Monday, September 29, 2008

September 29, 2008

Alrighty alrighty ... well it wasnt the week of incredible miracles that i hoped it would be but we still saw some for sure. We had zone conference this week which is always a good time. They taught alot about the importance of members. The members in Bydgoszcz are amazing and we've already had the chance to meet for a minute with a couple of families. But most the branch have been members for 15-20 years and have been rung dry with missionaries asking for referrals... which pretty much leaves finding to us which is cruddy because the best way is always through members.

We went out to Solec Kujawski this week and to be honest it was pretty rough. Veronika's mom answered and she was a couple points short of a touchdown if you know what i mean. She was kinnnda crazy. Veronika wasnt there.. we asked if she or her family would be interested and she told us maybe another time because she was busy making apple pie... mmmhhmm..apple pie huh... i wasnt going down that easy so me and slags try to reiterate the importance of our message .. nope... apple pie was more important. We asked for a number or a return time that we could come back and teach and she wasn't cooperative on either front.. so kurCza! .. so we are going to come back once again in a week or two probably.. its kinda of a time eater to go out there... after we got rejected by apple pie woman we tried to find jolanda... we tracted a few bloks.. 2 hours later nothing so that left us kinda down.. by the time that ended it was night and we had another hour until our bus.. so we walked through the completely silent and foggy solec singing in polish at the top of our lungs.. we saw two people in an hour and one of them gave us his number so that was cool.

We had another plethera of flakes this week.. but we did have an investigator come to church.. his name is wojtek and he is an eternal that has been investigating for about 5 years and has had a bundle of baptisimal dates... everytime it doesnt go through because he cant stop smoking and drinking... he moved about a month before i got to bydgoszcz.. he lives 200 km away now and only comes to bydgoszcz a couple times a month... but when he does come down he usually comes to church. It was good to have him there the members were really excited to see him again. We have a meeting with him tonight so we'll see what we can do.. he is in a tough situation. We have a third meeting with tomasz this week and we are getting this awesome member named wojtek actually on the lesson.

Other than that.. we met some interesting folks last night.. we got free pizza from a larry man.. had some 12 year old girls that wanted slagowski's body, set up with a kid our age from ukraine that is learning polish and speaks about like us, and we had a run in with a group of about 10 way funny hoolis that let us teach them about the book of mormon. they were loving us.. they asked when armageddon is.. i told them i didnt know for sure.. then they told me to let them know when Book of Mormon 2 comes out because they are pretty sure that that will have the answer. haha oh and we finally got people to come to english! 2 moms came and dropped off their 6 and 7 year old daughters that hardly speak polish... oh man ill never forget singing the alphabet song with them.... classic memory of the mish number 34432.

the people of poland are simply the coolest.

i love you guys oh so much

sean

Monday, September 22, 2008

September 22, 2008 . . .more referrals!

Oh man i cant believe you go in the mtc in 2 days lysh that is crazy nuts and butter spread!! you need to email me your mtc and mission address before you take off... sorry i missed your talk.. flight was way expensive.. ill do what i can to make it to the homecoming one though ;-) .. you rock sis have a safe trip down to utah ... and my only parting words of mtc advice.. take advantage of the food while you can.. i dont care what ppl say, its the bomb. well the cereal is anyways. have fun, study hard... not too hard or you are going to speak better than your trainer and she will, i promise, cry herself to sleep every night thinking she's not good enough. that's what i did whenever you and i compared college grades. œciskam piêknie herman¹ dal¹

Well this was one of those weekish type weeks. We only had one meeting with this guy named tomasz who seems a little more interested in learning english and going to the states than learning about the gospel.. yep, another one of those.. ohh ill rock his world. We taught him a first than he let us know that he is down for learning about the gospel for the first half of the meeting but then he wants us to teach him english for the last half of the lesson. We gave him a reading assignment from the book of mormon... we met with him for the second time just a few minutes ago today to find out that he actually read. It was good.. we talked about how christ has only one church and about faith for a while than we taught him the plan of salvation.. he liked and thought it was possible and in his words "chill" .. but then he was way excited to jump right into some english.. i dunno it is really tough to know what to do with people like him but we are going to keep teaching him for now and hey maybe he'll discover the truth of the church along the way.

