Stranger Than Fiction

Rocking out transportation E.T. style!

     Over the past few days, I've gotten to explore my surroundings here in Bielsko-Biala on my bike (okay, it's not really my bike...it's Heidi's, but I'm claiming dibs for the summer!). I've enjoyed so much getting out into the woods and spending time alone with the Lord. Heidi suggested that I take a different route today up to the top of a water reservoir in what I would describe as the equivalent to a state park. She told me which path to take to get to a small restaurant at the top where I could grab something to drink while overlooking the reservoir. The route was very bumpy and rather up hill, but the view was worth it!

     

     I went into the small restaurant and bought a water, then went to sit out on the patio overlooking the water. I pulled my camera out to take a few pictures and thought about throwing in my iPod, but decided against it. I was planning to just sit and relax, possibly pull out my bible, but my first priority was to down some water! (By the way, I have GOT to learn how to tell the difference between carbonated and non-carbonated water in Polish!)

     As I was recovering from my uphill trek, the older man sitting at the table in front of me turned around and started speaking to me in Polish. Please understand that I have worked on learning some Polish, but my words remain at the basics of yes, no, thank you, sorry, hello, goodbye, and the like. However, I gathered that the man was asking me to take a picture of him in front of the water with his camera. Luckily, I did not need language to aim and press a button :) He thanked me and I went back to my seat. 

     All of a sudden the man turned around and started talking to me in Polish again. I tried to explain to him that I spoke English and could not understand what he was saying, however, it did not faze him one bit! What ensued was a rather interesting 30-45 minute conversation with this older Polish gentleman. We tried our best to communicate despite that fact that I do not speak Polish and he does not speak English. I was able to pull out my Polish phrase book that Anslee Warren gave me before I came and he was able to point out some words in the Polish-English dictionary to help us along.

     From what I gathered (keep in mind that he only spoke Polish and occasionally a little German, which I don't speak either...), he had met people from France, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Serbia, Ireland, Slovakia, and others, but I was the first American he had ever met. I think he works for a ship at a port in the Baltic Sea. He asked me how many times I've been to Poland and was shocked to find out it was my first time here. He asked why I was here and if I was here visiting family. I was able to share with him, as best as I could, that I was staying with new friends at their home and was here to tell people about the love of Jesus. If he did not understand anything else I said, he recognized the name of Jesus! He and I spoke for a while until it was time for me to head back home. We said goodbye and he gave me his phone number in case I was ever in an emergency and needed a friend. 

     I have no idea why God had me encounter Mr. Lukas today. We were hardly able to communicate at all. However, we crossed paths and I told him about Jesus. I pray that if he understood anything from our time together, he understood that I was here because Jesus loves him. I pray that he walked away with a positive impression of me not only as an American, but as a Christian representing Christ.

Mr. Wiesłow Lukas