Dearest
family, what a crazy week, Scott and Nathan both heading out this
week! Aaaah! I am feeling it... But you know what, it's gunna be
sweet, our work will just bless and sanctify eachother's works as well.
I'm thinking in Polish and it's really not helping me write in
English. I spoke a lot more Polish this week and I'm really grateful I
did. I need to do it more. I love the Polish language. It's a pain
sometimes but I love the pain :)
We had one of the craziest weeks of my mission yet. It was fun... and we were all over the place! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! The work is picking up, I think it's because people are coming back from vacation, for one thing, for another, I made another attitude change and FAITH really moves mountains. I don't know why sometimes it's discouraging (oh wait, yeah I do...) but it SHOULDN'T BE, we're on the winning team and even if we can't see the score board, we know who will come out on top so we have to keep fighting the battle and EXPECTING miracles. I love that. We've been being a lot more positive and we're shooting high with our goals this week, things will just HAVE to happen awesomely, I'm excited.
We went to go meet with our cute friend on Friday night and we get to this tram stop and there are TONS of people, and a HUGE container on a pedestal with about four ronchy looking people handing out free beer. We were handing out ulotki on the other side of the street inviting people to order free books of mormon. And which one do people take? The beer. WHAT! There was a tangible lack of the Spirit in that whole vicinity - It made me almost sick and definitely nervous, I wanted to get out of there. Unfortunately I'd heard our friend wrong on the phone - I thought she said she'd be there at 20:00 but instead she said she'd wait until 20:00 -- oops, so we get there, she's not there, call her, she has to come over again, :( Sorry! And then we waited for EVER in that wretched place... We bought her some yellow roses for 10zł and waited... Some kids, like maybe 10 or 12 came up to us and asked us to go get them a beer. NO, kid! I told him it's not good for him, it's not going to help him. He's like 'my girlfriend has one and i'll look stupid if I don't get one.' 'Forget it! Take her a rose!' so we gave him a rose, but we saw him again later, with out the rose, asking someone else, so... to no avail... However, how did the world get here! I just can't believe it sometimes. I was on a train back from Warsaw this week as well and the two men in my cabin were being so defensive about their beer. I hate beer. I HATE it, yes. It ruins lives! I met a woman in the park the other day who's son is in the hospital and has been for a couple months because of alcohol! I wish I could just destroy it all. But Satan has to exist for a while longer, I guess. Let's just do our best to keep him away from OUR homes and lives!
We met with some AWESOME people this week, Marietta, Magda, Iga, Krzyszek, Rafał, Alicja, Gosia, Angelika, Sławek, and many others on the streets.
A cool story, so we wanted to get 15 lessons this week, I've been wanting to hit it for some time now, and we were at 14 on Sunday morning. We had 15 minutes before we were supposed to be at Magda's to pick her up for church. So we pray hard and Sister Hemming literally runs down the street, so I ran too, and pretty much the first person I met and the first person she meets we teach the Restoration to (two lessons going at once) and they both let us PRAY with them on the STREET! :) Awesome, awesome, AWESOME! :) So anyways, I love the work, faith, prayer, and Sister Hemming is SUCH a grand example of all of those things!
The most amazing point of my week was perhaps the meeting in Warsaw with all the mission leaders. We have the most amazing missionaries in the church, I swear. I don't know how many times I've already said it, but I'll say it again and again, the CALIBER of these MISSIONARIES are just OFF THE CHARTS! Elder Żeleżniak and Elder Raines (Assistants to the President...who also were in the MTC with me) just ripped it up with the spirit in that meeting. They both took part and told us different things that really 'prepared the minds of the people spiritually' - as it says in Alma, I think, somewhere... When Moroni is fortifying things, maybe? Can't remember... Anyways, They wrote a list of things on the board that missionaries in Poland see as impossible. Then Elder Raines had us look out the window... for some strange reason... why were we looking out the window... then he said, 'ok this was a object lesson, look back at the board' so we look back at the board and they'd erased the "IM" in the word 'Impossible' and it now said 'The Possible List' - It was because we CHANGED our PERSPECTIVE - and that's really how simple and beautiful it really is! -- After that meeting, all I wanted to do was just go talk to EVERYONE again with renewed vigor - I never want to SLEEP! I know we can do this! I KNOW we can baptize in Poland. I know we can get to that point where Poland explodes with the Gospel like it is in other nations. I know we can do more than the norm, more than they have in the past. God wouldn't have his missionaries here if it weren't for the fact that there are PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY who are praying to find us. I know that God wants me here, in Kraków. I LOVE KRAKÓW... um I may even say it's my favorite city... aah, I'm not allowed to say that, am I? I love all of them, but I seriously feel so at home here and I LOVE everything about this city. I love the branch and the people and the atmosphere (except the beer part, that is) - and ah, man, I never want to leave. (ok maybe someday I could want to leave)