Slags and i went to visit our referral out in Solec Kujawski again this week.. We took our 40 minute rickety bus ride during which all the highschool kids sitting behind us were making fun of us in polish and didnt think we spoke .. i turned around and started talking with one of them and they all freaked out haha it was pretty funny.. we got to our little village and the bus dropped us off at a completely different place than the last time so we were completely turned around. We asked the only lady around for miles how to get to the street we were looking for.. and she happened to be the nicest polish lady is existence.. she was going to the same place we were so we walked and talked with her for about a 30 minute walk.. she was elect... she even told me . and i can't remember what we were talking about but she said "maybe me running into you is a sign from God" ... just like the coolest nicest lady.. she led us to the blok we were looking for.. then pointed to the blok right next to it "i live in that one" .. the conversation never reached talking about the church so i never asked if she would be interested in the church... because im retarded!!! ah so retarded.. she started walking away and i chased her down and told her that we would be in solec next week and that we might see her.. trying to initiate some sort of set up of a meeting... she seemed a little taken back and was like "yeah.." i felt dumb and just gave her a pass along card... ah i still regret it.. i let her get away.. we are going to try and tract into her when we go to solec again this week..
ok so ..referral... we hit the doorbell thingy on her blok and she automatically let us in which doesnt usually happen so i figured she was expecting someone and it probably wasn't two mormon missionaries. When we started walking up the stairs i saw a 18 yr old blonde girl standing outside the door of the apartment with a look of pure confusion and terror on her face.. when we got up there she had a little girl hooli friend there too.. my life is just filled with awkward situations.. its ... ... awesome. Turns out that 18 yr old blonde girl was Monika the referral.. So we told her who we are how we got her address and asked her if she still wanted a book of mormon... she did. Her friend the whole time was laughing and looking at monika like... "who are these crazies" ..i tried to be like my 19 yr old cool self and seem normal but i could tell monika was way embarassed .. i asked her if we could share a message about the book sometime later and she just shook her heard no.. so we just said see you later.. the book is awesome.. and bounced out of there. It sucked.. shes elect. i know it. so she, along with the other lady (jolanda) .. are the reasons we are going back to solec this week and hoping the Lord will have our backs and that we'll have our A game on.. with some better timing as well.

The whole bus ride home that night i felt alot of regret and frustration but at the same time it gave me a reconfirmation that there are elect people in Poland that the Lord has prepared and that he is going to lead us to them. We are way hopeful for those two in solec.. as well as some other just simply amazing people that we've talked with on the streets this week. For now ill just keep opening my mouth and let the Lord do His thing.

Thanks for the emails family.. you guys have no idea what a difference you make in my attitude as a missionary.. Dad that was exactly what i needed to hear.. thank you so much.

I love you guys.. have a most zajafajne week! lysh say hi to the polish missionaries for me. walk up to them and say.. sie manko.. (shay-mahn-koh) ..slang for like 'wat up?!' .. theyll give you a weird look and then you can say ..man you kids need to hit the books some more.

Sean

Monday, September 15, 2008

September 14, 2008...Learning the ropes of a DL and district conference in Warsaw

First full week in bydgoszcz! yeahhh... unfortunately it was kinda a shorty because we had exchanges and district conference in warsaw. I went on an exchange with elder shettell who is the DL in one of the new cities recently opened. It was cool cuz it was the first exchange ive been on with someone from my mtc group.. i think. We had a good time together... we had a meeting where the zone leaders learned us how to be dl's .. i thought it would be cake to be a dl..false.. ive failed so far.. more to come on that. Then shettell and i had a meeting with this former investigator, older woman. she was pretty chill but way catholic and kinda crazy and she fed us alot of sub par polish food. It was pretty funny cuz even after studying and speaking this language everyday for 10 months shettell and i didnt understand alot of the things she was saying...granted she was talking about the construction of large oil tankers for a while.. still pretty humbling. We shared some scriptures with her but she let us know that she was born and will die catholic.

