Trzemek

Saturday and Sunday  this week were pretty great.  We had a fun little
get together on Saturday night put together by the Reed’s and it was
super fun!  It just felt like I was back at home at a ward party and I
just loved it so, so, so much!  The power of the love of Christ was
evident in that room where everyone came together and just had a good
clean time.  Our investigator, Ewa Musiał said she had more fun than
she’s had in a long time.  I’m just grateful that people know we are
spiritual and can have fun too!  We don’t have to be nuns to do God’s
will.  I also loved Sunday because we had several people at Sacrament
Meeting, I got to meet Sister Leppannen, and Marlena’s lesson in
Relief Society went well.  I was also able to prepare the Young
Women’s lesson for Natali and that was just super fun because to my
surprise it turned out fine!

The Principle I learned was this:  It’s great to be alive, you know?
Right now is the time of our lives, it’s a great time to be breathing,
laughing, crying, highs and lows, it’s just all so good.  I’m grateful
for the perspective we have on life and that we really did want these
hard experiences and these really, really GREAT experiences too!  It's
like Pinoccio (spelling?) how he wanted to be a real boy, with a body
and feelings.  We wanted that too!  And we're getting it, so don't
complain about the hard things, at least you can FEEL, it's better
than where you were before.  The principle, I guess you could say, is
the great Plan of Salvation.  We know where we came from, and where
we’re going, and that makes it all worth it.

My companion and I are doing great.  Really.  I know Sister Folsom
cares about me and that she wants the best for me.  From her this week
I’m learning how to be bold with love.  It’s just been a good-hard
week!

The thing I really wanted to talk about today was the few people I've
met here that remind me of my sister Rachel.  The first was a Down
Syndrome older lady on a bus, I can't remember if I told this story,
so sorry if I have...BUT... There was this lady and she kept looking
at me.  So I moved up a seat to sit behind her and tried talking to
her in my broken Polish.  It was just so fun because I couldn't
understand her really...and she couldn't understand me...but it was
like I knew we were already friends, and she knew it too.

Then the second person is a Down Syndrome man who sits with probably
his mother at this tramwaj stop which we pass in the morning on our
runs.  The first time we ran past him, he just waved really big and it
was fun.  The next time he ran with us for a ways and was shouting
things at us in Polish and that was sweet too.  The next time he just
waived and we said 'Dzien Dobry, Dzien Dobry!!!"  Aw man, I love that
guy and I look for him every morning.  I haven't seen him in a few
weeks and I miss him.

Then there's Trzemek.  He's not Down Syndrome... but definitely
missing a few cards.  He was hitting on this cute Polish girl when I
got on the bus... then he saw me hand an English flier to this lady
and her son so he went over to ask her what it was.  Then he tickled
her son... they were really nice to him.  Then he came to sit by ME!
I gave him a flier, and the lady just grinned at me like she knew what
would happen next.  He must be a Poznań local that a lot of people
know... maybe...?  Haha well he sits next to me...we have a
conversation and I tell him I'm learning Polish...he tries to hold my
hand...I say no thank you. HA!  This guy was pretty much my favorite
part of the day.  Then he gave me a hug...and I didn't hug back.  Then
he went and got Sister Folsom from the other side of the bus to come
sit by us and he stood up so she could sit down.  Then he told her
that I didn't hug back.  We practiced counting, he only got to like 20
then we were BOTH stumped :).  We also covered colors for a while and
I knew how to say brown but let him think about it for a while before
saying it...  Then Trzemek followed us off the bus and a ways and kept
shaking hands and wanting us to come with him and he wanted to wear
Sister Folsom's coat so she let him!  Oh man, then Sister Folsom took
a picture and he wanted to like put his arm around me for the picture,
oh no! :) So here's the pciture we took.  But we should DEFINITELY
hook up him and RACHEL in the next life, I'm down. :)

