We have officially begun our journey to Poland! Yesterday we flew from OKC to Baltimore, Maryland (where Aaron's parents live) for one last week of family time, preparation, and re-packing our bags to get them under the weight and size requirements for our flight to Poland.
We'll be in Maryland for a little over a week, with speaking opportunities planned at the Cambridge (MD) and Damascus (MD) churches of the Nazarene on Wednesday and Thursday nights. We also hope to visit at least one last Civil War battlefield site before the weekend, when Aaron's dad's church (Grace Pointe Community Church of the Nazarene) will break ground on their new campus in Severn, MD. After one last night (of tamales!) with friends and family, we'll leave for Boston-Chicago-Warsaw-Poznan EARLY on Monday morning...it'll be about a 21-hour trip, all told. Fun stuff!
Please pray for us as we spend time with Aaron's family, trim our things-we're-taking-to-Poland list even further, feverishly study Polish, attempt to make the most of our last 2 fundraising opportunities, and wait (we hope patiently) to hear back from a potential major donor.
In the meantime, we're trusting God...this is way bigger than us! :)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Double Trouble
One week from last Sunday was our last on-the-road Sunday of speaking engagements in Oklahoma. Thanks in no small part to the always-helpful Rev. Geoff Gunter, we had opportunities to share what God is doing in Poland with the Chandler (OK) and Collinsville (OK) Churches of the Nazarene.
Aaron, Brittany, and Brit's Grandma Mac spent Sunday morning together in Chandler, where Rev. Keith Cole had graciously handed us the reins while he was on vacation. We felt very welcomed by the congregation, who were also very receptive to our explanation of our calling. After church, we had lunch in historic Downtown Chandler, complete with DELICIOUS homemade cherry pie from Marsha's...Marsha can really bring it!
After lunch, Brit and Grandma returned to OKC (where Brit had her next-to-last shift at Starbucks on Sunday evening). Aaron continued on to Collinsville, where Rev. Tim Odom had invitied us to share a special Sunday night missions message! Aaron's paternal grandparents, Rev. F.H. and Virginia Bolerjack, pastored the Collinsville church in the late 1960s, and his dad, Dr. Phil Bolerjack, graduated from CHS in 1968...so it was a homecoming of sorts for everyone involved. In fact, Papa Jack married the missions president and her husband in the Old Sanctuary more than 40 years ago!
The Collinsville church was also received Aaron's message very graciously and generously; we even capped the evening off with an after-church round of pizza at Mazzio's! It was a very positive end to a rewarding-but-long weekend speaking tour than we've been engaged in off and on since April...one that we've since extended to include Wednesday and Thursday night dates this week while we're in Maryland! Please pray for us to be effective (and well-rested) communicators of God's call on our lives during these last few stops.
We love you guys...thank you ALL for your support!
Aaron, Brittany, and Brit's Grandma Mac spent Sunday morning together in Chandler, where Rev. Keith Cole had graciously handed us the reins while he was on vacation. We felt very welcomed by the congregation, who were also very receptive to our explanation of our calling. After church, we had lunch in historic Downtown Chandler, complete with DELICIOUS homemade cherry pie from Marsha's...Marsha can really bring it!
After lunch, Brit and Grandma returned to OKC (where Brit had her next-to-last shift at Starbucks on Sunday evening). Aaron continued on to Collinsville, where Rev. Tim Odom had invitied us to share a special Sunday night missions message! Aaron's paternal grandparents, Rev. F.H. and Virginia Bolerjack, pastored the Collinsville church in the late 1960s, and his dad, Dr. Phil Bolerjack, graduated from CHS in 1968...so it was a homecoming of sorts for everyone involved. In fact, Papa Jack married the missions president and her husband in the Old Sanctuary more than 40 years ago!
The Collinsville church was also received Aaron's message very graciously and generously; we even capped the evening off with an after-church round of pizza at Mazzio's! It was a very positive end to a rewarding-but-long weekend speaking tour than we've been engaged in off and on since April...one that we've since extended to include Wednesday and Thursday night dates this week while we're in Maryland! Please pray for us to be effective (and well-rested) communicators of God's call on our lives during these last few stops.
We love you guys...thank you ALL for your support!
New Contact Info in Poland...
We also have a new mailing address and (405)-area-code phone number in Poland...you can e-mail us at aaronandbrittany@gmail.com if you'd like to receive them!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Contact Info!
