 Kasia translating for an American missionary at the Street Church' Friday service, and later she was sharing her own testimony of how Jesus called her out of the Hare Krishna movement. They say time flies like an arrow, but I’m not sure if that’s true. After all, an arrow loses its speed the further it goes, but personally, I feel like time is going faster and faster. All that to say, that I finally realized that it was time to give a short update on what is happening here in Poland. As in most other countries, we are also in a “corona crisis.” For us, this means we are having some involuntary time off — but we have chosen to look positively on it. This is, after all, an excellent opportunity to spend more time together as a family.
I was supposed to be both in Norway and Denmark, but have had to cancel both trips. In April, I am planning a trip to South Sudan, but I guess I have to wait and see what happens. Together will other believers all over the world, I am joining in the prayer that this virus will be gone, so let’s keep our faith strong and believe God for a miracle in this situation.
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As I have been praying and seeking God for the plans for 2020, I felt God reminded me of when Abraham and Lot had to separate. Abraham told Lot to pick where he would like to go, and after Lot had chosen, God spoke to Abraham and said: And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. As I was reminded of this passage in scripture, I felt God ask me: “What are you looking for in 2020?” — and I would like to extend that question to you. “What is it you are looking for in 2020?”. Because what you are looking for is most likely what you will find. If you look for the negative, you will find it. But at the same time, if you look for the positive, you will also find that. I believe God is going to do great things in 2020, and I would like to encourage you to look for the positive. Don’t only focus on what the devil is doing, but seek out and get excited about what God is doing. THE LAST MOTHS IN POLAND Time passes quickly, and it has been so busy that I have not had much time to write, so this mission report is a bit overdue — but better late than never :-) In general, things are going good, and we can see how God is guiding and providing in all the things we are doing. Positive things are happening both in the Polish church, the international church, and with the Bible school.
The picture to the left: Peter and Fredrik are teaching. The picture to the right: Students doing group work. In November, we had Peter Tkaczyk and Fredrik Skoglund visiting us, and for us here in Poland, these visits mean a lot. It's good when people support financially, it is great when people pray, but there is something special when people take time to come and visit.
Having Fredrik and others from the Nations Calling family visiting, really makes us feel that we are a part of a bigger family.  As summer slowly is fading into autumn it’s time for another news update from the Nations Calling work here in Poland. The summer months has been great for us as a family, and this year we were also able to spend more time in Norway than we usually do. But now things are getting back to the normal routine. The intentional church has started up again and Bible school is starting in a few weeks. Thanks to our cooperation with the Hosanna church, we have had Sunday services all through the summer and the Street Church has also partly been in activity the latest months. Kasia has started work again, Sebastian is a proud first grader and I think even Kamilla, deep inside, is happy to be back at school again. THE BIBLESCHOOL As I just mentioned the Bible school is starting up again in a few weeks, but the second year has already had some evangelism weekends.  Here the second year team, and some local people from Lublin are having a street meeting in Lublin sentrum. One of the encouraging thing, when you are a missionary in a foreign country, is visits from friends – or when people back home are writing you, saying they are praying for you. This is one of the reasons why we enjoy working with Nations Calling. They prioritise visiting the workers, not only to hear how things are going, but also to follow up on a more personal level.
On the picture to the left Svein, Fredrik and me are having coffee in the old town of Lublin. On the picture to the right Fredrik is ministering to the poor and homeless during Street Church’ Friday meeting. In the beginning of this summer we had Fredrik Skoglund visit us again and we had a great time, both ministering and connecting. The first part of this summer was a very busy time for us. As an ending to the Bible school we had a conference, we had started up the Encounter meetings again, weekly gatherings with the International church, picking up and delivering food for Street Church and working on building the Polish church we started last year. But it is a blessing to be able to use time and focus on building the Kingdom of God and we are thankful to be able to serve the King. TRIP TO WIEN One of the ladies attending the Bible school is a Polish lady living in Wien. Every third weekend she have been driving from Wien to Poland to attend the teaching and it’s been very inspiring to to see her commitment.  We've just got back after another incredible trip to Juba, South Sudan with a small team consisting of Ronald Gabrielsen (Norway/Poland), Einar Mikkelsen (Denmark), Eimund and Cassie Skjæret (Norway/USA). We started the trip travelling from three different countries, met in Paris, then travelled together to Nairobi.
 Jesus never told us to pray for the harvest, but for workers to go into the harvest-fields – for the harvest is already ready. In this newsblog I will try to summarise a little bit when it comes to what we are doing here in Poland and present one new harvest-worker that has joined the team. NEW WORKER At the beginning of February we got a new addition to the team here in Lublin – Svein Svendsen from Norway. He has been working with us before and it’s very good to have him back again. This time he plans to stay until summer. The last period Svein was working here, he, Arnfinn and Michael went on a mission trip to Ukraine. During that trip, they got good connections to a pastor in Lviv. So, right after coming to Poland, Svein took a short trip to Lviv to follow up the things they had been doing there last time.
 Street meetings in January can be a cold experience, espesially when playing guitar or piano. But when it comes to the importance of preaching the Gospel it was a small price to pay. In Matthew 25:35-36 Jesus is saying "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
Even though being cold is not on this list, I believe it just as well could be — especially if the Bible had been written in Poland, during winter. Even though January is a cold month, when it comes to the weather, we have still been able to spread some warmth to people who need some extra care these cold months.
 If there is one thing I have learned during my years as a missionary, it is that you need to stay flexible. Every time you think you have it all figured out, it seems like God already has something new going on. If you get to ridged, you will soon find yourself missing what God is doing.
Here in Poland the last months have certainly been this kind of times. Many things have been going simultaneously, but when you feel God is backing up what you are doing – well, then you’re too blessed to be stressed. Humanitarian aid and Street Church It has been twice the last months that we have had to arrange humanitarian aid on a short notice. The first time it was a friend of ours from Lyngdal that was originally going to Ukraine, but then they got in trouble on the border from Poland to Ukraine and had to turn back. Lublin is only a few hours away from the border and when they realised that they needed to turn back, they decided to call me and ask if I knew someone to whom some gifts from Norway could be useful.  Ronald, Eimund and Cassie have been on an exciting trip this August 14-28th to both Kenya and South Sudan. Here are some of the highlights from the trip!
Ronald’s father has a missions organization called Mission 10/40 and though this organisation he has been doing a lot of mission work in both Kenya and South Sudan (and they also lived in Kenya when Ronald was small). Because of this we got good connections both places and where able to work together with some really good people. Geoffery (Bishop of East African Pentecostal Churches) and his wife Anne were our hosts in Kenya, and Geoffrey even travelled with us to Juba. A good friend of Eimund and Cassie’s also joined us in Kenya, Stig Ove Gisnås from Mo i Rana, Norway. Him, his wife Linda and 3 children have established a missions base on the coast of Kenya, Kilifi and have lived there for 2 years. (Stig and Linda ministries) We are so grateful that Stig Ove came and hung out with us, took incredible pictures, and helped us spread the gospel!
A few days later a friend, who had also been on our prayer walk, asked me if I had heard the news. I had not, so I was curious about it.
He then told me that he had read in the newspaper that the city government had found an old unknown well – a few meters from where we had been praying. The amazing part was that they had also decided to dig it up and reopen it. What a peculiar coincidence! Right after we had been prayer-walking in town, asking God to reopen the old wells of revival, the city government finds an unknown well they decide to dig up and reopen. God is definitely doing something in Europe and the wells of revival that changed this continent once will start to flow again – I truly believe this with my whole heart. |
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