Conference In Warsaw

Hello friends and fam! This week, among other things, we had a conference in Warsaw, we had a Bible bash during church, and we ate grilled cheese sandwiches.

But maybe one of my favorite parts about the week was Lidia.

Now a couple weeks ago, while we were walking to a bus stop from the chapel, we saw a little old lady slowly making her way across the street ahead of us. So we stopped and talked to her. She is about 92. She told us all about her little apartment with a balcony that has just the right amount of space on it for her to do her exercises. She told us about how the street we were on was a lot different when she was a young woman. She talked about her son.

We see her pretty regularly now, going for a nice slow walk. A couple days ago, she pointed up at the building we were standing next to and explained how it was built by Prussians for their own skilled laborers. Each worker would get their own floor of the apartment, but it was too fancy for the common Polish people.

Lidia used to be a tour guide or travel coordinator or something like that. And she has such a cute little smile. We've tried to ask her if we can come visit her/go for a walk with her/take her to an appointment she has, but every time we do, somehow it turns into a 10-minute tangent.

So she's our new friend.

The conference in Warsaw was great. Some of you probably don't care that much, but the mission is going to soon have 2 zones instead of 3, and most of the zone conferences will be in Warsaw. These changes make sense.

We've been meeting a lot of new people through our English class. It's a lot of fun, and it's an easy way for people to see that we are normal people.

Also, yesterday after church, Sis Baldwin and I went to an international picnic and got to meet a lot of new people from all over. Switzerland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, to name a couple. There are a lot of really neat people in the world with really moving life experiences.

Anyways, good things are happening here. I don't have any super exciting stories other than that I tried to make bread, but I could only find this cake of wet yeast from Biedronka, so I left it in the fridge for a week, and when I finally tried to make it, the yeast made little popping sounds in the water and fruit flies tried to go swimming in it. So I poured it down the sink and went to bed.

Guess what!!! General Conference is in a month! Let the countdown begin!!! 

I've been reading Doctrine and Covenants lately, and yesterday, one verse really struck me. This verse is talking about how the Book of Mormon will go forth throughout all the world: "And now, behold, according to their faith in their prayers will I bring this part of my gospel to the knowledge of my people. Behold, I do not bring it to destroy that which they have received, but to build it up."

We aren't here to break people down. Sometimes God needs to do that, but that's not our job. Every interaction we have with people should leave them feeling built up, feeling like they can do life, like they have suppor both from heaven and on earth.

We're here to add to what people have.

Love,

Siostra Eberting

 

Pictures:

1-2. Never miss an opportunity to protest

3. Another eye

4. We do puzzles at night now while listening to classical music. (Idea credit Elder Long) 

Moje Skrzypce

Hello friends and family! The last 2 weeks have been wonderful. I'm just loving it here in Poznań, and it's hard to believe that we're already a third of the way through the transfer.

So maybe I'll just tell some random stories from the last couple of weeks :)

First of all, I HAVE A VIOLIN (credits to Sis Godfrey)!!! Ale naprawdę bardzo tęsknię za moją altówką. The little thing has already come in handy quite a bit. I've gotten to play hymns for our religious discussions after English class, Zone Conference, and church. I also tried playing it on the streets while Sis Baldwin talked to people, but that didn't really work because there weren't very many people. And also I didn't sound very good. I was hoping to make some money off of it ;) but that didn't work either.

On Friday 2 weeks ago we went to mass because some people we met invited us to go with them. It was pretty cool, and I liked the music.

We also had a meeting with someone we found from the area book. It was super fun because she tried to convert us to a form of Catholicism for an hour. She really was an awesome lady and very clearly committed to helping others find faith, just like she had found faith. I could tell she was not taking us seriously though. It's just kind of sad when we meet such good people like her, but they are not looking for truth and they are happy with what they have and don't want more.

We had Zone Conference on Saturday 2 weeks ago. President Chandler is super awesome! He's very inspirational and really committed to coming and doing the work with us.

On Wednesday I hit 9 months! Technically halfway isn't for another 2 weeks, though. Time is a weird thing. In some ways, it feels like I just started, and in other ways, it seems like I have always been in Poland.

On Friday our mission finished the 40-day-read-the-entire-Book-of-Mormon challenge. Wow, I had so many insights and so many cool experiences throughout this challenge. I recommend the Book of Mormon to all of you! Read her every day! (In Polish, the Book of Mormon is feminine, so it's  hard for me to call her "it" anymore in English. It just feels uncomfy.) Seriously, I know the Book of Mormon is true and will bring more happiness into your life if you read it.

