In the shadow of His wings: Poland, city #3

Poznan was city #3 in Poland, an almost 6 hr. bus ride northwest of Warsaw. We used to have two staff couples serving there, one American and the other Polish, but now the young Polish couple are there by themselves. Amadeusz is the oldest son of the Shaded family that I spent time with in Warsaw. He and his brother, Filemon, went through our Odessa training center in 2009, which was my first class after moving there. I've stayed good friends with the brothers and after meeting Amadeusz's fiance in 2010 and doing a camp with them in 2011(where Monika and I were in a bible study group together), they invited me to visit them. My first trip to them was in Spring 2012, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Monika during our three days together. She's a real sweetheart, who's from an unbelieving family, and it's been quite an adjustment to marry into a very intense Polish/Syrian family composed of so many missionaries and pastors. Though she serves alongside of Amadeusz in many ways, she also has an accomplished career as an artist and art teacher in a university in Poznan. She's currently preparing for a sponsored exhibit of her work in Warsaw in October, plus preparing for the new school year, and just finished doing two English camps with Amadeusz. It's been a true joy to get to know her and be someone that she feels comfortable discussing some of her joys and struggles with- and also be someone that Amadeusz trusts her talking to.

I had very little time with them this trip, due to their being at camps. They finished camp Sun. evening, I arrived Mon. afternoon, and headed back late Tues. afternoon, so I could be back in Warsaw and ready for my 6am flight on Wed. It was a bit crazy to make that trip out there, and we all wished it could have been longer, but all agreed that it was worth it. Monika and I returned to an amazing little cafe in Poznan, called the Green Veranda, where local art students blanket the entire cafe in beautiful hanging art installments that get changed every quarter. It's so beautiful there! We agreed that since this was our second time there, it should be a tradition for each visit. It's such a peaceful place to sit and have great conversation, and I felt like those last couple of days in Poland were just a beautiful time of fellowship and an example of how God brings the body of Christ together to encourage and lift each other up. Even though it took twelve hours of travel and we only had approximately 10 hours of fellowship time, it was completely worth it, and I'm so thankful for these two and the friendship that has been formed with them.