Sean Alive in Polska!

wows... where to begin. Right now I am in an internet cafe on the rynek in Wroclaw. Its been a crazy, exhausting, yet totally davage and exciting past couple of weeks. Ill start with from when i left the MTC because i think i already told you about Christmas in the MTC and it wasnt anything special to be honest. I arrived at the travel office at 4:00 am and we loaded all of our stuff on a bus and headed off to SLC.. half the time i felt like i was going to throw up .. combination of nervousness and lack of food/sleep i think i don't know. It was pretty surreal to be driving through Provo though.. all the time in the MTC i thought it was just a holographic image displayed to trick us into thinking there was a real world...and that our departure date was really just like the Island (daly 3 echo youre moving out... to the insland) .. that allusion is just for u lysh got onto our flight alright and made it to o'hare in good spirits. 5 hour lay over.. ugh. Talked with some cool people, none of them were really that interested but it was great to get out and talk to nonmembers for a change. we got onto our 747 brit airlines flight to heathrow later that evening after 34234 hours of security lines at the international terminal. got some haagen daaz.. im convinced that is the reason im still alive. anywho, we are on the plane and everything seems to be in order.. our pilot has a british accent as well and our stuardess so im stokkkked at this point. then this lady who had had a little too much to drink starts flipping out and hits a stuardess.. needless to say she was thrown off the plane and onto the run way... or atleast she should have been. We had already taxied out and were ready to take off when she snapped so they had to drive all the way back to the gate... drop her off and find her bag among thousands. 2 hours later we take off.. at this point skeptical as to whether we are going to make our flight to warsaw because as it was before we were going to have a 2 hour layover in London before our flight. During the flight i talked to a highschool aged guy.. he was nice but once again not interested, we got to talk about music and sports though so it wasnt a total loss ;-) i didnt get a chance to talk to anyone else because unfotunately i was sitting by some elders in my district, not the sheep of which i have been called to gather :-( so 7 hours and an eternity later we are about to land in London.. and we are all pretty sure that we can make our flight because we made way good time actually... when our wonderful cheerio captain comes on and tells us theres too much traffic in heathrow so we have to circle around till we can land. 45 minutes later we land in London and i begin to understand why dad hates heathrow so much. We miss our flight and have to wait another 4 hours before the next one. We get to stand in another couple security lines as well as a 90 minute line to get our new boarding pass. Luckily they gave us 10 pounds to spend in the airport while we waited. While we were waiting we contacted some people, handed out some pass along cards and it was good times. About an hour before my flight we all just die pretty much. I dunno what hit us (actually thats dumb to say.. jet lag hit us) but we all collapsed onto the chairs in the airport and fought to stay awake. It was probably bar none the most tired i have been in my entire life. We get on the plane to warsaw and unfortunately im sitting between two elders in my district.. so i didnt get to talk to any Poles. But alot of the other elders and sisters in my district did and they did way good from what i could hear. It was pretty scary to hear the airport announcement in Polish.. well that wasnt the scary part.. the scary part was understanding the word "thankyou" and "please" and thats it. We landed in Warsaw at about 18:00 ish local time.. from the time i left the MTC till the time i arrived i think i slept 4 hours... yeahhhh ugh. It was a way weird airport.. well i dunno if it was weird but it was really quiet and everyone looked european (go figure) and we definitely stood out like a sore thumb so we got some dirty looks. It took our bags almost an hour to appear at baggage claim.. i was certain they lost them, thanks the heavens they didnt. All 14 of us rolled our stuff out to the exit and were met with hugs and highfives by our 3 ap's and Mission President Engbjerg (pronounced Engbeeyao) They were all so nice and it made me feel a little bit more welcome in an otherwise cold foreign place. We drove straight to the Rynek in Warsaw but because we were 6 hours late we didnt get to contact we just took pictures and what not. It was INCREDIBLE. I was impressed with how much character it really had. And it was also freezing. So like i remember in grade school when kids would make fun of me for wearing shorts and a tshirt in the 50 degree weather... i got those same kind of looks from the Poles walking around in just a suit coat and pants haha.. my jacket was packed in the depths of one of my bags and i didnt feel like digging for it so i braved the cold. Ill be honest its not like being in shorts and a tshirt in 50 degress weather. its like being shirtless in greenland. The air is so moist that is just seeps right through the clothing and penetrates your very soul. k im being dramatic but it was cold that first night. and im rambling so ill try to be a little more concise. We spent the next couple of days at the mission home.. went to the uprising museum and warsaw and wat not. Had my first experiences with Polish food.. davage.. the juice is incredible.. lysh you would love it. We got to go running both mornings into some forest in warsaw that still had trenches and stuff... it was so surreal i wish i would have gotten some pictures... It was probably the most essential thing to my health that i did this past week (besides haagen) On saturday we had a meeting where we were assigned our areas and trainers. All of the trainers were there and President did it in slideshow fashion with the pictures of the two missionaries and the area being displayed. Once again needless to state.. the suspense and anticipation was so high my head hurt (ive decided this email is very poetic) I was assigned to Wroclaw with Elder Duty.. hes going home in 4 months so i will most likely kill him if i dont get transfered after 2 months.. which usually doesnt happen. So our district said its goodbyes and duty and some others headed off. took a few trams to the trainstation. and there we waited for our train to come. I wish i could go more in to depth with what exactly was going through my mind and all the poles we talked to. I felt pretty good because i could kind of understand ... some i couldnt understand at all. Anyways we got on the train and headed off. It was kind of crazy. The whole experience kind of fit how i figured my first week in the field being... not understanding anybody, being in a foreign country, and now heading off on a 5 1/2 hour train ride to the middle of nowhere. Although Wroclaw isnt nowhere.. its one of the biggest cities in Poland. Its the furthest area in the mission from Warsaw and pretty much the center of excitement as far as i can tell. Tonight they are having the biggest New Years party in Poland on the Rynek. Unfortunately we arent allowed to go out and see it.. actually probably fortunately. Umm yeah theres so much to say and no time to say it.. got off the train and was met by some missionaries who put us on a tram to our new apartment. We got in at about 20:00 ish and unpacked. Our apartment is wayy nice... and according to Elder Duty one of the nicest he's lived in. Im a fan. We are right on the rynek.. about a 2 minute walk to the center. Also one of the sisters, sister lindquist, from my district is serving here to. Its way nice to have someone i know. On sunday both of us had to give a talk in polish.. it was way fun.. cracked a few jokes.. they laughed .. hopefully it was at my joke and not my language skills.. or lack thereof. Elder Duty said i did well and he claims that ill speak better than he does in 4 months time. i have doubts, but i definitely feel like our group was more prepared coming out of the mtc than most groups. There are 15 members in the Wroclaw branch and we meet on the 3rd floor of a hotel just outside the Rynek. They are amazing faithful members so im excited to get to know them all. Well i have to write a quick email to my president but i just wanted to let y'all know that life is good and im alive!.. oh yeah and i went contacting on the rynek and around wroclaw on sunday night so that was way fun.. not a whole lot of people listen but most of the poles are way nice which has been good. the gospel is still true even here in wroclaw :-) im excited to get to work and share the good word with the awesome people of wroclaw. i apologize for the grammar mistakes and what not.. i was writing fast and i think polish is squishing the english out of me. i love you all! Happy new years! heres my new address.. ill see if i cant get some letters out today. do widzenia ul. WLODKOWICA 35/3 WROCLAW 50-072 WROCLAW POLSKA