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| Cathedral Island with my cute yet might companion - Siostra Gheen! She has been everything I needed this last transfer! |
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| Cathedral Island! |
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| Token companionship selfie! |
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| The bridge is lined with locks! |
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| The cathedral! |
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| I found this beauty in the Katowice chapel! |
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| Siostra Barney finding a chocolate Easter bunny hidden by the Turek kids... it is a tradition from Germany they shared with us at zone conference! |
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| The Turek kids! |
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| Elder Baldwin - a buddy from Warsaw! I took so many pictures - this was my last zone conference. Many goodbyes! |
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| Why be serious? It is Startszy Liechty after all! He is one of the first elders I met when I arrived in my first city - Szczecin! He had only been 2 months in the land but had incredible Polish! We had so much fun in Szczecin! |
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| Elder Fuhriman from my months in Gdańsk! |
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| These two trailblazer! Starszy Toone and Starszy Wood! (Wood is from the Boise area!) |
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| Siostra Barney saying good bye with tears to her Siostra Anderson! |
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| Siostra Barney, Siostra Gheen and myself! |
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| Siostra Andersen & Siostra Van Woerkom! |
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| The Daltons - they headed home after this zone conference! They are the best! I love the couple missionaries! |
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| This lady - Siostra Turek - is one of the most amazing women ever! I love her sooooo much! I've learned so much from her! |
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| Train ride to conference! Left: Starszy Jablonski, myself, Siostra Gheen Right: Starszy Dooley, Starszy Reed, Starszy White |
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| I LOVE THIS GIRL! |
Cześć Family and
Friends!!!!
This week was simply
amazing! Again I saw miracle after miracle! The week was also a mix of emotions
for me but I will get into that later!
I want to begin
with my thoughts on General Conference! There were two major things that I
learned from it! First, it is about the
basics! This is also what I have learned on my mission! If we want the gospel
to be a part of our lives then we have to INVITE AND MAKE it part of
our lives! This includes daily prayers, scripture study, temple attendance, and
going to church! This is how we center our lives on Christ and how we are
constantly growing and learning to become like Him! These aren't hard things
but they require effort on our part! There is so much joy that awaits if we
will just take time and do the basics! Second, “Trust in the lord with all
thine heart and lean not unto thy own understandings and he will direct thy
paths for good!” This was repeated over and over again! I needed to hear this!
I realize that I need to trust in the Lord's understanding over my own! There
are a lot of uncertainties with everything that lies ahead of me but I know
that if I can trust I will be lead and guided the entire way! Faith over fear
right? RIGHT!
This week was
amazing! I will give an update on the people we worked with! Our non- smoking
investigator has continued to not smoke and it has been a little over three
weeks now! We had such a good lesson with her this past week! My favorite was
on the temple! We looked at pictures and explained happens inside! She loved it
and continued to talk about it with us and how special it looks there! She will
be getting baptized this weekend, Easter weekend! What a beautiful way to start
a new beginning on the same weekend that Christ gave all of us a new beginning!
We are so excited for her!
We also met with
our young college aged girl twice this week! The first lesson we had with her
was about missionary work and service! We talked about why we serve and how we
are able to all spread Christs' light! She is already such a service oriented
person that she really liked that we focus on service a lot on our church! We
then decided to ask her about her questions! She again brought up some concerns
and some of the things she had read! We listened to her and the entire time I
was praying to know what to say! We talked with her about how we understand
that the stuff she read is important and we don't want there to be surprises
but she also needs to gain a testimony of things that are true! Sister Gheen encouraged
her to read the Book of Mormon and to really come to know that it is true! She
told her that was the only way she would really know! She struggles a lot with
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and so that was perfect for her to hear!
She continued to express her doubts and then I just went for it and decided to
be bold! My heart was pounding and I was terrified on how she would take it! I
finally told her that there are so many paths before her and she could continue
to read and read and study everything, both from the church and against the
church but she wasn't ever going to figure it all out until she decided which
path to take and what to believe! She got quiet and I honestly felt like I had
spoken out of term! I apologized if I had offended her and we ended the lesson
with her saying she would try and read the Book of Mormon more! I prayed so
hard that I hadn't said the wrong thing!
