Week 18

Well I finally got pictures uploaded! I have not added tags yet to them, but if I have time after writing this, that is what I will start working on

http://picasaweb.google.com/football80

As for this past week we had worked really hard to set up a lot of meetings, but like the past couple weeks here we were flaked by nearly everyone, sad day. We had our regular weekly meeting with Sister Kopeć on Wednesday, it went well, she is great but has back problems so can't make it to church right now :(. Zone conference on Thursday was great, I had a lot of notes. Later we talked to each other about the notes we took, it is amazing how we can hear the exact same thing and yet still have such different notes thanks to the Holy Ghost. It was of course great to see a bunch of the MTC group again :D And we even had an awesome visit from one of our teachers! Brother Kuhle came at the end to say hi :D I was so happy to see him. It was funny though because he was in normal clothes. We also were told about transfers at Zone Conference! Earlier in an interview with President he had told me that he had no plans to move me from Lublin. So I didn't expect much from this transfer... right up until it happened... I am being transfered to Poznań (Poz-na-een for all you non polish people who have no idea what the thing above the n does...lol) to serve with Elder Contor there! I'm super excited for the change, Elder Thomson and I get along fine...but we don't really talk much and it is usually very quiet. Our personalities just don't mesh well. I'm excited for a change. And I hear that Poznań is gorgeous!

On Friday we met with a man named Marcin, who we found in the Area Book. He is an amazing guy! He breeds gerbiles as a hobby, and travels to China every 3 months for a month long stay for work. He makes ties, and says Adam (someone who loves the missionaries and the missionaries all love his ties) is stiff competition. He is very culturally knowledgable and was amazing to talk to. He speaks 4 languages including English, at the end of our lesson he also gave me a Tie as an early birthday present! I was really happy because I don’t exactly count on getting many presents this year, not physical ones at least.

On Saturday we had a meeting set up, but when the time came he didn’t show up, and would not answer his phone. We also went around to the people who we had visited before, have been in contact with, but unable to set up an appointment. We thought it would be a fun idea to surprise them by stopping by. As expected though, they were busy... but I am sure that they know we actually do care about them.

On Sunday we were able to have Branch Conference so we had called everyone we know in the branch and any possible investigator who might come. We were expecting a huge turnout, but only 6 members showed up.... how lame is that... We were greatly disappointed, but what else can we do but call and remind people and encourage them, and pray of course. After church we went contacting and had a great lesson on the street with a man named Przymek. We gave him a Book of Mormon and after talking for quite some time asked for his information. He said he doesn’t give out his info, but said that he would like to read the Book of Mormon before talking further with us, we gave him our number and hope for the best. He had great questions and seemed really interested. The funny thing was that when we set out to contact it was perfect weather, high 60's and sunny. Throughout the contact/mini lesson it got significantly colder...and windy... and cloudy... shortly after parting ways we headed for the park since it should be nice this time of year and have plenty of people there. Shortly after reaching the park, we new it was coming...the rain....... We turned tail and headed straight home. It picked up a bit... we were on a bus. Got off the bus and crossed the street, pulled out the ubrella, knowing what was coming very shortly. The sky openned...and the water fell. We took off running, I used my ubrella as a shield against the rain in front of me, it was really fun I was laughing the whole time, super windy too. We got inside just before it really let loose! We sat and watched it for about 20 mins and then it stopped. We later went tracting and had a good experience with that, getting let in at the third door and being able to talk to the people that lived there. They wanted to know somethings about how Mormon live, and they were really interested because we were from the states lol.

Monday we had a meeting with the Gładuns, which was great, I got to say Good bye to them. It was sad, I hope sometime in the future to be able to return to Lublin. We also had finally set up with Mariusz, who use to have a baptismal date but we haven’t seen him in over a month. The time came, he didn’t. We tried repeatedly to call him, but each time we have tried that we find that his phone is turned off... That stinker...he has done this to us a ton of times now... We cannot figure out what is going on with him. Elder Thomson is really frustrated with him right now.

Well that is pretty much it, everything is going well. I am excited to see a new city with a new companion, but as always it is hard to say good bye to those whom I have come to know and love here in Lublin. I know that wherever the Lord sends me, that is where I need to go.

