Week 11 - Krakow

Hey y'all!

How's it going?  Hope everyone is doing well.  This week has been pretty good.  Poland is awesome. 

We are outside quite a bit doing tracting and stuff, but luckily we have 3 new investigators that we are teaching lessons to, so we don't have to be out in the cold as much as we otherwise would have. 

One of them is named T.  She is progressing well and has a batismal date on the 28th.   We have high hopes that she will make it. 

Then we have D.  D a pretty cool guy that we have been teaching.  I'm not sure exactly when his baptismal date is, but we are working hard to help him out so he can make it.  We have high hopes for him as well. 

Then we have A.  We found her this week as a result of English class and have had one lesson with her with a couple more scheduled for this week.  She is Catholic and promised to read the Book of Mormon, so it sounds good so far.  So things are going well.  We are definitely busy and plan on staying that way. 

I can't believe that it has already been almost two weeks here in Poland.  Time is continuing to fly by.  Our district gets a long super well and stuff. The senior couple feeds us every Sunday with some members and stuff, and that's good. We make spaghetti and chicken and rice and kajobasa and pierogi.  It's pretty good.  I don't really know how to describe our apartment because I've never lived in one before.  It's nice I guess. 

Starszy Pettit has been in Poland for almost 5 months now.  His Polish is pretty impressive. 

On Wednesday, we were sweeping snow (they use brooms here for the most part apparently.  I bet you can imagine how well that goes) and I was using a broken broom.  Events transpired, and it ended up slicing part of my hand open.  We went to the doctor and they cleaned it out and stuff.  I was worried I might need some stitches or something, but it has sealed up nice and is healing good, so that's a good sign. 

But stuff is definitely going well over here.  Hope things are going well back at home too.  I love you all, and hope you have a great week!
-

Elder Hadfield

Elder Pettit and Elder Hadfield

Week 10 - Krakow

Hello everyone!

How are things going?  I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  I'm am officially now in Poland.  It's crazy how different it is than the states.  My first area will be Kraków, which I've heard is one of the best areas, so that's good. 

This week was pretty crazy though.  Our flights to get here were pretty long, and I'm still recovering from the jet-lag.  We stayed at the mission home with President Turek and his family.  Then, on Thursday morning, we got our area assignments and trainers.  I am training with Starszy Pettit.  He is from Missouri, but lived in Utah for the past two years.  He seems pretty cool, and we are getting along pretty well so far.  We had a two and a half hour train ride to Kraków, and that was nice because I was able to sleep for most of it.  But things are going pretty well here.

On Saturday, one of the other two companionships in our district had a baptism with someone named Michał.  He super cool and he loves the missionaries.  We were able to go to that, and that was super cool.  It was New Year's Eve, and so that night we had dinner at a member's house.  His name is Lukas, and he's pretty cool.  His family is from Argentina, and they don't speak any Polish, just English.  It was delicious though.  He made us some South American food. 

On Sunday, I went to church for my first time in Poland.  That was definitely a culture shock.  There were about 15 members there, and 6 of us were missionaries, so it's really small.  It was good though.  That night, we went and had dinner with the senior couple in our area.  That was also pretty nice.  Our branch is pretty close, and that is cool.  But things are going well in Poland.  I hope they are going well wherever you guys are too. 

 If you have time, you can shoot me a quick email and I should have time to respond next week.  I'd love to hear from you.  Well hope you all have a sick week.  Love you all!

Starszy Hadfield

Arrival in Krakow

A random Missionary Mom called out to this group as she left the Salt Lake International Airport and asked "Where are you going?" They replied "Poland!" She said, "Smile and wave for your momma's!" And they did! :)

        

Dear parents of our newly arrived missionaries,

We are very happy to have you sons and daughter in our mission! Let me tell you quickly what they have been doing so far: After we had picked them up from the airport yesterday, there was some legal paperwork to do in the mission office, they had a finding activity with the assistants and some other missionaries, interviews with President Turek, dinner in the mission home, and after a short introduction and testimony  meeting everybody was happy to go to bed early (the jetlag is hard). This morning, we had the trainer and trainee meeting and now your children are already in their first proselyting areas:

Sister Hammond in Szczecin, Elder Erickson in Warsaw, Elder Dossett in Łódż, Elder Hadfield in Kraków and Elder Wójcik in Katowice.

They are very excited to serve in Poland and so are we. We have felt their strong testimonies and know they will be great instruments in the Lord's hands to help the church in Poland grow. Thank you for your support for your children!

Sister and President Turek

Starszy Wojcik, Starszy Hadfield,Siostra Hammond, Starszy Dossett, and Starszy Erickson

Week 9 - Provo MTC

Hello everyone for the last time from the MTC!

How's it going?  Things are going well here.  We are still working hard and trying to keep it up until we leave.  We leave the MTC at around 10:30 on Tuesday Morning. 

The MTC has been an awesome experience with all of the devotionals, general authorities, choir practices, class, and study time.  I'm definitely really going to miss it here, but I'm pretty pumped for the field.  We'll probably get to Poland around noon local time.  It's exciting. 

This last week, we had the Piano Guys come play for us on Sunday and share their testimonies.  That was pretty cool.  For our Tuesday devotional, we had Elder Zwick of the Seventy come and speak, and he did a good job.  But yea other than that, just the normal class and study the rest of the day. 

