Return of the Lumpy Spacebag

Don't worry, Siostra Johnston has taught me how to properly pack one, so we're good!

Ah, it's that time again! My boss companion Siostra Johnston is going to be training a new missionary in Katowice and I am now serving in Warsaw II with Siostra Larcade! I'm so happy we're back together again! I can just tell that this transfer is going to be amazing, I know that this is where I'm supposed to be, thanks for all you do!

Siostra Herrera

Wesołych Świąt!!

That's Merry Christmas in Polish! How are you all?? Sorry for the delay, we are emailing late this time because we went to Oświęcim (Auschwitz) today.

This week has been so amazing!! From Monday to Wednesday, I went on exchanges to Wrocław to be with Siostra Pauga who is from Australia. She is so much fun! We went to a school in Legnica and sang Christmas songs to a few classes, they were so cute! The students were singing along with us and everything! Afterwards they thanked us and even gave the missionaries cards and ornaments! We then went to go see Hania and sang to her as well. On my second to last night, we went to go take some milk to a member who hasn't been able to make it to church and she was so grateful, Ela (she is a talented seamstress) even introduced us to her husband Tadeusz, and he showed us his library. He even took a book and promised to read it through! Despite the fact that we were almost struck by a car on two occasions, I'd consider it a great exchange!  

On Thursday, we got to go introduce ourselves and sing Silent Night in Polish, English and other languages. It was great!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! You are all so awesome!!

Siostra Herrera

Merry Christmas!!

Hey everyone, unfortunately we are very short on time today, so I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful holiday. Don't forget to share "A Savior is Born" with your friends! https://www.mormon.org/christmas 

Let me know if any of you want to Skype so I can fit you in! :D

You're all great! Wesołych Świąt!

Siostra Herrera

Cześć, wam!!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I've been dropping the ball these past couple of weeks, but I have plenty to make up for it!

What a beautiful week this has been, we were able to see Priscilla and Mickey after not being able to meet with them for a week, and we dropped of our Secret Santa! This year President said he wanted us to have a gift to give that would go to someone who is not a missionary, so missionaries bought or made gifts for other missionaries to give to someone they were teaching or someone in need. I hope that makes sense! Our gift was a bank shaped like a house, but instead of putting money inside, the person could write what they were grateful for on a slip of paper and stick it in the house, so when they opened it on Christmas, it would be a house full of gratitude! Neat, huh? Priscilla and Mickey were so happy to receive this gift, and we were later able to see them at our movie/FHE night (yesterday). We watched The Work and the Glory.

We taught plenty of lessons this week to Anna and Krystyna, I can feel that my Polish is getting better, all I have to do is be brave! Yesterday in particular was a miracle, because I am normally nervous to do free tables, but where we were, there was a giant Christmas tree with beautiful blue and white lights with a star at the top, I thought of the new Christmas video from the Church, and I realized that in this world of beauty, there is no room to fear or feel discouraged if we want to be better. Only the Lord knows our potential, and He will always help us realize it. I made a commitment to Him yesterday that I would do my best to be brave and always pray to Him. As a result, I was able to teach three lessons during the free table and give a book to Konrad. He had a lot of questions and seemed very sincere. I know now that if I want to keep this Spirit, I must keep walking and never look back on my past mistakes.

My goal for the rest of my mission is to always have something to be grateful for, Thanks for all you do!!

Look! I'm on TV!  

http://www.tvn24.pl/czarno-na-bialym,42,m/czarno-na-bialym-z-misja,600742.html

Siostra Herrera

P-day on Tuesday

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that our district will be going to Częstochowa tomorrow, so our p-day has been switched. You are all so great, I love you!

Siostra Herrera

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone! Siostra Johnston and I have been hitting it hard with contacting and free-tables and have seen many miracles! We were able to teach several lessons and gave out books!

This week were are working on having Priscilla pray about a baptismal date, I love her!

We are also planning out for two Thanksgiving dinners, one for the branch and one for our district, for our culture night we were able to see Disney on Ice! We have a limited amount of time today, so I will post pictures next week! Sorry!! In other news, we are probably getting snow on Thursday!

I love you all so much and am grateful for you letters! Thank-you!

Scripture to ponderize for this week is: Helaman 5:41

Love you!!

Siostra Herrera

You and others before you have brought beauty to this world. Let who you are shine bright to cancel out the actions of those that are too frightened to see beauty. Never fear.

Autumn

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?? This last week, Siostra Johnston and I went to Warsaw so she could do MLC (Sorry, I can't remember what that stands for, but it's for leaders in the mission), and I got to be in a trio with my former companions Siostra Benson and Sloan! Did  I tell you that Sisters Sloan and Larcade were MTC companions with Siostra Gustafson and I? They are so great!

We ended up going to English class with Elders Wynne and Torres(he said that he'll get me a mole recipe one day!) and afterwards went to the Rynek to go contacting, we had some interesting lessons. We had another nice lesson with Priscilla and Mickey on Thursday and then went to go see Anna who is a recent convert. On Saturday, we had Sobota Sportowe (Sports Saturday) and the Elders had invited their investigator, Marek for some ultimate Frisbee, I didn't end up playing because I was sick, so I went solo contacting while keeping watch over peoples' stuff. We had a great turnout for church and President Urban even ended up inviting two of his family members to take lessons from the Elders starting on Wednesday.

