How to Get a Pole to Pray...

Where do I start?  I don't know where to start...

How about I make a list and then...

Haha... HEY YOU GUYS!  THE CHURCH IS TRUE! :)

 

Well, I'll start at the beginning of this week, we found out who our new companions would be and where we'd be spending our next transfer.  I am now serving with Sister Sara Bezdjian, from Salt Lake City, Utah.  She played lacrosse and soccer in high school and she used to have really long gorgeous brown hair.  (Well her hair is still gorgeous, but just short now...oh and still brown).  She's the one that came down for a couple days on an exchange earlier last transfer.  The last 2 transfers she was serving with Sister Ostler - one of my MTC companions - in Gdańsk before that with Sister McAdams for 3 months.  So she's been in Gdańsk her whole mission and now she gets to rock Poznań with me!  It's going to be a blast, I can already tell.  She likes to laugh, and she's good at entertaining us.  I have realized on the mission (if I hadn't before) that I'm sort of...boring.  So sorry for whoever was bored out of their minds whenever they hung out with me.  Gregg would call that a 'hater' - haha, well either way, I'm going to work on being more fun.  But we're also going to work our rear ends off, and it's going to hurt SO GOOD.

 

For example, I've never felt so close to getting what they call 'The Standard' as we got this week.  We were only 2 numbers off.  And we're aiming high and setting the goal to get the standard this week, and I'm so excited.  I love setting goals and getting a bit competitive... I mean that only in a good way.  I mean, really, all it is a bit of faith.  You believe you can do it, you set your sights high, and then you go for it - NO EXCUSES!  NO BEING LAME!  So here we go.

 

This week was really REALLY cool.  There were so many awesome things that happened, to name a few...

1. Izabela came back, she now has a baptismal date again.

2. Danka came out of the wood work.

3. Anna's HUSBAND was on a lesson.

4. Weronika PRAYED!

5. Arseń was on a lesson with Pani Łucja :)

6. Fireside: Armor of God

7. We got an extra hour of SLEEP!!! Hahaha!

8. I got a letter from Allison Barnes, Julia Keleman, and Jenny Williams... and they're going on MISSIONS!

9. I got a letter from Rishi and she's going to have a BABY soon!  (I am excited to see pictures)

10. I made Jesus Bread all by myself!

 

O.k. so #1, #8, #9, and #10 sort of explain themselves.  I'm going to give a bit more about the others...

 

2. Danka - SO we went out to eat at this cool Polish cuisine place and it's like the traditional meat, potatoes, and salads and soups... and we were sitting there eating and I saw some guys eating french fries and really wanted some, so we decided to order them.  We did, and I'm glad we did, because this woman sitting at the next table over just started talking to us randomly, out of the blue!  Haha, her name is Danka.  She's middle aged and interesting, sort of pessimistic, but we're working on it, and just wuper WILLING to listen to us.  She came to Institute that night, took a book of mormon and has read half of it, she said on Sunday, and also came to CHURCH on Sunday.  She may have a baptismal date, we're securing that detail tonight.  Soooo.... SUPER!

 

3. So Anna, cute awesome mom with the three kids and one in a wheelchair!  We got to set up with her and went over to her house Friday and she invited her husband to sit down (which I've been praying and hoping and praying for him to be on a lesson because I know how a family should be united and they should communicate about everything!  And I just knew they both had to be in on this!)  HE CAME AND SAT DOWN AND LISTENED!  And I think he even felt the Spirit, and he asked questions and we asked questions.  And when I asked him if he believed the bible was true he said yes, but that more of it was hypothetical and parables rather than straight up literal.  I was confused with what he was talking about in Polish so I said, 'do you know the Book of Mormon is true?'  He said, 'Well I don't know, I'll have to read it to find out...'  He also believes there are people on other planets, not sure how he found that one out, but he asked it in such a normal way, like he's such a deep thinker, but at the same time I think a lot more spiritual than he lets on.  He would be the BEST bishop, EVER!  So we were going to set up for our next meeting and Anna said 'how about 17:30' and he goes, 'Well I'll still be at work then,' - so we get to meet with them again!  And he said he may read the Book of Mormon!  It's a start!  I just love them so much...and oh man... after that lesson I was about to explode with happiness!  I want to see them all in WHITE!

 

4. Weronika PRAYED this week!  It was amazing to see her just take that leap of faith.  Weronika is a younger red headed fire ball who lives here in Poznań studying medicine.  She used to be Athiest... over our four or five lessons and she began dating an Agnostic guy... but now she's claiming to be Agnostic - where she doesn't really believe there is a God, but she won't deny it.  We talked to her about praying - and she's been saying no like a million times already - and I felt impressed to share the story of our friend Darek, who also didn't want to pray but finally did, and it was just amazing.  So she did it!  And she said she felt 'weird' in a good enough way that she's going to 'try it again'!!!!!! Oh I never thought that seeing someone pray would be so exciting...but it seriously gives you a high.
 

5. Haha, so after the Fireside - which I may not get to talking about... we got Arseń to come with us to a lesson with this older woman.  Which he told us to call her a middle aged dame... but in Polish...haha...So she talks a LOT and he's usually really immature, but he was mature on the lesson and it was just so fun to see him behave infront of an old lady - he just got baptized my first transfer here - and anyways, super funny, don't have time to tell you more...

 

The Principle I learned was this, GOD WANTS YOU TO PRAY!  Pray about everything!  We were missing Sister B.'s new planner this week and after her running around trying to find it for a couple days, I asked if she'd prayed to find it.  Well, nope, so we prayed, and pretty soon there after - we found it!  Then we said a prayer of thanks.  God is THERE for you!  We just have to ask.  And if we can get Poland praying correctly, we can get Poland baptized.
 
My companion and I are doing GREAT!  We have so much to tell eachother, so many ideas to bounce off of one another, and so many things we AGREE on, that it's really refreshing!  I'm stoked to have only 30 minute lessons and to be able to speak more and just there will be some new things going on here and I need this change, it's going to be stellar.  I've already learned so much from Sister Bezdjian. 

 

All I can say is that miracles DO happen.  A man at a door yesterday said it was hard to believe everything about this Joseph Smith character.  Yeah well it's hard to believe that Christ changed water to wine too, I said, but it happened! And so did Joseph Smith story.  And whatever problem you are facing in life right now, it can be fixed through the Atonement and power of Christ, this I know.  MIRACLES will happen in Poland.  Sister B. has more faith in that than anyone I know.  She just EXPECTS it to happen, and it does - it's really weird, but super cool.  :) I'm excited to learn from her and have FAITH!

 

No pictures this week, or voice recordings, I'll work on it.

Mom, I did get your letter!  And I haven't read anything you guys sent me yet but I did look at the pictures - nice deer! 

Love ya all!

- Siostra Allen

Ode to Sister Folsom

 

Luke asked: Have you gotten to give out Books of Mormon this week? Is it getting cold? I feel so sick and my head hurts, maybe you gave me your sickness. Are you feeling better?

