It is all part of learning Polish, REALLY!

Before you think that all I am doing here in Poland is watching movies . . . this is all part of my homework. All of our movies here are subtitled in Polish and my going to movies allows me to see Polish words as I hear English. It has been a great way of comparing the languages and to see how Poles use everyday phrases.

Example: I love you. Kocham! (KOH -HAWM)
Hey, there! Ćześć! (CHE-SH-CH)

It has been 3 months and I have gone to 3 movies and can see improvement in my Polish! But as I see these movies, the film critic in me comes out and I MUST give my opinion about them.

So today's movie was Spider-man 3. Unlike many who I have read and talked to, I really liked this one. Even more than number two. One of my friends said that Peter Parker really has not grown much since the first one. I agree with that to a point. I found it interesting that when he was once again confronted with the death of his uncle and the loss of his best friend, he allowed anger and guilt guide him. It has only been 2 years since Peter lost the most significant man in his life. Two years is not all that much to have to deal with that. Then when told that the real killer was out there free . . . if it was me, I am not sure if I would not have wanted revenge too! I think the journey of having to go back to the pain brought on the growth that was wanted in the first film. :)

Unlike Pirates, there were great themes: friendship, sacrifice, loyalty, betrayal, trust, love gained and lost and gained again, redemption and the BIG theme I loved was FORGIVENESS. What a great scene when Peter Parker forgives with tears in his eyes even when it was not asked for. You could see the genuineness of that forgiveness. When I walked out of Pirates, I was not sure what I thought of the story, but when I walked out of Spidy . . . I felt uplifted and wondering if there was anyone I needed to forgive in my life.

It was not quite a spiritual experience, but it was refreshing to see these themes displayed on the big screen. Thank you Stan Lee! His cameo was GREAT! I forget the exact words, but it about the reason why Spider-man was so well liked: he made the right choices. At the end of the movie, that sentiment was again stated by Peter Parker. We are all molded by our past and our pain. How we deal with them and others, is our choice!

Thumbs up for this sequel . . . LOVED the CG! Loved Sandman! Loved Venom! Loved the Harry's story and the words of wisdom by his butler! My only problem with Spider-man is that I wish Toby was taller . . . I still can not get over a short Spider-man! :)

Blockbuster in Poland and My Opnion

Okay, so I did it! I went to Pirates within the first 24 hours of opening world wide! It was fun since I got to go with some of our youth and my good friend and teammate, Krista!

Going to a blockbuster is a bit different in Poland than in America. First of all, your seat is assigned to you. There is no mad dash for the middle of the theater! Second, the BACK of the theater is packed! The first 20 rows or so are empty.

The theater was not as full as I thought it would be, but when I looked at my ticket and saw how expensive the ticket was, I understood why. Tickets have gone from 15zl ($5.25) to 19zl ($6.75). That may not seem too bad in America, but here, that is a HUGE jump!

Okay, enough of the culture stuff. What did I think about the movie?

Visually, it was stunning! Pirates was one of the rare movies in which it was almost impossible to see the difference between real and computer generation. The acting was great, dialog funny and the action left me exhausted as I walked out of the theater! It was a fun movie visually.

Warning: SPOILERS coming next. DO NOT READ if you don't want to know about the movie!

Before I start, may I say that I look for deeper messages in movies than most. Some of my opinions may be taken as reading too much into the movie. That is fair, but think about what the movie is saying, not just "showing".

I was hoping that the third movie would have some redemption with the whole pirate history of Will's family, but there was not. It only dove in deeper to the worldview that no one can be trusted and everyone lives by his/her own agenda. Even the goddess was filled with her own agenda and tossed away someone who truly loved her. It is filled with selfishness, deceit, lying and justification for it all. Even though they try to make Will and Elizabeth's love out as selfless . . . I just did not see it. I was thinking, did they "give up" their love, it just did not seem like it was sacrificial? The journey that they went to get to their love was filled with deceit and lies. There was no hero in this movie just different shades of "villain". The produces wanted us the audience to cheer for people who we would put in jail if it was in the real world. Will could have been the true definition of a hero, but in the end, his "heroic" action was to save himself, and his father benefited from the act. . .

All the other characters were their typical selfish, lying, cruel selves. The way the producers makes this lifestyle funny and appealing, was troubling to me.

Johnny was brilliant, but by the end of the movie, I was fatigued by is character. In three movies, he never really grew as a character.

The only redemption in the who movie was when Elizabeth's ex-betrothed, Norrington, gave his life to save Elizabeth. It was truly the only selfless act in the whole movie. I guess Will giving up his freedom to be with Elizabeth for his father. . . but Will was also dying and it he would have lost her anyway. . .

As I walked out of the movie, I though of how this movie would impact people . . . maybe I am thinking too much, but I have seen how the world's view of redemption has been skewed in the past several years in cinema. Not all movies . . . but enough to make you wonder why there is double standard. Movies can be as violent and deceitful as we want to make them, but when it comes to real life. . . we wonder why and how people can be that way. . . hmmmmm

I know I just started getting political so I will stopped.

Bottom line. . . LOVED the look of the movie, HATED the message.

