Fri - August 8, 2008
Pilgrimage to Czestochowa
Caught these processions this week.
Every year, there are huge pilgrimages to the
marian shrine in Czestochowa, Poland. Every year, I see them while driving by in
my car--without my camera or a chance to stop and get pictures. This year, I had
my bike and my camera phone. Here is the result. Not the best quality, but at
least they take up less space and download
quickly.
(These are mpeg movies, which I believe just about every computer can play.)
Video_080608_001.mp4
Video_080608_002.mp4
(These are mpeg movies, which I believe just about every computer can play.)
Video_080608_001.mp4
Video_080608_002.mp4
Posted at 10:30 PM |
Fri - November 16, 2007
First snowfall of the winter
Well, it's not winter yet, and it's not the first
snowfall, but it's the first
real
snow, and certainly the first genuine accumulation! 9 inches and
counting!
So, for those of you down south, where the temps
are in the 70s. Take a gander, and be jealous! (sigh...)
;-)
Check out that hurricane fence! All the holes are almost filled in! A neighbor's fence two houses down looks like a solid wall!
The fruit of Jonathan's labor--but we still aren't finished!
That's all of nine inches, though the angle from the photo makes it look like less.
Check out that hurricane fence! All the holes are almost filled in! A neighbor's fence two houses down looks like a solid wall!
The fruit of Jonathan's labor--but we still aren't finished!
That's all of nine inches, though the angle from the photo makes it look like less.
Posted at 01:27 PM |
Marek & Ewa
Here is a recent photo of Marek, Ewa and
boys.
This past week, they finally moved to Warsaw.
They have been wonderful friends, and a vital part of our church family. They
will be sorely missed.
Posted at 11:40 AM |
Thu - August 16, 2007
Photos from First Sunday
Here are some photos from the signing of the
covenant.
Posted at 10:05 AM |
Wed - August 15, 2007
First Sunday
Odd title, considering we've been meeting in the
same location since May, 2002! However, up until now, our small group has been
an informal gathering, of sorts.
While our "church" is a state-recognized mission
station of Biblijny Kosciol
Baptystyczny in Warsaw-Anin, for those
attending, we've never had any form of membership, nor did we fell it proper to
do some things that a proper "church" would do (Lord's Supper, tithes, etc.).
This has mainly been because we never had more than one or maybe two believers
attending at a time. However, about the time we left on our furlough in 2005,
things had begun to change. This past year, the desire amongst our Polish
friends to commit in some way formally to a church reached a point that we
believed it was time to act. So, back in February, we started preparing them for
this in our normal service teaching and preaching, and invited the pastor of our
church (Clear Springs Baptist Church, AL) and Darrell John's pastor, (Victory
Baptist Church, TN), as well as the Jr. Pastor up in Warsaw, to a founding
service.
Up until a few, short weeks ago, everything was going fine, but then, it seemed that a spiritual resistence began working. First, our pastor ran into a major delay getting his passport (thanks to new travel laws in the US!), and then one believing family in our group couldn't find work, and began seriously considering a move to Warsaw. And then, it seemed that every one of the believers in our small body began experiencing problems that cast their ability to join into doubt! Our pastor, in fact, didn't get his passport until the Monday before the founding service. and had to buy his plane tickets the same day, to fly out the very next day (Tuesday)!
However, as the week wore on, and we could see Satan's resistence mounting (our youngest daughter became ill with a mystery illness). By Saturday, I was really concerned that we might have only one person sign the church covenant on Sunday!
However, despite our careful planning, everything went well, and four Poles signed the pledge/covenant, along with us, and three witnesses! It was a beautiful day, and we believe God blessed mightily!
I'll be adding pictures soon in other posts, so be sure to check back.
Up until a few, short weeks ago, everything was going fine, but then, it seemed that a spiritual resistence began working. First, our pastor ran into a major delay getting his passport (thanks to new travel laws in the US!), and then one believing family in our group couldn't find work, and began seriously considering a move to Warsaw. And then, it seemed that every one of the believers in our small body began experiencing problems that cast their ability to join into doubt! Our pastor, in fact, didn't get his passport until the Monday before the founding service. and had to buy his plane tickets the same day, to fly out the very next day (Tuesday)!
