Wesołych Świąt. Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!

So this week has come around so fast. We've been up to no good as usual and transfers are soon approaching. I'm not too nervous, I'm just happy to be spending Christmas here in Lublin with the Brothers. 

We had our exchange with Elders Haskett and Barlow this week. It was a good time. I've never been around Elder Haskett until this transfer so it was good being around him for a few days. The exchange started Wednesday night after English. For English we decided to practice writing letter to Santa. So we went through a bunch of ways to start letters, the most commonly picked being 'Yo Santa waddup'. It was a good laugh as usual, especially when Elder Dooley wrote that he wanted a pet dragon for Christmas as he doesn't like paying for his bus ticket, he's one of a kind haha. 

So on Thursday, our day started with us being fed breakfast by Elder Dooley, although the pancakes he made were terrible. He got up way earlier to prepare them and woke me up with the question..'do you have any eggs? I only have week old rotten eggs', well I didn't have any eggs so he continued to make the pancakes with rotten eggs..to the surprise of Elder Dooley they didn't taste too good. So we frisbeed them off our balcony, which amused us for a few minutes. We left the house around 9am and tried to catch everyone going to work and school, we have these '#ŚwiećŚwiatu' cards that we need to hand out before Christmas, we have a few boxes of them, so it seemed a good time to go and hand them out early. We went for some hot chocolate again at a place called 'U Szewca' on the rynek, looks just like an English pub, the hot chocolate is so good too, another bonus being that the United V Palace game was being shown on the TV so I got to watch about 30 mins of the game. Get In! 

That evening we were invited round to Ela's house as we arranged to cook for her to repay her for all the meals she's made for us. All 6 of us were there and we just made some proper missionary food, chicken and rice with some potatoes and salad, not too similar to a Classic Polish meal either. It was a solid evening, good people, Christmas music and all that. 

Friday we had our Friday night movie playing at the chapel, we finished the rest of Meet the Mormons and we had a few people show which was good. A guy called Marek came who we meet with from time to time, one of the nicest guys I've met. 

Saturday came around and we took a trip out to Świdnik for some service. Always a blast when we go out there. this time round, we shovelled coal, it confirmed Elder Hansen's thoughts of Eastern Europe..he said 'this is what I imagined when I thought of things I could get up to on my mission'. We shovelled a ton of it...about 1000kg of coal..and then threw it down a shoot into her basement. It was epic! Lunch came, prepared by Beata's mum, which is always quality food. 

The bus ride home was long, by accident we took the longer route home, which is why it was longer. But it worked to our advantage as both Elder Huffman and I were able to chat to the people that sat next to us. Of course the two girls that get on the bus would take the empty seats next to me and Elder Huffman over the many other empty seats.

We arrived home to a very misty and foggy Lublin. We had a bizarre idea for English planned which involved a backwards theme. So for the night we referred to each other as our names but backwards, and we wore our clothes backwards and we walked backwards, faced the wrong way, and just made a fool of ourselves as usual but it was funny. 

Sunday we had our special Christmas sacrament service which involved our branch choir and reading of the birth of christ from the bible, it was nice. I did the narration of the story in Polish and Elder Huffman read it in English. The 4 of us Elders and Michael sang a rendition of 'oh come, oh come, Emmanuel', it went alright I suppose. 

Then came the injury from the week. I shaved this morning before church, got to keep control of the beard you know, I threw my razor on my bed (as you do), then when I got home after church I jumped on my bed and somehow managed to slice my hand a few times on my razor. Who knew that a 4 titanium blade Wilkinson Sword razor from Rossman could have been so deadly!  It legit didn't stop bleeding for about 2 hours. So stupid haha. 

Sunday night we had a dessert and games night with the branch and friends at the Belo's home. It was good to be together before people go back home for Christmas.

So by next week I'll have my transfer call. We'll see what happens. So we have a cool day planned today. We're eating after this and then going shopping for a bit. at 15.30 we're going ice skating with some friends and then at 18.30 we have a bowling family home evening activity planned. So today is kind of a chill out day.

It's not snowing at the minute but it's been snowing, it's been down to -5 most nights, so it's cold. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Take it easy!

Starszy Ashworth 🎄. 

District Christmas photo. We went for the 'ghetto' look on purpose.

The snowy streets of Lublin

We shovelled a ton coal for some service

Out with the squad for some food 

DoolMaster 300

This City Makes Sense Now.