I'm feeling MUCH better, I gave out 9 Books of Mormon this week BUT this week was the best EVER because we had 22 LESSONS!  That's the most I've had in one week my whole mission!  And yes, it's getting colder, but last week was also REALLY warm for some reason - people call it a Golden Polish Autumn here instead of an Indian Summer like they do in the States.  It's been so GORGEOUS with all the leaves changing.  Last night there was lots of MIST though, tell me if you got the story I recorded and if you listened to it!

To all the BYU fans, I'm sorry about Riley and Notre Dame and stuff. That's a bummer.  Hey but maybe it's not meant to be, eh?

Well, my companion of four months is going home... it's weird.  Really weird.  But today I thought I'd just write about some things she's taught me:

 

Sister Folsom taught me how to cry when you eat really hot pizza.

Sister Folsom taught me how to never say anything negative, you never know who's listening that you'll bring down with you.

Sister Folsom taught me how to adopt an Eternal Perspective.

Sister Folsom taught me how to always listen to the Spirit, and to learn to recognize it.

Sister Folsom taught me to boot shop in the rain.

Sister Folsom taught me how to LOVE the people, LOVE the language, and LOVE the FOOD! :)

Sister Folsom taught me that when all else fails, MOże Być

Sister Folsom taught me you don't have to get all the right answers to get an 'A'

Sister Folsom taught me that the church is TRUE, it's all TRUE, no matter WHAT others may say, it's all TRUE.

Sister Folsom taught me that my gifts and talents were given to ME to add to God's storehouse and contribute to His kingdom in a unique way that only I can do it.  She said it's not just to catch a cool husband when I get home - it's to build God's kingdom.  So I better use my talents WISELY and realize that even if I can't do something the way she does, or the way someone else does, I'm here because God knew he could use ME, with all my weaknesses and flaws and everything!

Sister Folsom taught me that SATAN is the one telling me ooh, that's really annoying, I'm annoyed and that he's the one telling me I can't do this  It's Satan that whispers little lies to me and when I get frustrated I need to not only recognize what God's saying to me but see how I'm letting Satan in and to STOP it.

Sister Folsom taught me how to get to Kutno, Poland :)

Sister Folsom taught me how to go on an adventure in the mists of darkness, holding on to the iron rod, and making it to the TREE OF LIFE!

Sister Folsom taught me how to make life a PATTERN of PRAYER!

 

Yep, she taught me a TON and so much more I don't have time to write as of now!  But I really love her, and Poland will miss her a lot.  Good luck, Sister Folsom!

O.k., so my new companion will be Sister Bezjdian!!!  I'm SO EXCITED!  Change will be really good for me right now!  I will be staying in Poznań with her for the next two months - which are also the HOLIDAYS!  I'm excited to spend the holidays in my favorite place in the world!  It's going to be sweet!

 

Just so you all know, we're teaching three families right now!  It's really such a blessing!  I am so, SO blessed.  This last week was just a miracle.  One of my favorite things, when I felt the spirit so strong, was when we were walking down this street away from Pan Wojtek's place (remind me to tell you about him) and I said hello to this really old woman.  She said, 'hello, do I know you?' and was a bit startled.  I said, no, I just say hi to everyone.  She said, as she started to cry in a really shaky voice, 'well that's good!  I'm pleased!  Good to know there's still people like that out there,' and then she started to walk back to her house.  SAY HELLO to EVERYONE!  They need you more than you know.

I love you all, and smiles coming your way from Poznań]

Love,

Siostra Amber Allen

My Brother's an ELDER!!!

Oh man, I just got done reading one of Gregg's letters.  What a stud.  He's an ELDER!  And he's learning how lazy americans are...and how grateful we should be for our family, and just how much he loves us all, he's gaining weight like a good missionary should ... and man, I just LOVE MISSIONS!  The things they do for people is unreal.  UNREAL!

 

You know what else is unreal?  This week we had a MOM in Sacrament Meeting and we also had TWENTY-FIVE PEOPLE in Sacrament Meeting - most we've had since like my first transfer.  SO AWESOME! 

 

WHOA!!! WAIT WHAT!  I am skipping back and forth between reading letters and writing this dang e-mail and I just saw that TASHA IS PREGNANT!  WHAT IS THIS!  Aaaah!!!!! I'm SO HAPPY, I'm going to be an AUNT!  :) Haha, please do tell Tasha that her kids will call me Aunt Amber, it's going to be a party.  Oh man, Congrats to Tom and Tasha, my favorite red-headed couple in the whole world!!!  And TIFFANY is putting in mission papers?! and got accepted to BYU-Idaho?!!!  AWESOME!!!  Well, if any of these are rumors, I'm sure sorry... but they make me excited anyways!  So yeah...

 

Well, mom, you asked about the lady with an older fourty year old son... I'm not quite sure who that is, maybe Łucja?  We are not still teaching her, no.  The mother who we had the miracle meeting with (Kamila) never answers her phone and we saw her from her window once and she hurried and closed the window - so pretty sure she's avoiding us.  It happens alot, but I'm trying to get used to it.  The woman who had a baptismal date - Izabela - no longer has one, she also didn't answer her phone for like 2 weeks and flaked us three times.  She randomly called us this morning and set up a meeting tonight, so not really sure where that's going, but no, she doesn't have a baptismal date any more.  Matylda's family hasn't come to church, we invited Matylda to church yesterday, but she didn't come.  We have another meeting with that young mom and dad this week, though!  And there was a mom, Ola, who came to church with her two kids, a girl and a boy!  So fun!  We have a lesson with her tonight as well, so that will be awesome!

 

I woke up yesterday with what felt like a sinus infection.  I was expecting to make it through my whole mission without getting sick because when I got set apart, the Stake President said I'd be healthy like 3 times in the blessing!  Haha, but alas, here I am with stuffy nose and sort of achy head.  It's okay, I work through it, and life goes on!  I worry about my voice, though, if that goes... well... I didn't realize how much a missionary really needs her voice! 

 

O.k. besides this all I guess I ought to tell you some more stories...

 

So one day this week we were walking along the streets of Poznań and getting NAILED.  Like people were laughing at us and being rude and not stopping to talk and I was actually fine with it all, but I think Sister Folsom at that particular moment was feeling pretty...well...nailed.  And then randomly, some lady says to me, 'are you alright?'  (of course she said it in polish...)  And I go, 'yeah, why?'  She's so kind and an older woman with dyed black hair, but really young style clothes - she's like, 'well you just looked tired!'  'Haha!  Maybe I am a bit,'  'Well I am too,' she says - WHAT!  NO ONE EVER just TALKS to me!  It was so cool, then Sister Folsom came up and we talked to Beata for a while and she was so kind and has been to the States - to Oregon - which is where Sister Folsom is from.  So it was just awesome.  Then the NEXT person we meet is Elżbieta.  This woman KNOWS THE BIBLE!  NO ONE EVER KNOWS THE BIBLE!  People here say, 'the bible is enough for me' but no one has read it.  Even the Jehovah's Witnesses who claim they know the bible front to back haven't really read the whole thing through.  If they have, they completely ignore the fact that it doesn't make any sense with out the restoration!  So anyways, both of these women gave us their contact information and it was just great.  THEN!  I saw Bogusia!  (Boh-Goo-SH-UH)  (Yeah, the names here are out of WHACK! and AWESOME!)  she is one of our investegators who got offended at church and has been sick and just hasn't made time to meet.  So she wanted to use a computer with internet...just so happens we were headed back to the chapel and there's one there!  So we got to walk her back to the chapel and give her time on the internet.  Then we had a lesson with her on Word of Wisdom - which she AGREED to live!  And then the Elders gave her a priesthood blessing cuz she's been sick.  So great! 

