Last week in Warsaw..Kraków here I go

I couldn't have asked for a better last week to finish off the transfer and my time in Warsaw. I'll miss being around the likes of Alvarez, Beem and Bebel but I'm looking forward to spending summer in Kraków. You can't not find history in Poland, but Kraków is pouring with it. I was in Kraków a long time ago, maybe even 6 years ago on a school trip. I remember the teachers gave us a help sheet with phrases and words on it..we all thought it was hilarious that the word for yes is 'tak'. I remember we would walk around saying that non-stop. I never thought I would be here in the future with a knowledge of this language, it's quite incredible to think about really. The word 'tak' came in handy my first few weeks in the country haha.

Tuesday we had our English class down at the university which was boss. Adriano and I were late as we had to get through the Warsaw traffic, something I won't miss at all. We got there and joined in with the joint advanced/intermediate class that the sisters were doing. Sister Beem looked at me and said 'ok Ashworth, you have the question of the day for us', I had to think of something on the spot, 'I ended up asking what your dream sandwich would be', creative I know. Anyway, we had some terrible answers, people just have weird desires when it comes to their favourite sandwich, black bread, fish, and onion on one, peanuts and peanut butter on another..one guy answered and said 'I've never had a dream about a sandwich', he had us all in hysterics, hilarious. After the class we chilled for some time chatting with the students and took pictures, we also arranged to go out for food with them all on saturday.

Wednesay night we went to theatre to see a show about an old rich lady that comes back to a small town and takes over. We were invited by a friend of ours who works there as a costume designer. It was a legit show, so many old people, we turned up in our suits and looked the part. Cool experience. 

Thursday I spent most of the day with Elder Alvarez as Elder Musgrave was being run through things in the office. We went to tesco to buy a new chair for his apartment. Ended up buying an outside garden chair you'd find around a little table, it was cheap and does its job. We had our English class in the evening that we have every Wednesday and Thursday at 18, Saturday at 14, ul Nowy Świat 38/1. We didn't teach though as we hadn't eaten all day and someone brought a long board that we messed about on for a bit. Alvarez and I went for Kebabs in the center before heading back for a sweet meeting with Maczek.

On saturday we had sports in the morning. The night before we had 6 elders at our place. We were making the most of the remaining time we had together before transfers. Sport was lit! I smashed in a few more goals past Einfeldt, a half volley on the left foot and a sweet edge of the box strike in to the top corner. It was the last time I would see some of the brothers too so we stopped behind for a bit afterwards chatting and kicking the ball about. We did some service at a members house. Painting and cleaning and sanding, all the tools came out. There were about 9 missionaries there, so a full house, and even a few members came which was nice to see. From there we quickly got ourselves home to change for the chill night with all our friends. We ate at Toto, there was about 22 of us and we filled the whole back part of the restaurant. We went to the park close by afterwards and took some pictures and said goodbyes to some of them we wouldn't see again after transfers. 

Sunday we just had church, a small turnout because of the long weekend but it was nice. After church we had a linger longer, got to take some pictures with members and chat with them. The food was good too, someone prepared a nice pasta tuna salad which I had a few bowls of. Sunday night Alvarez and I ended up sleeping at the assistants place to make the logistics easier in the morning. We didn't get there till late as I had to pack all my stuff up which took a while, then we had to grab the big transporter and find parking down at their place. I brought all the food I had and started cooking as I hadn't eaten since the tuna pasta thing. I just fried a huge 600g polish sausage and ate it with rice. Another good night chatting and having a laugh with some good mates, time that as you know I value a lot. I didn't leave Warsaw till a bit later on in the day so that I could see the sisters from my MTC group who were finishing their missions and going home.  We went out for some food and it was nice to see them all together for the first time in 18 months.

Elder Hadfield is my new comp.  He's from Orem in Utah.  He's in his 3rd transfer and I'm his 2nd companion.  He's been in Kraków for 4 months.  Our apartment isn't too far away from the train station.  Just a 5 minute tram ride and a bit of a walk.  It's about 4 tram stops from the old town too, we drove past it today on the way to the library.  It has a completely different feeling to Warsaw being here.  Church is held in a big apartment rented by the church somewhere not far from the other Elders place.  

