LAST WEEK HERE

Me with Ania

Me with the Primary kids in the branch

Kasia and I domophoning to get into the building of the member we were snowflaking

Kasia and I with the 'snowflaked' door

Sister Young, Kasia and I with our snowflakes

Us with Olga at the chapel

And Sister Young thinking she's coming with me to Australia ;)

Me with Kasia (from Gdynia) and Krowa (dog named 'cow')

Me and Sister Young

Me with Wioletta

Our district singing Kolędy (carols) at the Care Home

This week is my last week here- how strange! Well, I guess it's not so strange, I mean it had to happen eventually, it's just a weird feeling to be at this point already. This past week we've had yet more great experiences. Yesterday we got to help out at an elderly home and we all had such a good time :D Sometimes people/organisations are hesitant to let us help out/give service, because they're afraid/don't like that we're mormons (we were looking for some opportunities to serve and were rejected a couple of times on that basis). But last week Sister Young and I went to a Dom Opieki (care home/home for the elderly) and asked if there was something we could do to help out, like sing carols or organise/clean etc. The ladies there were so excited to have us help out (even after finding out that we weren't Catholic), and invited us to sing at their Christmas party/celebration. So that was yesterday, and we were greeted and treated very kindly by the workers, priests and guests, and it felt so good to see people singing and smiling along with us- celebrating the birth and life of Christ! They even fed us afterwards (even though we didn't want them to, because we wanted to be the ones doing the washing up and everything!), it was very kind of them. Although I won't be here for much longer, I'm excited for the other missionaries here to continue to have good contact with those people and hopefully they'll have plenty more opportunities to serve and help out there. They're going to have a mini play/reenactment of the nativity early next year actually (the Christmas season in parts of Europe carries on longer than it does in Australia), and one of the ladies asked if the missionaries could help out with that. She really wanted Sister Young to be Mary because she looks the part hehehe, well that'll be a good experience for whoever's here next transfer :)


Oh, this past week we got to meet with a lot of the branch members! We met with Kasia (she's in Young Women's) and made snowflakes, then 'snowflaked' (taped them up on) another member's door and left cookies for her. Hehe it was pretty fun- and a little tricky, because we had to be super quiet, and ask a neighbour to let us in the apartment complex! We got to meet with Marzena and teach her about Family History :) She created an account and got started right away (I got to show her my account and family tree, and she thought it was pretty cool!). We showed her how you can add photos and stories, and how connections are made etc. And of course most importantly, the WHY behind Family History work in the church- it helps us feel more connected to our ancestors, we remember and honour them, and we perform saving ordinances like baptism for them by proxy in the temple. It was so awesome to see such enthusiasm for doing this work from her so immediately! We also got to meet with some members to practice musical items for our Sacrament Meeting (of course, Christmas focused), and then singing them on Sunday was lovely :) We also got to meet with Kasia (from Gdynia) and talk about Family History work (it was possibly my last time seeing her, so that's really sad for me, but I'm so glad we have the internet!). We got to meet with Olga (also my last time seeing her) and read a General Conference talk with her about finding answers to our sincere questions -our lesson was perfect timing, because the Polish General Conference Liahonas only just got to our chapel a couple of hours before the lesson. Witali and Marzena gave us cute Christmas presents (angel candle holder things), and we gave them a photo album with photos from their wedding day (Sister Young was the photographer). I'm really going to miss all of the wonderful people I've met here. Gdańsk will always hold such a special place in my heart, and I can't wait until I get another chance to be here. The people I've met mean so much to me, and all the experiences I've had here have moulded me into the better person I am today (and I know I of course still have a long way to go haha!).


I look forward to talking with you on Christmas Day and then it really won't be long at all until I'm back in that Australian heat with all of you!
Love you so much,
Siostra Grgich

The Artwork Was Amazing

They had a Fender Strat made out of amber! I think it looks pretty cool.

I finally went to the Amber Museum (Gdańsk is famous for amber)!

