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.

January 3, 2011

Dear Family,
Let me answer questions quickly so I don't forget.
- Mom, I bought the most intense boots ever (which was a process including decisions, yelch!) you can look them up online if you want. They are Sorel brand called "Joan of the Arctic". (sounds warm enough eh?) They have a wool liner with fur in them that I can take out and then they turn into rain boots for the LONG rainy season that Poland has. They are rated to -25 degrees Celcius. I was worried about other boots losing their waterproof-ness so went with these ones.
-I also bought a super warm, quality coat. It is North Face and goes down to my knees with a fur hood. I keep telling my district "I will never be cold again!" It's the kind of coat that will last and be able to maybe go with Savannah on her mission as well.
-I haven't bought gloves here because I wasn't sure if you had sent any, but I can. That might be a bit of a cheaper option (esp with shipping). I will do that, but it hasn't been a huge need so far (however I hear that Jan and Feb are colder than Dec)
-requests: :) The food in Poland is very bland, but at least they have AMAZinG chocolate. If you are sending a love package, I would LOVE soy sauce and something spicy (Tony's creole seasoning or Tabasco). I also miss sour treats. Thank you!!I hope that's it... I'm not in desperate need of anything.

Kato:
Katowice is awesome, I am so happy I am serving here. We have the largest district with 7 missionaries (including Starzsy Hanneman and Tanner in my groups from the MTC). It is in the "dirty south" or the śląsk. Katowice was/is a coal mining city, and as a result has really poor air quality, and is pretty ghetto. It's the poorest section of Poland, but the people here are nicer and more receptive to the Gospel than up north. There were around 25 people at church on Sunday, not counting missionaries. Our branch is the second largest in Poland, and is full of a lot of 'interesting' people. They are wonderful though, the members are happy to help and are very involved. There is a great feeling of unity and camaraderie with our branch of misfits.

Investigators:
Well, Adam isn't an investigator anymore, because he was baptized! (I know I already said that, but it's awesome. He was one of 3 baptisms in the mission last month) Adam is way solid and a cool, normal person. It was a little bit crazy trying to get a swimming pool during the holidays, but at the last minute it worked out. A small miracle happened, and his whole family came to the baptism! There aren't any families in our branch, and they are Catholic, but supportive of his choice to get baptized. The babcia (grandma) came to Sacrament on Sunday to see him be confirmed. We tried to teach her and she turned us down, but she has a Księga Mormona and said she would try to make it to church again next week. Adam is on fire with the Spirit and has a roommate, Kristof, and teenager, Konrad, that he has befriended and is helping out.

Konrad we met from English Class and have just started to teach. He is 17 and loves parkor. He is very religiously Catholic, but we have taught him twice, and he comes to a ton of church activities.

We taught Leszek the non-smoking program, and we will see how it works this week. It kind of is the make or break for keeping him as an investigator.

Life in the mission:
Everything is great, but I got frustrated for the first time this week. I am a little sick of trying to carry on conversations with members, investigators, and people on the street and having zero idea what they are saying. I have been here for two weeks, I should have the language by now... Ha. Well, I think one of the biggest things I need to learn on my mission is patience, and it will take a lot. I feel like the Polish that I used to know in the MTC is gone, but I still just try and speak whatever I can say. I am on my own contacting on the street or having a conversation with people at the chapel a lot more than I expected. It is good and bad, and can only get better. I have been SYLing with Sis Smith, and it is also frustrating, but helpful.

Sylvester:
Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku! (Happy New Year!) They call New Years Eve "Sylvester" b/c it is the name day (catholic way of having birthdays..) for everyone named Sylvester. Sister Smith and I had some sparklers which we lit and launched off the balcony of our apartment using my tights into the snow. I got really creative and got a waterbottle filled with some water, put play-dough in the top and then stuck the lit sparkler in it and sling-shot it for better launching distance. Sis Smith and I live in the superjednostka, which is this HUGE apartment building that houses 1,300 people. It is right next to the spodek, which is an amphitheater shaped like a huge concrete UFO. (Big, concrete things are way in in Kato). There was tons of loud music and partying all night, but Sister Smith and I went to bed at 10:30 and slept through the fireworks.

