Kraków is the place to be!

Cześć wam! Another week has come and gone, quicker than most I would say. I would like to say it's been a huge eventful week but the first week of every transfer, especially after moving to a new city isn't always the most exciting or eventful. I've met some great people though, some we teach, members from the branch here, people that come to our English class, and then the other Elders in my district are quality lads. One thing that's been a blessing of moving to kraków is my bed, that thing is so comfy it's hard to get out of it each morning, I've got some good sleep in though helping me be ready to take on each day with 100%.

On Tuesday night we had our English class, not many people showed up as it was the end of another Polish holiday. Something nice to see is that everything shuts during most of the holidays, shops, restaurants, even the people shut themselves away. The Polish people really celebrate their holidays, with most of them being religious holidays too it's nice to see the respect they show. Kind of makes it a nightmare for us as missionaries though..no shops open to get a snack during the day and the only people on the streets are tourists and homeless people. The English class was good though. It's the same everywhere I go, it takes people a few weeks to get used to my accent, especially the people in the beginner class. It's so funny having me say a word and then listening to an American pronunciation of it, it confuses the heck out of them.

Wednesday night we heard about an event going down on the small rynek. It was a night of singing patriotic Polish hymns, how could we not go and check it out. So at 5:30 we turned up and there were so many people there, there was a huge stage too with people up there who could actually sing, their job was to lead so that people knew what to sing, they probably knew that we were going to show up. They handed out free hymnals too which was a little bonus. The downside to the evening is that it started raining, that's springtime in Poland for you.

Thursday was a solid day. So hot outside and we spent pretty much all day outside until our English class at 18:30. We printed off 1000 English fliers and handed them all out within about 3 days. Elder Fuhriman said he'd had 6 or 7 people call him to sign up, decent ratio if you ask me, has Poznań beaten by a mile! Before English we had a meeting with a 20-year-old girl who is pretty cool. We teach her English and then she's open to gospel discussion afterwards in which we just teach her our doctrine. A lot of people hold back when it comes to listening to our message. Our message isn't that we want to change the faith of others, it's not that we want to force others to join our church, the desire to change will come naturally as you listen with intent to what the messages we share have to offer. Our message is one of turning outward, loving others and showing faith in making the right steps towards something even better than what you think you already have, nothing is greater and more rewarding than the blessings Heavenly Father has for us.

The branch here is quality, we had about 35 people in church this past Sunday which is mint! A lot of international members so lots of translating. Some good testimonies were shared by the members, I got up too just to introduce myself. One of my MTC teachers Spencer Kimball who served here a few years ago was there so it was nice for him to see how much my Polish has improved since the terrible days of the MTC haha.

I'm looking forward to what Kraków has to offer. There's nothing better than going out for the day with the mindset of doing some good.

We got up and went to Auschwitz this morning.  It was a good trip out there, maybe 1 hour on a bus.  We got up at 5.15am to get out there early.  It felt weird being there again, I know it was 6 years ago I was there last but it seemed as if it wasn't too long ago.  

(note from mum:- our local newspaper wrote this article about Josef visiting Auschwitz in 2011 on a school history trip and how his great grandad had escaped from there during the Second World War)

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.