One of my favourite members is Kumo who is here with her mother from South Africa, she is really sweet and always comes out to white boards and free tables with us. She is trying really hard to learn Polish, so I will talk to my companion to see if we can help her more.

My scripture to ponderize for this week is Moroni 10:20

"Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity."

Love you all!

Siostra Herrrera

Welcome to District 12

Hey everyone! So sorry for the delay, I want to let you all know that I've been transferred with Siostra Johnston to Katowice! I really love the feel of this city, it is so alive!

My new companion comes from a family with 6 other siblings and she is the second oldest in her family. She hails from Texas! We have a lot of fun comparing cultures and interesting facts about our home states. Siostra Johnston told me about 'mums which is short for chrysanthemums that girls wear on the fronts of their dresses for Prom. If you want to have a good time, look on Pinterest for some examples (czyli "Texas 'mums")!

This week in Katowice, we were able to teach Priscilla whose boyfriend Mickey is a member of the Church. She is very sweet and already has a strong testimony of the Gospel! The Elders also had a baptism for Matheusz, and he was baptised in a lake! It was freezing but beautiful!

Yesterday was All Saints' Day, it doesn't really bear resemblance to Halloween, but people in Poland go to the cemetery to clean their ancestors' graves and put lamps on them. My camera is broken from when we went to Zakopane, so I will need to get pictures from my companion! Before we went out with our district to see the cemetery, we got a few trick-or-treaters, the first was the cutest little girl in a witch costume, she was so sweet asking for candy!

One thing that I'm not sure I've mentioned yet is that there is an older film floating around Poland that is about the Amish, and the translators mixed up the words for Amish and Mormon, so now many Poles think we are Amish until we show them our phones and tell them that we actually use electricity. Could be worse, I suppose!

Poland truly is a place of miracles, even though we aren't getting 5 baptismal dates a week, I feel joy hearing about the success of others in the mission, knowing that it's becoming a better place one baptism at a time. :) The people we talk to everyday see our tags and are beginning to see the Savior's love at work. I love my mission.

Wzystkiego dobrego!

Siostra Herrera

Puddle Parkour

Hey y'all! Or for you Polish speakers, cześć wam!!

We may have a new investigator, her name is Małgorzata and she has three kids! This Saturday, we also got to go to a concert at Święty Mikołaj (Saint Nicholas), but guess who invited us? The guy who played Jesus in the Testaments! That's right! I got to meet "Jesus"! His name is Thomas and he is Danish. After the concert, he greeted each of us and shook our hands and when he came to me, he appeared shocked! He asked where he knew me from and I said I didn't know, so he asked if I was on the set of the Testaments and I replied no that I had watched it before I was baptized. I was pleasantly surprised! Thomas then said that we must have met in the Pre-Earth life! He really is the embodiment of Christ!

One thing is for sure, when I meet my Savior face to face, I want to reply in the affirmative when He asks if He knows me. I want to one day hug my Savior. I know that He lives and that the path He layed out for us will never turn dark, even if we may not see the end of it at the present time.

Thanks everyone for all you do!

Cheerio!

Siostra Herrera

1. The Observatory

2. Gwiazd

General Conference was a blast!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay, I was using an i-pad to email last week and couldn't figure out how to access the list for you all.

I love General Conference! One of my favourite talks was "That They Do Always Remember Him". I love the opportunity to repent each day and be worthy to partake of the Sacrament each week. Life is hard, but we always have the Savior walking with us every step of the way. I know that Jesus Christ is not only our Savior and Redeemer, He is our Brother. He loves us so much, even if we have the tendency to turn away from Him. I had only a vague idea of who Jesus Christ really was before the missionaries taught me about Him and the great Plan of Happiness. I know that He lives and that He didn't begin His suffering for us on the cross. He didn't just die there either. He began His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, suffered the trials of judges and the cross, He died and was ressurected after three days. He ministered to both the people of Jerusalem and those living in the Americas, the Nephites. He created the world and everything in it, and He presented Himself as G-d's chosen son to carry out His work for our salvation. Our part is to have faith in Him and commit to keep His commandments. We need to pray for the guidance of the Holy Ghost and then act on those promptings. Prayer is how we talk to our Heavenly Father and the Scriptures is how He speaks to us. The Book of Mormon is the word of G-d and has helped me to better understand my purpose, pull through trials of faith, and know what I can do to be a better sister, daughter and person. I has made my prayers mor meaningful. I love the Book of Mormon! Please take some time to read this wonderful book! It will change your life!

This last Sunday, we were able to witness the baptism of Mark who is now eight! He and his family are from Ukraine, and it was so beautiful! It brought back memories of when I was baptised and the room was filled with so much love! Mark's jumpsuit was really big on him and they had to roll up the pants a few times, so cute!

Hey Mikey, I got to eat it down a mountain today, and it was snowing! Zakopane is the best, and we got to see some chamois!

Love you all, have a great week! 'Till next time!

Siostra Herrera

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