Poland!

Day 1... Monday morning we left at 5 am and drove to Poland! Beautiful country, made complete with the new sounds of a different language and the sights of new landscape. It's incredible how much can change if you just travel 8 hours!

We had to make a pit stop to experience some Polish sausage...Incredible!!!

Upon our arrival, we met up with Donna and Arek, who are missionaries with OM in a small, unreached town in Kutno, Poland. It was cool to hear their stories over an incredible Chinese meal (Donna is Korean :) and about the slow and hard but rewarding ministry of planting a church among the Poles. They primarily have been reaching out to acoholics and their church has been growing due to the powerful lifestyle changes of Poles who have found freedom from their addictions in Christ. I am SO thankful for these many valuable experiences to see firsthand the lives of missionaries and get a greater understanding of what God is doing all over.

Below is the view of a Catholic church from the rented room of the church plant (the only Evangelical church in the area) that Arek is the pastor of. Catholicism in Poland, like in most of Europe, is the predominant religion, however it's mostly ritualistic and actually makes evangelizing more difficult because people are not aware of their need for Jesus.

Polish people are incredible hosts! We all stayed the night at a Polish police officer's house (from Arek's church) and not only was it incredibly well kept, but he made us homemade bread for breakfast and gave us cologne and perfume for gifts as we left! I've found the Polish people overall incredibly friendly and hospitable.