Week 5 (Transfer!!!)

Okay well, this was quite an exciting week, so I hope to be able to actually finish this blog before we run out of time on the computers today.

On Wednesday morning we got a call saying that there were only going to be 1 companionship in Kielce for the time being so we had to clean out the other apartment because we weren't going to use it anymore. That took up most of our day, it was quite an ordeal cleaning the whole apartment out, lots of missionaries had left random junk there....
Later on Wednesday, as I was packing all my stuff up for the Transfer the next day. I realized again that the zipper on one of my bags had broken (One side had come off, so it was only connected to half of the zipper part). I hate it when zippers break....So I was determined to fix it, an impossible task... I discovered the source of the problem to be a bend in the metal part on the zipper, it had been bent back, which had allowed it to jump off the track. After fiddling with it for about 15 minutes, I was able to get it back on the track, but wouldn't zip anything still....x_X I needed plyers to get the metal forced back into position... Luckily, for some unknown reason we happen to have a pair of plyers in the kitchen drawer...perfect >:) I carefully chose where to place the plyers, positioned them, and clamped down hard on them. After a couple readjustments I was able to actually get the zipper to work!!!!!!!!!!! I felt so accomplished so I went around telling everyone about it. No one seemed very impressed, which made me sad, but I was so happy with myself. No one ever fixes a zipper, when a zipper breaks, you replace the bag....After fixing it I proceeded to pack up all my stuff. My bags are really heavy....

Thursday morning I got up and got ready, had my last shower and breakfast in Kielce and we headed out for the Dworzec. Got me all loaded on the train, Elder Anderton is very kind and helpful. We said our goodbyes and he got off just before the train left. It was just over a 3 hour ride from Kielce to Lublin. I slept for most of the trip. When I thought we were getting closer I asked the girl in the cabin with me if this was Lublin and she said it was, we were both getting off so I helped her get her bag down, then I got my 2 monsters down....Almost knocked me clean off my feet when I pulled them down off the rack above the seats. I pulled my 2 bags to the train exit and somehow...got both off and still intact :D Then Elder Beaty came over and grabbed a bag and we headed for my new home. At the exit to the Dworzec there was a young man, early 20s, standing there asking for money in broken english, he was going to go buy alcohol with it (That is why he said he needed it), so we couldn't give him any. Took a bus to our apartment and I got aqcuainted with my new living space and unpacked my bags. After I got unpacked we went out contacting for a while :D :D :D :D :D Yay. The third or fourth person we contacted gave us her number and even set up a meeting with us on Monday. (She cancelled on us later though and said she was no longer interested :( ) At 5:00 we had a meeting scheduled with Nina, and her friend. Both are from Ukraine and speak English fine. They asked a lot of questions, as usual apparently. It is way funny because they live with 3 other Polish girls and the Polish girls told them about us....how we were going to hypnotize them and make them believe everything we say, and that we are a cult, and that we push people off balconies......lol I don't even know where people get this stuff, her roommates were generally concerned for her safety meeting alone with us... It was really weird. She knows we are just normal people though, not trying to force our religion on anyone, just out here to introduce it to people who may be looking for answers. As we were leaving the building, a guy in the parking lot overheard us speaking english and he stopped us!!!! He stopped US...ya..... We talked to him for a bit and told him we teach an English class, he was quite interested and asked how much it would cost, we told him it was free and he was shocked he didn't believe us lol. He asked why we would do such a thing, so we told him we are missionaries and we do it as a service. He seemed really interested, so hopefully we will see him in English this week :D Then we ran into another guy we know, who wanted us to come over sometime soon to meet again :D I love it here in Lublin!!! Thursday was pretty much an awesome day :D

