Sick and Getting Things Done

we've been sick and boring haha..

Sister Young and I again (surprise!)

Sister Young and I with the Taggarts (senior missionary couple serving in the Gdańsk branch)

Sister Young and I near our apartment

This week my companion and I were both pretty sick, but we were able to get a lot of things done. As usual, we know the Lord opens up doors and makes things possible that wouldn't normally be with our own mortal power. We've been blessed with an amazing Branch President who is so enthusiastic about finding less-active members in the branch, so we got to go with him and his wife driving to different houses and trying to find out about these 'lost sheep'. We were able to visit with one very sweet lady and talk with her and her husband- we're opstimistic about helping them 'straighten up' (the words that she used) things in their life so that they can feel worthy and know that the Atonement is truly available to everyone who puts their trust in the Lord. We've also been able to get some phone numbers and we're trying to set up to meet with people- it's looking hopeful and we're seeing where things will go! This work is super important and we must never neglect our duties to look out for those who are struggling with activity in the gospel.


"This work of reclaiming the lost sheep, as Jesus so vividly expressed it, must receive top priority by every stake, ward, branch, and quorum leader. All inactive members should be considered candidates for activation regardless of their response to any previous approach. We must use kindness, patience, long-suffering, love, faith, and diligence. They must feel our genuine concern and untiring love.
For individuals to become fully active in the Church, they generally must experience a spiritual conversion and a social integration. We should strive to teach them the gospel and to extend warmth and genuine friendship and fellowship to them." - Joseph B. Wirthlin


We've met with a lot of wonderful people this week. One of our friends Marzena, made us pumpkin soup- she even gave us pumpkin seeds and yogurt for it- it was so good, especially because it was soothing for our throats :D mmmm. We also got to meet with Kasia this week and we just feel so blessed to have met her and to know her. She just has such a great attitude about life and we really want to help her make the best of her opportunities and live a hppy life :)


Yesterday at church we taught the Young Women's lesson and we got to watch a new Mormon Message- it's called "Am I Even a Good Man?" (I recommend watching it), then we spoke about the character of Christ and how we can follow His example and become more Christlike. I personally have been studying a lot this week and noticing a theme of 'pride' in my studies. I've been seeing a lot of 'the pride cycle' in my Book of Mormon reading, I've been reading articles in the Liahona and then in Relief Society we learnt about how we need to "Beware of Pride"- I guess God is trying to tell me something..? ;) I've been realising more and more just how destructive pride is, and how it just ruins everything. It's at the root of almost every sin, and so if it can be overcome, we will find much more happiness and therefore fulfilment in our lives, and surely the problems we cause for ourselves would vanish. I'm trying to be like Jesus, and I know I've got a long way to go, but that will never deter me from doing my best and daily repenting. Life is ALL about progression, and what kind of life would I be living if I didn't work to fix my problems (which is generally done my looking outwards). "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:39)
Hope you all have a great week and remember that we choose how we react to the situations in our lives- we can choose if we want to be angry or full of love- and we all know which one's better!


Love you so much,
Siostra Grgich

Sidewalk Chalk

We took a ferry to Westerplatte- it was cold, windy and rainy, but we survived!

Some type of fortress along the way going up the Motława River in Gdańsk

We weren't entirely ready for the photo, but this is what I got! Standing out the front of the Westerplatte tourist entrance

his photo summarises our companionship (Sister Smith and I) ;) Standing in some ruins

Nigdy Więcej Wojny- No More War/Never Again War

We found a cherry tree!

So we of course had to pick some! (So delicious, by the way mum, we should plant a cherry tree!) The deeper the red, the better the taste, but even the yellow ones weren't bad

Eating lunch at a Polish restaurant

The front door to our meetinghouse/chapel (it's in an office building)

We did some chalk advertisements in a park- this one is to do with the Plan of Salvation

This house was covered in vines!

Sister Smith and I with Klaudia at church in the primary room

Looking up how to get home! Waiting at a busstop

Aw I love Sister Smith!

Playing guitar on a train ride to Poznań

Tracting

This week the weather just got hot all of a sudden; there was a day where it was almost 30, I couldn't believe it! It's nice to see a lot more people out on the streets, and it can make it easier to find people to talk to outside. It also means we're able to try some different finding activities like chalk advertising in parks (we went with the Elders last week to do that) and lots of people are around because they like being in the warm, fresh air. We had people come up to us which was so great! We even got a call from somebody about it, and he said he'd be interested in meeting with the missionaries, so we might try that type of activity again in the future.


This week we were able to teach a new investigator at our chapel- she brought a friend and the lesson went well. Unfortunately as students they don't have a lot of time to meet, but we're trying to set things up and my companion and I are excited to have some more people to teach the Gospel. We've been doing a lot of different things to find new people and help the current members too of course.


This week we actually had an awesome opportunity to help a member with her family history! We taught about the basics of the Plan of Salvation, and particularly about the Spirit World and what happens there. We discussed the importance of temple work for ourselves and our ancestors, and then were able to create an account for the member on FamilySearch.org and fill in some basics. It was exciting for us to get this started (unfortunately it's not in Polish, so we help with the English) and I could feel the Spirit of Elijah, the motivation of this member to find out more information about her family. She spoke about how she could get some information about her ancestors from tombstones, so we're excited for her to start working on this great task of fidning her family so she can have their work done in the temple.


