End of October 2011

Hey!
That is so cool that you finished the Book of Mormon. It seems that everyone is finishing it right about now. You, President Nielson just finished it again. I'm part way through Mormon and Sister Stay is in 3 Nephi, so we're not too far behind. It truely is a remarkable book, not just an interesting history of ancient America, but direction from God. I love that you said that as you read you receive answers to prayers. So often it is as we are obedient to other commandments that we have been given that he blesses us with the needed wisdom and insight we desire.

I promise I am taking some pictures, but for some reason the last two times I tried to upload them onto a computer there were some technical difficulties. But I'll have plenty of pictures to show you when I get home.

This week has been crazy. We have worked so hard. I feel like this transfer has been a lot of fine tuning of missionary skills. How to listen to the Spirit, how to teach simply and clearly, how to plan effectively, not to mention language. And as a result we've seen many blessings from that trainting this week. I can't even go into all of the specifics, but a general list is: we've had some really powerful contacts, through spirit filled planning caught some less active members at home and were invited back, taught some lessons that were exactly what investigators needed, and Alex from Warsaw came up and visited Sister Stay and me for the weekend (she's putting in her mission papers next month!!!). Sister Stay and I have gotten along super well and I think we needed to learn some really similar lessons. It's been great to go through the journey of discovery of how to be a better missionary together with someone who just loves this work as much as I do.

Commentary: As a missionary, even though you get 8 hours of sleep, you are exhausted non-stop. Probably because you never stop working. You're either preping for the day, studying and preparing for lessons, on your way to appointments at the same time as trying to talk with people around you on busses and tell them a little about why you're in Poland and see if they'd want to learn more, and then the main work: teaching and finding. It isn't uncommon to work through meal times, especially with projects like the Open House coming up. And then when you finally get home at 9 you have to focus and plan the next day. Lately, Sister Stay and I have been extra tired. As soon as we plan we go to sleep. And then when we wake up, we're already tired. For the last week, as soon as we wake up the first thing we say is: "When is daylight savings time?" We literally started praying that it would come soon so we could have a blessed extra hour of sleep. Well, surprise! We found out on Saturday night that it was daylight savings time in Poland, and we well rested for church the next day. 

I feel really really blessed to be serving the Lord right now. The area I'm serving in is literally exploding. We are learning to teach more consise and direct messages and it's helping us teach more and find those who are interested in finding out if what we are saying is true. We're also organizing an open house for our chapel. By chapel I mean a rented part of a building that we use to meet as a branch. There is only the one real chapel in Poland and I've never served in that branch. I think it'll be weird to go back to real church buildings. Anyway, there will be a tour and Q&A and multimedia station. I don't think it'll quite be like Temple Square, but we're going for a similar effect. So, pray that everything will go smoothly and that people with come. And pray for our investigators especially Monika, Gosia, and Magda. They are so great and I love them and love teaching them because I can feel how much God loves them.

Love ya,
Thanks for all you do.

Siostra Allen

Funny story:
A week ago we were tracting a building and Sister Stay went to open the door she thought it led into a stairwell. Apparently she's just too strong because she broke the door hand knob off. Turns out it was just an apartment at ground level and they no longer had a door handle. We felt so bad. Of course it was our fault and so, we knocked on the door to see if we could come back the next day and buy them a new handle, but the man just yelled at us and wouldn't let us buy a new one, come back, or even leave our contact information in case he changed his mind. So we found the actual door to the stairwell and tracted the building. But when we finished and came outside, the handle that Sister Stay had snapped in half was in one piece. Confusing.

As far as my life goes, we’ve been fighting a lot of apathy lately. As we talk to people we ask them: 1. what direction from God specific to their life and needs would be of value to them, or 2. what meaning the original church of Jesus Chrsit without any variation would have to them, or 3. what meaning would the knowledge that their family could be together forever have. And more often than not they either reply that they already have sufficient faith and don't want any more or that they really couldn’t care less. And these are from the people that believe in God; however, they don’t think God plays a role in their everyday life and they don’t think that Him doing so would really have an impact. I now have faces to go along with every single statement in 2 Nephi 28 and a testimony that the apostasy is real. Ideas about religion are so varied and too many people have become comfortable with the fact that they only feel God in their lives occasionally. I know that this is not something only found in Poland, and not only something found today. I identify with the prophets in the scriptures that testify of the gospel to deaf ears. They always seem so strong, like they never got frustrated. But as I read some of their prayers I recognize the pleading for the people that they love to accept their message and the sadness at others' choices to reject a more full life.

