother, Danusha, has taught us some Polish and her husband Gieshek has helped Chris "modify" our van.  We've been enjoying spending time with this family and learning from them.

Beautiful  Bojano

On Saturday, September 5th, Chris was blessed to be able to attend a "Daddy" conference about 5 hours from Bojano in the city of  Lodz (Wooj.) There were around 850 dads in attendance from several countries, mostly Poland. Some amazing testimonies were shared- even the father of Poland's current president shared about the importance of daily reading the Bible in the home.   Chris had several encouraging conversations including one with an Orthodox priest from Romania.   Chris was also able to encourage a group of dads who were considering homeschooling, but were looking for encouragement and confirmation. "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable," Psalm 145:3.  Thank you Lord, for these encounters!

Piotr, Marisha, neighbors: Beata, Piotr, Ericka, Chris, Lisa & Yanush

Our friends in Tczew, Piotr (Peter) and Marisha, invited us to spend a couple days (September 11-12) at their home with their children (ranging from 17 to 27).  Piotr is an excellent drummer and jazz/blues musician so Chris and Kenneth enjoyed a good jam session.  We drove down Friday morning to sing at a festival for handicapped children in the town square in Tczew. 

The quiet square in Tczew.

This quiet square was transformed into a colorful place with artwork, balloons and people robed in medieval costume or dressed as animal characters.  Three people walking on stilts really stood out above the crowd.  The festival coordinators fed us delicious soup and bread (with salo) and cake after we sang. 

Preaching by the train station.

After a tea/coffee break at Piotr's house we had the privilege of particiating in an outreach at the Tczew train station.  We sang and shared with Yanush (the Tczew church’s pastor and fellow homeschooler) translating and also handed out the gospel message in Polish with wordless book wristbands we brought from the States.  Yanush, and other men from the Tcew church, preached in between our music sharing times.  Everyone went away encouraged as some of the men had several great conversations about the Lord.

Our families with the church in progress behind.

On Sunday, September 13, we shared a few songs at a church in Gdansk.  The congregation is in the process of reconstructing an old building but they meet under several large tents on the property for now.  We were very encouraged by the saints there and we again experienced a wonderful Polish welcome.  A family from Ukraine recently started attending this church and meeting them grew our desire to revisit Ukraine.  After the meeting we enjoyed an amazing time of food and fellowship with one of the pastor/elders and his family, who speak English well. 

Chef Wiesiek with Steak Tartar. . .look it up!

We are grateful to the Lord for providing us with our wonderful hosts and friends, Wiesiek and Nancy Stebnecki.  They have spent countless hours on the phone talking with people on our behalf, translating for us at stores and shops, at church meetings and conferences, and at government offices.  They have hosted us in their home, introduced us to many of their friends, provided us with a lovely cabin to stay in, and have driven us around the Gdynia, Sopot, Gdansk (tri-city) area showing us where all the "best" places are. 

A Polish "truck stop" diner.

Their sons have been a huge blessing to our children as well. Tim taught us many things from how to catch, prepare and eat snails to how to draw and build tree houses.  Paul has been an inspiration to our boys-teaching them how to play new songs on the guitar and how to how to shoot and edit photographs.  David is also such a joy.  He loves to come in and listen as we read aloud in the evenings, and he does an excellent job of making sure our home is spic and span (even the outside boards and the stairs.) 

Blueberry Pierogi! Yum

We have been so blessed by the wonderful hospitality and warm welcome we have received here, and have been impressed about how important it is to just love.  1 John 3:18: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth."  What an example our brothers and sisters in Poland are to us.