One of the words that would have to be used to describe the Proclaim! International tour in Poland and Ukraine in July of 2010 would have to be "perserverance".  Every tour has it's challenges, but this one seemed to require more than the normal share of "stick-to-itiveness".  I know that's not a word, I just didn't want to use "perserverance" twice in one paragraph.  Oops, guess I did it anyways. (You can click on the photos to see a larger version).

Marjorie and I had participated in the Ukraine advance trip, talking to interested partners about how we could help them with their current outreach plans and visions given the tools and resources in the creative arts and music that we have built up.  Although there was some interest, things just didn't seem to quite come together, and we were left a little unsure if there was really a need for us to come to Ukraine.

Normally two trips are made before we send in a team; the advance trip to talk with the various partners and discern what it is God wants us to do together, and the training trip where all the details of what needs to happen for a successful project are worked out.  In this case, Marjorie and I were not able to go on the second trip which really ended up being another advance trip, as another potential partner in Poland was contacted, Doug, a church planter who had been in Poland since 1985 and who had been working in one area for the last nine years.  They were planning a number of activities over the same time period, all under the umbrella of an effort that they had called "realna nadzieja" or "Real Hope".

So the result was a tour that crossed two countries, Poland and Ukraine.  The band that was chosen for this project was The Outlanders, a five piece rock/pop group.  Russ

was asked to be the Program Manager, the person who is responsible for the various aspects of the progam, as well as to play keys, guitar and sing backing vocals, and Marjorie was asked to be the Visuals Director, in charge of both lighting and video with live cameras and motion graphics.

We were really happy that Martin Bartlett, a good friend of ours who is an englishman living in France,was able to come along on this tour to play bass.  Martin has done many projects with us, but this was the first time he had participated in a tour organized by Proclaim.  We were also excited that Andrew Janssen (in the picture on the right), a volunteer who has been working with us in France for the last six months or so, was able to participate in this tour which would be his first.

Perserverance was required right from day one, because the start of the tour for the four of us (Russ, Marjorie, Martin and Andrew) involved driving from our home in France through Germany to Rabka in the south of Poland, a trip of several thousand kilometers that took three days.  We practised for two days in Poland, which for the musicians went relatively well, since three of the five members (Chris, Dominic and myself) had played the material for several tours already and knew it quite well.  Marjorie had a bit more of a challenge as she had a team of eager, but inexperienced people who needed training in their respective positions in lighting, switching, and video.

Our first concert was not promising.  The weather forecast called for showers leading to thunderstorms, and throughout the evening we were always on the verge of shutting everything down as the clouds and light rain came and went which is always a little stressful.  Fortunately we were under a large band shell on a stage in the middle of the town, but the weather was not conducive to people coming and sitting in the open-air theater, and we ended up with an audience of only about 50.  Just as we finished the concert, the clouds rolled in and the rains came down and "encouraged" a quick tear down to protect the equipment.  In spite of this, we had good conversations with people after the concert, several of whom were so entranced by what they saw and heard that they stayed the whole time, even with the less than ideal conditions.

This concert was the first of six in a row, and the perserverance theme continued as every day involved a very late night from the concert, talking to people and packing about two tons of equipment into vans, then getting up, rolling to the next location and doing it all over again.  The group of people that we had on this team were exceptional in the way they all worked well together in spite of the stresses and challenges and the fact that this was the first such experience for many.

For some reason there were constantly obstacles in our path, and it was not unusual for us to start traveling somewhere, find the road blocked off for construction (with no signs of course), head off on a detour, find that one blocked as well, and finally arrive at our destination after traveling many extra kilometers on poor roads we didn't intend on visiting.  This may have been a form of spiritual opposition to what we were trying to do.

Doug, the local church planter, was extremely busy as they also had a youth group from Ireland over doing a work project, AND a one-week english camp happening at the same time as our concerts.  On the other hand, he was really excited about the impact that he saw from these various events, and said several times that he thought we were going to see the results of many long years of plowing the soil in this city.

There were several times during the tour where we had a bit of trouble figuring out what was happening or where things were going.  One example was a concert in a sports complex in the town of Raba Wyzna.  The mayor had enthusiastically agreed to a concert, which was good although a little surprising given she hadn't heard of the group before, and supplied a very nice mobile stage that the city transported and set up for us.  However, just as we finished our sound check, we were taken aback to see another group show up with their instruments wanting to play on the stage, followed by an acappela folk choir, and a marching band (yup, with tubas and everything) doing show tunes.  We felt like we were caught up in some sort of Polish Family Folk Festival and I think you can see it on our faces in the photo at left.