Warsaw gave me a good run, I did a lot, saw a lot, laughed a lot, scored a lot of goals, taught a lot..lets hope Kraków brings the same!

Me and Elder Hadfield

Filip Borowski. This man is a legend. He recorded himself reading the entire Book of Mormon for people to listen to. It has Chopin playing in the background too.

Week 77

No long email today sorry.  All is well - I have 3 transfers left - next week being one of them.  I'm enjoying my time in Warsaw.

Sports Saturday in Warsaw

SMACZNEGO JAJKA!

Hello! Happy Easter! 

It's been a pretty solid week here. Also this time of year is always a special time as it's time given to us to reflect upon the life, infinite atonement and resurrection of the Saviour. Being in a Catholic country it's been nice to see the respect and love shown by all those who have taken part in some form of worship this past week, and the Poles worship and celebrate for about a month after too, at least I remember a lot went down in Poznań last Easter. 

We were determined to get to a Catholic Mass over the weekend. That opportunity came on Friday when we were invited to go with a lad and the other Elders. It was long..lasted about 2.5 hours but it was nice. The first bit of the ceremony was focused on the different parts of the crucifixion of Christ, the steps leading up to it, but then it stopped at the cross, nothing mentioned about his resurrection or anything. Then we finished by going to see Christ's grave, a different section of the church. Lots of praying, lots of singing, lots of getting up and sitting down, reminds me of something one of our friends said when he came to our church a few weeks back..he said..'you all just sit here the whole time? we're all fitter than you because we do a lot more moving in our services'. It was nice to be there though, nice to be involved in something the Polish people hold close to their hearts.

Our Easter Sunday service was only for an hour, which was a change. Part of that service was taken up by another incredible missionary musical number, we knew we sounded terrible for the most part but sometimes we sounded like MOTAB, the members all enjoyed it anyway which is what we wanted. After that we were invited around with what seemed like the whole Branch to a members home, all the missionaries and a bunch of YSA and other members were there, full house! The food was quality and the family put on an easter egg hunt for the youngsters plus the Missionaries. The house was a wreck by the end of it but it was worth it to find all the chocolate! 

In front of the huge Catholic Temple. This is right by our house. We went inside to check it out, it's massive! 

A Good Week in Warsaw

Serving in Warsaw this week has been good, now that it's warming up and we have more and more friends each week,  it makes activities we do and Pdays even better. 

Tuesday we had our University English class which turned out better than the turn out, ahh see what I did there..? We had one lad show up to our advanced class, our mate Paul, but then I got drafted to teach the Beginner class with Alvarez and Musgrave. The students wanted a proper English accent as they had no idea what Alvarez and Musgrave were saying half the time haha. We did the Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich challenge, took me back about a year to when Myself and Alvarez did this for an English class in Poznań. In a nut shell, I pretend to be a robot and do anything the class tells me to do, they have to guide me in making a sandwich, sometimes it gets really wild and the jam goes everywhere, this time it wasn't too bad, I did end up putting my hand in the jam jar though which was pretty gross haha, the reaction of the class was hilarious! It ended with me having to feed the sandwich to Alvarez.

Other things that happened:- I printed some 900 fliers for an open house we had at our chapel on Saturday. It looked like we were advertising for a pool party by the look of the flier, I went for that look on purpose as I thought people might then show up. On the streets we were inviting people to our 'Mormon party', we got all 900 out in about an hour, with the help of all the missionaries who were down for MLC of course. Got to spend some time with Elder Liechty too which is always a pleasure. 

Been at the Legal offices this week two times, twice more than needed, we got everything done though and we got to hang out with Elders Wójcik and Mandla for the day. Mandla is the lad from Australia, so we connect on the basis that we're not American, it would be funny serving with him and our slang would come out more and nobody would be able to understand us haha. 

