Wow, Hump Day is on Thursday! And we have a Zone Conference on Wednesday. Ja nie mogę wierzyć jak szybko czas może lecieć! Ale wszystko jest w porządku tu, mieliśmy kilka spotkań ostatnio i kilka nowych zainteresowanych. Mam nadzieje że będziecie dowiedzieli się o Google Translator żebyście tłumaczyli to. Poniważ nie miałem dużo czas ostatny tydzień, pisałem karteczką niektóry rzeczy robiliśmy.
Okay, so this is a really long story about 2 of our investigators, and frankly I just don't have time to tell the whole thing, so here it is in a nutshell. This older man named Goerge Contacted the missionaries on a tramwaj, in english lol, he later came to church and we found out he was an investigator from a long time ago and that he lives in a city an hour or so outside of Wrocław called Legnica. After many calls we finally were able to set up a concrete time to meet with him out there. We got out there and met up with him. We had been planning on like a little hour long lesson with him or something, but he had other things in mind. He had like a whole day planned out for us, and so to be nice we just kinda went along with it. His first plan was to take us to meet his fiance Jenny. We headed to her work at a library where she is the librarian and she was really nice and interested in us. We tried to talk to her a bit whenever George was in a different room because whenever she would try to speak to us in Polish he would cut her off and tell her to speak REALLY slow because "they don't understand ANYTHING" which was really funny cause I understand her better than him in polish lol. Anyways, we eventually went back to their house for a dinner they prepared which was really good. After Dinner we got talking, I was talking with George (Aka, keeping him distracted long enough for Elder Sheridan to have a convo with Jenny) He was really upset that the church could put missionaries in a city and then build the church later to pull the missionaries out to watch the church kinda stop functioning there. It took a while to explain to him but I think I got through in the end. Jenny essentially said that it was a miracle that we came when we did and that it was a sign from god that she needs to listen to us because of a lot of things that have been happening lately for her. She said we were always welcome in her home. It was pretty awesome. Later about a week later we went back and had the opportunity to speak to just Jenny, and she told us about a dream she had where her late husband and her parents came to her dressed in white and were about to tell her something very important that they needed from her here on earth, then a text woke her up. We were awe struck it was crazy, we taught her the plan of salvation after that, it was great. Unfortunately we can't meet again until early december because they are super busy with the wedding and stuff, we have to ask president if we can skype with her or not, that would be great. She really likes us a lot and is so grateful and kind, she even said we were like drops of honey to her heart :) which is a really nice thing to say in polish. Well, yet again I am running out of time... and I had like a bajillion more things planned to talk about, I will have to type them up later I guess :)
I will leave a short list of them here if you just want to know what we have been up to :)
Lunches with Szczepan
English party
Sports in the Rain
Wrocław Lacrosse game
Darek
17 points flyers
Museum w/ Ania and Green Way
Allred going to Katowice for Training
Independance Day on the Rynek here
Tracting and lesson with Jacek
Hours with call kids on sunday
Legal work and (Sheridan has to go to England now)
Well thats it for now :) leave in comments anything else you would like me to expound upon :)
Laters
-Starszy Taylor
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Week 42
Well lots has happened this week, and my Dad will be so happy to hear the I finally got around to writing most of it down in my Journal. Which is great but also means that I have wiped my brain of it since I know it is written down X_x.. so we'll see
And...now I am out of time....sooooo... I think I will go to writing in the blog every other week so I can plan it out a bit better and get some really good information each post :D
Thanks
-Starszy Taylor
And...now I am out of time....sooooo... I think I will go to writing in the blog every other week so I can plan it out a bit better and get some really good information each post :D
Thanks
-Starszy Taylor
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Week 41
Sorry everyone that I just have not found the motivation lately to find things to write about and actually do it. And I'm sure my mother has told anyone that reads this blog that I had a bit of a rough patch but am doing a bit better now. So, as for what has happened in the past couple weeks.
I finished out a really fun transfer with Elder Loosli, we didn't get a lot of missionary work accomplished in the sense of contacting and teaching, but we did finally finish off the Mission Papers for Czarek Gładun and those are now submitted and we are waiting. We are all hopeing that he can get called to somewhere in the US where the church is really strong and he can learn how it all functions correctly and then bring it back to Poland and help build the kingdom here. Elder Loosli and I talked about a lot of things that I just had to get out of my system and we became great friends in the Process and will be doing things together after I get home.