We experienced many "minor" miracles; the holding back of the rain until the first concert was over was only the first of many.  Another was that we really wanted to do a concert at a café-bar located along the river where the "alternate" crowd tended to gather in the evenings.  It was a rougher crowd that met here, but as we told ourselves "the best place to go fishing is where the fish are!".  The problem was that the area was not too clean (no surprise), and had no stage or natural setting where we could put the equipment.  We went back to the major of Raba Wyzna and asked if there was any possibility we could use the city's mobile stage again and she said "Sure!  Where and when should we set it up?"  So we were able to have a great concert by the river with a stage, sound, lights and video, in one of the rougher parts of the city, and stayed afterwards and had some great contacts with the people there, although we did have to be a bit careful since many of them were drinking heavily.

Marjorie talked to a group of people sitting around a table, and helped one of them make a decision.  Here's what she wrote about it:

Down by the River

Rabka, Poland

Down by the river, where we were told most people don't like to go, was a shanty bar with men and women scattered around drinking beer in the hot sun. There we set up for our concert with blurry-eyed onlookers watching the unfolding curiosity.

After 3 hours of set-up and another 1 hour and half of the concert, the climax came where all the team had a chance to visit with the people and share their life story and why Outlanders had come to their city. I looked around for someone to talk with and then  I saw Margaret's group. They didn't really look like the others at the river.   Margaret and her 6 friends seemed to go down to the river because it was comfortably away from the average pace of life.  Perhaps a little more raw than the other bars they frequented. I walked toward their group, sat down at the edge and began asking questions. Does anyone here speak english?  Just a little.   Do you live here?  Some said yes, Margaret said no.  After a few awkward smiles, and some curious looks at each other than at me, someone asked… where do you live?  I'm from Canada but I live in Paris.  Two of the group smiled then left to get another drink from the little run down bar.

Suddenly, a fellow from across the way, who had obviously been drinking all night, came over to me and tried to strike up a romantic conversation.  Perfect timing as it gave me the opportunity to scoot over in the seat vacated by Margaret's friends. I was now right in the middle of the group, who were all laughing sympathetically at me as the drunk guy gave up and left muttering to himself. Margaret began talking and as she was asking different questions, I immediately noticed a warmth and openness in her. I moved again and sat right beside her.  And there began a conversation that quickly turned toward the reality of living in Poland, then to where purpose could be found and then ultimately toward Jesus Christ and hope for eternity. She was ready and open as I shared my testimony and other stories. I asked her if she wanted this same hope that had led me to a new life. She said yes and she accepted Christ as her personal Saviour. We talked more, making it clear what it meant to be a child of God. After awhile it was time that I left  the group to help finish packing up as it was after midnight. She indicated that she would see me again at the next concert in a different part of the city.  I said good bye to the group who I found out then had been listening to our conversation and walked away with the joy of knowing that they all had heard the way to accepting Jesus Christ personally for themselves.

Down by the river, where most people don't like to go, Margaret met Jesus and I gained a new friend. I may not see her again in this life time but I will pray for her and hold her in my heart each time I remember Poland and a little town called Rabka where a new river of life and hope runs through the heart of the city.

Our last concert in Poland was at the same stage where we had almost been rained out, but this time the weater was hot and dry. It was also the evening of the Soccer World Cup final game, and in the publicity we announced that directly after the concert we would be showing the game on the large video screen with our sound system.  Consequently we had quite a large crowd, probably 500-600 attending the event, and in the sharing from the stage Chris McDonald, the band leader, was quite direct sharing his testimony and inviting those who wanted to change the direction of their lives to one that contained Real Hope, to talk with us afterwards.

After six straight days of doing concerts, we had a couple of rest days and then traveled to Radom, about 200 kilometers north east of L'Viv for a concert that was sponsored by several of the evangelical churches in the city.  All of these churches were relatively small and didn't feel they had the resources to do the event by themselves, and it was great to see them working together.

The concert was in a hall with a relatively small stage, and the temperature during the day while we set up reached about 40 degrees Celsius.  Unfortunately, the hall was not equipped with air conditioning, and when filled with people and with all 16,000 watts of concert lights going it was very very hot.  Most people stayed anyway, but a number started milling about outside and in the entrance.  Some who stayed looked very worn out and I started wondering how many were actually church people.

