The Survey - Day 1

I like honesty. If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time you've probably already noticed. So, I'll give you the honest rundown from today's survey outing.

This morning I made sure all of my "materials" were together...folder to carry surveys? Check. Tracts bundled neatly into groups of 10s? Check. Working pen? Check. The anticipation and anxiety were both mounting as the afternoon approached. I found myself praying frequently about everything...asking God to give me the boldness I needed to go out.

2 o'clock came. Vicki had to leave to go somewhere with Paulina and Piotrek arrived home from school, willing to make sure things were fine here so his dad could hit the streets. I told him I'd be back in an hour and he quizzed me on what I was going to be doing. He literally followed me around as I gathered my stuff up, put my coat and ball cap on, and walked toward the door. You've got to understand that this is a super un-Polish thing to do...walking up to strangers, especially to ask questions that deal with such matters.

So, I head out and up the street for the Akademia and...to just be straight up with y'all...fear began welling up in me. With every person I passed the intimidation grew. Everyone seemed on their way somewhere...no one would make eye contact with me (another Polish norm)...I was freezing from the wind. I kept walking around the campus thinking surely I'd gain the confidence and where-with-all to hand out my first tract or locate my first person to interview.

Again the truth...I spent about 20 minutes walking around that campus and left it after handing out only one tract. I felt terrible about that but moved on.

After leaving the campus I headed down a few streets, through the park close to our house, over to a different area close by where a lot of people were waiting for public transit, and then made a huge circle to come back home. In that time, about 40 minutes, I handed out an additional 4 tracts.

5 tracts, 0 conversations. That's a nasty feeling. For goodness sake, I'm a missionary. Shouldn't this be easier??!!

I did learn some lessons from that hour...

1. Go with someone. It was WAY too easy to chicken out by myself. Maybe this is one of the reasons Jesus sent people out in twos.
2. Don't go to the campus. I began thinking that maybe campus administration wouldn't be too big on people coming on-campus to hand things out and do surveys on their students.
3. This is much more difficult than in the states because of the language factor. Knowing that every encounter would need to be in Polish was extremely intimidating.
4. Cold air and strong winds are brutal!
5. I'm no spiritual superhero. Actually I already knew this but figured it needs to be said. I'm just a guy who has fears...and unfortunately sometimes I give into those fears and don't accomplish the goal I sat out to complete.
6. God still loves me and can even use those 5 tracts to work in those peoples' lives. I'm thankful how we're reassured in His Word that God works through us all the more in our times of weakness.

If you prayed with me today I appreciate that. I actually think it was a victory for me to get out there in the first place...so, while I wish I would have done better, I'm really not too down on myself about today. The plan is to continue this weekly so you can definitely continue to pray for us. Maybe you'll be reminded to do so the next time you see people at the mall or in some parking lot somewhere doing a survey. If that happens please pray for our boldness and for the people of Poznan to open their hearts to Jesus Christ.