Weekly Email - February 4th

Hi family,

Getting right to it this week. This has been a good week. We went to Schindler’s Factory again. So many of these WWII places have been converted as museums by the City of Krakow.  The museums go through the history of Krakow since WWII. There was a pretty big section of the museum that was dedicated to the Jews.

I had an exchange with Elder L this week. We taught a little boy who is about to turn 8. He is the neatest little boy. We taught him a lesson about how baptism is necessary to be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father. We had a really good lesson with him and we had a lot of fun. He has all these little toy soldiers that he plays with and it’s fun to watch him play because Polish kids make different sounds than we Americans do. Elder L is really an awesome missionary. He is a little older than the rest of us and he has such focus. He has a lot of energy and is really personable. So he left this morning and Elder S is back. We both had good exchanges this week.

It has been snowing and sleeting for the past 2 weeks. Yesterday it was above freezing so everything is melting. So they have put up safety lines because there is ice melting ice and falling everywhere.

We had a really good English lesson this week too. Our 2 English students are doing really well with their English and we had some pretty good discussion going on. It is really fun to teach the English lessons.

We did a lot of contacting this week and we had several lessons. So I would say we had a good week. We had the opportunity to teach a 96-year old man. He was the cutest old man. I really liked him and he reminded me of grandpa. I just had to take a picture of us together, couldn’t help myself.

On Sunday, President and Sister Nielson came to church in Krakow. It was nice to see them again. We had 3 investigators at church today, which was cool. Elder S and I had to translate this week into both English and Polish depending on the speaker. It is really hard to translate and I didn’t do a great job at it so other people that were attending the meetings helped me out from their seats. That was nice of them. A cool thing is that I got to bless the water in Polish. I really enjoy blessing the sacrament in Polish, it’s not everyone that gets to go to Poland and do that so I try to take the opportunity whenever I can. After church we went over the T’s house and O was there. They fixed a nice meal for us and we are learning Polish etiquette, which is interesting. And by the way mom, they served us Polish pancakes, which are just like Swedish pancakes. Every country in Europe seems to have their own version of Swedish pancakes. So I guess what I’m saying is that they are not Swedish pancakes at all. O was so cute when we were there. His mom had bought him some candy and he was determined to share it with us. We tried to talk him out of it because we didn’t want to take his candy, but he wasn’t about to hear of that. He is just the cutest little boy. I love teaching him the lessons.

After we left T’s we went over to the U’s home. It was very nice as usual. We had Mexican Enchiladas, which was good.

We don’t really have plans for p-day this week. I’m sure we will come up with something and I’ll let you know what we did.

Oh, that is so cool that Preston got called to the Czech/Slovak mission. I have never seen Slovak what only Czech, but I just found a Slovak Book of Mormon here. I’m really excited for Preston.

OK, so here is my spiritual message for this week.

Jacob 4:9-10

  9 For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?

  10 Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.

I connected this with the D&C 50 where it mentions that when we pray with the spirit, praying for the things the spirit tells us to pray for. Then God will never withhold his power from us. He will answer those prayers if they are aligned with his will. I connect that with this scripture in verse 10. If we take that counsel in his hands than he can give us power and we just have to submit our will to his.

This is also what was taught in Sunday School today, when you pray, do so with the intent to listen and to act on the things that you feel or were told. Pray for the things for the things the spirit will have you pray for. Pray knowing that you can have answers and pray that you will act on the answers.

Here is your hymn for the week too.

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?

Then wake up and do something more.

Than dream of your mansion above.

Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,

A blessing of duty and love.

Well, I’m going to end this epistle to my family by saying I love you all. Have a good week. And I say to you good bye, and if I don’t see you good afternoon, good evening and good night.

 Elder Godwin finally got to make a snowman. Good for him. First one and he looks really good!

 Looks like a nice sunny day in Poland.

Here is O, he is 8 years old and will be baptized in a week. Elder Godwin is really enjoying teaching him the lessons. He is a great kid!

 This man made Elder Godwin's week. He is a very interesting man apparently and he reminds Brian of Grandpa Lee. 

 He also sent us a recording of him and his companion singing Happy Birthday in Polish to Erik and Hailey. I can't seem to figure out how to add audio to the blog. Here are the words though, it is kind of interesting.

Sto lat, sto lat,

Niech żyje, żyje nam.

Sto lat, sto lat,

Niech żyje, żyje nam,

Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, niech żyje, żyje nam,

Niech żyje nam!

This translates roughly into English as:

A hundred years, a hundred years,

Let him (her) live, live with us.

A hundred years, a hundred years,

Let him (her) live, live with us.

Once again, once again, let him (her)live, live with us,

Let him (her) live with us!