Training new senior companions

                                           Gotta Eat right!!!  She goes out alot.

Hey Family and Friends-

I had the most amazing experience this week. I have seen miracles happen!   I swear, I didn’t do much different this week, nor was it the week where I felt like I did everything perfectly. On the contrary, there is so much that I still am working on. The Standard of Excellence are goals set by the mission president for companions to work towards and stretch themselves. They include everything from how many Book of Mormons you hand out to how many new investigators you gain. It's a great compass for us to keep balanced and not spend all our time hanging out with new converts or just tracting. Ideally there is a little bit of everything. And we reached the goal in all 9 areas this week!

Here are just a few of the miracles I witnessed this week-

The 2 people who now have baptismal dates--- they told us they wanted to meet and we just followed through and invited them to set a date and they did.  

Member referrals- The woman who gave us two referrals. We only met with her because I accidentally called the wrong number on the branch list. I really don't think it was an accident.

Book of Mormons- we placed 4 in less that 30 minutes last night on a White Board. My trainee placed one by her self in Polish! And I just walked up to two guys and told them what the Book of Mormon was in 3 sentences and asked them if they would be interested in reading it and they said yes. And then they brought their friend over and he wanted one too. It was insane!

And the member lesson- it was the last thing we needed and none of our investigators were available. At 6:45 pm we ran back to our apartment and just started calling potentials that we had never met with before. One of them said they could meet.  There was a branch member who is unbelievably supportive and came on the lesson with us in an hours notice.

I really feel like I did nothing, but the Principle I learned was this: we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. Just do everything that you have been asked to do, and expect miracles.

Sister Leppanen and I are so grateful to be the recipients of so many amazing blessings. We both have felt hounded with thoughts of inadequecy and frustration this week and I will testify that the mission challenge of reading the Book of Mormon together right now is the only thing that has gotten me through. Each morning when I open my Book of Mormon I can literally feel my power and strength to withstand all those thoughts increasing. I don’t think I could do missionary work without that time everyday. If nothing else, I have come to love the Book of Mormon on my mission like I never imagined possible. 


Oh the referral that Sister O'Brien gave me. We went and found the address. But they don't live there. Could you have them double check the address or maybe give me a phone number or e-mail so I can ask them where they live. And tell them they should definitely come here. It is so amazing. I swear Poland has hidden treasures. No one ever thinks to visit Poland, but it is beautiful and there is soooo much history.


I'm glad you all finally got your Christmas presents. And tell Josh GREAT! JOB! for me. I'll have to see him play next year when I get back. Sounds like he's doing great. I'm so happy.


I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and unending support. I read Elder Hollands conference talk again this week and thought of you all. Thank you for everything you do.


Until next week.
Sister Allen

22nd Birthday Week

Hej-

It doesn't exactly feel like my birthday. Not in a bad way- there are plenty of wonderful people who are taking care of me on my birthday in Poland.  For example, Sister Leppanen made pancakes this morning and let me take a nap, I opened some cool presents (thanks by the way- they are awesome!), and after this we're going over to the other sisters' apartment to make a cake. I think holidays just aren't as big a deal on a mission because there is so much else to focus on.

Despite that, like I said, it's been a great day. I'm so happy to hear that life is good back at home. That you finally got the pot that I painted this summer, and that you finally got the package that I sent you over a month ago. Hope you enjoy them. Love you.

As far as my week goes, it's been great. I've learned so much. I think what I've learned most is how important work is to missionary work. It's exhausting. You always have to be doing something that is helping you progress towards your goals, helping you help people come unto Christ. You can't just go home and take a nap when your tired or stop tracting when it's below zero weather. But, work is so much more fulfilling. There is a day for rest (which for missionaries is not Sunday), but during the week just work. This is so important. I just want people to understand that we're not just another company standing on the street trying to get their money- we're volunteering our time and energy to help them find the happiness that God has prepared for all of his children. I know that Jesus Christ really is our Savior. I know that faith in Him means something. We can't say that we believe in Him and then disregard what He taught. We have to strive everyday to be better to be obedient to His commandments. I know that this brings us happiness and freedom from the negative consequence's associated with breaking the commandments. I love this gospel. The Book of Mormon is the word of God.

I love you all. Have a great week.

