Weekly Email - November 18th

The week has been great. We have had some wonderful teaching opportunities with a couple of really cool investigators. One kid, M, who is 18 is doing great and I think will shortly be preparing for baptism.

The really cool experience we had was with a former investigator named J. This man is a family guy, with a wife, two sons, and a daughter. All of his kids are around our age, but he acknowledges that we are teachers of the Lord's gospel. He is a really nice guy, he treated us to some food and tea and we sat down and all he wanted to do was talk about his family and the gospel. Unfortunately, his family is not interested as he is, but he is not down about that. He has been prepared for baptism before and had multiple baptismal dates and has backed out each time or postponed until he backed out. This time, we went in with a planned lesson on reading, praying, and going to church. He hadn't been taught in a little while, so we thought it would be good to do the basic three. When we got to talking to him, I felt like that was completely uneccessary. He shared with me a scripture he had read lately in the Book of Mormon, and how much it had meant to him, I asked if he prays and he said everyday. I asked if he has been out to church in a while, he said it had been a couple of weeks, but he was going the next day. I then felt like we needed a new lesson. For a second I had gotten nervous about what to teach him. Then a scripture came to mind in 3 Nephi 18. I went with that thought and turned there and shared a scripture on baptism and church, and made a connection in that scripture with the Holy Ghost. Then it hit me, he always backed out of baptism... Why? Well certainly there was some underlying fear or some sort of misunderstanding. I thought, if he could just understand what a blessing it was, and how great it would be to have that Holy Ghost all the time, what fear could he possibly have. I think sometimes missionaries make baptism out to be a bigger thing than it should be, while being essential, your circumstances in life do not immediately change as a result of baptism. The floor doesn't fall out from under you, birds won't come down and attack you, nor will you happen upon a million dollars and a chocolate bar down the street from your baptism... But.... You will have the gift of the Holy Ghost. I turned us in the scriptures to The Acts chapter 2. I love the story of the day of Pentacost. In the MTC, Brother Stice told us to have BOM heros to rely on when you have nothing else. I took that advice and added some bible heros and stories. Peter on the Day of Pentacost is my "go-to guy". We read how he was given the gift of the Holy Ghost with all the Apostles, they received the gift of tongues, and then Peter describes yet other gifts of the spirit "Your young mens will have visions, and your old men will dream dreams". So on and So forth. Then I testified of the power of that gift, I told him I would not be here in a state to testify to you in Polish without the help that the Lord provides. I then mentioned the ability he had to feel the Spirit right then, I told him that I knew he could feel the Spirit, but he could have that as a constant companion after baptism. I told him of the story of Peter's testimony of the divinity of Christ. That Christ asked his disciples "Who say ye that I am?" and Simon Peter responded "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God". Christ praised him for that response because he knew this from the Holy Ghost even before that gift had been bestowed upon him. It was a powerful lesson, and then J agreed that in our next appointment, we could set a baptismal date. We are excited for that, we were very straightforward and open with him and he was very open in return, I strongly feel that he is ready for batism, he just needs to make the decision to do it.

 

The rest of the week was also great, our members are awesome, they bring such a great spirit to the meetings and they are such good fellowshippers. We have some really good relationships here already and it will only get better. The city is beautiful, and it is getting decorated for Christmas especially in town square. They are bringing out the little market houses where they sell all sorts of fun trinkets, and we are excited for when they open up. So we are having a great time. Elder K is the man, we are getting along great and his Polish is amazing for 3 weeks in Poland. He came with some great communicaion skills.

 

Wish I had time to tell you more, but we have been rushed today, I love you all and hope everyone has a great week.

 

Z Miłością,

Starszy Godwin

Weekly Email - November 11th

This week was great. Well, I had to say goodbye to all of my friends in Katowice, and I will really miss them, but we will be in contact. But the rest was great. We had some good lessons before I left Katowice with some American girls that are baptists and are here to teach pre-school. They had some really interesting views on life. It was nice to see the different prospective and to have my testimony grow on how important and amazing the Restoration was. So much information had been lost and changed, and now we have it again, I am grateful for that.

