4-15-14 I'm in Poland!!

Hey Mom!!! So it sounds like President Edgren sent you enough about everything right? So I don't need to email you that much.. Right? Hahaha!!

Yeah Wednesday was really cool because we woke up and headed to the place where President Kimball Dedicated Poland for Preaching the Gospel, It was in a really pretty park in the middle of Warsaw.. Then we went out and contacted some people!

So Poland is great! My companion is Elder Fotu! He is awesome and has been out for about a year, he is so humble and awesome! He is pretty good at the language but we help each other out a bit and he pushes me to learn more and more words each day. I am in a city called Wrocław. (It's pronounced Vrots-Wahv) I think it is the 3rd biggest city in Poland.. But I could be wrong. It's kinda in the South-Eastern Part of Poland.. But you can Google it and find out for sure hahaha.. But on Wednesday when I figured out where I was going and going to be with Elder Fotu we then took like a 4.5 hour train ride to Wrocław. And by the time we got here it was already like 8:30 so we didn't have any time to tract or anything. But Thursday we pretty much just street contacted all day and handed out pass along cards!

We've been doing a lot of street contacting though.. We did have a couple of meetings with investigators on Friday though, one was in English and the other was in Polish with a younger guy with the name Mieczysław. He was really cool though because he was really helping Elder Fotu and I with our Polish.. Hahaha he's funny though! So we do a lot of walking around and taking trams around the center of the city to kinda the outside of the city. In Wrocław there are 6 missionaries, 4 Elders and 2 Sisters. We sometimes meet up with them and we do a white board, which is where we write down a question like, "Why was Christ Ressurected?" on a big White board in the middle of the Town Square and then the people that stop to read it, you just kinda non-shalontly walk up to them and just ask them the question and see what they have to say. Then what I do (Because I don't know what the Native Polish person just said) I just bear my testimony and hand out a pass a long card.. Usually my companion isn't far behind me so he will step in and help me out if I need it. He is awesome! hahaha!

Probably one of the best experiences I've had so far was on Thursday Elder Fotu and I were contacting around this park that was North of the Rynek of Wrocław (Rynek=The Town Square) and we saw this lady that was kinda chillin on one of the park benches.. We walked up and just asked her if she would like to hear our message today, and she just motioned for us to sit down on the bench right next to her. We told her we were missionaries for our church and were here for 2 years, she was really impressed that we were here learning such a crazy language! But Elder Fotu started talking to her about the Plan of Salvation, and she started to tear up a bit. Elder Fotu asked her "Have you ever had a time in your life where you have felt God's love?" and then she started tearing up even more! I knew that she was feeling the spirit and the truthfulness of our message. Then she told us that her name was Nela, and SHE asked us if we could meet with her sometime. We said we could on Saturday but that didn't work for her.. So we said we'd call her back later because she didn't know her work schedule yet! But she seemed really thrilled to hear our message, and we left her a Book of Mormon and she gave us her number. We called her today and she said that she would like to meet on Wednesday to hear more about our message. When we called she said that she had started the Book of Mormon.

Besides that we've just been teaching people on the streets mostly and we've had a couple of lessons to investigators but not a ton! Mostly because this past week was Easter weekend, and Poland Parties hard during the Easter Holiday. Like they have something going on Saturday, Sunday and Today! But yesterday at church, in our branch apparently there is usually only about 25-30 people in church. But Yesterday we had 55! Because there were like 20 Germans that were visiting the Wrocław area for Easter to learn more about their family heritage. Because Wrocław used to be a part of Germany before WW2..

I didn't know that someone got a picture of me helping the older lady! She was trying to put some leaves near this statue thing, so I helped her out :)

The apartment we have is nice! It's nothing "Luxurious" like what Preston had ;) Haha! But no.. It is really nice, we've got a big room to do our studies and a pretty nice kitchen. It's pretty nice! I like it! 

