So this week has been a cold one, so so cold!

So this week has been a cold one, so so cold! No matter how well I dressed myself to face the cold, my fingers and toes after a few minutes were freezing.

It's been a busy week in terms of doing random office jobs and chasing around after everyone making sure everyone is happy. 

On the Wednesday after MLC, which I only had to go to this time to drop off packages, we had a huge family history finding activity in the centre of Warsaw with a bunch of missionaries. We had banners and whiteboards and a tent..it's a shame that it was so cold and windy, we tried our best to make the most of it. English was on Wednesday also. It was a warm welcome from both the students and from the heat of the chapel. The students apparently were excited for my arrival, guess being the only English missionary in the mission has some perks. 

Thursday started early with us driving over to the test centre for Elder Einfeldt to take a theory driving test, which he failed by 1 point. It was so funny as he called it and said he would be ticked if he got 67, he came out with the face of a man who just got 67 haha. After that we headed over to Centrum where we met all the missionaries coming in for legal work. We went and got some food and then headed over to the Urząd to help get them legal. It was another incredibly cold day, the wind was sometimes unbearable, it honestly felt as though someone was nibbling on the end of my fingers and toes. I learnt how to say that 'we smashed someone', in like a game of football or something..'Rozwaliliśmy ich'. 

Saturday morning was my favourite morning of my mission so far. Even though it was -17 degrees, we went and played football with some members and other missionaries, it was epic! We played on a turf pitch behind the chapel which was turned into an ice rink of sorts due to the snow, a few inches of solid ice and snow on top of the turf which made the game even more interesting. I went in shorts, because why not right..? I took pants with me but didn't change into them until I decided my legs were red and cold enough. I played in goal too as I couldn't be bothered running around. I took a 45 min shower when I got home, just so I was sufficiently warm enough. 

From exchanges with Quakenbush and Mulder last transfer, I picked up a new meal idea which is just fried Kielbasa and potatoes, but it's so good and does the job. 

Fast Sunday came quickly and seemed to last forever.  My main goal for the day was to not think about food. It was a decent testimony meeting, kind of nice there being no pressure for the missionaries to fill the time. We went out after church to a finding activity, again in the cold, it was so bad!  We bailed early and went home to break our fast, which wasn't as good as it sounds as I didn't have much food in. 

The traffic in Warsaw is the worst I've experienced. It's so dumb.

We have Zone training tomorrow. so should be good seeing Alvarez and Huffman again. 

Have a good week. Take it easy.

Warsaw Old Town

Pizza from De Grasso's after a long cold day 

Three Nights in Warsaw

This week has been a strange week as we've not been in Lublin for most of it. From Tuesday night to Friday afternoon we were in Warsaw, getting up to all sorts of things with Elders Quakenbush and Mulder, zone conference, MLC and a wild 5:30AM footy match.

Wednesday morning we were up early, as I mentioned before for the football. We had 8 lads there, we just had a kick about in the darkness. It woke us all up for sure. Walking back I was doing some kick-ups and kicked the ball into a big ditch, some work was being done by the side of the road, so I jumped in before anyone noticed and grabbed it. Definitely a 'laugh at myself' moment. Shout out to Elder Mulder for a solid breakfast. At 9:30 we headed back out for an English Blitz by the University.  I've never seen so many students!  Something we'll start doing here in Lublin for sure. We went back home for studies, can never go a day without studies.   The morning of football wrecked us though, as we all at some point had one of those 30 minute long 'prayers' haha. We had a finding activity with Elders White and Sommerfeldt, Quakenbush and Mulder on Nowy Świat, it's all nicely decorated with Christmas lights and it was full of people.

Thursday, Day 2 in Warsaw and the day of zone conference. We left the apartment around 9:30, Elder Quakenbush and I took the car, as we had to give Sisters Dekker and Andersen a lift to the chapel, they both have broken feet, or something like that. It felt so strange being in a car. I miss driving and having that freedom you know. We had a few assignments to make sure it ran smoothly, but that was it for us. Elder Dooley conducted the meeting. Elder Paul V. Johnson presided at the meeting, and of course, we had President and Sister Turek there with us. The theme of the conference was missionary work. We studied 3 Nephi 11, and a few chapters in Alma, no surprises there. It was a solid conference, followed by a huge Thanksgiving, KFC style lunch. 40 chicken breasts, 80 wings, a whole load of mashed potato, gravy, stuffing, and cakes. After Zone training we headed out as a force of missionaries to the centre of the city where we had a finding activity. 

That night we had 6 lads at the APs place. Bebel and Garrison joined us for the evening as we had MLC the next day at 9am. We got up to all sorts of responsible and safe things. 

Friday was MLC. Present were all the Leaders in the mission, President and Sister Turek, Elder and Sister Johnson. We were also joined by some representatives from 'Family Search', members of the church, from Germany, who spoke to us and taught us about family history. The reason being is that there's going to be a huge push with family history work being part of the missionary work here. There are also going to be new courses introduced to the mission and changes to the way we do English. It's certainly inspired and is going to change the mission.

Sunday was a good day. I had to conduct the meeting at church, which took me back a few transfers to Poznań when I had Sundays on my mind 100% of the time. That experience shows me how much work and effort and love all the Bishops and Branch Presidents put into their service. 

Tracting nights. Human interaction is rare, we speak to a phone most of the time 

Zone Conference

Elder White - 6'8"

I'm there at the back somewhere

Mieliśmy wymianę z asystentami - we took the car out for a spin

Amazing view of Warsaw from Ewa's apartment