However, very shortly I know that as we try to act as Christ acted some will recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ. We had the opportunity to do a bit of service this week for one of our investigators and then with a member. As we've painted a rental apartment for this member she's invited us over several times for dinner later and we've gotten to meet her husband who isn't a member and teach him a little bit about the gospel. They even came to church yesterday to hear me speak in sacrament meeting. She said that her children have never been interested in the gospel but that they were really impressed when they heard that we were willing to come help their mother with a real need that she had. That we weren't just a church that preached of Christ, but we were doing our best to become like Him. We've seen some hearts really soften as we've applied this principle and that was a real theme in the last couple of conferences too. When people see us serve they know we are representatives of Jesus Christ.

Love you all and wish you a great week and a Happy Halloween.

Siostra Allen

It's starting to get cold here.

Hi Everyone,
In similar format to last week I'll just share a couple stories with you. They are all just a little bit funny. Hope you don't mind the lighthearted e-mail.

We had an appointment to meet with a member on Friday. We wrote down her address, looked it up on the map, decided on the best route to get there and then after planning set out. We were running a bit late and so I called her to let her know that we were on the way but everything seemed good. We talked to a woman on the tramwej and then got off at our planned stop. As we approached the street we decided to ask someone for directions. She told us to get back on the tramwej and keep going to the end of the line. We did just that. When we got off we talked to a man to see which way the street we wanted was. He told us we should get back on the tramwej and go back the way we had come. At this point we decided to call the member we were planning on visiting because we were lost and very late. We ended up going back on the tram 25 minutes and then walking through a college campus and a whole bunch of little gardens. But we made it eventually. The irony of the situation was that if we had just walked a bit from the first tram stop we got off at, we would have made it fine.
(As we were waiting for a bus back into town we saw an ice cream truck- the only one I've seen in Poland. But we were so confused that we let it pass without buying any icecream, something we were really sad about later)

One of the Elder's investigators got baptized on Saturday. He's a really cool guy named Jonas from Ireland/Sweden. Because the pool which we normally use was not available they decided on a lake. I'm sure it was freezing water, but it was a beautiful baptism nonetheless. However, Polish people are really paranoid about the cold, so the members thought that they were crazy for getting in the lake this time of year. Especially one of my favorite people named Basia. During the whole baptism she was commenting on how she couldn't believe what she was seeing and how she was going to tell her friends but they wouldn't believe her, and how he would remember his baptism for the rest of his life because you can never forget something that cold... It was so funny.

I love you all and pray for you often. Sister Stay and I are having a grand time here and working as hard as we can. I know when we working dilligently with faith the Lord blesses you. Love you lots.

Have a great week.

Siostra Allen

P.S. The Russian National Ballet is coming at the beginning of November to perform Swan Lake and me and my dancer companion splurged and bought tickets. This will be a very effective use of our one culture night a month. I'll have to tell you all about it.

3 STORIES

This week has been amazing. We have been focusing on being really led by the spirit in every aspect of our work and we have seen so many blessings. So many that there are too many stories that I want to share, so I've narrowed it down to 3. 

Funny story: A couple days ago we were tracting a tall yellow building. We climb the stairs all the way to the top and start knocking doors. The first woman opened and we talked to her for a little bit, she said we could come back another time and so we moved on to the next door. As we're waiting for someone to answer we hear from downstairs what seems to be 20 loud stomping men talking with raised voices. There are dogs barking and people talking. A crow bar dropping. Luggage banging around. You can imagine our confusion. It sounded like there was a mob raid or something and we were a little alarmed that they might come upstairs. So we waited to see what would happen. After several minutes it didn't stop, but we felt like we should venture downstairs. As we came down a couple flights it started to smell a little smokey and then the when we reached the bottom we realized that the building we were in had been on fire, the dozens of firemen and two fire trucks outside confirmed this. The fire was small and they put it out quickly, but it was such a crazy experience. The building we were tracting was on fire. This might not seem like such a good thing, but Sister Stay and I like adventures, and it was kind of fun to have such a random experience and switch up missionary life a bit. 