Thanks for reading everyone :D I am off to comment on those pics now :D

-Starszy Taylor

Week 17

Sorry everyone but this week is gonna be kinda short due to the fact that the library is randomly closed today and we have to be here in this terrible internet cafe, and the keyboard I have is one of those terrible ones that is split in the middle and all tilted funny, so I can't type well... Also super limited on time today...again...

This week has been a week full of rain! It has not rained a whole ton up until now... but now it is raining cats and dogs! I have never seen raindrops this big...I will post a link to a video I took soon. Hopefully I will also be able to get those bajillion pictures I have posted soon too.

Wednesday we had a meeting with Basia Rakuś who was baptized last year. We were meeting with her to help explain how to give a talk in Sacrament meeting and how to prepare it. This was going to be her first talk in Church! I was super excited for her, it is a wonderful opportunity to learn while preparing to teach. Thursday we had a meeting with Basia Kopeć way out there, and then afterwards tried to meet with Marlena but could not contact her so we eventually headed home. Friday...hmmm what did we do on friday...oh ya, it rained....forever....literally all day, just came pooring down, the street behind our building was a river. In fact, my companion made a small tinfoil boat and sailed it down the stream :) I got a picture, it was funny, can't believe he went out in it. Then we also organized the ridiculous amounts of materials we had for investigators sitting around in our apartment. Took a while but we eventually got it all sorted out and ready to transport to the Chapel. Saturday we had a meeting with a man name Witek, who we found in the Area Book. Apparently he has been investigating the church for 10 years! Holy Smokes... After our meeting we headed to the Gładuns house for our Branch Grill :D It was great, and Witek was abel to come with us and talk with the Gładuns who apparently already know him from forever ago. The grill was great :) was lots of fun because Elder Thain, who use to be Branch President here, was back with his parents visiting, so it was fun to chat with them a bit.

Sunday we had a meeting before church with a missionary couple from Germany who are the Audit trainers for Eastern Europe, so they travel to each country training people how to be ready for audits and how financial work is suppose to be done. They stayed for Church, and the Thain family also came, and so did Witek! We had the greatest church attendence I have ever seen in Lublin! It was amazing lol, and half the people only spoke English, I had to translate for the Taiwanese members again, while Elder Thain (now only Brother Thain lol) translated for the others. It was a great meeting then afterwards we had the most interactive Sunday School lesson the branch has ever seen, mostly because of the english speakers in the back answering all the questions as they would in their normal wards back home. It was funny but all the members here loved it.

Monday of course was more financial work, and this time we had to stay extra long in the library to watch the tutorials the church has for bishops and the ward clerks (thats me) so that was all kinds of fun. Tonight we will be returning to talk with the English Class again, it is a wonderful experience for them to learn about the Gospel! And it is nice to be able to speak in English and help them out :)

Well thats it for this week, hopefully next week will be a bit brighter and less rainy!

-Starszy Taylor

Week 16

Holy smokes....this past week was full of tons of travel, again, but even more than usual...

On Wednesday we headed to Warsaw for District meeting, which we have permission to travel to once a month. Had a great meeting, always tons of fun and uplifting. I had the show and tell this week, so naturally I decided to show everyone the coin that I carry around with me all the time, and why. It is a really cool double sided coin that my Dad also carries with him all the time, it helps us to remember each other and to always do our best to be like the 2000 Sons of Helaman. They all thought it was pretty cool, which it is :D Then at the end Elder Thomson had been assigned the game, so he took the game "Tower of Flour" and warped it...into something else... He kinda combined it with Simon Says... He had a plate full of flower, and had buried a gummy bear somewhere in it. Who ever lost at Simon Says had to get the gummy bear without hands. It was fun, we all had a lot of flower on our faces after that! Then we had some scurrying about to get food, then we headed home. As we were approaching the door my companion started reaching for his keys...then the next pocket.......another pocket.............only to come to the terrible realization that he didn't have them... We thought maybe they fell out of his pocket on the Bus, so we hurried to catch a bus to the station and find that bus. On the way there we called everyone we rode with, and found that the keys were in the Assisstant Presidents car... in Warsaw... We were looking at about 5 hours of travel to go there and get the keys again... not a good plan. So I suggested we call the land lord and maybe he could let us in. It worked! We got in and spent the night, got up the next morning at 4:30 to catch a super early train to Kielce where we had set up with the land lord there to finish my legal work. But as soon as we locked the door, and slipped the key into the mailbox, my comp realized he had forgotten the phone on the table... so now we are without a phone and going to be traveling all over south Poland today. Got to Kielce, had a great grill with the Elders there for lunch before our meeting with the land lord. We got all we could done with my legal work, but apparently we will have to return, yet again, in order to pick up my card. Ugh. Then it was off to Warsaw from there to pick up the lost keys. After our 3 hour train ride there we headed for the Chapel because we figured that would be the best place to find someone. We found everyone lol, they were all there for institute. But no one could give us a ride to the Office to pick up the keys until way later. Eventually that happened, I was able to play some badminton with the members and investigators for a while though, tons of fun. After we finally had the keys we headed for the Dworzec to check train and bus times. After we got there we soon came to the heart wrenching discovery that the last train was at 9:20 and the last bus at 10:00 it was 10:10.... UGH. And of course we have no phone... so we go to the Holiday inn right next to us and ask to use their phone to call the ZL's. We spent the night with them.

