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
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