6 July 2016

Jumping AND Fish

Szczecin district picture that we never got a couple of weeks ago.

I'm so stinking jealous that you guys got to go to Iowa. Those pictures made me more homesick than any pictures from Utah.

Anyway, we had a great week this last week! And by that, I mostly mean the last three days. So on Monday, we got up and hopped on a train and went to Gdañsk! (Pretend that that "ñ"is a n with a ` type accent on it). So we went to Gdañsk for zone training, and to meet our new mission president! He is so cool! He's very young, but he knows what he's doing, and we can all already tell that he's going to do great things for the mission! Also, the only time he speaks english is when he's talking to the senior couples, so that's going to be really great! The whole zone trainging was in Polish, and when he interviewed us afterwards, it was all in polish! I have a feeling that we're going to start learning this language a lot faster than before. He also asked us to study scriptures and PMG only in Polish, because, well, we're teaching them in Polish, so it makes sense. He's got a wife, and three really young kids, and he's a mission president. That's gotta be one of the most stressful things in the world. But he's so accepting of his calling and trusting in the Lord, that it's honestly an inspiration to me. Just awesome. We don't know of any rule or general missionary work things that he's going to change, but we're all excited to see what, if anything, happens.

Then, the Szczecin sisters, Sister Sloan and Sister Stahl, came down to Bydgoszcz with us because they're going on exchanges! Woo! (we have the sister training leaders in our district) But I didn't get to spend a ton of time around them ,because we had our own things to do, but it was fun being able to see them again and catch up on how things are in Szczecin. We had district meeting that day, and we talked a lot about the Book of Mormon, and how to use it in our teaching and finding, and then we went out for two hours, and set up meetings with two people, and gave out six copies of the Book of Mormon! (did you see that? "copies of the Book of Mormon" that solves all the debate.) Six is like the weekly goal we give for ourselves, so I would consider that a very successful day. Then we had english class, but no one ever shows up for it here, so if anyone has any ideas as to how we can better advertise for our english class, that would be great! Please help us.

Also, here in Bydgoszcz, we've been having a problem with homeless people taking a rest on the steps to our chapel and smoking and drinking there. And last transfer (before I was here) they tried all they could and told them to leave and called the police even, (but polish police are so lazy. They didn't even show up!) And we tried the same thing this transfer (the police didn't show up again) and finally decided to make friends with them instead of enemies. So we gave them cookies! And basically whenever we see them, we just tell them to clean up after themselves and to make sure that the steps are the way they found them. Now some of them even clean up and make it better than it was before! AND Elder Rowley started talking to one of them, and gave one a Book of Mormon, and we're set up to meet with him tonight! Elder Rowley is so great, he just loves everyone, and works so hard. It's really respectable.

One of my teachers from the MTC came to Poland, too, and we saw her, and it was really weird. Like a little piece of before the mission life in the mission. AHH. Real fast- let's take a count of everyone that I should know from before the mission in this mission- Elder Rowley, from American Fork, UT. We've been in the same basketball court many a time, but it's reasonable that we never met each other. Elder Furhiman, who went to Middle School with me. We had P.E. together and I had math with his older brother. Elder Larsen, who went to Lone Peak, but was a grade above me, and we have no mutual friends, so that's also reasonable, and then freaking Sister Groesbeck! Who played the piano at my farewell! WHAT. I did know her. Seeing her was really really strange. I guess that's what you get if you live in Utah.

I used to think that knowledge was the end goal of life. like, if I could say so perfectly "I know that Jesus is the Christ" that no one could doubt me, I'd've made it. But no. Take a look at Alma 32 again, and read the allegory of the seed. The seed is to word, and you nourish it by your faith, czyli, your good works. And then the seed begins to take root, and grow, and Alma says that at that time, you have a full knowledge! Already! And your seed has only grown into this little plant that you could pull out of the ground on accident! (which does happen sometimes, sadly) But regardless of how big that seed has grown, it's there and it's real. And you have a long way to go before it's a full tree and you can reap the fruit of your labors. But eventually, you do, and you protect your little sapling and continue to nourish it, and you have a nice, delicious, fruit of the gospel tree. And are you done? NO! Your knowledge is only full in that thing so you need to continue to water and protect your tree. AND what does that tree give? Fruit. What does fruit have? Seeds. More seeds to plant and more trees to grow and more knowledge to gain! Continue and endure to the end and you have reached eternal life.

The end.

Love,

Elder Liechty