Weekly Email - July 1st

Hi Family

 

Things are going good here. I got safely to Sosnowiec. The work is already going here. We are whitewashing again, which means that both me and my companion are new to the area. We have to figure everything out since we don't know where anything is. We didn't even know where to go and e-mail on P-Days so we are going with the sisters in Katowice (a 20 minute bus ride and a 10 minute walk). 

 

Elder B and I are really going to put a big focus on less active members, Katowice has really good and strong members and we want to work with the families that aren't coming out to church and we hope to bring them back to church.

 

Our area has great access to shopping and food and so you don't have to worry about that. We also have some "I am Legend" style window shutters that we can pull down at night and our place gets locked down tight like unto a dish. Elder B and I are doing great, I am talking a lot more Polish now, so hopefully my language skills will increase. I have found that I have loosened up a lot while talking to people just in the past week. I have also been told 2 times since getting here that if I had a bigger vocabulary and just worked a little on my grammar and phrasing, they would think I was a Pole. They said my accent is really really good, I just need more things to say and better ways to say it. I will definitely be working on that the next year. 

 

It is nice to see that you were able to go to the Nielson's homecoming. Thanks for sending me pictures. I recognized many of those missionaries and it was strange to see how much their personality came out in that picture. You got to meet Elder Johnson, I just love him. 

 

This past transfer I learned so much. It was definitely one of my best transfers. Elder K taught me the power of positive thinking. If we think positive thoughts blessings will flow into our lives. I have started meditating every day. Elder M taught me to be a confident leader. Elder W taught me the importance of memorization. I have just loved serving in Szczecin.

Here is a spiritual thought for you:

"...has the day of miracles ceased? Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? or has the withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." Moroni 7:35-37

In the January 1996 Ensign, page 16, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:

"One of the things that will become more important in our lives the longer we live is the reality of angels, their work and their ministry. I refer here not alone to the angel Moroni but also to those more personal ministering angels who are with us and around us, empowered to help us and who do exactly that. (see 3 Nephi 7:18; Moroni 7:29-37; D&C 107:20)...

"I believe we need to speak of and believe in and bear testimony of the ministry of angels more than we sometimes do. They constitute one of God's great methods of witnessing through the  veil, and no document in all this world teaches that principle so clearly and so powerfully as does the Book of Mormon."

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

 Elder Godwin and Elder K got these Panda hats from a member in Warsaw. They were very excited! This sister makes these.

 This is when Elder Godwin was leaving. He traveled to Poznan on Wednesday afternoon. Then he continued on to Katowice on Thursday.

 While in Poznan Elder Godwin stayed with Elder Caskey. The following morning they both left for two different parts of Poland. Elder Caskey will be serving in Lodz.

  Elder Godwin took this picture on the way to Katowice.

The stove in his apartments is broken so they are resorting to sandwiches and this cute little BBQ.