The next day i went on zone leader exchanges with Elder Whipple.. who is also in my district.. hes superman .. one of the coolest missionaries out here.. he reminds me alot of jordan .. just way funny and chill. We rocked the streets basically all day.. talked with just tons of cool people. even got some free fruit from a babcia grandma lady.

Then i had a couple days of solid work with my boy slagowski.. we had a meeting with a investigator named Irek.. it was a pretty good meeting but he doesnt really have the .. want.. i can speak english.. to progress in the gospel.. he thinks its cool but he doesnt want to read the book of mormon. He's investigating the confuciunist church.. way of life .. rather...we tried to throw down and tell him about how there is only one church of christ and why the authority is so important.. we couldnt really get to him though... we are going to visit him again this week and teach him about the plan of salvation and see if we can get some sort of flame burning... then we got a referral from the office of a girl that requested to have the missionaries visit and deliver a Book of mormon. She didnt give her number on the internet just her address.. so me and slags traveled out to this little city about a 45 minute bus ride outside of bydgoscz.. and our minds were running wild at the possibilities of who she was going to be.. my bet was on a 17 year old deaf asian girl with nubs for legs. turned out she wasnt there at all so we had to leave a pass along card .. she hasnt called yet so we are going to go out there again this week.

District Conference was this week for all the branches in the north poland and the warsaw branch. it was a pretty intense weekend especially because i got to meet some of the new missionaries among them an elder rushton .. we tried to throw him a curve but he wasnt fooled .. he was a way good sport about the whole thing and it was by far the most awkward 20 minutes of my life.. it was almost hard to breathe cuz the room was so thickly arrayed with tension.. i was impressed with how he handled it though he was a way nice guy.

President Engbjerg spoke at district conference among others but i havent heard such a good talk in a long time it was definitely one ill remember. I also got a package that made my life! thank you so much for sending all that stuff.. it was all perfect.. i looked at the pictures over and over for like an hour they were so good. thanks again.

That is pretty much news.. sorry these things are getting way boring and im losing any mojo that i ever had... haha im loving it up here though.. we had a lot of success this week as far as getting numbers from people.. we got flaked alot.. but the people were so open and seemed to love us more than they usually do. Im so excited to see what happens this transfer.... cam thanks for reminding i have just over a year left! haha that was way funny.. time is moving so fast its scary.. people to go places to see for sure.


no im not colorblind i know the world is black and white ...

Love z calego mego serca

Elder Daly

Monday, September 8, 2008

September 7, 2008...Transfered to Bydgoszcz

well i made it to bydgoszcz in one piece.. this last week was pretty crazy. stinnett and i had one last meeting with maja before we took off... she seemed like she was getting more normal... nope.. she's completely crazy. we taught her the whole plan of salvation but i dont think anything really stuck. She said she had been reading but i doubt it.. at the end of the meeting we told her how we were going to be moving to different cities and she was way upset. As we were walking her back to the metro she gave me another catholic book.. she signed the inside cover of this one... psycho... that's alright the sisters get her now :-)

The new missionaries arrived earlier this week... unfortunately i didnt get to meet them.. they came to the trainstation like 5 minutes after my train left for bydgoszcz (bid-go-shh-ch) ... szkoda... and coincidentally or not.. out of the whole group of new trainees.. none of them are in my zone. I love my new district up here... my comp is the man. and bydgoscz is officially my new favorite city in poland... i love it, its way beautiful. I've met more JW's in thelast 2 days than the previous 8 months.. a pair of 'sister' jw missionaries taught me their first lesson... even extended me a commitment to read their watchtower flyer.. i was impressed. I led my first district meeting yesterday.. it was way fun... in bydgoszcz we arent allowed to whiteboard due to the laws here.. so ive been suffering the past couple of days thinking of a way we can get around that... because just trying to straight up stop people and ask them about religion is really tough in poland.. heck anywhere.. so i decided we are going to rock bydgoszcz with clipboards instead of whiteboards. we'll see how it works out.. the branch here is incredible. i had do go to the ward council meeting yesterday and they get stuff done. It is the most normal just straight up amazing branch in poland.