Well, I love you and miss you! I had a super realistic dream last night about hanging out with the family. I played with and talked with Maggie like the whole time, it was great. I loved the pictures of your little nativity you had. Tell Sister Lewis how much I love her and how much she means to me as well. I love that Caleb wanted me to baptize him, ha.

Thanks for your emails!

-Sister Stay

December 28, 2010

Well, this has been a great week, Wysoych Swiat!

We worked hard, went through the branch list and found less-actives all over Katowice, Gliwice, Sosnowiec, and Zabrze, gave them banana bread, a Christmas card with the Living Christ on it, and invited them to come to church on Dec 26th. We missed a lot of buses, got lost a few times, and ate banana bread in the dark and cold while we waited for the bus, but we quite a few people came who hadn't been in a long time. (less-actives here are pretty much the same as inactives in the States).

On Christmas Eve we had wrapped copies of the Book of Mormon and rolls of the Living Christ and Family Proclamation and handed them out to a ton of people. Then we went to Pawel (Pah-veh-w)'s house. He invited all of the missionaries over for w'gilia dinner; which is a huge Polish tradition, and we got to have the 12 course feast with the 7 missionaries and senior couple, Pawel, and the branch president. Pawel doesn't live with any family and lives, like most Poles, in a tiny 3 room apartment, but is SO happy all of the time. He loves the church and the missionaries. I said "ty jestesz najlepszy Pawel" (you are the best, Pawel) and in return he says "Nie, Siostry, Jezus CHRYSTUS jest najlepszy!!' Ha, he's awesome.

Anyways. The meal was an adventure. I was full after the first round of beet soup, but then came the fried cod, crazy salad, raviolli, and pickled herring. I took one for the team and helped others finish the huge servings of seconds that Pawel gave them. The herring is raw and called 'sledge'. I still am dealing with repercussions from the choice to eat 6 pieces of it (even though the last one didn't really stay down...) The next course I thought was banana bread, so I took a huge bite of it, ended up being surprise meatloaf/pate business, which isn't terrible except for when you think it is banana bread :). We ate two large desserts that were pretty good and waddled back to the chapel.

My district is awesome and we acted out the Nativity! I was a shepherd of course, and we helped supply costumes for the Elders. I video taped it so I'll try to figure out a way to get it home to you. Christmas morning we made scones and watched everyone open presents. One elder had like 5 different presents that were different kinds of pens or pencils. Ah, missionary Christmas.

We had some great meetings this week, and I am getting the confidence to just speak up and say what input I have, even though it takes a lot of time and corrections to have them understand what I'm trying to say. I am trying to figure out ways to be a more effective missionary, but I feel like a huge part of that is just getting to be proficient in the language. I still am surprised, I thought that missionaries would be fluent and have the language down solid after a few months here, but most of them still struggle a lot. Yikes. That just means harder studying for me. Also, I am starting SYL-ing (Speak Your Language - basically speaking in Polish all the time, even with companions) all of the time starting tomorrow, I'm excited. I think it will help my Polish to improve drastically.

I have also been studying and trying to implement good ways to be worthy of, feel, act on, and teach with the Spirit. It has been going well so far and I think is so necessary especially right now when my language is a weakness. If I can be quicker at testifying and teaching new doctrine to everyone I meet, whether in a lesson, on the street or on the bus, the Spirit can help take over and make up for my lack of ability. I also am trying to be completely ready and out of the house exactly on time so I can qualify more for the spirit and direction (that is rough with all of the layers we have to put on!). Oh, and I get to teach a Stop Smoking program with Sister Brown next week in all Polish to a heavy chain smoking investigator we have, we'll see how that goes.

Adam gets baptized tonight!! It almost didn't happen, the swimming pool we usually use wasn't available which caused some stress, but things worked out, and his dad and whole family are coming to watch and support him. (the Sisters say they have never had a family at a baptism, so its a big deal. We also don't have a single family in the Katowice branch, crazy) It will be wonderful. He is so strong!

