Weekly Email - September 30th

Hello,

So this week was good. The work was really slow this week. Other than being a little hit to my ego, I feel satisfied with our efforts, and I feel like we did what the Lord would have us do. There was nothing else that could have happened better because people have their free agency. We worked on trying to find less actives a lot this week and we finally got in contact with one young guy, we have a meeting with him this week. We got to visit with an older woman who was a former investigator. She said that she loves the Mormon missionaries and has two "missionary sons" that call her their "Polish mother", but she will never be a Mormon. She said that she used to cook for them every Sunday but she will never cook for us because we can't replace her sons.

We went to a new little city for less actives in our area called Mysłowice, it is a neat place with cool graffiti. I will send some pictures.

We were getting to the end of the week, all our appointments had fallen through. We had talked with every single person that crossed our path for a week and not one stopped for a second to talk to us. We had only gotten that one lesson with the old woman and that was it. We were pretty distraught and frantically looking for anyone to listen to us on Sunday to get our last efforts in before the week ended out. It was looking bleak, but then a woman actually stopped for us. She was very nice, very open. She said she is open to faith, but doesn't feel too firm right now. Her husband suddenly passed away 3 months ago and she asked me where he was. I was able to relate her story to Grandma and testify that they are still around, and that we will get to live with them again. She set up a meeting to talk with us again. It was a really good experience to end such a slow week.

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

Weekly Email - September 23rd

Note from Mom: There was no post last week because Elder Godwin was in a hurry and didn't have time to write us a message. We did chat back and forth through email for a little and we really enjoyed that exchange. Here is this weeks e-mail.

 

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Hi all,

 

Well, firstly, great things are happening in the mission. On Friday we had a meeting with President Edgren who is a great president. He told us (among other things) that we are now allowed to text in order to help us better fulfill missionary work. We have now moved out of the stone age and into the bronze age of human evolution. He said in a meeting with Elder Holland, that he said that we might get iPads in about a year or two. It sounded almost like more of a joke than a reality. Sister Holland apparently turned to Elder Holland and said "Honey, they need those iPads RIGHT NOW!". Then she turned to the Edgrens and said "You'll get them". That is how Sister Edgren relayed the story to us. The meeting was great, very spiritually uplifting focusing more on how faith will help us achieve our goals more than just obedience alone. We have to believe that they are attainable because this is truly the Lord's work. He also said we need to take the time to truly minister to people. He read us the story in 3rd Nephi chapter 11 when Christ came to the Nephites. He pointed out the fact that Christ allowed time for every one of the gathered Nephites to feel the prints in his hands and feet and side and to witness for themselves that their Savior had come. He could have just had Nephi (my favorite Book of Mormon Prophet) go up and tell the people that he was the Christ, but he didn't. He waited until each person had come up and seen and felt for themselves before he ministered to his Apostles and Prophet. 

 

After the meeting we went out for pizza at a nice, quaint restaurant with a brick oven. It was delicious. The Edgrens also said they have hardly been in Warsaw at all since they got to Poland, so maybe when things calm down she will have time to make a blog. They are doing great though and really trying to teach the missionaries to be leaders and to work with faith.

 

The rest of the week was full of different activities, we played some basketball with President U and K. We got to see K's dog Laila just before it gave birth. We had pizza with K and President U (we did have a lot of Pizza this week).

 

The weather is getting ridiculous. It is steadily around 50 or less degrees and rainy almost daily. I have no real winter layers except my jacket from last year, but it is looking a little big on me and I need to get a layer to go under it so it looks a little more normal. I have also heard that this winter is going to be the winter of all winters.... We'll have to see how that goes. The Poles are saying that last winter was nothing, this year will be a tundra.

 

Elder B and I are in good spirits and we have a new focus as a district to work with our members. So that is where we are at for the week.

 

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

 

 Starszy Godwin with two of his friends from Sosnowiec.

 

Weekly Email - September 9th

Hello all,

 

So, this week was one of the hardest on my mission yet. We worked for 8 hours a day, every day, hitting the streets harder than ever before, and had NOTHING going for us. We were getting shut down left and right. We had people calling us a sect, people bringing up a numerous host of doctrinal arguments, and every insult you can imagine. On Saturday we went out, it was a fresh new day, it felt like good things might be around the corner, and the first guy I try to start a conversation with immediately says "Their is no such thing as the Church of Jesus Christ, only the Catholic church". That may not sound that bad, but the Polish he used was very blunt and very demeaning and he did not stop there, he said "What kind of nut thought up your church anyway?" and I calmly answered "Well sir, actually, the Lord Jesus Christ did, that is why we are called the Church of Jesus Christ". He continued trying to tear down my faith as we walked away.

