Aggy left her problems behind her, and with her infant son and partner, packed her bags and turned her back on Poland.

Despite her economics degree from Poland’s top Krakow University, she agreed to menial work in a UK town and bumbled along with broken English. It wasn’t long before other Poles told them about Bridges English classes in a local church. An exhausted mother, with no family living locally to help, the crèche meant she could relax knowing that her little boy was safe. Funds were tight, but she could stretch to the £1 per hour fee. She started to find that she loved the diversity at Bridges, and felt a strange sense of belonging.
Then a new fear loomed over her life – she began experiencing severe complications in pregnancy. Yet through this time Aggy discovered the support of her Christian teachers who showed great concern, even accompanying her to hospital appointments.

Her second child arrived yet she felt spiritually restless. She engaged in one-to-one Bible study but was doubtful that it could be relevant to her life. How could the God she’d glimpsed through her childhood ever care for her?

Aggy started to volunteer as a bookkeeper for a Christian businessman. He identified her keen eye for detail and mathematical skills and took her on permanently. She was overwhelmed. She continued to explore spiritual things at a deeper level, talking to people at work, home and at Bridges. Then she discovered a small, informal Polish Bible study group. Aggy, Marek and her two children started going regularly. Over the past year they have encountered the Lord Jesus Christ and have put their full trust in him for their salvation. Their lives are changing as God is working in them individually and as a family.

Half way through this story, when Aggy knew that she was not yet right with God, I asked her what she would like her life to look like in five year’s time. Her answer

“I would love to be in a little house with a garden. I would love to have a permanent job. I would like to be able to stand up in public and speak English confidently and I would love for God to be in our lives as a family.”

Sometimes I wonder where Aggy would be if she had not enrolled at Bridges. She now has a permanent job which she loves and is gaining confidence daily in English. The time and care which local church members gave were the first step in her story as she struggled in a new country, but best of all – the first step to encountering the Lord Jesus Christ in a new and living way. He is increasingly becoming the centre of their lives together as a family.