How do you condense a year full of experiences, impressions, and people, into a few words? If I would put our experience in Poland into one word, I think the word “expansion,” would describe it best.

And then there were all the small answers we had for life that disappeared in the face of larger, more relevant questions. Who is God? Who am I? What do I have to offer those around me? How can God even use small broken human beings to accomplish his work? Questions brought into focus by the experience of being dropped into new territory far away from everything familiar and safe.

There have been so many new friends, American, Polish, and Ukrainian to meet. So many new cities to explore. An entire new language to learn. Experiencing God’s kingdom in an entirely different context.

Poland also introduced us to city life, to Google Translate, to pointing and waving our hands helplessly at produce in the market, to pierogi, to backpacking trips with friends, and so many more wonderful things.

Our questions have not all been answered, but our souls have been expanded. Some days we still do not know what we have to offer those around us. Some days we still feel too small and broken for God to use us. But if our year in Poland has taught us anything, it has taught us this: whatever we have is all God needs.