pray4poland

The past several months...

2010-04-26T04:19:00.008-04:00

WOW! Where do we begin? The past several months have been amazing in so many ways! The most amazing change in our lives has been our little girl, Sophia! She was born on a cold November day here in Krakow! She is 5 months old now and full of life! What a blessing she is! In February, Mosaic started! Our new coffee house which meets at the YMCA. Our friends with YWAM are the main leaders of this coffee house and we are so excited to be apart of the work that is going on! Many new faces to share our lives with! Compass Coffee House has continued to do well. We average 40-50 university students a week and we have become a real community. Many have started to attend our weekly Bible studies and our International Church. It's beautiful to see the way it has evolved over the past 2 years. God is good. Most importantly, the death of President Kaczynski, his wife and many other senior Polish figures came as a shock to everyone. Please continue to pray for the Polish people that they would find their comfort and hope in the Lord. As we approach our 3rd year here in Krakow, we are looking ahead to see what the Lord has in store for us. Please pray with us as we seek wisdom and insight for our future.

It's a...

2009-06-20T03:11:00.003-04:00

This past week Seba and I went to the doctor and found out we are having a baby GIRL!! We are very, very EXCITED!! We appreciate your prayers as we continue to search for a delivery doctor. Enjoy the picture!! Seba & Erin

New Coffee House

2009-06-20T03:02:00.007-04:00

Hey everyone! We just wanted to post a couple pictures of our new coffee house location. Thank you for your continued prayers!! Seba & Erin

Update

2009-05-31T16:14:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone!! It's been a while since our last post so we would like to update you on our lives!! First and foremost we are having a BABY!! We feel blessed beyond all measure!! Our little one will arrive mid November. Our plan at this point is to have the baby here in Poland. We have a great doctor who we feel very comfortable with but we are still in search of a labor and delivery doctor. We covet your prayers in this. Secondly, we've changed the location of our coffee house. The Lord blessed us these past 18 months in a downstairs room of a hotel but we've grown and the Lord supplied us with a bigger place in a fantastic location! We look forward to all that God is going to do through the upcoming months! Thirdly, we have 4 college students (interns) that will be working with us till August. They will be running the coffee house, building relationships with students, leading English discussion groups and being actively apart of our Bible studies. Please pray for Seba as he leads them this summer and please pray for the interns to have strength and wisdom as the deal with outsiders. Our prayer for them is to live out Col. 4:5-6 this summer. Thank you for your prayers!! We are thankful to the Lord for all He has done and all that He is going to do! Seba & Erin

I'm dreaming of a white Valentines??

2009-02-24T15:41:00.007-05:00

This Valentine's Day was filled with SNOW! We were blessed to spend the evening with our friends, Shea and Rachel, who serve along side of us here in Krakow. Just wanted to share a couple of pictures with you of our time out. Please pray for us and our friends as we serve together!

February Fun

2009-02-12T09:18:00.008-05:00

Hey everyone! At the beginning of this month Seba and I had the opportunity to take our youth to a place called Tropical Islands which is in Krausnick, Germany (about 50 kilometers from Berlin). This place is an indoor beach that has huge water slides, palm trees, a sea breeze and best of all sand to squish between your toes! We had a fantastic time hanging out with our students and getting to encourage them during this very cold winter weather! We are blessed to have them in our lives! Please pray for us as we continue to minister to them through our weekly Bible studies.

First Coffee House of 2009

2009-01-08T05:50:00.006-05:00

God continues to amaze us through our coffee house ministry. Last week we had two of our own perform their original songs. We had a wonderful time and always have great conversation around the table. Please pray that God would continue to move in the hearts of the people here wether it's through song or conversation. Here are a couple of clips from last week. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T12:30:00.011-05:00

Wow! Can you believe it's already 2009? Amazing! It's awesome to look back on this year and see all that God has done. It's been a blessing to see God work in the lives of so many of our friends here in Poland. God continues to teach Seba and I that we can do nothing on our own but through Him all things are possible. We cling to that as this new year begins. In December my parents came to visit! They were here for the holidays and it was so nice to talk with them in person. Skype is great but there is nothing like being in the same room with your family-nothing like being able to hug them, laugh with them, have coffee together, walk to a castle together, eat together and all in PERSON! It was very special for us to spend time with my parents. Hope you each had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's celebration with your family! Thank you for your continued prayers! Erin & Seba

October Update!

