In the shadow of His wings: Poles and Pottery

Tuesday I flew back to Warsaw from Odessa and had a lovely, if slightly hectic evening. It's interesting entering Poland from Ukraine, rather than from the States. There's a huge difference in the way that people are treated at Passport Control. Ukrainians or Russians are treated with a lot of suspician. One presents his passport and is asked how long he will be there, how much money he has with him, why he's there, what papers does he have with him to prove all of the above information, when is his return flight, etc. ,etc.There were only six people in line in front of me and yet, it took 45 minutes for me to get to the front.....where the lady glanced at my US passport for two seconds, stamped it, and said, "Have a nice visit in Poland!"

Filemon picked me up and took me to a pottery shop. Poland is famous for their beautiful blue and white pottery and each time I go I add to my collection. One day I would love to have a complete set of dinnerware in this beautiful pottery. One of the ladies in Warsaw advised me to mix and match everything that I buy, so that as pieces break, they will be easier to replace, so that's what I've been doing. Beautiful pottery-it's one of those small things that makes all of this hard, exhausting traveling a bit more enjoyable.

After that, he dropped me off at a metro and I went into the center of Warsaw to meet Szymon(Simon). He was at the Odessa training center in 2010 and did his internship in India and Romania, before returning to Poland. He's very young and made the decision to work and get some higher education before possibly returning to full time ministry in the future. He's currently working, going to university, and is actively involved in youth ministry at his church in Warsaw. As I've kept in close touch with many of the interns from the last three classes, I try not to have favorites, but I do. The four younger ones from the class of 2010 have a special place in my heart. I talk to most of them quite often on Skype and we've grown to have quite close relationships. I've said before that Szymon is like a younger brother to me and he really is. I so enjoyed my evening with him and getting to hear his heart for the ministry that he's starting up with his younger brother's soccer club(talented young players getting full time training to be professionals). He's really excited about where God's leading him right now and I'm excited to see him listening and responding. I tell you, what a blessing it is to be involved in the lives of those actively pursuing passionate relationships with their Maker!