From the voice and heart of Josh Gudahl

            Where to begin? I think landing in Poland is a good place to start. I remember very little between leaving Germany and landing in Poland due to the fact that I finally crashed from the 9 complimentary coffees that I ingested during our German layover. Getting off the plane was when things really began to feel real for me. We were greeted almost instantly by Chris (a Josiah Venture missionary) and Dawid (a Polish missionary also with Josiah Venture), who helped us with our luggage and immediately started shuttling us to Wisła (Pronounced Veeswa).

            I drifted in and out of sleep on the two hour drive, but what I noticed while riding in Dawid’s van, was Polish driving, which was so crazy it was impressive. After what felt like forever, we arrived at the Hotel where we received our first taste of Polish hospitality as they provided us with some of the best chicken wings I’ve ever had. It was 2:30 am their time when we had finished eating our meals and we all headed to our respective rooms, most of the TWood team was grouped together, however I was put in a room with a Canadian and a kid from Indiana. I stumbled around with my luggage and by some miracle I didn’t wake anybody up. To say that I was happy to get out of the clothes I had been wearing for the past two days would be the understatement of my life.

            Upon waking up it took me a good five minutes to figure out that I wasn’t in my own bed, let alone my own country. Breakfast is where we began to meet all the other young missionaries on the trip. I have never met so many people that I’ve connected with so well so quickly, and I thank God for creating that atmosphere for us which significantly helped cushion the jet lag.

            During our first training session I instantly began to feel God begin to excite my heart. Many things began to go through my head, starting with the reassurance that God is with us and will never leave us especially as we are doing his work here. Through worship and the teaching of the JV staff, I began to feel the motivation that I was waiting for, a desire for God to use my life like he has never before.

            Next on the agenda was our trip to Auschwitz. No movie nor any history book will ever come close to do the tragedy, that was Auschwitz. My heart hurt and my stomach felt sick throughout the tour. Nothing had ever been so real to me in my life. What was revealed to me was how truly tragic the Fall of Man was, to allow the evil that caused this to enter the world, and to allow the crushing pain and sorrow that the prisoners experienced. I imagine God’s sorrow watching his children in this place. A comment a man made near me still sticks out in my head. He said “keep in mind that many of these guards had been regular citizens prior” This was evil manifesting itself in the common man lead astray. I felt the fear of what sin can do in men who do not have God in their hearts.

            We returned significantly quieter than we had arrived. We all took in this momentous lesson in our own ways, but nothing raises spirits better than a meal and more worship. In the evening service we got a history lesson on Josiah Venture and got first hand testimony from how God is moving in Eastern Europe. So that’s where I leave you now as we just finished. I ask you to pray for the continued brotherly love going around this hotel, that everybody’s hearts stay God focused, and for the continued safety of everybody involved.