Monday, October 31, 2016

Halloween

Hey Mom!
Happy Halloween!
Sounds like you guys had a pretty cool week! I have to say, with regret of course, that we did not have a trunk or treat here. I suppose actually having cars would be a requirement for such an activity, but I think we could have made something work with public transportation. Decorate the trams in the city for Halloween or something like that.
Haha, I almost forgot how little it rains back home. Are you guys still on the drought protocol with like 15 mins of sprinkler time a week and all that? I guess if you are, then it's a good thing that it rained! Even if it did cancel soccer haha.
That's really nice of you guys to do all that for the officers in the ward. Smart too, with all the crazy riots and everything happening right now. I bet they were in desperate need of a good deed like that haha. Plus, everyone likes snacks. Maybe if we're nice to the rest of the officers too, we'll get in close with the dudes who ticketed me twice and they'll be chill from now on.
Gratitude is always a good call. I noticed during Conference when Eyering spoke about counting your blessings daily, and was like, that sounds like a cool idea, so a started keeping track of the little things that happen during the day. It's made a pretty noticeable difference. Count your blessings!
So, as for our week, I think it's safe to say that it was nuts. I'm in Warsaw 2, which means that I'm in the same branch as President Turek haha. I suppose I'll have to actually start wearing a tie to church, and probably no more flip flops. Jokes.
I moved over here on Wednesday, the same day we picked up our trainees. I'll be training Elder Barlow this transfer! He's from Michigan, and he's already done a year of study at the Y, which means I'm continuing my streak of being younger than every companion I've ever had haha.
We've also had the chance to meet the branch already, as well as set up quite a few meetings. The branch is nuts. There's like twice as many members here that come on a regular basis than I've ever even seen in one place in Poland, and they were saying that we had an off week cause of fall break. A lot of them are Americans working in the embassy, and they all say that they want to spoil us. I'm looking forward to it to say the least.
Our meetings have been sweet. We've got a guy right now that is thinking about getting baptized within the month, and I think that he could do it. Then there's another that, with a little encouragement, could be ready before the end of the year! To add to it, my investigator from Katowice finally set a date for Christmas Eve! That, if anything, would be my Christmas miracle.
Some fun stories for the week. We came into Warsaw on Wednesday, and there was not one person in the entire city who knew where our apartment was. We had to look blind, pretty much just checking the keys we had at every building near the tram stop we were supposed to get out on. To make a long story short, we got into the apartment, suitcases and all at about 11 o'clock that night:)
How's that for a trainee's first night?
The second: we have like a "Sports Saturday" here every week at the soccer field near our chapel. We mostly play soccer, and I've been working on my skills for a few transfers now. However, it was raining, which means that the artificial turf was quite slippery. I went for a shot at the very beginning of the game, slipped, landed on my butt, and I've been sore ever since. Doesn't help that the chairs at our study desk are wooden.
That's all I got for ya! Love you Mom!
Elder Haskett 

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Goose eggs

Warsaw!!

