Mission Corps Volunteers in Poznan
Meet Dave, Marybeth, and Makayla Giles
We are grateful for the wonderful volunteers who come to Poland to make possible the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry centers. The Giles family is one of our most recent families to volunteer. I asked Dave to tell us the story of how God led them to this ministry. I think you will enjoy reading their story and will feel better informed as you lift our volunteers to the Lord in prayer. Here is their story:
For many years Marybeth and I have each felt God calling us to work in full-time missions. For twelve years Marybeth had taught overseas, where she met missionaries and was able to become involved in some missions work. While I was a pastor in Maine, I continued to feel a pull overseas. After Marybeth and I got married, we both continued to sense God directing our steps into missions. Two years ago, while living and working in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the CIS, we met with Bob Skinner and spoke with him about our desire to work with the Nazarene church and of our interest in coffee shop ministries. He told us about Rhonda and Ev Tustin, who had started a Coffee Shop ministry in Poland. After traveling to Poland to meet with Tustins, we prayed about coming to partner with them in Poland. The rest, as they say, is history. We are very excited to be here in Poznan now, fulfilling God’s call to missions! The coffee shop provides the perfect opportunity to meet people socially and get involved in the local community in order to share our faith.
We have been in Poland now for a short time and are thrilled to be a part of this growing ministry here. We work in the shop and have loved getting to know our team. We love to think of and discuss various events to host in the shop in order to draw in more people from the community.
In December I helped collect and take donations to a needy family that lives in a village near Poznan. Marybeth helped organize a visit to an orphanage. We took the orphans Christmas gifts and played games.
We are taking Polish language lessons and using some basic sentences while working in the shop. Dave divides preaching responsibilities at the church with another volunteer. Marybeth does some English conversation with English Club.
In addition to our continuing language lessons, our goal is to begin a conversational English class and Bible study as well as to make a monthly visit to the local orphanage. Please continue to pray for us and our ministries here. It is an exciting place to be, and we certainly feel God’s hand at work. Our prayer is that He will continue to guide and direct our steps as we find ways to minister, build relationships, and share the Gospel here in Poland.
Thank you Dave, Marybeth, and Makayla, for answering God’s call in your lives to this very special ministry. We welcome you to our ministry team and look forward to all that God will do through you to touch the lives of many people. –Ev Tustin
Work & Witness Copenhagen
One of our Poland Partners wrote to me and proposed that if the Partners could come up with the $12,000 needed for materials for a Work and Witness team, he would do his best to field a team to go to Copenhagen as soon as is feasible. The team members would pay their own way for transportation, food, and housing but would need the additional funds for the project as required by Work and Witness. So if any of you could assist with funding some or all of the materials needed, let me know soon and we will help move the Copenhagen Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop forward.
If you are in a church that would like to field a team, including the materials cost, let me know. I will put you in touch with those who will be scheduling teams for Copenhagen. Katie Fitch, who was instrumental in the development of our shops in Poznan and Krakow, will be facilitating this work. We are praying that the Lord will help raise up many people to participate in this project and push it to completion. Thank you all for your faithful support of the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry as it continues to expand.
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| Katie Fitch with a Danish Palace Guard in Copenhagen |
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