The trip of Polish saints to ICSC 2018:
Nineteen saints from Poland departed on the 10th and 11th of February 2018 for Taipei, Taiwan, to attend 2018 International Chinese-speaking Conference. Fifteen of us traveled together through Amsterdam and Hong Kong to arrive in Taipei on the 12th of February after nearly 24-hour journey.
It was to be the first time for all of us and we were all very excited to finally blend with the saints from this part of the world and visit the cradle of the Lord’s recovery. Some of us had to „fight” for vacation time, others to find care for their children, but ultimately the Lord has opened the way for all of us to go, keeping us in good health up to the departure. But for many of us this trip wouldn’t have been possible, if it hadn’t been for some dear saints in the US, on whose heart the Lord put a burden to supply us financially. We thank the Lord for such a practical fellowship in the Body!
Upon arriving in Taipei we were collected by a few saints from the church in Kaohsiung, where we were to visit for the next few days. Brother Ezra and his son took very good care of us during this 6-hour bus ride to Kaohsiung. Although we all were very much journey-tired, we were receiving our first impressions of not only Taiwan, but more so of the saints’ rich care for us and their shepherding. Much more of it was to come.
So we finally arrived in Kaohsiung at the Fun Hotel. We went to a local night market for dinner, where for the first time we could both taste and smell some of the most local dishes, some of which none of us have ever tried nor seen before. We all found something for ourselves, though, and after a long day, we spent the night in the hotel.
For the next two days the local saints arranged a sightseeing tour of Kaohsiung for us. We visited many interesting places. On Wednesday, the 14th of Feb, the saints took all of us biking. Truly, they knew what the Polish like. We visited the local University, a picturesque spot at the coastline, took a ferry onto a nearby island, where we visited a lighthouse and an old fort. We had a wonderful rich seafood lunch and spent some time at the beach, where one of the brothers accidentally gave up his cell phone to the ocean. After the whole day outdoors, we all, unused to such a strong sun in wintertime, got sunburnt, and were all red. The highlight of that day, though, was the Lord saving a young man at a restaurant where we had a light dinner, by the gospel preaching of a few saints from Poland. He was prepared and wide open to the gospel. The saints invited him to the blending meeting that was to take place that night in Meeting Hall 1, and to our great surprise he showed up and was connected with the local saints. Praise the Lord for this new child of His!
In the evening that day we all participated in a blending meeting with the local saints and the saints visiting from other countries, such as Germany, Kongo, Argentina, China and others, who also came for the ICSC. There we were able to receive the burdens from a few countries, and also release ours, mainly concerning the upcoming distribution of just completed and printed Polish New Testament Recovery Version. We ordered 30,000 copies and pray that the Lord would find open hands and hearts for each one of them.
Next morning we departed for Taipei, for the ICSC. We received hospitality from the saints in Meeting Hall 22, from where one family was sent forth after being called by the Lord to Poland in mid nineties. The family spent 10 years in Poland and currently lives in the US. The Lord greatly used them for the advancement of His move in Poland. Through them, as we learned, there was this hidden connection between the saints and the churches in Poland and the saints from Meeting Hall 22 in Taipei, mainly through their prayers. Now this connection became more definite as we were finally able to meet the saints who prayed for us throughout these years and as we presented to them the current burden of the Polish Recovery Version distribution, so that they can continue to pray for us. We thank the Lord and praise Him for His arrangement and this long term relationship with the saints in Taipei.
Upon arriving at Meeting Hall 22 we were welcomed by the saints with a delicious love feast, a sweet welcome gift for each one of us, and were distributed to the saints homes for hospitality. For the next few days we all were overwhelmed by the heart of the saints who hosted us, by their generosity, care, shepherding, pouring out. Some of us heard about it, but the actual experience exceeded all our expectations. We enjoyed fellowship with them, with their families, as well as with other saints who stayed with them during the ICSC. The care was so rich and so satisfying that many of us on one hand were nearly moved to tears, and on the other felt greatly exposed and very short in terms of our care we show to both local and visiting saints back in Poland. We feel we have a lot to learn from the dear saints in Taiwan in this regard, but we do not lose heart. Hallelujah for such pattern in the Body which we can follow!