2008-10-31T11:51:00.012-04:00

Hey everybody! I am sending this update from Marbella, Spain where Seba and I are vacationing with his parents. This time together has been amazing. Being here near the ocean and the mountains reminds me of how powerful and how wonderful God is. His creation is so breathtaking-so refreshing. This past month was a neat time for Seba and I because Rick White and Jeremy Dane from Cityview Church came to visit. We got to share what's been going on in Poland and how they could pray/partner with us. It was a very encouraging time to feel and see the love that Cityview church has for us. It was awesome to hear our pastors brainstorm different ways to reach the lost here in Europe. We were encouraged by their hearts! A special thanks to Cityview for all the wonderful treats!! We are truly blessed!! Here is a picture of Rick leading our weekly home group Bible study and an interview pic between Seba and Rick discussing how pastors can get involved with ministry in Eastern Europe in general and with our coffee house ministry in Krakow, Poland to be specific. Thank you for your support and prayers!!

September Update

2008-09-29T04:17:00.010-04:00

Hey everyone! First we would like to say thank you for your prayers for our Women's Conference. It was amazing! We had over 50 women come and hear our speaker, Frances Worthington share her heart. She talked about how God is not about religion but about relationship and how this relationship is about our fellowship with God every day. She challenged, loved and listened to these women and it was powerful. Praise God she came and was obedient to share! Please continue to pray as we search for a new building. We not only want this for our coffee house but also for all the other ministries we do. We are very excited about this upcoming year and look forward to all God has in store! Below is a video Seba made by using pictures that our teenagers took. This is our prayer as we serve in Krakow that God would be exalted in Poland and to the ends of the earth.

August Update

2008-08-29T07:40:00.017-04:00

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to give you an update on what has been going on this past month! The first week of August we had a team from Charleston Southern University come to Krakow and do a sports camp for kids/teens during the day and in the evenings the CSU team played exhibition games against Polish teams. The coach, Barclay Radebaugh, was an amazing example of how to serve others and share Christ's love with boldness. The theme verse for their week was Matthew 20:26-29 and the players did a great job serving the people of Krakow. On Friday night at Coffee House, Seba was able to interview the players and ask some funny/serious questions of them and the Coach was able to share the Gospel. It was a great time hearing their hearts. We were blessed to have them here and excited about the doors that have been opened because of their willingness to come and serve!! Also this past month, Seba and I, along with our friends who are serving here in Krakow were able to go to another city, Wisla, to have a three day retreat. There we were able to evaluate this past year and plan for the upcoming year. We also just had a great time of fellowship and exploring the city!! We rode a ski lift to the top of a mountain, then walked about 20 more minutes and made it to the Czech Republic border and in the picture is the view!!

Volunteer Group from Georgia

2008-07-18T18:17:00.003-04:00

This week we had a volunteer group here from Georgia. We had the chance one day to advertise for coffee house in our downtown square and we thought we'd grab some attention by making a video and here it is!

LA Tech Group

2008-07-10T17:54:00.005-04:00

Thank you so much for praying for our time with 18 students from LA Tech. They were here for three weeks and they did so much. They helped us so much with Coffee House and the International Church. Their two greatest projects were a day camp in a school and campus blitz at one of the universities here in Krakow. At the day camp they taught English using Bible stories and got to meet students and parents. On campus we had three culture exchanges. First the group taught country western line dancing (over 400 people came), next was karaoke and finally was a rap concert by Kola, a Polish Christian rapper. The group was incredible at building relationships with Polish young people and sharing the gospel through that relationship. We have so many good contacts for our family and university work. We thank the Lord for such good volunteer groups and for your prayers this summer. Thanks!

How Coffee House Works

2008-07-10T17:16:00.004-04:00

I wanted to take this chance to explain how Coffee House works. Erin and I help set up a Coffee House once a week. We don't have our own building, we rent a meeting room from a Hotel every Friday night and serve the hotel coffee there (which really isn't that good). But people don't come for the coffee. They come to be a part of an English speaking environment. We invite American and local artists to perform at the coffee house and interview them in English. We guide those interviews into spiritual conversations. American artists spend time inviting people from the city center. Local artists invite their friends. So we have a crowd for a few hours and our people get a chance to meet them, get to know them, and share the gospel with them. Every Friday, at least one of us is able to share our testimony and invite someone to either church or Bible study. But all this happens at the tables in a natural conversation, not from a presentation from the microphone. We're always looking for musical artists but also for painters, poets, and actors. If you are interested in our Coffee House ministry just contact us. We would love to talk to you about it. Please pray that God will continie to bring new people.

