Starbucks, It's about more than just good coffee!

I am always teased here by my Polish friends about my love for Starbucks.  The truth is, that I could very easily live without it (I have for 6 years) and that there are other places that are just as good with coffee, well almost.  What I have been able to do though at my Starbucks here in Katowice is establish relationships with most of the employees and the manager.  They all know me as "Alicja"and all want to practice their English with me since that is a requirement to work at this store.

I normally have at least 3 meetings with students a week there and so it really has become my second office.  While there, I get to interact with the Baristas and they constantly see what I do: read and study my Bible and meeting with young people.

One of the Baristas, Łukasz, is very friendly.  He sometimes comes to work early to see if I am there so that we can talk about everything and nothing.  He even introduced me to his parents one day! Yesterday, he had a big coffee test.  He is trying to become a "Coffee Master" and it is a pretty big deal here at Starbucks.  It means more money and there is a pride thing too.  Right before his "test" I went to him and put my hand on his shoulder and said, "Okay, Łukasz, I know you are nervous, but I also know that you know your coffee!  You will do just fine."  Later, he told me that my words really encouraged and calmed him.  He had no idea that I was also praying for him.  :)  We have not been able to talk about spiritual matters yet, but I am trying to lay the ground work for this.

The whole crew here are very nice and I would love to see them all smiling because of what Jesus did for them rather than it just being "company policy"!  Oh, to have a shop where Jesus was lived out amongst the public!  Please pray for me as I balance my relationships and my speaking about Jesus.  I don't want to weird them out (the LDS missionaries do that very well here), but I also want them to here the truth of Jesus!

Back from a 5 month sabbatical . . .

It has been five months since my last entry.  Wow!  I cannot believe it it has been so long.  I want to start blogging again to share what God is doing in my life here in Poland.  Please join me again as I share with you all that God is doing!

Looking back over these past several months, God has done amazing things in both my life and in the lives of the students I have been around, despite the fact that I was in a wheelchair and then crutches for much of that time.  

Last month I had my final operation to take the pins out and got a very bad infection in my ankle.  Here I am almost one month later, and I am still suffering from that.  I cannot walk much without the help of a crutch due to the fact that the infection really weakened my muscles and tendons.  God has been good though.  Until this past week, I have been pretty content.  Now I am just itching to get out and get going, but my problems with walking is inhibiting me.  

James 1 and Roman 5 have been bouncing around in my head this whole time and enduring trials and allow them to build your character.  I hope this past 9 months of my broken leg ordeal will be part of my character building.  It has shown me areas of strength that I never knew I had and along with areas of weakness that I thought I had overcome.  I look back and even forward and thank God that even though this has been a hard year, it has been a good year.  

Broken Leg Chronicles - Interupted

As I look back of the past several weeks, I have not given you anything that is "new" lately.  I want to share with you the joyous event that happened two weeks ago.  Marta, one of my "mentorees" was baptized!  It has been a very stressful decision for her since she is the only believer in her family and although the family accepts her decision, they do not understand it.

It was a joy for me to see her take this very important step of faith.  The only bummer was that she asked me to be the one to baptise her (we do that here in Poland, the significant person in your journey to Christ baptises you, if you want) but I was not able to due to my broken leg.  Another joy was that our service was done in the lake at our camp h2o!  What a beautiful setting and beautiful day!  The rain came after we were all done with our service and grill!

I have about 3 weeks until camp Katowice is in full swing.  Please be praying for this!  Thanks!

Am I Dead?

No I am not dea! It has been a long time since I have blogged! How long has it been? Way too long! I plan on starting this up again, so stay tuned!