 

Basically, if things are hard, and you're feeling like you're getting nailed... just wait, God's got something SO COOL in store for you.  I probably write about things like this every week... but that means God is pretty consistant, eh?  Yeah, it means we can surely TRUST HIM!  Because God knows how to give good gifts.  And he knows how to succor his children.  He especially loves us missionaries.  And if you want to feel especially loved... try being a missionary.  You can do it wherever you are, and whenever.  Do you know how AMAZING it is that so many of you know so many MORMONS?  There are no mormons in Poland... well there are a few... but the ones that are here I think at times feel very lonely.  I wish they could see a picture of my ward, a picture of the young woman's.  I wish they could talk to you and feel of your love and know they're not alone.  I wonder why I'm so blessed sometimes.  And it's really because my ancestors chose to live the gospel... and probably somewhere long long ago somebody followed the spirit to move to America.  You Americans don't have a clue how much you've got!  Seriously... You're so blessed.

 

God really is in the details of our lives.  Pray for help.  Read your BIBLE.  And KNOW your BIBLE.  It's true too, remember?

Love you tons, especially Mom, Dad, Gregg, Nathan, Spencer, Rachel, James, and Luke.  I can't tell you how much I love you guys.  I'm going to try to write a letter today and get it in the mail.  I also have a voice recorder I might try recording something and sending it next week, with pictures, no promises though!

 

LOVE YA TONS

The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is TRUE!

- Amber Allen

And then the WORLD got turned UPSIDE DOWN!!!

So, it's Saturday night in Poznań and the Elders call us... three times...while we were planning...and PRAYING even... Haha... we rejected and ignored their calls until after planning and prayer and then we called them back.  What's up?  Starszy Skolimowski starts out by saying, 'have you heard the big news?'  '"No, what?"  'President Monson's announcement, you haven't heard it?'  'NO, WHAT IS IT!?'  - so he's on speaker phone, we hadn't got to watch conference but the Elders watched it with their english speaking investegator at the Reed's apartment - and then he drops the bomb, 'They announced that Elders can now serve at age 18 and girls at age 19.'  'WHAT!!!'  ARE YOU KIDDING?!  Sister Folsom and I sort of...errupted... haha it was very LOUD to say the least in our apartment that night.  After a few seconds of freaking out, I realized they could be pulling our leg.  They've done it before... so we checked for understanding, like a good missionary should, and then decided to check in with a different source, out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses, you know?  So we actually rudely hung up on the elders and called Elder Reed who then CONFIRMED this craziness.  We couldn't stop thinking about it.  It was really hard to get to sleep.  I haven't wanted to call my family and Jenny so much in the last six months as I did last night.  I just wanted to talk to you guys so bad about this!  NATHAN!  I did the math and if you leave in July, that means I won't see you for a total of like 3 years and four months.  That really stinks.  But I'm willing to give you up for the Lord.  Besides, sacrifice brings for the blessings, right?  SCOTT!  Have you talked to Scott much about it?  You said you felt like you lost a year of your life, I just kept thinking about you, Nate, and wondering how you were feeling, if you could sleep Saturday night alright.  I think my head would be spinning.  This is going to completely CHANGE things, you know that?  Mormon culture is going to be so different.  And SO many more girls are going to serve.  Jenny!  man, I read your letter today and just cried.  I'd wanted to cry for you when I heard the news on Saturday but I was too excited to cry.  Today, I guess I was just in the mood and have now been able to cry  --cry for happiness that you get to go now and you don't have to wait like I did (if that is, of course, what the 'man upstairs' has in store for you).  Then again, like my Mom said, I definitely was supposed to go on a mission when I went, because that was what was supposed to happen.  I'm so grateful that I met Sarah and Laura and Stirling and Tyler and Bobby and the 8th Ward and learned to play the guitar and everything, no regrets!  Such a good life, I'm leading!  You know that?  WE are SOOOOoooooo BLESSED!  I guess I cried about that too, mom's letter just made me smile and cry.  She has such a strong testimony.

 

Yep so the Lord is preparing an ARMY, you know that?  An army  of young, prepared people.  Let me tell you, Nathan, Scott, Jenny, and who ever else is thinking about serving now - YOU ARE READY.  God wouldn't have changed the time period if he didn't know who was on the earth, RIGHT NOW to send out.  God loves you and, like President Monson said yesterday, he's in the very details of our lives.  (By the way I did get to watch Sunday morning session - and just the segment from Saturday's session when the prophet made that announcement.)

 

Dad, you asked if I'm tired.  Well sometimes I feel tired, expecially now that my legs and feet are realizing what they got themselves into... I do need to go buy some new boots and my favorite pair of shoes are almost worn out as of right now!   But generally, especially on lessons, I'm not near as tired because I can actually understand most of the conversation and I try to add in more things than I used to.  So that's good. 

 

You also asked about service opportunities.  We were able to move a dresser drawer thingy for a lady the other day who needed it moved...um... and I'm sure there's other things we've done as service but for the most part we don't really have any planned things.  I wish we did.  Sometimes after people rejecting us so much all I want is just someone to serve.  I love it when an old lady is walking slowly with tons of groceries and we just get to help her, it feels so good to just simply SERVE because a lot of the time I just feel like I'm bothering people.

 

Transfers are on the 26th of October, so my companion will leave me the 25th or so.  I'm a bit nervous, sad that sister Folsom is leaving, but definitley ready for some change up in here.  I really hope I get to stay in Poznań for the holidays at least.  I love this place so much.  It's so beautiful.  The leaves are starting to change and the people, I love the people here, and the lay out of the city, and the branch, and just... EVERYTHING!  I LOVE IT!  This is my city, definitley was meant to be here.

 

O.k. well, I feel like I haven't shared enough spiritual things, I am a missionary after all.  Just know that FAMILY is so important.  Oh my goodness it's so important.  I recieved a letter from Rishi this week and one from Katherine's family a while ago and I just LOVED getting those letters and recieving e-mails from you all today.  I'm so grateful that God has given us FAMILIES.  We got to meet with a family this week, actually, and I think it may be the first actual FAMILY who we've met with ALL TOGETHER.  We meet at the homes of families sometimes, but only one of the parents listens or something... so this was actually a young mom and dad, with their baby in the room, he's like 10 months old and named after his dad - SO CUTE!  They were so fun.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to TEACH them!  I honestly didn't think that lesson would go through - it's always the lessons you don't think will go through that do.  So God wants you to just LOVE your families, try to find ways to serve them, know that you were put in YOUR family for a reason and God loves you so much.  I want to be with my family forever and I'm going to miss Nathan alot but at least we can still write, eh? 