I like the moose (or elk or whatever it is, I don't know animals)

Fancy places in Gdańsk (we went to 4 museums for our culture day).

The artwork on the ceiling was incredible!

Sisters from our Zone (except for Sister Sloane, but I'll be going to join her in Szczecin today for exchanges).

Elder Jeffs, Sister Woodward and I (we were in the MTC together)

Sister Young and I with Agata from Bydgoszcz :)

Me and the Silver Tree

We got cookbooks :D- I love the Sarma recipe fambam!!

More museumy things (back when the German influence was strong in Gdansk/Danzig)

Me with the Bydgoszcz missionaries- Elders Garrison and Sidwell and Sister Larcade (whom I won't see again until after the mission!)

This week we took our culture day going around some free museums in the old town area (on Długa Street), it was cool to do something that I've not done yet in Gdańsk (I've been in the area for 14 months- been running out of ideas haha). I kept sitting on forbidden chairs at the museums hehe, they didn't have guard rails up, so I thought we could sit on them, but apparently not, because in 2 different museums, the lady would see me and say "We don't sit there!" (in Polish) haha what can I say, I like to sit down! 

In the week we got to meet with a couple of super awesome people, one lady has been out of our branch for a long time because she was living somewhere else, but now she has come back and it was nice talking to her about spiritual experiences and sharing our testimonies with each other. We're so happy to have her back in the branch! We also had a really awesome lesson with one girl about the Plan of Salvation- Sister Young and I love preparing lessons for her, because she's full of questions and really wants to find answers! It's a lot of work trying to learn the vocabulary and grammar to know how to explain things properly to her, so it's good for my Polish too :) I'm so grateful for the opportunities I have here to share my testimony with others, especially about Christ's reality and God's presence in our lives. I feel it so strongly and it's the driving force for my life. Sometimes wish I could just force people to be happy, but I know it doesn't work that way! Living the gospel is a choice, but when that choice is made and commitment is sure, then comes that true inner peace, happiness and direction that we all long for. I'm so grateful to have that in my life :) I love life! And I love you and am so grateful for you (family) for bringing me up the way you did so that I have seen through your examples and have learnt through my own studying and actions, to live life the way I do. Life is great :D

We had our Zone Conference this week in Poznań. We spoke about ways we can use the Christmas season to really focus our efforts and serving others and helping them think of why we celebrate- to really focus on the Saviour. There's a new video from the church regarding Christmas, and we have a lot of pass-along cards to hand out, so we're excited to get people thinking about the importance of Christ and hoping people will watch and share the video with their friends. We're planning on doing some Christmas themed free tables, we'll invite people to go to the church website (with the video for Christmas), we'll sing/play some carols, and of talk to people about why we celebrate Christmas, and what it all means for us as families and individuals. It's a great time of year, and hopefully we'll all have a deeper appreciation for this time and recommit to making our lives Christ-centered. If I can help others (and myself!) do that, I'll be a happy chappy :D

On the train home from conference, we got to talk to 2 guys about our church, it was really cool, the natural way it came up. We had 8 missionaries all on one train coming back (4 going to Bydgoszcz and 4 to Gdansk), so of course people would have been wondering who we were and I'm sure it caught a lot of people's attention (maybe not so natural, haha). After the Bydgoszcz missionaries left (sad moment for me, because I won't see them again!), us and the Elders got to know the people sitting around us on the wagon, and we were able to share with them a little about our church and the Book of Mormon. It's nice to have people tell us that they appreciate what we're doing, and that they respect us. Too often, people are just very cold and harsh to us, and I know it's just because they don't know what we're about, and they give up on us before we have a chance to explain why we're here. I have seen time and time again, that when people take the time to understand why we're here, they respect us, and even enjoy talking with us. I'm thankful for moments I get to show people that I really do care about them, and I'm here because I want to help them (and for sure, others I meet here help me too!). 