The open house on Saturday wasn't as successful as we would have hoped, most of it came down to the lack of preparation and planning that we put in, but we just didn't have much support and it wasn't announced in church so nobody really knew about it. We managed to get a few people inside but not enough. 

We're having another one 20th May, so get the word out! Ul. Wolska 142, 20th May, open house! 

This week has only had ups.

Hello from a beautiful Warsaw, it's been so nice these past few days. This week has only had ups, it's been a pretty solid week. 

Actually, thinking about it, there was one down, happened Saturday morning after we ran to the local żabka for some milk. We got home and I ate some cornflakes, classic breakfast, I drank a protein shake and then I felt awful, I knew I was going to throw up, it was just a matter of when haha, so I said to Adriano 'yo give me 5 I'm just going to go throw up', so yeah that happened, kind of random and gross I know, sorry about that. After stretching we went for a game of footy with the team, still feeling dodgy i got off to a slow start, we even lost our first game..'how is that possible with Ashworth on the team' I know you're all thinking, the second game came though and I was back and ready, I smashed into the back of the net the meanest volley ever witnessed by those watching, it will never be as good as the Paul Scholes volley against Villa in '06, but the crowd went wild! 

So let's talk about my birthday a bit. Thanks to everyone who sent a note, or wished me a happy birthday. I know I'm old, 20 years of my life gone, 20 years worth of experience and moments of growth, the physical growth not coming until I turned 20 haha. Anyway...it was a good day, we had lunch together as missionaries at Manekin of course, I got the normal order of a chicken, cheese and onion Naleśnik with an extra order of Nutella and M&M Pancakes, treated myself. Later on in the day I got to spend some time with my Uncle which was nice, he gave me a bag of chocolate and biscuits from Grandma, you know it's from my Grandma when you get given some Rich Tea finger biscuits. Overall it was a good day. 

Thursday was a day full of adventures. We ran around doing some errands in the morning, taught a lesson and then headed out with the sisters to go and visit a member family who live a decent way away. They invited us over as they don't get to church as much as they would like, so we happily accepted an invitation over. Road trip, sun, food, good music, make a sweet day! The drive was incredible, just like driving through the old roads and countryside of England, it's just flat, more open, so many farms and cherry trees and forests, and you can taste the history. We got there and had a good time, some Mexican food and even met a young lad who the family invited over, he was 16 and interests himself in God and being happy because of being obedient to the commandments. The drive home took a little longer as I took a wrong turn, we decided to stay in the woods for a bit to look around and take some pictures and enjoy the peace and quiet. We were in the middle of nowhere, a lady approached on a bike and so Adriano attempted to talk with her about the gospel, she quickly sped off. We were about to get back in the car and I felt something in my shoe, I thought it was a stone or a bit of bark from the woods or something, but nooooo, I took off my shoe to find this huge bug in my shoe...I shouted 'THERE'S A BUG IN MI SHOE' it sounded proper northern so the sisters and Adriano always quote me now and say it to make fun of my accent. We set off again and drove through a few small villages, just farmers and people working in their plots of land in sight, the way the GPS took us was down this cobble stone road, probably the worst road I've been on, 100% made for tractors and that, this road went on for about 6km, nightmare! we made it out alive though, then a few km down the road we were talking about those horror film moments when you'll be driving down the road and see a car in the distance with its hazards on, the people stop to check it out and then it turns out to be a crazy murderer with a chainsaw or something..those moments...well we saw a car with its hazards on in the distance and everyone in the car lost it,  Beem thought it was the end, it was hilarious..turned out to be a woman who stopped to give water to her dog. The drive home was full of funny moments and singing and that. 

Conference was good at the weekend. We spent all day at the chapel pretty much and got through 3 sessions of conference..with some breaks in between. The weather was beaut too, so in between conference me and Alvarez went outside and threw a frisbee around in the sun, caught the attention of everyone who walked past, don't know whether it was because of our good looks or just the fact that two lads were playing frisbee in suits.The Priesthood session was mint! The talks by Elders Bednar and Uchtdorf had a lot of power behind them.