This last week I read a talk from the conference Ensign about being being a good teacher, and so many of the points struck out to me. If I can share my passion, attitude of love for this gospel and how much it has blessed me, others will feel my love for it and them and it will me more natural for me to extend bold commitments without them feeling pressured into it. I also came kept coming across the phrase "be thou an example of the believer" and read the talk by Elder Oaks and in PMG (Preach My Gospel) about it in relation to our purpose as missionaries. Missionary work has a lot more 'transit' time and hang time then I thought, we aren't just teaching people every single hour. I think that how I act, what I say at meals, on the bus, in the chapel, at slow times on the street, will make a big difference on the impression that I leave of the church, and success that we will be able to have here. I am trying to always be a good representative of Christ, and not a 21 yr old girl with her friends.

Well, I should go probably, but I love you. P-days are on Mondays now, so I will email then and get pictures to you then as well. It was so great to talk to everybody! Merry Christmas, happy new year, the church is true!
-Siostra Stay

p.s. If people want to write letters they can write directly to my apartment and I can check it daily instead of sending it through the pouch and getting it once a transfer. You just send it in a normal envelope and air-mail stamp and I will write back! I can't write any emails to anyone but the one family email a week. I will have this address until at least March. I love you!

Sister Dominique Stay
ul. Korfantego 22/15
40-127 Katowice, POLAND

December 21, 2010

Moja Rodzina,

Arriving in Poland: Well you already know that my trip to Poland was an adventure, but it was fun. My luggage got lost at 2 different locations, I'm not quite sure how that worked out, but it made it possible for me to stay in Warsaw for two days which was great.

Pres and Sister Nielson picked me up at midnight and drove me straight to the Sisters' apartment. We got right to work the next day and on Thursday we had Zone Conference so I got to have that training and a little Christmas devotional which was wonderful. I also got to see Sister Steadman and Sister Marshall, hooray!! It was so great to see them, we talked together the wholetime, they seem happy and enthused with the work. I still don't have a MSF card (the missionary credit card) or an interview or orientation.What a crazy mission it has been already, but I love it!

At Zone Conference they delivered my 2nd piece of luggage, it was a Christmas Miracle :) and the Sisters came to get me the next day to bring me to my new area: Katowice!When I got off the plane in Warsaw, Pres Nielson told me I would be going to Katowice and I freaked out. I never finished telling my story about the 2nd Polish tour to you, but the spirit was so strong and helped me speak the language (in Temple Square) and the grandfather said that he was interested and wanted to have the missionaries come to his home. He said we couldn't call him until Febuary though, because he would be out of town until then. I was excited then and told him I would be in Poland in Febuary and would come visit him at his house. I'm sure that he thought I was crazy, but he agreed. The man lives in my area in a city just outside Katowice! I hadn't told this story to Pres Nielson, but I ended up getting called there. Hopefully he is receptive when I actually get to visit him. Miracles!

Dad-- i have been thinking up great names for rock bands for you, inspired my my life in Poland. One is Crusty Socks ( we have a little washer but no dryer, which equals line dried and very crusty socks and towels) and Fire Shower. In the bathtubs there is a little heater built in hanging on the wall with the shower with a hole in it to heat the water. When you turn on the water it sparks and then flames up huge to heat it. You can look through the hole and see the sweet flames.

Yesterday we had a whole day of finding addresses to visit less/non-actives and to give them a christmas card, banana bread, and invite them to church. When you walk in the snow your feet get FREEZING (they don't shovel any walks) but I have been doing the math, and after walking about a mile and a half, you can start feeling your feet again because they are working hard. I also was sitting at a bus stop (in the pitch black at 3:30 pm) and thought of a specific time when I was laying at night sweating on the balcony in Haiti. I remembered storing away how miserable it was to be that hot so I could remember it when I was freezing in Poland. It is COLD here! At the bus stop I also counted how many layers I had on vs my warmth- I had on 8 layers on my top half and that was sufficient, but only 3 pairs of tights, plus socks boots and skirt on the bottom half. That isn't quite enough to stay warm.. :)

