So Happy, Even In The Hard Times.....

June 8, 2015

hey momma bear!!!

well to be honest, this week wasn't the greatest week ever. I struggled a lot this week internally,  but through the grace of the lord in giving me my companion, he really helped me this week, prayer helped, the scriptures helped, everything helped honestly. that is why I am so grateful for this mission, being separated from the world and rising up to that level of spirituality like you mentioned, allows us to really overcome things fast. This week of hardships didn't stop me from working at all, I figured that I could just forget myself and my own troubles and just go to work, and that is when all things are solved, and that happened this week. I am so grateful for the lord in my life.  and that you are teaching about the great and dreadful day of the lord, and if we are righteous it will be a great day, if we are wicked, it will be dreadful, so maybe you could mention that haha. im glad that all is well and you are happy, and just know that I am happy as well, so happy, even in the hard times. So this week, the Lord helped us out a lot, but particularly in one way. During a calling session that my companion and I had planned, we were calling all of the people we met on the street during the past few weeks. One in particular was a man who we met on the eighth of may in a park near our house.  He was walking with his young daughter. We talked to him about the Restoration, telling him that the heavens are open, and God speaks to men on Earth. At the end of the conversation we invited him to discover this truth for himself by reading the Book of Mormon. We exchanged numbers, promised we would be in contact, then departed. Three weeks passed, and during the calling session I mentioned, we called him and he decided to set-up for a lesson with us. He arrived right on time, and we began the lesson. It had been three weeks since we last had any contact, but in that time he had read the entire Book of Mormon twice, and had a lot of questions regarding who we were and what our lives were like. We had a member on the lesson, and he told our friend how his life looked according to the gospel. All of it made sense to him, and all of our teaching was met with his open mind, and at the end of the lesson he said that he would like to find out more about the church, pray about it, then get baptized, so we didn't set a date for him, but he is willing to change and accept the Lord's commitments.

love,

Elder Summers

hey dad!

well it sounds like your week was pretty good, and full of all kinds of interesting experiences. im glad that jace got home safely, and that he is that weird missionary guy, elder bednar said something about that, he said that missionaries that go on missions come home and fall right back into the life that they led before, the same habits, everything. but missionaries that serve missions, come back and are weirdos, they just don't fit into regular society. so that means that jace allowed his mission to change him, he served the lord and it sounds like he did a great job at it haha, now he just has to get married and make bret a grandpa. so that is an interesting experience that you had there with the snake, and also your comment about good snakes being dead snakes just made me think of something. lets compare snakes to temptations, and some are bad, but others are way worse, way worse, and just like the difference of danger between a rattlesnake and a blow snake. one is terrible, one isn't that bad, but a snake is still a snake, and it is better to avoid them completely. so yeah, its weird that I just thought about that but whatever, every situation can have a gospel equivalent. 

love,

Elder Summers 

A Light Just Shines Forth....

hey dad!

yes my week was very good, but busy, me and my companion were on exchanges so we didn't see each other very much, which was really weird and made the week fly by. but it was good, and I am glad to hear that kaidon got baptized this last week, I bet he was so happy. I love seeing the look in people's faces when they come up out of the water, I have only seen it a few times, but every time a light just shines forth, and the brilliance of a new life is so easy to be seen. I realized that, that I am the happiest when I make other people happy, or they are happy around me. everything is going really great, we are about half way through the current transfer, and things are still busy. So this week a little miracle happened to us. The district here in Katowice decided, with the help of our branch mission leader, that we need to start getting more people to come to Church. So for the achieving of this goal, we decided to text all of the less-actives and potential investigators that we have, reminding them that we had Church and inviting them. Then during Church, we had 5 or 6 more people show up to attend, some were less-actives, and some were investigators. They came and felt the spirit with us, it was something small, but I know that it was from the hand of the Lord that those people came back. I love you so much dad, keep on keeping on.

love,

Elder Summers

hey mamo!

my week was AWESOME! and it went by way too fast, because my companion and I were on exchanges so we didn't see each other for like half of the week or more, which obviously caused the week to scream by without control. im really happy for kaidon, that feeling is something that I hope he keeps his entire life, it isn't worth it to lose it. 

so we can get fresh vegetables from little street vendors and markets, but they look sketch as heck so we don't buy them usually, people usually have gardens in little plots of land outside of the main cities, and for work, its all just normal, office jobs, or construction, its all just the same honestly. yeah I can for sure agree with you on the awesomeness of the plan of salvation, I still remember that day when you and I were standing with Amanda, and I felt that I missed her, and I knew that was a true feeling because I remembered that I know my sister, and that she is living. its amazing to have that knowledge to destroy death and kick satan in the teeth.

love,

Elder Summers

Trying To Build Faith...

hey momma!

thank you for your testimony of the temple and the covenants, the temple is an amazing place, it is in more ways like a hospital than anything else, because people go there not because they are well, but because they need help, they need to be mended, and they need to do their checkups, so just like going to the doctor can be and is beneficial to our physical health, going to the temple is ever so important for our spiritual health. 

