Siostra Holden and I bought a giant sunflower head and cooked the seeds. :D

2. Siostra Holden had to tie my hands up to keep me from scratching

1. Caught in the rain

Bikes!

Rowery, Deuxième Partie

Last week, we got to hear from Elder Patrick Kearon. I love him! We talked about the Repentance Train:

-It's a place that is warm, away from the cold outside world

-Everyone aboard is doing their best to make things run smoothly

-The Conductor only wants the best for His passengers

-You desire your friends and family to board as well

-The destination is much better than where you've been

We had Sunday dinner with Siostra Bąk's friend, Monika who she met in Hawai'i and played Rook with her. You should have been at Sacrament Meeting on Sunday! We had tourists from Brazil, Germany, and the States. Singing hymns was a blast with all the languages being represented. Later this week, we have a lesson with our new investigator, Kamila who is a mother! I can't wait to meet her!

Also, today we rode bikes again! I can say now that I've learned how to ride a bike on the Kraków Rynek(Square)! This bike was much easier to steer! Don't believe me? Well now there are pictures!

Love you all!

Siostra Herrera

Primary

We don't have much time today, but I wanted to let you know that everything's great and that I love you! Siostra Bąk and I get along really well and on Sundays I get to teach Primary! These childeren are my sunshines! Yesterday, we learned about using our talents. Earlier, Brat Tim and Łukasz were demonstrating technique with Brat Tim's violin (I wish I could have played too, but my nails are too long), and we got to tie that into our lesson. We talked about different talents that we all had and how even if we have the same talent, we use it differently. How Heavenly Father blesses us even when we make mistakes!

It was so easy for the kids to understand, and so exciting to learn about with them.  It really struck me and even this morning I was thinking about it as I got ready for the day. Jesus Christ has forgiven me of every thing I had repented of. He has literally helped me be born again. Multiple times. If that isn't a reason to smile and talk to everyone I see, I don't know what is! Our guilt, burdens, and pains can literally be taken away! No matter how far you have fallen, it is impossible to be somewhere where His light and hope can't rescue you! He is G-d.  

I am just so grateful for His light and love in my life. I say this often, but every day I think about how magical and beautiful my life is. I know it's this way only because I have chosen to give up the things I thought I wanted for the things He knew I wanted.  Its scary to let go of what we cherish, but who better to trust than someone who knows our hearts perfectly? He knows what we truly want, what truly is buried in there, so far that we don't realize that part of our heart exists.

 

I am just so grateful for my Heavenly Father and His perfect plan! His plan to send me here on earth and experience the life that comes with it!

I love you all so much! Please learn of Him!

Siostra Herrera

Stick it to the Man!

     What a great week! Now, sometimes as the missionary, we follow promptings of the spirit and work together to understand what we will really teach when won't be according to plan. Then other times, because of our own stubbornness, He just sends us a big huge brain confusion. I think He does that so we won't mess up the lesson when it really matters. It's happened to me a couple of times on my mission, and it's hilarious when it does. It's a nice reminder of the need to be truly humble and understand that G-d knows His children and their needs. I am just a little instrument, a little tool that God uses to serve his children. 
     People give us missionaries too much credit. We don't do hardly anything, the Spirit is the one who truly teaches these people. But I am grateful to be along for the ride!
    Other than that, this week has been a wonderful one. We like to grab Kiełbasa or other delicious Polish food at the Biedronka for dinner every now and then. Don't worry, I weighed myself the other day and have yet to gain weight. You are blessed in many ways as a missionary, one being G-d letting you enjoy your Polish sweets consequence free!

 

I am so grateful for this work and for my mission. God truly knows me perfectly, because he sent me to this mission, right now. There have been challenges, people, and things that have taught me so personally, it is phenomenal. I can't even begin to describe how much I love Poland. I love these people so much. I don't want to leave them, I want to stay here and keep serving them because they deserve it! These people deserve the best, they are choice sons and daughters of  G-d!
 

I am really excited for Mission conference! Before my mission, I didn't understand the purpose of spending so much money to have people meet up for these training meetings. But now I realize that I depend on them to rejuvenate and refresh me. Missionary work is tiring, but these meetings let the spirit enter my heart, and give me that extra power and push to move this work forward.

