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.

Warsaw Zone Training - Speak only in Polish and study only in Polish!

So on Saturday we had the chance to go to leave Poznań for the day and go to Warsaw for zone training. We're not part of that zone but there was some confusion with the travel and plans so instead of going to Gdańsk for training we went to the Capital. We left early that morning at around 8, I had McDonald's breakfast which is a must before train rides. We got to Warsaw and it was cold and it had rained..there was also a NATO summit going on so the streets were closed and there were Police everywhere and every few minutes a police escort would drive past. It was the first time in the Warsaw chapel.  

We actually have a church building, not just a rented out office space. It's pretty nice too. It was good to see missionaries I've not seen for a while, even some from the mission I've never met before. President and Sister Turek were running late so we had lunch and chatted before the meeting. I got to see my bro and trainer Elder Taylor one last time, which we thought would never happen. Sisters Kamp, Dekker and Barney were there too so it was good to see them. 

Elder Taylor - bro and trainer

The training meeting started, we had some reading and preparation to do on faith for the meeting - and so faith is exactly what we spoke about. The whats, the whos and the whys of faith. It was short but we were taught a lot and it sparked a lot of thoughts in my mind. President and Sister Turek are great people and it's going to be good working with them. We took some things home with us, one of those things being,  speak only in Polish and study only in Polish, this is going to help us all progress a lot.

Warsaw Zone Training - President and Sister Turek front right

We left training with the Lublin Elders and we did it in perfect missionary style by setting off late and then having to get across Warsaw to the station in world record time. We got the first tram and then had to get off and sprint to the metro and catch an underground train and then get off that with a final 300m sprint to the station. It was tense, tiring, funny, and probably a funny sight for the public to see,  7 smartly dressed missionaries carrying boxes and bags running across Warsaw!  So in the end the Lublin Elders missed their train by literally 1 minute, and we made ours with 3 minutes to spare. 

Church was good yesterday.  We had 3 members show up and also we had someone we invited there too which was a miracle from the week. Karol and Sergiusz both spoke on the topic of leadership in the church and then I finished the meeting by talking about how we can remember the Saviour using the talk from Elder Gong from the  last conference. 

Other things that have gone on this week. We had a really nice lunch on Tuesday after district meeting at this Indian place, it was really nice.  I had something similar to tikka massala maybe. I got bit again, twice on my shin and then one down by where my ankle meets my foot, and they've swelled up a lot, quite annoying and they're itchy as flip but I'll get over it.

We played football on an actual 3g pitch with goals on Friday, kicking a ball about is the best way for me to relieve stress I feel. 

We've decided to focus on the members and less active work as our biggest effort, we've not been having much success with finding and contacting so we feel member and less active work is what we should do. We're still going to find and contact but we're trying to find new ways in which we can make those finding activities successful.

Warsaw Chapel

All I've got time for, have a boss week!

Pozdrawiam,

-Starszy Ashworth

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

My week.......

My week...

It's been a decent week here with all sorts of little miracles and laughs. Elder Alvarez always sees the positives to a situation which helps when things don't go well or as to plan.  I can't really remember the small details of the week but we had a good few moments.

On Monday night we decided to go contacting on the deptak in the centre of town. We had a decent hour there and met some cool people. We met one guy named Amadeus..'like Mozart'he kept telling us. He stopped and spoke with us for a while and was just amazed of the work we do and the fact that we can speak Polish. We spent a lot of the day moving our belongings to the other apartment across town, it was so much effort but we battled through and got it done.

Tuesday we did food shopping. I love getting new food in the house. I managed to pick up some tuna fish that was on offer. 

For the next few days we had little tasks we had to do that took up parts of the day, nothing really exciting. We went to find a referral that we had been assigned. We contacted him several times but he never picked up. The goal was to knock on his door, but we didn't really plan and got lost trying to find it..those things happen though. 

We went on a few tracting adventures through the week. One of the times we decided to go when Poland were against Switzerland. It turns out that that isn't a good time to knock on the door of a Pole.  The amount of times we got told to bog off was countless haha. We could hear how the game was going, I just guessed they were in a shoot out as there was such a tension in the air that any football fan can sense. When they won the game the whole neighbourhood we were in went crazy. It was so cool. 

That night we went contacting in town and there were so many people out, crazy football fans and all that. We're definitely coming to Poznan in the summer when the world cup is on! 

Sunday night after a bomb day at church..it was bomb as everything went well, talks, lessons, those that were there are doing well and it was just a good day. We fasted that day as a companionship to see a miracle or something good to happen and we didn't get let down. As we were out in a nice Osiedle we knocked on the door of a group of college aged Indian lads that welcomed us in and we had a really good chat with them about loads of things. They were of the Hindu faith, but were happy to listen to our message. We agreed to help them learn Polish, they were so grateful that we knocked on their door, they were homies.

I've been studying and reading through the book of Mosiah these past few days, there's a lot of good things we can learn from King Benjamin and Alma. 