So this week something pretty cool happened. During my exchange we met a man named Zbyszek on the street near a place where we like to do tracting. We talked about faith and how important it is, how we can develop it, and this conversation led to us inviting him to act, so he took a copy of The Book of Mormon and agreed that we could come by at some time and talk to him about what he read. So the exchange ended, and honestly I kind of forgot about him and what he said to do, but the Lord didn't thank goodness. Because yesterday my companion and I felt that we should do some tracting in the evening, go knock on some doors and find someone who was interested in the gospel message. So we entered a building we had previously done, but we wanted to go and knock to the doors of the people who didn't answer, just to be sure that they were either interested or not. And at the second door we knocked to, Zbyszek opened up and smiled at us, then asked how we knew where he lived, and invited us in. We said we just had a feeling to come to this building, and then we had a conversation with him again about faith, and the nature of God. It was amazing and spiritual, we testified to him, and by the end of the conversation, he said he would like to keep the Book of Mormon, read it further, and try to build faith like we have. keep being awesome mom!

love,

Elder Summers

It Went Like This....

Hey Mamo,

I am so good, and as far as it goes in my week it went like this: So this week the hand of the Lord was with us a lot, but particularly on Sunday. So, recently in our prayers we have been taking a really big push in asking for the strength to do things, for ourselves, and when we pray for our investigators and potential investigators, we ask the Lord to bless them with the strength to act, to come to church, or for the prepared people here in Poland to come and find us, as we try our hardest to try and find them. And on Sunday right before Church started, our domophone rang, and I answered and the man on the other end said he wanted to come to church, of course I opened the door and let the man in, then went to go and greet him. I introduced myself to him and asked his name, thinking he was a less-active or something because I had never met him before. He introduced himself and said that he wasn't a member of the Church, and had actually found us through the Internet, and he like what he read so he decided to come and check us out. So I sat with him and he stayed for all three meetings of church, he got to see everything that we do, he had great questions and was totally willing to listen and accept answers. At the end of church my companion and I gave him copy of The Book of Mormon, and set up another meeting to meet with him. This was a miracle, we had been praying for this to happen, and this man felt the influence of the Holy Ghost prompting him to come to our church, and he followed that prompting. so yeah it was pretty awesome this week, and other than that, work was normal. I love you too momma, so much, stay safe and happy like usual.

Love, Elder Summers

hey dad!

if you can get to the point where you can cook a good pączek (pączki is the plural form by the way haha) i would love you so much more than I already do haha. ill send up a few prayers to our heavenly father though, if you want me too.

love,

Elder Summers

Polish Word Of The Week....

hey momma bear!

well first i have to thank you for bringing me into the world on that day in 1996 haha, i bet that i wasn't very easy at all, but i am grateful for it, because i was born into a great family, a family with the spirit and a family that i have enjoyed being a part of for all these past 19 years. so speaking of the urodziny i had yesterday, it was fun, i made an apple bread for my cake, and our district leader made brownies and peach cobbler, long story short it was a sugar overload, my companion actually puked because of it (all over our balcony), and then we ended up throwing the remaining brownies and cake off of that same balcony, it was pretty awesome. And another awesome thing was the presents, i LOVE my stripling warrior shirt, and i love the razor, i used it this morning and it was glorious and smooth. so im glad that you got to use me as an example of turning from a fisherman to a fisher of men, and i just read that part in Jesus the Christ as well, i love that book so much, it is making the life of Christ, the reality that he was on this Earth, and how he acted, his personality, his power, his authority, his teachings, just everything about him, it is just making seem so much more real to me, i love it, and im glad that you love it too.  So on the topic of weather we have actually been getting a lot of snow, i think we have gotten about 1/2 meter in the last few days, and it has been about -2 to 0 degrees celsius every day, so not too bad at all. thank you for all that you do, and i really am just fine, i couldnt be happier than i am right now,  thank you for everything momma, i love you.

