Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sczesliwego Nowego Roku!!!
Hey Family :) - So good to hear your voices! Goodness gracious- you all sound like a little piece of heaven. Ha, I wish I could've talked to you guys all night, and I could have. Spencer kid, your voice is so deep now lol. I think it's hilarious. Maybe I just haven't heard it in so long it seemed really deep, I dunno? Sarah and Annie, you sound pretty much the same- so happy and so good. I loved talking to you all. Dad...I mean "Your Honor" - I can't believe your going to be a Judge so soon! That blows my mind! Are you excited? I'm sure it's a bummer to have to say goodbye to the lack of work and good family time, but I can imagine your excited to tackle this next part of life. It'll be SWEET! to hear about :) Who's in the Bishopbric now? Ma, you sound way good :) It was funny, right when I heard your voice, it was like I talked to you on the phone everyday ha. Funny eh? The days do fly by here....I know that before I can even realize it I'll be back home, so I really do need to make the very most of this I can- I loved one time this week Elder McRae said, "I'm almost at my year mark! That's ridiculous!" and I asked him "Why?" and he replied. "Cos that means I have less time left on my mission! And less time to learn Polish!" Ha i love it :) I want to hear ALL about Christmas, and ALL about your awesoem Ski trips! Be safe, ya hear? Good :) This week, since I've talked to you has been a bit slow. It's WAY tough to meet with people because all of the Holiday madness that is going on, so that was a tad discouraging...and it has been wicked cold still- today we were blessed with some sunshine :). But we spent some time contacting and tracting, with no major success, BUT we tracted some craaaazy houses. I'm talking, ancient looking, and feeling. One of the apartments consisted of a narrow, spiral, old wood staircase, with small little flat landings with a couple doors. It had an eerie feel to it and when we finally went outside, we felt like we had jumped back into the future. Some of these apartments are just...old and European. The elevators here are a trip to...we must ride one when you come, just to experience it lol. A lot of them haven't changed since communists times...very small, and very rickety feeling. We did get to serve quite a bit this week. We helped Richard and Asia deliver some packages the ward had put together for some members. It was sweet! This one lady, Janina, is one of the funniest ladies I've ever met in my life. She has droopy, dog-like cheeks and is addicted to TV- stayed up til 6 in the morning watching the American Elections. And her laugh is so funny! So silly....o jeez, I'll have to record it somehow. SO - Elder Mehner and I went over there (cos we had to split up and we just changed it up) and she was not expecting us, so when we rang her apartment, she got way excited and let us in, but she had just woken up. We went up there, gave her her package, and than said we had to leave. She said "ok" and then continued to talk for 5 more minutes. We tried to leave 6times! and eventually had to resort to walking towards the door. And she finally let us go, but only after bestowing some cookies and candies :P She is so cute and kind and she's a less-active lady the Zone Leaders meet with- hopefully she comes back to Church soon.We had a meeting with Irina, in which we gave her son a guitar to borrow, to try to get him hooked on that, and Elder McRae gave him one of his ties, to wear to Church. The meeting didn't go the best , mainly because her dog was running around with his cast on, trying to bite everything. Eventually I took it in my arms and held him kinda like a baby...and he calmed down and the lesson finished decently. Irina drove us home and then we hadn't heard from her since that day, cos she was going to her boyfriends family's house for Christmas. We wanted to set up her Baptism, but she wouldn't answer her phone on the 26th or the 27th and we were a little worried...so yesterday, before we tried to call her, we prayed that she would answer, so we could get it all set up. We called- and she answered! It really was pretty amazing, cos we had been trying pretty persistently, and the Lord helped us out there. :) We got everything all set up, and he baptism will be the 3rd of January. And it will actually happen! I will tell you all about it- we want to have a member baptize her, because then she will always have a solid friend in the ward- the person who baptized her, even when we are gone. That is one of the major problems- less - actives are way to common here, so we;re working on building the members relationships. So yeah for Irina :) Please continue to pray for her. We had a great meeting with Edyta and with Tomek. The spirit was quite strong on both meetings, but Edyta's I particularly enjoyed, because I feel like she actually has the intent to learn and to change. Not that Tomek doesnm't, I just truly feel the sincerity in Edyta. She's a very kind and calm, mild person, but very funny at the same time, and she wants to be good. She holds us in such High esteem- we told her how Poland kind of feels like home now and she replied "I bet every place can feel like home when you have the kind of Spirit you both have." It was humbling and for sure too generous of a comment- but something to live up to undoubtedly. She will be baptized soon, no doubt there :)Church was awesome this Sunday - Elder Whipple, Antczak and Sis. Thacker all bore their testimonies and it was way good. I was very straightforward and I understood it all :P (I feel like i'm actually starting to see how all the grammar works a lot mroe fluidly...I can understand a lot more, even if I don't necessarily know the word...and I'm starting to get into learning the deeper harder words, so I'm feeling good there). Brat Hapgood, a member of the Mission Presidency spoke next. That man knows deep doctrine...and it's great to hear him speak. Very powerful. Primary was so funny and just good. There were only 3 kids there- the Banks kids and one Polish/Mongolian boy who left 10 minutes into it with his mom. And Sis. Banks is the Primary president, so it wasn't too hard. We played a game of memory and sang tons of songs- I play on a little electric piano in there. Sis. Banks told a great story about how she lost her wedding ring in a lake, right around the same time her husband had Cancer and was possibly going to die. (He is stil alive and is the Mission Presidency.) She searched so hard for it, and prayed and knew that the Lord could help her, and he did. She related it to the Parable of the Woman seraching for her valued coin in her house, or the Lost Sheep and then again to the Prodigal son. She said how she knows that however lost we are, or how we feel that sometimes we mess up too bad, the Lord always welcomes us back and is so so happy to see us. It was powerful for me. I feel like a lot of people forget that aspect of our Loving Father. Sidenote- this lady really reminds me of Aunt Jolene for some reason...it's nice :)Well I have to go- got cut on my e-mail time a bit, cos have to take a Zone Leader to the Train station. But I love you all so much. That phone call was the best and I can't wait to hear about your trip! And tell me about Christmas! and what you got and what you all are up to! And Spence, fill me in on life man. I don't want to have to wait to years to know what's going on. Ya know ; ) Your my best friend kid. I love you family. So darn much. The work is going on good here in Poland. I feel like we're doing good things here. I love it. I rejoice in the people i get to work with cos I know you would love them all. I look forward to e-mailing next week :) Milosc! - Starszy Michael Joseph Rushton Junior :) (still Spartacus!) p.s. Happy 2009 :)
Monday, December 22, 2008
It's Christmas time...in the city:)
Dearest Family, How on Earth are you :)
I can't believe it's Christmas time already. Almost 6 months ago I was sitting with you in small and very comfortable Murrieta...and now I've almost been in this country for 4 months. It's unreal!! Time truly does fly by and I couldn't be happier being where I am right now. I miss you, family, so darn much. Every day I think of another awesome Christmas memory or I think about what my little siblings are up to. It makes me smile to think how well you all are doing and how happy you all are. :)
Spencer- solid job on the grades kid- holy snap :) Rockin. I can't imagine what it's like to worry about grades again. :/ Have fun at your soccer tournament little brother. I love you kid. I am so excited just to hear your voice. Sarah! You sound like you had the greatest time at your party and that all is well. Love you little sister so much. Can't wait to speak! Annie, I love you oodles! And i know all is well, can't wait to hear from you too :)
I got your other parcel ma- thank you so much! I didn't open up any of the presents yet, but we will on Thursday morning. I look forward to them :) Sorry I opened the first one lol. I couldn't resist! I haven't gotten Grandma Dianes, but I could get it tonight- the office Elders are bringing them to the Chapel, whereI will be.