 

    I love you all at home so much! I am so grateful for the support that comes constantly. The letters that just pop up in the mail box on a hard day, or the Emails from friends I haven't heard from in a while. It just really means a lot, more than I can express, to know that there are people who love me.  I think everyone could use a little more love, actually I know they do.

Love you!!

Siostra Herrera

1. My trainer, Siostra Slagowska and I at Zone Training

2. Siostra Dalton and I at Zakopane
​

Cierpliwość, Siostra Herrera, Cierpliwość

I have come to understand who Christ is and what He's done for us so much more than before, and I know that knowledge will just keep growing. I think my new favorite word in Polish (right up there with samochód (car) and dziobak (platypus) is zadośćuczynienie. That's how we say the Atonement po polsku.I just can't believe it. And yet I know it's true. I know that Christ paid the price for our sins and He understands us so perfectly and so completely and so wholly. When I ponder about what He has done, I just feel so humbled and kind of like a small grain of sand on the California coast. I know that without our Savior Jesus Christ, we are nothing. And yet to Him, we are everything. He knows us and understands us. We have one person in this whole entire world who looks at us and sees who we really are and who we are to become. He knows me and because of that infinite knowledge He has of who I am, He has an infinite love for me. That's one reason why it's so important for us to love others if we wish to share the Gospel. When we really spend the time to understand and know our fellow brothers and sisters on this earth, we can't help but love them. When we learn to really and truly love them, we can't help but want them to see the happiness that comes only through knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ and who He really is. He's not just a prophet, He is our redeemer. He hasn't just taught us the way to live, He hasn't even just shown us how to live, because of Him we do live. I am so grateful for Him and if I gain nothing else out of the entire months I immerse myself in this service, the testimony and understanding of Christ that I've been able to grow will be sufficient.

Siostra Bąk and I taught a lesson to Tim and Agata's family and really interacted with their son. Since Tim is a violinist, we thought it would be appropriate to share the General Conference talk, "The Music of the Gospel".

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-music-of-the-gospel?lang=eng

I love what it says here:

"We can invite our children to sing along with us in unison as we practice kindness toward a neighbor who is in need.

It won't come all at once. As every accomplished musician knows, it takes diligent practice to perform beautiful music. If early efforts at making music seem dissonant and discordant, remember that dissonance cannot be corrected by criticism. Dissonance in the home is like darkness in a room. It does little good to scold the darkness. We must displace the darkness by introducing light.

So if the basses in your family choir are too loud and overbearing, or if the string section in your family orchestra is a little too shrill or a little bit sharp, or if those impetuous piccolos are out of tune or out of control, be patient. If you're not hearing the music of the gospel in your home, please remember these two words: keep practicing. With God's help, the day will come when the music of the gospel will fill your home with unspeakable joy."

I think this applies to missionary work in that we need to have patience (cierpliwość) to work with our companions, our districts and the people we're teaching. It's the good times we remember when we're on our missions and how hard we worked to bring others that same joy. That joy is what I've felt whenever I've walked into an LDS home. It doesn't matter if the house is spotless, if there are children or pets running around, the Spirit is the same. It's love. This is one of the many things I'm learning on my mission. I love it! I love you all!

'till next week,

Siostra Herrera

1. Elders Everett and Jackson - Elder Everett goes to Łódź and Jackson stays in Kraków. I am compensating for my lack of height

2. We ain't got no can opener! Let's improvise!

Pictures, sorry I forgot!

1. Siostra Holden is going to my first area, Łódź! Yeah! Best city in the world!

2. Ah, Elder Mulder, we were both born in Łódź, and he is now going to Kielce

Letter from the Stuckis

Can someone tell the Stuckis that I got their letter and thanks so much? I forgot to write down their email in my planner! I am sending a letter to them!

4th Transfer in Wonderland

Dzień dobry, Rodzina!! Jak się macie? I am happy to report that I am staying in Kraków and Siostra Bąk is my new companion. She is in her last transfer (in missionary terms, this means I get to "kill" her), I just love her spirit. Exciting, no?

