Loren & Christina Ozanne: Szczecin, Poland
Loren and Christina Ozanne, and their son Clay, left Fellowship and Knoxville in October, 2006 to be our missionaries to Poland. They live in Szczecin, a city of around 400,000 people, and work under the auspices of the Evangelical Free Church of America International Mission.Most of us probably don’t think of parts of Europe as being unreached by the Gospel. But while Europe’s culture has been profoundly shaped by
Christianity, its people are another story. For example, one-fifth of one percent of the people living in Poland have a relationship with the Lord Jesus. Does Poland need missionaries? Yes. Loren, Christina, and Clay live in a city with a total of 12 Evangelical churches to reach and serve a population of 400,000 souls. Metro Knoxville’s very roughly the same size, and has something over 600 local churches.
Birthdays
Loren–November 20
Christina–November 13
Clay–August 15
Anniversary–September 4
Loren’s Top two magazine picks
* World magazine (like US News & World Report but with a Christian Perspective–50 issues yr.)
* Woodcraft
I wouldn’t mind getting used magazines, or we could pay for them and someone could send us the issues once a quarter, or twice a year.
I also love new or used books on leadership development, theology, apologetics, and church planting.
Ideas for care packages
* Chocolate chips, brown sugar, dark or light, barbeque sauce, marshmallows
* Flavored coffee
* Rick’s sermon CDs
* Worship CDs
* Books for Christina by Beth Moore
* Family pictures from friends supporting us and praying for us
*
Mailing Address
Loren and Christina Ozanne
UL. Chobolanska 27/5
71-023 Szczecin, Poland
This from Loren, on Mon, Dec 4:
Just a quick note to say Hello, and tell you about an amazing thing that happened today, and I thought of you.
Today I had to go to the center of town to make a bank deposit for the rent. It means a different tram, one that I don’t know , and making sure that it is the right tram and going in the right direction is even more important than it would usually be. The 150 words I know in Polish are mostly food items and greetings, so as you can see, that just doesn’t get you far. I saw a young guy, college-aged, and asked him in Polish if he spoke English. He said a little. He kindly showed me which tram and which direction, and as we were waiting, I talked with him a bit. I asked him about his English and is he a student. What is he studying… …?
He said that he is a senior at the University of Szczecin studying Oceanography. His name is Simon Fish. I gave him my skype name and Instant messenger name, He thought that it would be easier to remember his girlfriend’s Instant Messenger name and he said that he doesn’t have internet here. Polish words have very intimidating consonant clusters. He typed the name on the screen, and it was Asian, I guess. I told him that it would be much easier to remember his name, and thanked him for his help. I thought that was the end of that – as he has no internet, and I didn’t give him my cell #
Tonight at home, I was checking and answering email and I got a note from a person whom I had never heard of. I read the profile and quickly recognized her last name as one of the most common in Viet Nam. Nguyen. She is a single gal in Poland studying medicine. As a married man, I started to delete this. I just don’t have time to talk with random stangers who want to practice English.
I then had a strong check in my spirit. Something stirred in my heart that reminded me that we have prayed that God would bring hungry people across our paths. How odd that a total stranger would know my instant messenger name, so I went back and checked the box to allow this person to contact us. She instantly emailed me and told me she is the girl friend of Simon, the senior that helped me this afternoon. She lives across the country, about 5 hours away in Poland, and is from Hanoi. She has been here studying medicine, all in English, for six years now. He called her and told her about meeting me, and he gave her our IM address. I was sure to tell her about Christina and Clay.
She then sent me his phone number here, and he wants to meet again.
Pray for Simon Ryba [Fish], and Qu. –Think about the significance of Simon Peter the fisherman – and Simon Fish, an oceanography major.
Most would just say it was a coincidence. I choose to believe differently.
Your co-laborers on the journey,
Loren, Christina and Clay Ozanne.
Here’s what Loren writes, on Sat, Dec 2, 2006:
We like it here, the people are so warm and friendly, both believers and nonbelievers. This next Monday we are going upstairs to our neighbors’ apartment. They have a 4-month-old boy and the wife is a professional language teacher of Polish, so her English is fantastic. She used to teach at the private school all the way across town, about 50 minutes away and two busses. That is by the way, the one we go to. She had to quit when the baby was born. We prayed that God would bring the right language helper. We have been amazed at the God sightings and ways we seen God guide us.
We end up taking a taxi a lot because we don’t know which busses go where. I got this one guy and I used all my fifteen words of Polish. It was really quiet. I finally got there. Another day I called the same company, which has about 200 different drivers. I got this guy again, and he recognized me. This time, I find out that he speaks four languages. English (imagine that) Polish Russian, and German. His wife left him and took their only son to England after his company went bankrupt. He gave me his personal cell phone # and asked me to call him anytime. A week or so went by and we all went over to Carl and Kathy Lahrs’ house (the Lahrs are another missionary family here) for the huge Thanksgiving feast, which is also in another part of town. Keep in mind Szczecin has about 400,000 people and is really spread out. We called this company again, because they are pretty cheap. Out of 200 drivers in just one taxi company,who shows up but “Uncle Lashek.”
While we were in a shopping center looking for pillows, Clay was playing with some toys there, and a family came up with two small kids. She asked Christina how old Clay was, and by some odd chance they both speak great English and asked why we are here. We told them about the church, and it just so happens that her daughter goes to a kindergarten a few blocks away from our church (which meets in the Music Academy) and they are coming tomorrow. We took three busses and this shopping center was completely on the other side of the river in the East side of Szczecin.
Amazing.
