Hello everyone!
This has been a crazy week but I love being a missionary! On Wednesday, I entered the MTC and dropped my luggage off and meet my district. There are 6 sisters and 2 elders. My companion is Siostra Lueck from Las Vegas. She is so funny and we get along really well. My district already feels like family and we still have 9 weeks together! My zone has a bunch of other districts and 13 languages. There are people going to Finland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Croatia etc. I got to meet all the missionaries that just left on Monday for Poland. They are all so nice and it was so fun hearing them talk in Polish! I am so excited to see them in Poland. We call them the Old Poles haha. It is so fun seeing Claire around! We have classes in the same building! I also see Sister Esplin and Sister Engle, so fun!
Sunday was such a good day, taking the sacrament and being with my zone. We watched Character of Christ by Elder Bednar from a MTC Christmas devotional a few years ago. It was so good!!! It talked about turning outward instead of inward because that is what Jesus Christ always did. I love Sundays!
Polish is hard but good. In class, the teachers try to only speak Polish and will switch to English if we are really confused. The teachers are returned missionaries from Poland and are so loving. The first few days were overwhelming but it is a lot better now. Polish is fun to learn. We all say "Czesc" to each other which means hi and bye. The Old Poles started it and our whole zone says it to each other in any situation haha. So far, we have learned to introduce ourselves, to pray and to testify. We taught our teacher three times mostly using flashcards or notes. The first time was scary because you can only speak in Polish but I loved testifying truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Polish I am excited to learn more and I hope I can learn quickly.
Thanksgiving was amazing!!! We had three devotionals. The first one was with a general authority but we didn't know who it would be. It was Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, one of our 12 apostles. It was such a spiritual meeting and it was broadcast to the MTCs all over the world. He talked about being grateful in everything, even the trials because there is always something to gain. After he and his wife talked to us, they went around shaking hands and greeting people. We were sitting up high and we can over to the elders then to us! I got to see his sweet smile up close. He really is a disciple of Jesus Christ!
Our district joined the MTC choir which is about 900 missionaries! We sang "In Zion all Her Beauty Rise" for the Thanksgiving devotional. There is a line that says missionaries will preach the gospel from "pole to pole" and I smiled every time because I will literally be sharing the gospel from each pole to pole in Poland!! The rest of thanksgiving, we had an awesome service project, making thousands of breakfast meals, had thanksgiving lunch, watched the Other Side of Heaven, and had a music devotional. We walked outside and saw all the trees with Christmas lights! So merry Christmas everyone :).
Every Christmas, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints putting out Light the World! I invite you all to follow the Light the World Initiatives by giving as Jesus Christ gave! The videos are so amazing too!
Have a great week and thank you for the love!!