 

Man, there was so much else I was going to write, but my time's up.

Love you all tons,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the ONLY true church on the earth today.  I know it as much as I know that I have blue eyes and blonde hair - speaking of which, do we have Norwegian ancestors?  Several people this week told me I look Norwegian!

O.k. Dozobaczenia

-Siostra Amber Allen

SIDELINES

We did not get an email from Amber last Monday October,1,2012 She resent it today.

 

 

My family is very sports oriented and we love to watch, play, and talk about sports, pretty much any time of day all year long.  We're in the middle of BYU football season, and my brothers are playing soccer and flag football and of course they play basketball all year long Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  Dedication.  Haha, well even on my mission, I've been thinking about sports, and really applying the gospel to them really.  Lately I've been thinking alot about sidelines.  The first idea goes something like this:

 

Play hard while you're on/in the field, you never know who's watching you from the sidelines.

 

    I've been thinking about people in my life who probably don't know how much I watched them from the sidelines.  All my cousins who served missions, and my college friends too, Tessa who I watched drawing and inspired me to be an artist myself.  I even have a bookmark I have with me out here in Poland that I got from Sister Susan Standefer when I was in primary.  I defintiely watched her from the sidelines, what an amazing woman.  My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Jones, I watched her and wanted to be a teacher.  Amber Pickering, and Cheris Henderson - I think about them alot while I'm on my mission because I can picture them in my mind's eye with a name tag and a smile just turning the world upside down with their soul-shaking testimonies!

    I think the ones I really learned the most from, though, were my parents, of course.  I can see who I've become because of my parents.  My parents taught me to work hard, to plow through, and to give it my best shot.  In sports and dance and piano I was always encouraged to practice, practice, practice, and to have confidence in myself.  Dad always taught me I could do what I wanted to with my life, he taught me to dream.  Mom taught me to dream about my family, to love deeply and unselfishly.  My parents are also both firm in their beliefs and they're rooted, not to be moved.  I am learning more than ever out here playing on this field, how great it is to have those coaches, who are now on the sidelines watching me play (and cheering me on, rather than learning from me).  I am also grateful that not only could I watch them play, and have their example of being missionaries when they were young, but that now I have their full support.  I know mom prays for me multiple times a day, and dad too.  I'm so grateful for them.  I'm also grateful for all my friends and cousins who care and cheer for me too!  I got a package from Nephi and Katherine's family recently and it just made me SO HAPPY!  Thanks guys!

    There's something else about sidelines that's pretty magical too though, it's the faith that someone is learning from you as you play.  Sometimes we're in the heat of the game and all we can see is the goal line, the ball, the sweat, the dirt, the clock, whatever it is.  But you really hope that somebody is watching, learning, growing from you.  Sister Folsom and I have been talking alot about this lately, about how we're asked to have faith that we'll get baptisms... well Sister Folsom's only seen one which she taught her whole mission.  Yeah, but she's so full of faith that I don't know if there's any room left!  So where is all this hard work of faith going to?  The SIDELINES.  Four times in the last little while, people have been listening when I had no idea they were even there.  I was talking to someone and Hania was listening and then she ended up talking to Sister Folsom and we got a new investegator off of it!  The tramwaj driver was listening once and waved at us kindly.  Another woman was amazed we'd learned Polish that fast and started talking to us because we were talking to someone else.  Also, who knows how many people sit in on our lessons from the other side of the veil... and I have to believe that lots of our work lies in futurity!  WE ARE moving mountains, but we just have to have faith they're moving because we're focused on the ball right now... not on how many people in the crowd are being inspired in they're own simple ways to change for the better.  It's really a great feeling, to know that mountains ARE moving, even if we can't see them.  I KNOW they are, because I can feel it.  God didn't send us here to fail, so something great has got to be happening.

    Point of the sidelines story - KEEP singing, KEEP playing, KEEP praying because SOMETHING will come of it.  Have faith, and someday we'll see the mountains we've moved and it'll be super beautiful!  Some more stories:

 

Just yesterday we were at Park Cytadella, one of my favorite parks, and we were walking in when Sister Folsom got a phone call so I decided to just contact on my own for a minute and I saw the cutest little family out walking in the leaves.  Looked like they were searching for something, I thought perhaps for mushrooms…so I went over, and instead of just saying something about the gospel right away – like Elder Jensen talked about the Nike shoes first and then led into the gospel – I asked first about what they were doing.  It ended up being a really fun conversation especially because even though I told her that my Polish wasn’t very good, she insisted that it was and that if I could understand what she was saying after only 5 months of learning the language, that was pretty great.  Yes, well I prayed for help – that’s the best answer for that one!  And then we got into a little bit of a gospel discussion and then Sister Folsom came over and helped and we ended up being able to leave her with a Book of Mormon!  She says she doesn’t have time to meet, but Ana was interested, and if she just reads, man, so cool!  I know that even though a lot of the rest of that contacting time felt pretty slow, that one contact was why we were supposed to be there yesterday.

Another one, we were on our way to go tracting in another part of Poznań and there was a younger college age man coming out of the grocery store and we contacted him.  He was super nice and surprised that we talk about God to people because not very many people do.  He was up for meeting but didn’t have time and I just kept thinking about what we’d talked about in Zone Conference about how we should try to teach right NOW, if we can.  So I just re-stated that we could teach him right now if he had time, he agreed for us to come back in a ½ hour!  So we did!  And the lesson was so good, but at the end was the best part.  Darek has had some hard things in his life, and he wants help, but when we asked him to pray out loud, he didn’t want to, he said he was too nervous or something… We kept encouraging him for what seemed like at least 10 minutes, I even prayed once, telling him that my Polish stinks but I still pray out loud!  And then he finally did it!  Coolest thing was, that the beginning of his prayer was really slow and labored but as soon as he opened his mouth and just took that leap of faith to pray, it became way easier and the words just flowed from his mouth!  HOW AWESOME IS THAT!  He prayed to his heavenly father because we’re in Poland!  Such a great feeling.  He even said afterwards how much better he felt after the prayer and how we were right, it really did get easier as you pray!

A woman named Eugina said she’s been attending the Catholic Church across from her house for 30 years and has never felt the way she did when Sister Folsom quoted the First Vision story.  She’s committed to read the book of mormon, and those goosebumps were real.

Karol, an inactive member we found randomly on a bench my first couple weeks here has now been at church three weeks in a row and bore his testimony yesterday.  His testimony was much like Darek’s prayer, opened his mouth and at first it was like, ‘I feel good here, I don’t have much of a testimony….’ Some soft stuff….but as he bore witness, the spirit hit him and he was able to testify with great power that this church is TRUE.  And it was AMAZING and I wanted to SHOUT for joy because I felt so utterly HAPPY! 