One of the things I've been thinking a lot about lately is how all of us have the ability to discern between things that come from God and things that come from Satan. When we are in a good place, doing the things God wants us to do, we will feel peaceful. But of course Satan wants to make us feel miserable and confused. I've been thinking about this so much because of 2 recent experiences

1. Last week another missionary discovered an anti-Church page that appears to be pro-Church, but really just portrays the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as extremist and full of crazy people. I saw the page and looked at it. It didn't destroy my faith or anything like that, but after a few minutes I realized I just felt kind of gloomy and depressed. So I opened the Book of Mormon and started reading my 13 pages for the day (for the challenge). And within a few minutes, that feeling was gone and completely replaced by a peaceful and content feeling. I could tell the difference between something that was designed to destroy my happiness and something that was written by prophets of God to build my happiness.

2. I have a friend who has been coming to church for a long time, and I'm pretty sure that deep down she knows the Church is true. But she also talks to me about how confused she is right now, not just regarding faith, (but that's definitely the biggest part about it). She feels so good when she goes to church, but she also often looks up anti-church articles and will talk to us about how our church can't be true. (BTW, don't trust everything you read on the internet. If you have questions, ask the missionaries first.)

She can feel the difference between how she feels when she comes to church and the general confusion she feels in her life. The Gospel offers peace and direction to everyone. We're just working on getting her to admit that to herself. :)

I love you all! I'm so grateful for this time I have to learn more about my Savior, Jesus Christ, and that I can try to follow His example in teaching others about His Gospel.

Siostra Eberting

1st Week In Poznań! Sorry I Don't Have A Creative Title This Week

Hello everyone! It's been a crazy (crazy good) week in my new city: the one and only Poznań!

My new companion is Sister Baldwin, and she's really awesome. We also have a senior couple, the Womacks in Poznań. And let me tell you, I'm gonna have to be careful. They've already given us cinnamon rolls, toblerones, ice cream, and they made a ton of french toast yesterday...

But it is so fun to have them here. They're going to be our grandma and grandpa.

Recently in Zone Conference, President Chandler talked to us about how to make our street contacting more effective. He told us to look each person we pass in the eyes and if we feel like we need to stop them, stop them. Well I've been trying really hard, and nothing's happened. But, Sister Baldwin stopped a random guy who was taking a smoke and he was really interested! He came to English on Saturday to.

I got to meet Bożena!!!!! Bożena is a legend in the Poland Warsaw mission. She is a convert of about 15 years here in Poznań. She's babcia-age. She has had a really hard life and has many problems in her life today, but she is rock-solid. And so cute. We get to visit her every week, and I'm really excited about it.

We don't have elders in this city (it's only us and the Womacks) so we are pretty busy. There are a lot of people we're working with right now, and I've gotten to meet some really cool people.

Yesterday Sis Baldwin and I went and handed out food to homeless people and talked to them. We were talking to a lady, and when she found out we spoke English, she pointed us to another, rather beaten-up lady who was sitting down a little ways away. Well, we started talking to her in English. I'm sure what she told us was not the full story, but she is from Scotland and came into Poland and someone stole her passport, so she can't leave the country or get a job until she has a passport. I started telling her about how sometimes we Americans try to imitate British accents 'cause they're cool, and she stopped me mid-sentence and said "DON'T ever try to be something you're not, because you will always fail." Really good advice, which lately has been kind of hard for me to apply. Especially with having such a small mission, it's easy to compare, compare, compare. At least for me.

But the thing is, we all have the same goal. Every single one of us missionaries is fighting a battle against Satan. Not just us missionaries, but everyone on this earth. And one of the easiest ways for Satan to counteract this is to make us think we're fighting against each other instead.

This has been something I've been thinking about for a long time, especially when I've talked with other missionaries and they've felt like they're not good enough, that they'll never be good enough missionaries. They're comparing themselves to other people's strengths, and ultimately, to some idealistic missionary that does not exist. I do that too. It's so much more important for us to ask how God sees us rather than try to figure out how other people see us. In this way, it's so much easier to be united. 'Cause each of us has different talents, different strengths. And we each are going to help build God's kingdom in a different way, whether we are a missionary or not. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12, would recommend the rest of the chapter, too).

I think all of us are in the middle of learning this lesson. But it's so much nicer to not have to worry about what other people think about us, and to only worry about what God thinks about us :)

Love,

Siostra Eberting

Pictures:

1. I love Polish streets

2. Sister Miller left this for me in my planner. She's so thoughtful. ;)

3. We ran to Cathedral Island a couple days ago. It used to be the city center hundreds of years ago, I think?

4. I LOVE Biedronkas.

5. Me and Sister Baldwin

More Pictures