Yeah! The lady that came up to you who has a daughter in the MTC that helps out.. That is one of the people that I taught in TRC! I think her name was Jenessa! She was cool!!

I'll send you my address next time that I email.. But if you want you can just send packages to the mission home.. I know that I'll go to Warsaw to the mission home in June because that is when President Uchtorf is coming!!! He is coming to speak to our mission :) So if you want you can just send something then to the mission home.. It's probably the best/safest way to do it. Because I don't think I really need anything now.

Letter and Pictures From the Mission President in Poland 4-15-14

We've spent a nice day with your sons.  They've all had interviews, dinner, gone for a walk and are now exhausted and in bed.  Hopefully they'll all sleep well.  We're so happy to have them here and look forward to getting to know them better.  Tomorrow after breakfast, we will all drive to Ogrud Saski, the park where President Kimball dedicated Poland for missionary work.  After that, the APs will take them out and give them a little taste of contacting.  They will then return to the mission home to meet their trainers.  Thank you for raising these fine young men who have a desire to share the gospel with the world!  We'll take good care of them.  Pictures:  Standing in front of the mission home, contacting in the park by Wilanow Palace, APs Lanham and Vernon who have spent all day today with them and will be with them until they're on their trains to their new cities.

Warmly,

President & Sister Edgren

4-9-15 As the band Europe said "It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN"

Hello everyone! 

This past week was great, General Conference was amazing as always! My favorite talk was probably from President Uchtdorf from the Priesthood session! He talked a lot about staying away from addictions and things that can waste your time, as well as serving others as often as you can! And of course he threw in a airplane story haha! 

I also liked Randall L Ridd's talk from Priesthood Session as well, he talked a lot about technology and how important Agency is. One quote that I REALLY liked that I think can apply to just about everyone.. He said something along the lines of, "Plug into the Power of the Spirit. Everytime you plug in your phone to charge it, think to yourself... Have I recharged myself Spiritually? -> Prayer, Scripture Study, the occassional Fast and bearing testimony. It was really cool and I will for sure remember that after my mission when I need to make time each day for recharging myself Spiritually, whereas on the mission you have an hour or more each day for doing just that.

Besides Conference Elder Platter and I have been pretty busy with doing "Zone Leader Stuff", because we have a bunch of new Elders and Sisters coming in (26 to be exact) we are busy helping out the Branch Presidency. Today actually Elder Platter and I are helping more missionaries then just our Zone because we've been invited to help teach the new missionaries that came in today parts of Preach My Gospel. So today will be super packed.. We are helping them from 5:30-7:30 then after that we are helping the new missionaries in our zone from 8:30-9:30.. So it'll be a pretty crazy night! Haha

It'll be crazy to finally be in Poland! I'm so excited!! :)

But besides that our lessons are going really well, ACTUALLY we did commit Arek to baptism! So that is awesome! The language is making more and more sense each week so that is always a plus :) I find my self naturally speaking the language sometimes and conjugating the verbs naturally as well! Haha and every day during basketball I don't know why but I'm always thinking in Polish! That's a good thing though :) 

Stay awesome everyone! And I'll try and send out another e-mail on Saturday or something! 

If you want to send me something in the mail ya'll should do it now! Otherwise I won't get it in time! This church is true and I can't wait to share with the people in Poland!

-Starszy Hon

A picture of all of the Czech Elders that left on Monday! They are awesome! 

4-2-14 1.5 Weeks Left!

Hey mom!! This week flew by just like yours did! 

So on Friday Elder Platter and I had the opportunity to teach both Arek and Olek and both lessons went great! We first talked to Arek about why coming to church is so important, and even though he has to work on Sundays (He is in construction) we know that if he comes to church he will be blessed! When we told him that church is 3 hours he kind of freaked out Hahaha! But he said that he would be able to go to Sacrament meeting. Elder Platter and I were like.. "Ok!" That's a decent start! So he was able to go to church with us on Sunday! 