One week near the end of the transfer, on a Thursday, we got a call from President that said Elder Lewis would be coming down on Sunday and would start training to be the new Branch President, which was a bit odd because we both thought that only I was going to be leaving Lublin, but as it turns out we would both be leaving. I was told I had about a week, and Loosli had about 2. Then on Sunday when we were waiting at the Dworzec to pick up Elder Lewis we got another call from President... He told me that I had to have my stuff packed up and be in Warsaw on Monday... That was a bit of a shock. So I gave a small on the spot talk in Sacrament Meeting and then afterwards I got to take pictures with the whole branch :) It was really sad to have to say goodbye to them :( Especially Beata. One part was funny though, I gave my camera to Brother Gładun to take a picture, and I had it on rapid fire shots, so if you hold the button down it will take up to 11 pictures in one second, yes, that is quite fast. He about fell over, in shock, and asked if I had bought a weapon instead of a camera lol.
I packed up and left my beloved Lublin and the Gładuns yet again and for Warsaw this time. I was told I would be staying with the AP's there, the wierd thing being that there was really only one AP (Assistant President) at the time due to some weird other transfer stuff and the other AP having to be somewhere else. So now I am living with an AP, in Warsaw...talk about a major change. I spent the next week with Elder Stohel, having no idea how long I would be there. It was difficult and frustrating at some times, but we got along okay, and he taught me a lot, both about being a missionary and about Polish. On that Saturday we went and picked up Elder Tribe from the Dworzec, he was going to be the new AP when transfers happened and we would have 2 again. Then at the Office Meeting on Monday, which was slightly hectic because the office is moving, and the office couple (Senior Missionaries) are going home and they are training the new couple. So everything was all crazy. At one point I went out with Sister Nielson, with no companion... It was weird. We went shopping for some stuff and then went to go pick up lunch for everyone that was there. We had ordered from this Naleśniki (Crepe) place and there was only one guy working there at the time. Poor guy was making those things faster than ever before. Sister Nielson and I just stood there and watched him for a while. It was nice to get to know her a bit better, she is really cool. Finally he finished all of our order and we packed it all into the car. Later in the evening I found out that I would be going back to Wrocław! The city I was in two months ago with Elder Allred. I was told to check bus times because I had to be on my way there the next day...holy traveling... I called them up and told them I was coming back and when I would be there. So, because this is now getting confusing...let me map out my transfers
Kielce (Anderton) 4 weeks
Lublin (Beaty) 4 weeks
Lublin (Thomson) 2 months
Poznań (Kontor) 4 weeks
Wrocław (Allred) 2 months
Lublin (Loosli) 7 weeks
Warsaw (Stohel) 1 week
Wrocław (Sheridan) 1 week and counting
I think that is it. Last time I was here I was with really old missionaries, two of which finished there missions here. It was a weird two months. It is completely different here now, with 2 brand new missionaries who are just excited to get out and work. Both of them speak fantastic polish too, like really really good polish, I still know more, but only because I have been here longer. They are just fearless when trying to say something new.
So ya, I am now back in Wrocław, the place where I had to play the piano last time I was here, Elder Hillyard plays now, he is much better. I was so happy that I would have the opportunity to see the Call kids again, Cynthia and AJ. They are way cool, and I wish I had a picture of their faces when they saw me on Sunday :D it was priceless, they looked back to see who the new guy was, then had to double take when they recognized me :) then they both got these huge smiles on their face and could barely contain themselves during Sacrament meeting. It was awesome. I translated for Sister Kimball, which I can do for the most part now, it is hard for me to listen, translate and speak at the same time...so I miss a lot when I translate sadly.
My new companion is really cool, we get along great. His name is James Sheridan, he is from Ogden, Utah. Likes hiking and being outside, but isn't a dummy on a computer. He is also a hard worker and ready to convert all of Wrocław. He also plays Viola and violin and quite a few other string instraments aparently. I look forward to being able to serve with him. And yes this also means I am Senior Companion.
Well I think that pretty much sums up what has happened recently... now for some stuff I have done since I got back to Wrocław.