Hey Mom!
So, as per usual with transfer weeks, I'll just start by breaking the news: I'm finally leaving! Haha I wasn't surprised at all, but I will say I was surprised by the destination. I'm going to Warsaw! Haha it's so weird. The other crazy news is that I'll be training again! I don't think I've ever heard of anyone training twice in a row, but I have to assume that it either means that I killed it, or that Heavenly Father was like, "Alright, I think I'll give him another chance". I'm hoping it's the first haha. Either way, it should be sweet. I'll pick him up tomorrow, so I'll let you know next week how awesome I can make him in 6 days. President was like, "whitewash, training, district leader Elder Haskett. I want you to do me a favor. In preparation for the next few days, pray a lot." Haha it seems like that's always the advice given before a crazy transfer.
Some bad news about the transfer: I'll be district leader again, haha. This makes 10 months straight. I'm running out of ideas for district meetings already. However, it's totally worth it, cause Elder Einfeldt and McMaster will also be in the district! Should be super cool!
Anyways, sounds like you guys had a pretty awesome week, besides the soccer beatdowns of course! I still remember Red Ribbon Week very vividly! We did those all throughout elementary school! I had my little red ribbon on the desk, and I remember it was always hard to focus that week cause all the kids were trying to unravel the stitching of the ribbon the whole time. It was sweet.
Sounds like Conference was pretty cool! I think the magic words idea is pretty good. It makes sharing stuff way less forced, which is ideal. I remember getting asked awkward questions about the Church before the mission and always being worried about being too preachy. But when someone asks you a question, they expect you to answer, simple as that. There's really nothing to worry about.
The Standards Night activity sounds like a familiar story haha. Keep those Deacons in line. It's kinda weird to think that Luke won't be a deacon when I'm home, and Caleb will be pretty darn close to 12. 
Yeah, I made sure to do a better job last week contacting the other guys from home and see how the missions are going. It really seems like everyone's killing it. It's sweet to see the bros doing well. I remember reading in Alma 17 at the beginning of my mission where the sons of Mosiah meet back up with Alma, and they're all like, yeah, it's sweet that we've stayed faithful and accomplished so much, and I was always like, "that's what it's gonna be like when we all get back together". I'm still excited for that day.
So anyways, our week. It started off kinda crazy. I already told you all about that crazy PDay, and I stand by saying that it was the best PDay of my whole mission. However, it completely drained me haha. I was sick for the rest of the week, and just exhausted. Same with Elder Mandla, and it just seemed like the week was out to get us. That being said, we still had a great week, but it was hard for the first few days. I wanted to send the district off with a bang for the rest of the transfer, so we did a split on Friday. Elder Mandla stayed back in Kato with Elder Litster to teach a lesson, and Elder Rowley and I went south to a small city called Biełsko-Biała to meet with this kid. His parents aren't members, but they heard that the church is good at dealing with addictions. The son is "addicted to computers" according to tchem. Well we got there, after a long, windy car ride in a manual car that led to some severe car sickness and sat down to talk. But the son wouldn't come out of the car. So the fam just fed and fed us while we talked, waiting for him to come out. After a while, we just went in to his room and talked, and he was like, totally normal. We came to the conclusion that he's just got prioritites mixed, and work is on top, so we told them that they should read the Book of Mormon together, pray, and talk more openly with eachother. It was straight-up family counseling, weird stuff. The car ride home was about as painful as the one on the way there. I was starting to go a little green, and pretty much just praying the whole time not to destroy the back seat of this nice family's car. As a parting present, they gave us some goose eggs. I'm serious, literal goose eggs. I'll send a pic.
Other than that, I'm gonna miss Elder Mandla a bit. We've worked really well together, and we've become pretty close friends. I'm excited for the next transfer for both of us, but it was a good one. Now Elder Mandla is going to have a little mission brother.
That's all I got for you this week! Love you Mom!
Elder Haskett

Monday, October 17, 2016

Wow!!!