I guess we'll see what Christmas will be like.  I hope you are all doing well.  Merry Christmas!  Have an amazing week!

Starszy Hadfield

Week 8 - Provo MTC

Travel Plans!

Hello everyone!

Things are going pretty well here at the MTC.  I'm still learning a lot of the language and making progress in the New Testament.  I'm through the book of Luke now. 

I've played a lot of basketball this week with another elder in my district, Starszy Erickson.  It's been a nice break from class.

Our speaker for our Tuesday devotional was none other than Elder Holland.  The myth.  The legend.  It was so good.  He talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon in our lives, and he also had us read through Alma 26 and he related it all to missionary work.  When we read verse 27, he talked a lot about the trials and afflictions we face, not just on a mission but in all of our lives.  He said that this life isn't easy because salvation isn't a cheap experience.  It wasn't easy for the Savior of the world, so why should it be easy for us?  He said that the road to salvation goes through Gethsemane, figuratively speaking, for each of us.  It was super awesome.  My favorite quote was when he was talking about how our missions should change each of us forever, and he said something along the lines of "If you come home from your mission unchanged, I won't threaten you.  I'll just choke you."  It was such an awesome devotional.  I'll never forget that experience of listening to Elder Holland spit fire from the pulpit. 

We also got our flight plans yesterday.  I'll be leaving here on the 27th, and I'll fly from Salt Lake to Amsterdam, then from Amsterdam to Warsaw.  Pretty exciting. 

But yea it's been a good week. 

Well I love you all, and hope you have a legendary week!

Starszy Hadfield

Week 7 - Provo MTC

Hello again everyone!

How's it going?  It's kind of hard to believe that it is P-day already.  Time really is going by way too fast.  I only have a little over two weeks left in the MTC, which is kind of hard to believe at this point.  Not much else has been going on this week.  Just a bunch of study and classes. 

The Polish is still coming along alright.  I still have a lot of work to do, but we'll see how it goes.  I finished the Book of Mormon again this week, which means I have now read it through twice here at the MTC.  It's been pretty awesome.  I started the New Testament, and that's going well so far. 

Every Fast Sunday, we have a mission conference, which, at the MTC is basically just another devotional with the whole MTC presidency.  President Burgess, the MTC president spoke, and he talked about how we should have Christ's name on our lips always as missionaries.  He said that everyone we talk to on our missions should know that we are representatives of Christ.  I think that should apply to everyone that has been baptized.  When we were baptized, we covenanted with Heavenly Father that we would be willing to take upon us the name of His son and always remember Him.  So, no matter who we associate with, we shouldn't be afraid to let them know of our beliefs.  So yea stuff is going well. 

Pretty excited to get into to the field for sure, but I'm going to make sure these next two weeks count.  Well I hope you are all doing well and hope stuff is going well back at home and wherever you all are.  I love you all and have a legendary week!

-

Starszy Hadfield

Week 6 - Provo MTC

Elder Hadfield's MTC Christmas Tree

Elder Hadfield & Elder Erickson's Parents Lunch!

Richard Heaton, MTC Director of Training (Dad's personal friend)  and Elder Hadfield

Things are going pretty well.  Time just keeps marching on, doesn't it?  This week was pretty good. 

We've had quite a bit of snow here, and that's nice. 

I am continuing to make progress in the language.  Working hard on all the different cases to learn, and that's coming along pretty well.  I was able to memorize the First Vision in Polish.  So it's coming along well. 

Our devotional speaker this week was Jorge F Zeballos, and he's a member of the seventy.  It was pretty good.  He encouraged us to get converted before we start to convert anyone else.  In TRC we talked about repentance. 

When we got here, one of the other elders on our floor gave us a bag of about 700 tootsie rolls, and Starszy Erickson have an awesome time reverse pick pocketing other people with them. So that's pretty funny.  I play basketball every once in a while with Starszy Erickson during exercise time.  We play a lot of volleyball and handball too. 

Our branch presidency is awesome. We have President Bradford, then Brother Jackson and Brother Christofferson.  We have interviews with them, and they are all super nice and awesome and helpful.  Some of the other missionaries in our zone think President Bradford is strict when it comes to clothing and hair, so they call him "Big Bad Brad".  But I think he's awesome. 

I'm hoping to finish through reading the Book of Mormon this time, then maybe read through the New Testament.  I'm not sure yet though.  I get a little anxious thinking about leaving here and heading to Poland.  I don't know why.  Can't believe Stake Conference is tomorrow and Dad is already getting released. 

On Thursday, we decided to watch the 12 addiction recovery videos on lds.org (don't ask me why -- not my decision) but they were actually pretty cool.  There were a few of them where there were people who overcame some pretty bad stuff, and then they were able to see their families again, whether it was little kids, or their kids with grandchildren.  I guess I kind of realized that that will be me one day.  The missions preparing me for that.  The spotlight is on me for the next two years in a sense.  I feel like it's kind of like a basketball game where all of the angels are watching me and I have to do my best.  

As a district, we are watching all of the Light the World videos from the church.  They are all pretty amazing.   I encourage you all to watch them during the month of December. 

But yea things are going pretty well here.  I don't have a ton to say.  I love you all, and hope you have a legendary week!

-

Starszy Hadfield

Elder Jacob Richard Hadfield

DEC 27 POL WAR

2005 N 900 E Unit 173

Provo, UT 84602