scott's euro missions journal 2007 #4

dobry dein supporters....(we are now back to the slovak version of "Good
Day")

We are back in slovakia after 6 days in Krakow Poland. There are only 2 1/2
days left on our missions trip. But things have gone very well here and we
are seeing the most people come to Christ than any of teh previous 4
missions trips. This is exciting for us, and also confirms the need to come
back to the same region for 3-5 years vs. just going to a new place every
year.

Krakow was a good time for our team. The 16 of us who traveled north grew
together as a team, and were exposed to many new things: Aushwitz
concentration camp where 1,000,000 people were murdered, Krakow culture (one
of the top 10 cities in Europe in my view), and the frustration the
evangelical church here faces.

There were not a lot of planned outreaches here in Krakow. Instead the team
often divided into groups of two or three and spread out over the city
center striking up conversations and trying to allow the Holy Spirit to lead
us to strategic people. In addition to this we also helped with several
service projects, rebuilding a playground at an international school, and
helping a church clean up some property where they plan to build a new
church builiding.

Many of our students felt a deep heart for Krakow and the people of Krakow.
It is a city of about 800,000 with 80,000 college students. Most of Poland
is Catholic...it is hard to know how many of these are born-again believers
with a personal relationship with Christ. Since so many people know "about
God", when spiritual conversations are introduced, they are often met with
indifference or spoken of as a "private matter".

However Poland contains many of the signs of people lacking a life-giving
relationship with Christ...alcoholism, divorce, dysfunctional families.
Several students from previous missions trips have caught a vision to give a
season of their life to help reach Polish people enter into a life-giving
relationship with Jesus, including Rebecca, a girl who went on the Chi Alpha
trip two years ago, and is now back to stay for a full summer working with
some U.S. Missionaries in Krakow.

After our time in Krakow, we returned to Slovakia to a small town called
Nove Mesto. We linked up with the other half of the team, and had a great
time sharing all the experiences we'd had in our different cities. The
church here is very organised for our outreach just like Kosice. they have
us ministering in the schools in the mornings, either speaking in english
classes or leading school assemblies. This morning we led an assembly for
over 300 students...speaking about making right choices, setting goals and
how Jesus has changed our life.

Later in the afternoon we spread out to three different parks to play sports
and invite people to our evening concert. Last night we had about 40 people
show up at the concert to hear us play music, perform dramas and share
testimonies. Tonight we hope to see double that number.

I will be speaking tonight so please throw out some prayer for me to have
the words God wants me to share, and to unlock the doors of students hearts
to believe. We had seen over 10 people come to Christ on our trips so our
faith is high!!!

Thanks for your prayers...

scott