1. I'm going to KRAKÓW and I'm going to TRAIN and open a NEW CITY! Sisters haven't been there for at least three years, and I think actually a lot more. I am so excited you have no clue... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Ok this probably should have been first, but Tasha had her BABY! I was thinking about her a lot this week, SO happy for her. We share a birthday! That's the BEST!
3. Packages from my family and friends!!! :)
4. Good weather and an awesome branch party!
This week was pretty awesome. We set high goals and got really close to all of them! The most amazing experience was when we were about to go into an investegator's home and we were 15 minutes early and decided to make a few calls because we didn't want to be too early, and I called a girl who we've been giving a break for a while, she said to call after Easter and I wasn't sure if she was really that interested so I gave her a bigger break...But when I called her she answered 'Hey Allen! How are you?!' and we exchanged pleasentries and then she said, 'I just have to tell you, you've really made a big difference in my life, Allen. I pray morning and night now and I prayed that my boyfriend would stay in Poland instead of moving to Ireland and he's still here and, I'm closer to God and I'm just happy.' - I LOVE this girl, President, she's so awesome! I sure was excited to hear from her and that she's praying! IT DOES make a difference to PRAY! So we'll try to set up with her soon and I sure hope she READS now!
What I learned... once again PATIENCE! PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE, I can't seem to get enough experiences with this Characteristic!
My companion and I have had a good week. I'm trying to be easier to get a long with. Sister Howells has taught me a lot and I'm definitely a different person than I was at the beginning of this transfer. Hopefully a kinder one.
I'm SO EXCITED to serve in Kraków! It's going to be the best transfer yet! I'm already praying for my trainee, I know she's going to be a great addition to our mission!
There are two punk kids next to me, probably 11 and 12 years old, they think it's pretty funny that we type so fast and that we have funny pictures we're looking at and smiling so much. They are giggling...and until about five minutes ago didn't know we spoke Polish. They also keep swearing in English. I guess that's another reason why you keep speaking your language in the Library too, otherwise young punks will start swearing in English next to you. Oh well, now that they know I speak they're language they automatically have more respect for me. Cool. :) If only I could help them get baptized. Maybe they'll remember that I'm nice and that I'm wearing a black name tag and five years down the road they'll talk to some missionaries and read the Book of Mormon and get baptized then! :)
Well, I'm being sort of scatter-brained. Maybe I'll do like dad does and write about things day by day.
Monday last week we went to the Warsaw Uprising Museum. It's a pretty cool place, and pretty sad in a lot of ways. I've heard that other museums are worse - as in they are more sad. This museum had so much to look at we just didn't have time for all of it. There were old guns and interactive displays and a 3D movie where they'd re-created and by computer - as if you're flying over Warsaw after it was completely destroyed. Pretty crazy. The film was called 'City of Ruins' - it seriously was, a city of ruins. I'm so glad I'm here now and not then, and that Poland is still alive and kicking. I love these stubborn strong people. I'm a lot like them...at least in the stubborn sort of way :) I hope I'm becoming stronger as well, though.
Tuesday we had a lesson with Agnieszka (AG-KNEE-ESH-KAH) and she's cool, has a baptismal date. She is really nice and bought us doughnuts. Then we did a white board with the elders on Wednesday. Speaking of Elders...Have I even told you about the elders in my district? I feel like I used to give you a down-low on them my first couple transfers because I only had two to explain... well now there were six... I have time, here we go:
Starszy Raines: Well he is from Utah, and was in my MTC group, and is still super awesome. He was companions with Starszy VanBakel and they were Zone Leaders here in the Warsaw area. Elder Raines had a birthday last Sunday (not yesterday, a week before that) and brought us all cupcakes. He's pretty thoughtful and kind and does a lot for us as sisters. Elder Raines loves soccer. We're grateful for Elder Raines.