Spiritual story: On a mission, you are helping people see how the gospel can help them in their specific problems. Because of this, lots of people share with you the trials they are having and it can be very overwhelming as they express things that they are going through that you have never and will never go through. How do you help them when it is completely out of your experience? Well, it's not out of God's and so you have to teach gospel doctrine that they can use. We had several amazing lessons this week when people brought up concerns or questions and the spirit was strong as it directed and edified. I am so grateful to know that no matter the circumstance the gospel is true and it does help. 

Miracle story: During lunch we were talking about a former investigator who still actively comes to lots of church activities. She's met a lot in the past with missionaries, but is not as interested in meeting now, but we felt like it was important for us to do so. So we spent a lunch hour talking about ways that we could do this and when she might come and how we should approach it,  praying about what was best. We finally decided to talk to her that night after English class. But as we were at the chapel beforehand calling people to set up meetings, this former investigator walks in 45 minutes early and we ended up meeting with her that day. Not only that, but through the Spirit we were able to really understand where she's coming from and discoverer many of the concerns that have kept her from progressing in the past. 

This week is full of so many stories like these both crazy and amazing. Have I told you lately how much I love my mission. It is amazing because it is the work of God. I know that the message I am sharing is true, that the gospel is restored and because of this we have access to Christ's atonement and a return to God. I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Sister Allen

I also cannot believe it's October. The weather here has been surprisingly warm. All you really need is a cardigan and a light scarf and you're still pretty warm. We're enjoying that quite a bit, but we'll see how long it lasts.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Hope you have a great day. Sto lat! That's what the Poles say when it's your birthday, it means 100 years.

So how was my week? It was a really good one. We were so excited about General Conference. We were allowed to watch 3 sessions and so I saw Relief Society, Saturday Morning and Sunday Morning. I love all of the sessions, but I was really impressed by relief society. I felt like Sister Beck was helping us see the divine potential of relief society and how it can help us become more Christlike and keep our covenants. That paired with Elder Uchtdorf's talk about not forgetting were so pertinent. I also really loved what the prophet had to say. It is always so good, but his commentary on following the Spirit was really something I've been looking for direction on lately as I try to always follow the spirit to better invite others to come unto Christ.

We were so excited about Conference, but our week was actually spent worrying about how to watch it in polish with our investigators. It's on the internet, but no one knew when or on what site etc. We were scheduling with investigators and reminding less actives about it, but we weren't exactly sure how it worked, and no one else seemed to be able to tell us. So we prayed about it all week and discussed all the options that might be available. On Saturday night we were at a less active's home and miraculously everything went smoothly. They wouldn't have been able to find the information on the English website by themselves, but with the help of the Lord, we were able to help them hear the words of prophets and apostles. But that wasn't the end of our night, we actually helped several members figure out how to watch it on the internet. Basically we were Conference fairies. We just knocked on the door, came in, turned on conference and left to go to the next home.

This week had several hard experiences such as meeting with a less active member who is battling with alcoholism and had recently relapsed getting herself into a really bad situation, then one of our investigators decided she needed to concentrate more on school and that she wasn't going to meet with us, this forced us to adjust our plans for the week. But each time we were faced with a new trial we turned to prayer. Sometimes we just sat and cried with people in prayer begging for understanding and help. Sometimes we were asking for our hearts to be teachable so that we could enjoy the blessings of obedience. Sometimes we were asking for the internet to not cut out so that we could watch conference without problems. Each time, I know that God heard our prayers and answered them in the way we needed them answered. And despite the trials and heartaches it has been an amazing week. We heard the prophet speak, we got to teach one of our investigators with her 8 year old daughter because she was home sick from school. We taught about how the spirit talks to us and how we get answers to prayer. Then the mother came and watched conference with us at a members home and really enjoyed it. We met with a woman who was contacted months ago and has never had time. She teaches Catholic doctrine in elementary schools. That's kind of intimidating, but several times she said that although she teaches about and believes in the Catholic church, when she teaches she doesn't feel anything. At least not the deep spiritual confirmation we obviously felt when we were teaching. She recognized the Spirit!