2008-05-21T06:59:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! We can't believe we've already been here for over 7 months! It has been amazing to see God work in so many different ways since we've been here. Today is an important day for us because our first volunteer team for the summer arrives. We will have 17 college students from Louisiana Tech here for 3 weeks and they will be doing some day camps and university campus outreach. We've been busy trying to schedule their three weeks here but God has done some truly amazing things. Erin and I have started a second Bible Study with young adults. God is doing so much in this group. Please pray that He will make everyone in our group into fruit bearing Christians. Here is a picture of them. We also have received two summer missionaries that will be working for the Coffee House ministry. They are great. Thank you for your prayers and make sure you look at the schedule to the right. It would be a great prayer guide for our projects.

Krakow Tigers

2008-04-05T09:35:00.010-04:00

This past month has been amazing! Two members on our team, Mark and Shea, are coaching an American Football team here in Krakow called the Krakow Tigers. All of the players are Polish and have a passion to play football. It has been great to see the relationships that have been built as they work together. In March, we had a team of coaches come from Arkansas to give the players some insight into the game by providing a week long of training. Along with the football training, many of the coaches were able to share their faith with the team all together but also with many of the players individually. God used them in a MIGHTY way and many seeds were planted. We are so thankful for their willingness to come and share their hearts with the team. Please pray for Mark and Shea as they continue to deepen their relationships with the players that decisions would be made to follow Christ. This is the video Seba prepared for the team that they watched at the coffee house on Friday night before their big game day on Saturday!

Did I say that right??

2008-03-28T03:06:00.005-04:00

I had the opportunity to share my testimony in the Polish Baptist Church that Sebastian and I have been attending on Sunday mornings. I was nervous but God worked through the nerves and was able to use me. I was unable to share my complete testimony in Polish but I did as much as I could hoping they would understand me through my American accent and thankfully they did. We are so blessed to be apart of a fellowship were Christ is glorified. Please pray that we would be BOLD in sharing our faith to the people we encounter everyday.

Tom Sawyer?

2008-03-04T12:04:00.004-05:00

Yes, you read it right, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is popular in Poland. At the coffee house one Friday night I met a girl who is in acting. As we continued to talk she told me that she performs at the Rotunda (the equivalent of Casa Manana in Ft. Worth). Of course the teacher in me went nuts and I asked if I could go to one of her performances. She thought I was crazy but was excited that I asked. So I sat in the midst of 250 fourth graders and enjoyed the show! We talked after the show and she asked if we could get together next week for coffee. Please pray that our relationship would deepen and that we would get to talk more about a personal relationship with God. In the play she portrayed Aunt Polly. Here she is talking with Tom.

Basketball, Frog, & Sunday Morning

2008-02-26T10:55:00.009-05:00

In the last few weeks we have been as busy as ever. A couple of weeks ago we hosted a basketball tournament with about 90 participants and over 150 in attendance. We've contacted them to join us for an NBA watching party where we hope to build more relationships. This last Saturday we had our FROG meeting with 15 youth in attendance. We watched Nacho Libre on a projector and had a Bible study with them. It was fun and the group is coming together nicely. The day after I preached at one of the Polish Baptists churches here in town. God showed his perfect timing as I talked about spiritual storms during a tough week for the church. Please pray that God would continue to use Erin and I to help people here in Poland.

Kid's Camp

2008-02-13T14:48:00.010-05:00

Last week was winter break for the students in Krakow. The church we attend on Sunday mornings, First Baptist, put on a kid's camp for the children. The theme for the week was "Treasure Island." Each day centered around finding different characteristics of God. Many of the kids do not attend our church so it was a great outreach ministry. As you can see in the pictures, we made "mini" treasure islands out of homemade play doh, soap shavings and rocks. Each student hid a small coin in the island then they had to make a map of the island they had just created. Sebastian burned the edges of the paper to make their maps look old. (Of course this was their favorite part). Please pray for the children that came to this camp that they would seek to become more like Christ and that their families would seek as well.

