Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas!!
I have a lot of stuff to tell y'all about this week.
Do you all remember the family we met a week and a half ago on the tram? Well they invited us over for their Christmas Eve dinner. There are 3 days of Chrismas here in Poland--December 24-26, and Christmas Eve is the biggest celebration.
Traditionally, people fast on Christmas Eve from meat, which means instead that they eat a lot of fish. At the beginning of the meal everyone has an opłatka (wafer) and goes around to everyone else and wishes them health or happiness or good things and then they break off s little piece of the wafer.
There are so many wonderful Christmas traditions here in Poland. But basically, to keep things short, we ate lots of different kinds of fish and cabbage and mushrooms (which they gathered themselves, that is another Polish tradition), and it was for the most part delicious!! I am just still so in awe of the kindness of this family. They accepted us into their home for Christmas Eve and helped us have an unforgettable Christmas, which included a visit from Santa!! (Kids get their presents on Christmas eve instead of Christmas morning). It was such a happy night.
After dinner with the family, we went home and slept for an hour and a half, and then we woke up and went to Midnight Mass! It was SO cool.
On the 25 and 26, we visited some lonely people in an assisted living center. It was a lot of fun, and we made some promises to go back soon. We were trying to exit the building at one point, but it was locked from the inside. A cheerful resident knew the code to get out, and when he helped us, I told him "Wow! It's like magic!" He grinned, and, proudly pointing at himself, proclaimed "Nazywam się....Harry Potter!" (My name is Harry Potter).
We also did some caroling on the 25th and 26th. So. Much. Fun. Poland has beautiful Christmas carols. We basically went around on the streets with a stocking full of chocolate and asked people if we could sing a Carol for them. A lot of people thought we wanted to be paid for it at first, but then we sang for them and offered them chocolate. We also tried going in a little empty Indian restaurant and asking if we could sing for the worker and his boss, but the boss came out looking really uncomfortable and told us how sorry he was, but no. So I offered him some chocolate, and he was so sorry, but no. I think they weren't Christian though, so maybe that is why they were uncomfortable.
We also asked an employee in a Żabka if we could sing her a carol, and she said no but accepted chocolate. There was also a drunk guy there who caught on and wanted some chocolate, so we promised him some tomorrow and left.
But we did actually sing for a lot of people, and 2 of the people we sang to came to church and want to learn more now!! So exciting.
When President Chandler came to Poznań last week, he talked to me about setting goals. Especially with this new year coming, that is a good time to start thinking about what we want to accomplish during the next year. Ultimately, our goal in life is to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. All other goals that we make should lead to this goal. And it is great to remember, that with the help of Jesus Christ, we can overcome our personal challenges. We can be rid of the sins and bad habits that have plagued us for years and find joy in learning and growing every single day. I have started to realize how happy it makes me to measure my progress each day and to know that each day, I can choose to become a little bit more like my Savior!
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13)
Love,
Sister Eberting
Pictures:
1. Beautiful sunset at 3:50
2. Sis Jensen eating leftover pickled herring
3. Us caroling
4. Christmas morning photo
More Pictures