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Mission Days

You can just about see some of the towers in Centrum.  Photo Credit: Elder Erickson.

Park Pole Mokotowkie

My mate was in town for a conference, we go waaaaayy back



.

we've turned one of the primary rooms into our chill out/meeting room

Alvarez looked hilarious with these glasses on.

Tuesday night English at the University.  Squading up with the student council.

Mother's Day Surprise 

Miracles can happen and will happen as long as we have faith and do everything we can to do good.

So this week has really been a hit and miss week, bit of a blur too, the weeks all seem to be connected as if it's just a long line of days that don't end. We've just been really busy recently and not busy with things that we should be busy with..just other things come up. 

We had a new fridge delivered this week, the first delivery day we missed as we were teaching our English class which meant we had to call and arrange a new day and time, the thing was I messed things up with the delivery time between 11-16, luckily it came pretty early on..but a 5 hour estimated delivery time is pretty pants..how are you supposed to plan the day with things like that? 

We've also had a new senior couple in, so we've had to run around and do things to make sure they had a comfortable first week, we had them down at the legal offices for some meetings on Monday and we've spent a lot of time in the office with them running them through how things go down in the office and what to do and things...the goal is to have them trained and independent by the end of the transfer or as soon as..just so we don't have to spend much time or any time at all in the office, hopefully it will be soon so we can get out and spend most of our time working with members and finding people to teach.

We picked up our new car early last week, we were out with Alvarez and Musgrave doing I'm not sure what..but we got a call saying that it was ready and that we could go and collect it. The place was a decent drive away and so we met the Assistants and a member who takes care of this sort of stuff and we drove over. We have a nice brand new Hyundai i20, it's pretty slow and doesn't have a turbo like the Meriva, it's automatic too which is a bummer. But it's brand new which is nice, i've already put almost 400km on it in the first week. on the way home the others left without me and I had no idea where I was and had no GPS or anything so I was going off my instinct, I missed our turn and so we ended up miles away from where we had to be, heading on the road towards Poznan haha. We turned around and eventually made it home, the road was pretty empty too and it was a motorway so I put the car through its first max speed test on the road. 

One night this week we spent with Alvarez and Musgrave again visiting libraries and leaving copies of the Book of Mormon and some fliers for our open house. Just some chill time in the car driving around the city in search of these libraries, it was so fun. I got to see more of the city that I've not seen before and I'm sure I have this city and the roads figured out now so getting around is not a problem. One of the libraries was located slap bang in the middle of old town, I've only walked around old town and the rynek once, which is a bit of a difference compared to Poznan where we were on it every day and night, we practically lived in Old Town. So yeah we had a chill night walking around old town and the Old Town walls and castle and forts and things. The weather was proper nice too. 

On Saturday we had our classic Saturday sports day. It was a special day as I played in my boots that I asked my dad to send me. It was so nice having a firm footing underneath me, not having to worry about falling over or anything. I managed to sprain my ankle though, which is like the 3rd time on my mission I've done that, kind of a pain but I'll get over it, it'll be good in a few days. I woke up Sunday morning and my ankle was spherical because of the swelling. 

We had a meal out one night this week with all the missionaries and a member and a friend of ours from English class. We went to this place in the centre of town that's more quality than quantity. 25zl for this weird burger and 5 potato wedges. This place also sells this raw meat and egg dish that is considered a delicacy, it was legit a piece of uncooked meat the same shape as a small pork pie, weird if you ask me. The night was good fun though, although we did have some troubles with parking and then finding this place thanks to terrible directions given by the others haha. 

I've not finished all the goodies you sent me yet, the Oreo Mint chocolate is so nice though so I'm making it last, all the Americans go crazy when I show them the oreo peanut butter chocolate. 

I called Elder Huffman on Sunday just because I call him almost every day, and he told me that the tiny branch of Szczecin had 36 people in church. Miracles can happen and will happen as long as we have faith and do everything we can to do good. 

Also it's my birthday in 8 days, the big 21st. Weird to think that I turned 20 almost a year ago with Elder Liechty in Poznan! Time really does fly!