Warsaw, Poland - Finding! People! MLC! Surprise Gdańsk Exchange!

Missionary Leadership Conference September 2016
Myself, Siostra Turek, Siostra Groesbeck, Siostra Thornton, Siostra Sloan,
Siostra Gheen, Siostra Barney, Starszy Quackenbush, Starszy Ashworth, Starszy Garrison

Siostry!
Siostra Groesbeck, Siostra Barney, Siostra Sloan, Siostra Turek,
myself, Siostra Thornton (my comp!), Siostra Gheen

Camera hack by the elders!!
R to L:  Starszy Quackenbush, Starszy Ashworth, Starszy Mulder, Starszy Garrison

These two!  Can't live with them - can't live without them!

I was finally able to see Siostra Barney!!  I was so good to see her!!

Wrote your names on the Love Heart Bridge in the Wilanow District.

Love Heart Bridge - it lights up at night!

"I say with my little eye..."
(In a park by Wilanow!)

Wilanow Palace - it has survived many wars and was completed in 1697 (I think!)!

Sloandaunt!
I was so happy to see her but mostly just to hear her wise words!

Can you believe how lucky I was...a surprise exchange!!
Siostra Groesbeck, myself, Siostra Sloan, Siostra Thornton
(Groesbeck and Thornton were MTC comps!)

Well traveled feet!

Headed out in Old Town's Square.

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Warsaw's mermaid with her shield and sword!
She rested on Warsaw's riverbank because she loved the city!
She was captured and then let free so she has promised to help the city and it's people!

Isn't he great?!

Tram ride home!

Cześć Family and Friends!!!!

So much happened this week I am just going to dive right in!

This week was filled with non-stop finding! We also had MLC (Mission Leaders Conference)! I really love meeting with the other missionaries and discussing what we can do to help the missionaries in our zone! We talked a lot about asking inspired questions and what that means! I have sometimes struggled with this on my mission! You want so badly to ask a question that will inspire them to feel or prompt the Spirit! I realized during that meeting that if we are teaching by the Spirit then what we say and ask will be exactly what they need to hear! Also the bigger part of knowing what to say is listening! I struggled a lot with this at the beginning of my mission! I was trying to understand so hard and trying to think of what to say that I forgot to actually listen! There are two types of listening - one where you are listening just to hear and one where your heart is in it and you are actually trying to truly understand the person! When we truly listen we connect with a person and for a moment we see things from their perspective, we then are able to ask divinely inspired questions along the way! So simple in so many way yet so profound too! It was such a good MLC and I always feel so energized after them! 

The rest of the week was filled with finding and....a SURPRISE EXCHANGE!! We had the Sisters from Gdansk, Sister Sloan and Sister Groesbeck, stay with us for three days! It was so good to see them! It was crazy because all of us had served with one another at some point!  Siostra Groesbeck and Siostra Thornton were MTC companions!  We had a lot of laughs, worked hard and told so many stories along the way! Sister Sloan had served in Warsaw her first transfer so it was memory lane for her! 

We met the coolest man that stopped to talk with us! He said his boss was a Mormon and he had learned about honesty from him! He had such a positive outlook on the LDS faith because of his boss! This reminded me to always make sure I am being a good example! You never know what influence you may have on others you come in contact with!  How refreshing to meet someone who knew about us!!

The rest of the week as I said before was filled with finding! We were able to meet with the man we met a few weeks ago! We discussed prayer and the Book of Mormon! He is from Cameroon.  He spoke a lot about how he use to be close to God but now he isn't! He has such a cute family and we are hoping to meet with them too! We read 2 Nephi 32 with him! We discussed how when we read the scriptures and pray we receive answers! He told us he wanted to go home and read more later! He had such an amazing spirit about him! He was so excited to read the Book of Mormon.  He told us he would read it on his way to work every day! We explained baptism to him and he agreed to pray about the decision! He is so incredible and we are so excited to meet with him! 

We also met with this guy who we met on Saturday at a finding activity! He sent us a text stating he wanted to meet the next day! He is really interested in building his faith! We talked a lot about the atonement! He doesn't understand why we feel guilt! We discussed why we have repentance and when we feel that sorrow it means we recognize we did something wrong! We had a really interesting discussion. I testified that I knew the Book of Mormon was 100% the Lord's book and I promised him that he would find out too if he read and prayed! He was taken back and was like you can't know 100% and I assured him I did! He then was taken back that I promised him and he told me a promise can be broken and I told him that this one cant! We read Moroni's promise and we testified if he would read and pray he would get an answer! He agreed to do so! It was a really powerful Spirit.  I have never seen anyone react like that before! He agreed to meet with us again and we are excited to see how his reading went! 

The final thing I want to share is a miracle that happened! Sister Thorton and I had been going through some less actives and we found a family. We called them and they said they would come to church on Sunday! They came!!!! We talked to them afterwards and it turns out they speak Spanish! Their daughter was just baptized last year and the dad had been teaching her in Spanish! I told him I was studying Spanish and they invited us to come this next Sunday! He asked if I could teach in Spanish and I told him I would try! Needless to say I will need to brush up those skills! It was such an incredible miracle and it made me so grateful that I had decided to study Spanish! The Lord works in incredible ways!!  He is aware of who needs who!  We need these people as much as they need us!

We have met so many people lately!  We are trying to get in contact with them! I feel so blessed to be here!  I know the Lord's hand is in our work!  

Kocham Was!!!!

Siostra DeMordaunt

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