The weather here is wicked cold lately. But no snow!! Grandpa told me it snowed in Vegas...but it won't snow here! lol. It poured rain today for a lot of the morning, but it died down as we played Capture the Flag. I was muddy as could be :P
I am so excited for this Christmas week :) Last week, we achieved the District Standard of Excellence. Our district had 1 person baptized, 2 people with baptismal dates and then several other solid numbers that I don't know off the top of my head...but we got it! It was great :) We have been working consistently hard for the past month almost and recieved all the numbers necessary for the Standard...and with the Zone Leader's investigator, Artur, it was completed. We went to his baptism last night and it was amazing. He was so confident and ready for it, i was amazed. It was my third baptism in Poland and the man was just commited. He was smiling and so happy before the meeting started, and only continued to show his excitement. He is as normal as could be (cos sometimes there are not so normal investigators...) and as he got in the baptismal water, he took some of it and threw it in his own face and hair, to get used to the water. Ha it was hilarious :P Then Elder Fuller baptized him, and it was amazing. :) That night, Elder McRae and I did family night with a very strong member who is divorced from his wife, and has two children. He only can be with them on Sunday- they go to Church, and on this day the baptism as well, and then we had family night. After a turn of events, I had a guitar there at the church, and the man, before we had started, asked me to play for his sons so they could "be infected" with the desire to play music. I played "When I Baptized" and sang it in English, and then we all sang it in Polish. We stayed and helped with the rest of Family Night and I was pleased to have helped- he was so gracious and grateful that we had helped. His sons names are Mateusz and Moroni. True story. This man really loves the gospel and it was obvious as he so earnestly desired his children to have it's goodness in their lives. It taught me something to say the least.
This week, we hope to reach the Companionship Standard of Excellence. It'll be hard for sure, but I know we can do it, with a lot of praying and hard work and dilligence. I feel like Elder McRae and I are really getting good and making goals and following through with them. I truly feel like we're being effective tools for the Lord and I am so thankful for that. We had 9 sit down meetings this last week and one with a member present. It's not 15, but we're making our way there.
Real quick concerning my compy Elder Jacob Rey McRae -I learn something everyday that i'd like to become better at. He is so diligent and working and truly wants to do the most effective thing. He reminds me a lot of you Dad in that sense- thinking of the best plan, being super prompt etc. I definitely need to take advantage of the time I have with him to learn these things. We get along better than I though possible- we both love to cook delicious food ALL the time! Today we made biscuits and gravy. Delcious as could be :P We're making Cinnamon rolls on Christmas day :) Can you send me our recipe for Coffee Cake ma? And other delicious recipes you have? lol.
Ok a little more about Christmas time - I'll talk to you all on thursday, so for now I'll just give you all the random things for an update. Christmas time is a big deal here to say the least. As it gets closer and closer, people are putting up Christmas Trees EVERYWHERE. Right in the Church Parking lot, there's just a big Christmas tree. Huge! It's kind of funny, but I love it :) There's lights up everywhere and no one really wants to meet until "po swietach" (after the holidays!). Here, they believe in Santa Clause, but his name is Mikolajki (nicholas in Polish) and he looks exactly like our Santa ha. The biggest celebration though doesn't happen on Christmas Day, but Rather on Christmas Eve. I have no idea why. But they party it up Christmas Eve way more than Christmas day- and the tradional food for Christmas is Carp. Yes, CARP. Their like the bottom-feeder lame fish of the world and here, they it eat it up. I had heard before that people buy them live and then just keep them in their bathtub until Christmas... but i was skeptical, until this morning. At Carrefoure (where we shop) there was a mini-pool thing, and it was filled with water and CARP swimming everywhere! So crazy ha. So they eat carp on Christmas day. I don't know if I'll be eating any, but well find out won't we? We've been invited to a little party on New Years Eve (Wegilija) at the Nobozny's (Richard and Asia) and earlier that day we'll be delivering packages of goods to those that do not have much this Christmas. That night we have to clean out an old apartment and then we're eating a grand ol dinner- and going to a midnight catholic mass for "culutural purposes". It'll be a good Christmas Eve :) And Christmas is pretty open- no one at all will be out on the street during Christmas and we're actually not allowed to work that day. We were invited to an investigators house...but he lives 4 hours away, so that couldn;t work out - but there's a party at the 1st Chapel with all the missionaries starting at 2. It should be fun :) It'll be so good to be able to talk to you. I'll tell you the time and number at the end here so you can call! WOOO!!!!! O goodness I look forward to that. :) It'll be a good Christmas away from home. I do miss you all very much, but I know I'm here doing what the Lord wants me to do and I am grateful for the bit of time I have to give it my best and try to become a pro at this missionary thing :)
Our investigators are doing very well :) Irina will get baptized next Sunday on account of the fact that no Polish people would be there on the 23...because that is the day the cook from the moment they rise til they go to bed that night. Yes ha. So next Sunday. She was supposed to go to Church yesterday and then to this baptism, but couldn't cos her new dog broke his foot or some part of his leg. And she had to take him to a vet and it was terrible. Elder McRae was cursing that dog up and down the wall :P Not literally...you know lol. We have a new man- Jacek- who is very promising. He says he believes the Book of Mormon is true and essentially already believes all we do, except he prayed to Jesus instead of God. At the end of our first lesson, he prayed to God. We think we're going to try to give him a baptismal date :) Edyta is doing good. We're fasting for her today- we taught about tithing and the law of the fast and she said that she would fast with us today as to help her stop smoking. I have faith that it she will become baptized. She does know that it's true. She just needs a little leap of faith. Our other new investigator is named Lukasz. And he's the man! Young guy, but really cool and speaks English. He';s the one who invited us to his house.
Ok, i've written tons I feel like and I hope your not bored yet. Dad to answer your question, I played quite a few Christmas carols and then hymns from the hymn book for everyone and then I played that arrangement I made up for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and sang it with Elder Gonzalves. I play Piano all the time everywhere. For the baptism I played the Piano. Everywhere lol. I love it. I can sight read oodles better. But i still mess up here and there :P I've had at least 3 members ask me to teach them Piano and Irina wants me to teach her Guitar. We're actually trying to give one of Brat Herman's old guitars to Irina's son to try to get him hooked on that instead of video games. It could definitely work :)
All is well here in the European front (I live in Europe> how wierd is that lol?) And i can't wait to talk to you. All is so good here. I feel like I never tell you enough, but my e-mails are always novelish, and I do need to wrap it up. I love you all so much.Life is good. The Gospel is true and I know we can always do something to become closer to God. I feel so blessed to have the Gospel in my life, but still know I have so much more to learn and realize for myself. But i do realize this- that Christ was born and died so that we could be clean from our sins- he suffered so that we could be happy and eventually perfect. Our Father in Heaven loves us so much and has given us this Gospel so we can be as happy as possible. That is His plan in a nut shell and I love telling people about it. I can't wait to talk to you all. :)
CALL AT 5:45 P.M. POLAND TIME. My Zone Leaders and Elder Antczak tell me that should work for sure. You can try a little Earlier just to make sure lol. If it doesn't work - you can call President Engbjerg or something. But it should most definitely work. :) So excited!!! Woo :) The call should be right around an hour long...not crazy long, but we'll make it good :) Merry Christmas Family and Friends who read through my long long letters. I love you all and miss you tons- even if I haven' had the time to write you back - I will :) Wesolych Swiat!