Here’s what Loren writes, on Thur, Oct 26, 2006:
Thanks so much for your prayers. We made it in to Szczecin, Poland, on Tuesday afternoon, after three flights, and a two hour van ride, and about 2 hours sleep in 36 hours, so we have been pretty much zombies. Yesterday, we looked at two apartments on the outside and today, we will get to see the inside. The other young couple have been here a week, and have found an apartment, so they are pretty close to the place we are looking. We are so thrilled to be here. It still seems surreal. The weather here has been fantastic the last two days.
So many thoughts fill my mind, so many emotions, so many verses, but one just keeps coming back over and over and over, so please share this with the folks there. Our hearts are filled with gratitude at the outpouring of love, care and support that we feel from you. We really feel sent out well cared for, and are so happy to be partners with you, and although we miss you deeply, this is where God has called us, and we pray that we will be Christ bearers here, and find many ways to make the love of Christ plain and simple to those around us.
“I thank my God, every time I remember you in my prayers, for your partnership in the Gospel, from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3.
We are especially mindful that we we would not be able to be here if it were not for your investment and partnership with us as we join God in his work.
We will keep you posted, as things develop.
Filled with joy and gratitude.
Your co-laborers and partners on the journey, Loren, Christina and Clay Ozanne.
This is a composite of some of Loren’s and Christina’s excellent writings.
They put this together a two or three years before they left. It’s very interesting to look back at it in the context of their 2006 move to Poland.
I can see the delight on the faces of the children as they stand at the edge of the huge marble fountain, laughing with joy as those big brass frogs spray synchronized streams of water from their mouths in a splendid arc across the pool. Just ahead is “Coffee Heaven” and you can smell the rich aromas of cappuccino and lattes inviting you inside, and it seems surreal to be eating on glass plates with real silverware, with solid marble everywhere. It is just like Supermall, Anywhere, USA, until you notice that there is a disproportionate number of Z’s in the writing, and there are dots over and under letters where there shouldn’t be.
It is hard to even imagine that a few miles away is the remains of the Lodz Ghetto, or that one generation ago, this country lost one sixth of the population– the population of the state of Washington today. “God, give me kingdom eyes to see this city. What do you have for us here? Where are you at work in this city?”
One only needs to get back onto the crowded tramvai, go ten stops in any direction, and it is amazing how the scene changes– teens caught in the undertow of materialism and external image, tossed back and forth between new ideas and old religion in the struggle to find themselves and their identity without denouncing their heritage.
Church Planter Todd Hiltibran profoundly captures the essence of the spiritual climate in Lodz, the second largest city in Poland–The generation gap, the collapse of communism, the radical political changes, and the search for significance in the tide of pop culture have created the equivalent of the Hoover Dam breaking socially and spiritually. People are submerged in a culture where to be Polish is to be Catholic, and they are held captive by a system of control, trapped in dead marriages and dysfunctional families, knowing if they divorce they will be denied communion–social leprosy and cultural suicide.
Gzhegozh, whom we first met in an English Camp three years ago, said, “I just can’t believe that God really loves me.” When I sat down with him in the park trying to explain to him that God loves him enough to send people across the world, and then bring them back again to remind him, he showed me the goose bumps on his arm, and said that bad voices were screaming in his head, “Shut up! Shut up!” Polish people are drowning in external religion, and have no understanding of the freedom and life that comes from knowing Christ. Furthermore, most of them don’t see themselves as drowning.
To get a feel for the spiritual climate of Lodz, look at a map of Delaware then take a pin and poke eight holes at or near the center; those eight holes represent eight evangelical churches for 800,000 people–the population of Lodz and Delaware each.
Sometimes we can visualize things when they are compared to something we understand, or something that is familiar in our own culture. There are ten times more dance clubs on the main street in Lodz than there are evangelical churches in the entire city. As you think about one church for 100,000 people, next envision a city with 22% unemployment, and three times more prostitutes than believers. Now you get a glimpse of how God sees Lodz.
As Gzhegozh said, it is not about convincing them, or showing them all the evidence why God exists; “Just tell me what God is doing in your life.” We have to create a safe environment where we can just build relational bridges with them, and show them that the relationship is not dependent on their making a decision or being baptized. It means a long slow journey of building trust–not an easy task in light of Poland’s history. It means just walking on the journey with the Mareks and Anias and letting them know we care about them as people, that we don’t view them as “projects.”
Keep that in mind as you continue to read.
This past Spring in church the pastor told us to take a moment of silence and write down ways that we wanted to see God work. Our prayer was for God to bring Polish people into our path right here in East Tennessee. Three months later He answered that prayer in a dramatic way, and brought nineteen Polish college students here on a work program into our lives. We asked God to show us how we could just make the love of Christ plain and simple to them. We had them over for dinner and asked them to bring their laundry. Then I was able to have them work with me in my very small flooring business. They were here on a three month work visa, and they had work at local businesses, so I took a different Pole with me each day. I worked with Matthew, Mark, John, Andrew, Simon, Paul, Jacob, Matchek, and Yatsek. They were moving from one apartment to another and needed a place to stay for three days, and that corresponded exactly to the time Christina was in the hospital, so we had eight Polish students in our house camping out. It was a great adventure. They came to the hospital and brought gifts for Clay when he was born. We also asked God that he would put them in contact with other Christians, and four other Christian business owners hired them part-time, during their stay.
We asked God for landmarks on our path, and he gave us ones we couldn’t miss.
He has done this kind of thing over and over.
We believe that Poland is God’s destination for us. Over and over, through prayer, scripture, circumstances, and people, God has confirmed that church-planting in Poland is His plan for us at this time. It’s both exciting and daunting to anticipate what is ahead. We’re planning on moving this fall. Please pray for us as we prepare to make this transition.