15 May 2017

HI THERE!

I guess this one's going to be short, too.

Woah, it feels like just a month ago or something when I wrote that at Christmas... Time is going by so fast.

Henry is the cutest thing that has ever existed on the planet. I didn't even know it was possible for a baby to be as adorable as he is, but there it is. I need to see him in person! And then be the cool uncle.

That is so strange that Caity is just working now! WHAT? So she's like, totally done with school for all time unless she wants to go back? That's so wierd. Where is she working?

For P-day today we're not really doing much, everyone needed to get haircuts and just do some regular things, so we don't have much time. We did start doing a 1500 piece puzzle in the chapel, so I'll be telling you how that goes over the coming weeks!

Also! Elder Andersen is coming to Poland in a couple of weeks to speak to us and all the members!!!! We're all really excited, and I can't wait! He comes in 9 days!

I hope I didn't sound too cynical about Kato yesterday, because I feel like I did. But I mean, it's true, things are a little tougher down here, but all the while the toughness of it is actually making it the easiest to stay motivated and keep going out and actually working harder than I have before. I don't really know why, but I like it! Because on my mission I do feel really close to God, and my testimony of everything has just gotten so much stronger out here. The growth and expereince I have gotten is more valuable than anything else I could have gotten. I've come to love people, and I've come to love the Savior. Nothing else is more valuable than that.

Love you all!

Elder Liecht

8 May 2017

HELLLOOOOOOOOOOO

Guess where we went today?! KRAKÓW! I guess that's what happens when you live right next to that city, and everyone wants to visit it for P-day. I got to see Michał, though!

Anyway, I actually really love it here! There might not be much to talk about this week, because we have NO current investigators, and all week we did finding activities! Which was actually really fun, and when I decided that I was going to enjoy it, and work hard for the whole time I was here, it became WAY easier to go through two 3 hour finding activities a day! That only happened once. But really, if you want to hear about the nitty gritty, then Katowice is the place to hear it. Mostly because it's really dirty here. There's also a higher concentration of drunk people that we meet on a daily basis.

I actually really like it here! My district is still awesome, and we've all been given the assignment to bring life back into this branch. Like Kraków, there ahsn't been a baptism here for about two years, and all the members are kind of feeling a little down about it, and that this branch is going to be like it is until the end of time. We had a meeting with President Turek, and he told us that he brought us all together so that we could figure out how to bring this branch back to life. Everyone in this city is are really hard workers, and know what they're doing, so President is really not messing around this time. We've been working super hard, and now have like five or six meetings set up for the next week! This is truly going to be a transfer of miracles!

The branch is also small, and there's mostly Polish people, and two people from South Africa. The most foreign person though is probably Elder Sommerfeldt, Canada is just such a wacky place. He's just got all his crazy cultural ways and things he does that are so different from Americans that it's really hard to connect with him sometimes. We try to learn Canadian to communicate, but it's just such a difficult language that we've all but given up, eh.

lololololololololololololololololololololololol (OH Sam, trying to be hilarious:)

Elder Sommerfeldt is awsome, we get along really well, and have already cooked one meal together! That's better than at least half of my companions so far! Sorry if I offended any Canadians reading this, but it had to happen. I'm sure you understand. He's really willing to work, and we get a lot done here! We're also speaking a ton of Polish together, and it's really helping me speak!

Nick asked you about skyping times because he was the only member we knew who would be willing to help and do it really quick. I'm going to Skype you at 8AM your time, so get your tv's ready for the LAST SKYPE of the mission!!

Oh yeah, I still play the piano. I played almost every day in Kraków as well, except for a few when Sister Dalton would play. If we add up the total Times I ddin't play, it's probably about 10. Elder Rowley is in Warsaw now! He's a zone leader as well, and doing great. He just texted me about the first pug he saw in Warsaw. We keep a pug sighting count between the two of us because pugs are the best.