Then after that we taught Olek! His lesson was AWESOME! Elder Platter and I went into the lesson just wanting to talk to him about how he has felt this past month while we have been meeting with him. He said that he has loved it, and has loved reading the Book of Mormon and going to church to learn more and has loved growing and learning more! Elder Platter and I were both like "Psh.. That's a perfect answer!" So we both bore our testimonies to him about our own experiences with the Book of Mormon and how the gospel has blessed our own lives. Then we turned to Mosiah 18:10. Which talks about how if you have the desire to serve God and Keep the Commandments then you will also have a desire to be baptized. When he read that verse he kinda stopped in the middle and was like "Ahh.. Chrzest!" (Ahh.. Baptism!) And we kinda laughed, because we have brought us Baptism like 3-4 times already, and he hasn't committed to a date. But when we read that scripture with him the spirit was super strong and he was like.. Yeah! I'll be baptized! So we planned the baptism for April 19.. Even though it is after we leave that is when we planned it! (And he's already a member anyways.. SOOOOO Yeah..) Hahaha, but tonight we are teaching him about the Word of Wisdom!

Oh.. And get this. On Sunday for our devotional guess who was there..

If you guessed Justin Bieber, you're wrong..

But if you guessed David Archuleta you're totally RIGHT!! And Also there was Richard Elliot (The organist for MOTAB) and they both played and sang some songs.. It was SWEET! Here is a video of one of the songs that he played for us->  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HdrywerGE

But they were so awesome, and for those of you who don't know David Archuleta just got back from a mission in Chile this past week! So it was great to see him, and I've been a fan of David Archuleta for a while.. I mean I DO have "Crush" memorized!!

Yeah I should be getting my flight plans tomorrow or Friday! I can't wait!! 

It sounds like everything is going well in AZ!! 

Besides that not much is going on, The Czech Elders in my zone are getting ready to leave on Monday! They are very excited!

Love you all! Stay awesome!!

-Starszy Hon

This church is true :)

Snowing on P Day!

3-26-14 Less Than Three Weeks Left!

Hello!!!!

This week was really busy and I didn't get to send out as many letters as I would've wanted! But I'll try and send out some more this week! :)

So on Thursday we had TRC and that was awesome! It seems like we are getting better and better every single week now! And it is great to see that improvement, and it is awesome to hear what the volunteers have to say as well. They usually write notes to us, saying what we can improve/what we did well. So it is good to know that we are getting better and better!! 

This past week was full of a ton of great experiences! On Saturday Morning we were practicing "How to ask inspired questions" and so we got split into groups of 2 (of people that weren't our companions) and one person was the investigator with a specific problem and the other was the missionary. Before we started I asked our teacher (Sister McAdams- The one that was in our mustache picture) if we could go outside and practice teaching! And she said she didn't plan on going outside but said that we could.. So we went outside! It was a pretty chilly Utah day but felt awesome. As we went on throughout the day we just kept on practicing and practicing.. When out of nowhere a guy just walks past me and the person that I am practicing with and goes past the other group and sits next to Elder Platter and Elder Remy. 

Well it turns out that this guy's name was "Arnold" and is a real investigator who is at the MTC! He's like in his 60's but is really cool and wants to meet with us pretty much everyday even though technically he isn't "Our" Investigator.. Because usually if there is an investigator that is AT the MTC they are either a REAL investigator and are ALMOST baptized or are a recent convert.. The only thing is that he won't ever tell us which one he is. So we just have to believe that the nametag that he has which says "Arnold-Investigator" is telling the truth.. Hahaha!

