Poland Part 3

For all of you who have been waiting, here's my story about getting lost in Radom. On Tuesday, Tim and I were going to the same school we went to on Monday, so we were just going to ride the bus there ourselves. No problem, we knew the bus number and where to get off. I will add right here that is was cold that day, we heard about -20 degrees Celsius, which is just below zero in Fahrenheit. That doesn't seem too unbearable to us from northern Minnesota, but if you haven't noticed, we don't walk any where when it is below zero, we just get in our preheated vehicles and drive. However, we had to do a fair amount of walking and it was brutal. Looking back, though, it didn't seem so terrible until after the cold had passed. I guess God just gave us the stamina we needed. Ok, back to the story. So we get on the bus, #7, but about 5 minutes later, we pulled into a bus stop, and the bus couldn't get going again. Everyone had to get out, and Tim and I are going, "Ok, now what?" About 5 minutes later, another bus #7 pulled up and everyone who got off the first bus got on that one, so we followed. We were early to begin with, so we were feeling just fine, we would get to the school with time to spare. We knew we should have gotten to our stop soon after that...and so 20 minutes later, I finally looked at Tim and said, "I think we missed our stop." He just said, "Yeah." So at the next stop, we got off. I still don't understand how we could have missed the stop. We both were watching for it, and it was at the train station, so it would have been pretty obvious. Of course, the windows were completely covered in frost, no, more like a thin layer of ice, so we couldn't see out any where except the front. The only other excuse I can think of is that the bus was trying to make up for the time lost when that other bus had to stop and just skipped our stop. Thankfully, the stop we got off at was just across the street from another bus stop that would have our correct bus going back the right direction. So we crossed the street and waited. The above picture is what the bus stop was across from, the Imperial Tobacco Company. I was a little nervous because it was kind of a side street and not much traffic was going by, so I was envisioning us being there for a long time before the bus came or my toes falling off because of the cold. I think we waited about 10 minutes, and our bus came. We got on, and then we got right to the train station and walked to the school. We were only 10 minutes late, and we were able to use this adventure as part of our presentation. We talked about how in the Midwest, most people don't use public transportation except for school, and how we just don't understand the whole bus system. The students thought it was funny. Thinking more about it, it really could have been a scary or miserable experience, but God was with us, and I really can't say I was worried at any point. It makes for a good story.

Another part of the ministry that the Hagemans and Snyders do is an outreach to the homeless people in Radom. They use an apartment, which is again about 10 or 20 minutes on foot from the Snyder's. I think they serve a meal there a couple times a week, and the pastor from the church, Pastor Tytus, gives a little message. The American team didn't get too involved in the ministry, but we went a couple nights to the Ministry Center (that's what they call the apartment) to meet those they are ministering to. Since the pastor talked in Polish, we didn't go in for his message, we just worked some on our presentations and other things in another room. The heat doesn't work real well in the apartment, so that's why we all have coats or sweatshirts on. L-R: me, Lee, Tim, Greg

These next pictures are of the Snyder's apartment, so you can kind of picture what I'm talking about when I keep bringing it up. Above is the dial intercom thing by the door. We pushed number 2 and they would unlock the door for us.

The walkway up to their house. We got off the bus stop and walked about 5 minutes to get to the apartment. Hanging out in the Snyder's living room. That's Steve Snyder on the computer at the desk.

Vera taking a little nap. Since it was a half hour bus ride back to the Hageman's apartment, we would just stay at the Snyder's after the presentations and lunch if we were doing anything in town that evening.

On Thursday of that first week, it was Bernatka Snyder's birthday. She generously shared her chocolate with the whole team. By the end of the afternoon, there wasn't much left.

Ok, now the Hageman's apartment. This is where I stayed along with Hannah, Linda, Lee, and of course, Bob and Vera. The room above is the shower room, and the washing machine is just out of the picture on the left.

This is the toilet room. There is a little sink, but we couldn't use it because it leaked. Although it was weird having the shower in a room with no toilet, it was better that way, because when you only have one toilet and one shower for six people, it worked much better to have them separate.

This picture was taken from the doorway into the apartment. The closed door there is the toilet room, and the open room to the left is the kitchen. Lee's bedroom was just out of the picture on the left. Bob and Vera's bedroom is at the end of the hall, and the living room is to the left at the end of the hall. The shower room is out of the picture on the right.

The kitchen was rather small, but we didn't spend much time at the Hageman's apartment, so it wasn't too bad. Actually, it was rather cozy when all six of us would sit in there and talk.

This was the living room that was converted into the girls' bedroom. It looks like a mess, but we were really pretty organized. :-)