HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Hello moja piękny rodzina! Oh how I love you:)

This week went by really quickly... but so much happened, it's really hard to explain but I'm glad everyone home had a good time at Island Park! I forget that it's summer to be completely honest. I'm so grateful that dad got me that awesome umbrella... I have had to use it a TON!

We had quite a few ups and downs as this week went by... Let's see...

We taught this woman named Magda... she is a Presbyterian and currently on a mission to the Gypsies:) crazy! But she still lives and works in Krakow... we felt like we needed to teach her a little bit about the preisthood(Harmie:) and as we explained to her she was super happy and asked like a million questions in lightening fast Polish. We told her about how it is the power that seals us to families and to God. We told her that only through this power can we be sealed. She is great... but our struggle here is so many people seem to move forward and then they go on vacation and people tell them things about the church and they end up not calling back. So pray for Poland:) I know you already are. But everyone here is on vacation from school, but it's been so great!

Tuesday was my birthday, awesome:) It was good, because I got to spend my birthday teaching our favorite investigator, Ola. (not sure if I'm allowed to have favorites... but let's pretend:) and she is a spunky 23 year old who lives with her boyfriend and made us crepes and love us so much, but we knew that she was meeting only to be with us and not because she wanted to progress in the gospel. So we had to drop her. It was so sad! We committed her again to live the Law of Chastity, and she said she won't, and we told her that we couldn't meet anymore because she had to make the decisions on her own before we could really do much else. so pray for Ola:) Sister Edgren called me on my birthday, she and president are so kind! we love them! They are coming for interviews this week, which is great.

We met this young man named Michał during our contacting on Friday, he is super kind and he came to our meeting at the kaplica and we taught him about the first vision. I felt the spirit so much as we were talking with him, Oh the gospel makes so much sense!!!

On Sunday we invited Justyna and her boyfriend Daniel to church with us! They are such good people and they want to do good things. Daniel is from England and doesn't speak Polish so we teach them in English which is wierd... but we still love it:) They said that they would pray about the Book of Mormon, and since Daniel doesn't think that God is real, he said he would pray about that too! We prayed long and hard for them but we know that in the end we can only invite, the Sprit can testify and then they can choose! But we have faith in them:) Justyna came to church with us on Sunday, which was great! We had a lot of families who only spoke english so we had to have Sister Allen translate, she was a trooper! We usually get to church, talk to everyone and then begin sacrament. The Elders bless and pass it with one of the men, and our Prezydent will usually give a talk and then someone else from the congregation... not me yet but probably soon:) Prezydent Kucia is such a great guy. We had a really crazy lesson with one of our kontakts who was pretty much just there to chat about whether or not God exists. Prezydent Kucia came and he was so helpful, shared a lot of insight which I know he had to search out on his own since there are not really too many leaders or members to sit and teach each other. Super impressive. He tries very hard to share the gospel and is a great example. Then we have Sunday School, and someone from the congregation teaches it, and then we usually just go home for lunch. Then we contact:)

We do a lot of contacting especially here in Krakow because people don't love us trakting and also we don't have a very big area book yet, but it's great because I get to use my Polish a lot and it's coming along so well. I'm so grateful for the gift of tongues that I've been blessed with. I am really blessed every day with everything I need, as long as I do my best. I continue to learn how important it is to have faith. I never had to excersize it like I am on my mission, but it is blessing me so much. As I testify of Christ I feel His love, and it is amazing the power of the Atonement!

I learned a lot this week about how we have to ask for manna, and it's how the Savior and our Heavenly Father help us develop faith in them. Elder Christofferson gave a talk about how important it is to ask for manna every day, hour by hour. That it is what the Lord wants from us. I know I sometimes feel bad because I ask for so much, but it is okay, because as He gives it to me, I can use it to serve the people of Poland.

I learned the lesson of Nephi... if you think you can't stand it if your bow breaks, just got to work, pray for what to do, and have faith that the Lord will help you!

I am continually grateful for my companions! They are najlepszy:) We met some great people this week and we are having faith that the people in Poland are prepared to hear the gospel. We have made some great goals and are working on completing them, we are in the finding stage right now so it's one step at a time! I meet the most interesting people though, which is so cool!