After the concert, I walked down to the entrance where everyone seemed to be miling around.  I said hello and started talking to a man who looked interested, but he didn't speak english.  I found a translator and discovered he was one of the pastors.  I explained that we were trying to talk to non-church people, and the translator said we should make an announcement from the microphone that all the non-church people should gather at the back of the room so we could talk to them.  I thanked her for her suggestion and excused myself to look for someone else.

 

I saw Kasha (the girl who had met us when we arrived) talking to a woman and three other girls and walked over and said hello.  The woman said she had really enjoyed the concert.  I asked her what she thought of what had been said between the songs and she said she thought it was good and it sounded a bit like things her daughter had said to her.

So I started talking with her daughter who said she believed in God and thought she had a relationship with God but seemed hesitant.  I said there was a question I could ask that would immediately reveal what her relationship with God was like, although it wasn't a very nice question.  I asked her if something happened to her tonight and she died in an accident or something was she sure that she would go to heaven.  She said she wasn't sure.  I said that I was now sure not because of what I had done, but because of what God had done, and asked if I could share how that had come about.  They all said yes, and I shared my testimony, emphasizing how even though I went to church I still didn't have a relationship with God until I accepted Jesus' forgiveness, invited him into my life and decided to live for him.

They all said it was a nice story, but the oldest daughter (Kinga) wanted to get some autographs from the band members so she left and I talked to the Mother for a while.  She was interested, but was hesitant and said she was interested in a relationship with God but didn't trust the church.  She was open to a point, but whenever we got to what she would personally have to do she didn't want to talk about that.

The daughter came back and the Mother left to take a call on her cell phone.  I continued talking with her and asked her if what we had been talking about was interesting to her and she said Yes.  I asked if she wanted to start a relationship with God and she said maybe, but she already believed in God.  I said that wasn't enough and said it was kind of like if I offered her a 5000 zloty note for free and she said thank you for the gift but never took it, and that this is what God is doing, offering the free gift of salvation, but she is not taking it.  When I asked her again if she'd like to take that step she said Yes.

With Kasha, we went downstairs where it was quieter.  I said I didn't want her to do anything she didn't want to do or feel free pressured and did she really want to make the decision to accept Jesus into her life and live for him.  She said Yes.  So I led in the sinner's prayer one sentence at a time with Kasha translating.  Just as we finished, her Mother showed up and asked why we were here.   I said that her daughter had made a decision and asked her to tell her Mother what had just happened.  She said "I think I just accepted Jesus into my life and decided to live for him 100%".  And I said Yes I think so too.  I asked her Mother what she thought of this, and she said "Well is she going to be a nun now or something?" I said no, but there will be changes in her daughter's life and that she is now on her way to living the abundant life described in John 10:10.  I asked Kasha to share her testimony with the daughter and mother as well which she did.

Afterwards I said that the Bible says that all who have received God as their saviour are described as being part of God's family so these two (translator and daughter) were now sisters.  They exchanged phone numbers and the translator invited her to a youth meeting happening in the near future.

The day after this concert we were to travel to L'viv in Ukraine.  The distance between Radom and L'Viv is really only about 330 kms, but we had budgeted the entire day to do the trip.  Partly because the roads were so bad that our average speed was probably only going to be around 50 or 60 km/h, but also because the border crossing between Poland and Ukraine was rather notorious.  Poland is one of the newest members of the EU, and so this border represents the entry into the EU block, which means that controls are very strict.  We had heard estimates of between 2 hours and 5 hours required.  Because of this border crossing we were also required to obtain a "carnet" which is an official document listing the equipment we were taking into the country.  This carnet is obtained in the origin country (Germany in our case), and is proof that what is being brought in is also being brought out.  Normally a brief inspection and some checks are done and the papers get signed, and you are on your way.  It can take an hour or two, but is usually quite painless.

Not this time.

When we first approached the Ukraine border we had the impression things were moving not too badly.  It took us about 40 minutes to wind our way through to the front of the line and the first person we met was a (relatively) friendly woman who spoke some english.  The Ukrainian group had obtained a special letter from the mayor of their city indicating that we were performing for a "cultural" event and were to be given priority, and this did actually make a difference with the first lady who did her part (checking our passports) with, in hindsight, breathtaking efficiency.  After this we were handed off to the customs people to check the carnet and do whatever inspection was required.

This is about where things broke down.

