Polish Life...Gotta Love It!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Easter
March 23rd marked my third month being in Poland!!! That's right, I flew on December 23rd, 2014 just in time for my first Polish Christmas. Now I'm just a couple weeks away from my first Polish Easter. I'm getting really excited because the Poles are traditionally awesome when it comes to celebrating Easter. Poland is mostly a Catholic nation, old school European Catholic mind you. So Easter is a pretty big deal, and you know that there is going to be some awesome food involved as well. As I'm investigating how the Poles celebrate Easter, I'm coming across some interesting traditions.  

1. Lamb cake. Now not every Polish person does this, but it is pretty popular. Yes, a 3D cake made in the shape of a lamb. It beats American Easter cakes with a big Polish stick. Cake boss step aside, it's time for lamb cake. So, I'm pretty excited to have my first lamb cake, and hopefully I'll get some footage of this Polish tradition to share with the folks back home. Why is this cake in the shape of lamb you might ask? Easy, Jesus was the 'Lamb of God,' so there you go...lamb cake. Mary had a little lamb...oh yeah! Hahahahhaa.

Lamb Cake

2. The day after Easter is also a holiday, and everyone has the day off. Not bad, not bad. Wait there's more, it has been reported that the Poles like to throw water on people, random people for no reason on this day. Per Pastor Ula (the dark haired Ula) one day she was wearing an expensive brand new coat, and some random person got her with water on this day. Boys usually do this to girls they like, and teens rampage random strangers. It has nothing to do with Easter, and no one really knows why people do it. It happens all over the country, and Poles have been doing it for centuries. So I have two options...a) barricade myself with water guns in my room, b) carry water guns with me everywhere I go on the day after Easter. Come on, I'm an American, ain't no one got time for this. I'm kinda hoping for an American-Polish version of this holiday (pending on good weather), and start a new tradition of capture the flag with water guns. To me that is logical as to why people should be wet on the day after Easter. If you're going to get wet, you might as well have water guns! Tak? 3. The legendary Polish food (besides the lamb cake) is supposed to be spectacular, and prepared just for Easter. This includes Easter eggs, chocolate, hams, salads, and all kinds of goodies.I hope to have a spectacular Easter version of the Poland Arise blog, so keep your eyes peeled for that issue. I'm interested to see what they do the same, and what they do different as far as Easter traditions are concerned. Either way, this American girl is going to be having a good time no matter what!

Living in A Polish World
I have really enjoyed living in Poland, and am loving Polish culture. I recommend visiting Poland, because this country is surprisingly gorgeous. I especially like watching Polish TV (whenever we get a chance to actually do this...which is rare), because their TV shows are hilarious. Now, I am not fluent in Polish yet, but I'm picking up words all the time. So I can understand what is happening by inferring, and catching vocabulary that I know. If Patrycja is with me, then she translates here and there for me. So, it's pretty interesting, and not bad quality. First of all, there is a Polish Catholic priest in almost every show. TV shows are called 'serials,' and they have no commercials in between the show. Instead, they have a long set of commercials or 'reklama' in between new shows. Also, the Catholic priests are viewed a lot differently than American priests or pastors. These priest are saving the day, solving crimes, in people business, and are looked up to. If issues are going to be settled, it's happening during mass! That's very different from the weak and wimpy pastors we see on American TV. Also, on a side note, I saw my first Polish Catholic priest on my way to church last week; I was pretty excited! I see nuns all the time, but it was cool to see the priest especially after watching Polish TV. Not only is watching Polish TV exciting, but going shopping and forgetting that I'm not fluent in Polish is also interesting. I love it when I get thank you and good day mixed up at the cash register. Nothing screams I'm an American like when I have hamburger buns, hamburger patties, and french fries in my collection of groceries. Then I act like I know what the lady is saying at the register, and put my Polish ATM card in the the machine the wrong way. I just look at the lady and say in Polish, "I'm from America."

Priest from the Serial "Ranczo"

Another hilarious moment for me is when I saw this tea commercial the other day. You see in Poland, drinking tea is a big deal. Don't be surprised when you come to Poland and you are asked multiple times if you would like tea. They really like to drink tea, and so do I! Ok, so I was watching this commercial, and it was a 'guy commercial' for tea. It was like watching an advertisement for shaving cream or something manly, except it was for tea. Yes, you will be the most manly of Polish men or European men if you drink TET tea. Ladies, you cannot handle the manliness of this tea, that is why it is tea for men. So go drink some fru fru tea, and let the men drink TET. I laughed so hard, because I had never (in all my life) seen such a manly tea commercial; I loved it! I tried to find it on You Tube, but I couldn't. If I happen to catch it sometime, I'll take a video so you can see what I'm talking about. Polish life, gotta love it. In addition to the manly tea commercial, they have commercials for kielbasa, and they have actors dressed in traditional Polish outfits. I'm in Polish heaven! To the Poles this is normal, no big deal. To the American girl living in a Polish world, I'm eating it up.

Transition Time
I head up to Warsaw on April 7th, and will be 'stationed' there for two months working with Pastor Marcin's group. I'll be living with a great lady named Ala, and she will be my host while I'm in Warsaw. I'm really looking forward to going to Warsaw, and know that this experience will be life changing. There are great people at Pastor Marcin's church, and they are very hungry for God. I feel that yes, I'll be a 'blessing' to them, but I'm looking forward to gleaning what I can from them. Pastor Marcin and Pastor Janusz are pioneers in the realm of Polish charismatic churches, and they have a very powerful church. I'm expecting God to bring them a great harvest, and increase this year. I'm so grateful to be a part of anything they are doing.

It is definitely hard to leave Cieszyn, because these people have become like family to me. We work hard around the clock to make changes, and have gone through a lot together. They have had willing attitudes, and have taken such good care of me. Their church is not the same, and the people have definitely changed. We have established lots of new ministries, upgraded and strengthened the ministries that we already there, established the corporate power of all, and had some amazing times in God's presences. The people worship different, they pray different, and the respond different. This was a great church to invest the principals I have learned at World Revival Church. Their church feels safer, peaceful, strengthened, and unified.

So in the last few days I'm here, I'll be training a new usher, prayer cloth ladies, and starting the brand new kids ministry. I trained my friend Iza last night in the revival children ministry principals, and feel that she is the right person to lead the kids on Thursday nights. We'll be in the room together working with the kids next week, and then she is on her own. So there is still lots to do, and....oh yeah, I have to start packing!!! I couldn't be happier, and grateful to be a missionary in Poland. I thank God all the time for this opportunity to be here, and am grateful for how God faithfully backs me up each week. Polish life is a good life, Polish life with God is a great life!