We have a girl here with a baptismal date! She is so cool, about 20, speaks English and has been so prepared for the Gospel. She does lots of stuff with us, her name is Ania. Last night we went out to a Cemetary for Day of the Dead, which you may have guessed is kinda huge in Poland. It was really beautiful and I have lots of pictures, which I will post as soon as I can. It was quite amazing, and only the pictures will really be able to portray that, so be excited! We also had a really cool whiteboard the other day, and instead of going with some gospel question that people just ignore, we went with something that would just catch people offgaurd and was kinda fun. Our question was... Who would win? A Mage or a Jedi? Oh ya! It was so much fun asking people about that one, and it was a great ice breaker. Some of the older people just looked at us like we were insane or something, but most people thought it was totally awesome. We also talked to a guy who plays on a Football (American Football) team here in Poland, and his family. They were cool and pretty open and the guy said he was looking for ways to come closer to Christ and be a better person. We gave the family 2 Copies of the Book of Mormon and a couple pamphlets! Too bad they live in Poznań...we gave them the Elders Number there. We had fun on Sports Saturday too. We went to a park and played Soccer with some elementary school aged kids. They ended up kicking our trash... but we had to stop early because they were starting to kick each other and it wasn't just fun for them anymore. I woke up on Sunday soooooooooooo sore... That was the first actually physical exercise, as in Cardio and running that I have done in the past like 10 months... everything was sore... even my ribs... It was tons of fun though.
Well, I think that suffices for now.
Again, sorry I haven't posted in a long time, hope this makes up for it :D
Love ya all
-Starszy Taylor
I finished out a really fun transfer with Elder Loosli, we didn't get a lot of missionary work accomplished in the sense of contacting and teaching, but we did finally finish off the Mission Papers for Czarek Gładun and those are now submitted and we are waiting. We are all hopeing that he can get called to somewhere in the US where the church is really strong and he can learn how it all functions correctly and then bring it back to Poland and help build the kingdom here. Elder Loosli and I talked about a lot of things that I just had to get out of my system and we became great friends in the Process and will be doing things together after I get home.
One week near the end of the transfer, on a Thursday, we got a call from President that said Elder Lewis would be coming down on Sunday and would start training to be the new Branch President, which was a bit odd because we both thought that only I was going to be leaving Lublin, but as it turns out we would both be leaving. I was told I had about a week, and Loosli had about 2. Then on Sunday when we were waiting at the Dworzec to pick up Elder Lewis we got another call from President... He told me that I had to have my stuff packed up and be in Warsaw on Monday... That was a bit of a shock. So I gave a small on the spot talk in Sacrament Meeting and then afterwards I got to take pictures with the whole branch :) It was really sad to have to say goodbye to them :( Especially Beata. One part was funny though, I gave my camera to Brother Gładun to take a picture, and I had it on rapid fire shots, so if you hold the button down it will take up to 11 pictures in one second, yes, that is quite fast. He about fell over, in shock, and asked if I had bought a weapon instead of a camera lol.
I packed up and left my beloved Lublin and the Gładuns yet again and for Warsaw this time. I was told I would be staying with the AP's there, the wierd thing being that there was really only one AP (Assistant President) at the time due to some weird other transfer stuff and the other AP having to be somewhere else. So now I am living with an AP, in Warsaw...talk about a major change. I spent the next week with Elder Stohel, having no idea how long I would be there. It was difficult and frustrating at some times, but we got along okay, and he taught me a lot, both about being a missionary and about Polish. On that Saturday we went and picked up Elder Tribe from the Dworzec, he was going to be the new AP when transfers happened and we would have 2 again. Then at the Office Meeting on Monday, which was slightly hectic because the office is moving, and the office couple (Senior Missionaries) are going home and they are training the new couple. So everything was all crazy. At one point I went out with Sister Nielson, with no companion... It was weird. We went shopping for some stuff and then went to go pick up lunch for everyone that was there. We had ordered from this Naleśniki (Crepe) place and there was only one guy working there at the time. Poor guy was making those things faster than ever before. Sister Nielson and I just stood there and watched him for a while. It was nice to get to know her a bit better, she is really cool. Finally he finished all of our order and we packed it all into the car. Later in the evening I found out that I would be going back to Wrocław! The city I was in two months ago with Elder Allred. I was told to check bus times because I had to be on my way there the next day...holy traveling... I called them up and told them I was coming back and when I would be there. So, because this is now getting confusing...let me map out my transfers
Kielce (Anderton) 4 weeks
Lublin (Beaty) 4 weeks
Lublin (Thomson) 2 months
Poznań (Kontor) 4 weeks
Wrocław (Allred) 2 months
Lublin (Loosli) 7 weeks
Warsaw (Stohel) 1 week
Wrocław (Sheridan) 1 week and counting
I think that is it. Last time I was here I was with really old missionaries, two of which finished there missions here. It was a weird two months. It is completely different here now, with 2 brand new missionaries who are just excited to get out and work. Both of them speak fantastic polish too, like really really good polish, I still know more, but only because I have been here longer. They are just fearless when trying to say something new.
