We recently took a trip to the small village of Angermunde. It is one of several villages that make up the area of Uckermarke. It is about 20 minutes outside of Poland and is completely isolated. These villages are completely void of the gospel. There are no churches in any of these villages, no evangelical preaching, no missionaries... nothing. There is one Pastor who is in charge of 7 areas, and his advise to us was that this area is very closed off and there is very little hope of reaching people. He said our best bet was to reach the children, and hope that they will grow up with a belief in God. During the Catholic reformation, Cath
olicism was forced upon these people, only to be followed by the rise of communism which left them void of any religion at all. These people now live an existence, without any God or any form of religion. Other German's who visit these areas cannot believe that they are still in Germany because of how desolate these areas are. We spent the day meeting with the areas Pastor, and soul winning near the train station. The station becomes very busy in late afternoon as children and teens leave from school and go back to their villages. Angermunde has the area's only school, so all of the other villages bus their children in to Angermunde every day. When you talk to the teens in groups they become very harsh (to say the least) against the gospel. The name of Jesus, the blood of Christ... these are all things that they've never had to hear before. But when these kids are alone, standing, waiting for the bus... they soften up. This one girl Jessica, said right away "I've never thought of God before" and the more we talked to her she said "I do think about those things sometime" and she took our tract and our numbers. Please pray for the hearts of these teens. They're only hope in life is to do well in school and get out of the Uckermarke, but most end up staying there unemployed and living off the government as they grow up.
Pastor Gary has ordered about a dozen copies of the Cross and the Switchblade, by Pastor David Wilkerson, written in German to give to these kids. A few teens who had a positive response to the message of Christ and His grace, were given a book to read and to call us if they have any questions. Pray for the people in these villages, that their hearts will be softened towards the Word and that God will show us what to do as we try to start outreach and Bible Studies in these areas.
