Kate's Christmas E-mail 2009

Kate is in Warsaw now ~


This week was incredible-- Sister Hulme and I taught 20 lessons in one week, a goal that I've been working towards for most of my mission. In zone conference last February, President Engbjerg told us that Elder Perry had said that all missionaries, no matter where they are in the world, should be teaching at least 20 lessons a week. I remember we had just taught 6 lessons the week before in Poznań (our average was about 4) and been really proud of ourselves, and when I heard President Engbjerg say that in zone conference, I got really discouraged and gave up on setting goals for a few days. I decided to just be happy with whatever I got, but I was so sick of consistently never reaching our goals, espeically a seemingly impossible one like 20 lessons in one week. Pretty soon I realized that the 20 lessons a week was something to reach for, but that we didn't have to be at that level right away. We could work up to it: we could get 6 lessons one week, then 7 the next, then 8, then 9, and all the way up to 20. So that's what I decided to do for the rest of my mission, and slowly but surely, we saw our numbers go gradually up. I was so excited in Katowice when Sister Harth and I hit 10 lessons in one week-- I had never done that in my mission before-- and then 10 lessons became our normal average when I was with Sister Brown. Here in Warsaw, Sister Hulme and I started off teaching at least 10 lessons a week, and the week before last, we looked at our numbers and realized that 20 lessons in that week would be totally possible. But for some reason, the end of the week kind of kerplunked out, people rescheduled and we ended up with only 12. So that Sunday we sat down and talked about it, and Sister Hulme really felt that the Lord wanted to bless us to accomplish our goal, but that he was just waiting for us to straighten a few things out first. We realized we could be better at getting up right at 6:30, at getting home on time (now that we aren't getting lost on a consistent basis we really should be getting in by 9:30), and getting to bed on time so it'll be easier to get up on time. We set some specific goals, put them into action, and threw ourselves headfirst into finding and taking advantage of every opportunity we had to set up a meeting and teach someone about the gospel. On Saturday we had 12 lessons so far that week, we needed to teach 6 more on Sunday, and we weren't exactly sure how we were going to do it, but we felt pretty confident about it, and somehow (still not sure how it all worked out like it did) but somehow it all worked out and we got our 6 lessons on Sunday (3 of them one right after the other after church) and 20 for the week. We didn't really eat anything all day Sunday until we got home at quarter to nine, but it was worth it :)

The cool thing is that each of those 20 lessons that we taught last week were really good lessons. I didn't feel like any of them were 'just another lesson' to teach so we could mark one more number off in our planners. They were all really important lessons to have, and the Spirit was there in each one of them. One thing I keep telling my trainees is that getting the standard of excellence, or 20 lessons, or any other mission goal that we're encouraged to go for, isn't a miracle. True, you definitely can't do it without the Lord's help, but accomplishing that goal in and of itself is not the miracle, or the point. The miracle is the lives you change and bless along the way, and the standard of excellence and other goals are just means to accomplishing the miracle. They're motivations that get you to do things you normally wouldn't do and be bolder than you normally would be. For example, because we were going for 20 lessons this week, there were several meetings we set up that we probably normally wouldn't have, that turned out to be really good. We visited the Neto's, an amazing couple in the branch who are active and sealed in the temple, for our last of the 20 meetings, and because we'd met with them and gotten to know them a little bit, I felt OK about calling them early on Monday for an emergency service project for a less active member, Susan, who needed help moving and couldn't carry all of her things alone on pulic transportation all the way across Warsaw. Even with us helping her it would've been very difficult, if not impossible. She prayed for help, called us, I called Brother and Sister Neto, and they took their car and drove 3 and a half hours all the way across Warsaw in the snow and traffic jams to help her move her stuff. While she was getting settled in her new apartment, they found out that Susan didn't have anyone to spend the holidays with and they invited her over for Christmas Eve dinner. As the Neto's were driving us back to the metro, they said that now that they knew who Susan was, they could put her on the visiting teaching and home teaching lists so that she would always have someone to turn to if something like this happened again. She was so grateful, and kept saying 'God is good!' for most of the way. I asked her if we'd be seeing her in church now and she said 'yes, of course, after all this!' and things are looking good because the place she moved into is much closer to the chapel, and she doesn't live far from Pauline-- so they can be friends and support each other in the gospel. So great how everything works together, how the Lord knows his children and how he provides a way not only to bless his children, but for us to be a part of working his miracles. So cool. Susan's right-- God is good.

March Highlights

This is a photo of Kate -(taken by her mother) last summer, before she left on her mission.