Siostra Allen

New Companion

Cześć wam-
I LOVE my new companion! Her name is Siostra Leppanen and she is from Helsinki. She speaks Finnish, Swedish, English and Polish. Luckily I speak two of those languages, kind of. She is really cute and has a wonderful testimony of the gospel. She loves the Book of Mormon and has so much fire for the work.

Miracle story of the week. The first day we tracted, someone let us in. Just to illustrate how amazing that is, I didn't get invited in once, while tracting during my first transfer.

It was a nice Ukranian woman, which made communication interesting, but she said we could come back later this week. This is going to be such an amazing transfer! Right now I feel like I'm just swimming in the blessings. Heavenly Father qualifies who he calls, and I feel like he is giving me the strength and abilities to be the kind of missionary I need to be. The gift of tongues is so real. I am able to put more sentences together and understand so much more than I every was able to before. I know that there are going to be challenging and frustrating times in the next weeks, but right now I'm so grateful for how much fun we're having trying to speak Polish and do missionary work.

Yes I got the Christmas package and it changed my life. Those socks are soooooooooo warm. Instead of wearing 3 pairs of normal socks, I can just wear those and be fine. And the gloves are super warm too. Now my hands don't freeze when we're street contacting and I have to have my hands out of my pockets because it's bad form to talk to someone with hands in your pockets. Dziękuję bardzo. Jesteś super!

It's so weird that it's January, a new year and that my birthday is around the corner. Mission time goes by really fast. The days seem long because they're jam packed with things to do and places to be, but then the weeks and months speed passed. I'm glad to hear that all is well at home and that you had a good holiday.

Kocham was
Siostra Allen

Happy New Year!

Ok, business first. P-day is being moved to Mondays starting next week. Writing a missionary could become a fun Sunday tradition or something...

And the big transfer announcement is that I'm staying in South Warsaw again!!!! I'm really happy about this. I was not ready to leave the members or the people we've been teaching. I'm so excited to stay here and still help them progress in their faith in Jesus Christ. And I'm training. Which is a little overwhelming but I'm actually really excited. This means I get a brand new missionary fresh from the states... kind of.  Fresh from the states in the sense that she's been at the Provo MTC for two months, but not fresh from the states really because she's from Finland. Crazy. She's going to be automatically awesome just by the mere fact that she's Finnish. Anyway, I get to meet her tomorrow and then we can get to work.

But I want to add an addendum to this, don't let this lead you to believe that I already speak Polish fluently or that I'm a rock star missionary who does everything perfectly. Those would both be false statements. I'm still learning so much everyday, and I'm sure the next two months will be a huge growing experience. But I'm going to work hard and do my best, relying on the Lord. It's strange that I've been in the country 4 months and already a senior companion, but currently the Poland Warsaw Mission is what we call a very young mission. Meaning most of the missionaries are new missionaries. 90% of the mission has been here for less than a year and over 50% have been here less than 4 months.  So I'm actually already considered an old missionary. There aren't many Sisters who have been here longer because 5 Sisters go home tomorrow. A little crazy, but that's life. This is how it's supposed to be.

Comments about the holidays:
I think "Holiday" should be translated "day of eating more food than is healthy" in polish. I feel like that's all I did ALL weekend. Really good food and really interesting food. It was very satisfying and then it was more than satisfying. I don't think I've eaten a lot for the last two days in an attempt to recover. But it was really fun. And I want to say thank you to Aunt Sherisse and Aunt Hedi and the Beehives and to you for the wonderful bundles of holiday love that everyone sent. They are more than appreciated. Thank you for thinking of me even though I'm so far away. I love you all.

I missed everyone, but your love and the love of members here in Poland was able to remember me that Christmas isn't just about presents and singing fun songs while drinking hot chocolate- it's celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ did come into the world. How wonderful is that? I am forever grateful. I know he was who he said he was. He is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Son of God. I have felt the effects of his Atonement in my life, his love and his peace. As we take the sacrament each week we promise to always remember him, or in other words, we promise to keep the true feelings of Christmas with us always- Peace on earth, good will to men. What a wonderful thing to be reminded of.   I always love the holidays, they are times to remember.

I love you all, it was great to hear from you too. I'll be home before you know it, and until then, don't worry about me too much. I'm being taken care of.   I'm safe and happy and loving this wonderful work.

Love you,

Siostra Allen

P.S. About the referral. I'm assuming that Tomasz is the son who lived in America and Dorota is his mother.   I'm super excited to go visit them.