The principle of all this?  OPEN YOUR MOUTH.  God will fill you with words, God will follow through if you just TRY.  Have confidence my little flock, because you CAN do this!

My companion and I are doing great.  I am just praying that Sister Folsom is happy all the time and praying that I can act in a way that will help her stay happy.  I’m hoping that she can have a smooth transition to go home –then again if you are a ‘consecrated missionary’ you are guaranteed to not have a smooth transition home… so I don’t really know what to pray for… Haha…oh well, so is life.  But we’re really doing great!  We even got free pasteries this week, SWEET!  Literally!

The church is SO true, and I'm so grateful for it in my life!  I'm so glad Gregg is serving with me!  Lots of love from me to you,

-Sister Amber Allen

Awesome Autumn

WHAT?!? 

It’s Monday again?  When did THAT happen?  Weird…

(You know what else is weird?  Here they mow the lawn with weed-whackers- yeah it looks like it takes FOREVER and so...just be grateful, okay?)

Well, I guess here I am again, and oh yeah, DZIEń DOBRY!

Also, HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY JENNY on the 27th, you're the BESTEST!  Love ya!

This week has been quite unusual.  You see at the beginning of the week, we had about 15 lessons set up.  GREAT!...and then Satan got to work... and we ended up having a total of 9 lessons (maybe the lowest ammount of lessons I've had in one week my entire mission -- and some of those were not even the planned ones!)  So we had a lot of people fall through on us this week, but hey, so it goes.  Thing was, even though it felt like we were at war, (people not showing up, some hard lessons, and church this week was a bit… crazy…to say the least…)  for some reason we were really happy this week.  Every day we looked at each other and were like, ‘What is this?  We should be upset at least right now, but we’re not!'  And so that’s how it went, and I’m loving it!

Probably my favorite part of the week was our lesson with Anna Bird.  That's what she calls herself.  We met this woman in the park on a windy cold day a couple weeks ago while she was walking around with an older man who I think was paralyzed and in a wheelchair.  She was super cute and tried to speak some English, (to get a picture of her, she's about my size, blonde, and she's mom's age, got three kids, and super positive) told us that she’d welcome us over to her place sometime but she was really busy so we’d have to call later.  Usually that means, ‘I’m not really interested and I’m not going to pick up my phone if you call me.’  Well I got to call her last week and set up and she said we could come over!  So Friday we walked out to her HOUSE.  Yeah, well it’s mostly a house, smushed in between other “houses” – but it’s the biggest living space I’ve seen since the Mission Home.  We rang her door bell and she came out to get us at the gate and then we walked up to her house and it was so beautiful!  We got to meet her son first, His name is Mihał, who is 14 and he is in a wheelchair for life, but he sure doesn’t act like it, he’s AWESOME.  Then we met Lenna, the youngest, who is 12 and super nice.  Then we met Agnieszka who is 21 and also a gem.  Poprostu, there was this feeling in their house even before we started the lesson, the Spirit is in that house, and that family is amazing.  They fed us cake and tea (yes we drink a lot of fruit tea here in Poland because fruit tea is not against the Word of Wisdom) and we got to introduce ourselves and then once we got settled we were able to share a lesson with them!  A lesson about the restoration!  And as I told the First Vision, Anna’s eyes got all teary, and I was so hot, my face felt really flushed… and we just all could feel the Spirit so strongly.  Anna really is looking for something!  And THIS IS IT!  And we got to set up again with her and Agnieszka sat in on the whole lesson and so we have 2 new investigators!  And it was just so great, so, so great.  The thing is, her husband is a strong Catholic and wouldn’t let her keep meeting with the Jehovah’s Witnesses when she was meeting with them… so we’re hoping his heart will be softened and we can baptize the whole family and things will just be miraculous… it’d take a MIRACLE is all I’m saying, but God is a God of miracles and I LOVE this family so I’m not writing them off anytime soon.

ALSO, we have a woman with a baptismal date!  Her name is Izabella and she's an older woman, who wanted to learn English.  We began teaching her three weeks ago and she's the sweetest old lady - very, very humble.  She's started reading the Book of Mormon and shen sister Folsom asked her if she'd prepare to be baptized on November 11th, she said she would!  Wahoo!  It made my day!  That was ALSO the 22nd of September, which as my mother knows well (because she has such an amazing memory and remembers dates like a calendar) is the day that Joseph Smith actually recieve the Golden Plates from Moroni.  In our family we go hunting for the Golden Plates every year, so I decided to make up my own hunt for the Elders and sister Folsom at the chapel!  Haha, it was a blast.  I made some "Golden Plates" out of some gold butcher paper we had in our apartment and hid them.  Then we had a Search-For-The-Golden-Plates-Party-And-Eat-Microwaved-Pierogies!  :) Oh what a fun day.  And oh how I'm grateful for Joseph Smith.

Mom, you asked about the language.  Honestly I am feeling a lot better about the language.  I can express myself better now and I can actually carry on a conversation by myself without my companion alright.  I tried translating for Sister Reed in Relief Society yesterday and Marta - the 20 year old AWESOME member here in Poznań said I'm grasping the language really well.  That's what people seem to say, but I don't know really, I still am not expert by any means!  It's all getting easier though, that's for sure.  I look at my language books and can understand them better, I know a bigger percentage of the vocabulary and...yeah it's getting SWEET!  I'm starting to realize I can speak a 2nd LANGUAGE! :) :) :)

Another cool thing: we bought tickets to go see the Ballet - Swan Lake - I'm going to a European Ballet!  We even bought the nicer tickets because they're so "cheap" and I'm pretty stoked (even though I'd rather watch a BYU Football game...).

Oh one more cool thing, so two weeks ago we were tracting and not getting much luck and we were leaving ulotki (don't know the word in English...flier maybe?) and we get to the last door and this older couple comes to the door and starts SCREAMING at us... yeah they were full out YELLING at us with all their lung capacity and I didn't know what to do...so we sort of said sorry and walked down the last flight of stairs with them still yelling.  Turns out, a guy upstairs who didn't open his door for us, heard the yelling and grabbed the ulotka and got interested and CAME TO CHURCH LAST SUNDAY!  He told us how he had heard the screaming and was curious...then he came AGAIN this week and he's now set up with the missionaries and will be taught by them!  WHOOP! 

Moral of the story is... that I love being a missionary.  I love Poland.  I love Poznań.  And I love you all.  No matter what is going on in your life, know that you can trust god to get you through.  So SMILE and TRUST HIM! :)  I could add so much more, but don't have time left.

Love you tons,

- Sister Amber Allen

Boot Camp and Cookies

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!  The church is true and nothing else matters… And because the church is true, I have SOOoooo many things to be grateful for and to talk about and to smile about and sing about and… it’s just great! :) Sounds like BYU lost their football game, well that stinks!  I'll bet it gave grandpa heartburn, and the rest of you are depressed for the next couple days... haha, good ol' BYU. 

