All We Do Is Invite The Spirit.....

hey momma,

I already have less than 700 days and less than 100 weeks, my time here truly is short, and i plan to make the most of it. i am so happy for angie, it is amazing what is happening back in alaska. and it isnt because of me, it is because of the holy ghost, the holy ghost entered maddie's life and she accepted it and allowed him to work his magic and convert her to the everlasting gospel. missionaries dont convert, and members dont convert, all we do is invite the spirit into the teaching situation and hopefully the child of heavenly father accepts that spirit and allows it to change them, yes i got the pictures and loved them so much, everyone looks so great, and cache looks like he has an ecosystem on his face, it sounds like everything is good and you are doing fine. now i want to end with something i learned this week from T.C. Christensen, the man who directed 17 miracles and ephraims rescue. he was the speaker for our devotional last sunday and he told us the importance of journals, so far i have written a page a day in my journal, and i plan on doing that for the rest of my mission, and when i do, i will have 3 1/2 composition notebooks full of my history. and journaling is so amazing, i understand now why the lord wants us to journal, when i journal it makes me think of my day, and it makes me think of the spiritual experiences that i had, and i see how my testimony is growing each day, so please journal, it is so amazing and has blessed my life so much already. i love you mom.

love.

elder summers

The Gift of Tongues Is True.......

Dear momma bear,
My week was awesome, my comp and i taught more lessons and we are getting to the point where we can expound on gospel points without having to write them down, it isnt conjugated (verbs) or cased (adjectives and nouns) very correctly, its broken but the words are coming to our minds. the gift of tongues is so true, and someone said something very interesting in a devotional, he said that once we recognize a gift in our lives, that we should immediately return thanks to heavenly father in prayer, and when we recognize to him that we have that gift, the gift will become stronger, so that is what i am doing with the gift of tongues, whenever i use it i immediately thank heavenly father through prayer, and i have faith that he will answer those prayers and strengthen my gift. i also had a revelation come to me during a language study, i was memorizing some difficult words and i was getting slightly frustrated at myself, and i just decided to sit and think and ponder for a little bit to give my brain a rest, and words came to my head, and they were, keep studying, you already know this language, you are just re-learning it in mortality. i know that was the spirit talking to me, our branch presidency here has told us that we prepared for 1000's of years for this mission, and i know during that time i learned the polish language, and through prayer that language can be unlocked and given to me again. i like working out, i have lost 10 pounds so far just because it is ball-firing hot as cache would say, and i have been going to the fitness center mostly and doing like a 15 minute crossfit style workout then running on an elliptical for 3 miles, it is good, i like it. about the polish dreams, when im dreaming, about every 30th word is polish, but the words dont make sense where they are, i will say like: oh of course i will help with that tomorrow wiara (faith) but they are coming. all 3 of our teacher have said we are learning fast, one, brother smalley, seriously said the words, its retarded how fast you are learning this language. the lord is helping me, and i have realized that i am nothing, i came from dust and will return to dust, i am all that i am because of my wonderful earthly parents, and my father in heaven. i love you mom.
love,
starszy summers

Music And The Holy Ghost.......

hi momma,

 so idk if i have told you about my zone at all, but in my zone all of the languages we have are polish, bulgarian, croatian, czech, and turkish, so we are all eastern europe and a few are headed farther south, so thats all for language. im sure that the house is quiet, but just think, you are going to blink and there i will be again,  im already in month 2 and i have less than 100 weeks left already.  I know that i am loved by everyone in the family, thank you for telling me that, it is very comforting to know that i am so loved, by my earthly family and my heavenly family. Strangely i am losing weight. ive already had to tighten my belt up a notch, so i have that going for me, which is nice (movie quote). yes i received both packages and i shared my manna from heaven (bible quote) with my wonderful zone and they were very happy that i shared my spoils. Our sisters are getting better and better, we are becoming friends as a district now it is so nice. well i want to share something with you momma kinda like my testimony, in english this time. the last two devotionals we have had have grown my testimony. On sunday we had Josh Wright who is an insanely good piano player, he has played at carnegie hall and a few other prestigious places, and what he was playing just taught me that music is a sure fire thing that will always be with you, you can always sing in your head and that hymn will drive away bad thoughts instantly and fill your heart with the spirit. the tuesday night devotional was taught by Elder Andersen of the 12. he taught on nothing but the Holy Ghost and it was incredible. it just proved to me that the most important thing we can have with us is the spirit of the lord, it doesn't matter our level of knowledge or spiritual experiences, if you have the spirit, people will feel it and see it.   Thank you for everything you have done for me Momma, i love you.

love,

starszy summers

hey dad,

well im glad to hear that the world is still spinning on without me knowing haha.  i love it here so much, i really thought that i knew how to teach before i got here, but i had no idea whatsoever, everyday i am learning so much about how important the little things are, and its amazing how putting together all those little things will lead people into this amazing church forever. my testimony has grown exponentially everyday that i am here, but the most growth has happened in two specific areas: the Holy Ghost and music. everyone here seems to be learning something that is going to change their lives forever, and mine so far has been what i just mentioned. All our teachers have really talked about has been teaching by the spirit, that it doesnt matter what we say at all, our words don't do anything for the investigator, all we are are vessels of the spirit, that it is much more important for us to always have the spirit than anything else at all. and about music, that music instantly invites the spirit, no matter where you are or what you are doing, a hymn in your head will calm you down and the spirit will reside in your heart. well i dont mean to sound preachy haha but i just love this work so much and i want to share it with everyone. i know that when cache and hayden went into the MTC they tried to convert us and we made fun of it, but none of us are truly converted yet, and all of us are working on it still, and the most important convert that you can have is yourself. i love you dad, i promise when i get home i will mow the lawn for you again.

love,

starszy summers

We Decide Everyday......

