Poland Update October 2013

It has been a long transition for all of us working in Poland. I can assure you, though, that the Holy Spirit has not been sitting around, waiting for something to happen! Let me bring you all up to date on several items that I know you are interested in:

                Our work is going forward, and the Sweet Surrender shop is doing well. It is a spiritual oasis for many people who have become our “regulars.” We have excellent Volunteers on hand; they are providing innovative and Spirit-led leadership. The Giles and Traceys are a wonderful gift for our work in Poznan. We continue to have the strong support of our local Sweet Surrender team, who have become skilled both in serving our coffee and dessert specialties, and in sharing what God is doing in their lives. Our primary needs in Poznan continue to be future volunteers coming over the next years as they are needed. Help us find these people and guide them into service with us! And pray with us that people will volunteer in the future, and that people will step up with the financial support they need to come. The Sweet Surrender shop and property is in need of updating and upgrading of equipment and furnishings. We’d love for you to join the Work & Witness Team that will be coming in the near future. See the information below.

               Our work in Krakow continues to develop:  the traffic to the shop continues to increase as people discover this delightful place to come and share a cup of coffee, a sweet, and some conversation that can lead them to trust in the Lord, developing a personal relationship with Him. We are so thankful for our Polish leadership in this Sweet Surrender ministry. They are faithful and capable and love God in generous measure. We have also had great volunteers in Krakow over the years, leading to the opening of the shop. We are praying for additional volunteers to come to this ministry. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send workers! God has graciously been helped this ministry meet its financial objectives, but the costs of this beautiful building still face us. We are praying that those who are able to give will support this growing work.

                The oldest of our Sweet Surrender shops is in Gdansk. Good people have supported this work through leadership, volunteers, and generous gifts. Although we prayed that the work would flourish and a strong shop and ministry would be established, it has not happened as we had hoped. We have not given up on this beautiful city and its wonderful people, but for the time being we have shifted our limited resources. We still own the Sweet Surrender shop and missionary apartment located nearby. While we are assessing our future ministry possibilities, we have relocated some of the coffee shop equipment to nearby Maalmo, Sweden, where a new shop is in its infancy. Our prayer is that the generous people who gave the finances for this equipment will know that it is not sitting idly. Look for news in the future about this new venture in Sweden. We are happy that the equipment is being used in this positive way. Pray with us as we make plans for the future for Gdansk and the grand re-opening some day of this Sweet Surrender shop. Thank God for those who have labored there over the years and, although we have not seen the fruit of our gifts and labor yet, we believe that our prayers may yet be answered in the years to come, God willing.

On a related note, you will be interested to know that there is a great article about the new Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop that has opened in Denmark. Go to:  www.eurasiaregion.org and click on  “Fields” and you will find a hot link to the article from their publication Eurasia Snapshots. The shop is beautiful, doing well, and along with the great people from the Greve Nazarene Church in Copenhagen, our own Katie Fitch has been instrumental in bring about this new outreach coffee shop. Katie was on the “ground floor” at both Poznan and Krakow Sweet Surrender shops. Congratulations to all who have worked and prayed and given and helped bring about the newest Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop. Let’s join them in praying for God to help them make good use of this great outreach opportunity.

Our great team of volunteers and the local staff of the Poznan Sweet Surrender Shop are very busy these days updating and upgrading equipment and facilities in the Poznan shop. I have asked them for a list of the most urgently needed things so that I can share them with you, our Poland Partners. We will have this list to send to you in the next two or three weeks. Our prayer is that you and/or others you may inspire in your local churches or circles of friends to help us finance these needs. We also hope you will take us up on the invitation to develop a Work & Witness team to come and work with us!

Thanks to you all for your prayers for Colleen and me and our boys during this transition from the CIS Field to Poland. It’s been great seeing many of you in our travels in recent months. We hope to see many more of you in the future, either here in Poland or when we once again have a Home Assignment. We couldn’t do the work we do without your prayers and your support for the fledgling work of the Church here in Poland. We are so excited to see what God will do in this great nation and with the resilient and faithful people here. God bless you all!