Week 75 - Szczecin

Hey there everyone!

     Life is good over here in Szczecin.  The week was another quick one.  We did some tracting this week and found a couple of potentials.  We'll visit them again this week, hopefully all goes well.   We met with a less-active guy, J., and he's super cool.  He's in Szczecin until July, and then he's moving back to Warsaw for a bit.  So we'll see if we can do anything with him before then.  Our potential named Al. is going back to Belarus for a few weeks to be with family, so we'll have to wait a bit before we can formally meet with him again.  But yea.  This week will be good.  We have zone conference in Poznań tomorrow, and that should be good.  We are also going out to Barlinek to teach our investigator, Ad., and that should be good.  We'll see how it goes.  Also looking forward to conference and Easter this week.  Those will be awesome.  We've been working with the Easter campaign here in Europe this year, #AlwaysThere, and that's been going well.  This past week specifically, I've studied a lot about the last few days of Christ's mortal ministry, and it's been a really uplifting experience.  One of my favorite scriptures I have read during these studies has been in Isaiah chapter 53:

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief[...]

4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows[...]

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

How blessed are we that the Savior, the perfect Son of God, suffered for our imperfections so that we can overcome them.  I'm thankful to Him for His selflessness and His love for us.  Through Christ, we can overcome sin and death, and "with his stripes we are healed".  Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Hadfield

Week 74 - Szczecin

Hello everyone!

     How are things going for you all?  Things are going well for me.  This week was another good one.  It was also quick, that's for sure.  On Wednesday, we went out to a small city named Stargard, about 45 minutes away from Szczecin.  We went there to help a member shovel a pile of coal into their storage unit, and it was good to be able to help them.  

We also got a new investigator on Saturday, which was solid.  His name is A., and he lives in a city named Barlinek, about 2 hours away from Szczecin.  We visited him and talked about prayer, and we're hoping that we can help him make progress and come closer to Christ.  We are in contact with him over the phone, and we're planning on going back out there to meet with him next Wednesday the 28th, so we'll see how that goes.  

Outside of that, we have a couple of potentials, one of which we are meeting with tomorrow, and we're hoping that goes well.  It should be another good week.  

I have a talk in church next Sunday, which happens often enough since we don't have too many members here.  The topic will be 'Jesus Christ - The Perfect Example'.  I'm excited for it, it's a fitting topic with Easter coming up soon. I've started preparing for that talk, and I've enjoyed the opportunity it's given me to focus on and learn more about His life and example.  As the Bible Dictionary says about Christ, "He is the greatest Being to be born on this earth—the perfect example", and I know that as we follow Him and strive to become more like Him, we will be guided and we can achieve happiness as we feel His love for us.  Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Hadfield

Week 73 - Szczecin

Hello everyone!

     This week was a fast one.  We were pretty busy.  On Tuesday, we had quite a few meetings, including district meeting, some meeting with all of the other mission leaders through skype about the new Easter initiative, and our English class, and it was a good day.  Wednesday, Elder Lange and I got a train out to a city called Kołobrzeg to visit some referrals.  We delivered a Book of Mormon to one of them, so we got that in.  Kołobrzeg is also right along the Baltic Sea, so we briefly stopped by there before our train back.  That was pretty sick.  

On Thursday and Friday, we were in Gdańsk with the zone leaders.  Those went pretty well, the zone leaders are hard workers.  We did quite a bit of contacting, and that was good.  Elder Lange and I are going to try out contacting more, and we'll see how it goes.  On Friday evening, we also got our transfer calls for this next transfer.  Elder Lange and I found out that we will be staying together for his final transfer.  We're pretty excited for that, it should be a good transfer.  But yea, outside of that, we're working hard, looking to see some good success this next week, and we're gonna kick off this transfer with a bang.  Hope everything is going well for you all, have a solid week!

-Elder Hadfield

Week 72 - Szczecin

Hello all!

This week was pretty good. It was a fast one as usual. We had a meeting with K. and J. this week, and we talked about the Restoration with them. It went alright, but they still haven't came to church. We're gonna see if we can help them do that here pretty soon. We also have been teaching English to A., a potential, and he was in church for the third time yesterday. He believes all roads lead to God, but he likes what we have and we're hoping he keeps coming to church and that he can keep feeling the Spirit there.

This week should be a busy one. On Wednesday, Elder Lange and I are going out to a city called Kołobrzeg to visit a couple referrals, and we're hoping that goes well. Then on hursday and Friday, we'll be in Gdańsk on exchanges with the zone leaders. This Saturday, we'll also get our transfer calls, and then we have transfers next Monday. Pretty insane that another transfer is ending already. Seeing as I've only spent one transfer here in Szczecin, I'm thinking I'll stay, which I would be down for, but we'll see.

We're sure it'll be another good week though, we're looking forward to it and excited to see the work move forward. Hope everything is going well for you all, it's going well over here and I'm loving life. Have a good week!

-Elder Hadfield

Week 71 - Szczecin

Hello everyone!

     This week was pretty good.  It was another fast one.  It was another week where we didn't have too many meetings, so we did a lot of finding this week.  We tried visiting some less-actives as well, and that went pretty well.  We met R., a less-active, at his apartment and had a good discussion with him.  We're hoping to start working with him now and help him get progressing. 

We met with one of our investigators, K., this week and read 2 Nephi 33.  I really like that chapter.  He seemed to enjoy it too.  We were hoping to get him to church yesterday, but that unfortunately didn't end up happening.  Hopefully we can make some progress with him soon.  We were supposed to have a couple meetings with either potentials or formers this week, but unfortunately all of them either flaked or canceled.  So we're hoping that goes better this week. 

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday morning.  That was an interesting experience.  Basically the doctor just looked down my throat and in my ear and said, "It looks like you have an infection of some kind."  Kind of different from the States where they actually like to figure out what you are infected with, but whatever.  So he prescribed me some antibiotic, some Sudafed, and a nose spray to keep down the congestion.  So we'll see what happens with that, hopefully it goes away soon enough.  We also went to the government office to help the office elders out with something, but that didn't end up working out, so we'll have to go back there this week sometime.  

We'll get transfer calls next Saturday (the 10th) already, which is hard to believe, and then transfers are the following Monday (the 12th).  So we'll see what happens.  I feel like Elder Lange and I will probably stay together next transfer, which will also be his last transfer.  However he thinks he'll leave Szczecin.  He's been here for four months now, so I guess it could go either way.  But we'll see what happens.  

This week, we have exchanges with the zone leaders in Gdańsk again, so that'll be good.  Those will be from Tuesday to Wednesday.  On Thursday, we'll have district meeting, and President Turek will be there for interviews as well.  So that will be a good experience.  Then on Friday, we'll have apartment cleaning checks.  So it'll be a busy week.  We're looking forward to it.  Hope everything is going well for you all.  Have a good week!

-Elder Hadfield