Every soul is great in the sight of God!  And you should all read the
talk called "His Grace is Sufficient" in the New Era that you sent me.
It's so great, it says, "Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in
once our fuel supply is exhausted.  Rather it is our constant energy
source.  It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light
that moves us through the tunnel.  Grace is not achieved somewhere
down the road.  It is recieved right here and right now."  Look for
God's help, he'll give it to you!  God is so powerful yet so merciful.
We should be grateful every day for the Atonement of our Savior.
He's the only way to be with the ones you love forever, you know?  And
I just wish more people would listen.  These people are so beautiful
and they NEED the gospel.  I just wish they would search for truth,
honest seekers of truth, that's all we need!  Man.  The work is going
forward, one step at a time.
I love you all SO much!
-Sister Amber Allen

Grapefruit Babka

Well, you see, this week was plum-full of miracles!!!  It seemed like just one after another kept happening and it wasn’t because of anything I did or anything my companion did, I think, rather it was just God blessing us, SO MUCH!  The first little miracle happened last Monday night.  We had already done some tracting but we had 20 minutes left and could have either walked home or found a new building and done maybe one more klatka…well we decided to do that one last klatka and the very last door in that row of apartments let us in!  He was a young guy who plays the guitar and he was just super nice.  At the beginning of the lesson he said he didn’t like to read the scriptures, and by the end of the meeting he was asking us where he could buy a Book of Mormon!  It was so great!  And the best part was when I was able to recite the Joseph Smith quote about the first vision.  I looked right in Bartek’s eyes and I said it and I didn’t mess up and there was this quiet that came into the room, it was tangible and so real and so… exhilarating!   After the lesson I just wanted to jump up and down because it was so…exciting!  I know he felt the Spirit, as did I, so strongly, and if I just felt like that all day, it’d be so much easier to talk to everyone! 

Another miracle we experienced was when we couldn’t get a hold of this mother, Kamila.  She was so amazing when we met her last week and it was so awesome that she said she’d let us come back, but she didn’t come to Church on Sunday like she said she would and I was pretty sad, to be honest.  Then we came to her house once, knocked, and the door didn’t open, but we were pretty sure she wasn’t home.  A second time we came and knocked, this time we were pretty sure she was home, but just didn’t answer the door.  Sister Folsom said something like, ‘maybe someone is watching the baby and it’s not really her…we’ll give it one more try.’  So we decided to tract the rest of her building and on the first floor we were knocking on a door and in walks Kamila!  Oh man, I was SO excited!  There she was, and it was perfect timing.  We had planned our day in a really weird way that morning, I remember, but it was all supposed to happen that way!  Anyways, super cool…along with other things that happened this week, it was just stellar!

The third one was just super fun.  We were tracting in this building over by our place and an old woman let us in.  I was a bit worried, because you know, the old women usually end up being these cute ladies who want you to come over for tea and cake and you are here to bring people to Christ and get the church rolling and…well…tea and cake doesn’t exactly cut it…  Anyways, we came in and she had us sit down and she started telling us about herself.  Wanda is a super cute and bubbly old lady who is also a holocaust survivor.  This woman rolled up her sleeve and showed us the number tattooed on her arm!  It was crazy.  She was so SO sweet and had a great sense of humor…and then her son came home!  Haha… His name is Jurek and he’s about six foot something and has bright red hair and he probably weighs one and a half of what dad weighs…haha he’s a big man!  And he’s just a goof ball and sort of chuckles like Santa when his mom goes off on a tangent.  So you’ve got these two pictured up in your minds, right?  Well, they’re just some of my favorite people now, they let us share a first, Jurek wants to read the book of mormon and come to English – he’s like 40 years old or so…and he’s got potential, I think.  But we didn’t even know he’d show up!  So that was just awesome.  Then right before we leave, Wanda wants us to meet her neighbors and take some of her food home and feed us dinner and…and…and…haha she’s so sweet.  So she bends over to get us a zuccini to take home and takes it out of the sack and it’s like the size of my forearm…and then she’s like, aw…how about you take a BIGGER ONE and pulls one out the size of my LEG…!!!! Haha and she gave us apples too.  And there’s Jurek just chuckling in the back ground.  We just laughed a lot and I’m excited to go back and see them sometime. 

