In May we had a special conference with a special guest. Missionary Tom Hastings and his wife Sandy were with us from Germany. They have been faithful in Germany for 40 years. Their church is now established and self-supporting. This dear couple travels and helps other missionaries in Europe. It is always a joy to have good Christian fellowship and encouragement here in Poland. The Sunday that Bro. Hastings spoke, there were 15 people in attendance. We know God was working in hearts. Kinga, a Polish lady who attended our church for nine years, came to visit from another city (five hours away) where she has moved. She was happy to see us again, and I know the meeting was a help to her spiritually. A Ukrainian lady who attended the conference is now having regular Bible studies with Jolie. My birthday was that same Sunday, May 3, and people stayed after church to celebrate with me. It was a memorable birthday for me.
Our church had a trying time after two months of meeting with another Polish church. The people became very critical of us and our methods and decided to leave. They were very unkind to us, unfortunately. We learned a lot from this experience, and we pray that God will protect our church from those who want to destroy or divide our people. Thankfully, most of our foreign believers were not in attendance while this Polish group was meeting in our church (even though they don’t speak good English). The Nigerian family was away for health and travel reasons. The Canadian man, who sometimes attends, was also not in attendance because of health or the fact that his wife was having a new baby. When the Polish group left our church, the foreign people came back and really were a blessing to our hearts. We do praise the Lord for his timing
Teaching the Bible to new converts is a joy. Personally, I have been able to keep a weekly time with an Iranian man, who is living here. He told me on that he is not too busy in his small restaurant on Saturdays. So I go there, and between customers we get to study together. Mathew is an eager student and asks me interesting questions. We had a long discussion about Jesus being God recently; he seems to be understanding Jesus’ deity as we study. Most religions see Jesus as a good prophet but not as God. Mathew also was surprised that Catholic “Christians” do not read the Bible or have any interest in it. He is married to a Catholic wife, and her father tells Mathew that he does not read the Bible or have any interest in it.
More than conquerors,
Paul & Jolie Sock