Friday Morning we got home and crashed. We were so exhausted from all that travel and stress... Later that day we had a meeting with Beata Gładun, great meeting where we talked about inactive members and who is safe to try and reactivate. The Gładuns are also having some trouble with one of there boys, who seems to have no goals or ambitions in life. We tried to give them advise but lets face it... we aren't parents... so we told them to pray about it :) like good missionaries!

Saturday morning we had finally set up a meeting with investigator Mariusz, who we haven't been able to meet with for about a month. We got to the chapel around 12:00, when we told him we would be there. He hadn't set up a solid time with us yet, but said he would text or call, which he always does. We waited there for about 4 hours... he never called, and wouldn't respond to our calls or texts, we think his phone is broken again, we were really hoping to meet with him then. After that we headed out to meet with a member who can't come to church due to back problems. Gave her the Sacrament and I practiced a short version of my talk for her. It was on Sabbath Day Observance and the Armor of God. I thought it was pretty good :D

Sunday I had to give the whole talk in Sacrament meeting! I was so nervous, it was my first full length talk in all Polish. I quoted True to the Faith a couple times and 3 scriptures. I got lots of compliments on my Polish afterwards and everyone seemed to like the talk so thats good :) Afterwards, my companion gave a great Sunday School lesson on the Christlike attributes found in "Preach my Gospel" the members all really liked it.

Monday we had finances as usual... Then for Family Home Evening we decided to try and teach our members how to sing. It was a very interesting experience... One of the two people that came showed up an hour late... We tried to teach them how to sing High on a Mountain Top. We sang it a couple times, then Basia, the one who was late, started asking all these questions about the music... We tried to teach her, but she is a really simple person and didn't quite get it. Then she wanted to know how to conduct, so we tried to teach her that too, but it was difficult again. She ended up being able to kind of conduct 2/2 time but not really. It was funny because she would always pause on the longer notes, she didn't understand that the conducter always keeps going and that the music follows the conducter, not the other way around. It was a funny night and really tested my companions patience with her. I thought it was really funny, she is always so curious about everything.

Then today (i'm writing this a lot later than usual) we were able to go with the rest of the Warsaw Zone to Kazimierz Dolny, a small town about an hour away from Lublin. Elder Thain is here with his family right now and so they were with us as well. The city is absolutely gorgeous! I have lots of pictures that I hope to get uploaded soon. (I can't do it right now because the computer doesn't have the program I need and I can't instal anything...) It was really cool and the weather was so beautiful! We were all sweating in the humidity and sunshine! It was great! I am so happy that the weather is nice here now :)

Well, that is pretty much it for the week. We are in a super big hurry right now to get to the English class! We are definitely going to be late, but hopefully we don't miss the whole thing!

-Starszy Taylor

Week 15

Well, this week just flew by! Probably has something to do with all the traveling we did this week, which always seems to become more and more frequents as my mission continues...