Yeah, so pretty much one of the best weeks of my WHOLE MISSION.  I've had such an eye-opening week, and it's been full of inspiration and guidance and love and...man, just such a great time.  So Monday afternoon, Sister Folsom took off to Gdańsk and I hung out with the Reed's at their apartment.  We ate some delicious soup and rolls and listened to a cool talk by one of the general authorities. (I'm sorry, my memory is so horrible, and dad that's probably why I don't remember your mission stories... arg...)  Then we went to pick up Sister Bezdjian.  O.k. so I was nervous because I've seen this girl in action, the first day we were in the mission home, my companion was talking to me about life and the happiness of the mission home, itd, and Sister Bezdjian took Sister Ostler into another room and they were PLANNING and she was telling her about the next week and all the lessons they had set up, etc.  Sister Bezdjian was only in the mission for 3 months before she TRAINED... this woman is A-MAZING... and she's just like a super hard worker.  I was worried that I wasn't up to par and such, but she gets here and she's so sweet and so awesome, and still a super hard worker!  So we got to tract that night, she's a head shorter than me, sorry I didn't take any pictures of us, but it was funny to see her try to talk into the domaphone sometimes...  And we just had a good time and talked about our companionships and I got to see how she contacted and tracted and the next day was super awesome too.  I probably just had my jaw hanging open part of the day because of how many names and numbers we got when she was here for just 24 hours!  We just ripped it up!  And my confidence in that 24 hours went up like 50% as well... it was super weird... but super needed.  Her polish isn't all refined like sister Folsom's is, but she still can whip stuff out and she memorizes stuff during the day instead of talking about nonsense... and man... she's like boot camp with cookies all mixed together and I LOVE HER STYLE!  I so want to serve with her later, I think she'd be really good for Poznań, and for me, I didn't get to learn all I wanted from her.

Then when Sister Bezdjian left on the train Wednesday, I was by myself for like four hours and I made PHONE CALLS!  Yeah, Sister Bezdjian gave me enough confidence to make PHONE CALLS in POLISH... should have been trying that long ago, but it was sweet... I still had to sort of talk myself into it and write a few things down, but I got to call and a couple people answered and understood me and, no sweat, it was alright in the end :)  Haha... oh boy, it was just awesome.  I also made some apple crumble stuff for Sister Folsom when she returned because she's always baking for me.  So it was just fun, I needed some alone time, to really pray out-loud by myself for a good half an hour, just soak up the fact that I can improve, we're going to step it up, and yeah, it was just great.  Elders are lucky they get exchanges all the time.  We get so stuck in this world, we're really isolated and I don't have a clue what other sisters are like - only heard other sister's voices like 3 times in the past 3 months.  Speaking of months... this week I'll have been on my mission 5 months ALREADY!  CRAZINESS!

So Stephen Parker got himself hitched this week, I see.  Good pick, she's beautiful!  And I wish I could have been there, Congratulations!  Gregg, you packed yet?  I'm writing you a letter TODAY and gunna try to send it.  Also, Jack gets home the 3rd of October and I think speaks the 14th, if you guys want to go, that'd be cool, his whole family came to my farewell, so... yeah. 

We sometimes do what is called a whiteboard here in Poznań where we write a question on a whiteboard in a very crowded place and then ask people to answer it.  Like, "What question would you ask God?"  or "What brings you happiness?"  So this last week we decided to write "What is true love?"  We didn't realize how awkward that'd be for the elders, haha...but it was pretty funny, just to see their faces.  They said it was so weird to say that to a girl...and as well to say it to any guy...so that was just funny!  But I got to talk to a SUPER sweet MOM!!!  And her baby boy was chasing a pigeon at one point and she took a BOOK of MORMON and I got her number and we called her and she said we can meet in a few weeks.  Man, SO EXCITING!

Some of these pictures, so one was taken just a few minutes ago of me and my companion :) HI from the Poznań library! 

Some of them are from the Bazar, the market place, I thought it was cool some of the apples were called JAMES apples...!!!  Oh and they sell huge sunflowers...not sure what for, I mean the seeds of course...but... yeah.  And then they braid their garlic and there was an old woman selling those... The APPLES are in season and we've got BUSHELS and BUSHELS of APPLES, people just kept giving them to us so we had to think of new things to make with them...

O.k. so a few wise things:

If you look for spiders, you'll find them.

Sister Folsom HATES spiders, so it's kinda funny when we go ring domaphones and there's a spider, sometimes I have to do the whole building by myself - okay that's probably only happened once - haha, but here's the wise thing.  If she's not thinking about them, or looking for them, she's not bothered.  So in life, when we have something that bothers us, or we're looking for those things, life's gunna really be hard.  So apply Elder Uchtdorf's two word sermon and STOP IT, if you do that... There are much better things to look at.  Look for the GOOD things, because surely, if you look for spiders, you'll find them.

The Lord can draw a straight line with even the most crooked of sticks.

My dad sent me that poem, 'The Touch of the Master's Hand' last week, and it reminded me of this statement that sister Folsom found in an old Ensign.  It's so true!  God can do so many great things with us, his humble, no good, rotten servants!  Even if we are the weakest of the weak, he can make us strong and build us up.  It's mighty beautiful, I'd say!

The stars are still there, my dear.

No matter where I am, even in this crazy busy city, the stars are still there!  I saw what looked like the Big Dipper the other night and it just made me so HAPPY!  I love the stars!  They make me feel... at home.  God exists, no matter WHERE you are!  So believe in him, because HE BELIEVES IN YOU!

Mom, question, how many women are in our ward Relief Society?  How many in the Stake are you over?  We're going to try to help this woman get started with Visiting Teaching assignments here in Poznań and I was just wondering about that... man the dynamics are so different here... 

One more quick miracle story.  So we looked up some formers in our Area Book and found a family, we didn't have their phone number so we had a little adventure roaming all around Poznań looking for this address yesterday.  Oooh, what fun!  So we found it!  And at first they weren't going to let us talk to them, but we just chatted and the young girl, Matilda, opened the door and she was so sweet and I tried to talk to her while Sister Folsom talked to the mom and dad.  They live in a really run-down place, very poor, but in the end we got Matilda's phone number and her parents!  Matilda wants to come to a young women's activity!  We only have one young woman, but maybe we'll get another one!  HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE!  I already love this girl, she's 12 and has curly brown hair and she's skinny and tall and it just seems so... RIGHT that we got to meet them.  I don't think the parents really wanted us to have their number, but it'll all work out.  Her little brother came out at the end of the conversation and reminded me so much of Hyrum.  He was probably about five and had blonde hair.  I asked him his name - he's named after the last Polish pope, Jan Pawel the second :) haha... and I shook his hand and said, 'Jak się masz?'  he goes 'SUPER!!!'' = ) SO CUTE!  Man... I'm excited to see where that one goes.

O.k. so assignment for the week...Fight Satan... just keep fighting.  I know sometimes it seems like you can't hold your sword up anymore, you can't put on your armor today, it's too heavy... Sometimes it feels like the army is too loud, too large, too threatening.  But there are more than us than there are of them.  You DO want to be on the Lord's side, because he ALWAYS wins... he ALWAYS makes his free-throws and last second field goals... :) And if you're on his side, you'll always come out on top! 

