The side streets of Radom ... on our walk to church on Sunday morning. (Szymon showed us a shortcut, so today's walk was only 20 minutes.) We are beginning to love walking, because it gives us focused time to talk. No doubt, it is partly why these people are so close; they share many miles of conversation with one another.

Sunday Morning Worship

God's Word to us today through Tytus:


God chose us; we did not choose Him. When people lose interest or walk away from God, it is probably because they think they chose Him. They quickly become disappointed in something God does or doesn't do to/for them. He doesn't meet their expectations, so they walk away. But we don't choose God. He chooses us ... to be sons/daughters, to serve, and to love each other. He chooses us to be part of a Body, and we each have a purpose in that Body. If we always look at life through the prism of money or possessions, we will always be disappointed. Someone will always have more than us or will be gifted in a way of which we are envious. We will never be satisfied. But if we look through the prism of Christ's love, we will learn to serve one another and be the Body He calls us to be.


Tytus shared about a conference he attended last week. There was a woman there, a pastor's wife, whom Tytus has known for several years. People have always been aware that this woman was usually withdrawn and distant from people. However, this time, she was engaged in conversation and was participating in the activities. It was an obvious difference, and many pepole noticed. When Tytus spoke with her, he asked, "What happened to you? You have always been distant with people, but now you are happy and involved with others." She responded, "I had a meeting with God. For 30 years I have been a pastor's wife, but only now do I understand what it means to be part of the Body of Christ."


It is amazing again how our pastors in Fredericktown are teaching about the same thing as our pastor in Radom: how to be the Body of Christ. We've traveled across an ocean, yet we are receiving the same teaching that you are receiving in Fredericktown. We are truly One Church in Two Locations ... called to be united in love and purpose.

More from Saturday's Picnic

There is always singing :-)

Wiktoria & Agata

American football at its best!

Wiktoria, Edyta & Natalia (three lovely sisters)

Irmina, Dave & Sherri with Irmina's uncle

Saturday Evening Picnic

Katrin, Jola, Ola, Irmina & Natalya

Tytus, the Master Griller (Piotr & Beata in background, along with Steve & Dave)

Patrycja, Ella & Ola

The boys enjoying a game of Apples to Apples

Saturday Morning Open Market

Sherri ... waiting in line for pastries. Notice the lady hunched over in front of her. This is her normal stance. She handled the market, crippled as she is, while carrying her bags of goods all by herself.

Ben & Joe enjoying their first tastes of Polish pastries :-)

We're all together

Ben & Joe arrived safely. Their flights were delayed several hours, but they finally made it here! We are glad to finally all be together. And Sam is adjusting well to being one of six boys! God is good :-)

Comments

Some of you have emailed us and said you're having trouble figuring out how to leave a comment on this blog. So here are the instructions: You just double click on the 'comments' word after any photo. A page will come up that says 'Leave comment' (or something like that). You type your comment and then scroll down to the bottom of the page. Click on 'publish comment', and you're done. It's that simple.

Dinner & Conversation

with Marek,Patricia & Steve

Levi & Jan Marek (John) on

Marek & Patricia's balcony

Tenement buildings

View from Marek & Patricia's balcony

Friday's Extraordinary Activities

Much of the day today was spent doing ordinary things ... laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. However, we had dinner with Marek & Patricia, which is always extraordinary.

Marek & Patricia live in a tenement building which was built by the Communist regime. There are many of these in Radom. Although the living space is small, Marek & Patricia have made their space a home. They cooked us a delicious meal of pork tenderloins, potatoes, vegetables & dip, perogi's, and lody (ice cream). Needless to say, the food was marvelous. The conversation was even more so.

We listened with intent while Steve Snyder graciously translated Marek's memories of living under Communism. Marek remembers, as a 14-year-old boy, standing in line with his mother for hours to wait for just one item of food (i.e. sugar). He specifically remembers standing in line once for the entire night just to get some meat.

Marek remembers how difficult it was for him as a young boy when his mother would come and pull him out of a soccer game. You see, food was allotted to each individual person who stood in line. Rather than Marek's mother standing alone, she would bring Marek along so the family could get an extra portion. When they reached the front of the line and obtained the food, Marek would ask, "May I go back and play with my friends?" His mother would say, "No ... we are going to do this all over again." And they would go to the back of the line to wait again.

Marek & Pataricia distinctly remember when freedom came to Poland. They had only known Communism, and the difference that came to their country following those days was unfathomable. In fact, many people hoarded food because they thought it would soon be scarce again.

On July 4, you will celebrate America's Independence Day. Freedom is a precious gift. Celebrate it with thanksgiving.

Friday's Ordinary activities

One of many beautiful
doors in Radom

Jim & Luke - Playing Scrabble

& eating ice cream bars (yum!)

Sherri & Beata - Shopping at the Polish version of Sam's Club. (Irmina was with us & took the picture. ) It was good to shop with the 'ladies' and see more of what is/is not available here in Poland. It is very time-consuming to figure out what each item is!

This woman is hanging her laundry out to dry (She wasn't too happy about me taking her picture, but I snuck it in).

