"No, We Don't Want Money!"

Me with my temporary companions in Bydgoszcz

This is in Bydgoszcz last week- we set up a whiteboard asking what people's New Year's Resolutions were, and sung some hymns

A group of German tourists came up and I got to speak to them a little bit!

Ok so zuerst muss uch sagen dass ich die Deutsche Sprache vermissen sehr!! haha Ok so for some reason this week, I was thinking a lot about Germany and the language, and then I met a bunch of different people that speak German!! Tender mercy from God- just to put a smile on my face I guess :)

So on Monday to Wednesday I was in Bydgoszcz for Zone Training- we went to the shopping centre and just had an awesome time relaxing. In the evening the Zone Leaders and I planned what we were going to teach for Training and on Tuesday, my fellow Danzigers (my district in Gdansk) came down and we had a great time! We wanted to bring up the story of Nephi and his brothers getting the plates from Laban (in the Book of Mormon of course) and so instead of just reading it, we decided to make a script and get the missionaries to perform it as a play. It was pretty funny- we made a lot of parralels to our missionary work in Poland and how we need to keep our expectations and faith high!

Also on Tuesday, we went contacting out in the cold- but no problem coz we met some awesome people!! One man we spoke to said he was Catholic and we encourged him to let us teach him more of our message. I said something about how we can't tell him that it's true, but he can find out for himself. It was really cool because then he brought up the point of how we can't "know" everything, because that sort of ruins the point of faith, and we were like "YES EXACTLY!". It was pretty cool to hear that point from a stranger. We asked if we could have his number to keep in touch, and he said "Well, I normally don't do this, but OK" It was super cool :D Ooh, then we got to teach and investigator from Ukraine and I just found out 2 days ago that she wants to get baptised! It's super awesome.

The next day we did a singing/whiteboard finding activity and again got to talk to some awesome people. At one point a big group of people came up sort of just staring and not saying anything, but holding out money to give us, and we were like "no, we don't want money!" haha then an elder found out they were Germans!! So he called me over and I got to speak with them for a bit and unfortunately it wasn't a very gospel orientated conversation, but hopefully they'll remember the 'mormons' and look more into it when they go back home. That night for New Years Eve, we had to be inside our apartments early (5pm) to avoid the ruckus outside. So my temporary companions Sisters Owen and Antczak had pizza and put on facemasks and played cardgames, so it was a great night :)

The next day we went to Poznań and did another Zone Training for the Szczecin and Poznan districts. That one went really well and I enjoyed getting insight from other missionaries. I love the way that our missionary work is so organised and how it helps us all learn and grow so much. That night I came back to Gdansk with just more motivation to get to work and find people to teach. I've really been inspired and I hope to keep working on that. We have a few potentials and hopefully can get to teaching them within the coming week. One man we met contacting on the street, said "Just a moment, I'll be back, I need to pay for parking" and so we were like "Did he really just say that?" (I'm not trying to sound negative, but normally people are like "mehhh, I'm not interested in your message" so we were sort of shocked at his answer to us introducing ourselves!). SO we waited for a couple of minutes, and we were starting to think maybe he was leaving us hanging, but alas! He came back and we spoke to him and he said we could teach him again! He was on his way to Warsaw but lives in Gdansk, so hopefully we'll see him soon and talk to him more about the Gospel :)

This week I learnt a lot about how important friends are :) I've been so blessed to have friends from all over the world and love and support me, and I only hope I can be that same friend back. I'm so grateful for my family and the way I was raised. I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had in life for anything else. I know life is sometimes hard- maybe even harder than we think we can bear. But I know that when we push through, really work through the struggles- we will come out stronger and truly happier. I love you so much, thanks for always being there for me.


Love Siostra Grgich