A few links to more info about the Sweet Surrender coffeehouse/house churches in Poznan and Gdansk are posted below. This is for you, Aunt Debbie!
http://www.sweetsurrender.pl
http://www.youtube.com/user/SweetSurrenderpl
http://www.youtube.com/user/SweetSurrenderCafe
http://www.sweetsurrender.pl
http://www.youtube.com/user/SweetSurrenderpl
http://www.youtube.com/user/SweetSurrenderCafe
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Penultimate Sunday in OK: Lake O.
We spent last Sunday...our next-to-last in Oklahoma City (we're on the road speaking again next week)...at Aaron's home church in OKC, Lake Overholser Church of the Nazarene. We had a great time reconnecting with friends we've only been able to see a couple of times since we moved to Stillwater (and being shocked and appalled by who old the teens we worked with have gotten in the meantime)!
Dr. Doug "P. Diddy" Samples and Rev. Steve "Steve-O" Hendrix graciously invited us to briefly share our coffeehouse/house church calling during the Gene Hancock Memorial Missions Minute. Big shoes to fill! :) Even though our video didn't work...here's a link for those of you who missed it: http://www.youtube.com/user/SweetSurrenderpl#p/u/13/DcGsR2hPGPY ...we DID get to see "our" flag hanging on the north wall, and to try to explain why we're so excited about our coming-up-so-quickly adventure!
Diddy also dropped a couple of gems during his sermon over a passage we're HUGE fans of to begin with, Luke 12:15-21:
"Then (Jesus) said to them, 'Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.' And he told them this parable: 'The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, "What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops." Then he said, "This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' 'But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" 'This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.'"
Doug's take? 1.) "God LOVES to put money in pockets with HOLES in them." -and- 2.) "Not a ONE of (us) has enough money to BUY a seat at this (Communion) table. So true!
Our (additional) take? Stuff is just stuff. Money is just money. What counts is how we USE it to make the world -not just our little corner of it- a better place, one that reflects God's love and the priorities of his kingdom. Amen!
Dr. Doug "P. Diddy" Samples and Rev. Steve "Steve-O" Hendrix graciously invited us to briefly share our coffeehouse/house church calling during the Gene Hancock Memorial Missions Minute. Big shoes to fill! :) Even though our video didn't work...here's a link for those of you who missed it: http://www.youtube.com/user/SweetSurrenderpl#p/u/13/DcGsR2hPGPY ...we DID get to see "our" flag hanging on the north wall, and to try to explain why we're so excited about our coming-up-so-quickly adventure!
Diddy also dropped a couple of gems during his sermon over a passage we're HUGE fans of to begin with, Luke 12:15-21:
"Then (Jesus) said to them, 'Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.' And he told them this parable: 'The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, "What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops." Then he said, "This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' 'But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" 'This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.'"
Doug's take? 1.) "God LOVES to put money in pockets with HOLES in them." -and- 2.) "Not a ONE of (us) has enough money to BUY a seat at this (Communion) table. So true!
Our (additional) take? Stuff is just stuff. Money is just money. What counts is how we USE it to make the world -not just our little corner of it- a better place, one that reflects God's love and the priorities of his kingdom. Amen!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Everything's Bigger in Texas
We recently returned from an amazing, four-part(!) speaking engagement at the Richardson (TX) Church of the Nazarene over Memorial Day weekend. We were privileged to share our message and mission with (in chronological order) RCN's Nexus Community http://www.thenexuscommunity.org, two different youth Sunday School and Children's Church groups, and as the featured speakers in the main Sunday AM service. Whew!
It all made for a long - but incredibly rewarding - weekend! The folks at RCN were SO welcoming and accommodating...they gave us free reign in a variety of areas, and responded graciously to our presentation about what God is doing through the Church of the Nazarene's coffeehouse/house churches in Poland! A video of Sunday morning's service is allegedly available at: http://www.yourchurch.org. Many, many thanks to Adam, Jane, Todd, Scott, Stephania, and everyone else who helped make our weekend possible. We love you all!
As a bonus, we ALSO got to spend time with Brit's sister and brother-in-law, Mallory and Adam, as well as our recently-2-year-old nephew, Kaden...he's unquestionably the cutest Brown Bear in Wylie, TX!!
PS: If you're ever, ever EVER in Fort Worth, TX...you HAVE to go to Fuzzy's Taco Shop across the street from TCU's campus. Order one of everything...it'll change your life!
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