 

Another experience I loved was last week when we were tracting and doing my favorite thing – SINGING in the KLOTKAs.  Your voice just bounces off those walls in the hallways and it’s great acoustics and Sister Folsom sings Soprano and I sing Alto and it’s basically a blast, like seriously…AND more people open their doors for you too!  So we were singing, and this one lady comes up the hallway with her groceries and tells us we sing beautifully, she’s not interested, but we can come in if we want…GREAT!  So we come in and gave a first, not before we got to sing for her though!  We sang ‘Abide With Me’ and it was so great and the woman even got out her little recorder and had us RECORD it for her husband so he could listen to it when he gets home! J So fun…but the spirit was there.  She’ll remember that song forever.  It was just cool.

Aaah!  So many experiences I want to share… like a girl came to English who’s actually from the Ukraine and has been living in Poland same amount of time I have, but wants to learn English too!  Amazing girl.. Anyways we saw her in the PARK yesterday with her BROTHER and we sat and chatted, turns out her brother’s been in Poland same amount of time as Sister Folsom.  It was so surreal and like meant to be I just had this overwhelming feeling of love for them – again!  Like I’ve gotten this feeling for several people we meet, but it just sorta shocks me sometimes how much I feel like I knew them before.  And that’s what brings me so much joy out here, I’m not searching for strangers, seriously I’m searching for friends.  And I love it, SO MUCH! 

Some silly thing: we…and by ‘we’ I mean, ‘Sister Folsom’…have been making babka’s – it’s a cake, but it’s like lighter than cake sometimes…and…yeah, just a Polish cake… and Sister Folsom put GRAPEFRUIT in one…yuck…haha but the texture was so good and it was so yummy we ate the whole thing…just the after-taste was bad, ha.  Also we taught a lesson to a hippy this week and we think he pulled out some weed while we talked to him.  Oh and we made our own pickles…yeah…and they only take like three days and you don’t put vinegar in them and they’re good and we make pickle sandwiches, sometime I’ll send you a picture – they’re delicious! … What else… oh millions of other things but…

One other thing, I read the introduction page to the King James Bible this morning – you should read it, it’s pretty sweet, especially when looking at it from a missionary perspective – is the PERSECUTION.  Man, sometimes people really rip into us and tell us we’re wasting our lives.  Then we see these young people in horribly immodest clothing smoking and drinking and we think, we’re wasting our lives?  It’s so interesting to me how many people are so rude to us.  They laugh in our faces.  There was one couple who were telling us how we should be traveling the world or doing something fun with our lives because soon enough we’ll be stuck like they are, and they pointed to their two cute kids who were sleeping, one in the stroller and one in her mom’s arms.  We were thinking, are you KIDDING?  That’s where we WANT to get, we’re preparing and hoping for that!  And they were literally laughing out loud at us and talking really loud too, almost shouting.  It was uncomfortable and so sad, really.  Sister Folsom said it reminded her of the Great and Spacious building type of mocking, and truly it was.  I couldn’t believe they were so loud around their sleeping kids too, most people just tell us to ‘shhh’ the baby’s sleeping, go away… anyways… people…

You know it’s really hard not to compare...  Sister Ostler and her companion just got the standard of excellence three weeks in a row, the fourth time this transfer…and I’m just like WHA!  I want to be that good!  And I’m sure Sister Ostler’s language skills are like twice as good as mine, they were in the MTC.  One thing is she’s just so confident, and I am not!  I just need to be more confident, sheesh…but where do I start?!

The principle I’m really trying these days is that I need to really believe in myself, we are doing an alright job and even if I have a SUPER LIMITED VOCABULARY, things are going to be alright!  I can simply testify of Joseph Smith, and God’s Spirit will do the rest of the teaching, it’s so simple, but you’ve got to work so hard to get that Spirit to be with you like that.

My companion and I are doing so good.  I think we’ve laughed more this week and smiled more this week than ever.  Sister Folsom is such a good example and I’m so SO grateful for her language skills.  This week is transfer week and we got called last night and….I get to stay in POZNAń!!!   I also get to stay with Sister Folsom for her last transfer!!!   I’m super excited to get to stay with her in Poznań and really do our best for her last transfer.  I’m not sure how to act about her going home, if I should talk about it or not, I asked her and she said she’s just not going to worry about it, so I won’t talk about it too much I guess.  I don’t want to think about going home so that suits me fine. 

