The Most Amazing P-Day Ever!

Hi family! Don't have much time to email, because I just have had the coolest P day I have had so far. So I will tell you about it. Just so you know, our people are doing great. This week is the last one of the transfer.

For P day, we went to see the tallest statue of Christ in the world. Taller than the one in Brazil. Our senior couple, the Womacks, took us on a road trip.

And after that, we went to army fortifications built by Germans under Hitler's orders in 1936. Hitler ordered these fortifications to be built in 1936 because at that point, his plan was to attack France first. France and Poland had an alliance, and so he built those fortifications because when he attacked France, he knew Poland would attack from the other side. But then when France gave up on their side of the alliance, he shifted strategy and decided to attack Poland first, so construction of the fortifications ceased.

But they built over 15 kilometers of tunnels underground and 31 bunkers. The plan was to have more tunnels and more bunkers, but because of the shift in strategy, there were only 31 built.

It was such a strange feeling to walk along these underground tunnels and bunkers.

History is close here, folks. So many people died in those wars, but God knows each of them. Sorry I have a lot of deep thoughts and a ton of things to say but not enough time to say them.

Love,

Siostra Eberting

Learning To Show A Little "Extra"

Cześć, wszystkich!

This week has been filled with wonderful goodness. We met this guy on the street a week ago and had a meeting with him. We went to Starbucks to "get a coffee" with him and talk about faith. Starbucks hot chocolate is surprisingly good. He is super awesome and has an amazing understanding of the Bible. As he was talking I kept thinking of Bible verses to back him up, but he was enjoying talking too, so we didn't read most of them. He's a cool guy who really understands the importance of learning from the Holy Ghost.

A couple weeks ago, a mom showed up to church, and we've been able to meet with her a few times. She is phenomenal. We met at the kids play section of a mall. Her little 2 year old son has so much energy. Just loved to run around in circles and then he hopped up behind me on my chair and started very enthusiastically pounding his fists on my back as we taught the mom about Joseph Smith. I put a sticker on his boot and he walked around so proudly for a minute. Then it fell off. I love her kids.

While we were on a tram one day, a guy looked at us and started talking to us like he knew us. I was excited for a minute and I asked him if he had talked to missionaries before. Then he told us he was an archangel and started waving his arms like flapping angel wings. Wasn't quite sure how to process that...

On Saturday we were getting off our tram stop, and a distraught old babcia stopped us, asking for directions to a building nearby. I told her we didn't know the area, but we could look it up for her on my phone. When she asked us where we were from and I told her from America, she got even more distressed and yelled at us for a minute. So we kind of just stood there, andthen I asked her if we could help her find the address. And she just melted! I love Polish babcias. We helped her find the address, which was a Seventh Day Adventist church, and then she opened the door and beckoned for us to come up the stairs "Chodźcie! Chodźcie!" And so we followed her up. She asked "do you hear voices?" And we were like "yeah" and so we kept following her. Sure enough, there was a meeting going on. Then she motioned for us to take off our coats, and with a grin on her face she whispered to us "Będzie OBIAD po spotkaniu!"("there will be dinner after the meeting"). When we told her we had to go (cause we had to go) she gave us a hug and a kiss and toldus how much she loved us. Just showing her a little love and concern turned her distress completely around.

That's something I feel like I have been learning lately. Showing a little extra concern, a little more love for others makes such a big difference, and then you feel so much better and less selfish too! Sometimes it's easy for me tothink about what I want in the moment, but trying to follow the Savior really makes a difference. 

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you"

Matthew 5:43-44

Love,

Sister Eberting

Pictures:

1. Fried cheese

2. Service! Sorting clothes for homeless

Dzień Wszystkich Świętych

Cześć, wszystkich!

I am writing this email to you all as I sit in a government building in Katowice. Yay.

This week has been super awesome! First of all, we had two super awesome holidays. Halloween happened. Most people here don't like Halloween, but we organized a party for our English students and I also invited 720 people by posting it on Facebook groups. A guy got upset at me on Facebook because I'm a missionary, but then one of our AMAZING members defended me. It just made me feel so good that she was willing to stand up for me like that.

But anyways, our party was SO fun! We didn't have a huge turnout, but it was just about right. The best part was when we did pumpkin carving, and I watched as one of our guests carved a pumpkin for the first time. He was so proud of it. I was really afraid he was going to accidentally cut his finger off.

Thursday morning, as Sister Jensen and I were pretending to run, a guy stopped us and asked us to show him the way to a river. So we walked with him to the river, and turns out, he was visiting for work for just a few days. We invited him to our All Saints Day activity (I will explain that in a minute) and he came! He brought his boss, too! So now we are friends.

So All Saints Day is a really cool holiday. Maybe similar to Dia de los Muertos? Basically, it is a day where Poles remember their ancestors. They clean off the graves and put flowers and lanterns on them. At night they go to the cemeteries and pray for their ancestors. I wish the USA had a holiday like that, because it was breathtaking. With some members and friends, we went to a cemetery at night where two of our members are buried. We put lanterns on, cleaned them off, and said a prayer. It's pretty neat to know that these people still exist and are doing good things on the other side of the veil.

Sis Jensen and I have been doing a good job just talking to a lot of people. For example, I told a little boy who was with his dad that I liked his hat because it had two eyes on it. When I told him that it meant he had four eyes, he got really upset and wouldn't look at anyone. Whoopsies. Hopefully it helped when I told him I had a hat with two eyes on it too. His dad thought it was pretty funny though.

I'm coming up on my year mark as a missionary! I really like it. 10/10 would reccomend for anyone looking to grow their faith, recognize their weaknesses, and learn to love people.

Siostra Eberting

Pictures:

1. At the cemetery

2. Pumpkins!

3. In Katowice with Ania!!!!!

More Pictures!

4 Different Cities This Week!

Halo everybody!!

Time for speed round!

So we were in four different cities this week. Kato on Monday. Krakow on Tuesday. Poznan on Wednesday. Warsaw on Sunday.

We had exchanges in Krakow Tuesday which were really good. I was with Sis Ludlow. Shes a diligent worker. We stopped a guy who was walking a dog and he asked why we were walking in a park when it was raining. I deflected the question on him. He said he had to walk his dog every day. I told him I had to walk Sis Ludlow.

We started teaching a new family!!

Love,

Sister Eberting

Pictures:

1. Army museum this is a fort

2. Croissants