One fantastic way Josiah Venture Poland helps support our staff through this season (and all year round!) is through something we call "Day with God." Each one of our staff is required to take a full day each month to spiritually refresh, connect, and invest in our relationship with God. We are allowed to do these days alone, but our Care Team leader loves organizing opportunities to do it with a group as well.

Earlier this month, a few of us drove into some of the mountains not too far south of Bielsko-Biała (where I live) and spent the day studying Advent. I'm not sure what you think of when you see the word "Advent," but my mind always looks to the past - to Jesus' birth, Joseph and Mary's story, the Wise Men, and the salvation of mankind. Yet the Christmas story is only the beginning, and as we studied various parts of the Bible together, I felt challenged to look to the future and Jesus' return.

As our Day with God came to a close, I spent some time in private worship with the newest Planetshakers album "Rain." One song in particular broke me down in worship, and I had to just put it on repeat for a while and take in the message of the lyrics. Here's what I wrote down as I listened:

As I wrap up Day with God, I'm sitting and listening to "Take Your Place." The chorus of this song is the takeaway from my advent-themed day:

Take Your place over all / it's where You belong
So I will exalt Your Name / over all
Jesus is Lord

That's the whole point of the advent season. We celebrate Jesus coming to take His place as the sacrifice to restore us in relationship with God, and we look to His return to take His eternal place over all. Jesus, take Your place over all in my life!

You are Greater / Full of power
I lift You higher than anything
There is No One like You Jesus
I lift You higher than anything

As the wise men brought gifts to Jesus to celebrate His coming, I want this to be my gift this Advent. Jesus, I give you the focus of my life over any and every dream, fear, goal, worry, responsibility, relationship, and desire, for nothing and no one comes close to You.

As you celebrate our Savior being born to take His place this Christmas season, I want to encourage you to look to Him. Where in your life are you putting things in Jesus' place? He wants the whole of you, your heart, and your worship!

Over in the EP in PL Facebook group I share a weekly post with short snippets of my daily life. Some are funny, some are updates, some are victory celebrations, and some are mini prayer requests. Since I know that some of you receiving my updates don't use Facebook, I curate those posts each month into a few points and share the "highlights" here [with updates in brackets]!

- [12/2/19] This week we held a housewarming party for our renovated youth room at church! I cannot express what it means to our group and our teenagers to have our own space, and how much support and investment that communicates from my local church leadership. Nearly 50 people showed up and we had a great time playing games, sharing stories, and worshipping Jesus together.

- [12/8/19]  I am unbelievably proud of [our students'] hearts and sacrifice in things like cleaning, taking out trash, moving chairs, and making over 2,000 sandwiches for the young Poles at [a youth conference our church hosted]. As exhausted as we all are from the weekend, this was a huge bonding experience for our youth and I can’t wait to see how our relationships grow moving forward.

- [12/16/19] As Christmas gets closer, I'm starting to feel the pain of being away from my family and closest friends during the holidays for the first time in my life. I have lots going on with my American and Polish friends, but my heart still aches a bit. Please join me in praying for healthy grieving of that loss this year, while still fully enjoying the great company God has provided me with for the holidays here in Poland!

If you do use Facebook and aren't in the group, please shoot me a friend request (or a private message if we're already friends) and I'll invite you to the group!

From my EXIT Tour Poland family to yours - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Your prayers and support have been an incredible blessing to me during my first year serving here in Poland. Thank you sincerely for investing in us as God uses our team to equip local churches to share the Gospel and make disciples with teenagers all over Poland.

This fall I have been praying for an additional bit of one-time support to continue studying Polish through the entirety of next year. Thanks to your prayer and response, I am so very near to reaching that goal and having the funds to continue investing in language all of 2020!

I am praying for the remaining $750 in one-time support by the end of the year. Would you consider investing in my ministry effectiveness with a year-end gift?

PS - If you've never heard Polish before, check out the video below 😉

What's coming around the corner:

- It's Christmas time! That means a new Star Wars movie (😂😂😂)! In all seriousness, a friend and JV Poland teammate of mine always was in the Dallas area celebrating Christmas with family when the last few Star Wars films have come out, so we've had this tradition of going to catch each release together. This year we're both full-time in Poland and get to keep the tradition alive on the other side of the ocean. The 8-year-old still inside of me is overjoyed ❤️

- I have the privilege this year of spending Christmas Eve (the main day Poles celebrate) with a few of my friends and their family from my Polish church. I cannot wait to take in that experience! Afterwards I'll be celebrating the 25th and 26th with some of my American teammates, and then one of my two best friends will be coming to Bielsko-Biała from Texas to hang out! So many good things happening with so many good people 🎄❤️

Thank you as always for your continued prayer and support.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Elliott