Do-ba-do-be, dwing-da-da-whaw-whaw!

When you think of Poland, you tend to think of Chopin and sausage, not jazz. Well, let me tell you, after tonight, I will think of JAZZ and Poland and Poland and JAZZ!

One of our worship leaders is a student at the Music Academy. He is majoring in piano jazz. He is very good. His friend had his senior concert and Adam (our worship leader) was the piano player for the concert. I did not understand a single song and in fact at times I thought I heard Polish when the guy was just skating, but I knew that they were all about the celebration of this wonderful genre of music. I love jazz and as I sad there, I could not help but think of the man who helped me in my love for jazz, Fritz Dale. Wow! Raw chicken and now Jazz. Fritz, I think I need to write you an email.

Anyway, I get together with two really "wypas" (cool) single women and we went to a jazz club for dinner and then walked to the concert. What a great night. Just when I needed to relax and yet engage with the culture. God gives me so many opportunities to do this! I spoke more Polish tonight with them as I have ever done. Their English is WONDERFUL and my Polish is "masakra!" (disastrous). I hope to start mixing our languages and then speak more and more Polish as I understand more and more! It is exciting to see progress!

Jazz! I love the stuff and tonight it was proven that it is no longer just an "American" form of expression!

What A Weekend!!!

This weekend I got to participate in one of the most exciting weekends of the year. It is the weekend where all of the Polish churches who are hosting English camps get together and learn how to reach their peers for Christ! Dan and Laura Hash hosted this weekend. There were 73 people here. YES, 72! Most slept either in the Hash's house or the garage apartment. I got to host two girls and we had a great time drinking tea and laughing about my Polish!


Dan brought back memories of Fritz Dale's attempt at cooking chicken for the youth group during rafting trips! Thanks for the great memories Fritz! :) I must say though that Dan is a GREAT griller! One of the best! I love it when I get to go to their home for a grill! :)















It has been inpiring to realize how much Polish I have learned! I am corrected all the time, but I am speaking and my teacher even told me that she has seen progress in me. I have been encouraged and see how God is answering prayers! Keep praying!!













I am sad at the fact that I will not be able to go the camps this summer. The first group of camps is at the same time as my brother's wedding, so I am going to be returning to Denver for a week. Then for the second group of camps, I have an intensive month of Polish "camp" for myself! Ahhh!! I am going to get this language! I just know it! :)




God is good!






These are some of the students from Katowice who will be leading our camp this summer!

A Day for Mom and Rebirth!

Yesterday was mother's day in America. I called my mom and we had a great talk.

Yesterday was baptism day at our church, Opoka (The Rock). It was a beautiful, warm day. It has been raining here, so I was afraid that the day would be cold and that the day would not be as great. You see, our baptisms happen in Dan and Laura Hash's swimming pool.

It was inspiring to hear journey stories and to see everyone rejoice. Adult baptism in the Protestant church is something very special here. It is your public declaration of following Christ, and for many rejecting Catholic tradition. Many have been ostracized from their families because of this act of obedience. We even had a young man from Nigeria who is here in Poland studying to be a doctor. (We have a medical school here in Katowice that is taught in English, go figure!)

Somethings else that is unique about the way baptism is done is that it is the person whom the baptizee sees as their spiritual mentor gets to baptize! It was great to see my two friends baptize two young women.

I was a great day! Here are some pictures.

Just when I thought it was over!

my birthday on May 3rd, but it started on April 20th! You see, someone got a over 20 people to send me cards! I have had at least on card almost everyday since then! It has been wonderful! This morning I thought. What a great birthday! I got all of these cards, my folks gave the ladies on my team to take us all out for a birthday lunch, I got to spend my birthday with my other family, Josiah Venture and not alone. . . what a great birthday. Can it get any better? WELL it just did!

Today May 12th, my door whistle rang, yet, it sounds like a bird chirping. . . don't ask why, my Polish neighbors even think it strange :), so I opened the door and a big, burly Polish man said, "Aleeese Robbeeenss?" No smile. I, of course smiled, and I said, "Tak" ("yes" in Polish). Much to my surprise, a big box filled with fun stuff laced with graduation confetti! What fun! My dear friends sent me my first care package! Now I get to fell like I am at the Stanley Cup with my "Slap shot" game that was included!! Too bad the Red Wings are doing well! I hope they lose! :)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Life Transformation!

Our spring conference is one that I always look forward to. It is a time where I can reunite with JV friends from other countries and to get to know new missionaries. It is a time where I can rest and rejuvenate my spirit. It is also a time where I get to worship, really worship in English! I love to worship with these people! We are all thirsty to worship in our heart language!

The teaching time was exhausting! How do you allow God to transform your life? We looked at the difference between the repentance of King Saul and King David and why one was rejected by God and one was called to be a man after God’s own heart. We were then lead into our own repentance time. Wow! The Holy Spirit really worked on my heart. What was a time that I looked forward to being restful was filled with dealing with my heart. God is good though, and even though we all left tired and pondering our relationships with God, we left better people and closer to God! This definitely was not a vacation time!

Please keep praying for my transformation process. Pray that I will continue the work that God began.