The Work: I love being a missionary! We do a lot of "whiteboarding" which is contacting on the street with questions and then you bridge to the gospel (a lot like Temple Square!). I go wholeheartedly and contact and ask people questions, but once they show interest I don't really understand what they say. I can maintain a conversation for about 2 minutes until I look around desperately for someone to come save the contact from my terrible Polish. We got some great numbers and met some really cool people though! One of the investigators, Adam, just accepted a baptismal date two days ago! Well I guess he didn't really accept- we prayed and were about to start the lesson (the sisters were all nervous about asking him about baptism but were planning on it at the end of the lesson) when he spoke up and said "Hey, so I decided that I want to be baptised. Can I do it next Tuesday or is that too soon?" Sister Brown couldn't stop giggling. That is the last day before she leaves home,it will be great. :)

Well I have to go. Oh, I almost forgot, the quote at the top is from Sister Brown. Every single day crazy things happen and she says, sincerely "Its not normally like this." I don't believe her. I fully plan on my mission continuing to be an adventure, and am so excited tobe here. The church is true, live it and share it! Merry Christmas!

-Siostra Stay

POLAND! December 15, 2010

Dominique is in Poland!

She told us that when she arrived, she was going to kiss the ground!

She was supposed to travel with a senior couple, but when they got to the airport, they had overbooked the flight to Chicago out of Salt Lake, so they routed Dominique through Dallas and then she was supposed to meet up with the senior couple in London and travel on the same flight to Poland. However, the flight out of Dallas was delayed for 3 hours and when she arrived in London, her flight and the senior missionaries had already departed. So she was able to arrange a flight late in the evening and arrived about 11 pm in Warsaw.

Unfortunately, no one had informed President Nielson and he spent most of the day waiting for the missionaries at the airport and then when the senior couple arrived (several hours late), he was surprised to find out that Sister Stay wasn't with them. So he had to come back late at night to pick her up. We feel so sorry for President Nielson! He had to go through so much extra work to get this one Sister to his mission!

Sister Nielson writes about their day here:http://nielsonsinpoland.blogspot.com/2010/12/terminalpolish-style.html

Dominique had an incredible experience at Temple Square, and we will send a few last notes that she sent about her experiences there. Dominique will be serving in Katowice, Poland with Sisters Brown and Smith. It appears that Sister Brown will go home at the end of December.

Here are pictures of a recent visit the mission president made to Katowice:http://nielsonsinpoland.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-zone-conferencekatowice.html

Katowice is a city of about 300,000 people in South Poland near the borders of the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south. It is one of the main coal mining and steel manufacturing areas in Poland, but it is also the third largest science center in Poland. There are over 100,000 students attending over 20 schools of higher education in Katowice, so there should be a large youth population there.It appears that in the surrounding areas are mountains with a number of ski resorts.We are thrilled that Dominique made it to Poland. She will be transferred to her new area today.

Thanks,
Tim

December 11, 2010

Short weekly update:

I am really sad to be leaving Sister Samuel. I have so much to learn from here. She is fiery and bold and I love her! With her personality she can get away with committing or slightly rebuking people without them feeling attacked or offended. She knows every single person who works on Temple Square and has developed a wonderful relationship with them. She is filled with love and has made it a goal to make those around her her family, since no one in her family supports her being on a mission. I showed her my pictures from India and Amristar, and we became good friends already. Oh man. I have been a lot quieter this transfer in contacts since there are three of us, and a lot of talking happens. I also found out that my assignment was to the Humanitarian Center, so I would be there 3 days a week. It was amazing taking the tour, and seeing another outlet and possibility of what I am interested in doing for the rest of my life. When the sisters there aren't giving tours, they are helping with the service projects, how fun!