So ya, I am now back in Wrocław, the place where I had to play the piano last time I was here, Elder Hillyard plays now, he is much better. I was so happy that I would have the opportunity to see the Call kids again, Cynthia and AJ. They are way cool, and I wish I had a picture of their faces when they saw me on Sunday :D it was priceless, they looked back to see who the new guy was, then had to double take when they recognized me :) then they both got these huge smiles on their face and could barely contain themselves during Sacrament meeting. It was awesome. I translated for Sister Kimball, which I can do for the most part now, it is hard for me to listen, translate and speak at the same time...so I miss a lot when I translate sadly.
My new companion is really cool, we get along great. His name is James Sheridan, he is from Ogden, Utah. Likes hiking and being outside, but isn't a dummy on a computer. He is also a hard worker and ready to convert all of Wrocław. He also plays Viola and violin and quite a few other string instraments aparently. I look forward to being able to serve with him. And yes this also means I am Senior Companion.
Well I think that pretty much sums up what has happened recently... now for some stuff I have done since I got back to Wrocław.
We have a girl here with a baptismal date! She is so cool, about 20, speaks English and has been so prepared for the Gospel. She does lots of stuff with us, her name is Ania. Last night we went out to a Cemetary for Day of the Dead, which you may have guessed is kinda huge in Poland. It was really beautiful and I have lots of pictures, which I will post as soon as I can. It was quite amazing, and only the pictures will really be able to portray that, so be excited! We also had a really cool whiteboard the other day, and instead of going with some gospel question that people just ignore, we went with something that would just catch people offgaurd and was kinda fun. Our question was... Who would win? A Mage or a Jedi? Oh ya! It was so much fun asking people about that one, and it was a great ice breaker. Some of the older people just looked at us like we were insane or something, but most people thought it was totally awesome. We also talked to a guy who plays on a Football (American Football) team here in Poland, and his family. They were cool and pretty open and the guy said he was looking for ways to come closer to Christ and be a better person. We gave the family 2 Copies of the Book of Mormon and a couple pamphlets! Too bad they live in Poznań...we gave them the Elders Number there. We had fun on Sports Saturday too. We went to a park and played Soccer with some elementary school aged kids. They ended up kicking our trash... but we had to stop early because they were starting to kick each other and it wasn't just fun for them anymore. I woke up on Sunday soooooooooooo sore... That was the first actually physical exercise, as in Cardio and running that I have done in the past like 10 months... everything was sore... even my ribs... It was tons of fun though.
Well, I think that suffices for now.
Again, sorry I haven't posted in a long time, hope this makes up for it :D
Love ya all
-Starszy Taylor
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Week 34
It is truly amazing how fast time goes by... Even as it seems to take a long time during the day... This week was back to my good old Lublin travel schedule lol.
We took a trip to Puławy on Wednesday to have a meeting with Irina Żak, the Blind Member out there. She has decided to move to a more convenient location and was mostly packed up when we arrived. She is moving to Łódź to live with her son for a while until she can find her own apartment there. We had a nice meeting with her, and I was happy to know what was going on this time lol, since my polish has improved significantly since the last time I was here in Lublin. In Łódź she will be closer to the church, more members and have her son around to help her out. It Puławy she is all alone and it is really hard on her, especially since she is blind. She is so nice though, cooked us some great Polish food, it was awesome :)
On Thursday we had another trip planned, but this time to Zamość to see Maria Pusiek. She is so great to us aswell, always cooks us TONS of food...Like more food that I can fit in my stomach...we always leave there feeling bloated lol. At least it is good food, really good food. We had a nice meeting with her as well. She loves to talk, and it was a lot better this time too, because I can understand and contribute to a conversation... as opposed to sitting there and nodding my head...lol. She remembered me and was happy to see me back. She was amazed when I told her where I had been for the past 3 months. On "vacation" to Poznań and Wrocław, two of the prettiest cities in Poland :D. It is too bad that she lives so far away and can't come to church, but she is still a solid member, loves the church, reads her scriptures and prays. She is great.
Saturday we had a meeting at Noon with the Taiwanese members :) Which now consists of 3 people! It was so amazing to see Grace again, she has a new confidence and feeling about her, it is great. She always seemed so shelled up and quiet before and now she smiles more and just seems so much happier, I guess that is really what the Gospel does for people who let it. We set up a time to have an advanced English class with them to help them out with their schooling which is all in English. And we should be starting up Institute again here soon :) which will be great. They are so fantastic, the Branch here is very blessed to have them here as a part of it.
