Cześć, my wonderful family and friends!!!! This week was a FABULOUS week--fabulous because I get to be a missionary and share the things that bring me happiness every day! To start off, a short language lesson:
Apparently the word for potatoes is ziemiaki, not ruski. I always thought is was ruski, because potato pierogi are pierogi ruskie, but that actually means Russian. So apparently every week at the soup kitchen, when I ask people if they want more potatoes, I'm really asking if they want more Russians.
Friday was Dzień Kobiet (Women's Day), and it was a holiday on par with Valentine's Day here. Everyone was walking around with flowers/chocolate. Our branch president gave us cake, and one of our friends from English class gave us flowers! It pays to be a kobiet sometimes……. ;)
We also went to the dom pomocy and talked about our families. With pictures. Man, I just love talking to these people. Even when I don't understand it. While I was showing a lady a picture of Grace and talking about how she is nine, another lady leaned over and said "Your sister is nine? Well I'm ninety-two!" Haha, we got a good laugh out of that.
On Saturday, we had to go get some things printed at a printers shop. As we left the chapel, we were blasted with some noise from the Rynek. Some sort of feminist protest was going on (day after Dzień Kobiet). It looked like a lot of work to shout and march and chant so much. But the weather got bad pretty quickly. By the time we got back from the printers shop, all the people had blown away with their agendas.
I just love being a missionary, and Sister Harmon is such a good example to me. She is really good at noticing little things that people need help with. A couple days ago, as we were contacting, we noticed a lady with a cup of coffee in one hand and a couple of rowdy little dogs getting tangled in their leashes in the other hand. She was looking at a nicely-sized doggy present one of tchem had left. Sister Harmon ran over and asked if she needed help and held the leashes while the lady threw away the present. Little acts of service like this just make my day, and I hope they make the day of the person who receives the service as well.
I know a lot of you got hard things goin' on in your lives right now. If you don't, then you're probably actually a hamster or something. But despite whatever is going on, you have a Father in Heaven who loves you and cares deeply about you--about your fears, your weaknesses, your sadness, and the things that make you happy. It's so hard for us to see ourselves like He sees us. It's so hard to see these hard trials like Heavenly Father sees tchem. But some day, we all are going to be able to look back and see how these hard parts of our life have really been for our good, and how we've come closer to our Savior because of tchem. I love what Elder Holland said about this:
"Even if you cannot always see that silver lining on your clouds, God can, for He is the very source of the light you seek. He does love you, and He knows your fears. He hears your prayers. He is your Heavenly Father, and surely He matches with His own the tears His children shed."
I love you all! And I'm praying for y'all too. Thanks for praying for me :)
Love,
Siostra Eberting