Yesterday after church we went to find a former investigator who was in our area book, and when we got to her flat, we were told that she no longer lives there and the lady who now does didn't have any contact with her. That was a sad thing to hear, but there was nothing we could really do about that. So we went to find another former investigator who lived nearby, and the fastest way to get there was through a forest, so we got to walk for about 10 minutes in this beautiful natural scenery :) Sister Smith and I really enjoyed the walk and being able to be at one with nature! I'm so grateful for the many beautiful things in this world that our Heavenly Father has created for us.


I Nephi 17:36 Behold, the Lord hath created the earth that it should be inhabited; and he hath created his children that they should possess it.
 

The world is a beautiful place, and I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to already see so much of it in my lifetime (even though there is still so much I am yet to see!) We found the place of the other former investigator, but unfortunately no one answered the door, so we had to head back home. At the bus stop, we met a lady and continued talking with her on the busride home. She was nice and complimented our Polish, but it was a little sad because she wouldn't let us teach her much about our church. She just told us we were wrong and mistaken and that when we get to her age then we'll see how wrong we were. (This is a common point people like to make to us, at least this transfer). We invited her to learn more about us, but she couldn't accept that we didn't pray to Mary, that we don't believe the Pope is a prophet of God, that we believe Christ was baptised by immersion and that we have the Book of Mormon. It sort of hit me how many differences there really are between our church and others! It can be really hard sometimes to help people see that we are worth listening to, that they should give us a chance. But I know that there are a lot of prepared people out there, and they will be open to our message, it's just difficult to find them sometimes! We are staying motivated though, and we see the hand of the Lord in our lives from day to day :) I just keep praying that we will find these people to serve and see their lives blessed by the knowledge and ordinances of the restored gospel.


Today we'll be going to the beach and maybe playing some volleyball, it's the start of another great week! Love you very much, be happy and smile!


Siostra Grgich

Family History Lessons

This week we taught a couple of lessons on family history and temples, so you would be proud of me mum! So on Tuesday we visited a less-active member and encouraged her to prepare for the temple and work on her family history, and she was willing and happy so we're hopefully going to help her with that (particularly with creating an account on FamilySearch because it's not really translated fully into Polish). It was really awesome to get to know this member better (I hadn't known her very well before this) and help her with something that I'm now a lot more passionate about. We also did a "musical whiteboard" where I played songs on my guitar and we sang while other missionaries spoke to people to see if they're interested in learning about the gospel. It was really fun and it felt good to share my talents in such a way. It was also one of the elders' last day in the country so it was a bit of a solemn occasion with the music and everything- a lot of emotions of happiness for this beautiful gospel, and sadness for saying goodbye to this amazing missionary. Later that day we also got to meet with two recent convert women in our branch- we spoke about teaching and learning in the church and watched a mormon message- it was really nice to be with them and share and listen to each other's testimonies. 

 

The next day my companion and I got to help out with an American family who are preparing to move back to the States not long from now. We were helping with moving boxes and food etc, and we got fed lunch so it was a pretty awesome day :D Later that day we had planned to teach a potential investigator, but he didn't show up, so instead we were able to do a Book of Mormon reading after our English class, and we ended up having a really good lesson with the people that came to that! We read from 3 Nephi 27 in English and spoke to discuss the verses while reading. I truly felt the Spirit testifying, and afterwards one of the people there mentioned how he felt such a good atmosphere with us and during that reading/discussion. It was so nice to hear that, and reminded me how grateful I am to have the gospel in my life, and to always have the Holy Ghost with me:) 

 

On Thursday we went to Somchit's house (Thai member), discussed the visiting teaching message for this month (about the Christlike attribute of being without guile) and then made some sushi! I wasn't too excited for the sushi haha (but I thought of you two mum and dad), but it was cool to read from the message, because Somchit was able to read it in Thai (we found it for her on her ipad). It was probably the most understanding we've ever had in our lessons, and we were also really happy because she mentioned how she has spiritually grown since the last week we met with her. It's so fulfilling to know that the commitments we extend to people really do help them make changes for good in their lives. 

 

On Friday we were able to have a few good street lessons- at one point 4 young students actually came up to us and so we spoke with them for a while. I don't know how interested they are in learning more about the message, but they happily took pass-along cards and we encouraged them to look at the website for our church. We also got to visit with Kaja at her house- she made us dinner and we helped clean her turtle tank haha so that was fun (my 'best friends' are her turtles- Barbara and Jerzy). We were able to speak about the importance of not procrastinating, but making decisions now (particularly moral ones) so that we are strong for whatever happens in the future. We also got to see Kaja yesterday in the town- she was volunteering for an awareness cause about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising so we went and said hello to her :) She is seriously the best- we love her so much and I'm really gonna miss her when I leave :(. Thank goodness we have phones and the internet and mail, right? :D

 

Well we actually did a lot more this week but I've got to go, so I'll just keep those memories in my journal haha. Love you so much, have a beautiful week :)

 

From Siostra Grgich