Sunday, we had our good old Lublin church. Had a decent amount of people come, about 8 member I believe. Marlena was there again, which makes 3 weeks in a row, which is great because Elder Thomson and I spent quite some time reactivating and working with her. Good to see something has come from it :D And of course I am back to doing most of the church service lol...I blessed both again this week, and also had the One talk... I gave my one on Diligence that I wrote in Poznań but I spent a lot of time the day before editing it... amazing how much you can learn in 3 months... Then we had a Sunday School Lesson from Beata :) She is a great teacher. Then church was over, about 70 minutes after it started... lol. We have been instructed to only have 1 Talk in Sacrament meeting in the small branches... So... we do what we can.
Well, that pretty much sums up most of this week. We are going to try and meet with Beata (investigator) this week, because she had to reschedule from last week because she had an Aunt die, pray for her. We have Zone Conference Tomorrow and that should be exciting.
Until Next Week,
-Starszy Taylor
We took a trip to Puławy on Wednesday to have a meeting with Irina Żak, the Blind Member out there. She has decided to move to a more convenient location and was mostly packed up when we arrived. She is moving to Łódź to live with her son for a while until she can find her own apartment there. We had a nice meeting with her, and I was happy to know what was going on this time lol, since my polish has improved significantly since the last time I was here in Lublin. In Łódź she will be closer to the church, more members and have her son around to help her out. It Puławy she is all alone and it is really hard on her, especially since she is blind. She is so nice though, cooked us some great Polish food, it was awesome :)
On Thursday we had another trip planned, but this time to Zamość to see Maria Pusiek. She is so great to us aswell, always cooks us TONS of food...Like more food that I can fit in my stomach...we always leave there feeling bloated lol. At least it is good food, really good food. We had a nice meeting with her as well. She loves to talk, and it was a lot better this time too, because I can understand and contribute to a conversation... as opposed to sitting there and nodding my head...lol. She remembered me and was happy to see me back. She was amazed when I told her where I had been for the past 3 months. On "vacation" to Poznań and Wrocław, two of the prettiest cities in Poland :D. It is too bad that she lives so far away and can't come to church, but she is still a solid member, loves the church, reads her scriptures and prays. She is great.
Saturday we had a meeting at Noon with the Taiwanese members :) Which now consists of 3 people! It was so amazing to see Grace again, she has a new confidence and feeling about her, it is great. She always seemed so shelled up and quiet before and now she smiles more and just seems so much happier, I guess that is really what the Gospel does for people who let it. We set up a time to have an advanced English class with them to help them out with their schooling which is all in English. And we should be starting up Institute again here soon :) which will be great. They are so fantastic, the Branch here is very blessed to have them here as a part of it.
Sunday, we had our good old Lublin church. Had a decent amount of people come, about 8 member I believe. Marlena was there again, which makes 3 weeks in a row, which is great because Elder Thomson and I spent quite some time reactivating and working with her. Good to see something has come from it :D And of course I am back to doing most of the church service lol...I blessed both again this week, and also had the One talk... I gave my one on Diligence that I wrote in Poznań but I spent a lot of time the day before editing it... amazing how much you can learn in 3 months... Then we had a Sunday School Lesson from Beata :) She is a great teacher. Then church was over, about 70 minutes after it started... lol. We have been instructed to only have 1 Talk in Sacrament meeting in the small branches... So... we do what we can.
Well, that pretty much sums up most of this week. We are going to try and meet with Beata (investigator) this week, because she had to reschedule from last week because she had an Aunt die, pray for her. We have Zone Conference Tomorrow and that should be exciting.
Until Next Week,
-Starszy Taylor
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Week 33
And another week passed just like that. I had the opportunity to go on an exchange this past week to Warsaw. It was a little odd because it was scheduled for a Sunday, so I was going to be able to go to church in Warsaw for the first time. On the train there and the train home I took lots of really cool pictures of the Sunset and posted them online in my Mission picture album located here:
Mission Pictures
Enjoy, I uploaded hundreds of pictures recently so, I hope you all like them.
Church on Sunday was great, it was amazing to me to see how many people were there! I am use to church being about 10 people, and in Wrocław it was huge to me at about 20-25. Warsaw had like 70-80 people show up! We all barely fit in the Sacrament Room! Pretty much all the chairs were filled. It was also odd to not be playing a major part in every meeting. The members there actually ran church, it was fantastic to see a place where if the missionaries were not able to be there anymore the church would still function. Afterwards we had a great Break the Fast and tons of peole (as in practically the whole branch) stayed for that. It was great to see some of the members there in Warsaw that I have seen a lot because of how often I have gone there. Then afterwards the Young Single Adults were having a fireside at Presidents house but President had a problem hooking his computer up to the TV... so of course they came to me to see if I could come and fix it. Sure enough I ended up going over with Elder Lewis, who is an office Elder (I was technically an office Edler for a Day I guess) and I fixed it after a bit of tinkering. President was really grateful, and I was just happy to be able to still fix computer problems lol. After that I headed back home on the Train and took not quite as many (battery was almost dead) but very beautiful Sunset pictures.