Tuesday - Zone Training was a win. I loved being there and teaching and speaking and working with Sister D and Thornton. Sister D was her usual self and was stressing about it haha - but she overcame and did a good job! We have a special zone here in the Warsaw District, I've strengthened and made new friendships through this transfer. To finish off the training I asked Elder Schwanke, Connelley, and Kapela to bear testimony as it would be the last time they could in that kind of setting. The spirit felt as these 3 lads shared what they know to be true and what they've learned through 2 years of service was immense.

Wednesday -  Nothing too much happened this day. We've been trying to go and visit and see what the crack is with all the former investigators we have in the area book. It's been quite an adventure traveling to all these different parts of the city. I know my way around this place pretty well now. It's been a time of uncovering all the dark areas on the map and connecting roads and things. This City makes sense now. We had English club that evening. We had a few people come. Elder Huffman and I were forced into singing our 'creed style' cover of Hallelujah. It was so funny but embarrassing. I played and Huffman sang with his best Creed voice. I joined in to save the awkwardness. I've said this a few times, I've made a fool of myself so many times at English club but I don't really care, it's kind of who I am now. Those at English also loved the performance too.

Thursday was the day that Campora has been waiting for, for around 4 months - I finally sent him his Ryłko  shoes.!  If you're reading this pal, love you man! We had a finding activity that afternoon.  The first guy I spoke just summed up the whole activity. He came up to the 'free table' we had set up and so I approached him and started talking to him.  He says to me 'answer me this..who is Jesus Christ?' I started telling this man who Jesus Christ is for me in my life, he then stopped me and said 'Listen to me, I'm going to give you a name, you are Andrzej Z, now explain to me who you are as Andrzej Z' I was so confused as to what was going on so I just didn't answer him.  He then said 'you trying to explain to me who you are as Andrzej Z is just like you trying to explain who Jesus Christ is, it has no meaning'. He left and I just kind of laughed to myself at what I'd just been a part of.

Friday - We got Flu shots! Hopefully, this means that I'm invincible and will stay healthy through winter. The whole Flu shot episode was so funny and bizarre. We all had to strip down in this room from the belt upwards, and then be checked by a doctor, it was awkward. I couldn't stop laughing though, I've not been shirtless in public for a long time.  For the car lovers out there I saw the most beautiful BMW 330i parked by the deptak. We went tracting that evening and for a bit of fun we had a play in the park we found. Swings, slides, see-saw, the lot! Then next to it was an outside gym - all the equipment is created in a way that when you lift it's always your body weight, but not really. You'd have to do so many reps to break a sweat, but it was hilarious doing exercises on these machines. There was a seated row kind of machine, when you pull back it moves the seat as if you're pulling your body weight, but you can do it really fast and you just bounce up and down, we were in stitches watching each other on these machines, especially when Elder Kapela gave it a go. We have a lot of fun when we do things as a district.

Saturday - I woke and my arm was aching really bad from the flu shot, but I persevered and worked out! Saturday afternoon we were invited round to the house of a friend of the other elders and ours. Present were the 4 of us elders, Michael (Branch Mission Leader), Ela (our friend) and then two of her friends. We had some good food and a good chat around the table. Whilst waiting at the bus stop on our way to the chapel for English we saw some people running from the security guard and a worker of the local Biedronka, they had stolen some alcohol and other things and were being chased, it got my adrenaline going as they managed to catch them! English was a win also, Magdalena, a friend of ours who comes to English taught the class how to juggle. I'm determined to learn how to juggle 4 balls.

Sunday - Church as usual. We spent the evening trying to undo the bad that happened to Elder Huffman. First , he left a folder full of potentials on the bus and then he lost his name tag whilst chasing after the bus. We prayed on the street that we would find his name tag and then the hunt began. We searched all over, retracing their tracks, as we were walking around I saw a 55 bus approaching us (the same number that he left the folder on) I signaled to Elder Huffman, we gave each other the nod and then we absolutely bucked it to the next bus stop, which was about 250m away, we've never run so fast in our lives.  As the slight gradient of the hill started to tire us, the bus passed us and we just about missed it. We never got the folder back, and never found the tag, they'll turn up at some point.

It's been a good week. Now on to the last week of this transfer. It's going to be a good one,  I can feel it.