It was cool because he actually walked all the way past the rest of our district to talk to Elder Remy and Elder Platter- The two Elders that could relate to some of the questions that Arnold had at that moment, and we never would've even BEEN outside if I wouldn't have suggested that we go outside. So there was like a huge chain of events that led up to us actually being outside.. :)

Then on Sunday, Because Elder Platter and I are the Zone Leaders we pretty much were in meetings all day.. Sunday is supposed to be a "Day of Rest" Hahaha.. I don't think that, that applies to missionaries and zone leaders at the MTC! Because from 7:45 A.M.- 9 PM we were either in leadership meetings, at church meetings, at the Devotional on sunday nights! So it was busy! But the Czech Elders who leave 1 week before us (The Monday after General Conference) had to sing in Sacrament Meeting. Because the sunday before you leave the Branch Presidency always wants you to sing a song as a district before you leave! But because next sunday is fast and testimony meeting and then the week after that is General Conference this past Sunday was the only time that they could sing! So the song that they picked was "If you Could Hie To Kolob" and I played the Piano for them :) I also played in Priesthood meeting.. I added on a little intro to "If you could Hie to Kolob" and it went well!!

So all is well at the MTC, the days all kind of mold together, and it is going by really fast! Our investigators are doing really well and it is great to see them progress! I hope all is well back home! Make sure that Preston doesn't get married for another 22 Months and cheer loud for Hayden at the Meets!! It sounds like he is doing really well! OH and I looked at my Missionsite.net profile! I look pretty good! Hahaha! I DID get something in the mail.. I got some chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, they didn't have a return address tho.. So I'm not really sure who they're from.. Sounds kinda sketchy but they tasted good! I think we get our travel plans next friday or something.. I'll let you know when I get them!! The Language is tough but it is coming :) This church is true! The work is difficult but I know that I am where I'm supposed to be :)

I love you all! And I hope you have an awesome week!

-Love 

Starszy Hon

Me and Elder Platter

Me and my district at the Provo Temple

3-21-14 Time is Flying By!

Hey mom!! So this week was pretty awesome.. But the MTC is kinda getting old hahaha.. Once you have been here for like 5.. Going on 6 weeks it really just starts to get slow and you just want to get out in the field! But it is still great!

I hope that the trip to San Francisco was fun! The only time that I went there is when we went for the ASU vs Navy game at the Giant's stadium, it was so pretty! But we were only there for like that night and then we came home right after.. One of the Elder's in my district (He's actually the new District leader)- Elder Larson... He is from Oakland and hung out on the bay all the time! And happy birthday Preston!

So on Thursdays we always have TRC and every week it gets better and better! This past week we were assigned to teach about reading the Book of Mormon and how to receive inspiration through reading it. In the lessons one of the "Learning activities" I did was called "The magic square!" And it is something that Bro. Stirling taught us in Seminary!

So in the grid above how many squares do you think that their are? Well the people that we were teaching guessed to low.. they guessed about 24 and 26 and this was the "Layout that we gave them" (There is 30 squares by the way)

1. If you thought there was only 16-20 squares then you are "Just Reading the Book of Mormon, just to get through it.. But not to really gain much.." -Reading

2. If you think their are about 21-29 Squares you are "Searching the Book of Mormon.. Which is good! But it is not The Best!- Searching

3. If you got 30 squares then you are "Pondering the Book of Mormon, and not just reading to read, but are really trying to gain something from it.- Pondering the Book of Mormon

So in Seminary freshman year Bro Stirling would go around the room and at the beginning of class he would say "I would like you all to read the book of mormon for the next 10 minutes.. But I want you to read 30 squares worth.. If you spend all 10 minutes on a verse or two.. That is perfectly fine."

So I taught the volunteers in my "Awesome Polish" that if you REALLY read the Book of Mormon you can get SO much more out of it rather than if you just "Read". 

Then On Friday Elder Platter and I taught both of our investigators.. We taught Arek about reading the Book of Mormon and why it is so important (Which went along GREAT with our TRC lesson!) Then we taught Olek about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Having faith, repenting, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) At the end of it we asked if he would get baptized and he said that he would!! Even though he is a "Fake investigator" it still felt awesome when he said that he would get baptized! 