Elder Loosli and I have lots of meetings this week including visits to the members who live in the neighboring cities of Puławy and Zamość. We are also going to Paul's English class later today just like I did 3 months ago :) It should be great. Well, I think that pretty much does it for this week. As usually we are always looking for people to teach, pray for us, we need it. People here are soooooo set on their culture that they don't really listen to anything you say. They have become so numbed to religion over the centuries that they don't really view it as an important part of their lives anymore. We are here to change that but need a lot of help, so pray for the Polish people, they have had a very hard History.
Until Next week!
-Starszy Taylor
Mission Pictures
Enjoy, I uploaded hundreds of pictures recently so, I hope you all like them.
Church on Sunday was great, it was amazing to me to see how many people were there! I am use to church being about 10 people, and in Wrocław it was huge to me at about 20-25. Warsaw had like 70-80 people show up! We all barely fit in the Sacrament Room! Pretty much all the chairs were filled. It was also odd to not be playing a major part in every meeting. The members there actually ran church, it was fantastic to see a place where if the missionaries were not able to be there anymore the church would still function. Afterwards we had a great Break the Fast and tons of peole (as in practically the whole branch) stayed for that. It was great to see some of the members there in Warsaw that I have seen a lot because of how often I have gone there. Then afterwards the Young Single Adults were having a fireside at Presidents house but President had a problem hooking his computer up to the TV... so of course they came to me to see if I could come and fix it. Sure enough I ended up going over with Elder Lewis, who is an office Elder (I was technically an office Edler for a Day I guess) and I fixed it after a bit of tinkering. President was really grateful, and I was just happy to be able to still fix computer problems lol. After that I headed back home on the Train and took not quite as many (battery was almost dead) but very beautiful Sunset pictures.
Elder Loosli and I have lots of meetings this week including visits to the members who live in the neighboring cities of Puławy and Zamość. We are also going to Paul's English class later today just like I did 3 months ago :) It should be great. Well, I think that pretty much does it for this week. As usually we are always looking for people to teach, pray for us, we need it. People here are soooooo set on their culture that they don't really listen to anything you say. They have become so numbed to religion over the centuries that they don't really view it as an important part of their lives anymore. We are here to change that but need a lot of help, so pray for the Polish people, they have had a very hard History.
Until Next week!
-Starszy Taylor
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Week 32
Well, as it has so been decided, I am officially back in Lublin :D My companion is Elder Loosli, and as it turns out, he was the one who took me out contacting my first day in the country. He speaks exceptional polish and I am SUPER excited to learn as much as I can from him. He is a Marine in the US Armed Forces. He loves Cars and Photography, wants to own a race track as his dream job. We have a lot of fun talking about lots of random stuff. He is also 25 I believe, I think I have just had the 2 oldest missionaries in the mission back to back as companions lol. He is great though, we get along fantastic already.
So Ihad a really cool experience that I didn't have time to write about last week, but I still wanted to share it so here it is. Experience that Elder Allred and I had last Sunday (About 9 days ago). Earlier in the week we had a whiteboard and had gotten a contact and set up a meeting with a nice gentleman and Elder Allred wrote down all of his information into his planner so we could find his house later. On Saturday we had gone out to an activity at a members house about 2 hours away. And it just so happens that Elder Allred forgot his suit coat there, which had his planner in it! So when Sunday came around and it was getting close to the scheduled time we had set up to meet with Rysiek, we did not have his exact address or phone number, simply the street that he lived on. So we decided to go out a little bit early and start tracting the buildings hoping that maybe the Lord would lead us to his home. After walking the street many times and tracting 4 buildings we decided we were not going to find him this way. So we stopped on the side of the road and I said a short prayer asking humbly for the Lords help finding Rysiek. Right after the prayer Elder Allred had the impression that we should walk the street 4 more times, I felt that was a good number as well, so we started down the street. First time, nothing, second time, nothing again, and the third time, nothing, as we were finishing the fourth round we were about to cross the street in defeat and head home. Right at that moment Rysiek rounded the corner on his bike!!! Elder Allred and I just turned to each other in unbelief. We proceeded to have long meeting with him, during which he mostly just talked to us about his immense knowledge of the Bible, he didn't seem very willing to just sit and listen to us and learn something new. We both felt afterwards that that prayer had been answered more for us that for Rysiek. It was a great testimony builder about the power of prayer, and that god is always listening to us.