Friday we had a meeting scheduled with a member who can't come to church often because of work and the travel time. So since my comp in the Branch President also, we go out and visit members too. On our way to the Bus station (long walk) we get to go through old town, which is absolutely gorgeous, it is just like walking into the past. We also passed this Larry that started talking to us and just wouldn't stop, he was relentless, we told him we had to go but he wouldn't even stop talking to breathe...Eventually we had to leave so we just walked away. For those of you who don't already know, a Larry is a Polish man that has become so dependent on Alcohol that they have no home and no manners and will do ANYTHING to get money for more alcohol. We went to Poławy where this member lives and we had a heck of a time finding her house... Way out in the boonies lol. She was way nice, she cooked this awesome food for us, Potatoes, Meatballs, and Tomato Slices :D It was delicios, she also gave us some of the best candy I have ever had...it was Ukrainian too. Sooooo good, must find out how to get some...They had a really cute dog named Misia (I think that is how you spell it, it sounds like Misha) She had just had 3 tiny little puppies, absolutely adorable :D And she was really friendly too lol. She jump up on my lap and laid down, she put her head in my hand and took a nap. It was really cute.
After we got back into Lublin and were walking home from the bus station, there was this girl next to us that kept looking over and smiling at us....So I said "We should talk to her, she keeps looking at us" Low and behold she speaks English, so she started talking to us, we told her where we were from and why we are here, she invited us over to meet with her and 5 friends!!!! Right up until she realized we weren't catholic....lol, she dropped us like a hot patatoe...

Saturday we went to Zamość. About an hour and half bus ride out there. We went to meet with a member there, Maria, who can't come to church because it is too far. She made food for us, sooooo much food.....I couldn't eat it all I felt bad, I had half a Pierogi left (kinda like a ravioli) But she gave us each like 12.....yikes and this other thing, not sure what it was but is was pretty good :D We talked for a while, I could understand parts but I really didn't get the context of what was going on. She talked directly to me a couple times, which is always scary lol. Before we left, we prepared the Sacrament for her and she was very grateful for that. She is so nice to us :D We caught a Taxi back to the bus stop. Our Taxi driver was a girl too! I had never had a girl Taxi driver before, she was nice to us. Then as we were walking back from the bus stop to our apartment I asked the retoracle question "Why is it snowing again" (Because we had had such nice weather lately and the snow was melting) Somehow, I said it just as we were walking past these 2 girls and a guy and one of the girls said in a kinda harsh annoyed voice "Because it's Poland" Me and Elder Beaty just busted up laughing, it was absolutely hilarious. What are the odds that someone walking the opposite direction would actually hear what I said and then, speak english and be able to respond, I was really funny.

We had institute with some of the members here, Cody and Jasmine came. They are from Taiwan but are here studying medecine, they brought their friend Grace who is one of out investigators. They don't speak Polish so we were speaking in English, which was nice. They also know some Japanese!!! How crazy is that :D There ya go Dad, I found them ;) lol.

On Sunday we had church. I had to conduct the music, which is easy in English with songs you know....but in Polish, when it is songs you don't know, and played to a CD, it becomes much more difficult, especially since no one else really sings very loudly...I felt like I sang 3 solo's on sunday.....x_x I also happened to be the only "Speaker" in Sacrament meeting....I gave my into, and a little tiny talk and my Testimony, I don't think I butchered anything too badly. And then at the end...Elder Beaty asked me to give the closing prayer..! Holy Smokes I did practically everything except conducting....I don't even speak Polish yet..........We have pretty cool members here in Lublin, there are 2 young men :D one is 19 and the other is like 15. Everyone here seems to think I am like 16.... x_x they all say I look soooooo young.... which I guess isn't a bad thing......

We had 3 meetings on Monday after doing like 3 and half hours of Financial Work x_x So we had a pretty busy day. Hopefully they will be able to get a member Branch President here soon so the missionaries don't have to do it anyomre.

Well that is it for my very exciting week here in Lublin :D I love it here and am super excited to find a teach more people. We have a meeting on Wednesday with an investigator who was at church on Sunday, he said he had been thinking a lot about baptism and wanted to meet with us :D so hopefully everything goes well :D

I love you all, thanks for reading :D

-Starszy Taylor