However, as the week wore on, and we could see Satan's resistence mounting (our youngest daughter became ill with a mystery illness). By Saturday, I was really concerned that we might have only one person sign the church covenant on Sunday!
However, despite our careful planning, everything went well, and four Poles signed the pledge/covenant, along with us, and three witnesses! It was a beautiful day, and we believe God blessed mightily!
I'll be adding pictures soon in other posts, so be sure to check back.
Posted at 05:54 PM |
Mon - June 4, 2007
Friend Day
Yesterday, June 3, we had a semi-impromptu
"Friend Day at our church.
The McKinneys have a ministry in a town about an
hour's drive east of us. For the past two weeks, they have had a couple young
ladies, together with their mother visiting them. With their mother accompanying
them on piano, they play hymns and some classical pieces on violins. Two Sundays
ago, they played for the McKinney's ministry. Bob asked us if we would like to
have them play at our church, which, of course, we agreed to. He printed up some
posters for us, and when we got them, we discovered that he had advertised it as
"Friend Day," complete with food! (he just had the printers reprint his posters
with our church info instead of
theirs)
Now, since the first Sunday of every month we already celebrate birthdays with a light fellowship after services, this was no big deal, and we decided to take full advantage of the Friend Day idea, even though it was on rather short notice. We had a great turnout, with near record numbers. However, we had a couple surprises, with a couple ladies coming, whom we never expected would come! Each service, after the girls played, I shared a short salvation message. It is exciting to think that those two ladies, most likely, for the first time in their lives, heard the Gospel presented. We are praying that this will be the "ice breaker" for them, and that we will see them more frequently in the future.
Here are a few photos from the day:
Now, since the first Sunday of every month we already celebrate birthdays with a light fellowship after services, this was no big deal, and we decided to take full advantage of the Friend Day idea, even though it was on rather short notice. We had a great turnout, with near record numbers. However, we had a couple surprises, with a couple ladies coming, whom we never expected would come! Each service, after the girls played, I shared a short salvation message. It is exciting to think that those two ladies, most likely, for the first time in their lives, heard the Gospel presented. We are praying that this will be the "ice breaker" for them, and that we will see them more frequently in the future.
Here are a few photos from the day:
Posted at 03:01 PM |
Tue - April 10, 2007
Easter Sunday
Our daughters sang again. Photos of them
singing
And they did a beautiful job! Here are a couple
photos.
Posted at 10:28 PM |
Clarissa's birthday
Please indulge me a few photos of our youngest.
;-)
We celebrated Clarissa's birthday today--her
third. She knew immediately what was going on, but I doubt she was remembering
from last year's birthday, but rather her older siblings'. :-) She certainly
worked hard enough blowing out her
candles!
Without further ado. The photos!
For the curious, she's been fascinated with cars since the first time she watched the movie Cars. Now, she has "Dot" (how she says "Doc"), Lightening, ("Katow!") and Mr. The King--courtesy her brother and sisters.
The budding reader was quite enthralled by a new book! Of course, this means more time with Mommy or Daddy reading to her. ;-)
Without further ado. The photos!
For the curious, she's been fascinated with cars since the first time she watched the movie Cars. Now, she has "Dot" (how she says "Doc"), Lightening, ("Katow!") and Mr. The King--courtesy her brother and sisters.
The budding reader was quite enthralled by a new book! Of course, this means more time with Mommy or Daddy reading to her. ;-)
Posted at 09:42 PM |
Tue - March 20, 2007
recent photos
Just some recent shots and
thoughts...
Spring has finally come to Krakow, and last week, our youngest, Clarissa, had a blast being outside! You can probably tell by her face. ;-) Sadly, this week, the rain has come, so we are all couped up inside again.
Daniel Johnson visited his parents for a couple weeks. We asked him to preach both Sunday morning and evening. It was great to see how this young man has matured and grown! I believe (as I always have) that the Lord will use him mightily. In these two photos, he is actually doing children's illustrations--but we all enjoyed them, and learned from them.