On Thursday I had an amazing contact with this 50ish yr old man, Jimmy Johnson. He was here from Florida with his girlfriend to ski, and asked a lot of questions about what I did and why I was here on a mission. We had a great conversation and our personalities clicked, apparently I reminded him of his daughter who was pre-med and about to go to Italy on her own for a month. I could tell that his girlfriend (who was in a conversation with Sister Samuel and Peets) was getting antsy and wanted to leave, but they were great companions and kept her distracted. (nice work companions!)It wasn't a preachy or overly spiritual conversation, but the thought came into my head like 5 times during the conversation to ask him if he liked to read. As his girlfriend had had about enough and was trying to get Jimmy to come, I asked him the question, to which he responded that he did. I asked him if I could send him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read, since it was why I was on a mission, and read the 2nd to last paragraph in the introduction of the BOM. He had mentioned before that he loved Temple Square because of this warm peaceful feeling he felt here (when he mentioned it I followed your advice, Dad, and identified it as the Holy Ghost) . I promised him that as he read the Book of Mormon he would feel that feeling, the Holy Ghost, and that it is something that could be available to him always. He accepted the book and missionaries happily and left. The Holy Ghost helps us out so much to know what to say to those who are prepared!

I forgot that something available to us as missionaries on Temple Square now is to be able to teach the referrals that we get here (over the phone) until the missionaries come and was sad I didn't ask him. Later on in the night, we were in the South Visitors Center and he approached me and asked me to explain to him about temples. (hooray!) We had a great short lesson, and Sister Peets and Samuel had some wonderful things to say, and he was very receptive and interested. Again, his girlfriend called and wanted to leave, but this time I remembered to extend the invitation to teach him, which he was thrilled about. An hour later I found out I got the clearance to leave to Poland. All I could think about was how excited I was to teach him and see him progress and those others that I was going to call from the referral center. :( Hopefully I will get some updates on how he and the others are doing.

I guess everyone knows that I'm leaving on Monday. It will be crazy but amazing to have a Poland Christmas. I love you so much, thanks for your advice and help in getting me out there. I am so happy to see my Polish district soon! Sister Steadman and I joked when I was delayed (for what we thought would be 2 weeks) that she would get called as my trainer, and 2 months later we'll see what happens. :) It has been uplifting to get her emails, thank you so much Sister Gale!! Thank you family and friends for your letters and prayers, they help more than you could imagine.

-Siostra Stay

Update on Sister Stay, December 10, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,
Sister Stay is on her way to Poland! She will leave Salt Lake on December 13th and arrive in Poland on the 14th. She will be arriving to a lot of snow and one of the coldest winters on record (drat that global warming:) ) and be there to have a Polish Christmas!

On Wednesday of this week, Dalita and I picked up Nikki up from Temple Square at 6 am and brought her to Utah Valley for her third IVP. She was x-rayed every few minutes for about an hour as thick goo made its way through her system till it showed up in her kidneys and flowed into her bladder. Most people only have one ureter on each side, but Nikki is a mutant and has two on each side (she gets that mutantcy from me!). Her appointment with the urologist wasn't until the afternoon, so after the morning lab work, and with permission from her mission president, Nikki ran a few errands with Mom and Ali and then we had all the kids come home from school and we had a family lunch, took a family photo (thanks Sister Major), and decorated the Christmas tree together.

Then we went to the urologist appointment. He looked at the x-rays and said that she was all healed and cleared to go. We got him to put that in a letter and had him talk to our Stake President who is also a doctor in the same hospital. We then took the letter to the Stake President so he could send it to the Missionary Department. We stopped at home and I wrote a letter to the Poland Mission President saying Nikki cleared her exam and was good to go. We then took Nikki back to Temple Square where Dalita walked her in to Temple Square and dropped her off with some of the sisters there. We had a wonderful time with her.

It was an unexpected blessing to be able to see her and spend time with her. She is doing great and has not had any health issues of any sort. Her Temple Square mission president says she works hard and is a very effective missionary. She seems to be in good spirits and has liked the time she has spent on Temple Square.When we got back home, I had received two emails from the Poland Mission President saying he was trying to work out her travel schedule and today I received a call from the Missionary Department informing us of her travel plans. She will be traveling with a senior couple that is also going to Poland. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Tim