Our Friday Nights

2008-02-04T08:36:00.001-05:00

On Friday we had our 4th Coffee House in a downtown hotel. The turnout has been great. We had about 20 people come that were not on our team. About half were just people who came off the street to check out what we were doing. We started many new relationships. The video shows us hanging out with every one. Please pray that God would continue to bring people so we can meet them and hopefully talk to them about what a relationship with God really is.

Auschwitz

2008-02-04T08:11:00.000-05:00

Erin and I went to Auschwitz this last week. It is about 45 minutes from where we live. It is hard to describe the experience because it is so unique. Over 1 million lives were taken at this camp and yet it appears so civilized, clean and well organized. As I walked through I knew the history of the place but my senses weren't allowing that history to register. I only took two pictures. One of the familiar fence around the camp and the other of the gate which reads in German "work brings freedom" (a cruel lie to keep the prisoners working hard). I am thankful those times are over but I know that there is still much pain and guilt that comes from them. Please pray that God would heal this country.

Beautiful Children

2008-01-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

Last night our team went to an orphanage. We sang songs, practiced speaking English and just hung out together. Here we are all singing and having a good time. Later the kids took us to see their VERY clean rooms. They were so excited to give us a tour around their place. Please pray that these kids would feel God's love around them everyday and that they would one day come to know Him as their Father.

15 Teenagers, 3 Adults, and all of Krakow

2008-01-23T08:35:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, Sebastian and I now lead the International youth group for the city of Krakow. Once a month we do an event and have a small bible study together. This past Saturday we had a video scavenger hunt and any of you who have ever worked with youth know how crazy these events can get...I think it's funny how the culture can be totally different but if a bunch of teenagers are excited about something almost anybody will go along with what they're doing, regardless of how silly it is. Here is the group walking to the tram stop. Please continue to pray for us as we meet new people and build relationships. We love you and thank you for all your support.

Catching Up

2008-01-09T04:01:00.000-05:00

For the last 7 weeks, Erin and I have had limited access to the internet. We are sorry that we have not updated the blog in a while. We want to try to summarize what has happened from Thanksgiving to now. We had an English Speaking Christmas party and invited everyone who wanted to practice their english to come. We had over 75 people come! It was amazing and fun. (This is a picture of a game we played like hot potato). This party helped us find who would be interested in an English Speaking worship service we started last week. After the Christmas Party, the Polish government told us we had to leave the country (don't worry, it wasn't because the party got out of hand). Crossing the border allowed us another 90 days to work on our residency card. We decided to drive to Slovokia about 2 1/2 hours away. The only problem was that the border was in the mountains and it is full blown winter. As you can see in the video, we thought we were in the Chronicles of Narnia movie. We were actually in a van, not a snow-mobile. For Christmas, Erin and I traveled by train to Malbork to visit my cousin Andrzej who I had never met.It was great. Andrzej has an incredible family and they treated us so well. They invited me to preach the Sunday before Christmas at a Baptist church in Malbork that has been there for more than a 110 years. I was talking with Andrzej's father about the history of the Church.We had an incredible meal on Christmas Eve with traditional carp and bigos and sledz. All of it was great. We've met tons of neighbors and made many new friends and are starting up some new ministries. We will update you on these soon. Thank you for your prayers and we love and miss all of you.

Zakopane Trip

2007-11-17T15:48:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Zakopane which is two hours south of Krakow in the Tatra mountains. The picture shows cheese vendors on the main strip. Needless to say it was beautiful. After we left from there we went to a nearby village where a group of Roma (gypsy) live. We visited a family who are believers. They've gone through many heartaches. They've lost two infants and have a third son who is 3 months old but suffers from the same complications. The doctors don't know what it is. On paper they say he should be healthy but he's not. As new believers, the parents (Andre & Ola) are confused why God would allow this to happen but they know He has a plan. They asked us to pray for their son (Zachariah) and for their witness to fellow Roma in the village. Would you pray for them too? Also pictured with Erin is our Polish interpreter Mirka, who will be a missionary next year with her husband Andre to a remote part of Russia. Would you pray for them as they raise support?

Let It Snow! (but not too much)

2007-11-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

This morning we woke up to our first serious snow storm. It was crazy but beautiful. We don't like the idea of driving in it or walking in it but we don't mind looking at it. Enjoy your warm homes while you watch our video.