Kato is different from Kraków mostly in just the looks. For the most part it's the same place just with a differnt shape. The one difference is that we travel a lot more to other cities surrounding Kato to do finding activities or looking for less active members. They also say it's the city of Hip-hop. I have yet to hear any hip-hop music, though.

Also I saw a bunch of ads for that movie (The Zookeepers Wife)! In polish it's just Azyl, which means assylum, but I guess it's pretty much the same thing. That's sounds really cool! I want to see it. Also, I only know that word because I"ve started working my way through a little pocket dictionary and finding all the words I don't know. Azyl was one of them. But I'm not sure if it's helpful or not, because now I just see a bunch of wordes all over the place, and It's like 'wow, i've seen this before, but I have no idea what it means!'. I've made it to 'E'.

We do have some investigators! Meaning we just set up meetings with them, but they're going to start coming more and more! Also, the other elders are getting investigators, too, so things are picking up here really fast!

Ok, I"m running out of time now but I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Liechty

I just got robbed!

Don't worry, no cards or identification was stolen, but just 100 zlots in cash! 

Pretty poopy, but it's a good thing that I like oatmeal now, because that stuff is crazy cheap

2 May 2017 Katowice

HELLO!

I have been transferred indeed. This is probably the last place I'll be on my mission, so here we go! I'm in Katowice, which is about 1.5 hours to the west of Kraków, and it's the place where when you tell people that that's where you're going to serve, they give you the kind of condensending "oh, wow". The kind that you get when you tell people that you got your mission call to Evanston, Wyoming. Most of the Polish members just laughed and said "Współczuję ci" Which means, I feel for ya.

But I love it here! I don't really know why so many people don't like it here, because the city is just like every other Polish city, and some parts of it are certainly more pretty and nice than other places I've been. Kato (that's how we call it) is really a conglomeration of a bunch of littler cities instead of a big city like Kraków or Warsaw. It's kind of like the Utah Valley, but with apartment buildings instead of houses. My companion is Elder Sommerfeldt. He's from Canada, and the battles we've already had over which country is better have been intense.  I think I'm going to start waking up to the Star Spangled Banner every morning from now on. Haha, but we really get along all ready, so things are going good. We're both new to the city, so we have no idea what we're doing, and it's awesome! That's called a 'whitewash' and it's pretty exciting, I've always wanted to do it. I haven't met the branch yet, but they say it's pretty much like every other branch in Poland, so I know what to expect. In my district there's me, Elder Sommerfeldt, Elder Zamora (from Costa Rica), Elder Rasmussen (who just came here from Szczecin!), Sister Anderson and Sister Van Woerkom. They're all really cool, and I'm excited to work with them! I'm Zone leader again with Elder Sommerfeldt, and I'm excited I liked being it last transfer and being able to meet so many missionaries.

I have made no decisions on my return date, and I still have no idea, but I need to decide today. I'll see what my district thinks I should do ;)

Leaving Kraków was really hard. I didn't think I liked it as much as I did, but on sunday we had dinner with a bunch of the mebmers, and saying goodbye to them was so hard (Side note: during dinner, we had frog legs! Honestly, they taste just like chicken, it was so wierd. It also looked just like a frog, though, and that was a little nasty. Why did anyone think it was a good idea to eat them?)! I really came to love all of them so much, especially the new converts Michał, Kamila, and Teresa, but the time for me to leave has come. All of them gave gifts, which was more than anyone else had ever done, and they were also really sad to see me and Elder Pettit leave as well (Elder Pettit's gone up to Poznań). Dropping Elder Pettit off at the train station was also really hard and sad, because we spent 6 months together in Kraków, and he's become one of my really good friends. 

I am now in the place where so many other missionaries were when I figured their mission was practically over, and they had so little time left. But here I am in Kato, and I've got some work to do here, and I'm not going to stop until I figure out what it is and do it. This is going to be great!

I hope everything is going great back home, and that you're having a bunch of parties for graduation! 

Love, 

Elder Liechty

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