Well I'll be going on exchanges today until Wednesday (going to Szczecin) with Sister Sloane, so I'll of course miss Gdansk and Sister Young, but it'll be a great experience I'm sure. Maybe I'll have another good train conversation :D Have a great week, have fun and look after yourselves :D

Love, Sister Grgich

Smoulder!

this is me and my sisters (companionship) in Toruń!

Me and my sisters on a tramway in Bydgoszcz

and then our district in Toruń in front of a stone that says Gdańsk!

Skype on Christmas with the Fam Bam!

And then me in Bydgoszcz in front of a really nice river :)

here are sme of our Bydgoszcz missionaries and our Gdańskees together in  Toruń :) last pday.

so.. this is what happens when you open up your sofa (that happens to have storage space.. haha and then you find these) . Keeps  us warm now that snow is falling :P

so.. the 5 of us had fun. this was us trying to "smolder" haha.

Christmas day- and the 3 of us doing each others' hair :p

The snow in Gdańsk on the main street (Ulica Długa)

This last week has been a little crazy, just because of all the unusual schedules. So after Toruń last week, (which was so beautiful, by the way) we had our Zone Conference in Poznań (another lovely city) and learnt a lot about Christmas, and enjoyed being around the other misssionaries. We all had a gift exchange, so my gift was a kangaroo coin pouch, and I ended up getting an alarm clock and a winnie the pooh wallet haha. It was pretty funny. We also got a slideshow of photos of all the missionaries in Poland and a Bible Videos DVD from the Church, so that was really nice.

After conference, we went back to Gdańsk and the next day got to spend "Wigilia" (Christmas Eve) with a few members in in our branch and the other missionaries in our district. We made cookies for a few different people and it was just a peaceful, happy time. Christmas Day I got to Skype you in the morning!! The other missionaries were eavesdropping and laughed when at the end I said "dovidjenia" (in Bosnian) because they thought I was saying it in Polish - but in Polish they have the same word for 'goodbye' but it's pronounced slightly differently, and they just thought I had terrible Polish haha. Anyway, it was so cool to see you all! For lunch, we got to go to the senior couple's home (it was so tasty) and then the other missionaries skyped their families in the evening and we played ping-pong at the chapel :D. There was a lady working at the reception of the building where the chapel is, so we brought her a plate of cookies and then we were best friends ;) Cookies solve everything, right? :p Oh wow, I just realised I've been saying the word cookies instead of biscuits- I'm a terrible Aussie!

Anyway... Then on Boxing Day I went down to Warsaw for a training, and we got to stay at the Edgren's home (the mission home) and partake of the awesomely delicious food that Sister Edgren makes. (don't worry mum, I'm well-fed!) It was really good because I got to see 3 sisters from my MTC group again (Sisters Smith, Kuchar and Benson). The training went over til the next day, and we learnt a lot about being humble in our callings and as people, how we can maintain high expectations and how to be open to change for the better. So then after coming home, I got to spend 1 night and Sunday morning (for Sacrament meeting and Sunday School) in Gdańsk and then I had to leave again to Bydgoszcz. SO I'll be in Bydgoszcz for the next 4 days while we organise and carry out the Zone Training for our area. (We use what we learnt at our time in Warsaw and meet with the missionaries in our area to teach each other and learn/make goals etc.).

So, I'm missing my companions a little bit, but at the same time, I feel really grateful to be in Bydgoszcz learning from the missionaries here. Today after emailing we're planning on going shopping, so maybe I'll finally buy a bigger coat! Haha we'll see. It's started snowing here -it's breathtakingly gorgeous riding on the trains and seeing the snow-tipped trees and glistening fields. Poland is a beautiful country! On a train I was on yesterday, I met a girl from Azerbaijan who's studying in Finland and just here for a holiday, and we were talking about how good it is to be proud of your country, and also how good it is to appreciate this beautiful world that's been created for us. I love getting to see this other side of the world-it's so different from Australia but I love it! I hope you're all getting out in nature and enjoying this magnificent world! I miss you and love you and thank you for always being my support :)

Til next week!

Siostra Grgich