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

 

Christmas in POLAND......

Hey fam!

Man, this week was a REALLY good week. I got to talk to the family, I had some super sweet adventures and some good times together with my district, so that was way fun!

On Tuesday we had zone conference in Poznań, so we got to take a really early train out there, and I got to see all my buddies and everyone in the zone. I absolutely LOVED it! There's just something about Poland, Warsaw missionaries that I love so much! I got to hang out with Elder Coutu, and Elder Wilcox and Jeffs from the MTC. I sure miss those guys! We had a musical/video program together with President and Sister Edgren, and I got to play the piano for that... it was way sweet... I think I played just about every Christmas song in the hymn book throughout the program!

Wednesday night (Christmas Eve), Elder Weiler and Elder Blunt slept over at our house, and we had a really amazing Christmas Eve together, and even got to spend some time at the Gays, watching the Bible Videos that we got from President! It was a really good Christmas eve!

Christmas day was good but definitely tough... I loved being able to talk to the family, but afterwards was a little tough.. However, I really got a chance to remember WHY I'm out here... why I'm giving up my family and friends for 2 more years. It was a really neat opportunity for me!

The rest of the week was interesting. In Poland, the holidays are much longer(I think it's so they have a hangover day or two... #Polska ), so we were out on the streets talking to people, and there was NOONE... and if they were there, none of them wanted to talk about Christ during the holidays.... so that was interesting..!

Elder Berlin and I did get to go on a sweet scavenger hunt last night for a member who's been lost for forever. It was a 7 mile round-trip out to some random little town with one street, and we got there and found out the address didn't exist... we did meet a really cool guy, though.. who helped us figure that out! All in all it was a little disappointing, but a good adventure to go on, i guess..! :)

OH, also, we were invited to Jacek's(a less-active, only because he lives and works like 150 km outside of Szczecin) grandmother's house in Szczecin. They fed us legit Polish food, and it was literally AMAZING. After, we did sort of a testimony meeting, and the Spirit was there so strongly. his grandmother has even been reading the Księga Mormona, and is already in 3rd Nephi... Miracles happen ever day, guys! I sure love Jacek. He's literally one of my favorite people on the planet. I just wanna give that guy a hug every time I see him... it was great!

Love y'all.. Please make it the best week of your life!

Elder Q

Christmas Eve 2014

Christmas Crepes

Merry Christmas!!

WITAM WAS!

This week has been such a good week! It wasn't actually that cold this week... we were above freezing, which is great! Elder Berlin is awesome. He's a lot like me, which is both good and bad, but I'm really expecting it to be a really good transfer! We've been working really hard and having some really cool experiences! We found 2 new investigators this week in the park earlier this week and set up another meeting with them. Unfortunately they were more interested in the messengers than the message, and invited us to a club afterward... which was weird. So that was kinda a bummer... but that's okay! ha  But we also met a really cool guy named Michał. We taught him a Restoration lesson on the street, and gave him a Book of Mormon. He is really interested and is going to read it. He also has our number in his phone, but Polish people are different and don't like to give their numbers to other people, so he said he would call later. I told him that when God tells him the Księga Mormona is true, to give us a call, and he laughed and said he would. :)

I definitely miss being companions with Elder Weiler, we got along really well.  But, I'm also super glad to be companions with Elder Berlin. We're going to get work done this transfer and I'm so excited!

We also got to meet with Zbyszek at his house. We went in there, and it was dark and kinda scary, but we had a really cool meeting with him. He ended up showing us Polish Tv shows(he does it every single time... we're trying to get over that...) and I actually understood what they were saying.. and they were REALLY funny. hahaha We ended up teaching him about the church attendance and the sacrament covenant, and then he came to church yesterday! He even had me come and sit by him, and it was way cool!

We also had the sweetest Christmas program in Church yesterday. I got to play a bunch of Polish Christmas songs and hymns, and even had to make up my own Christmas solo...(thank goodness for my piano teacher... big S/O to Bob Heck) and we read the Christ story in Polish. It was awesome and the Spirit was there SO Strongly... it felt a little like home!

We also got to go out to Warszewo(like an hours worth of street teaching North of us) and start tracting. It was a pretty sweet adventure through a dark and muddy neighborhood, and I got destroyed by a huge mud lake on the way there... so that was pretty cool...!

Oh, I also talked to Lynn on the phone from a few weeks back, and it was going really well until she started asking me if I could hang out.... It's getting really old having people want to hang out with us instead of meet... separating those that are genuinely interested I guess...?