 

Then Sunday rolled around, we had ALL 0's for the week. The only thing going for us was that we were going to have one person in sacrament meeting, and we have one progressing investigator. Not that I am a number mongerer, but it is really disheartening when you have consecrated two years of your life to teaching people the gospel of Jesus Christ and not one wanted to listen for five minutes in 40 hours of work... I was beat, people thought I was gonna pass out in church. P was like "you two don't look so good" I told him it had been a long week and we had nothing to show for it. He said to keep our heads up and keep working. We had two lessons set up for Sunday after church, they both got cancelled. We went out and did the only thing we know how to do.... contact on the streets. to our surprise, we were able to stop and talk to two young women (at separate times) and tell them a little about our faith. They were both very open and we exchanged phone numbers and will be setting up appointments with them to tell them more. It was a miracle evening because we only have had a total of 2 street lessons our entire 10 weeks in Sosnowiec up until yesterday evening, all those we teach have come from referrals. It was a lesson for us on perseverance and faith, I never thought it was possible, but it was great to finally get to talk and connect with other human beings besides my companion, I was starting to get lonely...

 

That was pretty much how our week went.

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

Me and my friend "Rex"

Launching a lantern

Weekly Email - September 2nd

First thing is first, I am sure you all want to hear how transfers went. This time it was very different. President Nielson always called after 8:00 p.m., but Edgren began right after church ended. We got a call from the Assistants to the president about 2:00. Elder Neuner called (he is the new Assistant to the President) and he said that Elder B and I are both staying right here in Sosnowiec. So we have another nine weeks together. Elder C is still way off in Łódź with a trainee.

 

This week was wild. We had pretty much nothing going for us until Thursday. We had planned to do a grill for all of our investigators in our front yard. They all wanted to try American burgers, so we delivered. The grill went great. Then we had a lesson. We taught them about the plan of salvation that we had drawn up on a pizza box, and then we went over the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end), It was fantastic.

 

Thursday night we got a call from Elder W. He told us to keep it on the down low, but that Elder N was going AP and leaving early the following (Friday) morning and that we needed to pick up Elder W at the train station at 8:00 a.m.. We got up, met them at the station, said bye to N, and he was off to Warsaw. We have been in a threesome since then. That is interesting, and I think we now intimidate people on the streets even more. On Friday we taught K about baptism. We got to play with the their dog, Laila. She is a French Bulldog (my new favorite breed). Everyone and their mother in Katowice has a French Bulldog, and they are hilarious. She is a really funny little fat dog, I have some pictures.

 

So that was our week in a nutshell. I hope all of you are doing great. I love you. I wish you all the best I need to send some pictures. So I will leave off here until next week. BYE! 

 

 

Weekly Email - August 26th

Hi all,

Sorry, my recording is really short, and my letter may be a little short as well. We are at a little internet cafe emailing and we paid for just 1 hour and are a little rushed. My cough turned into a cold which has been going all week, but is finally starting to clear up a bit. This morning I woke up and could breath out of my nose for the first time in a week, so I am happy with that.

Our investigators are doing great.We have still been teaching them, we extended a baptismal date to them. They were a little taken back, but they seemed OK with the idea. They want to develop their own testimonies so that will be our main focus with them over the next week. We had a great lesson though and got to watch the Restoration video with them in church and talk a lot about that. They all came to a Saturday grill. We had a great time and at the end, each of them said they would be in church. Three of them showed up at church and it was wonderful and P... was so excited that all of his brothers were in church with him, he got pictures with all of them, it was wonderful.

The people here that we are teaching are great. They are at such a crucial age (17-19) and they are really thinking and searching and doing it together. G... has been trying to invite other friends as well and says that when he reads the Book Of Mormon, he really feels something. I also would like to add my testimony that I too "feel something" when I read the Book of Mormon. I have realized recently on my mission how full circle the gospel is. All things point to Christ as our Savior and Redeemer (Zbawiciel i Odkupiciel). Christ established the gospel of salvation among the people of Jerusalem, the Nephites, and surely many others. He then returned to a prophet in 1820 to testify of His gospel and restore the lost points. Recently I have been reading in Mosiah (I am reading the Book of Mormon again from start to finish), and I am learning more than ever before. So much is written there of the blessings of the Lord and about how we can obtain those blessings and promises for ourselves. That book came from God and testifies of Jesus Christ and His salvation. I am grateful for Him, and for the miracles He has provided for us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I need to send my recording and some pictures, so I will have to finish off this letter here. I love you all and hope everything works out with the house and health and all of that. I would love to do some archery when I get back. And I send my congratulations to Johan and Lauren and their new baby. 

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin

 

Weekly Email - August 19th

Hi all,

 

This week things are really finally starting to look up. We had set up some appointments through our branch president. They had decided to meet us for pizza on Thursday and talk about the gospel since their older two brothers are members. One of them also came to FHE at the chapel on Monday which was great and the branch was very welcoming. When Thursday finally rolled around, we had planned on doing some contacting on a B-Ball court by challenging kids to some games, but when we went to pick up a ball, all of the stores were closed. IT was a Double-Holiday here, both Polish Armed Forces Day, and Assumption Day. We walked to main street where they had taken the celebration onto the street by lining it with tents that sold all sorts of airsoft guns, fireworks, slingshots, cotton candy, etc. We of course had to take advantage of the 8zł slingshots that shortly thereafter broke. After that fun, we tried to get out to an investigators house, but the buses were on Holiday schedule. After waiting about 30 minutes, we saw our bus coming, and it blew right past the stop.... Didn't even slow down! We went home defeated for lunch. Finally the time came for our lesson at Maxi Pizza, and we found our investigators waiting for us. We went in and ate some delicious pizza. We talked a lot about the restoration of the gospel and prophets. They had entirely different concerns, so we want to start meeting with them separately. A... really helped us out on that one too.