Also, my MTC companions, Siostry Sloan i Larcade have made it to Poland! Our entire district is here now! Words cannot express the joy I feel of having our district whole again. I know that each one of us has a refiner's fire. These last six months have been mine, but I am so glad for it! I know that our trials are meant to build us, and that Heavenly Father knows best. Always! I know if we just pull through our trials, hard transfers, addictions, strained relationships, distractions, whatever they may be, Heavenly Father will bless us tenfold. I have seen this miracle for myself. I have made sacrifices, and I know that I can do hard things. We can to hard things. He who has suffered for us all knows our hearts. My trials have built not bitterness in my heart, but love. I have love and a desire to be the person G-d wants me to be. I don't fully know who she is yet, but she is a better person than I can ever hope to be, and that is only possible though our brother, Jesus Christ. I love my mission!

I love you!!

Do widzenia!

Siostra Herrera

Re: Transfer calls next week!

I almost forgot! If I move cities, I will email on Tuesday.

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 3:38 PM, Cindy Herrera <cindy.herrera@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I have seen  how much my heart has been given to God. I just feel it, I feel a yearning and a desire to do what He wants me to do. Before my mission, I was maybe slightly influenced, consciously, by what my Father in Heaven wanted me to do with my life. Though He may have been unknowingly guiding me, I still felt like it was my life, my decisions.

Well that has changed in me a lot as I don't want my life to be for me anymore. I really want my life to be for Him, for my G-d. I have found so much peace and happiness as I have put my wants second and His wants first. I mean, just so much peace! Sorry, there is a fly flying around and bothering me. Okay, yes, peace.

I don't think I really understood what it meant to consecrate my life, to really be a member of the Church. In a way, I made some of my covenants sort of innocently, unknowingly. I mean, I had a knowledge when I made them, but now I understand them more completely. And I have really come to learn that those covenants mean so much more than I ever thought. Those covenants mean everything. God means everything to me now.

I just want to live my life so that I can continue to be His tool, so that I can continue to let Him work through me no matter what that call may be. I just know that if I do that, then I will become a better person than I ever expected, and I will do more good than I could ever know. So I think that is the biggest change I have seen inside myself. My desire to continue to do His will the rest of my life. And the ability to recognize and follow that will.

Another thing I have learned is that that will is different for everyone. Yes, some things are the same for all of us. Christ has laid that out clearly to us in His Gospel. But all of the details are individual, the Gospel is for everyone individually. I have learned so much about that. We are individuals with individual talents and strengths.

I think also, this sense of consecration and this strengthening with my Father in Heaven has caused me to also chill out. I just feel less stressed. I have really learned that the things which I don't need to control, I don't need to control! I can just trust in G-d. The only choice I need to make, is to trust Him. I can feel it in my heart, too, when I am trusting Him. There is always a very prevalent peace that comes when my heart is trusting Him. Some days I do better than others, but that is okay, because improvement is a part of this Gospel.

I just feel like my eyes have been even more opened, and I know they will continue to be for the rest of my life. It's just so cool, though. My mission has cultivated within me a yearning to learn more, to search for truth and to understand my Father and the things of God better. I really feel like the path in front of me is as long as ever, but I can see it clearer now. Maybe not the details clearer, but the direction of the path is clearer. I have no idea what the future holds, but I have learned how to handle the fact that I have a future.

Man, missions are the best.  The Gospel is great. I love being a missionary.  I love sharing this happiness with others, no matter what form that may be. I love it, I love all of it! And I know that that love comes from God because all that is good comes from God. All that is not good, God allows to happen, yes. He allows it to happen. But if we learn of Him and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we can also learn why he allows it to happen. We just have to search and ask and pray and search some more!

Well, I love you all. Keep smiling and keep praying. Praying helps you keep smiling. I have a definite testimony of that!

Transfer calls next week!

I have seen  how much my heart has been given to God. I just feel it, I feel a yearning and a desire to do what He wants me to do. Before my mission, I was maybe slightly influenced, consciously, by what my Father in Heaven wanted me to do with my life. Though He may have been unknowingly guiding me, I still felt like it was my life, my decisions.

Well that has changed in me a lot as I don't want my life to be for me anymore. I really want my life to be for Him, for my G-d. I have found so much peace and happiness as I have put my wants second and His wants first. I mean, just so much peace! Sorry, there is a fly flying around and bothering me. Okay, yes, peace.

I don't think I really understood what it meant to consecrate my life, to really be a member of the Church. In a way, I made some of my covenants sort of innocently, unknowingly. I mean, I had a knowledge when I made them, but now I understand them more completely. And I have really come to learn that those covenants mean so much more than I ever thought. Those covenants mean everything. God means everything to me now.