Alright mom... questions:) What you eat? We pretty much have cereal in the mornings, and then usually eggs for lunch and then for dinner we have chicken or tortillas or coś tak jego(something like that) We live pretty far from town so we don't have a ton of time for dinner... but this week I at out for my birthday! It was delicious, and I will stick a picture of it on here... basically a dumpling with bacon and potatoes!  Where you go to email us? We go to a library in town:) It's pretty great!  How you do your laundry? we have a washer and then we hang dry our clothes. I guess that dryers are not really a thing in Europe.  All about the weather? It is super hot some days and raining others, apparently this has been a really mild summer which is such a blessing. It's so beautiful here though!  What people wear? hmm.. well they wear all sorts of things... some super cute and others that are not so much. Apparently super thick bangs are in style here...interesting:)    How your shoes are holding up? My shoes are great! I'm so glad we got those black boots because it is so helpful when it rains!  And payless is the best:) (grandma's dr. scholls are the best as well! thanks!)

That's super awesome that grandma and grandpa met some lady from Poland. It's true that the Catholic religion here is very much against our religion. But there are some who want change. I love telling people that I know we can have apersonal relationship with God through prayer and faith, because He is our Heavenly Father. That it is through Christ we can grow to be like Him. It's amazing!

 

Sorry for the super long e-mail! But I had a really cool experience on Monday... when we are on the trams we have these tram cards, and I forgot mine at home... classic:) I was on the tram and then this guy got on who checks cards and they make you pay a ton of money and take you to the police office if you dont' have it... so I start freaking out a little ( mom... you will remember this) he walks down checking everyone and then he COMPLETELY SKIPS ME! It was like he didn't even see me, and I can tell you that that never happens! I was so grateful and it was just another testimony that Heavenly Father watches out for us! We met this cute family a week ago and then yesterday we went to this dropped investigator's house and checked up on her. She didn't want to meet, but as we were traming home, this family was on the tram again. A completely different tram in a random part of town! It was a miracle to say the least. Oh how I love to see the Lord's hand in His work.

 

The men here are hillarious... yesterday we were walking and this old man came up to us and said....  śliczna śliczna! ( cute) and then he said that he was wanting to just hug us all and told us we were so cute a million times... oh my:) It's so funny. We just said... thank you and invited him to church! Also this old lady walked up to us on the street and said are you from America, we said yes. She said " are you trying to learn Polish" we said yes... she said " I think you girls are beautiful and so beautiiful like angels, and I want to say congratulations!" Okay:) Made my day! Such kind people.

 

Happy Birthday to my lovely little Harmie! I love you so much and I know the Lord will bless you in this next year of life. I can't wait to hear of your preisthood in action as you pass the sacrament! You mean so much to me and I pray for you every night. Please remember your mission every day. Live to prepare for it. And I will pray for my little Spencie who's not so little anymore!

 

I'm so glad that Morgan and Dallin are heading out, that Tanner had a great mission( the letter you sent me of his, mom, was just what I needed) that Mckenzie is sealed in the temple! What a week of miracles!Congrats Wills family on the new house, you deserve it and I'm sure it's gorgeous!

 

I love being a servant of the Lord. He blessed me every day! May the Lord bless you as I know He will. Much love,

Siostra Hemming

At the chocolate factory

Chocolate shoes

An investigator

birthday dinner

Dzień Dobry!

I'm glad everything is going well at home! I love hearing all the great stories about the weeks of everyone, Thanks everyone for the lovely birthday e-mails! Mom, it's fine that you couldn't send me a package, I wouldn't get it for a while and you just barely sent me an amazing one! No biggie:) hearing from everyone aobut their fourth experiences was awesome! Our country is great... Polish people don't really love that America is the promised land in the scriptures... interesting:) I've learned so much more why missions are necessary... it's an expęrience you can never get anywhere else. Consecrated time to the Lord, awesome!

 

Okay, so this week was amazing:) I love being a missionary. I have the best companions ever and we enjoy every minute of our time serving the Lord. Our new mission president got in the last week, and he and his wife are settling in wonderfully. They are so amazing and are so dedicated to the work, it's great! They have gotten right down to business! That's how things work in Poland, mmm hmm!

 

So I started off the week going to the Rynek, every town in Poland has one... they are these beautiful old town squares... the elders in our district have the Rynek in their area, so I've never seen it... but it was goregous! So fun, I'm beginning to realized just how lucky I am to be in Poland.  