An amazingly simple illustration on how "things" can fill our lives, not leaving room for God, but if you fill your life with God, "things" have their own place, too. Fantastic illustration. He takes after his father in being able to take complex subjects, and teach them simply. Praise the Lord for young men like him!
Posted at 03:15 PM |
Mon - January 1, 2007
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Yes, I know this Christmas is
already Christmas "passed," and the New Year is already upon us, but better late
than never.
However, I did take our
children's Christmas portrait, and wanted to at least post it. So, here, without
much ado, is our 2006 Christmas
portrait!
Katherine (9), Jonathan (16), Clarissa (2.75) and Elizabeth (13)
And this is a photo of our girls and Hannah Johnson singing at our Vigilia gathering. Vigilia is, of course, related to the waiting for the Christ child to be born, but is very much a family time in Poland. Since our family is in the US, we gather with other like-minded missionaries, and our coworker's family. We used to eat the Vigilia dinner with Danuta and some other Poles, but since her homegoing to Heaven, it has just been the Johnson and Glass families. But this year, there are two new families in the "Malopolskie" region, so we gathered at one of their homes with them this year.
I just wanted to add some items about Polish Christmas traditions. In Poland, the Christmas holidays do not officially begin until Christmas Eve (or Vigilia as it's called). This means no decorations, no trees, no lights, and certainly no Christmas carols. In recent years, you have begun noticing more trees and lights a bit earlier than the 24th, and you cannot escape the secular American Christmas-time/holiday songs that blast in all the stores and malls around town, but no "real" carols (called "koledy" pronounced "kolendeh") before the 24th.
This year, we drove an hour through the countryside to our destination, and could see people the whole way there out and about around their houses, hanging lights. On the way home that night, we were treated to some of the most beautiful Christmas light shows we have ever seen! And not only that, but as we neared home, we saw lights all over our neighborhood. As we drove, we also noticed that every window that was lit also had their blinds and curtains wide open! You could see people milling about and Christmas trees, and it looked quite festive! So, you can imagine that inside all those places, people were passing the "oplatki" and singing "koledy".
So, you can imagine now, that the holiday season, even though it's Jan. 1, is only just beginning! Believe it or not, next Sunday is also a big Sunday for the holiday, and, in fact, our children will be doing a Christmas program next Sunday. But the oddest tradition to the American mind is that many, many people will keep their trees up until Feb. 2! I'm not sure even my family would want our tree around that long. :-) This year, it's staying up until next Saturday (the day after my birthday, in case you're wondering why).
Stay tuned for more to come...
Katherine (9), Jonathan (16), Clarissa (2.75) and Elizabeth (13)
And this is a photo of our girls and Hannah Johnson singing at our Vigilia gathering. Vigilia is, of course, related to the waiting for the Christ child to be born, but is very much a family time in Poland. Since our family is in the US, we gather with other like-minded missionaries, and our coworker's family. We used to eat the Vigilia dinner with Danuta and some other Poles, but since her homegoing to Heaven, it has just been the Johnson and Glass families. But this year, there are two new families in the "Malopolskie" region, so we gathered at one of their homes with them this year.
I just wanted to add some items about Polish Christmas traditions. In Poland, the Christmas holidays do not officially begin until Christmas Eve (or Vigilia as it's called). This means no decorations, no trees, no lights, and certainly no Christmas carols. In recent years, you have begun noticing more trees and lights a bit earlier than the 24th, and you cannot escape the secular American Christmas-time/holiday songs that blast in all the stores and malls around town, but no "real" carols (called "koledy" pronounced "kolendeh") before the 24th.
This year, we drove an hour through the countryside to our destination, and could see people the whole way there out and about around their houses, hanging lights. On the way home that night, we were treated to some of the most beautiful Christmas light shows we have ever seen! And not only that, but as we neared home, we saw lights all over our neighborhood. As we drove, we also noticed that every window that was lit also had their blinds and curtains wide open! You could see people milling about and Christmas trees, and it looked quite festive! So, you can imagine that inside all those places, people were passing the "oplatki" and singing "koledy".
