17/8 Day 27: Berlin – Poland

I blogged and emailed till late last night and had 3 hours of sleep before I had to get ready to leave. Wolfgang and Oriana made a beautiful breakfast and Oriana found a stone for the collection before they took me to the station. I was honoured that both of them came with me to the platform and they waited to wave me goodbye when the train departed.

By comparison to the rain of yesterday it was a beautiful bright day, and everything seemed so happy and green. I made an uneventful change-over in Berlin and then I settled into the compartment that became my little cocoon for the next 12 hours.

The only other person in the compartment was a Mr Tupper from Sussex in England. He is a retired tax collector with a great passion for trains and he was on day 2 of a 5 day tour of European trains. We had the most interesting conversation the whole time until he left the train somewhere before one. What really amazed me about him was the diligence with which he noted down all the serial numbers of the locomotives we passed along the way. He could tell me the pedigree of each one. If he could he took pictures. He said he has more than 80000 pictures of trains at home, collected throughout his life. Stories from his professional history as tax collector included how he had been on the hit-list of the IRA as well as the Italian Mafia because of the efficiency he brought to the tax-collecting systems in their areas… I really enjoyed our conversations and the morning flew. It was he who brought to my attention the fact that Auswitch is close to Krakow.

When he got off the train I keeled over and had a beautiful nap. I woke up to an announcement in polish about what sounded like five minutes. The train was standing in a station and I realised this must be my opportunity to do the shofar thing and tell the gospel to the earth of Poland. It wasn’t hard to find a quiet place at the end of the platform and when I told the gospel I felt that Poland is groaning as under great pressure. It felt as if the layers of curses were becoming deeper as I was travelling deeper into the continent – almost like the icecap on Greenland. But I felt a confirmation that also Poland is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed, and I took a stone.

I spent the rest of the afternoon peacefully listening to teachings or music and working on my embroidery and taking some more naps. The Polish country side is so beautifully green and lush. Again the track passed through many harvested fields under spectacular clouds.

The train was an hour late and it was almost 9pm when I finally arrived in Krakow. Jola, Ewa’s friend whom I had met in Jerusalem in 2004 waited for me at the station. It was great to see her again. She took me to the famous square in Krakow for dinner and I was impressed to see the renovations visible since I had been here last in 1991. In beauty this square surpasses many of the great tourist places of western Europe.

After dinner we came to her home and I am about to go and fall on that little sleeper couch over there. Tomorrow I’ll visit Oriana’s polish friend’s family and join them for breakfast at 8am. My train to Budapest only leaves at 12:10 so I hope to find out where the Lord wants me to read Revelations before then.