Starszy Michael Joseph Rushton Jr.
I can't believe it's Christmas time already. Almost 6 months ago I was sitting with you in small and very comfortable Murrieta...and now I've almost been in this country for 4 months. It's unreal!! Time truly does fly by and I couldn't be happier being where I am right now. I miss you, family, so darn much. Every day I think of another awesome Christmas memory or I think about what my little siblings are up to. It makes me smile to think how well you all are doing and how happy you all are. :)
Spencer- solid job on the grades kid- holy snap :) Rockin. I can't imagine what it's like to worry about grades again. :/ Have fun at your soccer tournament little brother. I love you kid. I am so excited just to hear your voice. Sarah! You sound like you had the greatest time at your party and that all is well. Love you little sister so much. Can't wait to speak! Annie, I love you oodles! And i know all is well, can't wait to hear from you too :)
I got your other parcel ma- thank you so much! I didn't open up any of the presents yet, but we will on Thursday morning. I look forward to them :) Sorry I opened the first one lol. I couldn't resist! I haven't gotten Grandma Dianes, but I could get it tonight- the office Elders are bringing them to the Chapel, whereI will be.
The weather here is wicked cold lately. But no snow!! Grandpa told me it snowed in Vegas...but it won't snow here! lol. It poured rain today for a lot of the morning, but it died down as we played Capture the Flag. I was muddy as could be :P
I am so excited for this Christmas week :) Last week, we achieved the District Standard of Excellence. Our district had 1 person baptized, 2 people with baptismal dates and then several other solid numbers that I don't know off the top of my head...but we got it! It was great :) We have been working consistently hard for the past month almost and recieved all the numbers necessary for the Standard...and with the Zone Leader's investigator, Artur, it was completed. We went to his baptism last night and it was amazing. He was so confident and ready for it, i was amazed. It was my third baptism in Poland and the man was just commited. He was smiling and so happy before the meeting started, and only continued to show his excitement. He is as normal as could be (cos sometimes there are not so normal investigators...) and as he got in the baptismal water, he took some of it and threw it in his own face and hair, to get used to the water. Ha it was hilarious :P Then Elder Fuller baptized him, and it was amazing. :) That night, Elder McRae and I did family night with a very strong member who is divorced from his wife, and has two children. He only can be with them on Sunday- they go to Church, and on this day the baptism as well, and then we had family night. After a turn of events, I had a guitar there at the church, and the man, before we had started, asked me to play for his sons so they could "be infected" with the desire to play music. I played "When I Baptized" and sang it in English, and then we all sang it in Polish. We stayed and helped with the rest of Family Night and I was pleased to have helped- he was so gracious and grateful that we had helped. His sons names are Mateusz and Moroni. True story. This man really loves the gospel and it was obvious as he so earnestly desired his children to have it's goodness in their lives. It taught me something to say the least.
This week, we hope to reach the Companionship Standard of Excellence. It'll be hard for sure, but I know we can do it, with a lot of praying and hard work and dilligence. I feel like Elder McRae and I are really getting good and making goals and following through with them. I truly feel like we're being effective tools for the Lord and I am so thankful for that. We had 9 sit down meetings this last week and one with a member present. It's not 15, but we're making our way there.
Real quick concerning my compy Elder Jacob Rey McRae -I learn something everyday that i'd like to become better at. He is so diligent and working and truly wants to do the most effective thing. He reminds me a lot of you Dad in that sense- thinking of the best plan, being super prompt etc. I definitely need to take advantage of the time I have with him to learn these things. We get along better than I though possible- we both love to cook delicious food ALL the time! Today we made biscuits and gravy. Delcious as could be :P We're making Cinnamon rolls on Christmas day :) Can you send me our recipe for Coffee Cake ma? And other delicious recipes you have? lol.
Ok a little more about Christmas time - I'll talk to you all on thursday, so for now I'll just give you all the random things for an update. Christmas time is a big deal here to say the least. As it gets closer and closer, people are putting up Christmas Trees EVERYWHERE. Right in the Church Parking lot, there's just a big Christmas tree. Huge! It's kind of funny, but I love it :) There's lights up everywhere and no one really wants to meet until "po swietach" (after the holidays!). Here, they believe in Santa Clause, but his name is Mikolajki (nicholas in Polish) and he looks exactly like our Santa ha. The biggest celebration though doesn't happen on Christmas Day, but Rather on Christmas Eve. I have no idea why. But they party it up Christmas Eve way more than Christmas day- and the tradional food for Christmas is Carp. Yes, CARP. Their like the bottom-feeder lame fish of the world and here, they it eat it up. I had heard before that people buy them live and then just keep them in their bathtub until Christmas... but i was skeptical, until this morning. At Carrefoure (where we shop) there was a mini-pool thing, and it was filled with water and CARP swimming everywhere! So crazy ha. So they eat carp on Christmas day. I don't know if I'll be eating any, but well find out won't we? We've been invited to a little party on New Years Eve (Wegilija) at the Nobozny's (Richard and Asia) and earlier that day we'll be delivering packages of goods to those that do not have much this Christmas. That night we have to clean out an old apartment and then we're eating a grand ol dinner- and going to a midnight catholic mass for "culutural purposes". It'll be a good Christmas Eve :) And Christmas is pretty open- no one at all will be out on the street during Christmas and we're actually not allowed to work that day. We were invited to an investigators house...but he lives 4 hours away, so that couldn;t work out - but there's a party at the 1st Chapel with all the missionaries starting at 2. It should be fun :) It'll be so good to be able to talk to you. I'll tell you the time and number at the end here so you can call! WOOO!!!!! O goodness I look forward to that. :) It'll be a good Christmas away from home. I do miss you all very much, but I know I'm here doing what the Lord wants me to do and I am grateful for the bit of time I have to give it my best and try to become a pro at this missionary thing :)
Our investigators are doing very well :) Irina will get baptized next Sunday on account of the fact that no Polish people would be there on the 23...because that is the day the cook from the moment they rise til they go to bed that night. Yes ha. So next Sunday. She was supposed to go to Church yesterday and then to this baptism, but couldn't cos her new dog broke his foot or some part of his leg. And she had to take him to a vet and it was terrible. Elder McRae was cursing that dog up and down the wall :P Not literally...you know lol. We have a new man- Jacek- who is very promising. He says he believes the Book of Mormon is true and essentially already believes all we do, except he prayed to Jesus instead of God. At the end of our first lesson, he prayed to God. We think we're going to try to give him a baptismal date :) Edyta is doing good. We're fasting for her today- we taught about tithing and the law of the fast and she said that she would fast with us today as to help her stop smoking. I have faith that it she will become baptized. She does know that it's true. She just needs a little leap of faith. Our other new investigator is named Lukasz. And he's the man! Young guy, but really cool and speaks English. He';s the one who invited us to his house.