So, you can imagine now, that the holiday season, even though it's Jan. 1, is only just beginning! Believe it or not, next Sunday is also a big Sunday for the holiday, and, in fact, our children will be doing a Christmas program next Sunday. But the oddest tradition to the American mind is that many, many people will keep their trees up until Feb. 2! I'm not sure even my family would want our tree around that long. :-) This year, it's staying up until next Saturday (the day after my birthday, in case you're wondering why).
Stay tuned for more to come...
Posted at 07:27 PM |
Thu - November 30, 2006
Random Shots and Thoughts
November 30 already? Wow! Where did the month go?
Let’s see, first we had the Halloween film at the end of October, then
Pastor Mark Booth (pictured above) from Michigan visited, and gave a wonderful
series on marriage, we visited Auschwitz with him, and then Thanksgiving (which,
btw, we
did
celebrate--with fellow missionaries)
November 30 already? Wow! Where did the month go?
Let’s see, first we had the Halloween film at the end of October, then
Pastor Mark Booth (pictured above) from Michigan visited, and gave a wonderful
series on marriage, we visited Auschwitz with him, and then Thanksgiving (which,
btw, we
did
celebrate--with fellow missionaries). November was also the month we
re-instituted our Wednesday evening meetings. This alone removes a whole chunk
of time from my week, as I must prepare for that. The upshot is that I have
fallen behind on this blog, and emails, as well as forgotten to write my print
prayer letter! However, I must write something to let you know how we are doing!
Also, I want to post a few pictures--some of the meetings with Pastor Booth, and
maybe toss in some other items as
well.
Pastor Booth pressing his point home!
Sunday morning. Adam Tolwinski interpreting. He is the pastor from Warsaw who also spoke for our Halloween film.
more from Sunday morning.
Auschwitz/Birkenau. We visited the camps during Pastor Booth’s visit. I am hoping to create either a blog entry, or a separate page just on Auschwitz. Keep your eyes open for it.
Irena reading our “Stories of Great Christians” series to Kasia and Asia (pronounced “Kasha” and “Asha”)
Pastor Booth pressing his point home!
Sunday morning. Adam Tolwinski interpreting. He is the pastor from Warsaw who also spoke for our Halloween film.
more from Sunday morning.
Auschwitz/Birkenau. We visited the camps during Pastor Booth’s visit. I am hoping to create either a blog entry, or a separate page just on Auschwitz. Keep your eyes open for it.
Irena reading our “Stories of Great Christians” series to Kasia and Asia (pronounced “Kasha” and “Asha”)
Posted at 05:13 PM |
Tue - October 31, 2006
Photos from the Philm (or is that fotos from the film?)
Believe it or not, I was so busy Sunday, that I
never even thought about taking pictures of the event. Our daughter Elizabeth,
however, stepped up to the plate, and got some shots...
Elizabeth is sort of the family photographer,
taking lots of pictures of events and such. She had her mom's camera this
Sunday, and started to take pictures. She told me that a lady had seen her
camera and told her that some people might not like having their pictures taken,
so I thought that she didn't get any photos. I only yesterday found out that she
had taken a few. I'm including a couple that don't show faces, but give you an
idea of the room. She took these photos about 20 minutes before we
started--which means that only a small portion of the whole "crowd" were already
seated. Poles tend to be "last-minute" people, as it's considered
"unfashionable" to be early, and fashionable to be late. However, everybody
_was_ in place by 4pm, and we started on time. ;-)
After church, and before we started setting up, we had dinner on the grounds, so the workers would not have to go home and make dinner, and then come back. The first two were taken then.
Two ladies who helped greeting and working the literature table, with their children.
Piotr (left) and Adam Tolwinski (right) Adam is the pastor of Bible Baptist Church (Biblijny Kosciol Baptystyczny) in Warsaw. Their church is the legal sponsor of our church and for us, for our residency cards. Adam is the man who spoke after the film, and gave a great message!
The following photos were taken, as I said, before most people arrived, but there was already a good, small crowd of early arrivals! Actually, I was more surprised at the relatively large number of early arrivals, than I was by the "late" arrivals! On the wall up front, you can see the screen with something projected on it.