The conference itself was altogether a unique experience. None of us have ever seen so many saints from so many different countries together in one place. Truly a great picture of one new man, which was the main subject of the conference: The Goal of the Lord’s Recovery — To Bring Forth the One New Man. During the messages the brothers endeavored to bring us into the vision and the reality of this wonderful and great truth of the one new man. For the bringing forth of the one new man we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, allow the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, allow the Word of Christ dwell in us richly and persevere in prayer.
During the conference we all were greatly impressed with how orderly and diligently everything was organized. We couldn’t help but have an impression that every aspect was considered, thought over, and taken care of in a proper and thorough way. We enjoyed the singing of many hymns by the saints from different localities in Taiwan, heard reports concerning the Lord’s move to Europe and to Asia. We learned that the saints in Taiwan have a burden to bring the Lord to all of the Asian countries and establish His testimony there. Currently there are only 12 countries in Asia without the Lord’s testimony.
On the 2nd day of the conference there was a gospel march that marched through the streets of Taipei. Five groups of 2,000 saints each departed from 5 different locations singing, beating the drums, shouting that Jesus is Lord and that men need Jesus, all in Chinese of course. This was glorious. None of us have ever participated in anything like this on such a scale. We all wore gospel robes, gospel caps, saints held gospel banners. The five groups came together at the President’s Palace square where a gospel concert was held. A few hundred saints singing and playing hymns we all know from our meetings with such quality that our eyes were watering. This was truly amazing. We believe that even if no unbelievers were saved that day through the march and the concert, the saints’ presence in the city couldn’t go unnoticed. Hallelujah!
On the Lord’s day, the 18th of Feb, the Lord received the glory from 30,000 saints gathered. With a strong spirit brothers representing several countries offered praises to the Lord and broke bread of an immense size, of which we all then partook. Such a large bread broken to very small pieces really depicts our Lord, who going through the process during which He was broken, became small enough to eat. None of us could eat such a big bread, but we all could partake of it after it was broken. Praise the Lord for His way of becoming one with us! After the Lord’s table the 62 countries were presented. It was so encouraging to see that the Lord has His testimony in so many places on the earth, and the number of those where as of now there is no testimony yet is decreasing. Surely this must be one of the signs of His imminent return.
After the meeting we visited the Hsin Ji building in Taipei, which is owned by the saints, and where there is a bookstore and a kind of museum of the Lord’s recovery and b. Lee’s ministry. Again, this was something very new to us, namely, that the Lord’s recovery is so developed, known, and at the forefront of the society there. We are used to a much smaller, less developed, and more hidden church life. We also visited Meeting Hall 1 where it all started.
Next morning, after having breakfast with the saints in Meeting Hall 22, and after some lovely fellowship, prayers and some tears, we joined up with the saints from Ontario, California, for a sightseeing tour of Taiwan. We visited many interesting places, museums, natural sites. One of a very memorable places was a type of a fig tree which was „mingled” with a house around which it grew. The two, after many years, became inseparable. Just like our Lord, the tree of life, mingled Himself with His church, God’s house, and the two are now inseparable.
During this time we had an opportunity to blend with the saints from Ontario, get to know them, and enjoy delicious Taiwanese food together. We visited Taichung, Tainan and Chiayi. On the 20th of Feb in Tainan we participated in a blending meeting with many other saints mainly from France and USA. We heard their testimonies about how the Lord is moving in their countries. This was very encouraging. We too had an opportunity to share what the Lord is doing in Poland. We also heard wonderful and encouraging testimony from the saints in Tainan about how they practice the God-ordained way and through it gain remaining fruit for the Lord.
On the 22nd of Feb, early in the morning, fifteen of us we departed from Taipei, via Hong Kong and London, back for Warsaw, Poland. For all of us this trip was a life-changing, eye-opening experience. What we experienced there is eternal. We are so grateful to the Lord for this. We took this home with us and are burdened to practice what we have seen, particularly in terms of caring for the saints and shepherding them in the Lord with His love, so that He can obtain the reality of the one new man and come back. We would like to be contagious in this respect and pass this burden on to the saints around us in our localities. Hopefully many of them, affected by our testimonies, will have a desire to go to Taiwan in three years themselves, so that they can see what we have seen with their own eyes. We know of at least two who are already saving up for this.