Ok, i've written tons I feel like and I hope your not bored yet. Dad to answer your question, I played quite a few Christmas carols and then hymns from the hymn book for everyone and then I played that arrangement I made up for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and sang it with Elder Gonzalves. I play Piano all the time everywhere. For the baptism I played the Piano. Everywhere lol. I love it. I can sight read oodles better. But i still mess up here and there :P I've had at least 3 members ask me to teach them Piano and Irina wants me to teach her Guitar. We're actually trying to give one of Brat Herman's old guitars to Irina's son to try to get him hooked on that instead of video games. It could definitely work :)
All is well here in the European front (I live in Europe> how wierd is that lol?) And i can't wait to talk to you. All is so good here. I feel like I never tell you enough, but my e-mails are always novelish, and I do need to wrap it up. I love you all so much.Life is good. The Gospel is true and I know we can always do something to become closer to God. I feel so blessed to have the Gospel in my life, but still know I have so much more to learn and realize for myself. But i do realize this- that Christ was born and died so that we could be clean from our sins- he suffered so that we could be happy and eventually perfect. Our Father in Heaven loves us so much and has given us this Gospel so we can be as happy as possible. That is His plan in a nut shell and I love telling people about it. I can't wait to talk to you all. :)
CALL AT 5:45 P.M. POLAND TIME. My Zone Leaders and Elder Antczak tell me that should work for sure. You can try a little Earlier just to make sure lol. If it doesn't work - you can call President Engbjerg or something. But it should most definitely work. :) So excited!!! Woo :) The call should be right around an hour long...not crazy long, but we'll make it good :) Merry Christmas Family and Friends who read through my long long letters. I love you all and miss you tons- even if I haven' had the time to write you back - I will :) Wesolych Swiat!
Starszy Michael Joseph Rushton Jr.
Monday, December 15, 2008
This week has been something special to say the least. I feel blessed beyond measure for several reasons-
Sweet Family of mine -It is so good to be sitting once again in this library and typing to you the weekly update. I had a nightmare last night that I only had 10 minutes to e-mail and it was MTC stlye, with the counter on the upper right hand corner- and for some reason, my time ran out without me every writing or reading one thing, and It was TERRIBLE!!! But it was only a dream :) And I have a very happy, satisfied grin on my face as I write to you :) The Christmas spirit lives on in Murrieta. I love hearing about it so much; it makes me feel like I'm there for a little bit. HA I love how there are christmas lights on the house!!! It's the best. Ha, it's been a while poppa- i would tell you it was only two years...but you know I'm a missionary and I can't tell those kind of white lies ;) The tree looks so good, and you all look so good. Those pictures were AWESOME! I loved them :) Every body looked so good- the Rushtons, the Stratfords (from what I saw), Rachel and Gram and everybody! Mmmmm I love just thinking about you all in that house that I love so much- it's a lot of love there. That is for sure :)I recieved your package this week, and I'm sorry but I opened them!! I couldn't resist. It was too happy for me not to open them. And we put them to good use- we made the best chocolate cookes in the world and gave some to the Hermans and to the Zone Leaders. And people love us. Cos we cook like women. It's the best ha. The package made us both SO HAPPY though. We went to sleep with dreams of sugar plum fairies and dove chocolate and Cheez-itz. True signs of Love. ANd my Christmas CD is so good too. Thank you family :)I wish I could have been there to here the rockin Battle of the Bands and the Christmas choir concerts, but another year, I will hear them. Those are good times. Enjoy them :) I'm so proud of you, siblings, for all your doing. With everything. I just showed everyone sitting around me your pictures, and said "These are my siblings, aren't they awesome!!!" And everyone agreed. :)This week has been something special to say the least. I feel blessed beyond measure for several reasons- there were just some crazy amazing highlights that I would love to recall for you, that have brought me some serious Christmas Joy.First of all- last week we started off the week with zero's as our numbers for two days straight. We felt like dog doo doo cos we knew we could do much better than that, in spite of the fact that we still got District Standard of Excellence status numbers. So this week we decided those days of Zero's would NOT happen. And they did not. We DESTROYED! the first three days of the week as a district and a companionship and after just three days, we had achieved the numbers for the Standard. And we were ecstatic. In one day we had a Lesson with a member present, 2 other lessons taught, 2 referals contacted and 3 new investigators. Which was SUPERB for us! Ha I can imagine that may not seem like a lot compared to my cousin who is rockin it in Chile, but it was pure bliss for us and we were and are still ecstatic. We plan on getting the district numbers for this entire month. And we are well on our way. :) I have now doubt that the Lord is leading us along as we have this desire to work hard and find the elect. To teach lessons and find those to teach is an amazing thing, and with the Lord's help, it is actually amazingly fun work. True story ;) On the day mentioned above, we met with Edyta. We taught the Word of Wisdom, because we discovered last meeting that she smokes and drinks coffee. So we taught her the Word of Wisdom with an amazing Member on the lesson. She committed to living it and said that she would first tackle not drinking coffee and then not smoking, because she didn't know how she felt about stopping smoking. The lesson was powerful and the spirit was so strong. On Saturday, there was the ward Christmas party for Warsaw II Branch. AND IT WAS LIFE-CHANGING!! We as missionaries...Elder McRae and I actually lol...came up with a Presentation for the spiritual ascpect of the meeting and were scrambling at first to get it done. As the Party started, people kept coming through the door. Elder Bulkley (the Branch President) and the Relief Society ahd excpeted 60 people to come. More than 100 showed up! And miractulously we had enough food. 9...I repeat, 9 of our investigators were there and we talked to all of them, and they all enjoyed the party so much. The Presentation we put on consisted of reading out of 3 Nephi and Luke 2 with sinigng interspersed. Elder Gonzalves and i sang "Do You Hear What I Hear?" as a duet to an arrangment I had created for us to sing at the Christmas Party at the Mission home ( which I will get to lol ). It was amazing/butt-pucker terrifying to look out and see 100 people, several of which were here to experience the Church for the First time or were investigators. I felt so happy and blessed to be able to play and sing and share that with them. I can't tell you how much music has been blessing my life here. It's amazing :) I feel more and more surely that the Lord put me here for a reason. The Party, needless to say, was a success. We met with Irina again and finished teaching her all she needed to know. It was an amazing meeting and all went very well. She is an amazing woman with such an intense desire to make sure her son has a good life that she runs around and busies herself to death. But we finally found a chance to meet last night after the Christmas Fireside broadcast. It was a great meeting! She is hilarious too lol she accidentally said the Lord's name in vain a couple times and didn't even think twice about it, and that worried us, so a few minutes later on the Tramwaj back towards Praga Elder McRae asked "So how's saying 'O my goodness!' going for you?" And she replied "O it's going so good! I only just say O my goodness, or O gosh! That's a good one...."and going on lol. I think it's one of those things that people don't even realize they are doing. They don't realize what they're really saying. It's like if someone told you that cracking your knuckles or flexing in the mirror *spencer cough cough* was a sin. Sometimes it might just happen, cos it's a habit ya know ? ;) Her Baptism wil be on the 23rd of December, so I can tell you all about it 2 days later!!!! The Christmas Party at President's was amazing. So much good food and games and it was just amazing it be in a home like that. We went running in the morning and performed a little skit. We wrote new lyrics to the song "Sadie Hawkins Dance" the Chorus went
"Christmas Party's here,
Favorite time of year,
Merry Christmas - HO HO HO!