Wesolych Swiat (Merry Christmas)

Hey all,

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. It feels like I've been in Poland forever, and at the same time I feel like I'm just starting to figure out the basics of missionary work. I wonder if that will ever go away?

First things first- The Christmas phone call.
Yes- buy an international calling card, apparently that's the best way.
Then dial:
+48 (country code) then ....... without the 22 before it. Because we're a cell phone they don't use the city code.
Call at 11:15 a.m. your time; 8:15 p.m. our time.
It can only be 40 minutes.
Hope that's okay.

It was a great week. We had a Christmas Zone Conference and a temporary threesome with Sister Stay a brand new missionary. Her luggage got lost, so she stayed with us for three days while they recovered it. It was so much fun to have her with us.

You asked about my plans for Christmas. It's going to be busy. In Poland "Wigilia" or Christmas Eve is the most important part of Christmas celebrations. There's a big dinner with no meat and lots of fish and then you sit and sing and talk until midnight mass. We're going to be going to a member's house. I am SO excited. It's going to be an authentic Polish Christmas. On Christmas day I think we're going to go visit some single members who aren't going to be able to spend Christmas with family. There's a missionary lunch, then we're going over to a Mongolian member's house for dinner, followed by phone calls home. So you'll be able to hear all about it when I talk to you.

Sister LeFevre has been teaching me Polish Christmas carols for the past month- we sing them at the beginning of companionship study. So now I love them! I heard music playing in a store today and started humming along just like I do with English carols. Yesterday we visited a family in our branch- Piotr and his two teen-aged daughters Ania and Asia. I love their family. Yesterday we took a couple minutes to sing carols together before the lesson with Piotr playing the guitar. Are missions supposed to be this fun? 

Miracle of the week: Jakub, Kuba for short.
About a month ago we tracted a building near a members apartment we were going to visit. We knocked on a couple hundred doors but no one was interested. Fast forward to this Tuesday. We have a meeting with the same member but decide to contact for 30 minutes in her area before hand. We only stopped two people. The second person was Kuba. He recognized us from tracting his building and talked to us for 20 minutes. He didn't take a Book of Mormon or give us his number which normally means we'll never see the person again. But we gave him our flyer and told him that he could call if he ever wanted to meet and was always invited to church. Miracle of miracles, he called us (that never happens). We met with him. He felt the spirit testify that our message was true. He is such a nice and respectful man. I hope we'll be able to teach him more when he gets back to Warsaw after the holidays.

Oh family. I love you all so much. I can't really wrap my mind around the fact that I'm going to talk to you on Saturday. But I'm excited nonetheless. I have such a testimony of this work. I know it is where I need to be. I am humbled to be a part of Heavenly Father's greater plan for us. He is our father. He loves us so much. He has beautiful things in our future if we will only trust him. The Book of Mormon is a gift from God that can bring us peace and happiness as we study it every day. It is so wonderful that I get to spend my days telling people about it and inviting them to read it. The most valuable present I received for Christmas was the conference ensign that you sent. As I have read from it each morning this week I have felt the prophetic power behind their words. How blessed we are to have a living prophet and apostles to help us make it through the trials and turbulence of life.

Once again, I love you. Thank you for all that you do to support me here. Wesołych Świąt! (merry christmas!)

Siostra Allen

one week before Christmas

Wow, I can't believe it's almost my birthday again. Weird As far as things I'd like- tights/socks if you didn't send them for Christmas would be great. And some things I've really come to like are headbands and normal ball point pens (they sell a lot of ink pens here but I like the cheap ones better). And then just some homemade cookies or something fun like that. Whatever you have time to send would be fun to receive.

I sent you all a package for Christmas, let me know when you get it. (I've actually sent you a couple letters from Poland, have you received any of them?) Mail here isn't quite reliable. But I think I got your package today. I got a package slip in the mailbox and we'll go pick it up at the post office after grocery shopping. And say thank you to the ward young women. I got their Christmas package too. That is really so nice of them.

As far as cooking goes, we don't have a lot of time to cook so everything we make is normally really simple. We'll make pasta and sauce or rice and vegetables. If you have any good fast recipes please send them my way. I'd love a little variety.

