Ursus

I went to ursus again today. This time I walked around. Pretty soon after I started walking it started raining. Ha. So I just walked and prayed for about an hour after my friend left. Sometimes I wish I were a needy American who can't be left alone. Sometimes I'd rather be taken care of. I work hard to prevent looking like the needy foreigner. Anyways. So my friend introduced me to a new game! You can take the train with a city transit pass. Ha. Of course I had to try it out. It was easy. It dropped me off only a couple of blocks away from starbucks. Ha.

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Krakow Roma Church

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Pictures from Warsaw

After passing out about 100 presents to kids in the Radosc area, Henryk took us to this place behind an abandoned building. He'd heard that there were Roma here but had never contacted them. When he found out that I was looking for Roma, he decided to take me to meet them. We walked in with a couple of big bags full of presents for the kids and immediately the adults and kids started to flock around to see what was in there. We asked if we could take pictures and the man who seemed to be in charged told us we couldn't take pictures. Then he picked up a big stick and started waving it around. One of the ladies was really nice and she said we could take pictures. But this guy waving the stick was more convincing.

While Henryk talked to him a bit, I started walking past him to talk to the women. I shook each of their hands and asked their names and told them mine. They seemed surprised and excited that I wanted to know their names. Finally the leader guy with the big stick relented and we were able to take pictures and talk with the kids while Henryk wrote down all of the kids' names. There were probably like 15 kids there that he got names and ages for.

Since I've been here in Warsaw, God has allowed more connections than I ever dreamed of. I was a little apprehensive about coming because I had never done this before (scouted for Roma), but I did it and God has provided some unique opportunities and new connections. When Henryk finished getting names and they were finished talking, we started to leave and the leader shook my hand and kissed me on the cheek and welcomed me to come back again. I'm hoping that before I leave, I'll get to go to a few more Bazaars in the city and pray walk a few more neighborhoods.

Please pray that God would continue to open doors here in the Warsaw area. Pray that he would create a burning desire in the hearts of the Roma people here so that they would be parched to hear the Word of God. Pray that we will be faithful to share the hope of Christ and the saving story of Christ to these people and that they would believe.

Radość Roma

Saturday I went to deliver presents to kids because today is Children's Day. It was the same foundation that did a children's camp in the mts that I helped with in jauary. While we were riding around, Henryk told me he knew of some Roma in Radość which is a town outside of warsaw. So at the end of the day he took me there. We have out presents. There were about 15 kids and 2 or 3 families living in this run down building. It was a great contact! They invited me back to visit them. Maybe some of them would be interested in going to one of the Roma Family Camps! Pictures to come!!!

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Ursus Roma

Friday evening I went to a family orphanage in Ursus. Derek told me there are Roma in Ursus. It was too late in the evening to go explore that but it's useful information if I can follow up on it.

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Free Bathrooms

So I've been in Warsaw since last Thursday. I've been looking for Roma here in the city. Thursday I met a woman and gave her a DVD. She was in a place I didn't expect to see her--a nice mall. Ever think of FREE BATHROOMS? Free bathroom alert: Starbucks@ul.Nowy Świat.

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Gołąbki... cabbage and more cabbage

A few weeks ago we had two of the Roma women at the Goss's apartment trying to teach us Americans how to make something tasty out of the over abundant cabbage supply. This is Gołąbki. It's ground beef with rice and onions wrapped in a big cabbage leaf. You wrap it like a burrito and then you put it all in a big pot and cook it for about an hour with a block of lard at the bottom to grease it up. It tasted really good. I liked the stuff at the top of the pot that hadn't been touched much by the lard. It was a fun evening. I ate way too much. Ha. You may ask, "Will this meal become a staple in your normal eating habits?" No, I'd like to stay cabbage free. My roommates would probably appreciate it because cabbage can be revengeful. Ha.


My favorite part was when Brenda was asking how much spice to use. Then Paulina said, "Try some so you will know how it will taste in the future." The "it" was the bowl of raw ground beef mixed with rice. haha!!! Brenda skipped the taste test and just took better notes.