The District is doing great! Elder Weiler has his trainee, Elder Blunt, and he's waay cool! I really like him! He's from good 'ole Tucson, Arizona, and he's a baller. I got to work with him on a whiteboard at the end of this last week, and it was waaay cool! It's going to be a good transfer, for sure!

Love y'all, Merry Christmas, and make it the best week of your lives!
Elder Justin Quackenbush

The week before Christmas....

Hey y'all!

Man, this week was a HUGE one!! SO much happened, Elder Weiler and I get to the end of the week, and can't figure out how so much happened in only 7 days... it's incredible!

We started off the week with an Exchange. I had Elder Taylor(a trainee-I love that kid so much) with me in my area, and Elder Weiler went with Elder Fogg in theirs. I had such an amazing time working with Elder Taylor and doing everything we needed to do!
 

We also had Culture Night this week. We get one a transfer and Elder Weiler and I hit a super sweet Polish museum. The World Wars section was the sweetest thing ever. It's so much more meaningful to be able to read these people's quotes in their own language... It actually makes sense. I also realized just how evil of a guy Hitler was... he used some pretty terrible Polish words..... :/ We also went out and got on a docked Russian boat/restaurant thing... so that was pretty sweet! Also, we went and hit Cafe 22, which is this super fancy restaurant that overlooks all of Szczecin. It was sooo cool, and Yes.....They had milkshakes!

I haven't actually talked much about it, but the last two weeks have been entirely dedicated to putting on a Mormoni Night at the branch. We had posters up, 600 ulotki on the streets, a free table, presentations, and testimonies. It was absolutely KILLER!  Elder Weiler and I both felt like we needed to do that kinda thing two weeks ago, and have worked out butts off for it over the last two weeks. It happened Saturday night, and we had two Really good looking potentials come- Olek and Tateusz.  Olek even came to church the next day, and he's coming to Institute on Thursday. We're working with him to try to meet with him, and I couldn't be more excited!

We also got transfer calls.....(drum roll)..... I'm staying in Szczecin. BUT, I'm going to be the new District leader, and I'm getting a new companion. His name is Elder Berlin, and he's still a trainee... which means I get to finish his training! That also means I'm senior companion, and that we both are super young this transfer again... which is going to be great!  hahaha  Can't wait. I'm so excited for this next transfer, and to be working with Elder Berlin! he gets in tomorrow night, and then we get to work!

Love you guys! Make it the best week ever!
Love,

Starszy Quackenbush

Hey y'all!

This week was a really good one. It was definitely a tough one, but it was a good kind of tough. I definitely am being BLESSED with trials and difficulties to overcome every single day, and I am just working my hardest to push through them. I love the line in "Approaching The Throne Of God With Confidence" that says something along the lines of " Trials come as a necessary part of this mortal experience. They may come because God is testing you, or because this is a fallen world. Trials do not necessarily mean you have done something wrong..... but when you find yourself in the midst of trials, have faith, gaze heavenward, and say 'I know what this is... a time to test myself.' and work through it." (those are in Elder Quackenbush language, so don't judge plz) I've really been learning to do that, and to rely on the enabling power of my Savior's atonement every single day to help me through. I am so grateful for the trials and the experiences I am having as a missionary!

So something waay cool happened this week. Elder Weiler had to do some legal work, so we were at this huge Urząd working through some papers. I wasn't doing anything, and off to my right, I could hear problems happening. Some girl(obviously not z Polski) was speaking english and saying "I don't understand... I speak english"... and the Polish teller-lady wasn't being patient. They asked me to help translate for her. I translated what the lady was saying, and essentially this girl needed to fill out this huge legal packet in full-polish. I helped her work through it, and we talked while doing so. Her name is Lynn, she's 22 and from Norway, studying medicine here in Szczecin. We talked for a while, and I helped her until the Urząd closed(not THAT long). After when we were walking out, she was asking me a whole bunch of questions...why are you here? who are you? have you ever sworn in your life? and then the golden question... "can I ask you...... Do you really believe everything your religion believes".... I had the wonderful opportunity to testify that I know 150% that what I have is true. I explained about the Book of Mormon and about praying to know. She is way interested, and was going home to look it up( I only had Polish Księga Mormona's...) so that was way cool!

Also, we tried something different. I got close to that guy from English named Peter, and he wanted me to come play soccer with him and his friends. I tried some soccer contacting, brought Elder Taylor with me(he plays soccer, too), and we went out and played soccer/ talked about the church with a bunch of people. We told them who we were and some of our beliefs, and got to school some Polish people in soccer... so it was a super fun experience!

Love y'all! Make it the best week of your lives! Be good!

Love,
Starszy Q