After going through several bureacratic hurdles, and obtaining several official stamps and signatures, activity seemed to slow down.  We had now been at the border about two hours and we thought we were near the end.  How wrong we were.

It turns out that we had managed to be processed at the time when the border guards and officials do a shift change.  In Ukraine this means that all processing needs to be stopped; anyone in-progress has their application cancelled and needs to start over.  Also, when the new shift comes online, they do a briefing with the people coming off.  The whole thing takes just over an hour.  An hour while we wait in 35 degree heat in vans with no air conditioning, and little extra food or drink.

When things started again, we were assigned new people and started with the carnet again.  At first there was some suspicion about who we were and what we were doing, but a short telephone conversation with one of the Ukrainian pastors seemed to calm everyone.

Ukraine has only recently signed on for the carnet system, and I think they are still figuring it out.  At first they said we needed to take each piece of equipment out of the van, open up the case, take a picture of it, record it on a piece of paper and then proceed.  We protested, but they insisted, so we dutifully opened up the back of the equipment van and their eyes got rather large when they saw how much was in there.  Thankfully, after going through five pieces of equipment which we could show were on the carnet form, they gave up that strategy.

The young official who was assigned our case didn't seem to really know what to do and one of the first blockages was the language on our forms, which was english.  It didn't help to point out the sentence at the bottom of the carnet form that stated in bold letters that German and English were the only two acceptable languages for this carnet.  Unfortunately his superior told him otherwise.

After much consultation with his colleagues (there were up to twenty people huddling together discussing animatedly what needed to be done), and many phone calls to various people, he ended up re-typing our entire equipment list into their computer, translating into Ukrainian when necessary.

Unfortunately, he was not allowed to group items, so where we would type "18 2 meter long XLR cables", he would put "2 meter XLR cable" on eighteen separate entries.

Even more unfortunately, he was a "hunt and peck" typist.  It's difficult to express how frustrating it is to watch someone re-type information that they already have in the correct format (the carnet system does not allow for translation to Cyrillic) one finger at a time while you sit in a hot van for hours at a time with little drink and no food.

As the evening wore on and it got darker and cooler, we were told to move our vans to the semi-trailer waiting area, which was unlit and unfortunately not quiet, since the semi drivers either kept their engines running the whole time or started them up periodically, probably to get more air conditioning.

By about 2am the official came over and told us he was "almost finished" and one van could leave.  We were hesitant about splitting up in a strange country in the middle of the night, decided to stay together and we finally rolled out of that border crossing around 3:30am, and after another 1.5 hours of some really bad roads, we arrived at our lodging around 5am just as it was beginning to get light.  When you know that the day ahead of you is going to be long and difficult, seeing the sun rise as you go to bed does not really give you a good feeling.

The next two concerts were in L'Viv, and again we found we had some trouble following what was happening, as there would suddenly be people showing up to do raffles or dance numbers on stage before we went on that we had not been informed about.

The last concert made us think back to the beginning of the tour, as clouds rolled in and made us wonder if we would be able to finish. Two times we covered all the equipment in plastic and waited out some fairly heavy rain, but in the end God was gracious, the sky cleared, and we were able to finish.  Perserverance.

This last concert was in a large town square, and we probably had around 800 - 1000 people or more in attendance.  The audience was very appreciative with lots of cheering and screaming at the end of and during the songs that we did.  The police were in attendance for crowd control and barriers had been put up, which ended up being not a bad idea as many pressed forward for autographs when the concert was over.

Besides being enthusiastic for the music, there was also a spiritual hunger demonstrated that evening, and several people made decisions to follow Christ that night, often in groups of 5 or more at a time.

In fact, nearly everyone on the team had the privilege of leading someone to make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour during this tour, which was very exciting and encouraging.  We are used to sowing seeds and letting others watch them grow, so it was great to do some harvesting as well.

Coming back through the Ukraine border God smiled upon us again and we found that the same young official who had spent his whole shift doing the paperwork for us was again on duty.  Of course he remembered us, and we gave him a CD and some publicity for the concert, and he in turn not only waved us through after immediately signing our carnet, but radioed ahead to the other border guards which resulted in us getting VIP treatment right into Poland and on the road home.

The ride back vas very long, but gave us many hours to think and reflect on what God had done, and to pray for the many people whose lives had been touched, and those who had made new decisions to give their lives to Jesus Christ.

With grateful hearts,

Russ and Marjorie

Here's some more pictures from the tour: