English Club Begins

Greeting from Poland! Our team is cooperating with the local Baptist church and pastor here in Olsztyn to offer an English Club. Learning to speak English is a high priority among young people here in Poland so we are both meeting a need and meeting new people! We are gathering for two hours, once a week for ten weeks with Poles who are interested in a conversational English class. The first hour is topic based English conversation on a variety of subjects, family, work, etc. The second hour is a Bible discussion/conversation time also on a variety of topics, who is Jesus, God’s love, is there life after death, etc. Tonight was our first meeting and we had five people come; one was a young man from our church and four others from Olsztyn. We had a great time getting to know each other and speaking English together. As we spend time in the next weeks before Christmas sharing the hope of Christ with these whom God already loves, pray that they will come to understand the real reason we celebrate this season. Pray that they will come to know this Christ who loves them! Pray also for us as we labor to see a life changing movement of God begin in NE Poland. From small beginnings come great things!

I realized this morning that I wake up to church bells every morning. I remember having several friends that visited Muslim countries and upon returning one of the first things that they told about was waking up every morning to the call to prayer. Today that is how I felt. The church bells were calling people to Mass. This culture felt so foreign. I started to feel badly that I didn't have the kind of devotion that some here have, the kind that drives you to wake up early in the morning to go to church for prayer and Mass. Then I remembered, we are called to be devoted to a relationship with Christ, worshiping Him and bringing glory to His name, not rights and rituals. Our spiritual act of worship is presenting our bodies as holy living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) and we are to pray not is specific places and times, but all the time (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Here is the first picture from the big sleepover! We just finished our very beautiful turkeys and wanted you to see them. 

Fun with Friends

Last night Kevin and I went out with some college-aged people from church, Pawel, Ewalina, and Michal. They took us to Old Town and showed us part of "their city." We had a great time hanging out and talking. They told us their stories of how they came to Christ and we shared our stories. It was an interesting mix of Polish and English all night! :) We are so thankful for these new friends. Please pray for them as they are a witness in their classes and to their families. Pawel and Ewalina have been married for 6 months. Pray that their marriage would draw them closer together and closer to God. Please also pray that Kevin and I would be an encouragement to them!

Life in Poland – I’m sure some of you remember coal chutes that were used to deliver coal to home basements so it could be burned for heating during the winter.  Well they have those in Poland too but have you every heard of a potato chute?  Today at our daughter’s school, we observed the potato truck (yes there is such a thing) delivering potatoes to the school cafeteria by means of a chute running into the basement of the building!  It was one of the strangest sites.  It was one of the many times in Poland that I have said to myself, “I wish I had the camera!”

Thanksgiving

Friends and Family,

We just wanted to remind you about our Thanksgiving project
coming up. We will be sharing about Thanksgiving in the United
States to an English school about an hour from where we live.
Part of this will be sharing some "traditional" Thanksgiving
food. There are many things that we can get here, but there are
also many that we can't. So here is your chance to get involved
with our ministry here in Poland. Here are some things that we
need pumpkin pie filling, pumpkin pie spice, Crisco sticks,
canned cranberry sauce, cream of mushroom soup, or anything else
that you can think of that we may need. If you would like to help
us please send us an email at kbrooks@go2.pl or Stevenson@pobox.com and we
will send you our mailing information.


We would also like to use some real life stories so if you would
email us stories about your family traditions, funny memories, or
favorite memories that would help us tremendously.


We need these things as soon as possible so we can finalize our
planning for this event. Thank you for all your help!

On Friday October 17 we went to the "Wolf's Lair". This was Hitler’s bunker and headquarters during WWII. Here is Sean, Lydia, the girls, Emily, our tour guide, and the dog in front of one of the bunkers. I am still amazed at the history that is around us. Yesterday Emily and I went to Old town and walked past the castle that Nichols Copernicus lived in. Sometimes we as Americans forget that history started before 1776. Anyway, we had a great time together at the “Wolf’s Lair” and getting to see some of the other cities in Northeast Poland. There are still many cities in Northeast Poland that we haven’t visited yet but would like to. We are praying that God will show us how and where He is already at work. Please pray for our tour guide, I don’t think she is a believer, but she has contact with the Baptist church in her area.
 

This last Sunday, October 10th, we had worship at our house. Sean and Lydia and their girls, and Michal and Ania came over for a time of prayer, singing and reading of the Word. We had a wonderful time. It's so nice to be able to worship in a larger group in English. I have missed that. Kevin read and shared from Hebrews 10. Sean led us in songs. This time was such an encouragement to me. It really fills me up and gets me ready for the week ahead. I pray that we will continue to do this throughout or time in Olsztyn! :)

A look at history

Sean and I have spent the past few days going around Olsztyn visiting cemeteries, monuments, important buildings, and landmarks, and researching some of the history of this area of Poland in order get a better understanding of where the people here. We can see, in these physical reminders, what was important enough, in history, to memorialize it in stone. Through this we hope to see where these people have come from and to try to figure out if and how these events have shaped and are shaping their reality and way of thinking today. Some of these structures are beautiful, like to castle and the column of the white eagle and some seem to be scars of past occupiers like the many Soviet monuments, and the Communist style buildings and Block apartments. We are praying for wisdom from God about how to reach the people of Northeast Poland with the Gospel. We know that if we ask God he will give it to us, James 1:5.

Hi again!  Thanks for praying for us this past week.  We traveled to visit some missionaries who live in Lithuania this weekend.  It was a very nice break for all of us.  The part of Lithuania they live in used to be Poland, which is interesting because the part of Poland we live in used to be Germany!  Do you sense a theme here?  It was a beautiful fall drive and we traveled through a part of Poland we have not yet seen.  The area is the extreme NE corner of Poland including the cities of Gizycko, Suwalki, Agustow, Orzel, Mragowo and several other large cities that have no Baptist churches.  This NE part of Poland that we drove through is huge and full of so many people who need to have an opportunity to hear the gospel.  Pray with us as and for us as we pray, plan, travel and work in this area.  Pray that the people that live in these cities will have an opportunity to meet Christ!  Pray that we can bring the good news to them!

 

Check out Kevin and Emily's September 2004 Newsletter