Church this past Sunday was great too, we had about 10 people come, but the real cool part was that Marlina came (Elder Thomson and I had just barely reactivated her before I left) and so did Paweł and his wife! I had never met his wife before, they live in Zamość so can't come very often and they have been pretty inactive for a while, but thanks to the diligent work of the Gładuns here in Lublin they were there on Sunday :D It was cool to see everyone again. The Gładuns are happy to have me back, and I am happy to be back, they are soo cool.
Well, I think that is about it for this week. I think the Thawainese members are back from their stay in Taiwan so we should be seeing them soon and working with Grace as a new member :D I am really excited for it.
Thanks for reading
-Starszy Taylor
So Ihad a really cool experience that I didn't have time to write about last week, but I still wanted to share it so here it is. Experience that Elder Allred and I had last Sunday (About 9 days ago). Earlier in the week we had a whiteboard and had gotten a contact and set up a meeting with a nice gentleman and Elder Allred wrote down all of his information into his planner so we could find his house later. On Saturday we had gone out to an activity at a members house about 2 hours away. And it just so happens that Elder Allred forgot his suit coat there, which had his planner in it! So when Sunday came around and it was getting close to the scheduled time we had set up to meet with Rysiek, we did not have his exact address or phone number, simply the street that he lived on. So we decided to go out a little bit early and start tracting the buildings hoping that maybe the Lord would lead us to his home. After walking the street many times and tracting 4 buildings we decided we were not going to find him this way. So we stopped on the side of the road and I said a short prayer asking humbly for the Lords help finding Rysiek. Right after the prayer Elder Allred had the impression that we should walk the street 4 more times, I felt that was a good number as well, so we started down the street. First time, nothing, second time, nothing again, and the third time, nothing, as we were finishing the fourth round we were about to cross the street in defeat and head home. Right at that moment Rysiek rounded the corner on his bike!!! Elder Allred and I just turned to each other in unbelief. We proceeded to have long meeting with him, during which he mostly just talked to us about his immense knowledge of the Bible, he didn't seem very willing to just sit and listen to us and learn something new. We both felt afterwards that that prayer had been answered more for us that for Rysiek. It was a great testimony builder about the power of prayer, and that god is always listening to us.
Church this past Sunday was great too, we had about 10 people come, but the real cool part was that Marlina came (Elder Thomson and I had just barely reactivated her before I left) and so did Paweł and his wife! I had never met his wife before, they live in Zamość so can't come very often and they have been pretty inactive for a while, but thanks to the diligent work of the Gładuns here in Lublin they were there on Sunday :D It was cool to see everyone again. The Gładuns are happy to have me back, and I am happy to be back, they are soo cool.
Well, I think that is about it for this week. I think the Thawainese members are back from their stay in Taiwan so we should be seeing them soon and working with Grace as a new member :D I am really excited for it.
Thanks for reading
-Starszy Taylor
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Week 31
I still can not believe how fast time seems to fly by. Well, a TON has happened this past week, it seems like it has been a month. And I was good and wrote a lot of it down so I have stuff to write about today :D
Last Tuesday, we went to a castle :D in a city about an hour and a half away, the inside was way boring...huge...but mostly empty... But the outside was simply amazing. I have posted the pics of the castle here:
Castle At Wałbrzych Pictures
It was way awesome, a super fun p-day. We even went in the elevator and tried going to the lowest floor, which we didn't think it would because it was labeled -2... It did do it though... the doors opened and we were in somekind of tunnel system under the castle!!! It was quite obvious we were not exactly suppose to the be there... but it was way cool anyways. There were also a bunch of kitties running around the grounds :D I got a cool picture with one :)
On our way to zone conference this past week, we were on our 6 hour train... x_x and about 4 hours into our ride, we hit a tractor!!! it was crazy! We thought our train was getting derailed or something. I will post some pics I took of the train a bit later. We were stopped in the middle of no where for like an hour and then finally another train came to get us... changed our 6 hour ride into a 7.5 hour ride... ugh
Also when we were in Warsaw for Zone Conference I stayed the night with the Zone Leaders and once again went searching for my polish notebook that I lost there 5 months ago and look for everytime I am there. Lo and behold I actually found it this time! I was so happy, I felt like a part of me had been found again... yes I know I'm crazy.