Luke & Sam - Doing laundry in the bathtub. When we return to America, perhaps our kids will not complain about merely transferring their laundry from the washer to the dryer??

Kebabs & Kids

The boys are waiting to order kebabs. To make kebabs, they cut the meat right off of the freshly baked lamb. We ordered them TOO large today. We also ordered them with a tortilla instead of the special panini bread. That was due to our poor understanding of Polish! Luke and Sam are obviously enjoying!

This is a little blurry, but it shows Jan Marek's beautiful smile :-)

Here is that kiss on the forehead I promised all you mothers. Veronica is absolutely adorable!

Re-Posting Old Photos

These next four photos were originally posted incorrectly (I was still learning!) So I am re-posting them. For those of you who are new to blogging, you can double click on any of these photos to see a larger viewing.



Veronica's baby dedication - Sun., June 22

Filip & his girlfriend, Ola

Jim & Sam grilling chicken - a noble attempt! Unfortunately, we ended up cooking the chicken on the stove because we could not get the grill fully lit. The chicken was fresh from the market and DELICIOUS!!













Marek & John (wearing his new shirt from the Turners that says, "My Dad Rocks")

Conversation

One of the things we love about this place is how much time we are able to spend in conversation. We realize when we're here that we don't have a work schedule or school, etc. However, even in the summertime in America, we often go our separate ways and live our separate lives ... even within our own family. Here, we have had more focused conversations, particularly with Jim, in one week than we've had in the last couple of months combined. The closeness we share is worth every ounce of energy and every dime of expense it took to get here. These are memories that will last a lifetime.

Please pray for Ben & Joe's travel today. We are really looking forward to having them here. When they arrive, Mikolaj & Vojtek (his dad) will pick them up at the airport & bring them straight to Marek & Patrycja's home. We will be having dinner there ... and yes, I will get to hold the beautiful baby Veronica. I'll give her a kiss on the forehead for all of you :-)

We have several photos from the youth ... and even a short video ... saved on Jim's phone right now. But he forgot the cable to download the photos on to the computer. Ben & Joe are supposed to bring it. When they get here, we will post these items for you.

Today we will begin preparations for the English classes we'll be teaching at the Summer in the City event next week (to the children in Tytus' old neighborhood -- Jewish synagogue site). Also, Marek & Patrycja are coming over to visit. Blessings to you all on this beautiful Radom day! Mid seventies & sunny.

Wednesday's Adventures

Szymon, Jim & Filip - at outdoor viewing of EuroCup match. They are doing the ol' Perry boy "everyone look to the left while Mom is trying to take a picture". Unfortunately, this trick of my sons' is becoming universal.





















Levi, Piotrek, Agata & Wiktoria - At the outdoor viewing of the EuroeCup match between Turkey & Germany. The youth attended the match after youth group. At youth group they played a type of group ping pong tournament, with all teens starting around the table & eliminating one player at a time. Dave & I have played this game before ... very fun game! They are all amazing ping pong players! Eric Maskey would lve it here :-) Agata is doing well. She thinks we will get to see Marysha at the church picnic on Saturday. It is being held at Irmina's house.








A quintessential (sp?) Radom street. Beautiful.

















KEBABS!!! Wow, what a delicacy. Szymon introduced us all to kebabs today ... a Turkish food on an open-faced Panini-type bread. The bread is topped with freshly roasted lamb, lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, and a garlic-Ranch type creamy sauce. YUM!!

Jim & Szymon resting after a long walk. They, together with Sam, walked 45 minutes to the mall, shopped for an hour, and took a bus ride home. Jim bought a pair of Puma flip flips for $20 that would have cost him $50 in America.

They have walked all over Radom the last two days and have had a great time. Luke was too tired to go along today! Jim finally feels like he knows his way around this place.

Delicious baked goods at the open market!!

Sherri is in the kitchen, making spaghetti. It was actually quite good! We purchased pre-made sauce in jars, and added it to some ground pork (ground beef is not available close by). It is always a risk buying something pre-made here, because the use of spices is often different than in America. But this particular time, the risk was worth it. It was delicious!

This is the building in which we are staying. We are living on the 3rd floor, the upper right side. Standing in the gateway are Dave & Irmina, who is translating for us for part of our visit.

Luke & Levi are standing in our kitchen. The actual work space is average per Polish standards, but the entire room is very large per Polish standards. We are blessed to have space for two 4-person tables in the kitchen (I was standing by the tables when I took this photo).

Friendship

Edyta and Irmina

Dinner with Piotrek, Beata & Iwona. Polish hospitality at its best!

Sam

Hey Millers, this is for you. Thought you might like to see your boy! He is on an elevator ... more like a freight elevator. This was on Sunday.

One Church, Two Locations

Pastor Tytus & Dave ... language is no barrier here. Hearts are united.

Filip, our hero!

Sam got locked in the bathroom (difficult doors here, poor kid!) ... but Filip got him out. This was immediately after Filip figured out how to turn our electricity back on. We are now calling Filip our hero :-)