Super Swell Week

Hey fam!

This week was a super swell week. Miracles happened every single day,
and I really loved my missionary work this week!

I started off the week with an exchange with Elder Blunt. I brought
him into my area(Szczecin North), and we had an amazing time. We met
so many crazy-amazing people who were so prepared. I don't even know
what happened, but the Lord and His Spirit were definitely with us! We
taught an amazing couple who had lived in Australia, we taught a woman
who wants to learn more with her son, and we met Gedek(who we are
still trying to have a meeting with... unfortunately he hasn't been
able to make any of our meetings. Also, I had such a touching
experience with a younger mother on a hill, somewhere up towards
Warszewo. Elder Blunt and I met her while she was on a walk with her
two kids. We had the Spirit with us, and just followed the Spirit.
This poor lady has had the hardest life, ever. Everything has gone
wrong. She now works 16 hours a day, is alone, and semi-recently lost
her mother. We really got to know her, and testified of God's love,
and God's plan for us, and of the power of prayer. I started tearing
up in the rain as I talked with this woman(now crying) about the
gospel. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and just hope that she did,
too. Unfortunately, she couldn't believe in God after what has
happened, and even denied my request to pray right there on the
street. She didn't accept the gospel, yet, but she really needed that,
and a seed was definitely planted.

Mission Conference with Elder Charles(member of the quorum of the 70)
was the most amazing experience, ever. It took us 2 days, but we got
down to Warsaw, and had the most amazing mission conference, yet. It
is my absolute favorite to be together with the Elders and Sisters in
Poland. I got to see Sister Kuchar, Sister Benson, Elder Wilcox, and
Elder Jeffs(I've missed them a ton since the MTC), and got to meet a
whole bunch of new missionaries. I was also able to have a personal
interview with Elder Charles(they selected 8 missionaries "by
chance"... czyli dzięki Bogu I got to talk with Elder Charles. He
opened me up like a book, and told me about myself and my mission. He
told me that he knows that my mission has been a hard one, and helped
answer some questions I had been having about how I can become a
better missionary, and more specifically, how I can personally deal
with the rejection that is so prevalent in Poland. I felt the Spirit
so strongly, and am so grateful for the opportunity to be uplifted by
the Spirit. The Spirit was felt so strongly throughout the entire
mission conference-I really learned a lot about what I can do, and
what things I can apply to my missionary work in the future!

OH MY: We found Romald, again....! Miraculously, we ran into him on
the street, and he invited us over AGAIN to his house this past
Thursday. We had the most amazing meeting with him and his wife about
the gospel. They are so open, and so ready. We left them with Book of
Mormons, and gave them chapters to read(2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 11-
some of the best chapters ever). We have a return meeting this
upcoming Thursday!

We got let in Tracting!!!!! We taught a man and his wife in their
Polish livingroom on their Polish couch drinking their Polish
fruit-tea for almost 2 hours. We testified of truth, were bold, and
taught them about God and about his relationship to us. Unfortunately,
they got all hung up on the fact that God is perfectly loving, and
thus shouldn't expect us to keep commandments or to pray.... They're
so close, but they just need a little bit more time. We left with our
testimonies, and in good feeling. They'll be ready one day!

We met with Paweł about the gospel last night, and it was the coolest
thing ever. We had been meeting with Paweł about 2 or 3 months ago,
and he had finally decided to start meeting with us for real about a
week or two ago. We had Sergiusz with us on the lesson, and taught a
solid Restoration. The Spirit was there so strongly. He told us that
he knows the church is true and that he knows that baptism is coming.
He just doesn't want to rush it. We tried getting him a date that he
could work towards, but he wouldn't accept. We will continue to meet
with him and help him work towards baptism... I'm so excited!

Miracles are happening, up here! I'm LOVING every second I have to be
a missionary, and it's flying by. I'm already over 7 months old in the
mission.. how crazy is that?? This next week is going to be an awesome
week, and I can't wait for what's in store! Make it the best week of
your lives! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Quackenbush

Crazy Keyboards

Id like to apologiye now for the fact that all of mz Zs and Ys are
switched, and that mz 's come out as ą's... Polish computers can be
dumb and their polish kezboards are backwards, and I canąt fix it....
sorrz y'all!

This week was a Reallz good week. of course, I hąve found that all of mz
best weeks were also the hardest weeks of mz mission! I reallz learned
a lot, and had a reallz good time out on the streets with mz boz Elder
Berlin!

We got to talk to a lot of different people this week on the streets,
and taught some prettz cool lessons! We found a few new investigators,
and re+set up with them. Unfortunatelz, nobodz came to our meetings...
However, that does mean that we have lots more time to find Newer
investigators..:! lol gotta love it.

Something reallz cool did actuallz happen with Łukasz this week. As I
was studzing mz scriptures, the Holz Ghost whispered to me that I
needed to text Łukasz(who's been out of town all week helping one of
his cancer patients) and promise him that if he read his Księga
Mormona, that he would better know how to help Maria(thats her name).
We texted him, and he told us that he had actuallz alreadz been
reading his Book of Mormon, and absolutelz loved the invitation and
promise. He is reallz coming along, and I am so blessed to be able to
see him grow in faith and testimonz!

I also was able to give President Isaac(The District President for
Northern Poland) a blessing zesterdaz. He has some severe health
problems, and was visiting our branch for church zesterdaz. I was able
to give him a priesthood blessing, and the Spirit was in that meeting
so stronglz. I was literallz given what to say to him in the blessing,
and he was so happz afterwards for the blessing that he received.
   I know that the Lord runs his church, and I am incredible grateful
to hold the Priesthood authority of God. I know the church is true,
and I am SO verz grateful for it!