Anyways, I love you all SO, SO, SO much.  And I pray for you every day. I know that the scriptures are what ties everything together.  We can know God exists by reading from their pages!  We can know Joseph Smith is a prophet by reading their pages.  Ewa (said ‘Eh’ ‘Vuh’) read the WHOLE Liahona and wants to know when the next General Conference is!  I’m so excited to watch it with her!  This church really is true.  The Spirit is real.  And I know I’m supposed to be on this mission in Poland, and especially in Poznań right now, God needs me here, even if it is to keep me believing.  He knows what I need when I need it and even though things are sometimes hard, and my faith sometimes get the wind knocked out of it…I stand back up and try again and God helps me out.  I’m grateful for our Savior, and I need to learn more about his Atonement.  Well, remember I love you!

- Sister Amber Allen

When Your Pride Gets Punched in the Face

Well, I’d like to start out my letter today by teaching y’all some Polish!  When you say “no” and shake your head up and down, it means “sure!”…actually you don’t even have to nod your head, ‘no’ just means ‘yes’ here! And how about, “Indyk” means turkey… Maybe Nella would like to know the word for dog, “Pies” – which you say like P.S…yeah.

      Nella my girl, how are you?  I hope that you heal quick and I’ll be praying for you.  You’re like the bravest person I know.  People here in Poland yell at me and make mean faces at me, but they don’t bite!!! Haha, that’s crazy that you got bit by a dog!!!  Love you!

      It's Brittnie's birthday this week right?  Happy Birthday my lovely California Cousin :)  Love you!

      Speaking of people yelling at us, sometimes I'd rather them yell at us than pull what they call a "Flake" on the mish.  So this one lady, we met her on Friday night, and she said we could come to her house on Sunday and have a lesson.  Well we get to her apartment and ring the doorbell, (and I've been flaked already so many times that I told Sister Folsom to stand to the side of the door so she couldn't look through the peep hole and see us) and we see the light in the peep hole go out - aka, someone is looking through... but they didn't answer the door.  So she was in her house, and she's not answering the door... alright so then we decided to call the woman on her cell phone!  We could HEAR it ringing in her house!  But she didn't pick up... AWKWARD!  Pride punch number one.  You think that you've got something and then you don't... well woops, guess it wasn't meant to be!  That really is something that has been hard for me to wrap my mind around here.  People say they'll do something and they don't.  In fact I think maybe 3 out of every 50 people who say they'll do something ACTUALLY do it.  So if you make a promise, and that includes a promise to God - which is what you do when you are baptized and go through the temple - you better follow through.  That includes me, too though, and I have to repent every day for not being who I should be, I can always do better.

       Some of you know how I get when I'm wake-boarding.  The attitude I have when I'm wake-boarding goes something like this... I get a little freaked out, I feel really stupid, I probably turn red, and I mostly don't want to do it, because I've never succeeded at it, I'm no good, and trying again feels useless.  I also don't want my pride to get hurt, so I hold on to it really tight.  And even if I get up for like 30 seconds, and my family cheers for me, I end up feeling dumb that I felt dumb and it just kinda goes in this ugly circle...haha...Yeah... well I hadn't realized it, but that really is the problem with me, it's PRIDE.  It was the problem with the Lamanites too.  And I've felt it here on my mission - that same yucky feeling where you just feel dumb and useless and... BUT that's SATAN!  You're not supposed to get discouraged.  And you are supposed to let your pride get punched in the face.  Just put your pride out there and let it get PUMMLED.  Seriously, you've got to let God do His pruning.  It certainly doesn't feel good.  But I know that if I let my pride get punched in the face, things will all work out for the best and I'll be a better person.  If I'm humbled and I look at things from God's perspective - where he's just pleased I'm trying! - and work harder the next time, that's when things are going to look up.  Otherwise I'll just be in this ugly pride cycle.  Indeed, as Mother Teresa said, "We have not been called to be successful but to be faithful."  - You do your best, your VERY best, and the Lord fills in the rest.