All Saints Day

2007-11-06T12:07:00.000-05:00

Erin and I were surprised to find out that Poland's biggest holiday of the year is not Christmas or Easter but All Saints Day on November 1st. There is no Halloween celebration but All Saints Day is where families go to the cemeteries to say prayers for their deceased loved ones. The idea is that some of their family may need prayers to make it out of purgatory or maybe their loved ones are close to God now and can intercede for those still on earth. We went to the cemetery to see all the candles that were lit (representing prayers) and it was a beautiful but sad sight. Beautiful because every grave had candles but sad because prayers offered for the dead and to the dead don't line up with the Bible. It is one of many new experiences for Erin and I and we ask you to pray that the Lord would give us greater understanding of this culture so we can do His work here.

Some Snapshots of Our Life

2007-11-03T12:55:00.000-04:00

We are one week away from having our own internet so blog updates are going to come regularly now. There is so much we want to catch you all up on but we'll just try doing it a little at a time. First we'll start with our apartment. We were shocked when we first saw it. It had bright orange walls in the living room, bright pink in the entrance, and neon green in the bedroom. And our couches were made of a blue shag material. All that was missing were the lava lamps. But now that we are experiencing dark at 4:30 PM and it will soon get dark at 3:30, I see why someone may choose the bright colors. It has grown on us and we are making it our own a little at a time. We love our neighborhood. It is full of mature trees. We have a grocery store less than a block away, a video store, a bakery, and a cukierna (dessert shop) all within half a block. We also live across the street from our boss and his wife which is great because they are really fun and they have two teenagers we hangout with. Our days here are revolving around learning the language. We go to lessons every day for three hours then spend some time doing homework. Erin is helping to teach an ESL class every Wednesday night while I play basketball on the same night as an outreach. I’m also trying to get a feel for the campuses here in Krakow. Please pray for us to be able to share the gospel even though our Polish is very poor. We always try to remember why we're here. We love and miss you. Thanks for your prayers.

Very Important Update

2007-10-22T09:21:00.000-04:00

Our new email addresses are sebainpoland@yahoo.com and erinvzqz@yahoo.com. Our sbcglobal account closed. Please send us an email and let us know how you are. Seba & Erin

2007-10-19T11:11:00.000-04:00

We made it! Actually we made it about two weeks ago but this is really our first chance to update our blog. A quick timeline of everything that has happened. Arrive in Krakow on Thursday, October 4th. Recover from jetlag from Thursday to Saturday. Church and first team meeting Sunday. Visit a Roma (gypsy) village on Monday. Left for Lithuania on Tuesday for conference. Arrive back from Lithuania on Monday. Tuesday – Friday (today) get settled into our new apartment. Our team is incredible. The team that was already here has been so helpful, you’ll read about them later. The new people on the team, like ourselves, are great as well. We pray that God does great things here. Our apartment is very Polish but it is home and we love it. We’ll send pictures as soon as we fix it up (maybe some before and after shots). We are already meeting important people for our work here. Erin has been in contact with a university student here who is a believer. We just found out that we have six university students on our floor. We also met and exchanged phone numbers with a young professional on the plane ride over, the customs agent that overcharged us, and a young international couple that also just moved to Krakow. Please pray that God would allow some of these quick encounters to take root and become real friendships that lead to people coming to know the Lord. We’ll write soon with more to tell. We miss you all but we are so happy to be serving God here. Seba & Erin

Last week!

2007-09-26T11:24:00.001-04:00

A couple of Sundays ago we experienced African worship. It was so different because many rural tribes in Africa have church under a tree rather than in a building. It was actually a lot of fun but I imagine it would be less fun in 100+ weather. Would you pray that Erin and I would be accepting of the many differences in culture and worship that we will face in Poland? We got our airline tickets today and it really hit us that we’re leaving in 7 days. No cold feet over here but a little bit of nerves. Would you pray that Erin and I would learn to trust God better through this experience? I also wanted to unveil a video that Erin and I made on our new computer. It shows pictures of people in Central and Eastern Europe (our region). Sorry for the low quality but I wanted everyone to be able to see it on the web. Enjoy!

