crazy week---- no time!

So I have no time. I gotta run to the train station and pick up some missionaries. Its transfer weeks.

I got another comp his name is Elder Retallick! He's from England. My olf comp Elder Swicegood is going to a city called Katowice and he's training! Im staying here in Warsaw and still President's assistant. So thats really fun! We have tons of planning and stuff to do! Im pretty stoked! 

I will hopefully have time later to e-mail! probably around 15:00. So ill talk to you guys then! thanks for the package! let me know when you guys wants to skype for Christmas! love you guys! Keep it fresh!

loves

_Starszy Fotu

Im freeeezin!

Well the winter is here. I think today is the first legit day of snow. It's not sticking at all. But I was just outside and it was startin to come down a little. It's usually pretty cold lately. got down to like -7 c or whatever. 

Well things are just starting to get crazy. We have had a lot of planning with President lately. Trying to plan out all the transfers and mission leadership councils and then I heard that Elder Charles (the presiding authority that was going to come before President and Sister Edgren left) he will be coming again. So we got a lot to do right now. Last night we spent a while with President trying to decided where to place and move all the missionaries this next transfer. It's kinda stressful. But we have fun doing it. I just can't usually sleep after cause I have so much on my mind.

I've been studying this handbook its called "Principles of Leadership". Its a church handbook and it has a lot of really good things in it. It talks about motivations. And it says something along the lines "Love is His motive, so it must be ours." I think that is the number one thing to learn on a mission is how to love people. First, how to love the Lord. Second, how to love the people. And third, is somewhat the same. How to to your enemies. If anyone can learn how to face iniquity with love they will be very successful. And I feel like it all starts with our thoughts. 

For me it has been trying to find the moments in life when I see the natural man try to come out of me. When someone yells at you....the natural thing is to yell back. But if someone can learn to control their thoughts then they will be able to control they actions and even their desires. A change of nature. This is where the power of the Atonement comes. For Selu with her accident it is was the very thought of Christ that brought her strength and comfort. I have no doubt that there is a legitimate power in the very thought of Christ. Thats why the basics keep us so strong. They guide our thoughts towards Him.

Sometimes for me it was "pretending" to love someone. Even though I felt I didn't really love them. Sometimes it was forcing a smile and pretending I was happy in EVERY situation. This becomes our true nature as we rely on the Lord and exercise our mental and physical faith. Eventually we begin to do what He would do. Say what He would say. And even think as He would think. And thats why we are here on earth. 

The thing that holds us back from doing what is right is the natural man. So first be humble to notice it in your life. Then be committed to overcoming it. Set goals and act instead of being acted upon.

President Monson said, "We cannot truly love God if we do not love our fellow travelers on this mortal journey." 

These are just thoughts i've had lately. It's Christmas and I've been thinking.....I need to show my Savior how much I really love him by overcoming the natural man in myself, and helping others do the same. Cause we are all on the same team. We begin to build our love for others when we realize that God is our Father, and we are all brothers and sisters. Its pretty simple.

Love you all! Thanks for the prayers and support! I look up to you all because of your faith unto repentance. 

Time is flying. Weeks are beginning to feel like days and months feel like weeks. It blows my mind. But I have a lot of work to do.

trzymaj się! kocham was wszystkich! Tęsknię za wami!

z miłośćą

_Starszy Fotu

December is here!!!

I can't believe the year 2014 is almost over! It's been the fastest year of my life! I feel like it was just a couple months ago when I was in Szczecin for Christmas! The mission is going really well! The mindsets of the missionaries is changing and I believe we will see a lot of good success and fruit as a mission here real soon because of it.

This last week was a blast! And it was pretty effective. Unfortunately Piotr (Peter) has said he is not interested anymore. This happens pretty often with people here in Poland. They have these very spiritual moments with us and the Book of Mormon, and then something happens and they lose interest. Usually they look something up on the internet or something. But we continue to work hard and keep our faith high! Never gets us down!

Something exciting... President Edgren got an idea of how we could improve our tracting here in the mission from another mission president (I think in Czech Republic) The idea is have a tracting letter. Everyone (mostly everyone) here in Poland lives in a apartment building. And So the idea is to make a letter with information of what we are doing and maybe even pictures on the letter. The letter also includes when we will be stopping by to see if they are interested. This was genius because one, most people hate when we knock on their doors cause it feels like we are intruding (cause we kind of are). So now the people are actually expecting us and we get instant feedback whether or not they are interested! Also when we tract usually about 70% of the people are not home or don't answer. So now we can go back at least 3 times til we drop the address. One city in our mission tried this with one block of apartments. And got a new investigator the first night. They went back the second time for those that didnt answer and 3 people set up meetings with them. Pretty amazing, cause if they would have just tracted it normally like we always do they probably would have gotten the same result. President Edgren has talked about "doing things differently, cause if we do the same thing over and over again we will get the same results" I know Dad has taught be about this a lot.

I feel like this kind of sums up life. If we arent improving ever Day then we are decreasing. The fact is we are always changing. Moving forwards or backwards. Never standing still. So we need to always make sure that we are moving in the right direction, towards the Savior.

I'm excited for this month! To be able to celebrate the birth of the Savior. Time is flying. I miss a lot of things at home at this time of the year, but I try to stay focused on my mission and whats important cause I have such little time left.

Love you guys! Remember the basic things everyday!

z miłośćą

_Starszy Fotu

heres a cool video for ya in polish. Im sure you've all seen it!

http://www.mormon.org/pol/bozenarodzenie