       This week we had a wonderful lesson with Ewa, and her sister Dorota was there and actually listened too!  I LOVE THEM!  Dorota says that you have to sing when you cook for the food to turn out right.  Ewa says you have to talk lovingly to your plants for them to grow! :) and Dorota says it doesn't matter how old you are, it only matters how old you feel, so always feel a lot younger and you'll be fine!  She's so cute, I love Dorota too.  They keep calling us their daughters and oh man oh man if I could just get them baptized they'd make the BEST Relief Society Presidency EVER.  Yeah, so Ewa finally agreed to praying to know if the church was true!  Which is a HUGE step for her, and I'm SO excited.  She's been reading the Ensign and LOVING it, and I'm so grateful we have that General Conference Ensign in POLISH to give her!  Keep reading those talks and preparing for the next general conference with good questions and prayers in your hearts.  I know you'll find answers when you go about it prayerfully!

       One of my favorite things is showing a picture of my family to people.  I need to take a different one around, though, because the one I have been showing people is of us in our Blue Cobandeh T-shirts where Rachel looks like a boy.  Then I have to explain that she cut her own hair and blah-blah-blah...haha but yeah, I need to bust out a different picture.  And LAMINATE IT!  But everyone is SO impressed that I have such a HUGE family.  People here, I've probably already told you, but people here only have one or two kids...

       A couple more quick stories (and once again, sorry this is so spacey and not super cohesive) = We were tracting this building and got let in by a SUPER CUTE MOM!  She had a three year old girl who was watching Curious George and that weird dinosaur t.v. show.  It was all in Polish - super cool. 

But anyways, yeah the mom answered the door and said, “Come on in!” - which is SO RARE! and SO FUN!  She let us pray with her while her little three year old girl ran around with the dog.  It was just super fun to teach a mom!  She asked during the lesson something like, “So if I like your church, can I keep coming to it?”  And Sister Folsom responded, “Well of course!  You can even get baptized if you want!”  Man, I just felt the Spirit and was so sure that Kamila would be at church on Sunday, which she didn’t end up coming.  So we’re going to go visit her this week and see if we can’t have another lesson.  She has experienced some really awesome things in her life, like having her baby was a miracle!  The doctors said she wouldn’t be able to have a child, then she did!  AND She also told us a story about how she’d had questions and prayed and opened the Bible to a random page and there was her answer!  We agreed that things like that happen with the Book of Mormon.  It was awesome.

      Also, the pictures - Sister Folsom made some cupcake-sized Babka's this week and they turned into Volcano Babkas :) it was fun to watch them explode in the oven... hehehe... - Ewa is the one in red, we're eating chocolate ice cream... (Ewa doesn't know I don't like chocolate, shhhh, don't tell her) - That Raspberry thing... yeah...pretty much HEAVEN... or Paradise (in Polish, the word Raj means paradise!) - Yeah, then the cathedral thingy, we went there one P-day and it's pretty cool, has some crazy fun statues, one that looked like the Angel Moroni :)  I've heard it actually has a baptismal font in the basement, but we weren't able to go see it.

     Alright, well, for my last few words, I just wanted to tell you that you need to really not worry about what others think about you.  Just worry about what God thinks about you and everything will work out for the better.  If you are being rude, take that two word sermon that President Uchtdorf gave last General Conference and use it - his two word sermon was ' STOP IT' - seriously, don't be ridiculous and just be a kinder person.  And if you're a parent, teach your children to be kinder as well!  I know the church is true.  The book of Mormon is EVIDENCE that you can HOLD in your hand that it's true.  I love you all SUPER MUCH and pray for you.  I'm grateful for your prayers, I need them.  And thanks for the letters!  I actually got several in one day not last week but the week before, from ward members too! Thanks again!

Lots of love,

- Sister Amber Allen

     

Toast in Never Never Land

    First off, I don't have much time today!  But I want to tell you a bit about Elder Sorn, he's our district leader.  He's from Germany.  He's the most hard-working, and personable person ever.  He's so great with people and he's also such a great conductor of the Spirit.  He knows how to lead a discussion on gospel topics and every time we have a District Meeting the spirit is there SO strong, it's like you could reach out and touch it.  Someday I hope I can teach as good of lessons as he does and be such a good example of righteousness.

    Some fun things:  I got to play soccer with Elder Sorn and a bunch of punk Polish kids last week on P-day and it was SUPER fun!  I was the only girl playing because my companion didn't want to play and Elder Skolimowski didn't want to either.  Haha, but yeah, that was fun.  Also, we got to eat at Ewa's again this week and the food was so, SO yummy.  It had carrots and mushrooms and meat and peppers and spices and was so juicy and just super good...