I love you all, thanks for you're prayers, they're SO FELT.  I had SUCH a good week. 

Keep fighting the good fight of faith! 

- Sister Amber Allen

There's not many trucks in Poland... so I just had to get a picture with one of them :)

LOVE YA!

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When You Get on the Wrong Train

Well, I love, love, LOVED the pictures, Nella’s face looks lots better!  Congrats Katherine, by the way.  And Amelia’s hair is Soooooo long!  And I loved Tonja’s red skirt.  And if Hailey Rittenhouse reads this, she gave her farewell talk yesterday too, so good luck, you’re going to be a great GREAT missionary!  Gregg I'm sure your talk went great, because you are so amazing, and by the way, you are too handsome to go on a mission, those Brazilian girls will just fall in love with you.  Man…smokin’… And Hyrum… are you taller than when I left?  You should all measure yourselves and keep track so we know how much you grew while I was on my mission.  You know I’ve almost been on my mission for 5 months?  Holy crow… Haha speaking of holy crows… Sister Folsom says that people here think that priests turn into pigeons in the next life and that is why they feed them… hmf?!  Don’t know if that really is a true belief, or who she heard it from, but I do know there are some pretty ugly looking pigeons in this town…

Well, this week was mighty interesting…and something is wrong with my keyboard…so Im not typing very fast and there will be some weird mistakes now and then…just deal with it… Um yeah.  So this one time, on Friday, we had Zone Conference!  I was really pretty excited to see Sister Ostler again, cuz shes in our Zone, as well as Elder Raines from our MTC group.  So we went on our run early, early in the morning, like 5.30 and then we were to Most Teatralny by 7.30 I think, then to the train station by 8.  Our train was supposed to leave at 8.30.  Ive never gotten on a train by myself...(the keyboard is back to normal!  Wha-hoo!)... so I was just following blindly, you know, oh, sweet, this is our train, I'm following you!  We brought breakfast for the Elders so there were the two elders from Szczecziń (Garfield from Virginia, and Elder VanBakel from Holland) and our Elders, Elder Skolimowski (from Salt Lake City) and Elder Tiner (from LasVegas).  We ate french toast made of homemade bread with homemade syrup and I made some eggs and bacon with cheese... Um it was DELICIOUS and I was so excited.  So we get on this train and we're on there for like 2 hours, then we were stopped for like 40 minutes in this random place because something had been wrong with something and we were delayed so we called the people in Bydgość to tell them we would be late... not for another like 40 minutes was it when we realized what was going on... The man came to check our tickets - which according to my companion, USUALLY happens like 20 minutes after you get on the train - and he told us WE WERE ON THE WRONG TRAIN!  Wha!  So we tried to get it all figured out to get back to Bydgość and he made her buy the tickets to Bydgość without telling her what TIME we'd arrive there... so after she'd paid, THEN he told her and then we realized we'd be missing the ENTIRE zone conference since we were on the complete other side of Poland... Six missionaries... in Kutno, Poland, trying to get to Bydgość.  You should look it up on a map, see what we did, we went from Poznań to Kutno instead of going to Bydgość.  It was even worse for the guys from Sczecziń because they'd been on a train since like 5:00 that morning and ALSO had to walk like 45 minutes to get to the train station in their city... Ha...yep, so it was crazy and we all just got sick to our stomachs, I'm sure, especially my companion.  I was fine until after the whole ordeal and we had to go tracting in the rain... I was cold... I wanted to be at Zone Conference, and I knew that if I had been at home I probably wouldn't have even made it this long with out being pretty upset.  If I was home, I probably would have found someone to blame, would have been super upset that it cost so much and that we couldn't get our money back, and to add to that, we stopped in Kutno for a bite to eat and the lady was selling us frozen stuff she plopped in a microwave!  Haha...oh man... that was funny... but it didn't taste good, I got a pizza, a pizza with some...sauce on it...I'm pretty sure she slopped ketchup and mayonaise on top, it was all over the thing, and yum, yum, yum!  (said with a sarcastic grin...)  Anyways, Sister Folsom handled it really well after the fact...and I was just sort of...queezy...out of sorts later that evening.  She told me to cheer up... and I really tried...but I just didn't feel like singing, you know?  I wasn't yelling, or mad at the world, just out of sorts.  Looking back, I know I could have done better, and I know we can all do better.  In the long run, does it really matter?  No, and forever more I'll have a cool story to tell about KUTNO, Poland.  That's the thing, too, is when you get on the wrong train, you've got to just enjoy the trip.  And I could have enjoyed it more... On the way back we were on a really FULL train, there was no sitting room, so we were all standing.  We stood around this guy sitting on a small fold out chair in the hallway of the train.  I stuck my hand out first thing and said, (in Polish), "Hey there, what's your name, I'm sister Allen"  If I could have I would have been like, "figure since we're going to be here a while in this awkward position, might as well get to know eachother, eh?"  Haha, and turns out he's a Catholic Priest, lived in Ethiopia for 7 years helping kids learn English.  So we got to talk to him, the Elders and I.  It was sweet, we gave him a Book of Mormon - he took it!  Sweet, maybe he'll be convinced and then his buddies, and then a whole congregation, and then a whole city... Who knows, one man can change the world, right?  Joseph Smith did! 

 

And isn't that the coolest thing EVER!  Joseph Smith, a small 14 year old boy, CHANGED THE WORLD!  And I get to be a part of that, here in Poland!  So cool...

 

Other crazy stories... One time this week we set up meetings way too close to eachother, and so we ran from one to the next, like literally, RAN, in skirts and these shoes.  We had just picked up some chicken from Bożena because she didn't have any room for it in her fridge, so I was running down the street with a dead chicken in one hand and a Book of Mormon in the other... so fun!  What an adventure this is!  Bożena once made this cake that she thought was nasty, it had some fruit on it and it looked really yummy...but she told us she didn't like it and to throw it away on our way out of her apartment building.  So we went down the stairs, pretended to throw it away, but took it out of the garbage, put it under a jacket or something, (and we always wave to her on our way out so it had to be hidden) and then escaped.  It was SO YUMMY!  Silly lady... People in Poland just take for granted how amazing their food is, like seriously, the food here is UNBELIEVABLE.

 

So since we didn't make it to Zone Conference, we're having EXCHANGES!  My companion is leaving me today and she'll be back in like 2 days but I'll have Sister Bezdjan for a while (not sure how to spell her name), and that should be interesting.  I'm nervous to show her around Poznań just because I'm not sure I have a good hold on it yet myself, I should, I just follow too much.  So this will be really REALLY good for me to figure out.

 

I'm just so grateful for all the investegators we have right now!  We have about 8 of them, and we're meeting with Ewa this week and I just love that woman!  She gave us a Polish Cook book the other day!  Sweet!  I'm excited to try out some recipes. 