Then, on Wednesday, I got on a train to go to Warsaw and pick up my trainee before hitting the streets in the scenic city of Wroclaw. I got in to Warsaw to be greeted by the famous Elder H who was also training. Shortly after, Elder R, Elder K, and Elder S joined the training elders. Then the sisters, W, B, and H. We got to spend an hour or two around town getting food and such before we got to the mission home (a place I haven't been in since I was a new Elder in the mission over a year ago). Then we got a pep-talk/trainer meeting with president. I love President Edgren, he had us start and end all of our meetings with music and luckily we had some musically talented sisters who played the violin and piano for us. Then, the trainees came in. I went with a bit of advice that Elder L gave me. He said not to look around and think about which trainee I want, or which I don't want... Just don't judge them. So I didn't, but the meeting got started right away with our trainees and I was the first Elder to get my trainee. President had me stand up and point out my city on the map, and he called up Elder K to be my companion. Elder K is great. He is an American, but grew up most of his life in Switzerland and Belgium. His dad is a commodities trader there. We got a lot of time to talk and get to know each other on our 8 hour train ride from Warsaw to Wroclaw the next day. He has two older sisters, one younger. His family has now been moved to Utah. He is fresh out of high school like all new Elders. He is the great-grandson of Spencer W. Kimball. He did track in high school and is crazy good at Polish for being a greenie. I mean, he just gets the language structure. The flow will come with time of course, but his grammar and vocab are superb.

We got into Wroclaw and our sisters picked us up from the station and told us we had an appointment in 45 minutes. So there was no time to settle in, we got going straight to the appointment after dropping off our bags. We had a private English lesson with three guys and we had nothing planned so I went with emergency plan X where we sit them down and have them create a personalized language study plan. They seemed to really enjoy it overall.

The next day we had an appointment with our investigator M. He is a cool kid, and he is really searching. O (a member) helped us on that lesson. She is the person Sister Stay was pretending to be in the MTC when we taught our "fake investigators".

I think the best part of the week though was just going to church. We have some amazing members here, it is a very bilingual branch. There are some youth and some primary (the primary kids weren't there yesterday though). They were just great.

The city here is gorgeous, built in a sort of delta of the river Odra or something like that. The architecture is wonderful, and there are some really quirky things, like the gnomes that are all over the city. It is hard to describe, but you should look up krasnale we wroclawiu or just wroclaw gnomes. They are pretty neat. I unfortunately have been too busy to take pictures, but next week I will get some for you all.

I think I am going to really enjoy my time here in Wroclaw and I am looking forward to really getting to work with Elder K.

The Rynek "square" in Wroclaw

Weekly Email - November 4th

This week has been kinda wacky. Firstly, we found out on Thursday that Elder W was leaving Katowice early to become the next AP with Elder N (third time companions). He found out on Tuesday and they were being fishy, so we inquired and they coulddn't lie. Before that, the week is kind of a fog. We met with some people that had set up an appointment with us. That was our only lesson of the week. But we kept going until it came time to start our 3-some with Elder L in Katowice. I do remember that on Friday, we had a culture night in Katowice and got to watch as Poles celebrated Day of the Dead. They go throughout the week and clean the graves of their loved ones and ancestors and on November 1st (and the days surrounding it depending on how devout they are) they go and place candles and flowers all over the graves and the graveyards. It is really quite spectacular. I was in Lodz one year ago celebrating this same holiday in the snow, this year there has been no snow yet, so we are blessed.

On Saturday we rode on a train early in the morning to see Elder W off and get with Elder L. W was very excited and then our adventures began. We had a lesson that day with the other elders investigator who is preparing to be baptized this month. He is really a special kid and has a lot of potential in the years to come. He is 17 years old, but is really searching and really has a lot of faith. We all have high hopes for him and we had a really spiritual meeting where we watched the Restoration video and then testified about the power of the Restoration and how amazing it is that God and Jesus Christ have spoken to men in our day and that we can all have that personal witness in this life. He was really receptive and has been taught everything he needs to know before he gets baptized on the 23rd of this month.

We also went out to do a service project in a place called Mysłowice. It is a little town covered in graffiti, but on the outskirts, there is a little place covered in plots of land called "działki" I don't know the english equivalent in the states, because we have no such thing. It is a large "garden" with a little (tiny) house on it where Poles go to get away from the cares of life. The Sisters are teaching a woman with a Działka in Mysłowice and she asked if we could help her paint it. When we got there, the paint she had bought was very strange. It was thin and watery and more like elmers glue, but if you got some on your hand and rubbed it between your fingers, it would just disappear like magic. I spilt some on my hoody and I wiped it right off.

