Week 45 - Lodz

Hey everyone!

     This week was a solid one.  We went to Warsaw on exchanges with the zone leaders on Monday, and those were really good.  Warsaw is a good city.  I'm hoping I get to serve there in the future.  We got back to Łódź on Wednesday.  

          On Friday, we went to a Polish restaurant with O, and that was really cool.  Good to spend more time with him.  Then on Saturday, we had Polish class with O and then had a lesson with him after.  We've been reading the Book of Mormon with him, and this week we're going to hook him up with a Book of Mormon study guide.  We're hoping that will be helpful for him as he continues to progress.  

          On Saturday, we also got transfer calls.  I'm staying in Łódź for another two months, and I'm also going to be training!  So that's going to be interesting.  Elder Toone's going to Bydgoszcz, Elder Barlow is coming down from Bydgoszcz to Łódź and he's going to train, and Sister Anderson is staying here and training.  So we'll have three trainees this next transfer in Łódź.  Pretty cool I guess.  It'll be a good transfer for sure. 

          Something that I learned a lot about this last transfer is self improvement.  All of us come up short in different ways.  Luckily, thanks to Jesus Christ and his Atonement, we have the possibility to repent and improve ourselves every day.  When we do that, we come closer to Him and we feel His presence in our lives through the Holy Ghost.  Excited for this new transfer and the opportunities and experiences that we'll have.  Hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Hadfield

Week 39 - Lodz

Hello all!

     How are things going for y'all?  Hope they are going well.  Things are good here in Łódź.  It's been getting a little chilly here with a lot of rain for some reason.  The weather here is pretty unpredictable sometimes.  This week we've been trying to do some finding activities in some different locations, and they've been working pretty well.  We actually met a guy who was born in New York, but has traveled all over Europe and stuff for his parents work and now his work.  He's in his twenties right now, and he's super cool.  We've already had lunch with him a couple times, and he's super interested in what we have.  He also speaks 8 languages, which I find amazing.  But yea, we're hoping to get him to church soon.  The work is going well.  So this week, I was reading some more in the Pearl of Great Price, and it's got some really good stuff in it.  I especially liked Joseph Smith - History as I was reading through it.  I'd like to share just a couple verses I really liked:

24 However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise.

25 So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it[...]

Reading Joseph Smith's own account of the Restoration is very powerful, and it definitely gave me more faith in the work that I go about doing every day.  One thing that I love about the Restoration is that Joseph Smith's experience in it can easily be applied to our individual circumstances in one way or another.  As Latter-Day Saints, we face some adversity and persecution, but we can stand tall knowing who we represent.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a witness of Jesus Christ here in Poland, bringing His amazing truth into the lives of the people here.  How lucky are we to be living in the time we are today.  Love you all, and hope you have an amazing week!

-Elder Hadfield