For the half-hour before the film started, we projected some things on the screen, reminding people not to smoke, and letting them know that the film was "restricted" That yellow triangle you see is a European-wide symbol that is a part of the ranking system for TV and movies here. A green circle means "all ages" and a yellow triangle means that it is restricted. In the triangle, you often see a number indicating the youngest age that a film is recommended for. Superimposed over all this, I added the specific reasons for why we didn't recommend this film for children under 12. We didn't want parents blaming us for letting their children see hearing what was in the film. :-) We also projected photos that we had taken around town, and some that we had found on the internet, showing Halloween in Poland! I think it was good for people to see just how far Halloween has made inroads into Krakow. We had photos of store displays, and school Halloween parties. We didn't show the grisly costumes that some teens had been dressed it, to protect the privacy of the young people, but I wish we could have! It would have been a wakeup call to some, I'm sure!
Only a couple rows of chairs are behind Elizabeth in this photo. This one shows most of the room. We fit 104 chairs in there!
After church, and before we started setting up, we had dinner on the grounds, so the workers would not have to go home and make dinner, and then come back. The first two were taken then.
Two ladies who helped greeting and working the literature table, with their children.
Piotr (left) and Adam Tolwinski (right) Adam is the pastor of Bible Baptist Church (Biblijny Kosciol Baptystyczny) in Warsaw. Their church is the legal sponsor of our church and for us, for our residency cards. Adam is the man who spoke after the film, and gave a great message!
The following photos were taken, as I said, before most people arrived, but there was already a good, small crowd of early arrivals! Actually, I was more surprised at the relatively large number of early arrivals, than I was by the "late" arrivals! On the wall up front, you can see the screen with something projected on it.
For the half-hour before the film started, we projected some things on the screen, reminding people not to smoke, and letting them know that the film was "restricted" That yellow triangle you see is a European-wide symbol that is a part of the ranking system for TV and movies here. A green circle means "all ages" and a yellow triangle means that it is restricted. In the triangle, you often see a number indicating the youngest age that a film is recommended for. Superimposed over all this, I added the specific reasons for why we didn't recommend this film for children under 12. We didn't want parents blaming us for letting their children see hearing what was in the film. :-) We also projected photos that we had taken around town, and some that we had found on the internet, showing Halloween in Poland! I think it was good for people to see just how far Halloween has made inroads into Krakow. We had photos of store displays, and school Halloween parties. We didn't show the grisly costumes that some teens had been dressed it, to protect the privacy of the young people, but I wish we could have! It would have been a wakeup call to some, I'm sure!
Only a couple rows of chairs are behind Elizabeth in this photo. This one shows most of the room. We fit 104 chairs in there!
Posted at 11:10 AM |
Wed - October 25, 2006
Project:Halloween
An unusual idea is slowly coming to
fruition.
Back in August, Darrell had the simple idea of
showing a film he had, called (In English) "Halloween-Trick or Treat". The
primary motivation is that Halloween is slowly becoming more and more popular in
Poland, with schools throwing Halloween parties, and costume parties, etc.
taking place in bars and clubs, and the popularity of horror films being shown
on TV, etc. Since this holiday is still in its "infancy" here in Poland, we
thought this film might be a good way to warn parents, teachers and others, of
the real meanings of Halloween, as a way to warn and alert them to the coming
consequences. We doubt we can have a great effect on a national scale, but if we
can warn some and save some from the true horrors of Halloween, then we have
suceeded. Also, it is an opportunity to get the Gospel clearly presented, and an
unusual way to introduce people to our church as well!
However, this endeavor has been fraught with niggling troubles since the beginning, with finding a place to show it being the greatest hurdle. At one point, we wasted two weeks, waiting for what we were told was going to be a positive answer, but which turned out to be negative--and from the very school board! Hm. Makes you wonder...
But in any case, we ended up being able to rent a large room in the main building where our church meeting place rents, from another occupant, and at a rate much cheaper than all the rest, and with people very willing to help us as we set up and prepare. Due to its proximity of a few mere steps, it will simplify the moving of equipment, and overall in setting up and taking down of everything! Praise the Lord for how He provides.