Yesterday we had a good church meeting. That night, we got our transfer calls. I am going to be training! I will also be DL in Wrocław which should be beautiful for the winter. I am super excited, so on Wednesday I ride into Warsaw to pick up my trainee and Thursday, I go to Wrocław with him. I am stoked, and the sisters in my district are really cool as well. I have worked with one of them before way back in Łódź. The Senior couple is going to be the Lloyds as well (from my second Lodz transfer) so that should be very exciting, everyone loves the Lloyds. I am excited to see what the new transfer brings and I am looking for ways to grow as a missionary and a person, I am probably going to do something that a few missionaries around the mission have done called a "40 day fast" where you start with a literal 1 day fast and then you make a list of a few specific things you can eliminate from your life (or add) and for the next 40 days you eliminate (or add) those things from your life. It is an idea I had originally heard from Elder W, but Elder L and W both did it this past transfer as well. I am probably going to give it a shot. I am also excited for the oportunity to train. It should be a lot of fun.

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

Day of the Dead!

 The Branch President.

Weekly Email - October 28th

Hi Family,

This week we saw some great miracles. I wanted to start by telling you of the biggest one that I saw. Saturday night marks probably one of the greatest (if not the greatest) nights of my mission so far. We were working all week, all day, and now it was after dinner and we were going out again to try to find those who had been prepared. At about 18:15 not far from our house, Elder B stopped a girl and began teaching her the restoration. I could see that he was doing a great job and she was being very patient in listening to him and so I just stood by and listened. She was listening pretty intently and every once in a while, Elder B would ask me for a word or phrase and I would help him out. Once we had pretty much gotten through the points of a first lesson, she looked at me and asked if I spoke really good Polish. I said that I could hold a conversation. She then asked to both of us "What is it that the restoration has given you personally?". I wasn't sure at first how to answer, but I figured I would just go with the spirit. I told her for me it brought a knowledge of what God expects from me. I know where I came from, what I am supposed to do and where I am going. I told her that this is called the Plan of Salvation. She said I was being too general, she asked what that meant specifically because every religion has some theory on what our purpose is. Honestly I did not feel very prepared to give a lesson about the Plan of Salvation at that point, I told her that we could spend hours talking about that and that we would love to set up with her and talk to her at some point on that topic. She then asked if we would have just 30 minutes to talk right then because she is really busy, but had just gotten off work and has the whole afternoon. We said of course and we went and sat on a nearby bench. Elder B explained some things about the Plan of Salvation we explained that the goal in this life is to live worthy and to take upon us the ordinances that are necessary to return to live with God. She found that to be very interesting. We got into a detailed discussion of Who God is and how we can come to know Him. She had always had faith in a higher power but it seemed that she mostly believed He was just that, a power. I asked if God had a body, according to her. She said "well... No, I believe He came down as Christ and that he died and is more of a governing force". She said He had a will and a "mind" like a perfected man, but she didn't imagine that he had a tangible body. I was able to testify that this truth was restored with the rest of the restoration. We talked about the Holy Ghost. She said she has always had a hard time gaining faith in any solid points of doctrine. She believes in God, but cannot easily gain a testimony in things like the restoration or the Book of Mormon, or even the Koran, or other religions that she has looked into. I told her that only the Spirit could bring that testimony to her and only after earnest seeking. I felt like I could very personally relate. My whole life has been a struggle for faith. It is not something that comes easily to me, it is something I had to work very hard for and continue to work very hard for. I have always had desire, but I am naturally a doubter and a skeptic. I testified that if the Holy Ghost brought me this testimony, He would do the same for her. We had a wonderful discussion, and we set up to meet with her again this week. For me it was one of those moments where I could feel the Spirit work through me, I wasn't teaching the lesson, I was just carrying the words of God. It began to flow much more smoothly, less mechanical in presentation. I have only had a few such instances on my mission, but it is those experiences that I value the most about this work.

The rest of the week, we saw a lot of work with little visible fruit, but a lot of spiritual rewards. I had some particularly rough days where people were just more mean than usual. One day we went out and tried to talk to every person we saw and they did not just deny us, they completely ignored us. One person after the other. We would walk up adn just say "Hey, good day..." and they would walk by eyes straight ahead as if we didn't exist. It became almost comical like they had planned it. That was a rough day and A LOT of walking, but I feel like I learned a lot. I learned a lot about dilligence in the face of all opposition and relying on the Spirit to do the talking, not your mouth. It was a good week, we worked hard, we got a couple of really good conversations and we are looking forward to meeting with some of these people again.