Time to re-energize
Our missionary lives
There's nothing better
Did my girl get her letter?" :P
We got second place ha. Must be a seasonal Rushton disease ha jk. Not that funny lol. I think we;re going to be having Christmas at Richard and Asia's house- we don't know exactly what will be going on, but we;ll find out. I don't know when you'll be able to call! But i will find out! I'll have specific details next week for sure. I am SOOO excited to actually talk with you all!! it'll be so so nice! Goodness I love you family. I can't think of too much else. I got really nice e-mails from Grandma and Grandpa Rushton and Grandma and Grandpa Diane and Buck and from Uncle John. I look forward to speaking with you in a little over a week. I have to go now, but hopefully this weekly update has been sufficient. Life is so good here. Elder McRae and I still get along so well. He was thrilllllled with his Stocking :) He loved how you wrote it McRae and not Mcrae. "THEY EVEN PUT MY R BIG!!! DID YOU TELL THEM TO DO THAT?" :PI Love you and look forward to our next conversation. Enjoy your week Spence, Sarah and Annie. I think about you all the time and love you more than anything. Annie I will tell you alllll about Christmas here in the next e-mail! It's pretty crazy! :) But they do have it :)I love you once more. Talk to you in a week. Your red headed son is thinking about you.- Starszy Michael j. Rushton. :)
"Christmas Party's here,
Favorite time of year,
Merry Christmas - HO HO HO!
Time to re-energize
Our missionary lives
There's nothing better
Did my girl get her letter?" :P
We got second place ha. Must be a seasonal Rushton disease ha jk. Not that funny lol. I think we;re going to be having Christmas at Richard and Asia's house- we don't know exactly what will be going on, but we;ll find out. I don't know when you'll be able to call! But i will find out! I'll have specific details next week for sure. I am SOOO excited to actually talk with you all!! it'll be so so nice! Goodness I love you family. I can't think of too much else. I got really nice e-mails from Grandma and Grandpa Rushton and Grandma and Grandpa Diane and Buck and from Uncle John. I look forward to speaking with you in a little over a week. I have to go now, but hopefully this weekly update has been sufficient. Life is so good here. Elder McRae and I still get along so well. He was thrilllllled with his Stocking :) He loved how you wrote it McRae and not Mcrae. "THEY EVEN PUT MY R BIG!!! DID YOU TELL THEM TO DO THAT?" :PI Love you and look forward to our next conversation. Enjoy your week Spence, Sarah and Annie. I think about you all the time and love you more than anything. Annie I will tell you alllll about Christmas here in the next e-mail! It's pretty crazy! :) But they do have it :)I love you once more. Talk to you in a week. Your red headed son is thinking about you.- Starszy Michael j. Rushton. :)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Hello on another beautiful P-day - I wish you could see the smile on my face just thinking about you all reading this :)
Dearest family!
Hello on another beautiful P-day - I wish you could see the smile on my face just thinking about you all reading this :) You all crack me up. Your letters are like unto a delicious hot glazed paczek (donut thing) filled with warm, runny chocolate. Spencer, It was great to here from you kid. I love you and miss you so much. I have a picture with you wearing that super rad red and white beanie in my scriptures and I sometimes just look at it and remember how amazing you are. I love you kid. I miss you all the time too and know that I pray for you and thing about you always. I loved you wrote about the purchasing of the TV- it seems pretty accurate ha Dad had a feel we needed a new 52 inch plasma screen tv hahaha I laughed out loud when I read that. That is so ridokulous father, what has gotten into you ;) I love it so much. And you played video games on it ha. I so look forward to that when i come home. Mama, thank you so much for the letters. They were amazing and I greatly anticipate the packages! I got one from Grandma and Grandpa Cohen and it was great! So nice of them, we our thoroughly enjoying it :) Mom, i love your spiritual insights so much, thank you, they are amazing. Sarah, thank you for the letter. So good, I look forward to your letters every monday so much. I'm so proud of you :) Annie, I love you so much and hope to hear from you soon, thank you for the little note :)
That is so great you all are serving so much for Christmas. It is the best feeling ever- I always love that feeling. When you help someone for the better, it's priceless. Just last night, we had to call a man in the ward who is from the Congo, Africa. He bore his testimony in church about how fast the church is growin gin the Congo and he was very excited, except not everyone in Church shared his enthusiasm necessarily. Anyways, we called him and said that we really enjoyed his testimony and are excited for him. He laughed so heartily and was so pleased, he made us feel like a million bucks, just for a simple, "Thank you so much for your Testimony." It's amazing what a little bit of kindness can do. I'm proud of you, my family, for that. :)
This week has been a beautiful one. It started out really tough and the first couple of days ended with zero's - no new investigators, no meetings- kind of frustrating. But we really wanted to do better and I know the Lord has blessed us for that. We took numbers last night from our entire district and discovered that we essentially achieved the District Standard of Excellence, minus a baptism. And a baptism is a thing that can't be rushed exactly, so we were quite pleased and thankful with the blessings we recieved. We're trying to achieve it everyweek now and that way, when someone is Baptized, we will have it :)
Speaking of Baptisms, three people got baptized on Saturday and Elder McRae and I had the chance of accompanying one of our Investigators, Tomek (Toe- meck), to the Baptism. Tomek first met with the missionaries a year ago, with Elder Whipple. Who is my Zone Leader now. He is what some might say an Eternal Investigator, and in this whole year he has not once been to Church. But we know that he really does want to learn. He is intruiged by the Church, not because it's simply interesting but because he knows it's true. So he came to this baptism at the Warsaw 1 chapel. It was beautiful. There was a talk given by a missionary who taught the woman being baptized, and Tomek was riveted the entire time. When the actual baptism happened, I swear I saw him cry. We happened to be on the same tramwaj home and he was in such a good mood it was amazing. He set up with us for another meeting right then and it is only a matter of time until he is baptized. :)
Earlier this week we had a meeting with Edyta scheduled. It was scheduled for 17:00 and at 17:20, she was still not at the church and we were worried. If Edtya was ever late at all, she would always call or at least text as she was running to the door. But today, nothing. We texted her and called and didn;t hear anything until the next day when she texted us and said she couldn't explain why she couldnt' make it, but said that we could meet on Sunday. We were concerned, but had hope all woudl be ok. She came to Church on Sunday with a big smile on and she completely enjoyed it. She apologized to us at least 8 times at church and I think we finally convinced her that it was really just fine :) She is amazing. One thing about the Baptism that I mentioned earlier is that the lady baptized gave such an amazing testimony at the End. It was full of conviction and truth. I think Edyta is developing that Testimony. She needs to read more of the BOM, but I know she knows this is true. Just like Tomek, who can't let go of the missionaries after an entire year, even after a time of the missionaries trying to let go of him. These people know there is something different. And i love to tell them what it is :)
We met some really cool people this week- I have hope for several of them. We have tons of meetings planned which is SO GOOD! So pray that they all go through :) The Christmas party at the Engbjerg's is this Friday and then the Ward christmas party is on Saturday. Yah baby :)
Dad, I think I did just discover food ha. I don't know what happened. I'm making a recipe book of all the delicious things i've made and will make. It'll be LIFE CHANGING. Ha :P I want to take pictures of all the city, and I will, but I think I need a new camera. I know your probably horrified to read that, but mine sucks up battery wicked fast and is a sharp pain in my behind. So maybe I'll send it home and purchase one out here? I think it's worth it to have really good pictures to send home...what do you think? Let me know and I'll make whatever it is work :) There is so much to photograph though. I feel like I really know Warsaw now. Like when you come pick me up in an all too short time, I wil be able to show you the GREATEST places in Warszawa (Varshava) :) It is beautiful here. I do hope to see a new city soon, but honestly, I love it here so much. It's home in Poland. It's all I know lol.
Life really is good here :) It's getting colder and colder, but it really is enjoyable. I stay plenty warm- I look forward to the warm socks though lol that is for sure. My beanie is rad and keeps me warm. It gets dark SO early though. Yesterday the sun was setting at 14:30. That is early my friends. People are still pretty willing to talk though, unless it's snowing or raining, which we haven't had much of either lately so :)
Today, just barely we went to the Zoo here in Warsaw. And now I look forward to the San Diego Zoo a lot lol. It was crazy that they even had a Zoo here. The San Diego zoo makes this place look like a Prison. It's kinda sad actually. Props to the San Diego Zoo animal lovers for giving them good places to live ha.