 

So this week has been a really good one and also a difficult one. We're working really hard right now to accomplish some goals by the end of the year. They are going to take a miracle so we're pooling all the faith we have to work miracles. I know it's possible, but I also know that there is opposition in all things. So when we're showing faith and obedience and God is going to bless us because of it, obviously Satan doesn't want anything like that to happen. Too bad this is the Lord's work- we already know the outcome.

 

A popular finding technique in the Poland Warsaw Mission is White Boarding. I love WBing. You write something on a white board and try and stop people and get them to respond. Normally it's a question. This week we decided to try something new in an attempt to follow counsel given by Elder Kopishke to testify of doctrine from your first sentence. We drew the Plan of Salvation and started asking people what it was. The first thing that you say in response to them is "God has a plan for us" It was sooooo amazing. Either people weren't interested and you could ask the next person, or they responded to it and we just continued testifying. Better yet, when we briefly explained that we can learn more about the plan through the Book of Mormon a lot of people asked us where they could buy it, they wanted to read it. When we said that we could give it to them for free, they were happy to take it. This is so exciting for a missionary, because we know the amazing power of the Book of Mormon as a testimony of Jesus Christ. It really does change the lives of those who study it with faith and now more people have a copy.

 

 I love you all so much. I'll have more for you next week when we can talk! Have a wonderful day.

 

Papa (Bye-bye),

 

Siostra Allen

 Well, it's been colder here than I've ever experienced, but suprisingly I've stayed pretty warm. I have a good coat, boots to help me trudge through the snow, and I layer like crazy. I bought a hat and sweater a few weeks ago and I can buy anything I really need here in Poland, so don't worry that you didn't have time to sew me anything for Christmas. I'm doing great. Transfers aren't until the last week of December because we do 9 week transfers instead of 6 week transfers (Sister LeFevre goes home on the 30th) so if my package gets here by Christmas, it'll come to the right place.

 

We do get to call on Christmas. Sister LeFevre tells me that last year they e-mailed their parents their phone number and set up the time. And then her family just called her. So definitely plan on calling me, but I'll give you more details as I get them.

 

My apartment is a very nice apartment in comparison to a lot of the ones I've seen. It has a kitchen, bathroom (with a washer, small washer, in the bathroom), a living room with two comfy chairs that we try not to fall asleep in during study time, and a bedroom. It's right off a major road in South Warsaw- Puławska, so there are lots of tall apartment building around and traffic going by and a tram line that we can see from our window. We put up our Christmas lights and Christmas tree in the window so that the world can see our Christmas spirit. And there is an ambulance unit on the bottom floor of our building- so we say hi to them when we walk past. You never have to worry about a medical emergency while I'm living here. They don't really have central heating here. Some apartments only have warm pipes to heat them, but luckily ours has wall units in all the rooms so it stays pretty warm. I wear socks, but can wear a t-shirt quite easily.  It's a great location because it's near a tram stop, but also not too far from the metro. This was nice last monday during the blizzard when none of the tram lines were working and a lot of people had a hard time getting home. We were able to take the metro and then walk the rest of the way- 20 minute walk. So that's nice. Warsaw is really condensed. It has just as many people as Las Vegas, but they all live in 1/8 of the space. Very few people live in homes. They live in tall concrete apartment buildings and use public transportation.

 

 It's been a good week. The weather is a little hard for missionary work, people don't like to come out in it. But we're keeping our spirits up. We are staying obedient and warm and working hard. I feel like this week has been a real turning point for me. As we're working I'm enjoying tracting and contacting and I'm actually understanding a lot more. I have so much more to learn, but I'm excited to be about the work. I dream about missionary work now. Crazy I know.

 

I'm so glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Josh- good luck at try-outs. I know you'll do great. I love you all, and am again unfortunately out of time, but I'll e-mail next week and then... we can call!

 

Love you,

Siostra Allen

Winter Wonderland

Hi family,

Last time I e-mailed you the weather was quite agreeable. It was chilly, but bearable. I wore a peacoat and a couple pairs of socks, that afternoon I thought it wise to buy a hat, but I still was quite warm. Well, yesterday night it started snowing. Not just a pretty dusting on the trees and window sills. No, it was a blizzard. And it kept blizzarding all day and into the night dropping at least a foot of snow on the country of Poland. It's already to the top of my boots. So now Fall is over and it is officially Winter. I will probably see snow everyday for at least the next 3 months. How's the weather in Vegas? Wait don't tell me.

