Off For Holiday Time!

Hello again! As I write this I am packing for my week-long holiday/retreat, which I must say, I’m really excited for! Tomorrow morning I have the privilege to travel with two friends to Lausanne, Switzerland, where we’ll will be staying for 4 days. While there I’ll have the opportunity to meet up with some good friends at the YWAM campus, have fun learning to ski, and take in the beauty of a Swiss winter! After the short stay in Lausanne I’ll travel north and east to Mannheim, Germany, where I’ll be staying for a couple days with some Canadian pastor-friends serving there. Pictures will be posted!

To be honest, I’m really desiring a break. I’ve had a wonderful time here in Poland so far, but I’m at a place where I think it’ll be healthy to step outside of Poland (culture, language, setting, etc.), take a breather, reflect on the past four months of what God has taught me, and done in in, through, and around me, as well as see some familiar faces. While I am looking forward to leaving for a short time, I do so in the hope that I will return to Bialystok rested, refreshed, and ready to re-enter even more fully and passionately into what God’s doing here.

Please pray for: safe travels, joy-filled times with friends, and a refreshed body, mind, and soul. Bless you as you go throughout your week, and I’ll continue to keep you posted on what I’m experiencing here in the European continent!

-Jonathan

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Karta Pobytu (short-term residency card)

 

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Prayer Answered

Not sure how it is for you, but for me each January is a series of awkward glances at calenders, signs, papers, and such, as I discover that, yes, it is indeed 2011. Funny how it seems to take me the whole month, and sometimes a few weeks longer, to acclimatize to the change of one number!

I had a wonderful time over the holidays and beginning the New Year as I spent it in Warsaw with my mentors, Don and Betty. We were able to mix work and play through a variety of opportunities, mainly serving with an international church and their young adults group. It was good to get to know some of the believers at the church, and we’ll be serving with them again in the near future. After Christmas and New Years we came back to Bialystok and reconnected with friends. We’ve started an English speaking fellowship that meets at the Orr’s house Sunday evenings at 5pm, where we’re blessed to eat, pray, worship, and study the bible with 5 other believers from Norway and Poland. So far we’ve been spending time getting to know each other more, as well as diving into the rich book of Ephesians, where many timely words have been spoken to us both as individuals and as a group.

Last week Don, Betty, and myself took a couple days to visit two cities in the south, Kraków and Dąbrowa Górnicza, where we’re planning to host a short term service team from Ohio. The team arrives in March, and will spend a couple days doing fun touristy stuff in Kraków, then head to a town an hour away by train to help a church with some community service projects. Our task on this trip was to become more familiar with the city, plan the itinerary, and meet with the pastors whom we’ll be working with. I’m looking forward to having the team come out!

And lastly, but certainly not least, a praise report from an answer to prayer seven months in the making. As some of you know I had issues getting a visa for my duration in Poland. Well, this week I picked up my “karta pobytu”, which is a short-term residency card… much better than any visa I had previously applied for back in the summer and early fall. This card allows me to come and go within Poland and the rest of the EU for the duration of my stay. When I look back on the months where we were unsure what my stay would look like, I can see God’s hand working the whole thing together for his glory and my joy.

I hope that wherever you are reading this from, you’re experiencing God’s immense grace and joy this week. I am very thankful for the support and prayers you’ve given me!

Blessings, Jonathan

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