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
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