October 16th

Hey Mom!
Late email today! We pretty much had the best PDay ever, but I'll explain that later.
Sounds like you had a pretty good week, with basketball, soccer, field trips, and the primary program to boot, haha. Funny that Caleb did his part in a deep voice. Was he nervous or just trying to be a character? The primary program would be a fun thing to have here. Unfortunately you need a primary for that. And you generally need at least one person below the age of 12 to have a primary. It would be something to come back to Poland one day and have a bunch of kids in a branch. I guess that's why they say try to teach entire families!
Haha, it sounds like Charlie is having a pretty interesting experience right now on his mish! So funny that happened in like the first month or 2 that he was in the field for! I bet it's gotta be tough, but also a really amazing experience to serve.
We do have crepes here in Katowice, but Elder Mandla and I normally save our money for regular ice cream trips. The people at the shop know our orders now, and I think they've even started to adapt their music, cause one time I told them that they were playing one of my favorite songs, and now they play that artist every time I'm in the store. Good stuff.
So our week was pretty sick. We started off pretty normal, but the end of the week was awesome. We had Zone Training on Friday, good stuff, and we got to hang out with President and the other missionaries again. It was the last time I got to see Elder Blunt before he goes home. That dude was a good missionary. Anyways, Saturday, we got to meet with the part-member family from South Africa again. First of all, they made a sweet stew that I think I'm gonna try to replicate. Also, we were able to direct the lesson we taught toward the son, who's not a member. At the end, we were kinda just testifying, and Elder Mandla was pretty bold with him and said that next transfer he wants to start working with him toward baptism. He came to church yesterday, and I actually gave him a blessing on the request of his mother. Some pretty direct things were said, and his mom told me today that he's been thinking about it a lot. She said there's been kind of a weird, reverent spirit in the house ever since. I'm not really sure what that means, but we're hoping to meet with him this week again and talk a little about what he's going to do next.
Sunday was normal, but what I'm still geeking out about is our PDay. We got a call the other day from that family that was writing to Elder Mandla's grandpa for a while. They said that they wanted to take us up a mountain near where they live, and of course I said yes. Well we pretty much spent the entire day with them. We climbed a mountain, visited the Czech border, and got to ride a sweet ski lift. After that, we visited this lake that feeds the biggest river in Poland, the Vistula, or Wisła. Then we visited the summer home of the flippin President of Poland and got to go in and get a tour. After that they took us to a pizzeria, and then even offered to drive us home! It was honestly the nicest thing that anyone's done for me in my whole mission. Super fun day.
So yeah, this is the last day of the transfer. I think it's gonna be a good one, but it's sad that it's coming to a close. I don't think I'm going to be staying in Katowice next transfer, but we'll see. There's gonna be a lot of exciting stuff happening here next transfer. That also means that next week I might be emailing on Tuesday!
Love you Mom!
Elder Haskett
 

Monday, October 10, 2016

October 9th

Awesome!

October 9th

Hey Mom!
Haha I'm waiting for the week when I don't get sent bad news about soccer. Was Luke able to play after hurting his ankle today? I guess if not, it would explain the blowout, if he did, bummer haha. That reminds me of a story we had this week that I'm not going to explain in detail. It involves Elder Mandla climbing up something high, and then jumping off of it:)
I haven't actually heard anything from Blake for a while, but that's a bummer that he's not feeling well again. I'll be sure to keep him in my prayers. Just in case he doesn't say anything in the missionary group chat for a while, be sure to keep me posted in that regard.
That's good to hear that Braden found a healthy food joint.  In the meantime, I'll have you know that I found, "the best kebab shop in all of Kato", according to a group of 12 year olds. I'd say it doesn't qualify as "healthy", but definitely tasty.
I've actually heard a lot about the hurricane in Florida, it sounds crazy! I hope Charlie is ok, but honestly it's probably going to be a gold mine for him as far as service opportunities and work goes! Hopefully he finds a way to turn the situation around into something positive, I'm sure he will.
So cool that Rhett is getting some playing time! I heard about his game winner last week, and now we beat Michigan State!
I hope you guys stay safe with all the riots (not to mention the election:)! Speaking of which, were you able to find anything out about that mail in ballot? If you can't find anything that works, that's fine, I don't care that much, it's just something President wanted us to mention to you all. Let me know either way.
Our week was pretty sweet, and yes, we did stay dry! That doesn't necessarily mean that we stayed warm though! I'm finally starting to get some weather that feels familiar here haha. I think it dropped to around 35 degrees at one point. Luckily we still had some sessions of General Conference to watch, and some investigators that were willing to watch with us!
As far as English class goes, we've upped our game again on advertising, so it's slowly starting to pick up. We've found some cool students lately. One of them wanted to meet about church too. Interestingly enough, the thing that he found in the church that he liked was our programs for helping members find employment and begin to build up self-sufficiency! Somehow he stumbled on the church website through work and then showed up asking questions. The Lord works in mysterious ways, haha!
We've also got this guy right now who's been reading the Book of Mormon, and he literally loves it. He says he can't stop reading. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to meet with missionaries face to face since he got it since he's been busy. But the other day, he said over text, that his "one problem" with the Book of Mormon was that he, "knows that the Earth is flat, and that the sun revolves around the Earth"! Who would've thought this would be a problem? Pretty much told him that if he prayed about the Book, he'd get an answer that everything in it is true, but were also like, "not gonna lie, never had to deal with this problem on a doctrinal basis before."
Also, we were going for kebab in the mall the other day and randomly there was this Polish pop star singing in the mall. Somehow we ended up talking to her, and told her that we were from the US/Australia, and she was asking all these questions, it was just crazy. We got a picture (she was really close in the picture, it was awkward), and she even signed Elder Mandla's Book of Mormon hahaha. Her name's Cleo, if you want to check it out. BTW she said that my Polish was ballin, so that was a little cool, coming from a famous person.
Today, we went back to that castle, Ogrodzieniec again, it was sweet. Got some cool pictures. We even got to bring an investigator. He's a little camera shy, don't have any photos of him, but still a fun day.
Things are going well with the family from last week. We're in contact, and we might be able to drop by for a visit again this week!
2 more weeks in the transfer! They should be good ones!
Love you Mom!
Elder Haskett