 

I am so grateful for Personal Study time in the mornings, we get at least an hour of personal study time every day and it's just so, so SO great.  I loved reading my Patriarchal Blessing today as well, and it talks alot about my family and my extended family.  Looking at the pictures you sent today just reminded me once again just how great families are, and how much God really does focus on them in this restored church of His!  It really is the focus of our day to day lives, it's what keeps me going in Poland and I love FAMILIES!  I encourage you to read your patriarchal blessing again this week, if you have one, and if you don't, I want you to just keep reading your Book of Mormon.  I am trying to read it through in Polish right now and it' so interesting in a different language!  I can't believe that Laman and Lemuel saw an angel and RIGHT AFTER were murmuring again.  I need to murmur less and smile more, don't we all?  The church is SO true, the Lord LOVES us and ANSWERS are prayers.  And even if things are not going if planned, if you are finding yourself in KUTNO, POLAND and you planned to be somewhere FAR different...remember there's a plan to everything.  God knows what he's doing and he'll get you where you need to be, when you need to be there.  Trust him!

 

Love you tons,

- Sister Amber Allen

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Sweet September!

As my mission president said today in his e-mail to the whole mission, "If this were a 'walk in the park,' you would go home and miss out on one of the important parts of what the 'stroll through life' is all about - forgetting yourself and serving others."  Life is hard sometimes, and hearing about the Lambs this week, having their son pass away, that is made all the more clear to me.  Life is so hard.  But it was meant to be that way, for a reason.  Amazing things is, that we KNOW that reason, and we have something to fall back on in hard times.  That's the gospel of Christ, and that's the Atonement of Christ.  We know that all things that aren't fair in this life will be made fair.  I may have mentioned this before, but I feel like God always prepares me to be happy before I write home on Mondays... it's like He knows that people at home need my happiness more than I need to be happy... if that makes any sense.  It's not like I'm super depressed during the week, but I have my hard times for sure.  I just always feel the love of God and it brings me back around.  So if any of you are feeling like you're having a hard time, just hang in there, because here's a promise from a 21 year old girl out here in Eastern Europe trying to learn one of the hardest languages on planet earth... I promise you that everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it's not the end, so HOLD ON.  Keep moving forward, it WILL be okay.

 

A few quick fun things:  I ate this really long french bread looking thing with a mushroom spread and some salad stuff and sauce and meat and it was DELICIOUS.  Also, you think people in America use the word 'LIKE' too much, haha, here in Poland they have a TON of filler words that they use all the time and I'm trying to learn them all... What else, oh so this lady fed us tea this week and we told her we could only drink fruit tea and she said it was fruit tea but Sister F. said it wasn't so we just didn't drink it and this was an older lady so luckily she just talked alot and didn't notice!  Aaah!  Haha and one of the chocolates she gave us was filled with liquor!  I didn't eat it... good thing I don't like chocolate! :) - haha sister Folsom took a bite and then realized what it was and put it in her bag...oh the ADVENTURE of being a MISSIONARY!  I love it!

 

Well this week we met with Ewa again, except this time we called her ahead of time to tell her we were fasting Saturday night as Sunday was Fast Sunday.  This was like an added bonus to Fast Sunday because we were then able to share with her our views on fasting and why we fast.  But that wasn’t the point of the lesson, really, we also got to talk to her about what she is thinking in regards to baptism.  It was a crazy lesson… she started out by telling us how she’d turned on the T.V. to find a Mormon Fundamentalist show on and it was all about polygamy and it was horrible.  She tried to show us this YouTube video on it and the music was creepy and they had clips from our General Conference.  It was all just super eerie and the spirit left right away.  I was really sad and just felt like throwing up.  But then Sister Folsom, thank heavens for my amazing companion, was able to side step that punch and with her amazing un-phased testimony just brought it back to the scriptures and how the scriptures say that polygamy is not for us at this time and that we need to study the scriptures.  We then talked about how the WORD is the seed which we should plant to see if it will grow.  So we talked about the Book of Mormon and Ewa began to tell us about her favorite parts of the Book of Mormon.  The first “favorite” scripture she read was about baptism!!!  Thing is, I don’t think she realized it herself that it was all centered on THAT!  But God is SO telling this woman to get baptized and we’re praying SO hard.  So the Spirit came back, Ewa got to feel it, and then we asked her to pray to know God’s will for her in getting baptized.  It actually took two prayers for her to actually ask the Lord in front of us, but she DID!  And it was so amazing!  I pray for her to really get a super strong un-deniable answer that this is the path she should choose.  If she gets baptized, there is going to be some Hell-Shaking going on here in Poznań!!!

 

Well, then I was having a really hard time Saturday night, things just weren't well in my mind and I wasn't very happy, sort of angry really.  It only took a few hours into Sunday, though, before God just started dumping random blessings on me.  Henry, a man from Ghana who is English speaking in our ward here in Poznań (going to medical school here in Poland) was one of those blessings.  He was so kind to me and just came and sat by me and asked about my life.  I got to try to interpret for him and it was a horrible translation but I got to serve and it took my mind off of my problem for a minute.  Then we went over to the Reed’s for lunch and on the way I got the courage up to talk to the guy sitting behind me on the tramwaj.  He had long curly brown hair and green eyes and he looked like he could be scary, but he was super SUPER nice!  And we got to talking and ended up giving him a pamphlet about the Restoration!  Then lunch at the Reeds was AMAZING!  Can I tell you just how much I love the Reeds for a second?  They are just GREAT!  They’re like my parents away from home and I’m seriously very grateful for them!  They fed us chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, some deep fried vegetables, salad, and then apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.  After fasting, that was like HEAVEN!  And then we went contacting in one of my favorite places in Poznań around Malta Lake and there were TONS of people and we got TWO park bench lessons which hasn’t happened in forever!  The second lesson was this really nice lady, probably mom’s age, who at first thought we were Jehovah’s Witnesses and didn’t want to talk to us.  Sister Folsom told her we were not Jehovah’s Witnesses and who we were and a little about us.  She warmed up to us and let us sit down.  Turns out, one of her sons is DEAF!  Yeah!  And so I got excited and told her I knew sign language because of my sister and stuff, it was cool to weave that kind of thing into the story of the restoration, how the Atonement can fix our bodies and I know Rachel will have a normal mind and body some day!  Towards the end, her son came by on his bike and stopped!  We shook his hand and, he reads lips, doesn’t know a ton of sign, but was really nice.  Then for the closing prayer I asked if I could pray in SIGN LANGUAGE!  Sister Folsom said it was so beautiful – I’m not sure if I did it all right, haven’t practiced in so long, but it was so FUN!  I loved it, and I felt like I could love these people better because I had that skill and I’d met deaf people before and had those experiences.  Haha, then Sister Folsom had me teach her some sign because she was so excited about it.  I’m so grateful for my companion!  She’s so awesome!

 

Yes, and that's that!  I know that God answers prayers.  He answered mine TODAY.  I can say that with out a doubt, that my prayers have been answered in the past two hours as I've read e-mails from friends, family, and my mission president.  God knows you, personally, he knows me personally, and he'll make everything alright.

Keep up the good work!- Sister Amber Allen