I just hope you all know that I know that the Spirit is REAL. I know that God lives and LOVES us. One last little story for you all before I go:
The Bike Crash
I actually didn't see the bike crash, I wasn't there. But God saw it. And He knew she was hurting. I saw a nice looking girl with a bike, in a tramwaj. I said hello and started to ask if she'd like to hear a message about the church that has brought me so much happi.... 'No I'm not in the mood right now.' - I could have said 'okay, sorry.' and left it at that, but instead the spirit prompted to ask her what happened, 'Well, are you okay? Did something happen today? How has your day been?' She replied that she'd gotten in a crash on her bike, and that she hurt bad, all over her body. I looked and saw that she had ripped up her skin on her left arm pretty good, there was blood, and her hand wasn't super pretty either. Her clothes looked dirty on her left hip and I'm sure I got a 'mommy face' on as I looked at her wounds and cooed 'oow!' - 'are you okay!? I have ibuprofen in my bag if you want some, and if I had something to wipe you off with, and how is your bike?' She slowly started to lighten up, it's crazy how a little pampering can do that to people. She said she'd be okay, that she just needed to get home and then she'd be alright. We then shared some small talk, where are you from, what are you studying, the likes. She's an only child, I told her about my family and she asked if I did a lot of babysitting when I was at home, yes I did... and then we were getting close to her stop...I didn't know whether to bring up the gospel again - yes I'm a missionary but I don't want to push things on people if they don't want it, it's their choice and at first she was not excited to hear about it - she told me thanks for the nice conversation, and I said you're welcome, and i also felt to say something else and so after a second of thinking, 'I hope you know that God loves you,' I said simply... and she just sort of looked beyond me and nodded her head a little... it was a yes, but a very weak one... I waited for a couple seconds of silence and then said, 'You know that right? That you are a daughter of God, and he loves you?' 'Sometimes,' she said. And I waited again, what could I say? 'can we meet with you sometime?' 'Yeah, I think you can' Great! And I got her number, and stood out of her way tried to help her get her bike off the tram - I called her an hour later to ask if she'd gotten home alright. She didn't answer but texted back saying thanks for the call and that she's still pretty sore, but at home and all is good. I don't know, but there was just something about that experience. I love her! I knew her for like 10 minutes tops. And I love her. She's so cool. And so humble and she doesn't have the assurity that God loves her but I do, and it's my duty and my privelege to share it with her. How cool is that! I LOVE the Gospel! I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE! We CAN do this! Sweet is the work,
Love,
Siostra Amber Allen
We had one of the craziest weeks of my mission yet. It was fun... and we were all over the place! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! The work is picking up, I think it's because people are coming back from vacation, for one thing, for another, I made another attitude change and FAITH really moves mountains. I don't know why sometimes it's discouraging (oh wait, yeah I do...) but it SHOULDN'T BE, we're on the winning team and even if we can't see the score board, we know who will come out on top so we have to keep fighting the battle and EXPECTING miracles. I love that. We've been being a lot more positive and we're shooting high with our goals this week, things will just HAVE to happen awesomely, I'm excited.
We went to go meet with our cute friend on Friday night and we get to this tram stop and there are TONS of people, and a HUGE container on a pedestal with about four ronchy looking people handing out free beer. We were handing out ulotki on the other side of the street inviting people to order free books of mormon. And which one do people take? The beer. WHAT! There was a tangible lack of the Spirit in that whole vicinity - It made me almost sick and definitely nervous, I wanted to get out of there. Unfortunately I'd heard our friend wrong on the phone - I thought she said she'd be there at 20:00 but instead she said she'd wait until 20:00 -- oops, so we get there, she's not there, call her, she has to come over again, :( Sorry! And then we waited for EVER in that wretched place... We bought her some yellow roses for 10zł and waited... Some kids, like maybe 10 or 12 came up to us and asked us to go get them a beer. NO, kid! I told him it's not good for him, it's not going to help him. He's like 'my girlfriend has one and i'll look stupid if I don't get one.' 'Forget it! Take her a rose!' so we gave him a rose, but we saw him again later, with out the rose, asking someone else, so... to no avail... However, how did the world get here! I just can't believe it sometimes. I was on a train back from Warsaw this week as well and the two men in my cabin were being so defensive about their beer. I hate beer. I HATE it, yes. It ruins lives! I met a woman in the park the other day who's son is in the hospital and has been for a couple months because of alcohol! I wish I could just destroy it all. But Satan has to exist for a while longer, I guess. Let's just do our best to keep him away from OUR homes and lives!
We met with some AWESOME people this week, Marietta, Magda, Iga, Krzyszek, Rafał, Alicja, Gosia, Angelika, Sławek, and many others on the streets.
