January 10, 2011

Turnips and Tea

This week was a roller coaster. I definitely felt the prayers of everyone at home and I feel like my Polish has improved a lot this week (aka I'm where I felt like I was when I left the MTC to go to Temple Square). The grammar is (slowly) coming, but it is clicking a little bit more. I do a lot of reading body language, especially when we whiteboard, and try to guess the responses and give appropriate answers/direction to the conversation. Whiteboarding is when we (4-7 missionaries) have a question up on a big whiteboard in high-traffic areas to stop people and then we just talk one on one w/them in the street about the gospel. It is great and less awkward than contacting, but intimidating, because it is all up to you and you have to talk quickly so they don't lose interest and leave.

Example of whiteboard question: "Oh be wise, what can I say more?" Who said this? 1. John Paul II 2. Chuck Norris (they love him here) 3. Jacob 4. Gandhi.

They answer, we say actually it's Jacob, who was a prophet from the Book Of Mormon, and it's a wonderful bridge into talking about the Ksiega Mormon!

On Tuesday we had a great whiteboard followed by an even better time contacting. I felt like I could speak, and people were so receptive! On Wednesday we had the best whiteboard ever. Sister Smith and I only could be there for 45 min b/c we had another appointment, but it was very effective. We had 3 quality BOM placements, 3 lesson set ups with phone numbers and 1 man who was going to come to church on Sunday.

On Thursday we went to Warsaw for the leadership conference. All the leadership and trainers went, so I tagged along and got to see all of the trainees (my 2nd district in the MTC) and worked all day with Sister Marshall, Ellis, and Leppannan! At the end of the day, Sister Ellis, Leppannan and I went on our own to the Rynek in Warsaw and contacted. It was a lot of fun, and Warsaw is a beautiful place. It was great to see them and boost each other's spirits.

Friday and Saturday were pretty rough. We had 3 flakes and a cancellation on Friday, and a lot of unfriendly contacts, and too long of a conversation with a Jehovah's Witness on a whiteboard. Saturday was pretty much the same. We tried teaching Konrad, but he came late to play ping pong and didn't really want a lesson.

Sunday was a crazy day. The man who was going to come to church didn't show up, and none of our investigators were there, but just as it was starting in walked Konrad, in a suit! Miracle. Konrad is that super cool kid that comes to church activities and his family is super Catholic. The crazy thing is that Adam, the new member that he looks up to, wasn't even there that day, Konrad just showed up on his own. Sister Smith and I tried not to overreact and be too excited, but she still gave him a fun-dip as a prize for coming. He stayed for Sunday School and just thought everything was normal. (we only have 2 hours of church) There were good lessons that day, too (hooray!) Investigator Leszek also showed up, made comments in Sunday School and in a lesson after church, said he would think about being baptized. He still hasn't smoked! Oh, awesome.

We also taught a family (kind of). They didn't really know we were teaching them, but we shared all about the Book of Mormon slyly, left one with them and they set up for a return appointment next week. He is this great, well-off man who owns a restaurant and wanted us to teach his kids English, but they didn't have the attention span/were too shy, so we just talked to the whole family and they asked a ton of questions about why we are here and why we would give up all of these things to go on missions.

Hey, friends who are slacking at writing (aka everyone), I want updates! I love being a missionary and the Church is true!

-Siostra Stay

ps The title of the email is b/c Sister Smith and I have officially turned into polish babcias (grandmas) . Last night as we were getting ready for bed at 9 pm we sat in our sweaters ate turnips and fruit tea for dinner. Na prawda.

pps One last funny story of the week. We had a ping pong tournament and Pawel told Sister Smith "Joseph Smith would be so proud of you!!" when she won the game. Oh, Pawel.

** Thank you Kelvin and Camille for the Christmas card and corny jokes! We were sitting on a 3 hour train ride back home from Warsaw so my whole district got to groan and 'enjoy' them. We especially liked the "What nationality is Santa? (North Pole-ish)" ha.