God Still Does Incredible Things

2007-09-13T16:18:00.000-04:00

I had the chance last Sunday to share with the entire group (about 350 people) the story of how an IMB missionary led my great grandfather, Angel Vazquez, to the Lord. I told them that because one missionary was brave enough to go to another country, learn a new language, and share his faith, four generations of our family has served God as ministers (Angel, my grandfather Ramon, my father Raul, and my brother and I). As I was sharing this, a man stood up and said, "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for your family! I was saved under your grandfather, Ramon's ministry". It also turns out that my dad was his Sunday School teacher as well. This man's daughter is leaving as a missionary to Spain at the same time Erin and I are going to Poland (that's why he was there). I was floored but I immediately realized that no one, not even I can really grasp the domino effect that obeying God causes. It was hard to finish the story after being blown away by this man's testimony but God helped me spit the rest out. I also had the chance to share my testimony with Hispanic pastors and missions leaders. We asked them to pray for us to get an apartment and the next day our supervisor found one (tentatively). On a lighter note, I fractured my finger playing flag football. It shouldn't be a big deal but I thought you might enjoy the X-ray. Please don't forget to leave a comment, it makes us feel great. Blessings Seba

Having fun...

2007-09-03T20:55:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, our regional team, had a great time helping out a new church-start by going into the neighborhood and asking people from house to house if they would like to be a part of a neighborhood book club. The people would get a free copy of the book (Purpose Driven Life) if they signed up to come to the book club which would meet in one of the neighborhood houses. Twenty-five households signed up and some people on our team were able to share the Lord with them so thank you for your prayers. After that, we went to a park and had a cook out. There was a couple there with the IMB that had lived in Poland for 9 years as missionaries so we were able to sit and chat with them. It's so nice to hear how much people miss living there. We get more excited as the day approaches! At the park...

For the curious minds...

2007-09-03T20:42:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of where we live, play and eat! The weather has been beautiful the last couple of weeks. We are enjoying all the warmth we can before we live in the snow for the next few months! Our Dorm...nice and peaceful...really! Our Backyard...haven't ventured here yet! Community Playgrounds...a nice break for the parents! Cafeteria...flags from every country are represented in here, it's a beautiful, colorful sight!

SPECKA

2007-08-27T19:54:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share with you some lessons we have been learning before going to Poland. One of our challenges is to teach people how to read the Bible for themselves instead of depending on a preacher (or even a missionary). We practice doing this ourselves by using an acronym called SPECKA. The way it works is that we read a chapter of the Bible and look for the following: ...a Sin to confess ....a Promise to keep ...an Example to follow ...a Command to Keep ... Knowledge to learn ...an Application to make in our lives. Every Sunday we have churches in our dorms as you can see in the picture. We sing some and pray but no one preaches. We just take a chapter of the Bible and share with each other what we found using our SPECKA method. I challenge you guys to try it. Take one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) and read a chapter and see if you can find anything using SPECKA. It has worked well for us and I hope it does for you too.

Shot Day...

2007-08-25T11:08:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our first round of shots...we got three each. We will have two more days of shots while we are here at ILC. I was surprised how quick and painless they were....but the same didn't hold true for Seba. YIKES!!! Yesterday while we were eating lunch, I looked up and saw Marshall Kitron. I had the same look on my face that my students had when they saw me at Walmart and not in the classroom-he wasn't in the right place...but it was a great surprise!! He was traveling through Virginia and stopped by to say hello! We got to visit and go to Dairy Queen for some much needed dessert! Marshall was our youth pastor at South Haltom Community Church and is now serving in Peru as a missionary. Last Friday was my birthday so we went to an outdoor mall called Short Pump. They have live music every weekend during the summer and we got to hear some JAZZ. Seba wasn't feeling very well that evening so we are going out tonight to "recelebrate" my birthday and to celebrate his birthday which is this Monday.

Learning so much

2007-08-18T18:51:00.000-04:00

Erin and I have had a great week of learning at the ILC. The president of the International Mission Board, Jerry Rankin, spoke to us all this last week about the spiritual, physical and emotional challenges that we are going to face on the field. It was inspiring when we considered how many missionaries before us sacrificed so much for the cause of Christ. It made us realize that going without a few creature comforts like air conditioning and living on the 4th floor with no elevators was really no big deal. It sort of put us in the right mindset that we are not doing this for us but for God. Our comfort is not really the goal, but Christ being worshipped around the world is. Our supervisor, Mark, asked us to write out a two minute testimony of how we came to follow Jesus. He and his wife then translated that testimony into Polish on paper and on cassette tape. Erin and I are now working on learning our testimony in Polish so that we can start to tell people our story immediately. Its hard because we really have no idea what we are saying and only know our colors and numbers in Polish. But we'll get it. I also received a copy of my great grandfather's testimony he wrote for a Russian magazine. We had it translated and read about how he tried to start churches in north east Poland in the 1920's. His message was so unpopular that they burned down his house while his family slept. They escaped and continued to do their work. His mother-in-law asked him why he didn't just pray in a room by himself and stop trying to hold meetings and start churches. He replied that his life was all about trying to please God not men. This was a reminder and a challenge to Erin and I that times will be tough but we are working for God not for men. Below is a picture of my great-grandfather in front of a Baptist Polish seminary. He is the one in the middle. We love and miss you and we thank you for your prayers. Please look at the prayer requests to the right and don't forget to leave a comment, it lets us know that you are reading. Peace, Seba and Erin

