Thank you for your prayers.
Last Saturday in Mississauga, Ontario, Global Missionary Ministries officially accepted Sandy and I as GMM staff members. There are still details to work out (like funds to raise, job descriptions to upgrade, etc.) but we are now officially on staff.
As many of you know Sandy has just returned from Russia and is now in Poland. She will return late next Wednesday (February 28) to Michigan. Please continue to keep her in your prayers and enjoy the story of her journey in the following email I received this morning.
Today I am in Roznowo, Poland, a small village in the northeast region of the country. I arrived here yesterday after our trip to Kaliningrad, Russia. It is great to be here in Roznowo, visiting with friends from Missio Musica. Last night we stayed up until the early morning hours, talking about what God is doing in our lives. It is a special treat for me to be here with such dear brothers and sisters.
I arrived safely in Poland on Monday and then we drove north 3 hours to the home of Zbygniew Chojnacki, the camp director. We left early Tueday for our trek to Kaliningrad. It was quite an adventure. When we arrived at the Russian border, we had to wait about one hour for all the passport checks, inspection of the vehicle, etc. Fortunately, there were no problems. Then began a whirlwind of events. We checked into my hotel, located right in the center of town, where traffic was heavy (they are crazy drivers!), and across the street from a 4-story mall (galleria). I took the small elevator to the hotel's 5th floor. I was amused (actually I laughed out loud) at the sign posted on the inside of the elevator, written in English: "If you have problems with elevaror, please don't worri. Don't worri if the lights turns off." Great, huh? And then when the "elevaror" stopped at the 5th floor, it was about 5 inches short of being even with the floor. I loved it! But my room was nice and I had everything I needed.
From there we drove to the Jewish community center to meet with Rabbi S. They served us a wonderful lunch (potato soup, fresh fish, noodles, hot sweet buns).
We met with the Rabbi for about 1/2 hour. Of course, the conversation was totally in Russian, so I was always begging for a translation. The Rabbi was very pleasant, had a quick smile and a sparkle in his eyes, yet he was still very hesitant about letting his children come to our camp. If they come, he wants to do all the teaching and design the program. I can understand this, and I believe it will be a good thing if we can host them at the camp and serve them in love.
He will possibly bring his children for a weekend Shabbat. We continue to pray this will happen.
Since I asked to meet some of the children, they took us to a public school where special classes are set up for Jewish children. We visited 3 classes, and I enjoyed the children SO much. They were about 9 - 10 years old, the boys wearing the Jewish cap (yarmulke). I showed them pictures of Kezia, Josiah, and Kenan on my camera and talked simple English with them. We became friends quickly and I didn't want to leave. Each child would say, "My name eez (is) Vlad" or "My name eez (is) Daniel" and they were quite interested in my name ... how to translate "Sandy"? We also drove to a children's center, where they bring in children off the streets. I met about 7 children there ... Yulia, Natasha, Tanya, and others. They were painting ceramics. We met with their leader, Sergei, and they will most likely bring 20 children to the camp in June.
From there we wound through the heavy traffic and quickly visited a large cathedral (rebuilt after it was destroyed in WWII), and then to the port and shipyards (there is a canal through the city that connects Kaliningrad with the Baltic Sea). All the time I was learning about the history of this city, once a German capital over all of East Prussia. My brain was trying to assimilate all the sights, sounds, information ... so much to process so quickly. (Actually, I had printed more than 20 pages of information from the internet regarding Kaliningrad and Immanuel Kant prior to coming ... gave me something to read as I sat on the floor in the Frankfurt airport! :))
Our last visit was to the small apartment of Andrej and Elena, a pastor and his wife (they lead an Evangelical church in Kaliningrad). We visited with them and their friend, Galina, for about 2 hours concerning the camp and the possibility of their children attending. They had many questions. Their 5-year-old son, Timofey, became my shadow, and we enjoyed playing together. He left the room for a while and returned with a beautiful finger-painting ... it will soon adorn my refrigerator at home. (I can now say I possess an original Russian painting.)
Their 9-year-old daughter, Nadia, was quieter, and stayed mostly in her room, talking to friends on a cell phone. I enjoyed this family very much, and we hope to work together at the camp in Ostroda this summer.
By this point in the day, my jet lag was kicking in big time (it's even more difficult while you are listening to Russian for so many hours). And I can imagine by this point in this email, you, too, are about to nod off ... sorry, I will finish quickly.
We returned to my hotel, met a wonderful woman, Inga, who had arranged official papers for us for our return trip on Wednesday. She works in a high government office, and the head officer signed these papers for us. What this means is that on Wednesday morning when we arrived at the border to return to Poland we found a line of HUNDREDS of cars and trucks. They were all waiting to cross the border. Some of them had been there for 3 days! They sleep in their cars, go to the bathroom in the woods, etc. It's crazy! But Kazik took our papers up to the main building, and they waved us forward. We drove past all these cars (receiving many glares along the way). When we got to the main gate, the guards opened the gate just for our car (I was feeling like quite the V.I.P., in a nervous sort of way). We had to go inside a special building to have our passports processed, but it took only a few minutes. The Russian officials were not pleased with us, because it was a very high-ranking paper, and if they gave us problems, they would lose their job. But, they were disappointed because usually they receive good bribes from business people wanting to cross the border quickly. I began to realize that the border is the site of a lot of corruption. Altogether it took us about 45 minutes to cross, and we were shouting "Woo-hoo!" when the bar lifted and we drove into Poland. I am now wondering about those long lines of cars ... how long must they wait? We are so fortunate to live in freedom in our country.
O.K. ... time to wrap this up. As I said, I am now in Roznowo, resting a bit and meeting with friends. We will drive later today to Warsaw. Tomorrow I will visit the Missio Musica School of Music and a few other places. Tomorrow night rehearsals begin for their Saturday concert. All day Saturday they will rehearse, as well. The concert will be Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. (12:00 noon in Michigan). Please pray for this concert. Many churches are invited, and they are hoping many un-churched friends will also attend. Adam Kosewski will be directing the concert and it is his great desire that God will be honored. We hope the people will be open to God and they will join us in worship (not just a performance with an audience). On Sunday we will lead worship for the church services, and then in the afternoon will be an important Missio Musica council meeting to make plans for the summer. Please pray for this as well.
I hope I can email you again after the concert and give you an updated report.
They have asked me to share a testimony at this concert ... so please pray that God will put His words in my mouth. The churches here need encouragement so much .. they need to know that God is very active and is doing great things among His people. I want Him to use me to bring hope and joy by His Spirit.
It is so incredible to me that I am actually here in Poland once again. It is a special gift. I look out the window .. it has turned very cold overnite (I'm afraid I brought the cold Michigan weather with me) ... it is extremely windy and snow is blowing across the barren fields. Everything is grey and "dead," but spring is not far away and new life will once again spring from the earth. May God's Spirit bring renewal in the same way here in Poland ... may righteousness spring up from the ground; may hopelessness give way to joy; may dead religion experience the resurrection power of our Lord Jesus; and may God, Who is robed in majesty, reign in love over this land.
Thank you for your prayers. God is good. He is faithful. He is my mighty fortress and my Rock upon which I stand. All glory to Him!!
I love you all.
Z Bogiem (go with God),
...Sandy
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