I just want to live my life so that I can continue to be His tool, so that I can continue to let Him work through me no matter what that call may be. I just know that if I do that, then I will become a better person than I ever expected, and I will do more good than I could ever know. So I think that is the biggest change I have seen inside myself. My desire to continue to do His will the rest of my life. And the ability to recognize and follow that will.

Another thing I have learned is that that will is different for everyone. Yes, some things are the same for all of us. Christ has laid that out clearly to us in His Gospel. But all of the details are individual, the Gospel is for everyone individually. I have learned so much about that. We are individuals with individual talents and strengths.

I think also, this sense of consecration and this strengthening with my Father in Heaven has caused me to also chill out. I just feel less stressed. I have really learned that the things which I don't need to control, I don't need to control! I can just trust in G-d. The only choice I need to make, is to trust Him. I can feel it in my heart, too, when I am trusting Him. There is always a very prevalent peace that comes when my heart is trusting Him. Some days I do better than others, but that is okay, because improvement is a part of this Gospel.

I just feel like my eyes have been even more opened, and I know they will continue to be for the rest of my life. It's just so cool, though. My mission has cultivated within me a yearning to learn more, to search for truth and to understand my Father and the things of God better. I really feel like the path in front of me is as long as ever, but I can see it clearer now. Maybe not the details clearer, but the direction of the path is clearer. I have no idea what the future holds, but I have learned how to handle the fact that I have a future.

Man, missions are the best.  The Gospel is great. I love being a missionary.  I love sharing this happiness with others, no matter what form that may be. I love it, I love all of it! And I know that that love comes from God because all that is good comes from God. All that is not good, God allows to happen, yes. He allows it to happen. But if we learn of Him and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we can also learn why he allows it to happen. We just have to search and ask and pray and search some more!

Well, I love you all. Keep smiling and keep praying. Praying helps you keep smiling. I have a definite testimony of that!

Guess who learned how to ride a bike...

in a pencil skirt and on cobblestone! That is what our district did for Culture Night, today, we went to Zakopane, Tatra National Park and crossed the border into Slovakia! Don't worry, we had permission!

We do service every week at a Catholic soup kitchen and it is really awesome!

I've run out of time, so sorry! I will write more next week!

All my love,

Siostra Herrera

"Nie bój się, tylko wierz!"

Hey everyone!

What a great week it's been! We have been able to teach 3 less-active lessons this week, and one of our recent converts, Sylwia brought her mother to Open House and she helped us teach her mother about the Plan of Salvation. We were missing the Daltons this week because they went to the YSA conference in Romania, but it sounds like everyone who went had a great time and made new friends! We are currently working with President Kucia and Brat Tudor-Hart on working better with our members, I am so grateful for the dedication that the Kraków branch has, the Open House was a success!

Siostra Herrera

Ogrodzienieć

Title means green castle, it was very pretty and we played capture the flag. We only have 10 minutes, so sorry!

Oświęcim

I have been learning a lot about patience as a missionary. The fact is that, I am not in control of anything. Through studying the plan of salvation, so many aspects of missionary work just make sense. When we understand why we are here, we understand why things are hard, why things aren't happening, why we need to do certain things. We know what blessings are, we know what trials are, and we know who we are. I think about how great The Book of Mormon is, how great the hope we gain from a knowledge of latter day prophets, but the single most important doctrine for people to learn about from us is why we are here.

 

The plan of salvation is not just a piece of what we believe, the plan of salvation is what we believe. I am so grateful for the peace and hope I have from learning about it, and that peace and hope is why I am not discouraged one bit that things aren't happening on my time scale. This life is much more than me.

 

So the other day it was raining and it was just absolutely gorgeous. There are just some times where I am here and think about how I am totally living a fairytale. But I know it's not because I am living in Poland. It's not just because I am far away from home doing things I would have never imagined. My life is a fairytale because of the Gospel. I know what choices are the right choices to make, and because I make those choices, my life is blessed. When we do the right things, our lives will be fairy tales. This Gospel is the path to happiness. If you don't know that yet, find out. If you do know that, then tell someone else. I don't know why in the world we are so afraid to spread happiness!

