December Update

Hi Friends and Family,
As some of you already know, Bob and I had a very difficult decision to make recently.  After carefully keeping track of our expenses, we realized that we are not making enough money to sustain ourselves till June of 2010.  We had sent an email out asking everyone to pray about this with us and we believe God has given us the answer to return home to the States at the end of December.  We might have planned for 10 months but God was planning for us to remain only 4 months.  We did a lot of praying about this ourselves and feel that it is God's will that we return.  We look at our coming to Poland as a blessing.  Many good things have come out of our being here.  We've made new friends, and got to know some old friends better.  We also now have another ''sister'' church to pray for.  We've learned how to teach ESL much better and can do a better job when we start up an ESL ministry at a church again.
We got to know Sebastian's family better and for that alone, we wish could stay longer.  I think that Bob and I have grown closer to each other and Sebastian to us as well.  Even though some of the things I had hoped to happen between Sebastian's family and him did not materialize, I think we planted seeds----of hope, love and importance of family ties. 
The Pastor was able to go with us to our last visit with his family to translate.  He is very loquaious and sets people at ease readily.  He was able to stress the importance of the kids learning English as a tool for getting employment opportunities in the future as well as to communicate with their brother.  The important thing is that Pastor Z says he will keep in touch with Sebastian's family and will do his best to visit them in the future and minister to them with things they might need, like clothes and other items.  Since we are not bringing items back that we bought here, we donated them to the family.  This included bed linens, towels and a kitchen stuff.  We were able to give them a microwave which they have never owned.  We take these things for granted, don't we?  Bed linens and towels are expensive here so we are happy to be able to give them what we had.  I had also brought the dress that I married Bob in----why I don't know.....it was a very simple type dress with an underslip and a lacy long sleeve outer garment/dress that goes over it.  I decided to leave it for Marzena, the older sister for the future.  I also still had the headpiece I wore!  Amazing that they still look pretty good after almost 15 years! 
We will be coming back and staying with my brother, Tom in New York for a couple of months, [rent free], which we had planned to do in July.  As it turns out, going back in December will be a Godsend  b/c he is needing surgery to remove his right kidney due to damage from chronic kidney stones. He lives alone, so will need us to help him in his recovery. God probably knew this all along!
We will have Bob's unemployment which while not much will keep us afloat till we can see where God wants us in the next few months and where both of us can find employment again.
Please continue to pray for God's will and what he wants for our future and where we should live.  Pray for a safe flight on December 23rd from Berlin to JFK Airport and then to my home.
Merry Christmas  and God bless you all.  Barbara and Bob

Thanksgiving and Other Things

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to give you an update on what's happening here in Poland.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with our Polish friends yesterday on Sunday.  We couldn't find pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce but I think the meal came out great anyway.  We had turkey breasts/legs, mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing [since they don't have it in the stores], carrots, broccoli, cucumber salad and a dessert called "apple crunch" which I found online.  This was the first time I have cooked for 15 people!  Thank goodness for Bob's and Sebastian's help with peeling the cucumbers, apples, potatoes,etc....As some of you know, I have been terribly sick this past week [and had to start antibiotics near the end], so wasn't sure I'd feel better by this past weekend.  But Saturday, I felt better and we decided to cook some of the meal ahead of time so we didn't have to rush after church the next day.  Everybody seemed to like the "American-made" food!

See our link to the Picasa Web Album for other pictures and videos.

Last Friday we were able to go to visit Sebastian's family again.  It was his youngest sister's 8th birthday.  We gave her a Barbie with some ''accesories" like a walking dog.  See video.  She really liked it and never had a "real" Barbie before. 

Sebastian has decided to go back to Florida and will be staying with a family friend in Panama City, FL.  His cats are there with our friend, Diane so he is happy about seeing them again.  He wants to get back to working and is going to try to find a job while he is there, do some fishing and also help Diane around the house with some projects.  There just wasn't enough for him to do here in Poland.  He found relearning the language was difficult and couldn't get a job unless he knew Polish.  He did help the pastor's father-in-law do some outside projects at the Pastor's house and learned a lot doing that.  Mietek and Krystyna, the pastor's wife's parents were very good to Sebastian.  They knew a little English to get by and otherwise used a lot of ''sign" language.  Some things Sebastian could guess what they were saying.  It was funny to watch.  Krystyna would cook the 2pm meal for her husband and Sebastian and it was always something good, starting with homemade soup every day!  When the Pastor told the congregation that Sebastian was leaving, he thanked Krystyna and Mietek for "allowing" him to work with him for the last 6-8 weeks and teaching him everything.  It about made me cry!

November Update

We are going into our 13th week here in Glogow, Poland.  We've gotten our routine down with teaching ESL.  We have been so thankful for the borrowed car for our transportation, especially when it has been very cold.  November is supposed to be a very cold, rainy month but so far we had a mixture of of cloudy and sunny days so we are thankful for that.  We will be participating in an English Bible Study later today.  It is the same one that we met with last month.
A week or so ago, we went to the town of Boleslawiec.  This town is famous for their pottery which is world renown.  Prices in the US are 3-7 times as much as you can buy a piece here!  I wish I had the money to get a complete set of dishes!  See the pictures below.
Addendum: I found an online site called "bluerosepottery.com" that orders from the same factories as we visited.  Prices didn't look too expensive for some pieces!

Tea Anyone?

Special Prayer Request

We need you to urgently join us in praying about our financial situation here in Poland. After carefully keeping track of expenses for the month of October, we are realizing that we will be about $500 short of income every month. One main reason that this has come about is because we did not get the number of teaching hours that we hoped would be available to us.
In September, when we learned how many hours we would have, we were somewhat concerned, but felt that the projected income plus financial gifts would be enough to see us through, depending of course on what our living expenses would turn out to be. Also, we still had some savings that we could rely on but these are now very low.
We know that God had called us to come to Poland and that if it's His will that we remain here that He will provide for us. We are asking you to pray fervently for this situation in the next few days. Pray that we will receive the financial support we need to sustain us monthly till the end of our commitment period which is the end of June.
We know that this situation is in God's Hands. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"