Glenn returned from parts unknown on Sunday afternoon and we found out that evening that we needed to go to Poland for our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday instead of Friday in order to work with a family in crisis. That meant that all Cile's projects needed to get done before leaving was compressed into 2 days instead of 4! One of the "projects" was to buy a piece of Herend pottery for a couple of volunteers who would be working at the upcoming ladies retreat.
Kristie lives in Budapest near us and is the master shopper in town! She is teaching me where all the important stores are in Budapest, such as all the pottery shops and the craft stores. Oh, she is also Cile's inspiration for learning to speak Hungarian well!
Friday morning we woke at 4:00 am in order to catch a 7:30 am flight to Warsaw, Poland. As we were sitting in the waiting area in the Budapest airport, we realized with smiles on our faces that this flight was just one of the many flights that we will eventually be taking that will allow us to watch the sun rise over the horizon. (Cile has to have a really, really good reason to be up early enough to watch the sun rise!)
We took Wizz Air from Budapest to Warsaw. The flight went well despite the misgivings we had with a professional sounding name such as Wizz Air, and their colors of bright pink and purple. We felt like we were flying on Barbie Airlines!
Once in Warsaw, we caught a taxi that would drive us the 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive up country to a small tourist town. The driver was evidently in a big hurry as he "flew" down the 2 lane curvy, hilly country roads, passing every vehicle that got in his way! The only way Cile could relax was for Glenn to rub her feet, which he did except for when he kept falling asleep!
We did not spend any time in Warsaw, but that's okay; it is very industrialized and does not have that "quaint" look that is so typical of most European cities. Warsaw was destroyed during WW II and when it was rebuilt, they did not try to recapture the original style of buildings, which is a shame, we think.
When we first arrived up country in the little town of Mikolajki (pronounced Mikowahki), the big hotel where we were going to have our AGM was booked so we stayed at a smaller hotel called The Amax right around the bend in the river. It was so beautiful inside and had the most gorgeous view of the town on the other side of the river from our second story window. We met with the family on our first day there, but couldn't meet with them on the second day so we had the day free to wander through the narrow cobblestone streets in town. It was such a blessing to have one free day before all our meetings started and to be totally refreshed!
Our AGM officially started Friday evening. We moved over to this hotel where the other 200 or so of our missionaries were staying. This is the same hotel that we stayed in last July when we came as volunteers to do counseling for the missionaries. Believe it or not, the name of this hotel is Gotebiewski, which is pronounced "go to buy whiskey!"
We are meeting with the missionaries during meals and breaktime, and then attending the sessions which consist of worship, training and fellowship. In the evenings, we enjoy walking into town about 15 minutes away, mainly for some exercise since we are doing a lot of eating and sitting during the day! It is not yet tourist season, so the town is pretty deserted, and by time we get into town in the evenings, most of the shops are closed. Cile says, "Rats!" but Glenn says, "Phew!"
The highlight of our week will be Thursday night when we have our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Auction! All the missionaries bring "souvenirs" from their respective countries, and the volunteers that come out from the States to take care of our children (well, their children) bring goodies such as bags of M & M's, cake mixes, Velveeta cheese, Dr. Pepper.... to be bid upon by the missionaries. This is the only time of the year that it is acceptable and expected to be "every man for himself" as missionaries out bid one another for the coveted food items! Of course, it is all in fun and the proceeds go to a wonderful cause! Last year our 400 missionaries raised $80,000!
Another highlight for us was to reconnect with our friends Patsy, Natalie, Amber and Jessica from our days at the International Learning Center in Virginia. There were a total of 14 of us at ILC going to different countries in Central and Eastern Europe; we will see the others of our group at the other AGM that will be in Greece at the end of June, and we will enjoy seeing them as much as we enjoyed seeing Patsy, Natalie, Amber and Jessica!
We will leave Poland on Friday, April 6th, and a couple of hours after we get back to Budapest, our daughter Kari and her husband Jonathan will arrive for a short visit. You can imagine how excited we are to see them! The only thing that would make their visit better would be if our son Chris and his wife Kate could be here with us too!
As we have been counseling with these missionaries this week, we see very easily the spiritual warfare that is being waged here. Satan, the Deceiver is not happy whenever a lost soul is brought to Christ and so he is attacking our missionaries in any weak spot he can find. Please pray for our missionaries to be strong in the battle and to not grow weary. Worse than ignorantly following after other gods, most of the people here have no hope and no interest in spiritual things. They have had no hope for so long that many have given up on searching for a reason to hope! Pray that our missionaries will be tireless in sharing the hope that is in them! Pray for all of us to go boldly where God has gone before us to prepare the way for the harvest He wants to bring about! We can't thank you enough for your prayers!!!