O! Irina's son. Is addicted to video games and she;s really been worrying about that. She took him to a Psychologist yesterday. Elder McRae and I winced when we heard that, but hopefully it went ok. We're trying to get him a Guitar from Brat Herman and then get him addicted to playing the Guitar and being awesome instead of Video games.I think itll work. He's such a nice kid. We're still working with Irina, she;s so hard to meet with cos she's got such a tight schedule. but this week we should be meeting with her so she can get Baptized the 22 or 23 of this month! :)
Ok, last thing- and than I will wrap it up. Brat Herman told Elder Fuller on a lesson that he has talked with his daughter in the last 5weeks more, than in the past 2 years, "all because Elder Rushton played Death Cab for Cutie on the guitar" :P When we went to Brat Herman's house, we found out he had translated I Will Follow YOu Into the Dark into Polish! How cool is that?!??! Ha :) He really is one amazing man and I love him so much.
Ok family. I will let you go now. I love you so darn much and I know that you all are doing amazingly. I look forward to Christmas Day so much and look forward to next monday as well. Have an amazing week, play some video games for me on the big screen :P :P and yes. Kocham was. I love you all.
- your red headed missionary. Michael.
P.s. To call on Christmas day- you all have to call my cell phone lol. So the Number is 048-022-665-300-821. I think that should just work? I'll double check it of course. So for now that is the number, but if it needs to change I'll tell you before Christmas :)
p.s.s. Elder McRae and I are going to make Funnel Cake right now!!! :P
Hello on another beautiful P-day - I wish you could see the smile on my face just thinking about you all reading this :) You all crack me up. Your letters are like unto a delicious hot glazed paczek (donut thing) filled with warm, runny chocolate. Spencer, It was great to here from you kid. I love you and miss you so much. I have a picture with you wearing that super rad red and white beanie in my scriptures and I sometimes just look at it and remember how amazing you are. I love you kid. I miss you all the time too and know that I pray for you and thing about you always. I loved you wrote about the purchasing of the TV- it seems pretty accurate ha Dad had a feel we needed a new 52 inch plasma screen tv hahaha I laughed out loud when I read that. That is so ridokulous father, what has gotten into you ;) I love it so much. And you played video games on it ha. I so look forward to that when i come home. Mama, thank you so much for the letters. They were amazing and I greatly anticipate the packages! I got one from Grandma and Grandpa Cohen and it was great! So nice of them, we our thoroughly enjoying it :) Mom, i love your spiritual insights so much, thank you, they are amazing. Sarah, thank you for the letter. So good, I look forward to your letters every monday so much. I'm so proud of you :) Annie, I love you so much and hope to hear from you soon, thank you for the little note :)
That is so great you all are serving so much for Christmas. It is the best feeling ever- I always love that feeling. When you help someone for the better, it's priceless. Just last night, we had to call a man in the ward who is from the Congo, Africa. He bore his testimony in church about how fast the church is growin gin the Congo and he was very excited, except not everyone in Church shared his enthusiasm necessarily. Anyways, we called him and said that we really enjoyed his testimony and are excited for him. He laughed so heartily and was so pleased, he made us feel like a million bucks, just for a simple, "Thank you so much for your Testimony." It's amazing what a little bit of kindness can do. I'm proud of you, my family, for that. :)
This week has been a beautiful one. It started out really tough and the first couple of days ended with zero's - no new investigators, no meetings- kind of frustrating. But we really wanted to do better and I know the Lord has blessed us for that. We took numbers last night from our entire district and discovered that we essentially achieved the District Standard of Excellence, minus a baptism. And a baptism is a thing that can't be rushed exactly, so we were quite pleased and thankful with the blessings we recieved. We're trying to achieve it everyweek now and that way, when someone is Baptized, we will have it :)
Speaking of Baptisms, three people got baptized on Saturday and Elder McRae and I had the chance of accompanying one of our Investigators, Tomek (Toe- meck), to the Baptism. Tomek first met with the missionaries a year ago, with Elder Whipple. Who is my Zone Leader now. He is what some might say an Eternal Investigator, and in this whole year he has not once been to Church. But we know that he really does want to learn. He is intruiged by the Church, not because it's simply interesting but because he knows it's true. So he came to this baptism at the Warsaw 1 chapel. It was beautiful. There was a talk given by a missionary who taught the woman being baptized, and Tomek was riveted the entire time. When the actual baptism happened, I swear I saw him cry. We happened to be on the same tramwaj home and he was in such a good mood it was amazing. He set up with us for another meeting right then and it is only a matter of time until he is baptized. :)
Earlier this week we had a meeting with Edyta scheduled. It was scheduled for 17:00 and at 17:20, she was still not at the church and we were worried. If Edtya was ever late at all, she would always call or at least text as she was running to the door. But today, nothing. We texted her and called and didn;t hear anything until the next day when she texted us and said she couldn't explain why she couldnt' make it, but said that we could meet on Sunday. We were concerned, but had hope all woudl be ok. She came to Church on Sunday with a big smile on and she completely enjoyed it. She apologized to us at least 8 times at church and I think we finally convinced her that it was really just fine :) She is amazing. One thing about the Baptism that I mentioned earlier is that the lady baptized gave such an amazing testimony at the End. It was full of conviction and truth. I think Edyta is developing that Testimony. She needs to read more of the BOM, but I know she knows this is true. Just like Tomek, who can't let go of the missionaries after an entire year, even after a time of the missionaries trying to let go of him. These people know there is something different. And i love to tell them what it is :)
We met some really cool people this week- I have hope for several of them. We have tons of meetings planned which is SO GOOD! So pray that they all go through :) The Christmas party at the Engbjerg's is this Friday and then the Ward christmas party is on Saturday. Yah baby :)
Dad, I think I did just discover food ha. I don't know what happened. I'm making a recipe book of all the delicious things i've made and will make. It'll be LIFE CHANGING. Ha :P I want to take pictures of all the city, and I will, but I think I need a new camera. I know your probably horrified to read that, but mine sucks up battery wicked fast and is a sharp pain in my behind. So maybe I'll send it home and purchase one out here? I think it's worth it to have really good pictures to send home...what do you think? Let me know and I'll make whatever it is work :) There is so much to photograph though. I feel like I really know Warsaw now. Like when you come pick me up in an all too short time, I wil be able to show you the GREATEST places in Warszawa (Varshava) :) It is beautiful here. I do hope to see a new city soon, but honestly, I love it here so much. It's home in Poland. It's all I know lol.
Life really is good here :) It's getting colder and colder, but it really is enjoyable. I stay plenty warm- I look forward to the warm socks though lol that is for sure. My beanie is rad and keeps me warm. It gets dark SO early though. Yesterday the sun was setting at 14:30. That is early my friends. People are still pretty willing to talk though, unless it's snowing or raining, which we haven't had much of either lately so :)
Today, just barely we went to the Zoo here in Warsaw. And now I look forward to the San Diego Zoo a lot lol. It was crazy that they even had a Zoo here. The San Diego zoo makes this place look like a Prison. It's kinda sad actually. Props to the San Diego Zoo animal lovers for giving them good places to live ha.