Autumn

Warsaw Zone Training

Just a random part of town we've never been to before

We Have To Live What We Teach

Welcome everyone to this weeks events from Poznań. We've had a good week here, as always full of laughs and memorable moments.

Tuesday was a good day..so after our usual district meeting we had lunch and then had a cool opportunity to help a girl called Kasia who just moved from Gdańsk to Poznań. She's in a wheelchair and so needs help moving things around her apartment. Of course, we always love service opportunities. She has a huge Airedale Terrier too and he's so friendly and just wants to play all the time.

On Wednesday all four of us went to Iza's house to share a message with her and also so we could sing her to mum which Iza is very appreciative of. We had Mcdonalds for lunch which is always something to look forward to.  Just had your standard big mac meal. English class was fun, we had the beginner class and decided to do a spelling test with them. The 12 words they had to spell they have to learn and remember for the next class. It's always fun teaching the beginner class, you can have a laugh with them. After the class we went English contacting in town and Małgosia came out with us.  She's a friend/someone we're working with, and it was fun., she went crazy talking to everyone. I met a bloke from north east Yorkshire too which is rare, you meet a lot of Americans but not many English. We had a good chat and he said he knows Oldham well and has been around Saddleworth and all...small world. 

Thursday was an interesting day which started with service at the hospice as usual, although this time we hopped in a van with our pal Włodek and hit the roads. We drove to a place outside Poznań, a nice little village where we met a family who we collected an electric hospital bed off. Then we drove back to Poznań and went to a ladies house where we rearranged some furniture, took her couch down 4 lots of stairs and then brought the electronic bed up the stairs - nightmare it was!  The bed was in pieces too so we had to build it. Beats picking weeds in the garden so I was happy. Thursday night I looked through all my old planners, went on a trip down memory lane. Things I'd forgotten about but then read, shows the importance of writing down the experiences you have. I've experienced a lot in the past 7 months here in Poland.

Friday was a day, we had Elders Liechty and Rowley here in Poznań on exchanges. It makes a difference having 6 Elders here, there's more of a presence and I'm sure it doesn't go unnoticed by the public. I decided to significantly increase my water intake which only has the consequence of being in the bathroom every 10 minutes.  I felt a lot better through the day instead of living off energy drinks.  We spent the evening on the Deptak contacting. We wanted more of a presence there though so I carried a table down there and we brought books and pamphlets and things and had a 'free table' thing going on.  It definitely brought more people to us. Spoke to a nice lad who told me that he really respects the work we do, although he wasn't religious we had a good chat and he told me he just doesn't feel as though he needs a religion or faith in something in his life at the moment, which is a common theme amongst the younger people here I feel. I learnt a good lesson from him though - he told me that he sees all these people around of which maybe 70 percent claim to be Catholic. They teach and talk of principles and doctrine but then don't live what they teach.  

We have to live what we teach!

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and we played sports in the afternoon for a few hours in the park. The 4 missionaries were there with Markus, his girlfriend Eva and then her two dogs. We played footy and frisbee and then joined some guys who were playing frisbee too and had a game of ultimate with them. Hopefully,  we'll be able to make a weekly thing where we play with them and get more people involved, they seemed game for it.

Sunday was a day of church, studies, eating and planning. Sacrament meeting went well.  I had Bożena, Markus and Elder Alvarez give talks on prayer and then we had a good lesson led by Sergiusz. 

Take care and do good.

It's a bro district here and the district unity is strong!

Elders Alvarez, Bebel, Somerfeldt and me

So this week has been a decent week.  It's a bro district here and the district unity is strong. On Monday I got a sweet new haircut from a local barber just round the corner from our apartment. She was a younger lady working there and we chatted with her the whole time we were in there, joking around and stuff.  You can never escape the awkward barber small talk.

Tuesday we had our district meeting lead by Elder Alvarez. We spoke about the power of authority and our calling as a missionary. We also discussed goals and what we want to see happen this transfer. We had a cool meeting later that day with a 19-year-old guy named Konrad, who brought his girlfriend along too, I thought he was way older than that until he mentioned that he just got out of high school. We just spoke with them for an hour about us and things that we believe as members of The Church of Jesus Christ, usually the first thing I tell people is that 100 per cent we believe in Jesus Christ.   Also on Tuesday my bro Elder Garrison and his companion Elder Fetzer were in Poznań for a few minutes as they had a short stop here before hopping on a train to Szczecin. We had a family home evening activity planned that nobody showed up to, so we just went out and English contacted for the night.