Although I'm not just out to baptize as many people as I can when I am in Poland it is one of the biggest steps that an investigator can do to come closer to Christ, which is what my REAL goal is :D

Besides that everything has been REALLY chill at the MTC.. Some of the missionaries in the zone left on Sunday.. They are going to the "Adriatic North Mission" which sounds pretty complicated.. And it is.. Hahaha.. So you should look that up! It is a mission that covers Slovania, and other countries that are like south of Poland!

Street contacting is honestly SO fun.. I'm sure that it is going to be a lot different when we are in Poland but when we are here in the MTC it is really chill, and because all you really do in street contacting is share your testimony of why you're on a mission, and that is what I can say the best in Polish! Hahaha!! But in Poland it is going to be a lot of street contacting, contacting in Apartments and also putting up a big whiteboard in the middle of a busy plaza and having people just come by and see what all the hullabaloo is about! It'll be awesome :) I'm actually more scared about actually getting into people's houses and *Messing up with the language* more than I am about just talking to people and having them reject what I'm teaching..

Tell Hayden to shave his face.. He ain't gonna get a date to Prom looking like that!! 

Me, Elder Platter and Elder Larson at the Provo Temple!! I'm gonna miss Elder Larson when he leaves to Leeds and the rest of us go to Poland!

All of the Polish Elders and one of our teachers (Sister McAdams) My goal was to send you the most awkward picture.. And this is totally that picture

Visiting the Provo Temple

Elder Hon with an Elder going to Bulgaria 

3-13-14 Elder Hon (big news)

So this week was great! 

On Sunday Elder Platter and I got signed up to sing a "Special Musical Number" Because the person that plans out the sacrament meetings is one of the elder's in our room.. So he just decided to pick us! Haha..

But right before Sacrament Meeting the Branch Presidency called both of us into a room and asked us if we wanted to be the next Zone Leaders!! So this upcoming Sunday they are going to release the other Zone Leaders and are going to call us! It's going to be awesome! 

So for the musical number that we did in Sacrament Meeting we decided to do a cool little rendition of "The Spirit of God" I played the piano and then Elder Platter sang. I did a cool little intro then he sang the first verse with me playing, and then instead of going to the Chorus we started back at the beginning and he sung the whole 2nd verse in Polish. Then he sang the 4th verse accapella (Without me playing) Then I came in big and strong into the chorus of the last verse. I though it went pretty good for just practicing a couple of times on Saturday then twice on Sunday before we played in Sacrament!! He sang great and I don't think I messed up.. So it was great!! A lot of people came up to us after and said that we sounded really good! 

So last week we got to practice "Street Contacting" and getting people's numbers and getting to know them and seeing if they want to know more! That is how we got our next investigator "Arek" he is also one of our teachers, but we just talked to him for about 5 minutes and he said that he would like to know more so we set up an appointment to meet with him on Monday (the 10th). So Monday came around and our plan was to just get to know him a little bit more, and then talk about the Restoration with him! When we walked in we asked how old he is and what he does for a living. He said that he is 18 and is getting ready to graduate high school! Then I asked what he has heard about the church and he said that he has a friend who introduced him to the church and that gave him a Book of Mormon! So we asked if he has read it.. He said "Nie" (No) and then I was like Pshh.. Lets read right now! So we opened up to the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and read through about 1/2 of it, then challenged him to read the rest of the Intro and start reading 1st Nephi and pray about it to see if it is true.. He said that he would! Then we asked him if he would go to church with us and he said that he has already been to church with his friend (That also gave him the BoM) but said he couldn't this week, SO maybe next week..

Tonight we have a lesson with Olek.. I think we're talking about how the Gospel blesses families and then we are introducing the Word of Wisdom..  

The Polish is coming along pretty well! There is just so much that is different from English it's crazy! But It's coming!

Thanks for all that you do! 

-Starszy Hon

 It was ACTUALLY SNOWING YESTERDAY!! So I had to run out there!

Me out in the Snow!

I made a snowman!