I can't believe how much I've learned about my relationship with my Savior this week. Everything I do relies on Him, and if I can't give it all to Him, it just causes me stress, so that is my goal, to learn to be okay if things don't always go my way, because the Savior's way is so much better! We try and contact everyone that we can, because we need to:) We taught a lot of people this week! Awesome:) So many amazing experiences, I will share a couple...

This Tuesday we were going to visit a less-active sister, we went to her home and this guy answered the door, he invited us in and we shared our message with him. We started out by asking him his beliefs, he is Catholic( many are:) we told him of the first vision, of the Savior, and of Heavenly Father's plan a little. We taught him about prophets... oh how I love President Monson! There is a pattern here among the Catholic people that we talk with... they always say they firmly believe that they are Catholic, when we tell them about prophets they agree, they agree that prayer is important, but they dont' realize that they don't believe in prophets... and often when we ask them if they can end a lesson in prayer they don't know how to do it, super interesting. They believe that God doesn't really listen to their prayers, so they pray to Mary or some other Saints. It is very interesting, and sad... but That is why missionaries are so needed here. I watch how people's faces light up as we talk with them, how the light of Christ is sparked. It is really an amazing experience! Anyway... this young man said that he wanted to know more, because he had questions about our church, but that he didn't think that he was allowed to keep talking to the missionaries, that was sad, but in the end he took a book of Mormon, because he knew it had something he needed! yes!

I know that we needed to meet him right then, because he needed this beautiful message! We meet such interesting people every day, each one has their own personality and their own beliefs, it's crazy! All I can do is pray in my heart that I will know what to share, and even though my Polish is far from perfect, I know that I am so blessed by my Father in Heaven, and it hasn't been stressing me out! I'm so grateful!

We teach english every week, so that was wierd... speaking in English:) On the fourth Sister Young and I had a loner day... since Sister Allen went to Warsaw! We contacted and went to visit a less active family, they are so cute!!! They live in a beautiful part of Krakow. It was amazing to see. I talked with a sweet little girl who was four and told her about my little Talia, I always try and bring my family into conversations because they are so dear to my heart. I tell them of how the gospel has blessed my family with happiness and direction, it is such a blessing to know about this church! yes! Anyways, we went with the Elders to lunch at the local burger joint;) There really is a burger place here, and they are decorated like America and have country music playing... that was wierd:)

 

I know that the angels of God really are there to bear us up:) The mission field is such a place of miracles! I read the talk this week from President Eyring, that Christ wants us to come to Him. It is amazing, and it touched me so much! I know that my family will be watched over by my Savior, and He will draw them close as I spend my time and my efforts and my thoughts on His children here in Krakow!

 

We have some great elders and amazing sisters! This week in our ward another family came from another branch in Kielce, it was amazing to see all of the families! It needs to be like that all over the world! Right now in our branch, we have the five missionaries... Two men who come on a regular basis, and a family from the U.S. with a cute little girl and boy and one on the way:) There are more who come on ocassion, but we are trying to help build the branch. I have grown to love the Polish people so much more, super! We got to have one of our investigators, Martha come to church with us! She has been being taught for a while by the sisters, and she finally just came to church! yes! Heavenly Father blesses us every day! Pray for Martha.. and Ola, we love her,but she's struggling to keep her commitments.

We taught this lady named Justyna... almost everyone in Poland has the same name... wierd:) So we always have to write down descriptions... because they celebrate birthdays on name day instead, Oh Poland! hahahahah! Anyway, I was talking to her and I could see that she was sad, so I just told her that she is a daughter of God, and that He really does love and watch over her. I felt His love so strong, it was amazing! We talk of how much we love this gospel all of the time, so lucky I am!

 

There has been beautiful weather this week! We have been blessed with it being kind of cool, which is super nice! We made friends with our security guards... awesome, I've started contacting by myself... gift of tongues! I was blessed to learn so much about Faith this week. It is a real power, not just a belief but an action based on a belief. And that action leads to more faith, we are learning alot about this here in Krakow! I have the strongest Trainer ever, and we laugh all day long! I've been blessed with happiness and joy and safety and testimony! I am so grateful:)

 

I love you all with all of my soul! I am loving being in the Lord's service. He is blessing me in every way possible, while still helping me grow. Be member missionaries! It's so important!

May the Lord bless you,

She found her knight in shining armour!

Sister Hemming

Making some crepes!