Wednesday through the day we decided to hit up a new tracting area out by the airport. We spent a few hours out there, it's a really nice suburb outside the centre. We had an English class with the beginners in which we tried to mad-libs with them, but they didn't understand the concept of them, so were determined to make the sentences as correct as possible, ha-ha. The religious discussion went ahead also after a few weeks of not having it, Elders Bebel and Somerfeldt ran that. Other than that, Wednesday was just your normal Wednesday.

Thursday we had a day of service, we didn't wear white shirt and tie the whole day. Felt a bit weird. In the morning we had the usual stuff down at the Hospice, chopping down more trees and doing things in the garden, always fun. We had lunch with Bozena afterwards and then after we had to help a friend of a member move into her new apartment in Poznań.  She brought the whole shop with her, never seen so much stuff in my life, boxes after boxes, filled with all sorts. She lived on the sixth floor of the building and so we packed and unpacked the lift a good 5 times. It was a good workout, we had to pack the lift and then chase the lift to the sixth floor as we couldn't fit in. She had a huge snouzer looking dog, it was a big'n. That went on until the evening and then we celebrated our efforts with McDonalds.

the fridge was a nightmare to shift!

sevice day

Friday was cool as there was a thing in town called GranTurismo, basically it involved people who own the fastest and most expensive cars. They literally just drove around Poznań in their cars all day. Ferrari, Lambo, Mclaren, I saw them all.  On the bus out to the tracting area cars were just flooding in to the centre, counted about 16 Ferraris whiz past. The highlight of the night was when an old lady answered her door and came out and stood on her doorstep in nothing but a long t-shirt, it was Elder Alvarez's turn to do the talking and as soon as she stepped out I lost it and had to turn around because I was laughing. He did well to keep it together though.

Saturday was the usual English class followed by a short religious discussion with a couple that stayed behind. We spoke about prayer, it's nice to talk about the simple principles of the church with people. We changed sports to Saturday but had to cancel as it started lobbing it down with rain. It's been a theme throughout the week for it to be hot and sunny through the day but then to have a storm later on in the day.

                                  It's a Ślimak

Sunday was good as always. Stress free on my part as it was fast and testimony meeting so I didn't have to assign talks, just fill the time that was left after all 9 of us had shared our testimonies. Took care of some branch stuff and then headed home for studies, I took a short nap.  We had a brobiad at 4 and ended our fasts. A brobiad is a mix of the words 'bro' and 'obiad', the word obiad meaning lunch/dinner. Good to spend some time with the other elders at their apartment.

For all you Americans, go do whatever Americans do on 4th July.

I'll try and 'celebrate' 4th July with the district the best way an Englishman can.

-Elder Ashworth

'Things that happened in the life of Elder Ashworth who is serving in the Poland Warsaw in the city of Poznań with Elder Alvarez'

We're back with another edition of 'Things that happened in the life of Elder Ashworth who is serving in the Poland Warsaw in the city of Poznań with Elder Alvarez'...long title I know.

Introducing Elder Alvarez.

TUESDAY - As Elder Alvarez coming in messed everything up, joking it didn't really, we went food shopping as we literally had nothing in the apartment. We spent a bit of time cleaning up and doing some house chores before settling down for studies. The apartment is clean now which is good.  We've had some boss weather this week, which was the case on Tuesday..so we had a chalk talk down on plac wolności..I have a right good tan and the classic missionary tan lines. I have one on my wrist too from my watch. For FHE we played frisbee in the park and I bought everyone ice cream. So funny story of the day...I split my pants as I went to pick the frisbee up, right up the back..must be putting on a bit of weight.

Elder Garrison and I.

WEDNESDAY - We had zone training which involved role plays and being with the zone which is always a good time. I was able to return to Elder Liechty all of his ties and frisbee that he left when returned to Szczecin, he's a dope. We had a quality English class in which I had them tell me in English of course, how to make a jam sandwich. It was so funny as I pretended as if I knew nothing and was stupid. Jam ended up everywhere and I made such a mess but they loved it. 

THURSDAY - We picked weeds again in the sun for a few hours at the hospice for service. It's all good serving but I may need a change of activity soon. Every time I see a weed I want to pick it now. After we had a meal prepared by the lovely Bożena which as always was nice. Later that evening we had a meeting with a lady named Monika who thanked us for the English class on Wednesday as she had a hard days work and we cheered her up. Who new making sandwiches and trying to be funny could make someones day. 