     Speaking of Ewa.  She's like more active than some of our MEMBERS right now and I just love that woman so much.  She is doing alright but needs prayers.  We asked her if she'd asked God if the church was true, she said she hadn't.  Then we asked her if she would...she changed the subject.  SHE KNOWS, I feel so strongly that she already knows this church is true, she just knows it would take a lot of change to admit it.  Man, she's so cool...

     Well, here in Poland there are a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses, believe it or not, and they actually go tracting.  When they go tracting, they leave their mark, too.  I guess some of their members are really forceful and so people automatically shut the door in our faces sometimes I think because they assume we are Jehovah's Witnesses.  I've personally met a lot of really nice Jehovah's Witnesses, but anyways... that's besidest the point.  What I wanted to say about this, is that the Jehovah's Witnesses write in pen on the wall next to the door if they've tracted it.  So there are little 'X's next to the doorbells in a lot of the buildings.  The word 'JUICE' is written - it's English, yes, juice - sometimes above the doorbell and it's usually accompanied with a date.  So I think JUICE means that they got let in at that door.  Then on some doors it says 'TOAST'.  We've been trying to figure out what that means.  I think we finally figured that it means an old person lives there... usually a rather very old person... SO that is the reference we have to the word 'Toast' in the subject line of this entry.  Another reason why I put it there is because this week a lot of our lessons were with the older generation, and let me tell you, I LOVED IT.

     One lesson we had with an older lady who let us in and we sang 'I Am A Child Of God' to her, she said angels had led us to her door because she'd been praying for someone to talk to.  We sat on a bench and had a lesson with an older man who was wearing a baseball cap and had some really cool things to say about how he respects women and he agreed alot with our doctrine.  Another older lady needed someone to talk to about faith because all her children don't believe in God and she is worried for them.  This woman really made me think about being young versus being old.  She talked about how hard it is to be old and how we were only happy because we were young.  At the same time, I look at President Monson and think, that's not true.  We can be happy at any age BECAUSE of the GOSPEL.  There's truth in every story and you can learn something from every person you meet.  And as members of the church we believe in a sort of Never Never Land, you might call it.  Where our bodies will be perfect and never age and we can be happy forever.  It's that hope that we're here in Poland to instill in people.  It's a kind of magic that comes with happy thoughts.  You just have to believe...not in fairies, but in angels.  Not in mermaids or pirates, but in Lamanites and Nephitses, pioneers and visions.  There is a magic to life when you add the Gospel to it.  You can do great things and be super happy, if you only just believe.

      Also, this morning in Personal Scripture Study, I’ve really been praying to know how to study for other people.  I mean, I’m sort of entitled to receive inspiration on what to teach these people!  So I’ve really had a strong desire to figure that out, because I always have questions of my own and want to read about that first before studying for these people.  This morning, however, I prayed that I might be completely committed to finding only things for others and that I would receive some sort of inspiration as to what to teach our less-active members and maybe something I’ll need to use on a contact this week.  The amazing thing was, that after this prayer, I not only had doors opened in my mind as to what we needed to teach one of our recent members, but the questions I had weighing on my mind (which I chose not to address this morning) were actually answered anyways.  SO GREAT! 

     The Principle I learned was this: You really are taken care of when you forget yourself and go to work, and I experienced that in a simple one hour study session this morning!  Also, that God will make your burdens light if you are working hard!

      One more quick story.  There was this man, we just were walking down the street contacting, and Sister Folsom said that the book of mormon helps us understand better who we are, where we came from, where we're going.  He said 'Nie Wiem Kim Jestem' - which means, 'I don't know who I am' - and then he walked away -  it basically broke my heart.  People don't know who they are!  YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD!  Believe it and act accordingly!  I finished the Hymn book this week and really liked #335, you should all read it.  Also, read the preface introduction thingy to the Hymn book and follow what it says - good stuff!

    Other than that, I just know the church is true!  I know it with all my heart.  And it's re-confirmed to me SO often!  I may not get to sending pictures in the next four minutes, sorry, it may have to wait till next week.  But know that I love you all and the work will go forward no matter what!

     Lots of love,

- Sister Amber Allen