A cool story, so we wanted to get 15 lessons this week, I've been wanting to hit it for some time now, and we were at 14 on Sunday morning. We had 15 minutes before we were supposed to be at Magda's to pick her up for church. So we pray hard and Sister Hemming literally runs down the street, so I ran too, and pretty much the first person I met and the first person she meets we teach the Restoration to (two lessons going at once) and they both let us PRAY with them on the STREET! :) Awesome, awesome, AWESOME! :) So anyways, I love the work, faith, prayer, and Sister Hemming is SUCH a grand example of all of those things!
The most amazing point of my week was perhaps the meeting in Warsaw with all the mission leaders. We have the most amazing missionaries in the church, I swear. I don't know how many times I've already said it, but I'll say it again and again, the CALIBER of these MISSIONARIES are just OFF THE CHARTS! Elder Żeleżniak and Elder Raines (Assistants to the President...who also were in the MTC with me) just ripped it up with the spirit in that meeting. They both took part and told us different things that really 'prepared the minds of the people spiritually' - as it says in Alma, I think, somewhere... When Moroni is fortifying things, maybe? Can't remember... Anyways, They wrote a list of things on the board that missionaries in Poland see as impossible. Then Elder Raines had us look out the window... for some strange reason... why were we looking out the window... then he said, 'ok this was a object lesson, look back at the board' so we look back at the board and they'd erased the "IM" in the word 'Impossible' and it now said 'The Possible List' - It was because we CHANGED our PERSPECTIVE - and that's really how simple and beautiful it really is! -- After that meeting, all I wanted to do was just go talk to EVERYONE again with renewed vigor - I never want to SLEEP! I know we can do this! I KNOW we can baptize in Poland. I know we can get to that point where Poland explodes with the Gospel like it is in other nations. I know we can do more than the norm, more than they have in the past. God wouldn't have his missionaries here if it weren't for the fact that there are PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY who are praying to find us. I know that God wants me here, in Kraków. I LOVE KRAKÓW... um I may even say it's my favorite city... aah, I'm not allowed to say that, am I? I love all of them, but I seriously feel so at home here and I LOVE everything about this city. I love the branch and the people and the atmosphere (except the beer part, that is) - and ah, man, I never want to leave. (ok maybe someday I could want to leave)
I just hope you all know that I know that the Spirit is REAL. I know that God lives and LOVES us. One last little story for you all before I go:
The Bike Crash
I actually didn't see the bike crash, I wasn't there. But God saw it. And He knew she was hurting. I saw a nice looking girl with a bike, in a tramwaj. I said hello and started to ask if she'd like to hear a message about the church that has brought me so much happi.... 'No I'm not in the mood right now.' - I could have said 'okay, sorry.' and left it at that, but instead the spirit prompted to ask her what happened, 'Well, are you okay? Did something happen today? How has your day been?' She replied that she'd gotten in a crash on her bike, and that she hurt bad, all over her body. I looked and saw that she had ripped up her skin on her left arm pretty good, there was blood, and her hand wasn't super pretty either. Her clothes looked dirty on her left hip and I'm sure I got a 'mommy face' on as I looked at her wounds and cooed 'oow!' - 'are you okay!? I have ibuprofen in my bag if you want some, and if I had something to wipe you off with, and how is your bike?' She slowly started to lighten up, it's crazy how a little pampering can do that to people. She said she'd be okay, that she just needed to get home and then she'd be alright. We then shared some small talk, where are you from, what are you studying, the likes. She's an only child, I told her about my family and she asked if I did a lot of babysitting when I was at home, yes I did... and then we were getting close to her stop...I didn't know whether to bring up the gospel again - yes I'm a missionary but I don't want to push things on people if they don't want it, it's their choice and at first she was not excited to hear about it - she told me thanks for the nice conversation, and I said you're welcome, and i also felt to say something else and so after a second of thinking, 'I hope you know that God loves you,' I said simply... and she just sort of looked beyond me and nodded her head a little... it was a yes, but a very weak one... I waited for a couple seconds of silence and then said, 'You know that right? That you are a daughter of God, and he loves you?' 'Sometimes,' she said. And I waited again, what could I say? 'can we meet with you sometime?' 'Yeah, I think you can' Great! And I got her number, and stood out of her way tried to help her get her bike off the tram - I called her an hour later to ask if she'd gotten home alright. She didn't answer but texted back saying thanks for the call and that she's still pretty sore, but at home and all is good. I don't know, but there was just something about that experience. I love her! I knew her for like 10 minutes tops. And I love her. She's so cool. And so humble and she doesn't have the assurity that God loves her but I do, and it's my duty and my privelege to share it with her. How cool is that! I LOVE the Gospel! I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE! We CAN do this! Sweet is the work,
Love,
Siostra Amber Allen
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