Monday, July 25, 2016

It's all good!!!!!

July 25th

Hey Mom!
Glad to hear the package made it alright! Elder Park's got home a while back and I was a little worried haha. And don't worry, I don't plan right now on reclaiming any gifts, there'll be plenty of time for more souvenirs later. We're onto that stage with Park right now, his whole fam is pouring in requests haha.
Glad to hear that most of us made it out of Sun River ok, but that's a pretty huge bummer with Grandma Lou:(
I guess Sun River really is cursed, sorry I started that. We'll have to get some kind of frequent flyer card at the surgery center there before the next trip. I think this confirms my decision to shoot for orthopedic surgeon, the Haskett family could use one.
I'm kinda curious to see how Noah compares EFY Santa Barbara to Provo. I bet they're both pretty cool. Also you'll have to let me know who Luke's coach is at volleyball camp, and I'll see if I still know him. Probably not, it's been a while. I'll bet it's gonna be weird with a quiet home for you though!
So to answer your first question, yeah, we were able to meet up with the girl again. She came to English and we had another meeting after. Thing is, she keeps saying weird stuff that we don't really know how (or want to) handle. For example, after English, she texted me and said, "Hey I'm really confused, and I don't know why", then after a while again, saying " I guess today's just not my day to be confident ". Lots of feelings, so we're probably going to have the sisters meet with her from now on.
Other than that, it's been a lot of finding for us. Summer's been long, and we can't wait for everybody to be back home. Or English class is doing alright, we've started targeting young people who are home for the summer and have nothing better to do, haha. One neat thing: for the first time in my mission, I think every one of my investigators is actually reading the Book of Mormon. Pretty sad, that it's a first, but I'm satisfied.
So, surprise this week: President Turek showed up at our district meeting. First off, I probs blew him away with my Polish and leadership qualities. But other than that, I got my bday stuff! Thanks for the package, it's got everything! The decorations were a nice touch, even though it's been a while since the actual day, I still hung everything up, and now we can play balloon volleyball. I got a request from Kati for a recorder video, once I find a computer that's got enough power to upload it, I will. Thanks again though!
I think that's everything this week, have fun at Lake Powell! Love you Mom!
Elder Haskett

Monday, July 18, 2016

July 18th

Hey Mom!
Glad you guys all made it to Sun River ok, I remember that was always a doozy of a drive. As I typed that I realized for the first time i have no idea how you're supposed to spell doozy. Probably nailed it though.
Dad sent some pictures of Crater Lake, it looks unreal! Hope you guys have a fun time this week, with all the adventures and stuff.
Haha yeah, it's crazy, but everyone's leaving for their missions soon! I've been in contact with most of the guys, they seem pretty excited.
To answer your questions (a little out of order), I was able to withdraw summer cash, thanks for replying so quick! We were able to make it to Zakopane again, and it was awesome! We went with the Krakow elders, and a member from their branch, it was really fun. We made it to the top this time, and I can already tell my legs aren't happy with me. I remembered to take the fitbit with me this time. About a 13 mile hike. Fun stuff. I've got some pictures, but no time to upload today, so I'll try tomorrow during district meeting!
Our week was pretty good, our investigators are doing well, but the notable points for the week have nothing to do with them.
WILD story this week. So I got a call from a sister in Gdansk on Tuesday, and she had given my number to a dude who said he was interested in meeting in Kato. About 2 mins after she hung up, he called me and talked for about 45 mind straight about the Bible, and said, "if God would allow it", we'd meet on Friday. Well I get a call Friday morning at 950, and it's this dude asking if we can meet in 10 mins. After I managed to convince him to push it back an hour we booked it over to the chapel. We get there, and he's waiting at the top of the stairs with a woman. My first thought is that they're Jehovah's witnesses and they set us up for a smack down. This dude proceeded to sit us down in our own chapel and teach us a lesson. Apparently he's been called as a revelator. I'm going to try to relate his doctrine:
-Jesus is the Father, God is the GRANDFATHER
-God has a lion for a head
-The word Jehovah is a myth, completely made up by the JWs
-John the Baptist did NOT baptize Christ, it was the other way around, contrary to popular belief
-The Second Coming will happen in Poland
-It's gonna happen in September 2016, and here's how:
666\2=333, 33.3-9(the ninth month is September)=24.9
Revelation 24:9, 333*6=1998, the year he had his revelation, and 1998+6+6+6=2016. BOOM
-There were several other points, but I'll suffice it to say it was a weird experience.
Anyways, we also had a little miracle find on Wednesday. We were on our way to English class, but the tram line to the chapel was closed for the Tour de Pologne. We had to get off and walk the whole way. There was another girl that got off with us, and we talked to her for pretty much the entire hour and a half it took to get to the chapel. She's going to start taking the lessons this week! We're pretty sure that delay was meant to happen haha.
I think that's it for my week! Since next week it'll be to late, happy birthday Mom! I recorded a little bday surprise for ya! Love you!
Elder Haskett

Monday, July 11, 2016

July 10th! Happy bday Logan!!

