A Great Week In Poland

We just got back from a week in Poland. We took advantage of a school break for all of us to travel together to visit a couple churches and have a few days of fun in between. First, we went over to Wolczyn to visit Pastor Andrzej and his family in Wolczyn. They have become good friends of ours and it is always great to have a chance to see them. We spent the night with them and we were able to get an update on their church (building and people). It was great to see them again. Monday we drove down to Skawina, just outside of Krakow. In Skawina we were blessed to stay in the Warsaw Seminary director's apartment (unoccupied at the moment). It was really a blessing for us to be able to stay there. We stayed there for 4 nights and were able to enjoy some of the nice things in the Krakow area. We went to the Wieliczka salt mine. It is the only salt mine in the world that has been in continuous operation since the middle ages. It is 900 years old and has 200 km of passages. Lenee' and the Kuechler's (other missionaries who stayed with us) went to Auschwitz while I stayed home and watched the kids. One day we also went in to visit the old city of Krakow. It is very beautiful and has many buildings that are 600-700 years old. After Krakow, we went on to the mountain town of Wisla-Czarne to visit the church there. We arrived on Friday and actually found some snow high up on the mountain. We took the kids for sledding and snowboarding Friday night. Saturday morning we got a free snowboarding lesson from our translator's brother. It was a lot of fun even though we spent a lot of time on the ground. Maybe I am crazy, but I thought it was a good idea for Nathan, Aaron, and I to learn snowboarding together. It would be something fun for us to enjoy together. I found out that all of that falling probably makes me a little more sore than it used to. But we had a good time. On Sunday morning, the pastor asked me to speak at church. That was the real highlight of the trip for me. I spoke about how we are supposed to be the salt of the earth. Several people came down for prayer and many people commented on how good the message was and how it spoke to them. Praise goes to the Lord for giving me the message. I couldn't come up with anything that good on my own! We had a great time on our trip and it was really wonderful to be able to visit those two churches once again.
March 3- 10, I will be in Postovice, Czech at the Teen Challenge working with a team from Wichita, KS. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and we are a blessing to the TC. I am taking Matthew with me. He has been wanting to go to work with me, so we will give it a try. The schedule may be tough on him. Pray that it goes well. Also pray for Lenee', Nathan, Aaron, and Madelyn as they are home in Dresden.
I got the opportunity to visit a potential new church project in Leipzig the other day. The "Center of Hope" church has purchased an old supermarket building and needs help to get it renovated. The pastor is a great guy and has a real heart for reaching people. It will be great if we can help them out with a team or two. It would be a great encouragement to them and help give them a much needed "shot-in-the-arm".
Our time to head back to the US is looming on the horizon, getting closer and closer. It will be here before we know it. I have started scheduling services and have a few set up. After this team, I will start working much harder on our service schedule. Hopefully, by the time we go home, the calendar will be full. Pray that we have favor with pastors and churches as we schedule services.
Nathan and Aaron got their half year report cards not too long ago. They both did well. Nathan had all 1's and 2's (like A's and B's), even in German class. Aaron doesn't get grades yet but had very good notes from his teacher. Matthew is doing well in kindergarten. He is doing much better with German and really seems to enjoy playing with the other kids. Sometimes he tells us we come to get him too early. Madelyn is always running around, playing, laughing, and jabbering all of the time. She is really a joy to have around. I am so proud of the kids, they have done so well living in Germany. It was like they had no adjustment period at all. Praise the Lord for that.
Nathan had his last luge competition of the year at Altenberg. On his first run, which was practice, he had the 3rd best time. That's his best so far. Then on his second run, which counted in the competition, he crashed! That was his first crash. Since he got a DNF, he was automatically put in last place. He did the last run anyway and had the 5th best time. He was very disappointed, but he had a very good season. We explained that even when you try your best, sometimes you crash. That's just the way it is. It happens to the best. The most important thing is to do your best and then you have nothing to be ashamed of.
I hope everyone likes the new electronic newsletters. They are working great for us. If you haven't been getting them, go to the homepage of our website and you will find a sign-up box there.
Since Christmas I have been doing a lot of paperwork, computer work, and internet work. It is not very exciting, but necessary, so I thought it was a good time to talk a little more about our family than normal.
Thanks for your generous and faithful prayer and financial support. We are so glad that you have partnered with us to make a difference here in Central Europe. You guys are all the best. Take care and God bless! Until next time...