This is it....the final post!

I'll start by sharing two experiences we had this week. The first taking place on Wednesday as we were in an area of Krakow called Chełm. We had a few hours to knock on doors and so we got a bus not really knowing exactly where were we going but knew the general direction. I felt as though we should keep going and so we went almost to the end of the of the line. We got off in the middle of nowhere and walked up the hill, I tried talking to a man walking towards us but he said he had no time, that's the classic response here, I don't know what he didn't have time for as we weren't close to anything haha. We kept going and found this sweet little road with a few houses on it and at the bottom of the road was a load of farmers fields, quite the scene it was. It was about the 6th or 7th house we knocked on and this lady opened the door, so I introduced myself and told her that my companion is learning Polish and would like to share a message with her and her family. To my surprise, there was no hesitation at all and she invited us right in. We met her 3 children and proceeded to share a message about family, what made it even better is that the father of his family was from Wales so his wife and all his kids spoke wonderful English which made it nice for Elder Asendrych as he could share a message with them in English. We were asked to stay a little longer as she was making some food and so we stayed and ate with them before leaving a copy of the Book of Mormon, saying thank you and heading back out on to the streets. I was happy that Elder Asendrych was able to have such an experience.

Another cool thing that happened this week took place in Costa Coffee not far from the rynek. We planned to do weekly planning there whilst enjoying some hot chocolate, it's getting colder now! Anyway, we sat down at the table and I walked over to hang my coat up when this lad asked me what the name tag was all about, so I told him we were Mormon missionaries, we were speaking English because he was from England. He looked at our hot chocolates and said 'Mormons drinking coffee?' we laughed and told him it was hot chocolate which he thought was funny. we ended up having a good chat and got talking about how he used to live in Manchester and was given a tour of the new YSA building there when it was first opened. The missionary gave him the tour was only Sam Bytheway who I know very well from his time in Oldham. It's a small world, I bet whilst Sam was on his mission he never thought he'd give a guy a tour of a building who would then meet me on my mission in Kraków.

We had our district conference in Katowice this weekend and it was a time of learning, listening and reflecting. We were able to listen to two talks given by our mission president and a number of other talks from leaders. members and recent converts. It was also a time of goodbyes, this trip to Katowice was the last time I saw a lot of my friends and people that I've grown close to over the past two years. I was able to see President Najberg, the first Polish man I met in Poland, and my first Branch President. I approached him after the meeting asking him if he remembered me, his response was one that put a huge smile on my face, he said 'of course I remember you, I remember like it was yesterday! are you still kicking a football around these days?' It was nice to be able to speak with him and understand him, as I couldn't do either in my first transfer. 

Now for some concluding words. I've learnt a lot during my time of service, a lot of things about myself and a lot of things about other people. Happiness is one of the greatest feelings in life and we experience it when we serve others and live close to our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. This church is the true church of Jesus Christ, restored through a living day prophet. My favourite scripture as of recently is found in D&C 19:23. Peace is a word I've given much thought to because peace can come in many forms. The true peace that we find in Christ is through having a sure knowledge and clear conscience that our sins have been forgiven and forgotten. Conversion is a lifelong process that continues even after this life, let's not forget that only through daily repentance can we reach our true potential. 

I love this work, this church, my family and friends, and I love this country!

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! 

Week 70 something.

It's been a long time since last Monday, a whole 10 days or something like that. Here's what we've been up to.

After emailing and all that last Monday we went out for some Kebab which didn't really live up to the hype, it just didn't taste that good, so we went round to the local Biedronka for some chocolate. We stood at the side of the road for about 20 mins deciding what to do. We had the squad together, Me, Adriano, Alvarez, Musgrave, Beem and Stahl. We decided to go and find a place for bowling, we thought there'd be a bowling place at Galeria Mokotów but when we got there it turned out there wasn't, classic! So we just chilled at the mall. Hit up the usual shops like Zara and H&M, had a look at all the new gadgets and tech at Saturn, then we came across a Hollister which was pretty funny so of course we went inside. You could actually see where you were going for once, which was pretty unusual. I remember as a young teen trying to pick out a new shirt for the next Huddersfield Stake youth dance, but not being able to tell if the shirt was black or white because it was so dark. We decided to bounce from the mall and go and bounce on some outdoor trampolines by our place. There's a really posh shopping mall and then a park and some trampolines. Sister Beem was jumping away, making a video blog, Adriano took off his shoes for some reason and then Sister Stahl ran straight onto her trampoline which was covered in water, it was like jumping into a pond haha, her feet got soaked. 

