Friday - Poland

Of course I remembered today two more things we did on Thursday... The first thing is that in between the bowling alley and the beauty salon, we found a place where they had video games and the girls were very intrigued by these motorcycles you could ride for a minute or two for a small fee. So we put some change in the machines and off they went... they did it like pros! The other thing was that when we walked from the church office to the city, we stopped at one of the many bakeries on the street towards the city center. It looked like one of those old-fashioned tea rooms with striped wall paper, small round tables and straight-back chairs... there were enough sweets there to get us on an all-time sugar high!

Anyhow, this morning after breakfast I went with Ania (the girl who I am staying with until Saturday morning) to her office. Ania works full-time for a non-profit organization which puts on an annual festival called "SLOT FEST". During this 5-day art festival, just about 5,000 people come to visit an old castle located about 1 hour from Wroclaw and are kept busy with concerts and 140 workshops. Ania is in charge of getting all the workshop speakers lined up and organized. As you can imagine, a lot of stuff needs to happen behind the scenes before everything is ready for all these 5,000 visitors. Martijn and Ellen are also involved in the festival; they are in charge of the pastoral care. The goal of this festival is to introduce people to Jesus, and I have heard several stories of people who came to know Him through attending the festival and making friends there and returning for more. Every Friday morning at 9, whoever is available of the organizing team is in the office for a meeting where they give status updates on their different areas, as well as pray together. It was wonderful to be with them and to encourage them to look at what they do not just as a job and work that needs to be done, but as an opportunity to make a place for people so they can be introduced to Jesus, and also to have eyes to see and a heart to notice what the Lord wants to do in them while putting this massive event together.

Martijn was also at the prayer meeting and after the meeting was done, he took me to a mall called "Magnolia Park" (yes, there are a lot of blooming magnolia trees in front of it). We found Ellen in a store and I spent the rest of the morning with her. We did some shopping and had a nice cup of coffee with cookies after good Dutch tradition. After we had said our good byes (she will be spending the weekend in The Netherlands), she went her way and I got on the tram and found my way to the city center, where I walked around a little bit in rather windy and not so sunny weather. The inner city is really pretty and I enjoyed my time! At 2pm I met with Ania at the fountain in the square and we went to lunch at a place called "Cegielnia". Don't ask me what the name means, the only thing I can tell you is that the food was great and the interior design was so very clever: all the light fixtures were surrounded by bunches of wooden spoons or forks or spatulas... Where do these people get their ideas, I ask!?

After lunch Ania took me to some art galleries and other fun places, and we ended up at "Afryka" which is a gorgeous coffee and tea room, decorated in white, red, orange and hot pink! How delightful is that! Ania told me that her boy friend has a little bit of trouble with the pink part, and I teased him about that when he came over later on in the evening... he is a very nice young man, and he passed my inspection :-).

After Ania and I finished talking about how she and her boyfriend got together and how she thinks about the future, we left and walked around some more in the city. Then we decided that it was time to get on the tram and go to the grocery store and get some stuff for me to cook breakfast on Saturday morning. By that time I was walking around without the usual bounce in my step. I think I tore a muscle in my right calf or something like that, so while at the store I bought some cream to help ease the pain. I may not be able to walk as much as I would want for the next few days...

In the evening, Ania went to a class while I stayed home and worked a little bit on emails, and I also spent time working on the second step of the Pastoral Licensing process, which is logging on to the Foursquare website, listening to information related to Foursquare's founder Aimee Semple McPherson, Foursquare Missions etc. etc. This step consists of 15 parts with 15 tests, and after I complete all 15, I will receive a binder with more materials to study and prepare for an interview later. I finished 9 out of the 15 parts this evening, and I felt pretty good about that! When Ania came home from her class, she made soup and Lucas (her boyfriend) came by to say hello to her. He works in a city about a 5 hour train ride away from Wroclaw, so they see each other only during the weekends. We sat around the table and ate soup and laughed until we almost cried. It was another great day!