Glory be to God!
Testimonies from some of the Polish saints who traveled to Taiwan:
“This trip to Taiwan was the 2nd most important trip in my Christian life in the last 20 years. There I could see a proper church life on a scale I have not seen before. I praise the Lord for His victory and His testimony in Taiwan. There I experienced Christ’s care and love manifested through His saints and I saw saints fully gained by Christ. My prayer is that the Lord would have such saints and such a testimony in Europe.”
Roman, the church in Sosnowiec
“We are happy that we could meet brothers and sisters from the churches in Taiwan. We were very touched by the saints’ hospitality and their every effort in making sure we lacked nothing. They took care of us sacrificing their time, hearts and money, which at least in part, and in spite of different cultures we come from, allowed us to experience the one new man.”
Krystian and Magdalena, the church in Opole
“The trip to Taiwan was a great blessing to me. The Lord arranged it for me in an amazing way. Taiwan turned out to be a most beautiful country with lots of delicious food. The most wonderful, however, were the saints, who so marvelously took care of us in every way. Thanks to them we could not only get to know the island, but more so, the church life. Both the saints we visited and the ones we traveled with, poured out their hearts for us, and through the time we spent together, they left a piece of themselves in us and we in them. The church life in Taiwan was a great pattern and encouragement to me. I realized we need to be simple, open to the Lord and to others, more give than to take, intercede for each other in prayers. The time in Taiwan strengthened my realization that the Lord really has a Body on the earth and that He moves, accomplishing His goal, and we are in it. If He can have such a wonderful expression of Himself in Taiwan, He can have the same everywhere else, including Poland. Praise the Lord!”
Anna, the church in Sosnowiec
“I am so thankful that I could experience the church life in such a practical way, for such a beautiful fellowship with the saints from Taiwan and from the United States, for their care, hospitality, cherishing, for their large hearts and love. Special thanks to sister Natasha and brother Terry.”
Krystyna, the church in Sosnowiec
“The trip to Taiwan was the farthest I have ever traveled in my life. The entire time we spent there, both in hotels and in saints’ homes, was amazing. I was deeply touched by the saints’ care for us and their heart toward us. We enjoyed all the dishes we had an opportunity to taste and all the sightseeing tours the saints prepared for us. I was greatly impressed by the conference with so many saints gathered together, and by the gospel march. This was truly a marvelous time. Thank You Lord Jesus for this.”
Jacek, the church in Kwidzyn
“This was the first time for me to blend with the saints in this part of the world, and it was the trip of my life. The time there was most enlightening and encouraging. There I saw the Lord taking everything to another level, a mature church life expressing both the fine and loving humanity of Jesus, expressed mainly in saints’ rich care for us, and God’s perfect divine character, manifested in the order, effectiveness and fineness in so many things. Thank you Lord for a chance to see and experience this.”
Krzysztof, the church in Warsaw
“My desire in going to Taiwan was to see the Body on a larger scale. What I saw there was absolutely beyond what I could ever imagine. It was so wonderful to be in a crowd of thousands of saints and not feel lost, and to be in the homes of saints and feel this overwhelming love and care for us. The world became smaller to me; now the saints from different parts of the world are on my heart and we are on theirs. How could we share what we saw there with the saints here in Poland? There is no other way but to live in such a way:) And of course we can’t wait to have hospitality in our own place:)”
Dorota R., the church in Warsaw
“The visit to Taiwan was like a dream come true to me. I couldn’t imagine what I heard there, the hospitality of the saints, the great number of saints in Taiwan and at the conference, the gospel march through the city. I am grateful to the Lord and to the saints that I could see and experience all this, so that the Lord could enlarge my vision and my heart. I hope that through this the Lord will be able to do more in Poland.”
Dorota S., the church in Warsaw
