Poznan Report

Dear Partners:

                It is always interesting to be abroad during typically American holiday times to see how much we miss our own traditions. It is not uncommon around the world to find our missionaries putting on a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner and inviting those we love to join us in the celebration. It is fun for us and both fun and interesting for our local guests.

                I thought you would enjoy the following report by Marybeth Giles, Mission Corps volunteer with her husband Dave, about their Thanksgiving celebration in Poznan a couple of weeks ago:

 The shop was abuzz with sounds of conversations mingling with the background music and the hum of activity. No, it wasn’t a typical day at Sweet Surrender.  It was our annual Thanksgiving dinner.

We hosted 36 people from our church and the coffee shop. What a wonderful time of giving thanks and of fabulous fellowship…did I mention the amazing food?

  It was not a completely traditional spread, as we had a plethora of food from not only the US, but Russia, Poland, and Kazakhstan as well. We had a delicious turkey, ham, Borscht (beet soup), mashed potatoes, a yam casserole complete with marshmallows on top, homemade stuffing, rolls, and broccoli and carrots, and stuffed mushrooms. That’s not even including dessert!   

We had pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, chocolate cake, and scrumptious honey cake from Kazakhstan …and that is only what I can remember! Everyone had their fill and then some.

We began the evening chatting, and then Dave shared the history of Thanksgiving. He also shared how Christ demonstrated the greatest act of love ever by sending his son to die for us. How thankful we should be that God loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us. This led us to sharing communion together. Now, after a prayer for God to bless the food and a hearty “SMACZNEGO,” we went to get our share of delicious food. 

Each room had a long table lined with people, and we all went around and shared what we were thankful for.  

Several hours later after much conversation, laughter, and excellent food, we left Sweet Surrender.

We had much to be thankful for!

--Marybeth Giles

                We are very thankful for the strong leadership of our two volunteer families: Dave, Marybeth and daughter Makayla and Rick, Denice, Callie and Carson Tracy. Your faithful prayer and financial support help keep them in Poznan as they work with the growing numbers in their fellowship. We are also thankful for our local Staff. 

Poznan Sweet Surrender Shop needs:

                Our work in Poznan is proving to be a productive coffee shop ministry, and the growing numbers of patrons at the shop are a welcome sign that God is working through the people there. Many of the furnishings and shop appliances were purchased carefully and frugally under the capable leadership of Ev and Rhonda Tustin. Over the past few years we are becoming aware that the shop is getting literally “shopworn.” It’s time to do some refurbishing. Let me share a few ways in which you might want to participate in the financial support of this shop. Here are some pictures to show you what we are thinking about:

Food preparation appliances:

 

 Coffee shop furnishings:

Digital Projector for worship and teaching:

 If you would like to help with this refurbishing by sponsoring one or more of these kinds of needs, you can email me at polandnaz@gmail.com and let me know of your interest. We’ll let you know how to give. In the meantime our Volunteers and Staff will continue their skillful refurbishing and fixing and work-around techniques

I’ve mentioned this need in a previous blog as a possible Christmas project. However, the need will go on until we can get things carefully replaced. Some of our “home style” appliances need to be replaced with “commercial” grade appliances so that they can stand up to the heavy use every day we are open.

                God bless you all and again I thank you for your prayers and generous support. I hope soon to introduce our Mission Corps Volunteers who are in the Krakow shop. We wish each of you a Christ-filled Christmas. I pray that God will bless you and keep you safe in His love.

Bob

Your prayers and support…

                In pioneer missionary work the space between survival and failure can be so very, very small. In recent months we have found it prudent to put the work of our first efforts, Gdansk, on hold. We reported that to you in our last blog, along with asking for your prayers that we can reopen our work there in God’s timing.

                More recently we have come near the brink of needing to put our work in Krakow on hold. However, this time, God had other plans. He has made necessary financial resources available and, with the prospects improving all the time, we will be able to meet the substantial financial obligations necessary to keeping our work open there. God spoke to some of you about giving substantial gifts to the work, and New Mission Corps volunteers are on the job (we will introduce them to you all soon). So we have stepped back from the brink, thank the Lord.

                Please know our gratitude for your prayers, many of you letting us know that you pray for us daily. Prayer is, without a doubt, what underpins our confidence that God is guiding us as we learn how to bring the message of God’s love and holiness to the wonderful people in Poland.

                As we look ahead, we do so with great joy and confidence. Please continue to pray for us, even when you may not be aware that there is an urgent need of some kind. Your prayers give us confidence as we follow God’s call to do this work.

What’s Next?

                As you pray for us, you may feel the prompting of God to do something more as one of our Poland Partners or Partner Churches. The need for special gifts for the expenses of our building in Krakow is ongoing. We would welcome any special efforts on your part to help us raise the necessary funds for this continuing need. The end of the year may be a good time for you to give.

                Our work in Poznan continues with the strong leadership of our Mission Corps Volunteers, the Giles and Tracey families, as well as the growing number of very competent Poland nationals. 

Poznan:  Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop

The Sweet Surrender Shop is prospering, and people are being introduced to the love of God.  If you are inspired to do something special for the Poznan ministry, there is an increasing need to replace furnishings and equipment that are wearing out. 

This is a good problem since it arises out of the success of this shop—stuff wears out more quickly when you use it a great deal.

We need to replace tables, chairs, and sofas. We have taken some of the furnishings that can no longer be repaired out of service, leaving us with some holes in our seating and serving needs. 

We must replace kitchen equipment as well: our coffee production equipment, our food preparation items, and even our refrigeration units.

If an individual or family or church group would like to take on one or more of these needs, we’d love to hear from you. The cost of these items ranges from $50.00 to several thousand dollars for refrigeration units. Those may seem mundane to you, but I assure you that our Sweet Surrender staff will rejoice should you be inspired to help out. Perhaps this Christmas season would be a good time for this to happen.

And in the future…

                As you can see, there is never a dull moment in our work. In addition to the challenges mentioned above, we also greatly rejoice in how God is directing and redirecting our work in Poland. We look forward to sharing with you more of the great stories of what God is doing in the lives of those who are being transformed by the love of God in their hearts.

                As we look to the future, we hope to develop additional ministry centers and congregations. We are on a very exciting journey and are overjoyed that our Poland Partners are sharing the journey with us.

                We thank God for each of you and pray God’s rich joy to be with you in this glorious Advent season. We are also grateful for the strong support and encouragement from our new Regional Director, Rev. Arthur Snijders, and Rev. Verne Ward III, our Global Missions Director. Thank you for praying for them as well as for us as we go forward in our work in Poland.