We Made It...

2007-08-08T16:39:00.000-04:00

...To Virginia, not Poland yet. Erin and I arrived at the ILC (International Learning Center) for two months of training. Amazingly but not surprisingly, all that we asked you to pray for came to pass. We sold both vehicles (the Honda on the last day before we left), packed all our posessions into 6 footlockers and two suitcases and spent good time with our family and friends. Thank you so much for your prayers. We want to especially thank Erin's mom and dad (Ron and Kay) for housing us the last week and giving us all that we needed to prepare to go. We also want to thank Pastor Ryan of Grace Baptist Church for putting this blogspot in their bulletin and mentioning us during their service. We miss all of you already (except for Chris Sheppard) but we are extremely busy here learning all kinds of details of our assignment. Please pray for us to be able to retain all that we are learning and also for us to build meaningful relationships with other missionaries here. God Bless, Seba and Erin Here we are with Rachel and Shea Massengale (our team members) and Mark and Susie Edworthy (our supervisors).

Thank You!

2007-07-29T23:37:00.000-04:00

Erin and I are convinced that many of you were praying for us this week because some incredible things happened. On Monday our doctor prescribed medicine to last us over year (not a common practice) which gives us time to find a good doctor in Poland. On Wednesday we recieved an awesome gift from some very generous loved ones. On Thursday, we sold our Tahoe (a great financial help to us). Friday we ate dinner with Mel and Bobbie Karger and chatted away on their back deck. Saturday we had a garage sale starting at 8 AM. By 10:30 everything was 50% off and by 11:15 everything was free. Everything was gone before noon (thanks Mom and Dad for your help). Two things we asked you to pray for were answered this week (selling one car, and emptying our apartment). How ever it is you're praying, keep doing it, it works! This last Sunday morning was very special for us. South Haltom Community Church invited us and others to share what we would be doing. I had the opportunity to preach about answering God's call to a new direction in life. The church prayed over us and others and sent us off in a manner worthy of God. Thank you church and thank you to all our family and friends who came to see us there. We love you all! We had a great lunch afterwards (once again Melinda's sopapilla cheesecake did not dissapoint). Please pray that we sell the honda and can enjoy some time with family. God Bless-Bog jest dobry (God is good) Seba & Erin

An Amazing Weekend

2007-07-22T19:33:00.000-04:00

What a weekend! We started out with a party at the Sheppherd's and loved seeing everyone there. Chris and Amy made some great fajitas and Melinda Elliot made the best sopapilla cheesecake. Early Sunday morning we attended Glenview Baptist and saw many old friends and were prayed for during the service. Later that morning, I preached at Cityview (a short sermon since the air conditioner was out). And we ended the afternoon at the Allison's who gave us a goodbye lunch (Angela made an awesome Polish Flag cake). We had so much fun and are so thankful for the people the Lord has surrounded us with. 3rd John 6 says "you will do well to send them (missionaries) on their way in a manner worthy of God." Thank you for being faithful to that verse in how you have treated us.

Special thanks to Pator Dennis and Pastor Rick for letting us have part in the service.

Seba and Erin

Not Quite Clear For Takeoff!

2007-07-21T17:17:00.000-04:00

Erin and I are trying to get ready for our new and exciting life in Krakow, Poland. We are moving, storing, packing, throwing away, giving away, and selling stuff all at the same time. Our biggest concern is selling our two vehicles and emptying out our apartment by the end of the month. If you could pray for us to do those two things without going absolutely nuts, we would appreciate it. Thanks for checking out the blog and God bless you! Don't forget to subscribe to the blog below so we can send you a link each time we update it! Seba and Erin