Momma,

Well its funny that you ask about the laundry, i am doing fine with it, i can fold everything so it doesn't look like an ape did it.  speaking of my district i haven't told you about it, it consists of 4 elders and 3 sisters. the first elder is from maryland and is studying trumpet performance at BYU, another is studying acting at BYU, and my companion is studying chemical engineering, all of the sisters went to BYU, one is from lehi utah, another is from Alpine and went to Lone Peak High, the school who's basketball team won the national title two years ago. the elders are amazing and funny, its so nice to be around friends, true friends that love me, are respectful, and just amazing men, the sisters are helping me to learn patience so i guess it is a good thing this is happening. we got to hear two devotionals, one from Stephen B. Allen who said that we decide every day what kind of day it is, and on tuesday we listened to Lowell M. Snow a former seventy, who talked about becoming truly converted to the gospel. but the powerhouse lesson we got was on sunday night we watched Character of Christ by David A. Bednar, i wont say anything about it, but go and watch it, it is amazing. ja mam świadectwo z Bóg jest Ojcem Niebieskim i Jezus Chrystus jest sbawicelem, wiem że Józef Smith jest prorok z Bóg i Księga Mormona jest prawde, my potrzebowamy wiara i swiatło ż szczęsliwe, w imię Jezusa Chrystusa, amen. Good luck translating i may have spelled some things wrong :)

love,

starszy summers 

Hey Dad,

 The priesthood may have been past down, but after all of the apostles died the right to give that priesthood to anyone not ordained to the priesthood left, so in essence the keys were taken from the earth. i don't hold keys, it would be like the apostles, the prophet, and every stake president, mission president, bishop, and elders quorum president instantly dying, i still have the priesthood and you would still have the priesthood, but the keys would be gone, so we could not pass our priesthood on to anyone else, what it means by the priesthood left the earth is the KEYS left the earth, so no one had the right to receive revelation for anyone else, and no one had the right to bestow the priesthood on anyone, the KEYS are the government of the priesthood, and the government of the priesthood dissolved with the apostles,  i just want to share with you one thing that i have learned that has been the biggest thing to hit me, that people are not ever taught by another mortal being, the only true teacher is the Holy Ghost, so when we teach anyone we must do one thing, and that one thing is invite the spirit through simple doctrine, we have been taught here that you do that through modlitwa (prayer) and świadectwo (testimony). so when you talk to someone start by bearing sincere testimony and all that you know, then teach as simply as you possibly can, the Holy Ghost will enter, and the Light of Christ  will come alive and they will know that what you are saying is true. i love you dad, 

love,

starszy summers

And Ray Lewis Hits You Into The Water......

hi parents!

im sorry to hear that barrow was frozen haha but it seems typical. well how is it going do you ask? i can tell you. it is amazing, the spirit here is a constant feeling and everyone here is an amazing person, i have never been surrounded by this many amazing people in my life, i am so glad i am here. addressing the language statement that you had. they have changed the teaching style since hayden learned spanish, there is no longer any getting your feet wet section of learning, its more like you are standing at the edge of a dock and ray lewis hits you into the water. my teacher has not spoken a single english word to us haha, it is kinda overwhelming but i love it so much. i can pray, bear my testimony, and recite our missionary purpose in polish now and ive only been here one little week. my kolega (companion) is not exactly like me, he sings a lot and hasnt ever played sports, but we have a wonderful friendship already and we compliment each other well. we have already taught 4 lessons in full polish to an investigator, our investigators are members that know the language and are just role playing for us, but nevertheless they are speaking in only polish. the spirit knows all languages, and we actually brought him to tears in our last lesson about the restoration of the gospel. i have participated in the choir even though i cant sing worth crap, but my kolega can so its okay, he can drown out my horrible voice. we have had two devotionals, one was taught by janice kapp perry and the other was taught by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. sister perry was in the motab choir and has written songs in the childrens hymn book. she taught on the power of music, and now i know that music is laced with simple doctrine and testimony that helps us build a better foundation for faith. Elder Christofferson taught about satan and his power, he said that the most awful power that satan has is the ability to make us feel worthless and that we can not repent. so it strengthened my testimony of repentance that no matter how much we sin the path to return never gets broken it just gets longer. now to address some questions, the language is coming along well for a week into it, i love my kolega starszy (elder) jeffs, he is an amazing and spiritual man, yes i have seen levi and i have pictures with him at the temple, i would like those small notebooks that you bought for me, i think that is about it,they have plenty of food at the MTC so please dont send me food, i love you so very much and i am proud to call you my parents, and i am so thankful that you raised me righteously enough to go on this amazing mission, this week has been the BEST of my life and i know that every week will be just as good or better.

love,

starszy summers

ps. i learned that poland has 9 week transfers so i only have 12 not 16