Some sort of food he'd never eat before this experience!!:)

July 10th! He's 19:)

Hey Mom!
Haha thanks for the bday wishes! It was kinda weird having a birthday out in the field, not gonna lie. Not in a bad way, of course, but I forgot until the sisters reminded me at church and then since it was a Sunday, it was pretty much just business as usual. I did have a cake though, although it might not have been as exciting as you'd think, cause I pretty much eat cake every day from our grocery store. Weekly shopping for me always consists of a babka, which is like a little bundt cake. It translates directly to grandma though, so that's what I call it. We decided to celebrate today at an all-you-can-eat Indian restaurant, and I also bought myself a little present cause the packages haven't made it out of Warsaw yet haha. The good news is that they made it safe and sound, but they're in the Mission office still. It's cool, I found a jacket that really just screams "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and called it a gift to me. I'll send a pic home when we've got a good computer.
I'm also real glad to hear that Lake Powell is back on! I'm looking forward to some pictures of the new boat, and I guess I'm looking forward even more so to the day I actually get on it, haha.
So I guess my week now, we started off with a bang, had a meeting with an investigator about 30 minutes after emailing last week, and then pretty quiet after that. A lot of people are out of town for summer right now. It kinda killed our English class, we only had one student, and it was her first time. Luckily she liked Harry Potter, and Elder Park and I are definitely the 2 most educated missionaries in Poland when it comes to HP. We talked about it pretty much the whole time. She even showed us this internet quiz, "Czy zdałbym S.U.M.y?" (Would I pass my O.W.L. exams?) I passed. We still had a few people come to church though, and one of our investigators finished the Book of Mormon this week. He's tearing into D&C now.
Onto Thursday's meeting. We got into Kraków at about 10, and got right into the little Zone Meeting. First off: President Turek is awesome. He's super chill, but also really helpful when it comes to the language. He said my Polish was bomb, and that he expected a lot of help from me in the future when it came to teaching the younger missionaries (training!?) One downside, still not allowed to watch Disney movies in Polish, because "they are for children" (a point I disagree on, but it's cool). He's basically just a really normal, cool guy. We also all had interviews with Sister Turek. That one was in English, cause she's from Germany, but she's cool too. Basically the family is just trying to get to know all the missionaries, and I think we were all grateful for the chance to meet tchem. Good stuff.
One more thing, on Satuday we had a little "Sports Saturday" activity again, and we played ping pong this time. I wrecked. 
Also, I sent a package priority a few days ago, maybe like a week and a half, so let me know when it gets there!
Next week we're gonna try to hit Zakopane again for a bday celebration part 2 with the Kraków elders. The day starts at like 3 in the morning, so I hope we make it back in time to email, but if not, you've been warned!
Love you tons Mom! Thanks again for the happy birthday!
Elder Haskett, now 19

Monday, July 4, 2016

Happy 4th from Kato!

Happy 4th

Hey Mom!
Happy 4th of July! We woke up to an America the Beautiful alarm this morning, and then proceeded to call all of the British missionaries in Poland to wish them well. I'm also wearing my American flag Stance socks right now, and we had a meeting this morning, so I got to explain the Fourth of July to an investigator. Rad stuff.
Glad to hear that JOs are going so well! Wish Noah luck, and I hope you guys take home the gold! Do it for the Polish team!
Man, major bummer you got poison oak, haha. I'm not really sure if I've ever had poison oak or ivy before, with all the stuff we've done in the outdoors, I'm sure it could have happened, but I can't remember anything for sure. It's probably pretty lame.
Our week in Kato actually went really well! We were able to meet a lot of our investigators, and it seems like they're all doing well too, despite our loss in PKs. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian guy is going to be staying in the Ukraine for the next few months or so with his mom, and the guy who promised that he'd get baptized if we won the Euro is going to Germany to work. The wages in Poland are pretty low, it's kinda sad, but people make it work, and a lot of them are really humble because of it.
But the ones who are going to stick around are doing great! We met with this younger kid for the 3rd time today, his parents are really against the church, but he's doing well, and is just super eager to learn everything about us. Then there's this older guy, who can barely read because his eyes are so bad, and he got to Words of Mormon this week. Two of the members in Kato are from South Africa, and they just invited they're friends from work to hear the lessons. They're from Senegal! They just got to Kato about 2 months ago, and now we're teaching them Polish, the gospel, and meeting on Saturdays to play basketball. Fun stuff.
Our English class took a serious hit with the guy going to Germany being gone. He's our best student, and now we're back to building up our English class. That's ok though, Elder Park and I are pretty used to it, we started the class in Wrocław pretty much from scratch, and I guess now we'll do it again. Should be fun!
This next week is looking pretty good already. We've got a few meetings set up, but on top of that, we'll be going into Kraków for training and interviews on Thursday! I'm pretty excited to meet the new President. Just wrote my first letter to him, and I almost forgot that we'd be doing it in Polish from now on. So my guess is that all of our missionary meetings are going to be in Polish too. Yay!
Then it's also my BDay on Sunday, so we can't do much the day of, but on Saturday, we're probably going to either eat out or order a pizza or something.
By the way, I might have to work out a way to watch the US team play in Kraków if they'll really be there. Especially if they'll play Poland. Maybe I can convince an investigator to come with us haha.
That's pretty much all I've got for this week! Love you Mom! 
Elder Haskett