Kate's letter March 3

Last Sunday we had a couple from Norway in church. The wife had studied in Poznań for 6 years, and they were back visiting for a couple of days. The husband (originally from Austria) bore his testimony and Elder Huff translated for him. It was really a good meeting. Our investigator Robert, after not hearing from him for a few weeks, randomly called us Sunday morning to say he'd be in church! He came, and stayed for break the fast- where everyone in the branch brings food to share and we all break our fast together after church. I sat between Robert and Teresa, the elders' investigator, and got to talk to both of them the whole time. It was really fun- they're both really cool people. Teresa comes to church every week and she comes to all of the branch and Relief Society activities, she just needs to get baptized! Robert is a family counselor for his career and also counsels families to turn to God and religion to solve their problems. He's super cool and down to earth- I hope we can keep meeting with him.

This week is going to be crazy one- we have zone conference in Warsaw on Thursday and then I'm heading up to Szczecin for exchanges, and then next Tuesday we find out where we're all going to be for the next 2 months!

From Kate's letter Feb 24 ~

This week we actually had more members in church than missionaries, which we were really happy about :) There are only a couple more weeks left in the transfer, and I have a feeling I'm not staying in Poznań this time. I wonder where I'll go? I can't imagine doing missionary anywhere else, or not having service every Friday and teaching Institute every Saturday. But it's possible that I'll stay in Poznań too. I won't know for sure until the week after next!

This last week was Tłusty Czwartek (Fat Thursday), a Polish holiday where you eat as many donuts as you possibly can. We had a branch party, and we had a contest between the missionaries to see who could eat their donut the fastest without using their hands. I got some really good pictures, and some really beautiful pictures of Poznań as well, but I can't find a computer that will let me upload them so I can send them to you. I'll get them burned to a CD this week and try to do it that way.

Tonight President Engbjerg is coming into Poznań for interviews, and he's going to film us bearing our testimonies in Polish and send it to you! I'm assuming he's going to send it by email again, so be excited for that! I'm excited for you to get it. You'll be able to see what my companion and each of the missionaries in my district here in Poznań are actually like.
We had a really fun week this week, I told Owen about it in the email I just sent him. Sister Coles and I challenged the elders to a scavenger hunt yesterday to make our regular day to day missionary work more fun and exciting. Also yesterday Sister Coles and I headed out to a small town outside of Poznań, called Swarzdęnz, to see if we could visit an inactive member who lives there. Mariola wasn't at home, but we left a note with a scripture that we found for her that morning, and the Liahona from this last general conference.

February Highlights, Kate's Letters ~

Kate is with Sister Coles in Poznan ~

When I emailed you last, it had been a really discouraging week. We had to stop teaching Ekin, we decided to stop teaching some of our other investigators because they just weren't progressing, and a lot of the people we set up meetings with stood us up. But starting last Monday, when I last emailed you, everything totally changed. People started calling us, everybody we set up with showed up to the meeting and we had at least one amazing lesson every day, and we saw miracles right and left.

Saturday- Had a wonderful meeting with Tadeusz. The fact that the meeting happened at all was a miracle in and of itself. First of all, Sister Coles was inspired to call on Wednesday, when Tadeusz was at home. We agreed to meet in front of the Catholic church on Grochowska, but before Saturday, we didn't realize that there were actually two churches on Grochowska and we weren't sure which one Taduesz meant. Sister Coles and I went to the one that we thought would be the most likely, and waited there until noon (the time we had agreed to meet), until we Sister Coles remembered his address and we realized that the other church was closer to where he lives. We ran towards the other church, caught a bus that happening to be going by just at the right time, and arrived at the other church 10 minutes past noon. After walking around a little bit, we ran into Tadeusz, who had also been a little bit late. We sat down on one of the benches outside and had a powerful lesson about the restoration right there. It was a beautiful, unually warm day for February, and Tadeusz was sensitive enough to feel the power of our message. We told him that feeling was the Spirit, and we have a meeting with him again next week, same time, same place!

So it turns out that the hardest times precede the best times on a mission just like in life- and just like food also tastes better the hungrier you are, the Lord tests us a little before blessing us more than we would have ever imagined. That way we learn, grow, become stronger, and are even more grateful and happy when things start going our way again. :)

Kate's Letter Jan. 18, Highlights

Sister Coles and I studied the signs of the 2nd coming for companionship study today, which is always fun :) In light of that and recent world events, I want to give you a list of things that will be important to have now and in the near future:

1. a TESTIMONY of the gospel and especially of Jesus Christ as our Savior (see the parable of the 10 virgins)

2. fresh, clean water (enough to last a few months)

3. something to keep you warm for an extended period of time in case you get stranded in the dead of winter without any heat (like Romania and the Ukraine right now)

4. LIGHT (refer to the parable of the ten virgins again)-- although in a more literal sense: candles, matches, flashlights...