We kind of joke that a mission is a mini-life. It's full of hard and wonderful experiences and you have to learn to rely on the Lord and grow in abilities along the way. I can really see that. I am a completely different missionary today than I was a year ago. I am so grateful for the experiences I have gained, the people I have come to love, and for the testimony I have gained about this gospel. It means everything to me. I love the gospel. I know it's true.
Siostra Allen.

Two New Posts (sorry, I got a little behind)

Hey family!
We had a wonderful morning. Right in the middle of language study someone knocks at our door. We were a little confused as to who it could be, but then when we looked through the peep hole it was the mail man! We got your package and it was amazing! Mom, I don't think you realize how awesome you are. Chocolate chip cookies are something nigh unto impossible to find in Poland because two of the main ingredients don't exist here: brown sugar and chocolate chips. So it was such an amazing surprise and we poured two cold glasses of milk on the spot and ate about three cookies each. They were delicious. And then the Book of Mormon ensign!  We flipped through it to see everything that it had and I cannot wait to study it tomorrow during personal study. It is literally gold to us. So thank you for such a wonderful surprise to brighten up our day.

As far as our week, we've actually had some good teaching moments. From a really nice mother who is open to learning about another faith, to a friendly grandma who's never heard of us, and then our two Chinese exchange students who really wonder if God exists. Jenny says the most profound things, that we've actually started writing them down just to remember them.
Here are some of our favorites:
We were teaching about Jesus Christ, who He is and what He did. After reading a verse that talked about how he performed miracles like healing the lame and causing the blind to see. She inserted that these were outside ailments and that she thought Jesus Christ also healed us of our internal emotional and psychological ailments. All we could say was YES!
We asked her how she thought God would answer her prayer and she responded: I think he will give me direction when I am confused or have important decisions. I don't think it will be something I hear, but that I will feel his help.
I don't remember what led her to make this comment, but she was describing what she hoped to gain from religion and knowing that God exists. She said: Pure happiness. Not the happiness from winning the lottery, but a deep sure peace and joy.

Those moments and many others like them have blown us away. She is a girl who has never been religious and yet she has spiritual maturity and understands things that many who have been around religion their entire life struggle with. We had the opportunity to hear her pray for the first time in her entire life and express desire to know God and come closer to Him. It was an amazing experience that I don't ever want to forget. It is why I'm here on a mission, to meet amazing people like Jenny and help them develop their own testimony that God lives and Jesus is the Christ.

Love,
Siostra Allen

September 2011

Hello family,

We've had some really cool experiences during my first real week in Łódż. Two people we met on the street met with us and came to activities at church. One of them started reading the Book of Mormon and really liked it. The other is waiting for a copy in Chinese since she's a student here from China. When she came to instytut she invited one of her friends who is also interested in Christianity from China. There are wonderful people here and I'm loving the opportunity to seek them out and teach them about the restored gospel. 

Something cool about Łódż is that we will probably receive the next real chapel here. There is already a plot of land owned by the church, but we have to have a certain number of people coming to church on average to justify building the chapel. So right now our goal is 60 people in church for several months. That's a lot when the average is in the thirties. Both this and last Sunday everyone's been really surprised at all the faces that have shown up. There were 9 less active members who showed up to church yesterday. I had had meetings with several of them, and it was exciting to see them come and bring their husbands and friends. I am going to see some miracles happen here over the next couple of months. I can already feel it.

Love you and hope you have a great week. I'm praying for you all.