I love you all. All of the emails, letters, love from my friends and family back home do more than any of you could know. I read and treasure each one. They get me through some tough times. I am so grateful for all of you. Stay beautiful. I love you all so much.

G-d loves us. We are his children. I know it. I want everyone else to know it. It is such a happy day when someone learns who they are.

Bardzo kocham was!!

Siostra Herrera

Kraków- The City of Dragons

This week was a great week, just like the rest. It is hard to not have a great week out here in Kraków. It is possible to have a hard day, maybe a hard two days, but it seems that every week ends up great! Of course I learned from an African man at a bus stop that the secret to being happy and having a great week, is hope. He said that the African people carry a hope in their heart for tomorrow. They believe that tomorrow can be better and so with that hope, they are able to be happy today. We are meeting with him soon, he was super cool!

So look at the world news, now back at me, now back at the news, now back at me. Ah, you must think that the world is a pretty rough place. Full of zły (evil) people who just want to tear each other apart. Well let me tell ya something, turn off the television and step outside! Why am I beginning on such a random tangent? The other day we looked down the street and saw the tramwaj (streetcar) coming. We put our legs in high gear and started booking it like usual. We made the tramwaj with enough time to hold the door open for a cute little old lady. Then we started moving forward.

 

All of a sudden we hear a ton of honking. I sort of ignore it, but Sister Holden looks over and taps me on the shoulder. We see a man with his window rolled down beckoning at us. The tramwaj stops at the next przystanek(stop) and we step outside as he hands me my wallet out his window. This man saw my wallet fall out of my bag, got out of his car, picked it up, hopped back in his car, and followed us to give it back to me. That wallet had all of my MSF fund, my karte pobytu, and all of my credit cards. I learned two things, not to keep my wallet in that pocket anymore. But the more important thing I learned is that a simple act of kindness can inspire multitudes of people. We got back on the tramwaj and all of a sudden EVERYONE wanted to talk to us. Everyone started talking about how nice that was of that man, and how people like that really are still out there today. This man got a tramwaj full of Europeans talking to each other about a Gospel principle. To echo the words of Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Kindness is the essence of greatness."

I've been thinking a lot about Jesus Christ. Naturalnie. I've been thinking about how smart he was, but how we know that he came to his knowledge grace by grace. Christ taught in parables so that all could understand, but to teach in parables, he had to understand what it was he was talking about. For example, to teach about a shepherd rescuing the one sheep, you first need to know what a shepherd is and what he does. Before Christ ever taught in parables, he first had to learn. That got me thinking about how much I am learning here as a missionary, and more importantly, how I am learning.  

It blows my mind that people see the Book of Mormon and automatically dismiss it.  Hand me a Jehovah's Witness Bible, I'll read it. Have an atheist tell me why he doesn't believe in God, I'll listen to him. This life is about acquiring knowledge, as all knowledge, all truth comes from God. So why reject an opportunity to acquire more knowledge? If the Book of Mormon isn't true, your great aunt Anabelle will still make that fruit cake, the oil will still changed tomorrow, you will still have that birthday cake for Jonny to make. But I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is just more truth, more light to illuminate us! How exciting! How wonderful that we get so much truth in such a concentrated form! Now instead of Aunt Anabelle making a fruit cake every year until she dies, you get to be sealed to her and eat that fruit cake for eternity! Now instead of the oil being a chore to overcome, you realize god has given you the ability to change oil so you can help old man Jenkins down the street change his! Now you get to teach Jonny that in 10 more birthdays, he'll be able to serve a mission, share the Book of Mormon with others, and go change his world! The Book of Mormon and the truth that it illuminates dispels the fog and helps us see life in a more brilliant way!

I am so happy to be here, to just love these people in Kraków. These people are phenomenal, they are so loved by their Father in Heaven. Now it's just my job to give them a few pointers to help them see it! I can't wait for the day when all of these people here, these people I love so much, understand who they truly are. I just really love them, I really do.

I also love all of you. I am so grateful for your prayers, support, and letters. I love you all so much, every person back at home. I think about you and I pray for you constantly. You are all so special to me, and so special to our Father in Heaven. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Because you deserve it! And remember, if your day seems pretty hard and you aren't feeling to great, just let your heart be filled with the hope that tomorrow brings.

Kocham was!!

Siostra Herrera