5. Food of course (year's supply, rotate through)

6. Hope, love, and faith (see number 1)

See Proverbs chapter 31-- a virtuous woman is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household is clothed in scarlet. I've been trying to find out what this scripture means by scarlet though-- what do you think?

But in spite of all of this ominousness, I can honestly tell you I'm not afraid right now-- hard times have and will undoubtedly come, but if we stand firm in the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ we have no reason to fear. An age-old curse of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is "May you live in interesting times", but I like the fact that I live in interesting times! It's just like my mission: many people reject me and my message every day, but if there's anything I can say about my everyday life, it's that every day is interesting. Every day brings many new interesting people to talk to with interesting and varied views about life, a new question to consider and study about, a new food to try and new Polish words to learn and do my best to pronounce. No day ever turns out quite the way that I expected it to (for better or for worse) and every day brings a new opportunity to grow and to lift the people around me up.

Some cool (and unexpected) things that happened this week:
Muaimmer (one of our Turkish investigators) invited us over to his house on Friday. He, us, and 3 of his friends who are also Turkish students studying in Poland sat in their prayer room, where they all meet on Fridays to pray towards Mecca. We all shared the similarities and differences between our religions in the spirit of love and understanding. They showed us a video of the Koran's version of the birth of Jesus Christ (remarkably similiar but yet crucially different from the account in the Bible) and told us their views about God and prophets. We taught a little bit of the Plan of Salvation (Muslims also believe in multiple heavens) and testified of Jesus Christ as the living Son of God and of living prophets and apostles on the earth today. Instead of having a structured lesson though, we just answered each other's questions about our different religions and shared the things that were most important to us with each other. It was awesome-- we could tell that all of those men we met with were good, honest people who live their religion and sincerely want to find out more about our church and our point of view. It was cool to see how, propped up right next to their copy of the Koran in Arabic and Turkish and other sacred books, was the Turkish Book of Mormon we gave them.

Yesterday night a lady who had investigated the church 6 years ago saw my nametag and came over and talked to us on the bus. She was really excited to meet us-- she said she had lost contact with the missionaries when they got transferred out and 3 new sisters she didn't know came in instead. She gave us her phone number but didn't set up a time to meet with us, so we'll see what happens-- the Lord provides for such miraculous meetings to occur but it's always up to them and their agency to actually show up to the meeting... but definitely a cool thing to happen nevertheless.

Sister Coles and I met some amazing people on the street who I'm really excited to teach this week- and Ekin is still keeping his promise to live the word of wisdom (at least until Jan 20, because we only got him to promise to go without his hookah for 3 weeks- so he could see the difference in his life). He believes in the Book of Mormon and comes to church every week, but he thinks it would be too hard for him to join the church- too much opposition from his family in Turkey and too much social pressure from his friends in Poland. We had one of the members, Wiktor, on the lesson with us, who had the chance to tell Ekin how much opposition he faced (and still faces) from his Catholic family and everyone at school, but how he joined the church anyway because he knew it was true. And how he would make the same decision no matter where he was from or what religion his family was. Wiktor's awesome. He's 17 years old and despite being the only person his age in the entire branch, and in spite of what his family thinks, he always faithfully comes to church and institute, and comes with us on lessons whenever he can. I have so much respect for the members here in Poland. They're such amazing people!

We had a good New Year's here too. One of the members, Bożena, invited us over for dinner and then all of us missionaries went back to the chapel to hang out together and wait for midnight- but at 11:00 pm, we got a call from the zone leaders telling us that we all needed to be in our own separate apartments- and that we weren't allowed to be hanging out together. Our whole zone (at least 20 missionaries) had no idea and just assumed that the rules would be the same as last year. Apparently something got lost in communication. But as soon as we found that out, we all headed back to our own apartments and Sister Coles and I got home just in time to watch all of the fireworks from our balcony. In Poland, all fireworks are legal on New Year's (even the big stadium ones) and everybody all over the city lights them off. There were big fireworks in every direction for at least half an hour solid and sporadic ones well into the night after that. We still had an amazing view from our balcony and after they'd died down for the most part, we got to go inside and get right into bed, rather than fight through crowds to get home at 1 in the morning, which was nice. The next day all of us missionaries met together to celebrate the New Year, and we opened bottles of non-alchoholic fruit champagne and sprayed them out the window at noon instead of midnight. It was still way fun. And the streets were completely empty on New Year's Day. All of the stores were closed, because everyone in the entire city was sleeping.