Week 22 - Krakow

Katowice Zone Training - March 2017

Hello there everyone!

     How are things going?  Hope it's well for all of you wherever you are. 

This week was pretty good.  We have had a lot of lessons recently, which is the way we like it.  We're working hard with members and have like 3 members left to visit before we have visited all of them this transfer, so that's pretty cool.  We'll try to get a couple more meetings this upcoming week.  

We had a meeting with a couple from India for the first time on Wednesday, and we taught them about the Restoration.  It went pretty well.  They committed to baptism, so that's super exciting.  We'll see where it goes from here and we'll have a lesson or two this week and try to make some progress with them. 

We weren't able to get back to Nowy Sącz this week, but we're tentatively planning on Wednesday to return and teach C again.  Hopefully we can make that happen.  We had a lesson with A on Tuesday, and we talked with her about the importance of the Book of Mormon.  We committed her to read and pray about it, then we asked her if she received the answer that the Book of Mormon is true if she would get baptized, and she said probably not, at least not yet.  We're hoping her heart is a little softened as she reads and finds out of it's truthfulness. 

We are also working with some of our recent converts on Family History.  It's been going really well.  I really didn't know much about Family History before my mission, but I've learned quite a bit about it here.  It's super cool.  I encourage all of ya'll to take a look at it. 

With the language, I'm able to understand other missionaries almost 100%, with native Poles it's still about 30% depending on what they are talking about, and President Turek is somewhere in between.  It's gotten a lot better though, and hopefully it will keep improving.  

The weather in Kraków doesn't quite know what to do with itself.  Sometimes it will be a pretty warm day, then others will be a little chilly.  It's nothing like winter though, and we're hoping that consistent spring weather is just around the corner.  

With our apartment, we have a kitchen, a laundry room (with a washer and a couple of shelves), a bathroom (toilet, sink, and shower) a study room, a bed room, and another room that's kind of just a room where we hang laundry.  It's a fairly good-sized apartment.  It's heated fairly well.  We'll see how it gets once it starts to get warmer here.  

For P-days, the last few we've just kind of hung out at the chapel and watched mormon messages (super boring, but it's also super relaxing and it saves money).  Today, we will play some frisbee, so that should be fun.  We'll see how it goes.  We usually do laundry on just any day of the week.  Pop those clothes in before bed, time it to go off at 7 or so in the morning, then hang it up to dry before planning.  It's convenient.  I ironed one shirt the morning after I got in Poland, and that's it.  The shirts I got are super good at straightening out.  

This week should be a good week as well.  We have some more lessons set up, and we might take another trek out to Nowy Sącz.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm looking forward to it.  Well I love you all, and hope you have an amazing week!

-Elder Hadfield

Week 21 - Krakow

Hey everyone!

 Hope things are going well for all of you wherever you are.  Things are going well in Poland still.  It was a busy week. 

We had zone training on Thursday in Katowice.  We took a bus for an hour and a half to get there.  It was good.  There was a large focus on working with the members, which I think is key no matter where we are in the world.  It was really good though.  

On Friday, took a two hour bus ride to go to a nearby village named Nowy Sącz to visit a couple members and have a lesson with an investigator from Nigeria. It was super pretty. We also have a return appointment with A this week, so we'll see how it goes. Every Sunday, we also have dinner at the senior couple's place (the Dalton's) with the members of the branch.  That's super awesome every week.  They go home in less than a month though, which is pretty crazy. 

But yea it was a good week.  We'll try to build off of it this week too.  I just have a thought I had this week while reading Doctrine and Covenants.  Many of the sections end with the Lord saying, "Behold, I come quickly".  I was reminded about how soon the Lord will come again, and how we need to always be ready.  As the hymn 'Hope of Israel' puts it, we must always "watch and pray", and I think that is the best way for us to be prepared to meet the Lord at the Second Coming.  As we continually watch and pray, I know we will progress to the point where we can look forward to the coming of the Lord with joy.  I love you all, and have a great week!

-Elder Hadfield

Week 20 - Krakow

Hello everyone!

How was your week?  I hope it was nice.  This week was pretty good for me.  We don't have any progressing investigators at the moment, but we are working really hard out on the streets to find more. 

The good news is that A is back in town and we have a lesson with her this week, so we'll see how that goes.  We also have zone training in Katowice on Thursday, so that's going to be cool.  I'm excited for that.

We are also getting a Sports Saturday set up this week where we can play basketball with investigators for a little while.  That will be pretty sick, so I'm looking forward to that. 

This week, I read Alma 26 in my scripture study, and it's a really solid chapter about missionary work.  I like verse 27 where the Lord promises that if we bear with patience our afflictions, we will be given success.  This can be applied to other areas of our lives, not just missionary work.  I know that if we endure the trials and challenges we face in our lives with patience, we will find success.  Love you all, and have a great week!
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Elder Hadfield

Week 19 - Krakow

Hello everyone!

Things are going well here in Kraków.  Excited to be here another transfer.  This week was a really busy week, with a lot of finding activities and contacting and stuff.  It was good.  Right now we don't have any progressing investigators, but we heard from Ania this week that she might be able to meet with us sometime in two weeks.  So we are hoping that goes well.  We are also hoping we get some people from our contacting and stuff.  We'll keep up the finding this week for sure. 

This week in my Book of Mormon study, I read about the story of Ammon and King Lamoni.  I'm always in awe of what Ammon was able to accomplish as a missionary among the heard-hearted Lamanites.  I think a lot of it comes from his exact obedience and his faith.   In verse 10 of Alma 18, we read

¹⁰ Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.

Ammon was extremely faithful, and from the scriptures we learn that faith brings about miracles.  I have seen a lot of miracles in the mission field so far, and I know that they come from the faith of the investigators and members involved.  I know that through our faith, we can bring about miracles.  I love you all, and have an awesome week!
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Elder Hadfield