FRIDAY - Typical Friday..weekly planning..sport in the rain, but it was really hot outside which was cool..then for the evening we spent a few hours on the deptak playing guitars and contacting. 

SATURDAY - We had the baptism of Marcin which was a good occasion, the first I've attended in Poland. Not much happened, we taught English class and spent most of the day at the chapel with the baptism and cleaning and running around after things. 

The legend that is.....Elder Campora!

SUNDAY - Another Sunday has been and gone...not many turned up but that never seems to matter here, the service still goes ahead and the spirit is still with us and we all come away with some sort of spiritual growth. Church here is mint! The rest of the day was spent tracting..we met a few nice people who we spoke to for a while..one guy from Australia and another who was interested in checking out one of our church services..

We have a goal this week as a companionship to prayerfully find one person on the street that we can help bring closer to Christ...I look forward to a week of hard work..

I climbed a tree. Nothing much more to say really.

We've had some crazy weather these past few days including rain, sun and some lightning storms. It's just like being home.

Beautiful night out on the Rynek.

We're small in number in Poland but big in heart and testimony.

Culture Day in Toruń

It's been another good week here in Poznań. There seems to be a direct correlation between how warm it is and success of finding.

Things that happened this week...

We took Pday on Tuesday. After emailing I took Elder Couto and Elder Freeman to Tylko Nas, A typical milk bar by the rynek. The food there is so good. The rest of the day was spent shopping as I needed a few things, and I bought myself a new pair of shoes, which are too big, always happens when buying shoes, they fit just right when you try them on but then when you get home they magically grow. We had a fun FHE in which just Iza turned up. So there were the 5 missionaries and Iza, we had a little spiritual thought and then played a few fun games.

So on Wednesday I hit my 6-month mark. That's a quarter of my mission gone already. We had a very successful day and taught 6 lessons, 4 of them being on the chalk talk we did. I had a really good lesson with this one girl, I went and joined her by where she was sitting and introduced myself. I then showed her the scripture we wrote on the ground (Proverbs 3:5-6) and she shared how it completely fit with some circumstances in her life. hopefully we'll be able to set up this week. Elder Freeman also had a good laugh with contacting people. I remember he came up to me and said 'I just stopped this guy and told him that God is our loving Heavenly Father, then I didn't know what to say so the guy just walked away’. It was funny haha. We had another fun English class as always and then Elder Couto led a short religious class afterwards in which we spoke about trials and hardships. Depressing I know but it was good because everything came back to the atonement and how we can find peace and happiness through the Saviour.

So Thursday was a good day. We started by saying goodbye to Elder Couto and then had a McDonalds breakfast. We had service at 10 down at the hospice. On the way I called all the sisters from my group and wished them a happy 6 months. It was cool and they all told me that I made their day haha. What would they do without me aye? in the evening we had an individual lesson with a lady from English class. We went through some English with her and then taught her about the Restoration. I really felt the spirit guiding me through that lesson, it was a good experience.

We kicked the day off on Friday with some standard exercise and studies. After that we met Krzysztof and Irena in the park and had a good hour or so with them going through English things and just general chit chat. They're the nicest people I've met in Poland by far. We had an unsuccessful sports Friday as nobody showed up, but we took our dinner hour and played frisbee for a bit, it was nice to take some time to relax. We had weekly planning with pizza and then went tracting for the evening.

Saturday was fun. At 8 we got a call from the other elders saying they had missed their train to Warsaw. Of course they didn't have enough money to pay for new tickets so I had to step in and save the day. We had 40 mins to get to the other side of the city on a day when the trams aren't as frequent and Poznań is just mental to get around anyway. We made it though, it was incredibly dramatic with a final sprint across the bridge to the dworzec, I was definitely on par with Usain Bolt. We treated our heroics with a McDonald’s breakfast and headed home. Elder Freeman and I taught both English classes combined which was both terrible and really fun at the same time and we had a bunch of new people show up again. That night we had a chill night with the Poznań YSA. We sat in little park in the centre of town by the theatre and huge fountain and had pizza and just chatted and had a laugh.

Sunday was a good day, with a really spiritual testimony meeting. We're small in number in Poland but big in heart and testimony.