Poland - 2008

January 19-28, 2008, Henry Weigel

Travel and the Routine

First a caveat. This report is not meant to be a comprehensive report on everybody's doings. It is simply a report on my personal experience, especially in the area of ministry. Construction trips usually are not associated with ministry, but if we look to the Lord He can and does arrange such opportunities.

Fifteen people comprised the construction missions trip to Poland to work on the Warsaw Theological Seminary building. Eleven of these were from or in association with the Word of Life Assembly of God (WoL) church. The trip was organized by Stan and Julie Wagner and WoL. The Wagners came on Friday January 18 and stayed overnight with us. On Saturday Grace took the three of us to Dulles (IAD) where we met up with Raona from California, an acquaintance of the Wagners. We left from IAD and took a UAL flight to Munich and Lufthansa from there to Warsaw. For me the return trip was the reverse but using Lufthansa for both legs of the trip. Rich and Lori McLane met us at the Warsaw airport and took us to the hotel. We arrived in Warsaw on Sunday A.M. but it got to be about two P.M. by the time we arrived at the Arkadia Hotel. The hotel is about half a mile from the Bible School – an easy walk on a good day. The other eleven people came in on Tuesday and began work on Wednesday. We all returned home on Monday January 28.

The work consisted of tiling, grouting, hanging doors, and setting toilets in place. As in all the trips we had devotionals each day either at the beginning or right after lunch led by one of the team members.

Poland

The People

According to Rich McLean, there are 38 million people in Poland; 95% of them are Catholic and 36,000 are believers. That is about 0.1%. 21,000 attend Pentecostal churches; 12,600 are members of a Pentecostal church. The Polish Catholic Church does not teach hope of any kind. On Sundays (or Saturdays) 70% are in church regularly. One out of three adults is alcoholic. Wife and child abuse is widespread.

The Bible School and the Students

The Bible School has an enrollment of about 50 students some 20 are full time. They expect to graduate from six to eight students at the end of the school year. When I asked some what their primary focus of study is I got replies like, church planting or being a pastor. I was surprised that the student expected to be a pastor coming right out of the Bible School. He said that pastors are needed because there are existing churches without pastors. When the work on the new building is completed they expect to double the school's enrollment.

Support and Ownership

As I understand it, twenty-some teams from the US have gone to Warsaw to work on the Bible School. Rich says that a Polish Church will send a team to work on it. This will be the first Polish team. Rich wants the Polish Church to get involved and start to take ownership of the project, to help complete it, furnish it and maintain it.

Ministry Opportunities

International Church Service.

The Sunday we arrived, as I felt pretty alert, I went with the McLanes to the International church meeting that evening where Rich is the Pastor. The service is in English. A beautiful worship service, led by Lori, ushered us into the presence of the Lord. At a pause in the service a young man (I think a student from the Bible School) came forward and said he had a word he thought was from the Lord for the congregation. He felt more comfortable to give it in Polish and Tim (another missionary) translated. His word was to encourage the people not to be afraid of the Holy Spirit but to open their hearts to him. After more worship I gave an utterance in tongues with interpretation. The essence was that Yes they should open their hearts and receive from the Lord and let the Holy Spirit move in their lives to go into the world and take the Gospel to those in darkness and win them into the Kingdom of Light. Rich then invited people to come forward to be prayed for if they felt the Lord speaking to them about some ministry. Two people came up and Rich and Tim laid hands on them and prayed for them. Rich then brought the Message which complemented the two "Special Words" for the congregation.

English Service with the Students and My Flight Over.

On Thursday evening (January 24) we had a combined service of the English-speaking students and the work team. Sheldon from WoL (Pastor for students and young adult singles) led the worship and later brought the Word. Music was provided by Junie, also from WoL. He played both the keyboard and the guitar. Three of us gave testimonies, including myself. My testimony was based on some of the divine orchestrations of me talking to people about the Lord. I related several stories where I was prompted by the Holy Spirit. Among them were stories involving promtings such as, "When are you going to bring Jesus into the conversation," when on a flight from Munich to Dulles I had gotten into a discussion (not of my choosing) with a young lady from France; or on a flight to San Diego when I was reading spiritual material, "Here you are feasting on these things, but what about the guy next to you?" On my flight over the Atlantic (from IAD to Munich) on this trip I had an experience that I prefaced the telling of it with two readings:

Acts 20:24. But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love.

2 Cor. 5:9-11a. So our aim is to please him always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies. It is because we know this solemn fear of the Lord that we work so hard to persuade others.

I was sitting next to a guy that I pretty much ignored, as I have a natural aversion to starting conversations with people I don't know. I was reading spiritual material and listening to Christian music and some classical on my IPOD that Grace insisted I get, which I have enjoyed immensely. Towards the end of the flight the phrase "we work so hard to persuade others" went through my mind. I knew I wasn't working hard at all in telling my seatmate about the Lord. In fact I didn't even try. The phrase came again and in desperation I asked the Lord to give me an opening so that I could talk to him about the Lord. The Lord is faithful, the opportunity came by me simply asking if he was going to Munich on business. No, he was going to meet relatives (cousins, I think) that he had never met. I offered to pray with him about that. He accepted. This led to a discussion of a relationship with Jesus. I showed him some pertinent Scriptures from my Bible. He also accepted a New Testament from me.

On the way home I didn't wait so long and got into a discussion sooner with the guy next to me about the Lord. I had run out of New Testaments but I had a Church business card that had the Church website on it that I pointed out to him. He said he would check it out. With his permission I prayed with him and encouraged him to contact me if he wanted to talk.

Humorous Situation

At the Hotel in Warsaw the desk clerk flagged me down and gave me a paper bag with my name on it and said it was from Mrs. Wagner. I took it to my room and found a nice scarf, notepad and pen. I came down to thank Julie and Stan – much to their surprise. They asked what for. I mentioned the gift. Julie said that was not meant for me but for the waiter who had served us tea at no charge. His name was Henry also. I went and got the gifts and gave them back so they could be given to the "other" Henry. A day or two later I received a similar bag with similar contents marked for Henry from Wash., D.C. We all had a good chuckle. Thanks Stan and Julie; I love my scarf, notepad and pen.