He Came to Church!

Hey everybody!  What’s up!  I hear that it’s warmer here than it is in Provo lately...haha...well that stinks!  Just kidding, I like the cold.  It’s fun to get all bundled up and look cute, right?  Not when you contact froggy guys!  Yuck!  Or drunk ones.  Did I tell you about the guy who tried to kiss me on New Years Eve and I had to push his face away? Yeah, that was fun.

Well, miracle story first, maybe.  We’ve been meeting with this super sweet family here in Warsaw and I LOVE THEM!  They are so cute.  The father of their family has been in-active for about two years and people have tried to invite him back to church with no avail...well we’ve met with him and his family twice, and man, he is so cool.  Its sad that he ever stopped coming to church, we NEED him in our branch!  But after our second time kind of prodding him (and also playing the handcuff game with their family!  YAY FOR ROPES COURSE SKILLS AND HANDS ON STUFF!!!) he CAME TO CHURCH!  Cudowny – Miraculous!  I almost wet my pants I was so happy and excited!  Expecially because I haven’t been seeing too much progress around here, so we really enjoy things like that as missionaries.  Fun how the Lord fills us with this AWE of helping souls.

So we tracted into this girl the other day, who just like almost everyone else here, thought we were Jehovah’s Witnesses at first... then, just like almost everyone else here, started asking us the same questions, and telling us how different and how much harder it is to live in Poland than in America.  She complained about everything there was to complain about, and said the same almost ritual-like-comments that most people here think we don’t know or something.  Well I haven’t heard everything, but sometimes people don’t think we know anything.  There’s a big difference... so that got me to thinking.  You know what, God has heard everything and he knows EVERYTHING.  We sometimes probably give him the same sob story that everyone else is giving him, makes me wonder if he ever gets just SICK of us. Maybe I will try harder to say some new things in my prayers this week.  Perhaps I will tell God a joke, or share more of my heart with him.  Maybe I will pray about more things or different things than usual.  Whatever it is, I don't want to be just nagging him about the same old things.  I want to be HAPPY with whatever state I am in.  I'm learning that slowly.  Things haven't been exactly easy in Warsaw...they're different than my last transfer for sure, and our numbers are way lower.  But I'm trying to stay super positive and it's working out alright.  And along the way we see miracles.

Like last night, we were on our way home and thought we'd catch a bus just one stop to home and so we got on the bus and talked to the first two people we saw - right away cuz we knew we had to if we were going to get any kind of a conversation out of the ride.  Well I'm glad we opened our mouths, I very well could have told myself I didn't have enough time.  We got their NUMBER and we gave them a Book of Mormon!  Yeah!  That's what I'm talking about!

Yesterday was one of the first times I got a little bit frustrated with someone on the street and probably wasn't the nicest Sister Missionary I could have been.  I was stammering on a word and he was being rude to begin with, but he got up in my face and said 'well you aren't very prepared to convince me now ARE you!' and was all sassy about it.  Well I said very distinctly and probably with some steel in my eyes, 'I don't want to convince anybody I only want to invite, have a good night.' and I turned and walked away.  Man... so I need to work on not being sassy when people are sassy to me.  It's pretty hard...but I know it can be done.  Christ did it, and probably WAY more than I have to!

People, please don't get offended.  There are SO many ways people get offended and it's just not worth it, not worth it to your family, not worth it to others.  Don't carry a chip on your shoulder, don't hold grudges, just love and let be!  Seriously!  They probably didn't mean to offend you anyways, and if they did, well they'll recieve their just reward from a all knowing God, it's not our job to judge or be rude back!  We've got to be christ-like NO MATTER WHAT!

Well, I know that the Book of Mormon is true!  I know that when life is a roller coaster, if we hold on to the truth that the Book of Mormon contains, everything will turn out alright!  I love the Prophet!  I love this church!  And I hope you all know how LUCKY you are where you are.  Be SO grateful!  Ok?

Love you tons

- Siostra Amber Allen