As far as investigators there isnt a ton going on up here right now. But we have some good potential so we'll see.

ill get some pics of my wicked attic apartment and bydgoszcz up next week.

milosc!

elder daly

Monday, September 1, 2008

September 1, 2008 . . .finding the "Elder" within

Wow its september... I remember this time last year I was doing exactly what lysh is doing right now.. chilling at home, prepping for the mish ...probably not as effectively as lysh is.. nonetheless prepping. Now its september and i can already sense a season change in the weather.. ohhhh i fear winter ohh goshh.. nah it wont be that bad.. especially because i wont be in warsaw for the winter.. ill be in one of the ugliest cities in poland.. oh i am pumped. I am going to Bydgoszcz with Elder Slagowski he is from the youngest group of elders in the mish except for these new ones coming in and he rocks.. i met him at mission conference this last friday. Oh yeah.. we had mission conference last friday.. all the missionaries in Poland came to warsaw because Elder Perry was passing through on a trip around Europe. It was incredible, he is the definition of pure 100% .. 10 feet from the veil (not cause he's old) ...man. We all got to shake his hand and he stared into our souls. He is a big man.. like 6'3 or something.. my hand was purple after the shake. He along with some other Area Authorities gave some just stellar to the max talks, I loved it. He also had a fireside for members and investigators that night... Piotr was supposed to come but never made it.. Elder Perry also spoke at church on Sunday. We combined the two warsaw branches at the legit chapel in the first branch. Maja came to the sacrament meeting and there definitely never was a better sacrament to have an investigator at.. especially for her first time ever coming to church. Needless to say.. she loved it and she is also progressing because she let us know she is reading the Book of Mormon.. yeahhs. We had our second meeting with her earlier this week and it was al lot better than the first.. she wasn't really all that crazy. We reviewed a first with her because we didnt think a lot of the things we taught her really soaked in.. She still had a lot of questions but for the most part she seems to understand our point of view now she just needs to renew her knowledge and testimony of it through prayer and reading the scriptures.. we our teaching her a plan of salvation tonight before we hand her off to the sisters who are taking over for us when stinnett and i leave (our apartment is getting shutdown.. it rocks.. warsaw has gone from 42 to 20 missionaries now since engbjerg got here.. its exactly what poland needs, warsaw has been dominated by missionaries)

so yeah im sad to be leaving this branch.. just like ive been sad to leave every other branch because 2 months is just enough time to start to get to know the members .. to start having them trust you and then i get yanked out.. im praying i stay in bydgoszcz for 4-6 months. ive heard it is far and away the best branch in poland because it actually functions like its supposed to haha.. ahh i joke the branches in Poland do ok.. but it is a far cry from the wards i grew up in.

im way grateful for my last 4 months in warsaw.. if there is one thing the mission has done for sure it has made me realize that ... well basically ...i suck... haha ... without the Lord im way untalented.. ill be honest there have been those days where after being rejected a bjillion times i start relying on my personality and enthusiasm.. im never as effective. With the Lord im pretty alright though haha. I can start to feel myself becoming the missionary the Lord wants me to become.. i still doubt ill ever reach my full potential out here but I have found and am yet striving for a balance. A balance that i didnt initially think was a part of missionary work before i came out here. A balance between Sean and Elder Daly.. my personality and the Spirit, my weird jokes and funny accent, and my testimony. Finding that balance along with living with a companion kinda rocked my world when i first got to Poland.. now im starting to make more sense out of it though.. so thats good. sorry for that ...ah the mission rocks though.. be so excited lysh you are going to d o m i n a t e... the chilean people are going to love you and your awesomeness. and whiteness.

laners ap calculus yeahhhhh another subject you can teach me when i get back. yeah ap govt was a toughy i remember... alot of boring articles you have to read.. do you have Corey? he was the worst.. i fell asleep all the time then he would make me stand in the back of the class room to stay awake during his lectures.. if it makes you feel any better the ap exam for it was wayy easy.. youll pwn it if you stick with it. and its only a semester right? than you take AP econ from collins?

trzymajcie sie ... sciskam serdecznie

Elder Daly