Siostra Allen

I love it here in Lodz, Poland

So I got transferred this week. But of course you already know that. Łódż is great! It's like a mix of Warsaw and Katowice because it feels a lot more like a city than Katowice did. It's much more beautiful with tourist streets and more going on, but it still has the traditional Polishness that I really felt in the śląsk. The branch has about the same number of active members as the one in Katowice, except here there are a lot more families, whereas in Katowice most of the members were individuals. My new companion is wonderful- like all my companions have been. She is from Utah and is a dancer! So I get a nice reminder of home. She is so friendly and hard working. I had met her a few times at zone conferences etc. but never spent tons of time with her. She got into the country in December and trained really early as well so she is a fantastic missionary and speaks Polish quite well so we're really excited to help each other really get good and continue to excel at missionary work. We realized that between the two of us we have been companions with almost every other sister in the mission. Which means we have hopefully learned a lot about styles of missionary work and what is effective and different ways to approach situations.  I just know this transfer is really going to allow us to grow in amazing ways as we share that knowledge.

We do travel on the train alone during transfers so I talked to a nice older woman on her way to the beach and then a Czech man who is a professor of history and was going to a conference. Trains are one of my favorite places to talk to people because you're just sitting in the same car passing the time, and often people are really curious who you are and why you're in Poland. Lodz is really close to Warsaw. Our district is just Lodz because we have 3 companionships of missionaries and then a senior couple. But we are in the Warsaw Zone. It's only about an hour and a half train ride so not too bad. It's strange, I've never been in a place that we had to travel to Zone Conference and where there wasn't Zone Leaders.

You asked if things like youth conference, seminary, Women's Conference happen here in Poland. The answer is yes and no. They do have seminary and instytut, except it's only once a week and then most of it has to be done on your own. They don't have youth conference, but they did have a regional efy in Germany for the youth (14-18) and YSA conference in Romania for young adults (18-30). And then they try and have activities for Poland, it's just difficult because any time that happens it means traveling time, finding them places to stay, expenses, and then with all that getting enough people to make it a fun activity. But they work with it and do have activities. 

Love to All Back Home,

Siostra Allen

Transfer to Lodz, Poland!! New Address

Hey mom,

Glad to hear that you all had a great week. It's really comforting to know that Heavenly Father is taking care of you and I don't need to worry about anything going on at home. As for the transfer news, I'm moving to a city called Łódż! (wooj- the j is like a j in jam) It actually means boat in Polish, but it's not on the ocean or anything. It's right in the middle of the country and has lots of textile industry and a good branch. I'm sad to leave Katowice of course, it's been a great place to serve, I LOVE the people here, and I've learned so much. But I feel really peaceful about this change and feel like it's the right thing. I'm going to be with Sister Stay who's been in the country for a while, so we can hit the ground running. Of course I'll have more to tell you next week, but until then, here's my address:
ul Piotrkowska 257A/ 39
90-456 Łódż
Poland/ Polska
I'll take a train there really early on Thursday morning so keep me in your thoughts as I'm traveling.

Some of my thoughts recently:
I've been thinking a lot about the scripture “By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. We have to show that love and service to others so that they can recognize us as disciples of Christ. As we do that, the miracles will come and people will want to know more about where we find so much joy. That is something ever single member can and should do. Though simple, it's such a powerful statement of who we are and what we believe. The woman who sells us fruit every day asked us for a Book of Mormon today. Why did she do that? Because we love her and how she corrects our polish grammar and smiles at the huge amounts of fruit we buy and how we always buy the same thing, yet never know exactly what we want when we get to her stand. We think she is wonderful and she could feel that and so she wanted to learn more and felt comfortable enough to ask. That is what missionary work is. "Preach the gospel, and when necessary use words".
I was also thinking about some of our investigators who are heavily involved in various other religions or completely atheistic. For a lot of them, accepting the gospel would be a big change of how they think. I was teaching them, without really thinking they would accept the gospel right now, hoping that maybe in the future they would be more open. But then I realized that this is a gospel of miracles. It is just as easy for God to enlighten a mind that has misunderstood something as it is for him to help another individual overcome an addiction to more fully follow Christ. If they are willing to ask for knowledge, God will give it to them and their hearts can be changed. That is the beauty of the gospel. Alma 42: 27 I think invites us to drink of the waters of life freely, but none are compelled to come. It is always an invitation, it is always our choice. But if we want to drink the living water and are struggling on the path there, He will give us the aid we desire and miracles follow.

Love love love you all. Have another great week and talk to you next Monday.
Siostra Allen