The nice thing about snow is it's pretty. The empty trees are now full of snow and Sister LeFevre and I sang Christmas Carols to each other while we were tracting yesterday. This is my favorite time of year. I just can't help myself from a kind of childish wonder and awe as we put up Christmas decorations, stare at the snow, wrap presents, celebrate with family and friends. It's just such a happy time. And I love that all the happiness is centered around the Savior. I love 4th of July barbeque's and Thanksgiving feasts, independence and gratitude are amazing things to celebrate... but Christmas is celebrating that all the centuries of prophecies were fulfilled with the birth of a child who was the Christ, who fulfilled his purpose in redeeming mankind, who gave us purpose and potential in life. So I'm excited that tomorrow is officially December.

This week was full. We had a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday with the Lewis', an American family in our branch. It was some of the best food ever, and they packed our bags with leftovers, so we've eaten well all week. There was a baptism her in Warsaw, Eustace, Grant's friend. It was a beautiful baptism, and they asked me to sing, so that was fun. Amra got to come too, which was great because she got to see what it looked like and get excited about her own baptism on the 18th of December! She is such a wonderful person. I can't even imagine anyone more prepared for the gospel. One of my favorite things as a missionary is getting to hear people describe how they feel the spirit. A warm feeling in their heart, they are happy when they meet with us or are at church, things make sense. I'm so grateful I've had the blessing of teaching her.

I am so grateful to be here in Poland serving the Lord and for the many blessings and tender mercies he gives me each day. I know He is mindful of me and that this is His work. I finished the Book of Mormon today. I know it's true, even more so now than when I started it. And I imagine that testimony will grow with each other time I read it throughout my life.

I love you all. Stay warm and stay same.

Siostra Allen

P.S. The senior missionaries in the office have a blog and I know there are a couple pictures of my on there. Just so you know: Richardsinpoland.blogspot.com

Thanksgiving 2010

                                           Enjoying Lunch with member from Houston, TX

                                               Warsaw Mall looks very 21st century

Hi Family!
First off. Thank you so much for the pictures. I just got the package and it was so fun to see your adventures in Korea and in Arizona. And I'm glad that you got the ones I sent. I'll send more, if you send more. And I'm so glad that the family reunion was a success and that you're going to be with Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving. Wow, I leave and you travel all over the place. I guess I'm in Poland, so I have nothing to complain about, travel wise. We're going to be having Thanksgiving dinner with an American family in the branch. So no need to worry about me- I'll have a great time and eat well.

This week I had my first Zone Conference. They used to have them about every transfer (or every other month), but according to the new Missionary program introduced by the church, they now only have it 4 times a year. It was wonderful. Elder Kopiske came, the Area 70 for Europe and gave such fine tuned advice and counsel. I feel like I was being educated on the Lord's way of learning. So many of the questions I had were specific things I should be doing and how I should be doing them. He explained that when learning there is always a Doctrine, a Principle and an Application. The first two is what you teach and expound on, the application is varied and individual. It requires prayer and study and sometimes even fasting. My testimony of priesthood leaders grew, my desire to study the scriptures grew (he knew his scriptures and could take you anywhere and everywhere to answer your questions), and I found out that I have a lot of work to do to really aid Heavenly Father in his work and his glory. He asked us to "Teach to Find". Something that is in Preach My Gospel. But something I hadn't paid too much attention to. We need to be teaching people true doctrine on the street as soon as we meet them and testify of it. When we do that the Holy Ghost has to be present to testify of the truth of our words. In this way we can find people who are interested in learning more, because we'll show them that there is more to learn and that they feel good when they are learning about it.

Poland fact: The clouds here move fast. I've never seen anything like it. I'll be eating breakfast in the morning and looking out the window and the clouds will look like there is a tornado coming they are moving so fast. But no, it's actually still somewhat calm weather outside. No tornados to worry about.

Wow, the time has flown. I have to go, but I love you dearly. Have a wonderful week and know that I am so happy to be here doing the Lord's work. The Book of Mormon changes my life every time I read it. Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. He truly died for our sins and loves us. We can learn about him through the words of the prophets and as we live according to his commandments.

Sister Allen
P.S. I've heard it's good to address letters with Elder or Sister. I definitely am Sister Allen now. It's weird to hear or think my first name because no one has called me it for over 4 months. However, Poles really like to know your first name and a lot of them will ask you what it is. So, whatever you want to call me is fine.