So last Tuesday we met with that English class again. This time they were in their computer lab looking up stuff about Lublin to tell us about. And we had the opportunity to show them some pictures of Temples. Of course they wanted to see the Salt Lake Temple, which they thought was very beautiful. Then we showed them some other temples using the churches temple viewer. And then I googled the San Diego Temple :D when I brought the picture up there was an audible gasp when they saw it, and then, someone in the back who was standing on a chair was leaning so far forward to see it better that he fell of the chair!!! The teacher then commented that we could probably convert some people just by showing them pictures of the Temples... lol It was really funny, and a good teaching opportunity to explain how important families are to us and why our church is so big on Geneology.

http://www.skycamsandiego.com/gallery/photos/lrg_mormon_temple.jpg
http://www.christjcd.com/lds/books/san_diego_lds_mormon_temple1.jpg
(Those are the pictures I showed)

On Thursday we took a trip to Puławy to visit our blind member there. She is always so nice to us and so faithful, she does everything she can do in her circumstances. She has a watch that when you press a button it will tell you what time it is in Polish! But the battery died recently so she has not been able to tell the time for a while now. She asked us to fix it, so we set out looking for a Watch store, which are usually pretty abundant in Poland. We found one, but he was on break for the next 45 mins.... so we continued looking. Eventually we found one in the Mall there and they were able to replace the battery for us. We returned the watch to her and she was ecstatic! She was so grateful for that simple thing we did for her. It was a great example to me that we should be grateful in life for everything that we have, not just big things that happen. Shortly therafter we returned to Lublin to meet with one of our members. Then after that meeting we had one more with a member who has been inactive for some time, but has been coming back to church. She lives really close to this other member too so it worked out quite conveniently. She has a really modern apartment, I was super surprised! I played with her son who is 12, he loves soccer and other sports, we get along great. Then we had a short lesson with him, about why we need examples in our life and how Jesus Christ is the perfect example. It was time for us to go after that, but apparently the buses did go out that far, so Marlena (the mom) offered us a ride. The ride was one of the most exciting things of my life. She was flying down the road! They don't have police patrolling here to catch speeders, they just have cameras at fixed locations to photograph and ticket speeders. She knows where all the cameras are :) So she was flying at like 120 km/h down this small little windy road!!!! It was so much fun, my companion was freaking out though lol, he didn't not like it, I loved it.

Friday we traveled yet again, but this time it was to Kielce! The plan was to finish my legal work and get my little card that says I legal. I thought I just had to be present to pick up this little card. However...upon arriving I was informed that I would need my passport...from my companion, who neglected to tell me a whole plethura of things that still had to be done. It was kinda funny because of all the people in the world, he should have been the last one to forget how these things work (he was in the office for 6 months, thats all they do...lol not really) anyways... we couldn't do any of my legal work but we got to work with Elder Nielson (from my MTC group) and Elder Tribe. It was a lot of fun and we worked hard, but we will have to go back again this week.

From Kielce we took a train up to Warsaw early Saturday morning because my companion had a meeting he had to be in for the Branch Presidents in the Warsaw District. Luckily for me, the missionaries in Warsaw that day had planned a Sports Saturday! And I was able to go with them to that :) I had shorts to change into and Elder Garrett brought me a shirt, and I had found some extra shoes in Kielce, so I was ready to go. We played soccer, in the rain, it was tons of fun, I don't think I have ever really played sports much out in the rain, especially for about 2 hours... It was tons of fun and so nice to be able to do something physical. It made me really sore. We also played some ultimate frisbee which was also pretty fun. There were some members and some investigators there too :) which is really the whole purpose. Apparently i'm not absolutely terrible at soccer, I still can't control the ball well, but it is fun to kick it in funny ways when it is bouncing or in the air. The Sisters were there too playing with us, they were actually playing too, not just standing around, which really surprised me :) they toughed it out through the rain too :) The train ride home after that was all kinds of fun, all wet and everything, I couldn't even change back into my other clothes because I was all wet.

Sunday was good, I always notice how much my polish has grown on Sundays. This sunday I was alone watching conference with some members, while my companion taught our english speakers in English. I was able to converse, and answer questions in Polish! It is so nice to be able to start understanding Polish people when they speak instead of just missionaries! I look forward to mastering this language :D

Well, thats pretty much it, we were able to watch conference yesterday on some DVD's we got from the office in Warsaw, they have it in 8 different languages on there so it was really nice to hear it in English :)

Well, thats it for this week, sorry again for any spelling errors, I see red lines all over the place... and can't exactly spell check on this Polish computer... forgive me.

Kocham was. Dziękuje bardzo za twoj czas czytając moj blog. :D

-Starszy Taylor