Tuesday was a pretty boring day. We had our district meeting a bit later on in the day as we had to drive our cars over to be serviced again and valued at the Hyundai garage which was about an hours drive from our apartment. On the way home from the garage we went the long way home which took us through Praga. we stopped at a red light and out of the corner of my eye I could see this huge brown bear just chilling there, I didn't realise we were right by the zoo. For district meeting I decided it would be good for us to learn from President Eyring and Elder Holland, so we watched that new Face to Face thing they did at the Church history site in Palmyra. It was nice to listen to two Apostles just talk in an environment other than General Conference, much more laid back and they were able just to talk and answer questions. A lot was based on what we can learn from the First Vision, When God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the grove, what we can learn about scripture study and prayer. 

On Thursday we taught the Intermediate class which was cool, we talked about heroes and what a hero is, we asked the question 'what word comes to mind when you hear the word hero?', we got a lot of solid answers until Adriano throws out 'SPANDEX', there's always one. 

On Saturday we had a huge Sports Saturday, about 20 people showed up so we had to split into 3 teams. The last game we just had everyone playing which turned into a free for all. The turf was pretty slippy too, it was kind of like playing on ice, I fell over so many times and got burns and bruises all over my hands and legs, it was all worth it though. We went home and chilled and studied before heading over to Nowy Świat to teach the advanced class which again was mint! We had a quality game of telephone that got pretty weird in some points, the sentences got so messed up which always made it funny for the last person. 

Saturday night at 17 we had a big Warsaw District dinner as this weekend it was our District Conference weekend. It was good to see some of the members from Lublin again. The talks during the evening session were really good too. President gave a really good and simple talk, again on repentance and prayer. Sunday we had a huge turnout, pretty much all the members from Lublin were there, plus all the missionaries from the other branches too, it was a quality environment and I was able to chat and catch up with old friends. I had a mint opportunity and blessing of ordaining two members of the Lublin branch to the Office of Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood, with authority from President Turek.  Something I'll remember for a long time, in those situations you can't but help feel that Heavenly Father is helping you through the Spirit, as you speak words you didn't even think you could and give council and guidance through that Priesthood blessing. 

Sunday night as it got really late after a dinner at our place with Alvarez and Musgrave, we decided to have a sleepover. Nights like that are quality, I just enjoy good company and laughs, nothing beats it really, we made some solid food too. 

Yesterday night we had the long anticipated English Class at a university. A friend of the sisters hooked us up with classrooms and about 100 interested students to teach. So much good is going to happen because of this. We walked in and we even had time to stand and talk to them all in this huge auditorium before splitting off into different classes. We met so many young students. There was a cool guy from Zimbabwe that came which was sweet. It's going to be a weekly thing now and loads of people are interested in both English and who we are as missionaries.  We met so many solid people and they're all our age too. I can't wait for next Tuesday! 

I'm happy and well. Still trying to do my bit of good each day. Our Branch Missionary Leader has a 'ponderizer', something for us to think about through the week. This time round it's D&C 82:10, which is funny as it happens to be my Dad's favourite scripture. If you've ever listened to him give a talk, you've 100% heard him share it.

We went to the Chopin museum on Friday night with a friend of the Elders.  It was a pretty sweet place.

Looking way back to the days when i was 14. Hollister eventually made it to Poland.

We went on the trampolines by our apartment. Beem said 'high school musical it on 3'. Nailed it! 

