#SendTheAlcantaras - Begin. Again.
Cześć Redemption!
The last month has been quite the experience. There's so much that could be said, but this newsletter probably wouldn't happen if I tried, so here are some highlights!
Just shy of a week after Tracy and the kids arrived, we were officially welcomed to the church where we are currently serving, called Społeczność Chrześcijańska Wilanów. I've been practicing for weeks and still can't say it properly.
While we are here, our work is pretty similar to what we were doing while we were in Liverpool. This time, however, Tracy and I are both heading up ministries that are already in place. Tracy is in charge of the kids' work while I'm leading the worship ministry. We're learning a lot about the dynamics of working with established teams while also working to help the teams progress from infancy (the church is a year old). This means that a lot of the work is built around shepherding people who have been faithfully serving for the last year and helping everyone to be united around the common goal of glorifying God in Wilanów.
Since arriving, a new discipleship began and it's a joy to take part. Each week we take time to talk about how the gospel changes our lives and to pray for one another. We're a pretty big group for a something like this, but the dynamic works quite well because everyone (except for me) is bilingual. This means that when someone is searching for a word in English, there's usually someone there who has an idea of what would be a good translation.
Also, I'm still representing the 2018 Doctrine & Devotion conference on the Spirit & The Church.
The kids have adjusted to life here incredibly well. They've become good friends with some kids from church already and are doing great with suddenly being homeschooled.
It's been a lot of fun exploring the city with them. As you can see above, the parks here are beautiful during what's called Złota Polska Jesień (Polish Golden Autumn).
Prayer requests
As always, please reach out to us with any prayer requests you have as you partner with us in prayer. Here is how you can pray for us this month:
Praise God that we are finally back together as a family. We experienced God's grace so much through his people while we were apart. Our church family at Trinity in Everton and family-family in the East Midlands were such a huge help as Tracy moved all of our stuff out of our house in Liverpool. This wouldn't have happened without their help.
Continue to pray as we settle into a new rhythm, a new city and a new church.
Be praying for the work that we are doing here and also for our church in Liverpool. We've had to leave Trinity at a time when a lot of transition is happening with the staff team and more non-Christians are beginning to join. At the same time, we have a lot of work that is happening here in Warsaw. The church is still quite new, is exploring new building options (we currently meet in a hotel conference room) and operates in both Polish and English. This means that each week I have the opportunity to learn to sing more in Polish.
Be praying as we start to work out residency stuff here in Poland as well as for the future. We are glad to be serving here and it's very clear that we're needed, but our hearts are ultimately for the church in the UK. Pray that we would work diligently while we are here while also preparing for what happens after our 2 years with AT3 are up.
