Monday, June 26, 2017

Week 35 - Krakow



Hello all!

     Hope you all had a good week.  Mine was pretty good.  We had a few lessons this week, including one with the referral who came to church last week.  He is about 25 years old, and he's super promising.  In our lesson, we read 2 Nephi 31 together and talked about baptism.  He seems really open to the idea.  He doesn't want to set a specific date yet because he wants to read more of the Book of Mormon and learn more from that, but I'm confident he'll be ready to set a date soon enough.  He came to church again yesterday, so that's good.  He's super solid.  We also had another person come to church yesterday.  He comes to our English class sometimes.  He's about 60 years old and a funny guy.  He's coming to branch FHE tonight, but goes out of town tomorrow for a week or so, so we won't be able to have a lesson with him this week.  But yea, the work is going well in Kraków.  This week is also our last week of the transfer.  Crazy it's that time again.  I've been in Kraków for 6 months now, so I'm anticipating a change.  Anything can happen though.  Whatever does come, I'm glad I have been able to spend the past 6 months in Kraków because it's just such an amazing area, and I'm sure that whatever comes will be great as well.  This week I have been studying a lot about Isaiah and the historical context of his ministry.  I'm probably going to study Isaiah in depth once I have finished the Doctrine & Covenants.  So I'm looking forward to it.  It's really interesting to see the hand of the Lord in the scriptures, and I know His hand is in our lives just the same, because God is the same forever and ever.  Hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Hadfield

Monday, June 19, 2017

Week 34 - Krakow


Hello all!
    How's it going?  This week was good.  We didn't teach a ton of lessons, but it was still pretty fun.  The other elders' here in Kraków had a baptism on Saturday, so that was super cool.  It's been awesome to see how fast the work is progressing here in just 6 short months.  It's great.  We had a lesson with one of our recent converts this week, and that was pretty good.  We're going to try to meet with the recent converts more often in the next couple weeks.  We also got two online referrals, one of them wanted a Book of Mormon but specifically asked for no missionaries to come to his apartment, so we just went there and slipped a Book of Mormon into his mailbox with our number.  Hopefully we can get in contact with him soon.  We called the other referral and invited him to church, and he ended up coming and staying for all three hours!  So that was pretty sweet.  He asked a lot of questions and seemed super interested.  He seems super promising.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet, and he's coming to English class on Tuesday and staying for the spiritual thought afterwards.  We'll set up on a formal meeting with him then.  Super good though.  Pretty excited to see what he's all about.  We are having a lesson with our only investigator at the moment on Tuesday, and we are going to read 2 Nephi 33 with her and astonish her.  Hopefully it goes well.  

President Turek will also probably be at our district meeting on Tuesday, so that will be super cool.  He's awesome.  We also have transfers coming up in two weeks, which is hard to believe.  Time here just all blends together.  We get our transfer calls next Saturday, so we'll see what happens.  Hopefully it's good.  So this week while I read the Book of Mormon, I went through the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi.  And they are super enlightening.  I read them along with the corresponding chapters from  Isaiah.  And there was a part I found really interesting where Nephi does a great job of clarifying what Isaiah says.  It's in Isaiah 29:

1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.   
2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.       
3 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.       
4 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.           
5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.           
6 Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

Now what on earth does that mean?  Luckily, Nephi explains exactly what it means in 2 Nephi 26:

15 After my seed and the seed of my brethren shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about, and shall have laid siege against them with a mount, and raised forts against them; and after they shall have been brought down low in the dust, even that they are not, yet the words of the righteous shall be written, and the prayers of the faithful shall be heard, and all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten.           
16 For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust.
17 For thus saith the Lord God: They shall write the things which shall be done among them, and they shall be written and sealed up in a book, and those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God.

Thanks to this passage, we know Isaiah was prophesying in part about the Nephites and Lamanites in ancient America.  As we see at the end of the Book of Mormon, this prophecy was fulfilled and the apostasy began.  Luckily, we do not dwindle in unbelief, so we have the words of this book (the Book of Mormon) and we hear the words of the Nephites whispering from the dust, telling us how to live and playing the role of the iron rod that leads us to Jesus Christ.  I know that I talk about the Book of Mormon all the time in these emails, but that’s because it has brought me peace, safety, and joy in my life.  I know that through sincere study of the Book of Mormon, we all will come to feel God’s love in our lives and we invite the Spirit of the Lord to guide us.  I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that it was given to help guide us through the last days we now live in.  I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

 -Elder Hadfield














Monday, June 12, 2017

Week 33 - Krakow

Hey all!

     Life is good.  Don't have much time this week.  But the church is true.  Read the Book of Mormon.  Have a legendary week!


-Elder Hadfield

*Jake mentioned he didn't have much time to write today since they were going to Zakopane for a p-day activity. A family from the US is visiting Poland with their returned missionary daughter, and invited the Elders in Krakow to join them at Zakopane and sent pictures via text of their time with these "delightful" missionaries. Here they are:

















Monday, June 5, 2017

Week 32 - Krakow

Hello all!
   Things are going well here in Kraków.  This week we had a couple of lessons fall through with potentials, and a lot of the other people we meet with are busy with that last couple weeks of school here, which meant we had a grand total of zero lessons this week.  Which is good.  I enjoy being out on the street talking to people.  It's getting warmer and warmer here.  Hopefully it doesn't get too warm.  It's crazy that we are already into June.  We're hoping as we spend more and more time on the street that we will find those people out there who are ready.  This week I wanted to share a video on lds.org that I watched this week from Elder Holland.  It's really good, and you all should watch it.  It's about God's love for each of us relationship to Him.  Here's the link:

https://goo.gl/ttL5AT
On my mission, I have learned about our relationship to God, and I continue to learn so much about it as I go through life.  God loves us each with a perfect love that we can't comprehend at this point in our eternal progression.  No matter what we have done, no matter where we are, He loves us just the same, and it's our job to show our love to Him by following Him and doing the things He wants us to do.  I know that as we do this, we will find true happiness in our lives.  Hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Hadfield

*The Kamp family from Utah went back to Poland with their returned missionary daughter and took a package to Jake from us. They took them to dinner and sent fun pictures back. Bless them! 



Dinner with the Kamp family - Sister Kamp just returned from her mission in Poland, and is on tour with her family there

Elder Ashworth and Elder Hadfield




Sister Kamp, Elder Hadfield, Elder Ashworth - Krakow