Thursday, August 14, 2014

Last PDAY in the MTC...Poland or Bust!

It's official. My last PDay at the MTC is almost over. On Monday morning, I'll be on several different planes which will eventually land me in Warsaw by Tuesday! I'm so excited for the adventure... and I've just gotta make it through a few more days!

So about this week... it was a tough one! This week I am thankful for trials. The causes are unimportant and mostly self-inflicted, but at one point this week I was having a really hard time. I found myself on the ground in the hallway surrounded by like 300 Polish note cards and absolutely in the dumps. I was stressed out, I had so much stuff to do, I wasn't feeling good, and everything seemed to be going just absolutely wrong. I probably said 500 prayers that day for help and comfort and anything else that could help me. When I was in my lowest moment, the Spirit prompted me to get on my knees and pray. I knelt down in the middle of the hallway and poured out my heart to God. I asked for help, I let Him know how I was feeling and what I wanted to get done that night. When I ended my prayer, I sat back down in the hallway, and this time, something new caught my eye. I noticed my favorite picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the wall in one of the nearby classrooms. It's the one where he's dressed in crimson and looking straight out of the picture. When I saw the picture, it gave me so much hope. I remembered why I'm out here and what I'm doing. I remembered that Christ is there for me when the world wasn't, and that I have taken upon myself His name. Now every time I pass that picture, I can't help but point it out and remember why I'm here. It is such a blessing in my life. Also this week, I was given a priesthood blessing. I felt impressed that Elder Wright should give the blessing, and I had Elder Wilcox and Elder Coutu stand in. The Spirit was sooo strong. The blessing addressed exactly what I needed, and it was a gift from God. I know the Priesthood power is real, and it blesses my life every day.

I got to go through the temple for the last time for the next 2 years, and I'm super sad! I had such an amazing experience this morning, and felt the Spirit strongly! It is amazing how peaceful and wonderful it is within the temple. It's the house of God, and I know that for a fact!

We've been practicing contacting a lot this week with the other Polish Elders and Sisters. It's honestly one of my favorite things so far! We pray for the Spirit, and go for it, and practice finding people to teach and teaching them based on their needs. It's so much fun, and I love doing it! That's a really good thing, since that's literally the first thing we do when I get to Poland. We walk off the plane, put our suitcases in the car, are driven to the Warsaw town square, given Book of Mormons and pass-along cards, and told to go contact real Poles... LIKE WOW! I'm so excited to get out there and dive right in!

We got 26 new Elders and Sisters yesterday, including the next set of Poland-bound missionaries! Some of them are super cool! I get along really well with this 24 year old Elder from Wales. He's super chill and I think we'll get to be pretty good friends in the next few days!

I am so grateful that I was able to be blessed with such a hard week this week. It is preparing me to be a better person and a better missionary, and I am so excited! I just love it so much! The Church is True! It brings me so much joy and happiness!

Love,

Starszy Quackenbush



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