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

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

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Week 30

I can't believe I have been in the country for 7 months already!!! (Well tomorrow it is 7 months actually...) Time flies by super fast when you are busy all the time!

Well, due to the fact that we are trying to go out and see a Castle today in a city about 2 hours away, I don't have a lot of time today for the Blog, but here is one good thing that happened this week

We finally had some success with some Street Contacting (Different than whiteboard) Elder Allred and I had been doing pretty lame on our contacting so we set some goals to start at 1 each and then add 1 per day after that. (We have been spending a lot of time helping Sister Kimball out in the Family History Center and soon we should be completely redesigning how the finances get done here... it is a mess and Elder Allred and I are going to fix it, with Presidents permission :D) So we went out on Saturday and had not had time the days before to contact because of other stuff so we had to do 20 on Saturday. Elder Allred does not exactly like contacting. So I had to take the initiative to get us out there and going, I contacted 6 before he got his first lol. Eventually around 10 contacts each we finally got someone to stop! He asked if we were Jehovas Witness... and then told us that he was looking for where their address was because he said he would go to church with them on Sunday... We told him we were Mormon but that we knew where an internet cafe was (He needed to check his e-mail for something) so we walked with him accross the Rynek to the internet cafe and there we showed him the church website, and I gave him a Book of Mormon! And we got his number. He actually seems like he has time and isn't rushing life, so I believe he will meet with us :D

We also were able to help with some service the Mission is doing for the Flood victims here in Poland. We were informed that Sister Nielson (Mission Presidents Wife)would be coming down to buy food for people that were in need on the border of Germany. So we got to go out and help load up cart after cart after cart of supplies for them to take out there! I have pictures and one of the members from Warsaw, Dorota, said she would e-mail me more :) It was a lot of fun.

Well, that is it for this week, sorry that the entries keep getting shorter and shorter each week, I will try and have a long one next week, like they use to be lol.

Love you all!

-Starszy Taylor

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Week 29

Hello Again everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful week :)

Well I guess I will just start with the sad news... Remember that really cool contact I had last week, with Patryk, who said he wanted a Book of Mormon so he could read it? Well, he never showed up to our meeting :( And when we tried to call him he told us that when he had time he would call us... Sad day huh (Now that I think about it, I may have said that last week...)

As for slightly better news... Last week we were headed out to see if we could meet with an inactive member named Robert. On our way out to where he lives, a decent amount of time away, actually ran into him! We didn't even really know what he looked like, but as we were waiting for a bus to take us a bit further he walked up and said, "Are you going to my house?" We were like "what!?...are you Robert?" He said he was and we got that all sorted out. He told us that he didn't have time to meet right then, but that we could meet on Thursday. We were bummed but had hope for Thursday. Thursday rolled around and at the scheduled time he wasn't there... So we waited...and about 30 mins later he actually showed up!!! I was super excited. We had a nice meeting with him and I think it was good for him to just have someone listen for a while. We are now scheduled to have lunch together each Thursday :D

We also had another pretty good experience this week when we were headed back to our house one night. We were walking by one of the buildings and there was a group of about 4 people standing outside one talking and smoking. One shouted out to us, which is usually a bad sign, but it sounded like he was actually curious and nice. So we went over and they asked us some questions about the church and why we are here. They were pretty nice to us and willing to listen. They also really loved the fact that Elder Allred is from Alaska :) We gave them some information and ended up talking with them for about 45 mins :) It was a nice treat at the end of a day. And an answer to a lot of prayers. They said they would definitely call us so we can talk more, and even if they don't, we walk by them almost every day ;)

I am still playing the piano in Sacrament meeting...ugh...but at least I am learning a new skill :D Talk about magnifying talents sheesh

Well, that is pretty much it for the week. This week we are going to the Calls house about 2 hours away, (The kids you see in my pictures are the Calls) on Saturday, should be a blast :D

Thanks for reading :D

-Starszy Taylor

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Week 28

Whew... with that fiasco last week trying to get the blog posted I feel like I just did this and don't have very much to talk about.

One pretty cool thing did happen this week though. We were doing a whiteboard. It was raining a little bit and so we weren’t really that excited to be outside. Our first question was pretty much a flop, so we decided to change our question to an English invitation. Shortly therafter I had like 3 different people come up to me and ask how long it was free, lol I told them it is always free, they were shocked. Later a guy stopped nearby so I went up and talked to him. He asked a few questions and I told him who we were and why we’re here. I told him a little about the Book of Mormon and he seemed slightly interested. Just before he walked away I handed him a pass along card and invited him to our English class. He left after what was a reather awkward contact. We continued our whiteboard for about another hour with little to no success. Then right before we were leaving the same guy walked by again, I said Hi to him and he shyly came over to me and asked how he could get the book that was on the pass along card. I practically jumped out of my skin... If you have ever seen "The Best Two Years" I was like the older Elder when the guy accepted a committment. I told him we could meet with him and give him one and he replied that that would be great. He told me that he needed the Book so that he could read it! I was super excited and took down his information so I could call later and set up with him.

That was the miracle part.