Love y'all! make it the best week of zour life!
Love Elder Q

One of the best weeks of my mission....maybe

So what you're about to hear is the recap of like the best week of my entire mission. Please sit forward, keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and  just wait for it.......

lol jk but really, this week was one of the best weeks of my mission!! Miracles happened Every Single Day, and  we were absolutely blessed SO much.

On Monday, we had a chance to meet with my boy Jacek, a less-active. He's the Polish Mario, and I just love that guy. We read with him out of the Book of Mormon, and had a really spiritual meeting with him. It was really good.

So Tuesday we had a lot going on. We did a whiteboard which was completely led by the Spirit. We prayed for guidance, and then four missionaries, a Ukrainian and a whiteboard traveled around the city just following the Spirit. On our journey, we met so many cool people. A dude came up to ME and asked for an Ulotka with our chapel address and information because he has been wanting to come so badly for a long time now. He told me he would be there this next Sunday... so that was super cool! The other Elders talked to a younger guy from Turkey(you have to know the background.... it's long, but essentially they only have 12 missionaries allowed there and weird rules where they can only talk about the gospel is people ask Them about it... My boy Elder Firth is there right now.) So that was sweet! We ended up having a rather rough street-teaching session on the way home from the chapel late at night for our late dinner, and we ran into a bunch of different JW's.... I'm learning charity this transfer, and God's really been giving me JW's to teach me Christ-like love.... so there's that. Pretty close to home, we contacted this 35 year old guy named Łukasz. (Lucas) He stopped, took his headphones out, and listened. We taught him an entire first, and he really wanted to meet again! He gave us his business card(he's a business-owning Dietritionist, and he's very successful), and we set up for the next night(Wed.) We were stoked... like the stoked where you get home, give your companion a huge hug and then just start praying in thankfulness. When we got home, though, I got SO sick. No details but pretty much I was dying. I went over to the Gay's apartment, and Elder Berlin and Elder Gay gave me a Priesthood Blessing. The Priesthood is so real. I love the Priesthood power.

I was completely fine the next morning(miraculously), and we ended up meeting with Łukasz the next day at the chapel, and he brought his friend Paweł (Paul)! We taught them about, and read a good portion of the Book of Mormon with them, in English. (pretty much most of the prepared people here, in Poland, speak English...). Paul ended up having to leave early, and as he walked out, he told us he had to go, and that he didn't feel good to be in our chapel, because he had just had 2 beers before. That was pretty sweet. Elder Berlin and I kept teaching him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He ate everything up, and we invited him to be baptized at the end of the lesson. He told us "Zobaczymy"... czyli we'll see...!

We ended up meeting some other cool people on the street. We talked to a younger guy who wants to meet with us next Friday at 13, we talked to a cool family who was really interested, and ended up taking an Ulotka, a guy named Abr who's Muslim and who we got to teach a lesson to about Jesus Christ, and we talked to this other guy named Łukasz. It was the coolest thing ever. It was a really scrambled street lesson, I was just trying to follow the Spirit, and essentially rolled through part of Jesus Christ, part of the Book of Mormon, and part of latter-day revelation. He was way interested, and wants to meet, but has to go to Warsaw this week because he has some problems with his heart. We exchanged numbers, and told him we'd love to meet when he gets back, and something really cool happened. He stopped, looked at us, and told us that he had been praying to God for God to give him someone he could call and talk to. God is preparing his children, here in Poland, for sure!
Saturday we got to meet with our investigator from Africa named Eddie. At the beginning of the lesson, he freaked me out by starting to talk all about how he's a religionist, and made it sound like he doesn't even believe that much, but rather likes to just find out about religions. We listened to the Spirit, and answered his questions, and taught the Plan of Salvation. By the end of the lesson, he was doing so much better. He knows that he can pray to know about the Book of Mormon and our church-if they are true or if they are not. He knows that he wants to read the Book of Mormon, even a few times, and he knows what's coming. We were so excited to be able to meet with him! We also got to go to Zbyszek's house Saturday morning and meet in his little Polish room with him. It is such an experience to be sitting on a Polish person's bed with almost nowhere to put your feet and talking about prayer and Christ, and our Heavenly Father. Man, I love missionary work.

On Sunday, we got a call from Łukasz that he wanted to meet Again. We set up with him for Sunday night. He came(without Paul this time-there was a party or something). We checked up on his reading and praying. He told us he has been praying ALL the time, but that he hasn't been reading, because he gave his Book of Mormon to Paul, who he said needed it more at the time. We had the most spiritual meeting I've ever had with him. Elder Berlin and I were being TOTALLY led by the Spirit. We both were opening up to the same scriptures that had popped into my head, and we both were talking about the Priesthood, and bearing testimony, and telling him that we KNOW that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. We talked a lot about baptism, and he knows that the road he is on right now to clean himself and to do good things is leading him here. He knows and has told us multiple times that there are no coincidences, and that there is a reason that he is meeting with us. When Łukasz get's baptized, he is solid enough to put the Szczecin branch on his back. I know it, and I'm so excited for it!

I KNOW THAT THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE! I love it with all my heart, and I absolutely LOVE being a missionary! This is the Lord's work, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it! Love y'all, make it the best week of your lives!
Love,
Elder Q