Week 76 - Szczecin

Hello everyone!

     What a week it has been.  It started off really solid with zone conference in Poznań, and that was great.  President Turek spoke about love and loving the people we serve here on the mission.  We also learned from each other about different chapters of PMG, and it was a really good conference.  I translated for that into English for the new missionaries and senior couples, so I wasn't able to take many notes, but what I remember was really solid. 

          With P, it's a really interesting situation.  He knows just so much about the Book of Mormon.  They've attended church a couple of times in the past, which is how they know the branch president, and President Trukszyn asked us to help them out because they both have medical things right now.  So we've been going to their apartment and helping them out with things often.  We helped P get to a doctor's appointment today, and we sat in the lobby waiting talking about the Book of Mormon.  He's read the Book of Mormon at least 10 times in different languages, and he was talking today about Peter Whitmer and Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery and about Joseph Smith and all this stuff.  He know more things about some of them than I do.  He's such an intelligent guy and he's a pretty normal person.  Super cool.  Not sure how to teach them, but we'll continue to serve them and try to love them into the church.  We talked briefly about conference, and he said he would like to come in 6 months when we have it again.  I told him that we could also bring him a copy of the Liahona with the talks for him, and I think he'll enjoy that.  They are such good people, hoping as we keep serving them, we'll see them open up even more.  We'll see how things go this week.  On Thursday, we will be in a city called Gorzów visiting a member, and we're hoping that goes well.  It'll hopefully be a good week. 

          The week ended off on a great note with general conference.  What a conference it was. General conference as a missionary just feels like Christmas.  It's a great reminder that there's more than just a handful of church members in the world.  We watched the Saturday morning and Sunday morning sessions live, and the others we watched the day after, but we have been able to watch all of them. It was a great conference, and I'm excited to review the talks over the next 6 months. 

          It's a testament to me that "[the Lord] will hasten [his] work in its time" (D&C 88:73)  How blessed we are to be led by continuing revelation from God to guide the affairs of His kingdom on the earth.  I really enjoyed the other themes of personal revelation and temple attendance.  When we strive to make time for the temple, we make time for the spirit to impact our lives.  As we strive to be worthy of the spirit and really sincerely pour out our heart to God through prayer, we receive answers and inspired direction in our different walks of life. 

          I've set a goal to listen to a general conference talk every day up to next conference to follow President Nelson's invitation to frequently and repetitively study the talks, and I'm excited to see what I can continue to learn and the improvement that will make in my life.  The Lord really is hastening His work, what a blessing we all have to be a part of that hastening.  May we each hasten our own individual work as we strive to follow the Savior and emulate Him.  Have a legendary week! 

-Elder Hadfield