Faith Gets Us Going...Hope Keeps Us Going....

hey momma!

so its spelled starszy, you got really close haha i dont blame you, i love hearing you guys say polish words :). yeah that phone call was the best, but your happy smiling faces made everything better for me. im so relieved that you got my package, i really didn't think that it was going to get there, just because i've heard stories of missionaries sending packages and when they arrive, nothing is in them because someone stole it. but anyway you got it, and you enjoyed the chocolate, so im happy. yeah on the subject of hope i have done some studying on it, because i wanted to know the difference as well. and pretty much i learned that faith and hope are connected, that faith is the first step, every little thing we do is on the basis of faith, we have faith the sun will rise, we have faith that we will have food, that we will be paid. we also have faith that we will be forgiven, that heavenly father is proud of us for what we are doing here on earth, all these things build upon our foundation of faith. but we cant just have a foundation, we have to build on that foundation, and the building blocks are hope. faith gets us going, but hope keeps us going. i am thankful for you too mom, you are amazing, and thank you for complimenting my polish, i was a little nervous to do it, but im glad i sounded good to you, thanks for everything momma.  So this week because of the Christmas season and traveling, we worked a little bit less than normal, but nevertheless we had some really good experiences which we learned a lot from. The first was with a man named Mirek, as me and my companion were walking down the street we started talking to him, and he asked us to follow him and talk to him. We introduced ourselves as the Missionaries, and we began talking about religion with him, and why our church is so different from other churches on Earth today. He was a bit scatter-brained, and changed the subject frequently, but we were always able to tie it back into a gospel topic we wanted to discuss. At the end of the meeting we said that we wanted to meet with him again, and he agreed. The next day we had a lesson with him, and unfortunately, after we talked about the entire Restoration and why it was needed, he wasn't really interested in learning more, it was really sad for us, but we did all that we could do, so I have no reason to be upset. Another experience came while we were tracting, we were in a building, knocking on doors trying to find someone that was ready for the gospel. We knocked on one door and a man named Paweł came out and began to talk with us. He said that he believed in God, but didn't like how his church was being ran, he felt that it wasn't in harmony with what God wanted. So we bore testimony that our church was run differently, that we know our church is the restored church of Jesus Christ. After we said this, he didn't really react at all to it, but when we asked if we could come back later, he warmly invited us back over to his house. It felt so good, and it was amazing, I have for sure learned from this to just listen to what people say, because when we listen, people tell us what they need to hear.

love,elder summers

I Testify Of What I Know Is True....

hey momma!
yeah its pretty cool the difference that you can make in someones life just by loving them and inviting them back, or just by offering a hand of support for them, it was really cool to be apart of wojtek's change during this last transfer. so, speaking of transfers, we got our calls a few days ago, and i am moving cities again, this next transfer i will be in kielce with my companion, who was born in austria, and knows german and english, he has been out just over a year, so it will be a really fun transfer, oh and kielce is in the south of poland, so i am heading back to where i was born.  so on the subject of weather, the grass is still green, and it has been warm enough that i really dont need to even wear a jacket anymore outside, its very very strange, i wont have a white christmas this year, but hey its no big deal, im outside all day so its nice to have warm weather. So my companion and I had one experience this week. It was when we were contacting with another Elder, and we were just walking along the street and contacting like normal, and we were coming up behind this lady. Usually we don't contact people coming from behind them, but this time the Elder contacted her and began to teach her about faith. After he was done, my companion took over and taught about Jesus Christ and what he did when he was on Earth, and what we need to do in order to follow him. And then after that I taught about Joseph Smith, and I completely butchered my Polish, I know that it sounded terrible, and honestly I'm surprised it made sense at all. But nevertheless, I got through it and afterward, she said that she would be interested in meeting with us and discussing more about what we said, so we exchanged numbers and left. After this, what I learned was that no matter if I butcher my Polish, no matter if it really doesn't make sense at all, as long as I testify of what I know is true, the people will understand it, they will feel different, an they will want to learn more about our church and our message to the world. The Spirit truly speaks all languages, and Heavenly Father really does make up the differences in our weaknesses.

love,

Answers to Life's Big Questions.....

hey momma!!

yeah i guess i am a chef now haha, but i have to be,  i guess i have to be my own mother for two years haha. the members in Łódź are really cool, they are strong members with great spirits, it is really difficult to understand them when they talk though, because during church they use a lot of biblical speech, and a lot of idioms, which just fly over my head, i try to translate it and it makes no sense at all, but hey i can get the basic idea of what they are saying to me at 100 mph so im happy with it. but they are good, we have about 15 every week that are strong members, and my companion and i just helped a less-active see the light of the gospel again, and he has made the decision to begin his spiritual journey once again. so my favorite treat right now in poland, is something that you will find out about later, because i just sent you some today, its the christmas package i promised to send, it will hopefully get there before new years, if not oh well, i am just going to pray that it gets there safe and sound. Iit makes me so happy to hear that you are all doing good, you are moved in and making the house your own. yeah i know we watched our savior descend and be born, and i know that we were singing together as one big happy family, i bet it was awesome.
So my companion and I had some pretty cool experiences this week: The first happened on Tuesday. We were teaching a less-active named Wojtek about the enabling power of the Atonement, and it went really well, Wojtek is doing really great, he was a less-active when I arrived here, and now he has come to church for two weeks, and is on the path to receive the priesthood. It has been such an honor to work with him, and see the things that have changed with him, even in these last two weeks, it is amazing what this church will do to people when they submit their will to Heavenly Father's will, it will always change people, and always for the better. So after our lesson on Tuesday with Wojtek we were waiting in the chapel for an investigator that the other Elders had a lesson planned with, but we waited for almost an hour and didn't show, so my companion and I were heading out to find a different less-active, and we were walking by the chapel and saw someone walking near it, and it was the investigator,  he is from Africa. He has been in Poland for 8 months and can speak very well, and very confidently. So we had a lesson with him, all about the Restoration, and it was incredible, we went through the entire lesson, which lasted about an hour. And after ward he said that this was crazy, about Joseph Smith and angels, and God and Jesus Christ appearing to him, but then he said that if it is true, it would be very important, so he wants to find out if it is true. When I heard that I was so happy, because I know that if he truly wants to find out if it is true, he will receive an answer, and that answer will be yes, and it will change his life. The peace that I have found in this gospel can not be described by any words at all. Answers to life's big questions will always be answered by this gospel, always. This gospel is the way to pure knowledge and peace, it is the gateway to never-ending happiness and security, it is the strait, narrow, and safe path through our lives, and the path back to our Heavenly Father. 

love,

elder summers