Also I came across this  that said something like..Every attempt to reflect upon the atonement will kindle the fires of faith, it is an inescapable consequence of so doing,

Farewell to Elder Campora and Elder Jeffs

As you already know I'll be staying in Poznań and my companion is still Elder Alvarez, we're staying together for another transfer.   We helped Elder Jeffs and Campora this morning and sent them on their way.  It was a good send off, obviously it was hard saying goodbye for a while as I'm good mates with them both.  It's a weird feeling sending them home almost. They will be missed!

I didn't feel well yesterday, so I slept for a few hours through the day after church, probably why I didn't sleep at night.  I got a mosquito bite above my eyebrow and I've had a huge headache since then.  I've taken some tablets though - the bugs seem to like me!

I'm still enjoying life.  I'm learning everyday from the experiences I have and I couldn't be more grateful for that.   Bring on this next transfer - I hit 8 months in 7 days.  Mental!
I want to focus on less active work as we have some good people that could help the branch out a lot.  I know I can do it, not on my own though.  My favourite scripture is in Chapter 26 of Alma verse 12, Ammon is a boss!

Some favourites of the week:-

Favourite meal of the week - Has to be one of the home cooked meals we had.  Elder Alvarez works wonders in the kitchen.   I guess everything with flavour to me tastes good as I stick to my rice and pasta and oatmeal haha. He cooked some beef up and put veg in there with all sorts of spices and sauces, it was good.

Favourite activity of the week - Has to be the grill we had on Saturday, it had been a long day with the audit and English class. It was nice to have a bit of fun with friends and members at the end of the night. We had a huge turnout.

We threw a Branch BBQ/going away party for Jeffs and Campora. So many people came, English students, branch members and friends.

Best teaching moment of the week - I've had a few cool meetings with members this week. Kind of going through them and speaking to them individually so I can get to know them better. 

Funniest thing that happened to me - Funny things happen all the time, nothing sticks out to me though. 

During studies a huge storm hit so of course I went out on the balcony.. ☔

What I will miss about Elder Jeffs and Campora - I'll just miss them both in general, like even now it feels weird not having them around. I'll miss Elder Jeffs' knowledge of Poznań, if you saw Elder Jeffs doing something here in Poznań usually it meant that you could do it haha. Just being able to bro down with Elder Campora will be something I'll miss. Also training them both how to kick a proper football, they were getting good. 

Best word I have learnt - The verb lepszyć sie means to improve yourself, to make yourself better.

Culture Day Hike

So long, farewell for now!

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!

So from now on you can call me President 😉

Let's start with the week..things that happened...

On Tuesday morning, I finished preparations for the district meeting I thought I would be leading, to find out on my way to the chapel that we weren't having it due to the zone conference on Friday...good start to the day. We suddenly had to fill 2 hours with something..we decided we weren't going to 'fill the time' but go out with a goal and expectations and try to achieve them. It made that 2 hours a lot more productive and worthwhile. We had a meeting with a guy who set up with us the day previous but he never showed for his meeting which is always a shame. In the evening we had FHE in which we shared a small spiritual thought about the first vision and the important things we learn from this event. We had a good game of Apples to Apples to end the night before heading back home. 

Wednesday was a really good day this week because we finally got our money so we could go food shopping. We didn't budget our money well last month so ran out a week early...not the most enjoyable thing haha.. don't worry we survived a few days but I guess you learn the hard way. We taught a really good English class, probably one of my favourites.  I laughed a lot and we corrected them on their English and went through sentences and things, I just love that group of people in the beginner class. 

On Thursday we had a lesson with a new person we contacted through the referral system.  It was a good first meeting in which she showed a lot of interest in the księga mormona and had already read a lot about the church.  We didn't have lunch at Bozena's as we had the elders from Szczecin down on an exchange so they went with the other elders.  Thursday night is something I will always remember as I was given the opportunity to confirm someone a member of the church and give to them the gift of the holy ghost, not something I thought I'd be doing this early in my mission. We had the AP's stay at our flat the night before the Zone conference the next day. 

Friday morning we got up early and the 4 of us went and played footy for a bit at this little 5 a side pitch by our apartment, a good way to start the day. The zone conference was a good do..as always..you learn a lot from the leaders in the mission and from President Edgren. We had a good testimony meeting too which was a highlight for me.  Takes me back to the kind of spirit I would feel on our youth conventions. 

On Saturday we went bowling with Markus and his girlfriend.  I  won with 139 points, there was no way I wasn't going to win.  The weather is incredibly nice, it's been hot all week and I have huge tan lines.  The one on my wrist from my watch is funny.  

We had 14 people at church on Sunday which was good to see.  We had a special broadcast so there was no sacrament meeting.  

In other news President on Friday told me that he would like me to be the next branch president of Poznań as Elder Jeffs will be leaving at the end of this transfer, so this Sunday just gone Elder Jeffs was released and I  was appointed and sustained as branch president..call it an early transfer call. So from now on you can call me President 😉 

Until next week...do widzenia.

The Boss Man chair..what am I scheming?

Helloooo