The sad part is that he didn't show up for the meeting we had set up and when we called him he said that he didn't have time and that "he would call us...". And that right there is the story of my mission thus far, as sad as it is. All you can do is just keep chugging along I guess and hope that someone actually finds 30 minutes in there life to stop and talk to us. Because lets face it, no one is actually THAT busy...

We also went to TGI Fridays this past week :) Yes, we did find one :) I used some of my birthday money to buy a nice meal. Which was the most expensive meal I have bought in Poland. It was like the most expensive thing on the menu actually... like 46 zł!!! That is a lot for a missionary, but when I think about it in dollars it is like 15$!!!!!! Would be like 30+ in the states I think. It was really good...

I also got to see the Gładun's this past week :) They came through Wrocław on their way back to Lublin from their first visit to the Temple :D How great is that :) They are sooooo cool. I love them

We also climbed a tower with about 2.34 billion stairs in it. (jk, it wasn't really that many...but it was A LOT) Got pictures of Wrocław from a great perspective, will upload them soon, perhaps even now, for my poor mother.

Well, I think that is pretty much it for this week. The weather still can't decide if it wants to be cold or hot or humid or rainy...yesterday was hot, today is rainy...weird stuff

Love you all :D

-Starszy Taylor

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Week 27

Sorry it is late everyone, had some internet issues on our end here, but it is all fixed again :D Don't worry nothing bad happened :)

Again, not much to report back on this week, lots of finding going on, still. But we did hav some fun stuff happen this week. It was Elder Holden's Birthday this past week. When we went out to Pizza Hut for dinner we had just finished eating and low and behold and missionary from 5 years ago notices us and comes over with his family! It was cool talking to them, what are the odds they would be able to find us in such a large city. They had met the new mission president when they were at Auschwitz earlier in the week and the AP's had told them that there were no missionaries in Wrocław...The Dad must have pronounced it wrong or something... because we are definitely here... It was cool seeing them. Later that night on mine and Elder Allred's way home we were sitting at the tramwaj stop waiting and this old lady comes and sits down next to me. I had our left over pizza in my hands and I offered some to her. She didn't look like she was in good shape. She asked if I wanted a cigaratte in return, I politely declined and told her that we are missionaries. As soon as she realized what I was talking about she just took off. It just goes to show how closed the people are here most of the time.
On thursday we had a meeting with the Shin family. They are from Korea, the kids (16 year old daughter, and 9 year old boy) both speak great polish and Korean and can understand English. But the poor mother, she speaks this interesting blend of polish and english. It makes it really interesting when trying to communicate because we don't know if we should speak in polish or in English. They were great, we stayed and built lego's with them after lunch. They are great, and so nice to us. Then we headed back to the chapel and helped Sister Kimball out with some stuff on the computer, which I am always so willing to help with ;)
Saturday we helped Sister Kimball get all of her stuff to the Dworzec for her train to Szczyrk (ya try and pronounce that one ;) for the YSA Activity they have this week. Luckily the weather wasn't too bad that day and the train wasn't rerouted or late or anything like that. Back to the weather though... We just went through a heat wave here where it got suuuuper hot. Then the next day it poured rain and cooled off a lot! It has been raining for like 4 days now, but today the sun is out and it isn't too hot. It has been really crazy weather, never seen anything like it. There really isn't a nice happy medium that is stays at here, its really weird. I also called someone that had stopped us on the street earlier in the week and asked if we could set up with him. He said that he would be in church on sunday :D so I just said we would talk about it then.
Sunday rolled around, Stanisław didn't (that was the guy I called) hopefully he is okay, he is pretty old and apparently has come to church before so...we'll see. The openning prayer for Sacrament Meeting was given by 8 year old Cynthia Call, so I don't wanna hear any complaining out of you guys back home when you are asked to give a prayer in Sacrament Meeting :P And yes, I played the hymns again, and will probably do it again this week. The Branch President here said to me "If I keep forgetting to do those CD's you are going to get really good at playing the piano!" lol...

Well, that is pretty much it, I hope it was longer than last weeks... I had to type this one up in a text document because the internet is currently down...so hopefully it comes back up soon so I can post it :D

Love you all!

-Starszy Taylor

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Week 26

Well there is another week come and gone, just like that, I can't believe how fast everything goes by when you are out on a mission.

Again, we have spent pretty much all our time searching, and looking, and have not had many opportunities to teach other than our short little lessons we sometimes try to teach to people on the street who seem interested.

So not a whole lot to report about this week, we did have Zone Conference on Friday, that was great. It was our first one with the new mission president. I like him a lot, I think he is great and as much as I loved President Engbjerg, it is nice to have an American mission President. We talked a lot about how the whole mission is in a state of finding right now and that we really need to do our best to find those who are searching. It can be pretty tricky sometimes, especially when it seems like everyone hates us and doesn't want anything to do with us. On the bright side, it has cooled off a bit here.

On Saturday we did have a Culture night with Sister Kimball, we went over to the fountain by our house out in Biskupin and watched the fountain show that they have there at the beginning of every hour. It was raining too, and we didn't have umbrellas so it was an adventure. I took lots of pictures for you Mom, don't worry, and I posted pictures too!

Well, I will try to write some stuff down this week that we do so that I will have more to talk about next week!

Thanks for reading!

-Starszy Taylor