Siemanko-Jan 21, 2008

Siema!? hey family! I just realized that when i send these emails home that is about 3 am there. crazy sauce. Well its another blissful P-day here in Wroclaw .. btw thats pronounced Vrotsuave suave as in the shampoo. Vrot pronouned like boat. Probably more info than you wanted or needed.. but hey there it is. This week.. hmm this week. It was actually and excellent week. People finally sat down and met with us so i got to practice my Polish and teaching skills. Both of which are lacking, but progressing. We got 3 new investigators this week... the rastafarian and her boyfriend.. and this way rad and well read, erudite if you will kid named Michal. (Meehow) Both the lessons went really well. Although the rastas believe that the Law of Moses was never fulfilled and should still be implemented so Duty and I have been studying that a bit this week. Michal knows polish, english, hebrew, german, french, and spanish.. He's 25 and says he'll have the whole ksiega mormona read by the end of this week.. If i were a betting man, just based simply on the fact that he knows that many languages.. I would bet he's going to read it. So Duty and I are incredibly stoked about that. We also doubled the number of lessons we taught on the streets this week. Although that was partly because we had the AP's come down from Warsaw and go on exchanges with us. They are pretty good missionaries.. and by pretty good i mean very. I definitely learned a lot. Apparently the AP position in this mission used to be kind of looked down upon. President would just take kinda mediocre, half class elders and put them in the office. But President Engberg has switched that up since he came in.. I would venture to say they are some of the best in the mission. Which kinda doesnt make sense to me to put the best elders in the office. Nevertheless Duty and i had great times on exchanges. I went with Elder Barlow, he's a good man.. he dies at the end of this transfer. He taught me more about the Polish language then I've learned since I've been here.. so that was way helpful. He hates centrum and the hustle and bustle of the city so we took a tramwaj like 45 minutes out of centrum and started knocking domki... just residential areas. We had an amazing time. People are definitely a lot more willing to listen when they arent running through the rynek trying to get to work or their next meeting, etc.. > > I had some great experiences contacting and whiteboarding this week.. met some very interesting people... one danced in front of our whiteboard for 20 minutes about some hindu? maybe god.. what did he keep saying......... ah yeah "hare krshna!" over and over .. he was hilarious ... some other people too but ill save those for another time haha. I had a conversation with a Pole for like 10 minutes on one of our whiteboards and i understood everything he said ! Life goal #46 accomplished. > > The weather hasnt been particularly friendly this week to say the least. It has been way warm though. Unfortunately it has been raining for a few days .. constant drizzle.. doesnt make the work easy sometimes. Still an absolute blast though. So yeah, all is well Poland, the work is catching fire. Yesterday we had a baptism in the ward it was a great time. There were supposed to be 2 baptisms unfortunately the investigator flaked so that put kind of a damper on the whole day. Hopefully she'll change her mind. > > I apologize this email has been kinda scatterbrained i never really organize my thoughts before i start typing. I just go for it. > > Lysh-> Lysh I'm so proud your taking an english class! thats so davage.. you'll pwn it for sure. I came up with an 'extended metaphor' if you will about the work in Poland. I feel it's accurate and appropriately captures the crux of what missionary work is here in Poland. I'll even apply it to London. Let's say a Brit named Edmond travels to America. His goal: to convert the people of America to the game of cricket. Well he comes up to the first American he sees once he gets off the plane and stops him. "cheerio, im sharing a message about the game of Cricket" Ofcourse the American would say something to the tune of " What the heck kind of accent is that? ...Cricket? never heard of it, sounds like some sort of sect... listen here Edmond ive been playing Baseball my whole life and there is no way in heck im playing some game called cricket." Edmond: "But you dont even know what it is and i didnt ask you to stop playing baseball" American: "Hey, there isnt anything thats going to change my mind. Why are you even here in america.. dont you know we all play baseball .. always have, always will.. maybe you should try canada or mexico" > Haha its actually kind of scary how accurately that describes missionary work sometimes here. The catholic church has such a hold on some of their hearts. That's alright thought, we are just here to find the elect, not the hardhearted. Sounds like great times in London, your pictures are way rad. keep having fun and working hard. Draw some sweet pics for me haha. I love you lysh!> > Laners- > Thanks for your email laners I'm glad all is going sweetly back there in Idaho. Way to go on pwning your classes thats awesome. Junior year is a tough year that really is way impressive. Keep on keeping on.. have fun with all your homies.. dont push the camaro passed 165 mph on state st though next time. no worries though i won't tell dad, im sending you the money for that $200 ticket tomorrow so it should get there in a few days. haha love you sister :-) > > Have a great week all, thanks for your love and prayers > > go pats> > fainego poniedzialeku > > starszy daly