Had a lads night on Sunday at our place in preparation for zone training 

Some Pimped out Clubmans

With my favourite Asian person in the world, MICHAEL! He was in town for District Conference 

So Sister Beem decided to draw me. She thought she got it pretty accurate. 'feed me carrots' is all you have to say in order to make her laugh. 

Realised that i've not sent a picture home of two of us yet. Here's Elder Adriano

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

The Book of Mormon - a book with a promise, a book with a purpose.

Hello everyone and welcome to week 30 something.  I've not been counting so I'm not sure where I'm at.

We've had a pretty good week, some nice weather, exchanges and all sorts.

So after Pday on Monday we started our exchange here in Poznań, although Elder Campora got things mixed up. We sorted it though and got on with it. So me and Elder Campora spent a few days together and Elder Jeffs and Alvarez spent a few days together. Monday night we didn't get up to much, just a bit of contacting on the Deptak and then a walk on the Rynek before heading home. Something I've started to do is always walk around the rynek before heading home, we live so close and it's cool to see what things are going on as its always something different. Then Tuesday came, we had our standard District Meeting in the morning before lunch, focusing on the book of Mormon and using it with our teaching and contacting. I read a talk by Elder Craig C. Christensen called 'A book with a promise'. He talks about an experience he had with sharing the book of Mormon with someone. He touched on a few points:

1) It is a book with a promise

2) It is a book with a purpose

3) It is a book that helps us better understand the great plan of happiness

4) It is a book that testifies of Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer

5) A book that authenticates the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith

I particularly like the point he makes about The Book of Mormon being a book with a purpose. The Book of Mormon is there to help us better understand the principles of the gospel, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the same purpose we have as missionaries..to help other come unto Christ, we are here to help others understand and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

After the District Meeting, we went to Kraszkebab as usual which is always a good experience. We had a short finding activity on Fredry before heading back to the chapel with Elder Campora for a lesson we had scheduled. It was a simple lesson in which we just listened and spoke about what she's read in 3 Nephi. It was good having an experienced Elder Campora on the lesson, we got to the bottom of this individual's fears and helped with them.

After lunch on Wednesday, we ended the exchange and I was reunited with Elder Alvarez. We decided to go on a tracting adventure down at Junikowo, another end of the line tram stop south-west of Poznań. We've been there and back a few times this week, it's a nice part of town with some good solid osiedle there. We had a fun English class with the beginners in which we just spoke with them again about their weeks and had a laugh. I keep forgetting to take a picture of me with the class but I'll get it next time!

So Friday I was feeling a little different, I wanted a change. I did my hair differently and went back to my just off centre parting which some of you may know well. Also,  I realised whilst looking in the mirror how bad my tan lines are, especially on my neck from my shirt collar. It looks silly when I wear a t-shirt now haha. We played sports which was good. Just another hour of kicking a football about which I enjoy so much. We had a few people show up too which makes it more worthwhile. 

Saturday we had English class and then had Pizza from Ramini's, some of the best pizza I've ever had. England also played Saturday night.  It's been so hard not to watch it.  When you're walking around town and every bar and restaurant has the game on, driving me crazy! 

Sunday was a fun day.  The first Sunday I would preside at and lead. It went well,  I only forgot to have an opening prayer (it happened, just later than it should have and I had to be reminded haha) and put bread out for the sacrament but it's all good. Elder Alvarez, Jeffs, and I spoke during the meeting. We spoke about the Godhead and each chose a member of the Godhead to speak about. I chose to speak about the Holy Ghost. We had a lesson after church which was cool, just with a young guy with strong opinions and his own outlook on life.

Sunday evening, Marta organised for us to have a BBQ with a few people. So the 4 of us missionaries with Marta, Maciej, one of Marta's friends and a few more went down to the river for this grill. We get there and it turns out that the river is a place for college gatherings. There were so many groups of hoolies and college students just out for the night. One guy got arrested and we spoke with them all, they came over and were confused why we were wearing white shirts and name tags. It was an experience. Poland were playing their first game too, so everywhere was a bit wild. 

That's all from the week. I'm sure more went on though. 

the rynek is packed at the moment

the wind blew over the drying rack and I lost some of my socks!