At Zone Conference we found out that the church is changing missionary work a little bit more, to focus even more on teaching by the spirit and less by memorized outlines. I am excited because I always felt like I wasn't doing it right when I was always trying to talk about the Restoration, when the investigator clearly had questions about the Plan of Salvation. Hopefully this will work even better than the last system :D We also had the opportunity to hear the dying testimonies of the missionaries going home soon. They were all great but the one that got me the most was Elder Thomson's, my companion from Lublin. He told a story about how he was doing a Temple interview for Jasmine, one of the Taiwanese members in Lublin and that he found out that she had only been baptized a year ago! I was shocked, I thought she had been a member for life. Then he found out that the missionary that baptized her was Elder Thomson's best friend from home who is serving in Taiwan. They both broke down in tears. What a wonderful blessing from the lord to find out about things like that. And then Elder Thomson told us how a girl named Grace, whom Elder Beaty and I taught a few times in Lublin, was going to be baptized soon in Taiwan, with most of her family! At this point I am a wreck, tears of joy streaming down my face, finally someone that I taught, even only a few times, had come to a realization of the truth of the Gospel! It was overwhelming the joy I felt for her and her family, and the gratitude I felt to the Lord for helping everything work out in the end. I gave Elder Thomson a great big hug later after the meeting, he really is a wonderful person, and I am greatful for the time we had together, even if I got frustrated sometimes.
Well, I get the feeling that I have to go soon, but I hope that was a little bit longer than the past couple. I have a lot more stories but no time to tell them right now. We had another miracle on Sunday that maybe I will write about next week if I don't have anything else to write about then :D
Thanks for reading ^_^
-Starszy Taylor
Last Tuesday, we went to a castle :D in a city about an hour and a half away, the inside was way boring...huge...but mostly empty... But the outside was simply amazing. I have posted the pics of the castle here:
Castle At Wałbrzych Pictures
It was way awesome, a super fun p-day. We even went in the elevator and tried going to the lowest floor, which we didn't think it would because it was labeled -2... It did do it though... the doors opened and we were in somekind of tunnel system under the castle!!! It was quite obvious we were not exactly suppose to the be there... but it was way cool anyways. There were also a bunch of kitties running around the grounds :D I got a cool picture with one :)
On our way to zone conference this past week, we were on our 6 hour train... x_x and about 4 hours into our ride, we hit a tractor!!! it was crazy! We thought our train was getting derailed or something. I will post some pics I took of the train a bit later. We were stopped in the middle of no where for like an hour and then finally another train came to get us... changed our 6 hour ride into a 7.5 hour ride... ugh
Also when we were in Warsaw for Zone Conference I stayed the night with the Zone Leaders and once again went searching for my polish notebook that I lost there 5 months ago and look for everytime I am there. Lo and behold I actually found it this time! I was so happy, I felt like a part of me had been found again... yes I know I'm crazy.
At Zone Conference we found out that the church is changing missionary work a little bit more, to focus even more on teaching by the spirit and less by memorized outlines. I am excited because I always felt like I wasn't doing it right when I was always trying to talk about the Restoration, when the investigator clearly had questions about the Plan of Salvation. Hopefully this will work even better than the last system :D We also had the opportunity to hear the dying testimonies of the missionaries going home soon. They were all great but the one that got me the most was Elder Thomson's, my companion from Lublin. He told a story about how he was doing a Temple interview for Jasmine, one of the Taiwanese members in Lublin and that he found out that she had only been baptized a year ago! I was shocked, I thought she had been a member for life. Then he found out that the missionary that baptized her was Elder Thomson's best friend from home who is serving in Taiwan. They both broke down in tears. What a wonderful blessing from the lord to find out about things like that. And then Elder Thomson told us how a girl named Grace, whom Elder Beaty and I taught a few times in Lublin, was going to be baptized soon in Taiwan, with most of her family! At this point I am a wreck, tears of joy streaming down my face, finally someone that I taught, even only a few times, had come to a realization of the truth of the Gospel! It was overwhelming the joy I felt for her and her family, and the gratitude I felt to the Lord for helping everything work out in the end. I gave Elder Thomson a great big hug later after the meeting, he really is a wonderful person, and I am greatful for the time we had together, even if I got frustrated sometimes.
Well, I get the feeling that I have to go soon, but I hope that was a little bit longer than the past couple. I have a lot more stories but no time to tell them right now. We had another miracle on Sunday that maybe I will write about next week if I don't have anything else to write about then :D
Thanks for reading ^_^
-Starszy Taylor
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