24 April 2017

Hey, fam!

We have not yet met the new senior couple. They don't get in until after may starts, so I'll probably not see them. There is a new senior couple in our neighboring city, though, but I haven't met them yet. 

Also, here's a neat thing! In church the yesterday, one of the member's aunts visited, and she knew Donna! (this is one of the american members, that's how) I never actually got her name, nor did any of the other Elders, but she has long black hair, and served with Donna in the Relief Society! She just walked up to me and asked "Are you related to someone named Donna?" I was so confused, but it all made sense in the end. Her niece is Sarah Strobel, so if that helps you find out who she is, there you go!

Transfer day is Monday, so no matter what happens I won't be able to email until tuesday. 

Henry is just so cute.

Do you just feel a little bit happy when you walk around campus and everyone is super stressed out and basically living at the library and studying, and you've already done all that? Just kind of that nostalgic feel but also never wanting to have to go through it again? That's how I feel when I see missionaries first enter the country. heh...

Has Max seen Henry yet? Or are we the only ones who are still left out of the club? He's going to be so old when I get home. That'll be so strange! Is he still like, the only thing anyone's thinking about?

I really want to make sure that when I get home I'll still be studying the scriptures, because the difference it makes is so great. I remember hearing a talk where someone said that we should be studying the scriptures at least 30 minutes a day, and I remember thinking that that was such a long time! But now 30 minutes isn't nearly enough time to do what I want to do! Before the mission I'd just open up a random chapter and read it, and on the worse days just a random verse! Ah! How did I even learn anything!?

In this last week we were able to teach K.'s family! (except her dad). As far as I can remember, that was the second time that i was able to teach a family of investigators on my mission! It's a totally different experience, but the blessings of having a family in the church is great. I really hope that K.'s family can all make it one day to the church. That would be amazing.

Have a great week!

Elder Liechty

18 April 2017

Turns out Babylon is a pizza company

Me and Michał

Elder Fuhriman gave a less active member a haircut last week!!!

Cześć!

Yes, Easter here is three days long simply because they can do that. Sunday itself is Easter, but there's holidays on the days around it. The Monday after Easter is called Śmigus-Dyngus or, if you ever find a Polish person in the US, they'll call it Dyngus Day. Heh... But all you do on that holiday is throw water at each other! It's existed for over 1000 years, and people just keep doing it.

On Sunday we spent the day trying to talk to lonely people on the street about Easter and then we went to the Daltons' house to have Easter dinner with them and a bunch of members and some investigators. On Monday, we actually spend a lot of the day with Kamila's family and had a good ol' traditional Polish meal with all of them! The traditional meals here are really different, because they're all just made up of a bunch of different side dishes. The whole time you're like "where's the main course?" And then the dessert comes out! We've also been meeting a lot with that one person we had that really good lesson earlier, and things are going well. They've got some serious things to work out, but they're progressing.

We clean the church every week here. The only place where the members do it was in Bydgoszcz. We try to get members to do it, but they don't quite yet understand the doing it every week part of cleaning the chapel. 

I still can't wait until I get to meet Henry in person!

You should read the Old Testament now that you've finished the Book of Mormon! It's really really interesting and really really hard to understand! But if you go through it with the Institute Manual then it's pretty conquerable.

Oh yeah! Kamila's birthday was on Monday and we celebrated it with the Daltons on Sunday! Speaking of the Daltons, their mission is over today! They're probably flying home right as I'm writing this email! We saw them off Monday morning, and it was really sad. 

(I just wrote Zach a congrats. I totatally forgot............)

Next transfer is May 1, and wherever I go that tranfer is probably where I'm going to stay for the rest of my mission. I'm excited to find out! Trzymam Kciuki! 

And seeing as it's Easter time, it's probably fitting that I say a bit about Jesus Christ.

 

Now, I've spent some time studying the scriptures, and sometimes I spend days just focusing on one scripture and trying to dig as deep into it as possible, but every time, after a week of study, all I come out with is nearly the exact same thing that the scripture said in the first place, just a little bit differently worded. That's because the Gospel is simple and what we're supposed to know to return to God one day is not a secret. So simple a child will understand it. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and through Him and only through Him will we be saved. He loves us and he suffered for us, and we need to remember Him for that! Because He remembers us, for he has engraven us on the palms of His hands. He is the Prince of Peace, and His hand is always stretched out to us.

Love

Elder Liechty

10 April 2017

HELLO

It's ok, the mission is near it's end, anyway, I can be put on the back of everyones' mind. Babies are way more important! He's all I can think about anyway, too, so it's not like you're the only ones!

That's just such a huge thing. A new Liechty has entered the world. Like, our family just keeps getting bigger! Also, I'm going to say the words, and I know I might regret it, but here goes... You're a grandma now! How in the world does that feel?! The emotions going through your head are probably more complicated and mixed up than anything else that you've ever felt (at least recently). That's pretty wild. I found out in the middle of the week (I had to send an email to a service place), and I was just so happy! Lots of prayers of thanks have gone up in the last week, that's for sure.