Starszy VanBakel: He's from Holland and is pretty funny. He's really good at getting people to look at him and follow him and so he helped a lot with the group games on Saturday. I'm grateful for his cheeriness, always smiling. Actually I think all of our elders this transfer were ALWAYS smiling. They are seriously the best. Elder VanBakel played rugby.
Starszy Garfield: This elder is from Virginia and is oldest of a bunch of kids like me! He's super kind and really wise and is going to be district leader here in Warsaw next transfer. He always has good insights during District Meetings and plays the piano well. He played some football before the mission. He's a great Elder and super solid.
Starszy Manwill: He was my district leader for two transfers and has changed a lot, he's an awesome elder. He's also ALWAYS smiling and super funny. We call in to tell him we're alive and safe every night and he's always super helpful. He loves to talk about his twin sisters who are the apple of his eye. It's cool how much he loves them. They both just got mission calls. One is going to peru, the other to pennsylvania. Elder Manwill comes home the same time I do. He was a wrestler.
Starszy Gibby: He just got trained by Elder Vernon and he's so tall and SO awesome. Elder Gibby, as Elder Vernon told us, is always super positive. 'God is good' Elder Gibby says. He's from California and Utah... his family moved from one to the other but I always get them mixed up. He's doing great with his polish - so cool to see their polish get better. He didn't play much sports but he's way smart and also has really deep amazing thoughts when it comes to district meetings.
Starszy Vernon: Also a stellar elder. He's from Utah. He went to a year of college before his mission at BYU. He played lacrosse. He's got AMAZING polish and he's just a spot-on kind of elder. He's so nice and good at being calm and consistant. He got transfered early because the lord needed him as a Zone Leader! So now he's serving as a Zone Leader with Elder Wilson. They're going to do a great job. Elder Vernon is awesome.
One more story and then I've got to go:
A woman came into the church directly after our branch party
and was asking where the entrance to the church was… um well you just came
through it my dear, but if you mean the chapel…and then I showed her the
chapel. She was immediately impressed
and as I started sharing with this un-expected guess I was really happy and
excited to just tell her anything and everything. We didn’t have any planned lessons that day,
one fell through, and we had the ward party, and kids’ english… so anyways,
this was a really splendid treat. I LOVE
teaching. I got to tell her about what
church looks like. People here are always really impressed that we don’t have
pictures or crosses in our chapel. She
also loved that we had a gym. She loved
a lot of things really and I pointed out to her that she’d just said that about
five times about five different topics and said ‘you know there’s a lot more
things that you’ll like if you give this church a chance, can we meet with you
some time?’ Then she was all like, ‘oh
you guys are so smooth!’ haha she was a fun lady, but not exactly humble enough
to want to change. It was cool that she
was open enough to set foot in our chapel though. A lot of people avoid us like the
plague. Her name was Beata and seriously
she was so nice. She told us how amazing
it was that we speak such good polish (haha yeah right) and in such little
time. I don’t often explain it this way,
but with her I felt to, and said that we believe we have the gift of tongues
and that’s just one other thing that shows how true this work is! My companion joined in on the conversation
and we ended up sharing all about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, prophets,
the apostasy, etc. It was so great! And so unexpected! And she said she had to go because she was
waiting for a bus but then asked so many questions and stayed like a half an
hour! Coolest birthday present ever as
well! :)
The church is SO true, everyone! I was reading about Moroni and Mormon today at the end of the Book of Mormon. (I will finish it tomorrow along with the rest of the mission.)
And I read in vs. 21 and 22 of Moroni 9. It's where Mormon says he'd
not recommend the evil people to God, but he'll "recommend" Moroni to
God... so cool. Would Mormon recommend YOU to God? Would he recommend
ME? I sure hope I'm doing all I can to get to that point. I love
Mormon. But more I love Jesus Christ. He's such a great example for us
all. How did he do it? The perfect life? I have so much work to do.
So far to go. But I'm loving the journey.
I hope you're all loving it too! See you in Kraków!
Love,
Sister Amber Allen
No comments:
Post a Comment