Ali's Companions

Random goat thing

Town Center

Deer wearing a crown?

A space ship!

One For The Books

This week has been one for the books,

I loved my final days in the MTC, the MTC was so great and I enjoyed it and was ready to get out there and work;) I loved our zone there, but I felt so ready to go. We took a plane to the detroit airport, and I loved talking to everyone. I love my family sooooooo much. I really don't even know how to describe it, but I thought I felt so much love for you all before I left, and now I feel like I want to live right next to you my whole life. My new companions think I'm a little bit crazy because everytime we talk about families I get emotional. I have been softened and humbled so much. I needed it. I am looking forward to e-mails and letters. I will be here for at least eight weeks so if you have letters send them to my home, if you have packages send them to the mission home, with pictures of the Savior on them;)

 

So we arrived in Amsterdam, and we started to get alittle more nervous. I tried to talk to a lady on the plane, but she wasn't interested in the gospel and was very Catholic:) got to the mission home and went right out contacting. We don't really tract in this mission. We contact. it was a great day. I was exhausted though:) Then we slept in the mission home, the next day we went out on splits in Warsaw, that was amazing, my companion was Sister Barth, who just got here before me, and we worked with Sister Antkowiak, who is a convert going to Chicago on her mission! She was amazing and I loved it. Then they assigned us to our places, and I was super excited to go to Krakow. I got on the train the next morning and started off.

 

I have learned so many lessons. I realize that the people of Poland don't know what they can have. I realized that I am on the Lord's errand. That Heavenly Father needs me and that I am here for a reason. I have tried losing myself and my life in the Lord's work, and as I prayed and prayed and prayed, He has helped me so much. I am starting to love it so much more, and I am so grateful.

 

I love my companions. Sister Allen is hard working and on the ball, but fun! Which helps so much! Sister Young is in Grandma's ward( as you said mom) and she is lovely and hard working as well. Sister Allen speaks the language so well and she talks to everyone she sees. I think she's helped me so much with starting off my mission right!

We have had some funny experiences:) The elderly people here are sometimes very kind... and sometimes very bold. A man walked up to Sister Young and I yesterday and asked us if we were virgins. We had no idea what he was saying so we kept asking him to repeat it, then Sister Allen walked over and helped translate. When awkward things happen we make a K-Ching noise... because we get awkward points:) That one definitely rung it up. He was quite old so I wasn't really creeped out, but He just kept pointing his finger at Sister Young and smiling and saying... really? Then He said that if we were, he thinks our church might be true because the women are virtuous. Needless to say we hopped on the bus and laughed for awhile.

Then we had an awesome experience!!!!

We've had so many miracles, Heavenly Father has perfect timing.

 

 We decided to go to visit a previious investigator yesterday, named Monika, we got rung into her flat, by miracle, and someone opened the door, we had never met Monika, so we just acted like we just  showed up, at first she wasn't interested and had no time, but then she let us in,( Heavenly Father) and we taught her a solid first lesson. The whole thing... which we used to think was impossible:) and she llistened as I talked about how I am here because I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me, I said that I know He loves me evern more than my father( cue the tears) on earth loves me. That I know that my family can be forever through the gospel, ( I really struggled holding them back then) and that I feel like since I was blessed with such an amazing family I had to get out here and serve. She listened, said she wanted to read the Book of Mormon, said that she doesn't like the Katolik institution and that she thinks that children shouldn't be baptized. Her name is not Monika, but Joanne. She was alone in her apartment, she was studying, she was prepared, I felt so blessed. WE can't meet with her until next week but we will keep track of her for sure!

 

I love this work. We are teaching many women right now. Ola,  Dominika,  Joane, Marta, and Magda. They are all so great, but are struggling being progressing inestigators. But we know that Krakow will grow. It is ripe, we just need to talk to everyone! So the other day, Sister Allen was on the bus and she was talking to some people and when we got off, this girl walked up to her and said, I used to meet with the missionaries but I stopped, and I would like to meet with you again,is that possible!!! yes!!! Appartenly that never happens. But I love that it did, so we will be teaching her as well, Zofia.

 

I love you alll so much. Please appreciate all the family that you have around you. Please appreciate your relationship with Heavenly Father, and your scriptures. I love being a missionary. I love you with all my heart! Pray for Poland. Be safe.

Ali and her old companion

And and a future Basket Ball player AT Utah State

ALi and her new companions