 So, A few days ago Elder G and I were going out contacting, and instead of taking one of our usual routes, we decided to go a different way, one we had tried a few times. And as we were contacting and talking to people in the midst of the snow, we approached an older lady, and told her that today we were talking about how people could live with their families forever. She then told us that she was returning from the cemetery where her son was buried. In response to this, we told her that we have a way that she could not only see her son again, but she could be with him and her family for eternity. And I also related the experience my parents had with my sister dying, and how they found peace through Christ and his plan for us. We asked if she would like to know more, but she said at that moment she didn't have time, so we left her a brochure about The Plan of Salvation, and exchanged numbers. The reason I say this was the hand of the Lord, is because as we were leaving the apartment, we prayed that we could have someone to teach the Plan of Salvation to, and it happened. So this week we had a Doctrine Night, in which we taught the Plan of Salvation mixed with the Restoration, we handed out 400 ulotek in mailboxes, and out of all of them, only one man showed up, and he is one of the English students we have. So we taught him and it was amazing, the spirit was so strong, and we had President Najberg and Marta there, and they told their conversion stories, it was all just amazing. And at the end, sadly, he said that he didn't want to know more, because he had studied theology and he felt the Catholic faith he had was enough. So we invited him to seek an answer from God, and we knew that was all we could do, but it was good, I really enjoyed it.  Love,elder summers

p.s. im starting a polish word of the week, and this week it is: wspaniałomyślność : generosity

hey dad!

my birthday was awesome, we had a lot of sugar, and we had a lot of fun together as well. every day out here has been fun to be completely honest, even the hard days, something always happens that makes us laugh, or my companion will say something funny or something like that, and it makes me forget all of the bad. haha thats awesome that you call them the preachers, and im glad that you got to teach the greatest most amazing part of the gospel, i love the plan of salvation as well, and it is for sure my favorite, because through it i know that i know amanda, and i will see her and hug her and talk to her again. so, i may be one year older, but i am still a young missionary haha, my companion is in his 20's, and i still think i am one of the youngest in the mission still, but it does feel good to get another year under my belt. i remember that meeting with elder malm, that was incredible oh my gosh, it was amazing how serious he got, at that moment the only thing that he was concerned about on the face of this planet or any other planet, was Maddie getting baptized and me baptizing her. im glad that we came through as well, it wasn't easy at all, i am forever thankful for that now. i love you too dad, thank you for everything that you have done for me. 

It Was So Amazing To Be Part of This.....

hey momma bear!

The study time that we get is really awesome, and it something that i really dont want to lose when i get home, just the personal time i get every morning with me and my heavenly father is worth more to me than almost anything. it seems the house is testing you two pretty hard, and it could even be something you could use as an example in your teaching, that is one thing you could say about Christ, he was incredible at making examples of things, and making and using parables, it is something that i have been trying to do lately, and it is pretty tough, so i am glad that i have a great example like christ to follow behind.

So this past week, our investigator got to enter the waters of baptism, and my companion got to perform the ordinance, and it was quite a long day to get him baptised. The day started off with our usual studies, and then after our Personal Study my companion texted him about the baptism, and he said to cancel it because he wouldn't be able to make it through the snow on his wheelchair. Immediately we got ready and left to catch a bus or a train or something to get to his house in Skarżysko, a little town about 40 minutes outside of Kielce. So we get to his town, and we start walking towards his house, not knowing where to go exactly, only walking in the direction we knew it was. We got to a crossroads and turned and kept walking, but we felt a little weird about it, so in our minds as we were walking we said a prayer to Heavenly Father, pleading for help. And literally seconds after we finished our prayers, a man came up and was nice enough to direct us exactly where we had to go. So we arrived at his house and got him to the train station, we had missed a train and had to wait for a while, but eventually we got on the train heading to Kielce. And when we arrived, his baptism was set and performed. We were both in the water in order to help him in and out of the water, and after the baptism was completed we got to hear him share his testimony with us. It was so simple and so sweet, and after this we sent him on a train back home to Skarżysko, we were going to go with him to help him out, but there wouldn't be a returning train that day, so we had to let him go by himself unfortunately. And the next day, he got to receive his baptism of fire by the means of the Holy Ghost, now another one of God's children can and will enjoy the constant companionship of the third member of the Godhead for the rest of his life. It was so amazing to be a part of his experience.

Love,
Elder Summers

hey dad!

 This last week in church we had 17 people including missionaries, and it was awesome, it seemed like with each person that walked in the spirit got a little stronger, it was amazing. and i cant wait to help you out on lessons haha, it will be weird for me to teach in english to be honest, i dont know if ill be able to do it, polish might just come right out of my mouth for all i know, but nevertheless it would be fun to be your companion on a lesson. thank you for the happy birthday wish, im hoping it will be a good day, im going to make some cookies and we are going to have a little party as missionaries and go tracking in some commi blocks. it will be a good day, and its weird to think that ill be 19. i love you too dad, so much, thank you for everything.

love,

elder summers

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