O! Irina's son. Is addicted to video games and she;s really been worrying about that. She took him to a Psychologist yesterday. Elder McRae and I winced when we heard that, but hopefully it went ok. We're trying to get him a Guitar from Brat Herman and then get him addicted to playing the Guitar and being awesome instead of Video games.I think itll work. He's such a nice kid. We're still working with Irina, she;s so hard to meet with cos she's got such a tight schedule. but this week we should be meeting with her so she can get Baptized the 22 or 23 of this month! :)
Ok, last thing- and than I will wrap it up. Brat Herman told Elder Fuller on a lesson that he has talked with his daughter in the last 5weeks more, than in the past 2 years, "all because Elder Rushton played Death Cab for Cutie on the guitar" :P When we went to Brat Herman's house, we found out he had translated I Will Follow YOu Into the Dark into Polish! How cool is that?!??! Ha :) He really is one amazing man and I love him so much.
Ok family. I will let you go now. I love you so darn much and I know that you all are doing amazingly. I look forward to Christmas Day so much and look forward to next monday as well. Have an amazing week, play some video games for me on the big screen :P :P and yes. Kocham was. I love you all.
- your red headed missionary. Michael.
P.s. To call on Christmas day- you all have to call my cell phone lol. So the Number is 048-022-665-300-821. I think that should just work? I'll double check it of course. So for now that is the number, but if it needs to change I'll tell you before Christmas :)
p.s.s. Elder McRae and I are going to make Funnel Cake right now!!! :P
Monday, December 1, 2008
This week truly was amazing.Each week always holds something amazing and new
Rodzina, jak kocham was :)
Family, how I love you all. Thank you ma and pop for your awesome letters. I got one from Grandma and Grandpa Diane this week as well as from Kory. He had some fever and was in the Hospital for two weeks, but he says hes doing great now. You sound like you have had quite the amazing week and I am so glad to hear it. Thanksgiving was better than I could have ever expected, but I thought about you quite often. I love those family parties so much - playing video games, having Uncle John come over, the morning before and staying up waaay to late playing video games. Having the whole family there, eating til we have to just lie down and let gravity help our stomachs out. Talking with Grandpa Rushton. Watching home videos. How fun and amazing is our family :) I guess it takes awhile to truly appreciate all you've been given eh? :) I'm so glad you're enjoying your time off work Pop and Mom you sound like your doing so good, staying up and helping children with projects as usual :) Thank you for sending the package, I so greatly anticipate it! Spence- that is amazing about football. You little stud muffin you. I really miss you brother. (In this store today I saw Fable 2 came out and it's two player. I thought, "Spencer and I are going to play that together after I get home." And we will :)) I so look forward to Christmas phone call, just to hear your voices. Sarah you sound amazing as usual. Dad told me you were laughing to the point of peeing your pants when you saw his picture with Headgear. hahahah It makes me smile so big just thinking of you laughing, I love your laugh. :) Annie, I wish I could see you right now, just being your amazing self. Singing me a song or dancing- I look forward to dancing and singging with you someday again :) Sorry- got side-tracked for a moment. I can't help it, I kinda like you guys.
This week truly was amazing. Dad, I never realize that I'm so upbeat and such...but I really have all the reason in the world to be. Each week always holds something amazing and new. Really amazing, 24 carrot gold investigators are not found on the regular here. But they exist, and we really have to work to find them. I love reading Ryan's letters...they tell such a different experience and that's part of the beauty of the mission. I'm so glad Ryan has the chance to teach so many people, I wish I could see him going at it in Spanish ( which I no longer understand, at all ). We definitely do not teach as many people here- maybe because they are not as humble as those in South America, or because the concept of God is so difficult for people to believe here, I'm not sure, but I know they exist and we can find them.
I, like you Father, am always looking for new ways to contact. It's tough because there's never clearly one winning fashion. It changes from season to season, daily sometimes, and you must always try new things. We do tract now that it's starting to get pretty nippy. It's not traditionaly the most effective, but it can definitely work sometime.
We actually had a little miracle last monday after we tracted an entire building. Everyone lives in apartment buldings, so we got into this building and went to the 9th floor and went to knock on Mieszkanie 99. Before we even could knock, this lady from the stairwell started saying that EVERYONE in the building was Catholic and didn't want what we were selling. We still knocked on every door from 99 to 45 (on the first floor) with zero success. It was a little bit of a downer and when we left, we had only spent a half hour there. We still had 2 and a half hours to work that night and it felt like it just might go on forever. So we caught a tramwaj and picked this street, Nowy Swiat, to contact. We talked to 4 different people. We set up with 2 of them, and got 2 other numbers. The 2 and a half hours went by in the BLINK of an eye. It was amazing to me.
Ma- we teach English every tuesday and it's so great! We have 7 or 8 people that come every week and they love it. We teach really basic things and just have fun with it. This last week, Brat Herman's daughter came and completely loved it! It was a break through for sure. :)
Our meeting with Brat Herman and his Family was amazing. They fed us the best Tomato soup in the world- we made them cake and than they made US cake. It was amazing. We played Guitar and sang, we even sang primary songs and it was just an enjoyable, happy evening. We ended with Prayer and Brat Herman was happy as could be. He said next time we will start and end with Prayer. Eventually we will teach a lesson and yes. Slowly but surely :)
WE met with Edyta this week and asked her to be Baptized. She did not give a straight answer, but she has the desire to. She smokes and feels that she is not quite ready. We are going to meet wiht her this week and she will be at Church on Sunday, we hope. She is so chosen- I know she will accept it :)
Last high light meetin happened last night, at President's house :) It was a little hectic cos of different things, and we didn't end up making it out there until 8 20 at night. And Irina was concerned cos it was so far away, but we had the lesson- taught her the 10 commandments and the Word of Wisdom and it was so powerful. I could write essays on that lesson :) She had said the Lord's name in vain a couple of times and when we talked about that Article, she simply said "Well what should I say instead?" She just had the desire to change. She wasn't embarrased, she just wanted to do what was right. She's a bold lady and when we talked about the Word of Wisdom she had some concerns, but in the End she committed to live it gladly. The meeting was full of the spirit and I felt so blessed to be there. President drove us home and said that he was so impressed with us and it felt so good. He told Irina we were two of the best missionaries in the mission - granted he may say that about any missionaries, but I don't know. It felt great to hear it nonetheless :)
Thanksgiving dinner. I have not seen so much home made food in one place in my entire life. I ate family, until I almost EXPLODED into a thousand tiny pieces of turkey potatoes and cinnamon flavored yams. It really was tremendous. I don't think I've ever been that full in my entire life- but when all you can eat turkey, gravy, potatoes and pie presents itself, you must partake. :P There house was gorgeous and it was a little taste of being back home and that was one of the best tastes of the night :)
The weather is getting chilly and Christmas is around the corner. They are really going to the 9's here in Warsaw and I think this is the place to be for the Holidays. Elder McRae and I will for sure be together for another month (there wa s a small chacne we wouldn't be) and I am SOO greatful. We have so much fun together, yet we work so hard. I love it. I'm staying warm for sure. I could use some more garment tops ma. That would probably be the best :) My Scottish sweater keeps me very very warm and my jacket thrown in the mix makes it so I'm always warm. I do need glvoes still but my pockets work for now. :)
Papa I love that you made me work hard. Mom I love that you made me work hard. As you wrote about what you talked to those young men about I couldn;t help but think how grateful I am to know what it means to work hard. I end everyday ready to collapse on my bed. It's a prize fight to keep my eyes awake during my prayers. I wake up the next morning ready to go and give it my all and I love it. The Lord has blessed me with so much and I know that this time is sacred. Never again will I be able to work like this and in a way it scares me. We are so productive, we love the work because we know it is true. We know how happy our lives and our families are. We know that every question in life can be satisfied through the Gospel. We know how this gospel and can change a life around and I'm dying to see the gospel work in these people's lives and I do more and more everyday. It's sometimes hard to see...but than I remember little things that people say and little ways that the Lord reminds me that these people are feeling the goodness of his Gospel. ANd it is all I need.