The next time we
met we talked about tithing and fasting! She again accepted both concepts! She
likescthe idea that we can fast with a purpose! We have kind of been hesitant
in bringing up her baptismal date because of her questions and we didn't want
her to shoot it down because of them! We finally just went for it and asked her
how she felt about it! She said that she had been thinking about it a lot as it
grows closer and closer! We were nervous she was going to tell us we need to
take a break and push it back! Instead she said she had been thinking a lot
about what I said about different paths and she said she needed to choose one!
I was so relieved! She told me it had helped her to really think about it all!
She said that she didn't think it was a coincidence that God had lead her here
and everything that had happened! She still had questions but she didn't say no
about her baptism! We asked if we could fast with her about it this Sunday and
she didn't want to force us but we told her we had already decided! :) She then
said “chcę” or “I want” (to fast)! We fasted with her Saturday night to Sunday
lunch! This is when the miracles happened!
We had district
conference in Katowice this weekend and it was so incredibly special! People
from all the branches in the South came! The spirit was so strong and just
amazing! She came to the conference with us! Sadly we got our tickets mixed up and
she got there before us, but that is exactly what needed to happen! We missed
the first meeting but we heard later that she was asked to say the prayer and
it touched her a lot! We then had the big meeting and it was incredible! A
member of the area of the seventy was here!
He talked all about Christ and the days leading up to His resurrection!
It was a beautiful talk!
Afterwards I had a
chance to ask her how it all went and what she thought! It was one of the
dearest conversations of my mission! She told me that when she first came to church
they sang the hymn Count your Blessings! She told me how much she loved it
because she was in a hard time in her life! She was reading in that book we gave
her on the train ride up and again that song was mentioned! She thought that if
we sang that song today it would be amazing! We go into the room to sit down
and Sister Gheen had been asked to lead the music so she flipped her hymn book
open to the first song and guess what we sang?! COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!!!! I was
counting mine over and over again! I told her that, that was the hand of God and
HE IS AWARE OF EVERYTHING ABOUT HER! She
said, "I know!" She then said some dear things about what she had
learned since I had come to Wroclaw! She told me that she realized she didn't
need to know or understanding everything, she said it was enough that the path
was there and even though it wasn't all the way lit, with each step she took it
became lighter! I stood there and wanted to cry! She was glowing and so happy!
She loved fasting and it was such a special experience to be a part of! She is
amazing!
The conference
itself was incredible! I met so many amazing people and it was one of those
days where I feel like I got a little glimpse of heaven!! Full of love!! Full of basic good people!!
We also met with
our young investigator! We talk to her about prayer and scripture study and how
we can receive answers from them! She is still praying about baptism but she
told us that ever since she started meeting with us she has been happier! She
really has changed! She is more confident and smiles more! There is just so
much more peace about her! I love our lessons with her because we will read
something and she will explain what she thought and check to see if she is understanding
it all correctly! She is making incredible progress! The gospel is a gospel of
change!
The week ended
with my very last zone conference! The first half of it Sister Turek lead and
talked about peace! This is something I have been praying for this entire last
transfer! I didn't even realize what we were talking about until the end and
then I got that feeling where I feel like Heavenly Father laughs and kind bolts
me with the humility stick while saying “See I am listening and I know what I
am doing!” I received such a calming answer that the peace will come about
going home and that I need to just keep doing what I am doing! We discuss about
how best to work with members and how effective it is! Seriously the members
here are amazing and they have a different strength than I have ever seen!
The cute Turek
kids also let us participate in a German tradition! They hid chocolate bunnies
all over the chapel and we had to go and search for them! It was so much fun
and they were laughing and laughing! Finally it was time for me to give my final
testimony in Polish! I won't lie I was emotional and there so many mixed
feelings! I know that there is incredible work ahead still left ot be done here
by of each of my mission friends and I’m jealous I won’t be part of it. I am so
grateful to have served with such incredible missionaries like them! The
goodbyes were hard but I am so grateful that they were hard! They are my family
here and some of my best friends! They are incredible missionaries and I know
God is so proud of them! I will forever be grateful to have been able to serve,
work, and learn with every single one of them! As hard as it was a peace came in
the trickling thread of knowing that if I trust in God's plan it will all work
out. So that is what I am going to do, keep trusting!
There is so much
more I could write but I don't have time! This next weekend is Easter and I
invite each of you to think of the Savior! I know He atoned for us, died for
us, and rose and lives, so that we may live again too! I hope you all have a
wonderful Easter!! Christ lives!
Kocham Was!!!!
Siostra DeMordaunt
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