 

On Friday we had weekly planning and then contacted to Roni Kebab to eat some good wholesome lunch. That afternoon was rough because there was a soccer game in Sosnowiec so everyone was drunk. Elder B got a shoulder thrown at him by some big guy. We did make it home safe and sound though.

 

One day, we were leaving home when someone took my companion's nametag. We followed after him and got it back.

 

On Saturday, we went to play some soccer and teach a lesson. We had a good time and then gave them each their own reading assignment. We are really trying to get them a baptismal date so that they can be baptised with their older siblings.

 

Sunday we got to church and all three of our new investigators were there and we even got to teach them in a separate "gospel doctrines" class during second hour. Then, we went later that day to visit a former investigator who lived a little ways away. We got to their house fairly easily and it turns out they don't live there. It was getting home that soon became a problem. We got on a bus that should have worked and we got on going the wrong way. We soon found ourself in a different little city called Jaworzno (or something like that). Then we got on a city bus going to the city center to find another bus out, we weren't sure if our monthly tickets from Katowice worked (they do work in some sattelite cities) and then we got ticket checked. They caught us red handed and we tried to explain that we thought our tickets should work and we will just get off at the next stop, but instead of hitting us with a 150zł fine, they let us off with buying a ticket from the bus driver which was very nice of them. We got off the bus at the station in this town, not knowing if any bus would ever come that could save us, but I asked a nice couple how to get to Katowice or Sosnowiec and they told me to take the next bus to the city square and from there to catch a private bus called a J-tka or E-tka to Katowice and from there to ride the normal busses to Sosnowiec. We did not like this option but it was our only choice and we were going to be very late. As we waited for the next bus, the bus we were originally on that got us into this city (which was supposed to have already stopped running for the day and was not supposed to go to that stop) stopped right in front of us. IT WAS A MIRACLE!!! We hopped on and got victory photographs. About three or four bus stops later, the bus broke down. Unbelievable. We got off, and to our amazement, another bus that worked came just two minutes later. We were saved!!! It was a wild adventure, and we made it home with time to spare for contacting where we met a very nice couple who quizzed me on how much I knew about Jesus. I guess I won the quiz, they were quite impressed. All in all, it was a good day to end off a good week. 

 

Lots of love,

 

Starszy Godwin

 

 Happy and victorious to have made it on the right bus. Too bad it broke down minutes later.

 

Weekly Email - August 12th

Hi all,

Our library has been shut down for the month, and we are emailing from another library. The computer here has a hard time reading my voice recordings, and I can't figure out how to bring them up.

This past week has been rough here, we work 8 hours a day, every day, we are ALWAYS on the streets, and this week we had 1 street lesson. I feel like we are still grinding gears, but that is how most of my mission has been. 

I am not sure what they originally did, but the whole south of Poland used to be coal mining, so I assume it was that. People are starting to compliment my Polish more and more.

We went to Auschwitz and got there at 2:00, but to our surprise, they won't let you in without a tour guide until 3. We did not have time for the 3.5 hour tour (it is impossible on the mission), but we waited patiently until 3. We went into Auschwitz I (the one I saw last time) because there are 2 camps. The first has more museum exibits, and an original standing gas chamber and the like. Last time I did not get the pleasure of seeing the inside of the chamber or many of the exhibits. This time we saw it all, and we made it to Auschwitz II which is far larger (a.k.a. Birkineu) and has the gas chambers that were destroyed by the Nazis during their escape as well as the international monument "Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the nazis murdered about one and a half milion men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of europe".  "Niechaj na wieki będzie krzykiem rozpaczy i przestroga dla ludzkości to miesce, w którym hitlerowcy wymordowali około półtora miliona mężczyzn, kobiet, i dzieci, głównie żydów z różnych krajów Europy". The most intense part for me for some reason was the room with all of the shoes that the Nazis had taken from their prisoners. There was a Huge room stuffed full of all types of shoes, many were nice "sunday shoes" there were work shoes, street shoes, I think it made it much more real, these were real people from all different walks of life. That was rough.

The rest of the week was full of different things, we got to play soccer on Saturday with our branch president and a friend who will soon be investigating the gospel, and we played until I kicked the ball on the roof... oops...

Our branch has really been trying to help us out lately which is great. One member said we work very hard and she is glad we are there. 

Love you all, hope you can get the house pulled together and sold soon enough. Good for Kaj, I am glad to hear he got called to Sweden. 

Love you all,

Starszy Godwin