However, one small detail that got changed was how we advertised it. Originally, we had planned on a newspaper advertisement campaign, but the short time frame resulting from the delay in finding a place, required a rethinking of our strategy. The end result was that we went with posters plastered all over town on special columns (some call them kiosks) put up just for the purpose of hanging posters (which are not only a major form of advertisement here, but also considered an "art form" by many!) I went around yesterday, and took a few photos of a few locations. Here are some of those photos.
This was the first ad we found, Sunday night, on the way home from church. Liz saw it first.
Here is a close-up photo of what the ad looks like...
....posted at this location. It seems the locals like our ad. ;-)
I have two nightmares about the showing of the film. The first is that nobody will show up, and the second is that waaaay to many will show up! Thanks for praying!
However, this endeavor has been fraught with niggling troubles since the beginning, with finding a place to show it being the greatest hurdle. At one point, we wasted two weeks, waiting for what we were told was going to be a positive answer, but which turned out to be negative--and from the very school board! Hm. Makes you wonder...
But in any case, we ended up being able to rent a large room in the main building where our church meeting place rents, from another occupant, and at a rate much cheaper than all the rest, and with people very willing to help us as we set up and prepare. Due to its proximity of a few mere steps, it will simplify the moving of equipment, and overall in setting up and taking down of everything! Praise the Lord for how He provides.
However, one small detail that got changed was how we advertised it. Originally, we had planned on a newspaper advertisement campaign, but the short time frame resulting from the delay in finding a place, required a rethinking of our strategy. The end result was that we went with posters plastered all over town on special columns (some call them kiosks) put up just for the purpose of hanging posters (which are not only a major form of advertisement here, but also considered an "art form" by many!) I went around yesterday, and took a few photos of a few locations. Here are some of those photos.
This was the first ad we found, Sunday night, on the way home from church. Liz saw it first.
Here is a close-up photo of what the ad looks like...
....posted at this location. It seems the locals like our ad. ;-)
I have two nightmares about the showing of the film. The first is that nobody will show up, and the second is that waaaay to many will show up! Thanks for praying!
Posted at 10:05 AM |
Mon - August 28, 2006
PIcnic accomplished
We were delighted to see so many people,
especially the parents with children. Some people were unable to come due to
physical ailments, but we still had a good crowd of over 20 Poles, as well as
our two American families.... I think I'm going to try to limit my posts here
to three photos, so there will be multiple posts from the picnic.
Our picnic on Saturday was a wonderful success.
We were delighted to see so many people, especially the parents with children.
Some people were unable to come due to physical ailments, but we still had a
good crowd of over 20 Poles, as well as our two American families. Here are some
snapshots from the picnic. I think I'm going to try to limit my posts here to
three photos, so there will be multiple posts from the
picnic.
Wiesiek and a family friend, Bogdan, and in the background, Mateusz (Irena's son) and Julita
(left to right) Darrell, Kazimierz, Wieslaw and Janusz with his miniature Yorkie, Jedi
(left to right) Ewa, Marek's wife, Ewa, Piotr's wife and Kasia
Wiesiek and a family friend, Bogdan, and in the background, Mateusz (Irena's son) and Julita
(left to right) Darrell, Kazimierz, Wieslaw and Janusz with his miniature Yorkie, Jedi
(left to right) Ewa, Marek's wife, Ewa, Piotr's wife and Kasia
Posted at 10:35 AM |
More from the picnic
Darrell gave a short object lesson for the "kids"
about one key fitting the door to eternal life. There were several keys, but
only one fit the lock on the door. Several children were given a key with a
short description of what the key represented (good deeds, giving money to the
church, baptism, etc.) One key had the message (trusting Christ as your
savior).
Darrell gave a short object lesson for the "kids"
about one key fitting the door to eternal life. There were several keys, but
only one fit the lock on the door. Several children were given a key with a
short description of what the key represented (good deeds, giving money to the
church, baptism, etc.) The one key that fit the lock had the message (to the
effect) "trusting Christ as your savior."
Darrell then also gave a short devotional and reading from Scriptures. As you can see, children of all sizes enjoyed it.
Darrell then also gave a short devotional and reading from Scriptures. As you can see, children of all sizes enjoyed it.
Posted at 10:33 AM |
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Published On: Aug 08, 2008 10:33 PM
Published On: Aug 08, 2008 10:33 PM