October 2nd


Hey Mom!

Haha it's good to hear that you guys enjoyed Conference as much as we did over here. There was some good stuff said. I guess there always is. It's just nice to sit and listen as the prophets say all the things we want our investigators to hear. We watched one of the sessions in church, and over the next few weeks we're gonna watch the rest during 3rd hour. Hopefully that will be the spiritual push our investigators need!

It seems like the boys are doing well. I guess a 0-4 defeat isn't that great, but it's better than last week, and you gotta start somewhere. Tell Noah that APUSH isn't that bad from me. If he can nail the AP test like he nailed the ACT he shouldn't have to worry about anything. Also is he planning on taking the SAT?

Hahaha weird news to hear that Eddie got released! Obviously it's been coming for a while now, but I guess I always just saw him and Dad to be immune to other callings, besides scouts and YM. Is he still going to be working with the youth?

That's pretty cool someone in the ward knows Elder Garrison. I've never even been in the same zone as him, but Einfeldt and him were comps and I've talked to him a few times. He's a chill guy. I guess pretty much all the missionaries in Poland are pretty solid people. Gotta be if you're gonna stand up to that deep winter haha. Speaking of which, the weather decided to get cold on us. Last few days have been chilly, and today was pretty much classic Portland rain coupled with a really cold wind. We're getting back into the swing of things. Elder Mandla is hoping for snow soon. Believe it or not, he's had less experience than we have when it comes to snow.

So yeah, our week! We had a good one. First off, right after it started we had an exchange. I served with Elder Litster for a few days. It was cool, he's a good guy. I do remember that like the first day of the exchange we were out walking and we got targeted by some Jehovah's Witnesses (that happens sometimes), and they wanted to kinda Bible bash with us, but we had just read a chapter in Jesus: The Christ about how Jesus is Jehovah and all that stuff, so we were ready to "go to war", so to speak. They didn't really want to hear our answers to their questions though, I think they just wanted to talk "at us", not necessarily "with us".

Also this guy who I met like 6 weeks ago or something claiming to know the date of the 2nd Coming, as well as to have documented proof that the church was founded by the devil found me again this week. He was like, "So, have you thought about what I said to you the other day?" I was like, "Yeah, I thought about it. It's not true". It was kinda awkward and tense for a but, but I think he responded pretty well to it. He was respectful of my decision, didn't really try to argue, and then, without hesitation, proceeded to start preaching to the other elders hahaha.

We also had a pretty serious miracle. You might remember the time that we met with the lady that used to write with Elder Mandla's grandpa. Well we scheduled with her for Thursday, and her son wanted to say hi. When we got there though, her grandson was there to drive us over to her son's house, where we had a 5 course meal with the entire family. We had a great time. Got to kinda break the ice really fast and teach a good amount of the gospel as well. They want to take us to go and climb a mountain over by their house on PDay before the end of the transfer. Also, they were so generous with the Polish compliments, that I think I'll be good at least for like a month or so haha.

Our investigator who's been coming to church and thinking about baptism I think came to a final decision on a date this week after Conference. He's planning, as of now to get baptized on the last Saturday of the year, as a symbol of a new year, along with a new life. That was pretty cool. He told us that he also wants to try to bring his sons to church with him. One of them is married, so that'd be really cool.

Overall a pretty sweet week. Can't wait to watch the rest of Conference, and to see what happens with the rest of the transfer!

Love you Mom!

Elder Haskett

PS the travel card is here!