Week 20

Holy Smokes! Already on Week 20! And that is just weeks I have been in the country!

This week was fantastic! We had a mission conference, which is like a zone conference but very rare because the whole mission comes together. It was great to see literally everyone. We took a picture which I am almost sure my mother has sent out by now. Then we had some great talks from President Engbjerb and also from Elder Kerr of the Seventy. He is Scottish so he has a great accent, and was very energetic it was great. We had catered lunch and dinner, which never happens, but it was Presidents last mission conference before going home so he spoiled us. After Lunch we had the once in a lifetime opportunity to have a Video Conference between our mission, and Elder Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles!!! It was the first time in history that something like that had ever been done! It was great, we got to talk with him through the churches video chat system, this was the first time it had been done with a mission though. I got a lot of great notes and insights, it was wonderful.

I guess I didn't say much about my new companion Elder Rourk Contor last week so here is some stuff on him. He has a heck of a family tree, between a couple divorces and remarraiges he has 8 siblings and no matter how you slice it he is smack in the middle. He really likes cars and water skiing was also a runner in high school, long distance. He has never had a companion for more than a transfer! So hopefully I will break the cycle and stay here in Poznań. He goes home in December this year. He is a worry worm, lol, but I think being a missionary branch president does that to a lot of people. He also worries about the sisters we have in our district, always making sure they are in safe each night. He is really funny and thus far we get along great. He hates Warsaw, anytime we have to go there we are always the first to leave lol, no one really knows why he doesn't like it so much. He is also a great cook and cooks for me all the time! Any questions? Just e-mail me them :D

We still don't do a lot of teaching here, I think it is a pretty common theme outside of the main cities like Warsaw and Katowice. We spend most of our time finding new people to teach and working with members to strengthen the branch. We have a member here named Wiktor, he was baptized a couple years ago and is a bit younger than me. He is awesome! He speaks perfect English and Polish so we get to learn from him, and he is really funny, he combines english and polish to make stuff funny only to people who are bilingual in the languages, it is really funny. He is great. He plans on going to BYU this next winter semester So we would head to the US in December this year I think. It will really be great for him to see how the church opperates on a much larger scale! And what a strength that will be for when he comes back to Poland!

For all of you who have been telling me about weird weather you have been having listen to this... Yesterday we were out doing a whiteboard and it was nice sunny weather...finally... then about 15 minutes after we had started contacting and trying to talk to people we noticed off to the right that there was a a very ominous looking cloud swell coming right for us... Shortly thereafter the sky darkened... we felt the first drops of rain and new what was coming next. I sprinted for my umbrella, I pushed the button to open it and just as it was popping open this massive wind storm came out of no where, halted the expansion of my ubrella completely... I had to push it open and even then the wind was so strong that it was pushing it half way back down again! By now these huge rain drops are also attacking us at almost horizontal angles. We hopped the wall next to us and ran for cover. The poor sisters with us were having such trouble with their skirts, I felt bad for them but was so grateful that I get to wear pants... Luckily we were able to take shelter under a large building until the storm passed about 25 minutes later. Then the sun came back out and we continued our whiteboard. It was awesome see how even terrible weather like that cannot stop the progression of missionary work, we just toughed it out, then got right back to work, I was impressed with the sisters, they didn't complain at all, just laughed and had fun. Then later in the same day it rained on us again... and then stopped and more blue skies. It is absolutely crazy here!

So ya, our weather in nuts, but it is a nice temperature and not as humid as Japan was, so I can't complain lol. There is a really cool kind of event, marketplace kinda thing, going on in Rynek (main square) this week so we will be heading over there to check it out shortly, then we have a meeting with one of our members baptized last year later. Thanks for all the Birthday Wishes last week! It was really great to hear from everyone :D

I love you all! Always remember to be happy because the sun always rises the next day!

-Starszy Taylor