Christmas and New Year Greeting from the Poland Warsaw Mission

The Warsaw Mission Zone (with Kate)






Dear Family & Friends, Parents, Elders & Sisters…
of the Poland Warsaw Mission:

“May each of us welcome the Savior of the world into our hearts and into our Christmas celebrations. May we experience the joy of setting aside convenience and personal comfort, if need be, in favor of Christian service. Then may we learn, as did an ancient prophet, that when we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God.” Thomas S. Monson, Mosiah 2:17

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing your son, daughter or parents with us in the Poland Warsaw Mission. We indeed are experiencing the joy of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Poland with the help of our outstanding missionaries, both young and older.

Please find on these pages pictures of the zones of the Poland Warsaw Mission as they looked in December of 2009, and some additional Christmas pictures. We hope these few pictures will help you feel the spirit of Christmas and the spirit of the Poland Warsaw Mission.

Merry Christmas,
President & Sister Engbjerg.



Christmas Party @ the Mission Home, Warsaw

The 12 Dishes of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas a member gave to me,

A raw carp in cold gelatin

2 Cabbages

3 Mayonnaise Salads

4 Chicken feet

5 Pickled herrings (sledge!)

6 Cow tongues

7 Salmon Pizzas

Something still moving

9 Tentacles

10 Soggy Pickles

11 Lard Sandwiches

12 Eggs with Mayonnaise


Choice.

Starszy Loosli | loosli@gmail.com

Quotes of the Week

Sister Hulme sent this me. Feel free to ask me about the stories behind them when you call.

Love,
Kate


On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 1:10 PM, Laurel Hulme wrote:

Quote of the Year (President Hapgood, British): "There are two ways to make the Church grow in Poland. The first is to baptize new converts. The second, is to make babies."

Quote of the Week (Elder Loosli, District Leader): "I leave the room for TWO minutes, and we're buying the zone leaders underwear."

Band names of the week: April Fat, Patriarch Flynn, Patch-up Trade, Midway

Contacting tactic of the transfer: Act completely crazy, figure out who watches you, then apologize to them for being crazy and invite them to institute (among other things). Works every time.

Kate's New Year Letter

Sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas-- I'm excited to try out those new songs on the player piano-- especially the swing ones!

I'm so glad you were able to call, even though we lost our phone-- either if fell out of my pocket or was stolen--- and I got to talk to William, Reid, and Owen! That was a Christmas miracle for me. We asked the Thuesons to email you on Thursday when we found out that our phone was gone, but I guess the email didn't go through until yesterday. I'm so glad Sister Engbjerg let me use her phone to call you.

I had a wonderful Christmas too-- we baked cookies and went around with the other missionaries visiting all the people we knew would be alone on Christmas and sang carols for them. The Neto's invited Sister Hulme and I over for Christmas Eve (Susan didn't end up coming though) and that was great-- they are amazing. They shared a spiritual thought with us and we had barszcz czerwony (beet soup with dumplings in it) and these little meat rolls with chicken, ham, and cheese (almost like chicken cordon bleu). Before we left they gave us a box of really nice chocloates, a couple of which we gave to our security guard because we felt bad that he had to work on Christmas Eve. He was so excited to get a present that he wrapped his arms around both of us and gave us each a kiss on the head. It wasn't even awkward because it was just like a big grandpa hug-- and we totally made his night.

Then I stayed up most of the night finishing the scarf that I crocheted for Sister Hulme for Christmas-- she stayed up working on her Christmas present for me-- a cheesy book of inspirational quotes that she crossed out, wrote in, and drew hilarious pictures in for me-- it's pretty funny :) (Sister Hulme also gave me a cool I Love San Francisco shirt that I'm wearing right now) I stuffed our stockings full of chocolate and fell asleep in a chair in the living room. Then the elders came over at around 9:00 and we made Mama McRae's biscuits and gravy-- soo good-- and left to deliver cookies and visit more lonely people on Christmas day. The best part of the day was driving around in the office elders' huge transporter van singing the Dixie Chicks at the top of our lungs and realizing that it was Christmas-- even if we couldn't find the people we were trying to visit and even if they weren't home :)

Then we dropped off the rest of the Christmas presents for the North Warsaw district-- we got each companionship a little gift and card that said it was from a different companionship in their district-- for example, we got Sister Galbraith some chocolates and a poinsetta with a note that said it was from the zone leaders, we got the zone leaders a some cool boxer shorts and cookies with a note that said it was from the other sisters, we gave those sisters some eyeshadow and bright pink nailpolish "from" the Irelands, a senior couple, we gave the Irelands a some warm socks and gloves and some kiwi fruit from Elder Brown and Hinckley, and we gave Elder Brown and Hinckley a a couple of old ties from Sister Galbraith. Then we gave the office couple, the Thuesons, two mugs and some hot chocolate from the entire North Warsaw district. It was great when we picked them up later that day to go to President Engbjerg's-- they asked us if the North district was ours or the other district, we said it was the other district, and they said they had gotten such a nice gift from the missionaries in that district. We affirmed that those missionaries were really amazing people and that it was really nice of them to get them such a nice gift. Hee hee. Sister Galbraith was thrilled to get her chocolates and now the zone leaders and the sisters are just starting to figure out that the people who their gifts are supposedly don't have any idea what's going on either... I don't think they suspect us yet though. Beautiful.

To top it off, President Engbjerg invited our district over to the mission home on Christmas day. We got to meet his mother in law (who only speaks Danish) and his sons who came in from Denmark (they all speak perfect English). We had delicious Danish food, starting with a round of different kinds of fish, then a course of different kinds of meat (including bacon in applesauce) then crackers and with all sorts of gourmet cheeses, then fruit salad with pudding and chocolate in it for dessert. It was all so good, but I wanted to try all of it, so I could only take a little bit of each thing or else I would never make it through the whole meal.

You called right as we were leaving the mission home, and the phone ran out of batteries and died while we were in the car-- I'm so glad that Sister Engbjerg was able to call you and that you were able to call back! After I got off the phone with you I was so tired that I just rolled over and fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor. I finally got the energy to get up and crawl in bed, fully dressed, and I forgot to even set an alarm. The elders called at 8:20 the next morning and woke us up-- then we decided to just get all of our sleeping in over with so we could get back on schedule sooner-- and rolled over and went back to sleep. After that I felt much better.

Now that Christams is over, it's just one last sprint all the way to the end of March-- I'm ready to take it on!

Love,
Kate

Sister Hulme's inspirational quote of the day:
"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow; don't walk behind me, I may not lead; walk away."

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. :)