Enos 1:26 - Those who are converted share the Gospel of Christ.

Where to begin, it's been the shortest week of my life for some reason, it's just flown by.

On Monday I treated myself to a new pair of jeans and a black woolly hat. We went to the old town and had a district picture that we'll be printing off and sending home as a Christmas card. So look out for that in the post. 

Tuesday we had a District Meeting which President joined us for. We had no clue he was coming, but it was nice to have him there. It's always good when President Turek is in on your meeting because I always learn something new..this time round I learnt the word 'to float' is ryfować. We weren't expecting anyone, so when the someone called the door it freaked Elder Huffman out, haha. We had a rather frustrating lesson with Bartek, it was good to be there with him and teach and all but the understanding of what we teach isn't quite there. 

Wednesday morning I got a phone call from an unknown number, it was Paweł calling to see if he could meet with us during the day. We met up after studies by Old town, with the snow pouring, and went to a place by the Rynek called 'Szewc' which is the word for 'Cobbler'. They had solid hot chocolate, which was needed as it's pretty cold out now. English class was hilarious, we had a bit of an English language segment and we had a chat, and then came the game..inspired by the video I received from my family of what happened at a family get together. We had to spin around 22 times, focusing on the ceiling, and then try and draw a specific thing on the whiteboard, it was so funny. We were all in stitches, it hurt to laugh and breathe for a short while after. 

Thursday was the day that Elder Sommerfeldt and White came to Lublin for exchanges. It was a bit of an adventure as their train didn't arrive till after 10pm. I guess not very unusual for others, but for missionaries it's so late! We had fun though and a moment where I thought I would have to put my 2 weeks of boxing training from when I was 14 to use, as a man ran up from behind us demanding money. I just talked to him and he soon left as he knew he wasn't going to get his 2zł for beer. 

Friday night we had a movie night at the chapel, a time for people to come and find out more about us as missionaries and as a church. Through the week we handed out over 1000 fliers, and we had 4 people show up. Those 4 people were people we personally invited..sounds about right for Poland. It was a decent night though. 

On Sunday we had a good testimony meeting, we had a lot at church too, there wasn't an empty seat. Myself and Ela took turns with the translating. After Church we went to visit someone in the hospital with Paweł. On the way, something happened that I'm always afraid will happen. A bird took a poop on my head, it was the only bird in the tree and it decided at that moment as I walked under to drop it on me. I was so mad, it embedded itself deep into my hair too. We were far from home, and I had nothing but snow and some tissues to get it out, so I had bird poo in my hair for a good 2 hours. 

That's my week. Here's a scripture for you. 

Enos 1:26 - Those who are converted share the Gospel of Christ.  We have zone training tomorrow.  This is the big one about family history and the area plan that we had the Seventy come down and speak to us about.  The zone is doing really well.  We have so many baptismal dates as a mission though, more than I've ever seen.  


Keep praying for me and I'll keep praying for you.

This is Boris, the Siberian Huskey - he belongs to Pawel.

the boys! Elder Summerfeldt and Elder White - they make me look like a kid

making pizza with Pawel and Elder Dooley

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

Miracle in Kiekrz.

So the week.

I'll talk about the main points from the week as we had a long one.

There was a day this week when we sat down one evening to plan, we had no idea what to do with our time, so we prayed about whether we should go tracting in a place called Kiekrz.  After the prayer we both felt good and so the following day we tracted up in Kiekrz. The miracle that happened is that the first house we knocked on, we met a guy called Dominik who let us in and we've built a good relationship with him. He was in church on Sunday, we've had a few meetings with him.  He came to English class, and he came to sports on Saturday too.  My testimony of prayer certainly was made stronger after this experience. 

Wednesday we had President and Sister Turek in Poznań as they were visiting all the branches and holding a small fireside, also they wanted to meet members and investigators. We had it as soon as English class finished so a few of the students stayed, also we had a few members there and Dominik was there too. It was a good night, President had me conduct the meeting which was fun, just the introduction and prayers and things, so nothing much. 

Thursday was the day of zone conference, we left early at 9 so that we could be there for the 11am start. We touched down in Bydgoszcz but then realised that we didn't know the way to the chapel - we set off anyway on a hunt for the chapel.  I eventually called someone to help direct us.  It turns out that we didn't end up too far just by wandering around. The zone conference was good. Very different to the way President Edgren would go about it - not saying that either one is better. There was more on our part to search and find and learn for ourselves. President Turek is a very good teacher. Most of it was in Polish.  When the conference finished we realised that we only had 10 mins to get to the train station for our train, so we all grabbed our things and then had Sister Turek drive us to the dworzec, we made it in time. We also had Elder Garrison and Fetzer with us as they had an exchange with Bebel and Somerfeldt. 10 mins into the ride home the train stopped, and we were informed that there had been an accident involving a person and the train and that we would be delayed 3 hours - so that put an end to the nights activities. Most of the time we were delayed we hopped off the train and chilled on tracks chatting and things. We got home just before 9pm, just enough time to order pizza and settle down for the evening. We bought 4 pizzas. 

Friday we didn't really get up to much. There were still 6 of us in Poznań and we attempted to do some finding but it rained all day. It was dry when we left the house and started contacting but after a few minutes it threw it down.  Things leaked through my bag onto my shirt so now I have a multi-coloured shirt. At first, it was fun being out in the rain, I enjoyed it as it had been so hot, after a while we got really cold, short sleeved shirts too. 

Saturday we had a cool sports day activity.  We had a few people come down and we played some American Football, a sport I'm not too familiar with but I still managed to be better than the Americans. The end result came down to my incredible pace and speed - it was fun though. Saturday evening came and I was shattered.  I fell asleep after planning on the couch still in my sports gear!  I woke up at 4am and then got into bed, the shower I had that morning was one of the best I've had. 

The long awaited fast sunday came - we had a more meaningful fast as we fasted together with one of our investigators which was nice. The testimony meeting was another good one. Having to prepare the schedule and make sure the day runs well is probably the biggest pain for me, so when it all goes well I can relax.

We hit Kiekrz another few times this week, nothing more as of yet but we're not giving up, we know seeds have been planted up there. 

Hope you all have a good week.

Bydgoszcz to Poznań, the Squad!

The day when it lobbed it down with rain! Elder Fetzer and I were brave, the others hid under shelter. Probably the smarter idea