23 Nov 2015

Guys. Food in Poland is so inexpensive. I love it.

That kebab was a medium, and it was about 13 Złoty, which is about three and a half dollars in American money. I could buy one of those every single day, and do everything else i need to do and have money left over. I love this!

 We get them from this store called Safari, and the guy who works there a ton is named Amr. He's from Alexadria, Africa, and he's the nicest man I have ever met in my life. He's so great! But he's pretty solidly Muslim, and doesn't really believe in Christ. But we'll get it through to him. Not a problem.

The thing that Sister Cutting was talking about probably is my favorite experience on my mission so far. I still get chills when I think about it. We were in a lesson with a man named Piotr, and his wife, Małgorzata, with the senior couple, and things were getting a little tense, because we were talking about the future of Poland and the fact that he believes that there's no possible way to bring hope to these people because their definition of hope is having enough money to buy food for the next day, and that all religion does is give hope for the life to come, not this life. And while this was going on, Elder Berlin turned to me, and the following dialogue happened-

"Do you have something to say yet?"

"not yet"

Do you have a testimony?"

"yeah"

"You have something to say."

*Spiritual fire ensues*

It made me realize really well the promise given in D&C 100:6, where the Lord says that what we need will be given to us "even in the very moment" what to say. And it's tough realizing the amount of faith it takes to do that, to just open your mouth and start to speak even though your head it totatlly devoid of words. But I feel like thats a somewhat hidden blessing that I have. Becuase, lets face it, my social skills were never top-notch, and I rarely had things to say, simply becuase nothing was going through my mind. But because of that, here, I have even more of an easier time not relying on myself!

I don't really have pictures of the town yet, or our apartment... But here are pictures of a pumpkin pie we made, and this food called "gołąbki" which I don't really know what it is. I think it's beef and rice wrapped in boiled cabbage. Nice. But at the same time, I don't think that the workers at the Milk Bar we eat at even know what they're putting into the food. But it's all good. Classic Polish food.

I was wondering about Thanksgiving. That's sad that it's getting smaller, even though one could see it happening in recent years... It doesn't feel like it's coming up. It honestly feels like that I'm stuck in an eternal time trap where nothings going to change, and I'll be here forever. A little gloomy, but also what's happening. And I know that time is passing, and that in three day's I'll already be a month in the field, and an eight of the way through my mission (ALREADY!?) But it still seems kind of... hopeless? No. Not quite the right word, like a disbelief that things are acutally happening, and that things will change, but also being happy that I'm here and enjoying it a ton. I don't really know how to properly explain this. Everyone says that it will go by so fast, and I realize now that in three days, my mission will be 1/8 over, but it still doesn't feel like it will end. And I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Because if I can work that feeling right, then I can better consecrate what I then believe is my whole life. But otherwise, it's just kind of like a doomy feeling. I'm still having a tough time doing all this. One thing that's super intersting and nice, though, is that all the scriptures, from Old Testament to D&C are becoming real people and events to me, and not stories that have really important morals for my life. And that's making it a lot easier for me to take lessons from them.

But as we told Elder Cutting the Polish word for feast, he said "no, no, no" and then described it not as a feast, but as a Banquet of Universal Proportions. 

things are gonna get wild.

And Poland hasn't set up for Christmas yet

We do get to teach lessons pretty often, but there's a film that was made by some Polish Elders that's like "The District", but in Poland, Warsaw mission, and it starts out with
"Welp, looks like eight hours of contacting"

"Let's make some pancakes!"

And I haven't had a full eight hour contacting day, but I have gotten close. But every day it gets easier and I get more used to it. I just still can't teach on public transport. I get carsick, and I can never feel good while talking with people.

Also, I started reading this Old Testament Study guide, and now everyhting back there is making a ton of more sense to me! It's not as scary as I thought. So if you want to do some intersting reading, and all you have is missionary stuff to read, I would suggest that!

Real fast- just because it was an interesting find- while I was studying the Old Testament, and was reading the story of Abraham going to sacrafice Issac, I realized just how much faith Abraham actually had. Because first of all Abraham was once almost killed on an alter himself, and he must know that human sacrifice is a huge abomination before the Lord, and also Issac was the miracle child- born to two 100 year old people. AND He was the child that was supposed to bring out the Lord's promise that Abraham's seed would be greater than the number of sands in the seas and all that. So when he got the revalation from the Lord to do that, he must have been super in-tune with the spirit to know that it was actually Him, and not some crazy idea he got himself. And then to actually do it, even to the point of raising his knife above Issac. What a guy.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Elder Lykti (that's how the Polaki would spell "Liechty")