Stir 'Em Up

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! I've got like 27 minutes... I'll go fast...

 

It was SO fun to call you guys and to hear everyone's voices and laughter and such.  After a while away from family you forget they actually really still exist and live and breathe!  I love you guys!  Wish I could have talked to gregg, but hopefully I'll get a letter written to him today and see if I can't send it out to BRAZIL... hm?  The weather here in Poland hasn't been to bad, I'm wearing my lighter coat and no hat today, so it's pretty nice... still cold, but nice, the sun is shining.

 

Christmas here was beautiful, we got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and it made me so happy and emotional and, man, the mormon tabernacle choir, another reason the church is true :) haha.  I really loved how President Monson said we should take this time to be re-committed to the Lord.  I challenge each of you to do that, look inside yourself, and yearn to be more intensely committed to your Savior and to our Father in Heaven.  We have a LIVING PROPHET ON THE EARTH TODAY!  How stinkin' cool is THAT!  Also, we had Zone Conference and I got to see Elder Jespersen and Elder Rittmanic and Elder Skolimowski from my MTC group!  YAY!  Also, Elder Register is in the Office here in Warsaw so I get to see him more often!  Woot!  I definitely miss my Poznan homies though, I want to know what's going on there so bad.  But I'll find out later, I guess.  I'm going to try to write a letter to Sister B. today too...aaah so much to do...so little time... but we DO have a full day P-day today since President wants us off the streets earlier.  (I can see why, recently -- maybe this is just a warsaw thing or because we're nearing party time for partiers... -- every other person I talk to is piany - to znacze drunk)...

 

A new elder in our zone said something really cool as he bore his testimony (we all went around and bore testimony at the end of Zone Conference - yeah!)  He is always super happy and he just gets excited about the smallest things.  He said that people of Poland need EXCITEMENT.  And as he said it, I completely 100% agreed.  The people of poland need excitement.  I am so ready to give it to them.  I'm going to be a smiling, excited, spirit charged MACHINE for the next 9 months, just you wait...

 

Anyways, I had one of the most amazing Christmases I've ever had.  I was able to really feel closer to the Savior and know that I'm doing exactly what he'd have me do on his birthday for his present - sharing his light with others!  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!  (p.s. mom, no don't have your guy's package yet, nor Jenny's... where did Jenny send hers?)

 

I want each of you to do something for me before next week's letter...just last night I contacted this guy - which means I walked up to him on the street and just randomly started talking to him - and he says he's Athiest and doesn't believe in God and basically said, 'I've gotta go, you've got just a short time to convince me that God exists.'  So what would you say?  You've got three minutes to convince me that God exists... GO!  (try to do it in three minutes or less)

 

I'm sending some recordings of my companion and I, but I'll quick tell the story of yesterday cuz it was CRAZY TOAST!

So we were going to make pancakes for a new family we've been teaching (YAY FAMILY) and we were going to take them to church with us.  We get there at 9:00 (church starts at 10 here and is 3 hours long - weird cuz I've been going to 2 hours of church in Poznan for six months) and knock on their door... NOTHING...we ring the door bell...nothing... we sang songs, we waited, we rang again...waited...called her phone...waited...called her daughter's phone...waited...man we were there for like 15 minutes with hot syrup and pancakes and name tags and scarfs and hats and all... we probably looked really funny (Poland is like DEAD on Sunday mornings so... yeah we probably woke up the whole klotka).  We ended up leaving the hot mess on their door step and going to church empty handed.  But we were still smiling.

No investigators came to church.  BUT WE WERE STILL SMILING.

Someone in church gave a talk about how 'It can always get worse' and we ought to be 'optimistic'  - guess what, SO TRUE!  So be grateful! 

 

THEN we get home from church and we're STARVING, right?  And we try to open our door and... well, it just won't open.  The KEY DIDN'T WORK!  So we called the Landlord, sat on our floor and waited till he showed up with an extra key.  Our key still doesn't work...but yeah...

 

THEN we met this crazy guy yesterday, he told us he was a doctor and that he hates God.  He was a very ANGRY person and you could tell after the first like three seconds of talking to him.  I'm glad, for one, that he's not MY doctor... and two that I didn't offend him.  Apparently the happiest moment of his life was when he sought revenge on this guy who beat up his sister in the streets and he followed him home and 'put a bullet in his head.'  Um... and then this guy said because of all his 'connections' in Eastern Europe, he got away because the police couldn't do anything about it... um... yeah we contacted a murderer... such a crazy life, this mission stuff.  But if I learned anything from him, it's that god DOES exist and when you believe in him, you ARE happier.  He was so angry and so upset at life it was just painful to even look at him... so don't kill people, don't get mad at God, and don't go to the dark-side... :)

 

I also met a young kid who said he wouldn't tell me his name because he's an graffiti artist who does it illegally and has to stay anonymous... CRAZY

 I have so much more to say but it'll have to wait until next week....SO...

 

To end on a more spiritual note... We are finding tons of people and our prayers are being answered over and over again.  When I got here to Warsaw we had no investegators.  Next week, we have like 3 lessons set up every day already, I'm STOKED.  We've been working really hard and seeing the lord's blessings.  I'm feeling that my Polish is getting better and better every day and people always say they're shocked at how good we speak after so short of time in the country, hopefully that's a good measuring stick.  I know God lives and loves us!  Let's take this new year to new limits, so pumped!  Read the Book of Mormon all the way through - a couple times - this next year with me, okay?

 

Um yeah so 'Stir 'Em Up' refers to Enos.  I read Enos this morning - LOVE HIM!  He's so cool.  He is also a good missionary, talks about stirring up the people to rememberance of their God.  I feel like as a missionary that really is what we do all day every day, we stir them up to a rememberance!  We remind people of death, of after life - it's crazy how many people I ask, 'what do you think happens to us after this life' and they go 'Uh... I dunno...never thought about it...' 

PEEPS!  Let's think!  This week my Christ-Like Attribute is Knowledge, so I'll tell you more about that later.

I love you all, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Amber Allen