Sunday we had District Conference. All of the members, missionaries, and investigators who could gathered in from Kraków, Wrocław, Kielce, and Katowice into our chapel. I got to see a lot of old faces like President K from Kraków, and the O's the nice American/British family who had us over for Christmas and their two children. The meeting went great and President Edgren gave his talk in wonderful Polish which the poles are always very happy about. The chapel was filled and it was wonderful to see little kids running around and people talking and having a great time. Then the Elders from Kraków (S and Z) had a few hours till their bus. We toured them around Katowice and they had the recent convert L with them who I taught when I was in Kraków and I had not even heard that he was getting baptized! It was a good day all in all to finish off a good week.

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

Here are some goats that are always by our apartment.

The "Spodek" or flying saucer, one of the tourist sites in Katowice.

Weekly Email - October 21st

This week Elder Godwin did not send us a written note. In his recording he shared that they have had a good week. Work is still slow, but Elder B and Elder Godwin are in good spirits. They are enjoying working together. They are enjoying the people they have met in the branch. He sent us some pictures around Sosnowiec.

 Here is a little stray dog that decided to join them for a Kebab lunch. Of course both Elders were more than happy to share their Kebab meat with this handsome dog.

 Fall is in the air even in Sosnowiec.

 As you may be able to tell Elder Godwin has lost some weight on his mission. This is amazing considering all the food he is eating. Here he is fixing some Swedish Pankcakes.

 Playing soccer with branch members and other missionaries. My son has really white legs. He must be my boy. :)

 Here he is setting appointments while enjoying the Swedish flair of IKEA and probably heading over to the cafeteria for some Swedish Meatballs.

Weekly Email - October 14th

This week was a good growing experience for me. It was spent trying our hardest to find new investigators to teach while seeing very little success. Here in Sosnowiec right now, we don't have a teaching pool which has been rough, but such is life sometimes. I am at the point in my mission where I have come to the understanding that you can put in 110% and the Lord may still try testing you further. I always look back to my favorite story in the Book of Mormon of Nephi and Lehi, the brothers in Helaman and their years of preaching. Not to say that I have seen no success, or do not plan on having success, but they were blessed for their tireless efforts. Nephi was specifically blessed for his determination and endurance in preaching the word to a hardened people. I hope to learn the lessons the Lord sent me here to learn and to receive similar blessings.

This week we had a few good experiences. On night we were walking down a long road which we had planned to be on, and a fog had rolled in, and there were just not many people on the road. From a distance I saw a little figure emerging from the fog. I turned to Elder B and said "If it is an adult, she is going to stop and talk to us.... If it is a child, forget I said that". As she approached, we saw that it was indeed a really short adult. Elder B began talking to her and introduced us and our message. We testified and told her about the Book of Mormon and how much it meant to us. She was really open to the idea and wanted to read it. Later we tried to get her contact information, and unfortunately she only gave us her email address, but regardless, the Spirit was felt and she has our information.

Another story from the week was from a man named M. We stopped and talked to him just yesterday on the street. He had heard the name 'Mormon' before but had no idea what we were all about. I felt impressed to give him a really shortened overview, I don't know why, but I just told him that after a long time of absence, God restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a prophet. The proof of it is in the Book of Mormon. Immediately he said he would love to read and pray about such a book. He led on a conversation from there and asked more about us personally, why we decided to serve such a mission, what we were doing in Poland, the usual questions, but I felt a real spark when we talked about the restoration even though it was very brief, I felt that that was just what he needed to hear. After we had talked a little while longer, we asked if we could exchange numbers and be in contact. He said sure, but that after 2-3 days his number wouldn't work because he would be out of the country in Germany. I asked when he would return. He told me 2-3 years probably. I was a little disappointed, I am not going to lie, but I told him about the church website and that if he is interested he can go and find missionaries and a church in Germany and that I would really invite him to do so. He seemed really intrigued by the idea that we were all around the world doing this kind of work. I probably will never be sure of what happens to him, but it just felt like the right place at the right time.

