A Polish Solo

WELL Y'all, I'm grateful I get to write again! :) I read Jacob 5 this morning, and as Jacob talks about 'digging about' the olive tree, I can't help but feel like this mission is really digging up the people of Poland.  And with this new surge of missionaries coming in - all super young - I'm SUPER excited!  We're really going to dig them up and then nourish them with the good word of God and lead them to the Living Prophet who will prune them and then they'll no longer be wild but healthy and happy!  I thought it was interesting that the olive tree 'grew,' 'waxed old,' and 'began to decay.' -- From this I pulled some crazy things that maybe are not really what Jacob meant but... down in the footnotes it says that this 'growing, waxing old, and beginning to decay' means the Apostasy of Israel.  Well the people of Poland are in a great apostasy still and these three things really apply to them!  DON'T let them apply to YOU! (this goes for myself as well, gotta work on it every day)
1. 'Grew' - sometimes on the street I tell people God exists and they're like, 'I don't believe it.' and then I say, 'Well have you always not believed or did something happen to make you think that?'  And then they say, 'well I grew up and started to THINK' - as if believing in God was a bad thing... and it's so sad!  Jacob 4:10 says that we should seek not to counsel the Lord, and other verses in the Book of Mormon talk about how people will trust to their own understanding and in the arm of flesh and after the manner of their own thought process.  Well, you are one person.  What about the hundreds of pages of the Bible and Book of Mormon?  The millions of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  What about the testimony of Joseph Smith?  What about all the evidences ALL AROUND YOU that God really does exist?  Don't get so stuck in your own thinking that you are persuaded to disbelief.  God does exist and he does love you.
2. 'Waxed Old' - a lot of people here say 'I'm too old,' or they say, 'the traditions of our people are too old' for them to really accept their Savior and the true church of God.  You are NEVER too old to be a kinder, more obedient you.  And traditions are worth nothing when it comes to Eternal Life with those you love.  Give up the OLD and put on the NEW!
3. 'Began to Decay' - well, these are those people I meet who are partying, drinking, living with their boyfriend/girlfriend, and many other sins.  They are already decaying, and 'the wicked take the truth to be hard' - so if you are being repremanded, let's try to take a step back and humble ourselves, pick ourselves back up from the rude blast and be better, accept the Savior because He suffered all of this for you and he knows how you feel.

Well, besides this, sorry that was a bit of a ramble about what I studied this morning - but I really enjoyed it! 

We had a baptism in our Branch on Saturday!  His name is Jacek and he's super awesome!  I'm grateful I got to see a second baptism in Poland.  My first was seeing Arseni get baptized back in Poznan in the Summer, maybe the third week I was in the country or something like that.  Baptisms are the best!  My companion sang a solo at the baptism!  Beautiful!

I got to sing a solo on Sunday in Sacrament meeting and was so nervous.  But it felt great to perform again!  I love music!  Haha, then we were supposed to teach Sunday School and shortly before church were told we had to teach Relief Society too!  So I sang in Sacrament Meeting, we taught both Sunday School and Relief Society - and we actually didn't to a bad job. I enjoyed the day thouroughly!  I'm going to send a voice recording about some other stuff, let me know if you get the story about Hania and such!

Besides this all, I just want you to know how much I love being a missionary!  I really am loving it here.  My companion is a BIG part of that.  She makes things really easy for me - and she thinks I'm funny, so that's a good time.  I like to make people laugh.  We smile a lot and have a good time!  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is TRUE!  God answers prayers!  I love you all!
- Siostra Amber Allen