It's true, if we're ever playing with him, and he starts to poop his pants or something, we can just hand him off to someone else. It's realy just all the cool and fun parts of having a child around without any of the behind the scenes diaper changing and crying baby parts!

The week was pretty good, we had Zone Conference in the week, and it was very long and during the last hour, it was hot, my belly was full of food, I had a crazy headache, I needed to use the bathroom and everyone was speaking Polish, and it was probably the most difficult hour to sit through in my life. I remember maybe one or two mintues of the whole thing... Then Sisters Demordaunt and Barney bore their testimonies because it was their last Zone Conference on the mission, and when they go home I will have officially seen that group of sister missionaries both come into the mission, and leave it. That's really weird, and I don't like it. I'm getting so old. All my friends have left or will soon leave and I don't know what to do about it. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

We still don't know when my release date is, but I'm pretty sure it will be the 21st like you suggested. I should be finding out pretty soon, though. 

As far as what the city does, there's not much concerning Palm Sunday or the whole Passion week for that matter as far as I can tell. There is a day when you can go to a church and get a basket of things blessed by the priest, I think that's Saturday. The center square in town has also set up a bunch of little market houses like they did at christmas time, but it's not as exciting as the Christmas market.

The church in Poland is actually strange in Easter, because rather than being a reason to be in church, most members use it as a reason to be with their family away from church. So church will only be one hour long on Sunday. The Dalton's are hosting dinner, though, and it will be their last day before they leave, and that will be really sad.

And yesterday for FHE, we painted Easter Eggs!!!! (Notice how I said painted, and not dyed. Apparently they don't dye eggs anywhere else in the world. But Sister Dalton was able to find some egg dye and I got to dye some in the end). This year was probably my best year in the egg dying departement, so get ready for some cool pictures!

Love,

Elder Liechty

3 April 2017

Dark, scary forest path is what we take to get home sometimes!

Well, it turns out that Babylon actually is in Poland...

We also met this guy who played this instrument from Switzerland called a 'hang'. It's sounds as much like a UFO as it looks!

Cześć!

Yeah, on Friday I got a call from President Turek, and he said that my ecclesiastical endorsment went through, and that we could have the interview now, and I was like, "cool, so on Wednesday when I see you?" and he said "no, right now!". So we had an interview in mixed Polish and English over the phone. Classic.

The talk that President Uchtorf gave was a really good one when it comes to comparing yourself to others. One thing that he said that I really liked was "the most important calling is the one you're in right now". I realize how petty it was to bother with things like that... One thing that I have learned recently, though, is that there is one prayer that God will answer quickly and effectively. That is the prayer to be humbled. I remember one of my Seminary teachers talking about that, and he said "make sure you don't pray for that- because it WILL happen!" We all laughed then, but I am here to say that what he said is true! And i am thankful for it. I am also super grateful that Conference happened at the same time! It always comes at the best times. 

We got to watch all the sessions except Sunday afternoon, like you thought, and three out of the four were in Polish. So I'm going to have to re-watch them all to get more out. I do like it, though, because having conference every six months gives you a good indicator as to how good your Polish is and how much you understand! We had one meal at Lucas's right before the Sunday Morning session (which was at 6:00 for us!), and as always, it was delicious! 

I really liked the talk by Elder Rasband because it really applies to missionary work. I liked how he said spiritual impressions are pure inspiration from heaven. And the person that the Lord can rely on is someone that I've always wanted to be, and we can be 'on the Lord's errand', like President Monson always is.

I'm really confused about how Motorcross is allowed, too, but hey- I'm not complaining too much ;)

M. is still doing really good! In a couple of months, he's going to go on a mini mission, where he spends about a week with the missionaries, and does missionary work with them, and that'll be really great for him! It's really great that the same time that he was baptized, K. came in and so did A. (a convert from Indonesia who lives here and speaks polish), so there's a support group and they can all rely on each other. Because being a young adult convert here without any other people with you is probably one of the most difficult things I can think of, and I really respect those who make it through faithfully.

We also had exchanges with Elders White and Dooley last week! Nothing super special happened, but it was great to be with Elder White for a bit again! I really miss him

In the last week, we had a meeting with someone, for privacy's sake I can't give any details unfortunately, but while talking, Elder Fuhriman and I had to be absolutely led by the spirit. The things we discussed were just way beyond the things that 20 and 19 year old boys usually handle. But at the end, the person we were meeting with said something like "I could tell that the Spirit was on this lesson. What you said made sense, even though the language made it difficult, and I found some answers". That was one of those experiences that opens your eyes to the fact that this is really the Lord's work, and not ours, and He is in charge of what is happening.

Love you all!

Elder Liechty