We also met a really nice girl named D from Belaruse or however you spell it. She spoke Russian, Belarussian, Polish, English, and Spanish and is studying here. She was protestant and really open to different ideas. We talked to her in English because I think it was stronger for her than Polish (although I am not sure about that... Her Polish was definitely stronger than mine). We taught her everything about the restoration of the gospel except about the Book of Mormon because she had to go. Unfortunately we didn't get to set up to meet her and talk to her again, so we will just have to leave it up to her if she wants to learn more.

All in all, I feel satisfied with the week, it wasn't easy, it wasn't exceptionally fruitful, but I feel like I am learning a lot.

I did love the Peanut butter M&M's I had to share them with the district during conference, but I got my fair share. I think original beef jerkey flavor is my favorite.

Have a good Holiday week, I love you all.

Starszy Godwin

 President & Sister Nielson had a missionary reunion the evening before conference. They sent all the missionaries these pictures.

 While serving as Mission President in Poland President & Sister Nielson would cut off a piece of each missionaries tie or for the sisters another piece of clothing. They were collecting these pieces to make a missionary quilt. As they were getting ready to leave their own mission they traveled around and cut off a piece of each of the missionaries ties that were still serving in Poland. They wanted to make sure that their quilt would be represented by all the wonderful people they had got to serve with. This included some of the members in Poland that had worked closely with them.

In addition to the dedication the Nielson's have already shown they actually to a picture of each square in their quilt and sent it to each of the people in a personal e-mail. We love the Nielson's for their dedication and kind service. We feel so blessed that our son has gotten to serve under 2 wonderful mission presidents and their wonderful wives. Each bringing their own strengths and insights to these callings.

 Here are some random pictures from Sosnowiec.

Weekly Email - October 7th

Hello,

So, this week was exciting, being General Conference and all. It started on Monday and we went to the town called Pszczyna. There was a palace there that was recommended by Rafał. The city was a good 45 minute train ride away from Katowice, so we left first thing after studies and rode out there. The city was beautiful, clean, well kept. The palace was amazing (no idea whose it is or why he was important, but it was cool none-the-less). Then we of course had our emailing time cut a little short because we were emailing last. We rode into Katowice at 16:00. We had FHE it went well, the other Elders had prepared a lesson about covenants and how we can gain Eternal Life with God.

Tuesday we had District Meeting which went really well. I had assigned Elders L and W to present to us some tips on talking to people because they are both very talented in this departement. They set up some role-plays where we pretended to talk to Polish people on buses, trams, on the street, etc. It all was really good practice, and Elder L is quite a showman in general. Later that day we had some good conversations with a couple of nice people. One man started by telling me that I probably did not speak good enough Polish to carry on a religious discussion with him. I told him I would give it a shot. We had a really good talk, he was super nice and just told me what he believed according to the Bible as he read it. I shared our beliefs, he said he wasn't looking to change, he has strong faith in what he believes and so we said good day to each other.

Wednesday we went to Czeladź looking for less-actives and former investigators. There were none to be found that day. English followed.

Thursday, all I remember right now is Institute, and it was really good. We talked about the role of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures in our lives.

Friday, we went to Tychy, a nice city not far from Pszczyna. The city was larger and equally beautiful and clean and groomed. They were mowing lawns, sweeping, etc. There was a less-active there who we visited. She was an incredibly nice woman. She loved missionary visits and hasn't seen missionaries for 4 years, so it was quite a surprise. She said, however, that she has no need for going to church, she loves the church and all it does, but it will do her no good if she sees no need. That is all we could get out of her. We are going to giver her information to our wonderful Sister missionaries and let them talk with her.

Saturday, we had a lesson with K and talked about faith and obedience and the blessings they bring. We got to see his new little puppy (Laila gave birth to 4 puppies, but 3 didn't make it). They haven't named the new guy yet, but they are gonna  keep him.

Sunday we spent basically the whole day watching conference which was wonderful. We saw every session but Priesthood and Sunday afternoon. Elder Myler was in the family choir. The talks were great, I did not see you guys nor did I know which session you went to. After the session we watched in Polish, the branch council reached out to us and called a meeting and asked how they can help us. We got some good ideas in, and they are excited to expand member missionary work.

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

 Here is a sample of the graffiti in Poland.

 Here is Elder Godwin feeling pretty regal in his polish clothes and beautiful castle.

 Laila's puppy. If you know Brian you know that he has a love for animals that he inherited from his grandpas (both Lee and Tony). I know that he misses his own dog Roxie a lot so this is a sweet experience for him. If he could send us a pet home from Poland he would.