Today we began the day by taking a tour of the underground tunnels that run throughout the city of Szczecin.  They were used during WWII as shelters for the civilians.  It was an amazing experience to see what people had to live in and through during the war.  What a horrible time it must have been.  To see these tunnels click here.

Tonight has by far been the best part of our time in Poland so far because  we began the Marriage Retreat with the church.  It’s being held at a conference center across town.  We had about 35-40 people attend tonight and look for more tomorrow.  The best part of the evening was that there were young couples and prospective couples in attendance.  It shows that the young people (20-30 year olds) are connecting with Christianity and the church here in this city.  We began with a meal (like all good Baptists would do) and then they led us in worship which you will see on the video clip below.  Following the singing, Dan and I did a humorous skit and then I spoke on communication in marriage and gave the couples the opportunity to talk with their spouses.  The language barrier was not as difficult as we had expected.  Thank you for praying for us about that issue.  It was wonderful to hear at the end of the evening all the things they were learning during our time of sharing.  We can’t wait until tomorrow for more sessions with the couples!  Keep praying for us.

Today was our first full day in the town of Szczecin, Poland.  Sorry for the play on words, but we had the opportunity today to “stretch” our legs walking around “Szczecin” (pronounced “stretchen”).  Ashley and I, as well as other team members spent the morning walking around touring the town with an assistant pastor at the church.  We saw many beautiful buildings including an old castle.  We met up with Tony, Dan, and Pastor Gustaw for lunch at a great restaurant called Chrobry.  It was a great underground restaurant that is a former bomb shelter during the war and was probably catacombs or tunnels over a hundred years ago before that.  After lunch we walked across town to a tall tower for coffee and dessert on the 22nd floor of a restaurant called Cafe 22.  It has a great panoramic view of the city and gave us a better perspective of Szczecin.  If you click the link above you can see some of what we saw using their panoramic view on their website.

In the afternoon we met with leaders from the church to prepare for the marriage conference that will begin tomorrow. It’s good that we had that meeting because it helped clear up confusing items that happen through mistranslation.  After our afternoon meeting the mission team split into three different homes across town for dinner.

It’s been a good day and we’re all doing well.  We’re looking forward to beginning the conference tomorrow where we will see about 60 people.  Pray that we will allow God to work through us and that we wouldn’t minister in our own power, but that he would be glorified through using our weaknesses to minister to these people.  

Today was the third day on our trip to Poland.  We spent the morning touring more of Berlin by way of the city bus system.  This time we didn’t have a German speaking tour guide, so it was an adventure getting around town.  First, we went to the top of the “TV Tower,” which is the tallest building in all of Germany and  is like the Space Needle in Seattle, WA.  We then took the long way (mostly walking) to the Jewish Holocaust Memorial.  We got to see it yesterday, but we went back today to see the museum that is underground below the memorial.  It was something amazing to see, but also sad.  It gave us just a hint of what it will be like when we go to Auschwitz next week.  These pictures are of some of the team members at the memorial.  For more info about the memorial you can click here. 

After touring around Berlin we got into a mini bus and headed for Poland.  We arrived at our hotel in Szczecin around 5pm (which would be 11am eastern time). Tonight we ate dinner at the home of the church secretary.  She lives in a modest apartment with her husband and they brought out more food than even I could eat.  It was great!  Lots of meats, desserts and so much more. 

Tomorrow we will begin seeing the town of Szczecin with the pastor (Gustaw) and preparing for the marriage conference that we will be leading this weekend.  Keep praying for us.