I thank you so much for your support and prayers. I love you so much. Thank you so much for the letters and for the Christmas package. Life is so good. Live it to the fullest. Remember how blessed you are and how much the Lord and your son and brother loves you. I know my letter was a little jumbled this week, and there is more to tell than I could ever write down, but that's why we have countless hours of story telling while I make you Polish dishes after the mission eh? :) Smile for me and live life in such a way that you make God grateful that he gave you such amazing and able bodies in such a beautiful living atmospheres. I know you all are making Him proud every day. I know it :) Talk to you in a week :)
so much love, Starszy Michael Joseph Rushton Jr.
p.s. Mom- the phone call info will come by President. He'll e-mail you and let you know how it works. I think you get to call our cell phones (which we do have pop ha. I never answered that for you. Next week I'll elaborate.)
Family, how I love you all. Thank you ma and pop for your awesome letters. I got one from Grandma and Grandpa Diane this week as well as from Kory. He had some fever and was in the Hospital for two weeks, but he says hes doing great now. You sound like you have had quite the amazing week and I am so glad to hear it. Thanksgiving was better than I could have ever expected, but I thought about you quite often. I love those family parties so much - playing video games, having Uncle John come over, the morning before and staying up waaay to late playing video games. Having the whole family there, eating til we have to just lie down and let gravity help our stomachs out. Talking with Grandpa Rushton. Watching home videos. How fun and amazing is our family :) I guess it takes awhile to truly appreciate all you've been given eh? :) I'm so glad you're enjoying your time off work Pop and Mom you sound like your doing so good, staying up and helping children with projects as usual :) Thank you for sending the package, I so greatly anticipate it! Spence- that is amazing about football. You little stud muffin you. I really miss you brother. (In this store today I saw Fable 2 came out and it's two player. I thought, "Spencer and I are going to play that together after I get home." And we will :)) I so look forward to Christmas phone call, just to hear your voices. Sarah you sound amazing as usual. Dad told me you were laughing to the point of peeing your pants when you saw his picture with Headgear. hahahah It makes me smile so big just thinking of you laughing, I love your laugh. :) Annie, I wish I could see you right now, just being your amazing self. Singing me a song or dancing- I look forward to dancing and singging with you someday again :) Sorry- got side-tracked for a moment. I can't help it, I kinda like you guys.
This week truly was amazing. Dad, I never realize that I'm so upbeat and such...but I really have all the reason in the world to be. Each week always holds something amazing and new. Really amazing, 24 carrot gold investigators are not found on the regular here. But they exist, and we really have to work to find them. I love reading Ryan's letters...they tell such a different experience and that's part of the beauty of the mission. I'm so glad Ryan has the chance to teach so many people, I wish I could see him going at it in Spanish ( which I no longer understand, at all ). We definitely do not teach as many people here- maybe because they are not as humble as those in South America, or because the concept of God is so difficult for people to believe here, I'm not sure, but I know they exist and we can find them.
I, like you Father, am always looking for new ways to contact. It's tough because there's never clearly one winning fashion. It changes from season to season, daily sometimes, and you must always try new things. We do tract now that it's starting to get pretty nippy. It's not traditionaly the most effective, but it can definitely work sometime.
We actually had a little miracle last monday after we tracted an entire building. Everyone lives in apartment buldings, so we got into this building and went to the 9th floor and went to knock on Mieszkanie 99. Before we even could knock, this lady from the stairwell started saying that EVERYONE in the building was Catholic and didn't want what we were selling. We still knocked on every door from 99 to 45 (on the first floor) with zero success. It was a little bit of a downer and when we left, we had only spent a half hour there. We still had 2 and a half hours to work that night and it felt like it just might go on forever. So we caught a tramwaj and picked this street, Nowy Swiat, to contact. We talked to 4 different people. We set up with 2 of them, and got 2 other numbers. The 2 and a half hours went by in the BLINK of an eye. It was amazing to me.
Ma- we teach English every tuesday and it's so great! We have 7 or 8 people that come every week and they love it. We teach really basic things and just have fun with it. This last week, Brat Herman's daughter came and completely loved it! It was a break through for sure. :)
Our meeting with Brat Herman and his Family was amazing. They fed us the best Tomato soup in the world- we made them cake and than they made US cake. It was amazing. We played Guitar and sang, we even sang primary songs and it was just an enjoyable, happy evening. We ended with Prayer and Brat Herman was happy as could be. He said next time we will start and end with Prayer. Eventually we will teach a lesson and yes. Slowly but surely :)
WE met with Edyta this week and asked her to be Baptized. She did not give a straight answer, but she has the desire to. She smokes and feels that she is not quite ready. We are going to meet wiht her this week and she will be at Church on Sunday, we hope. She is so chosen- I know she will accept it :)
Last high light meetin happened last night, at President's house :) It was a little hectic cos of different things, and we didn't end up making it out there until 8 20 at night. And Irina was concerned cos it was so far away, but we had the lesson- taught her the 10 commandments and the Word of Wisdom and it was so powerful. I could write essays on that lesson :) She had said the Lord's name in vain a couple of times and when we talked about that Article, she simply said "Well what should I say instead?" She just had the desire to change. She wasn't embarrased, she just wanted to do what was right. She's a bold lady and when we talked about the Word of Wisdom she had some concerns, but in the End she committed to live it gladly. The meeting was full of the spirit and I felt so blessed to be there. President drove us home and said that he was so impressed with us and it felt so good. He told Irina we were two of the best missionaries in the mission - granted he may say that about any missionaries, but I don't know. It felt great to hear it nonetheless :)
Thanksgiving dinner. I have not seen so much home made food in one place in my entire life. I ate family, until I almost EXPLODED into a thousand tiny pieces of turkey potatoes and cinnamon flavored yams. It really was tremendous. I don't think I've ever been that full in my entire life- but when all you can eat turkey, gravy, potatoes and pie presents itself, you must partake. :P There house was gorgeous and it was a little taste of being back home and that was one of the best tastes of the night :)
The weather is getting chilly and Christmas is around the corner. They are really going to the 9's here in Warsaw and I think this is the place to be for the Holidays. Elder McRae and I will for sure be together for another month (there wa s a small chacne we wouldn't be) and I am SOO greatful. We have so much fun together, yet we work so hard. I love it. I'm staying warm for sure. I could use some more garment tops ma. That would probably be the best :) My Scottish sweater keeps me very very warm and my jacket thrown in the mix makes it so I'm always warm. I do need glvoes still but my pockets work for now. :)
Papa I love that you made me work hard. Mom I love that you made me work hard. As you wrote about what you talked to those young men about I couldn;t help but think how grateful I am to know what it means to work hard. I end everyday ready to collapse on my bed. It's a prize fight to keep my eyes awake during my prayers. I wake up the next morning ready to go and give it my all and I love it. The Lord has blessed me with so much and I know that this time is sacred. Never again will I be able to work like this and in a way it scares me. We are so productive, we love the work because we know it is true. We know how happy our lives and our families are. We know that every question in life can be satisfied through the Gospel. We know how this gospel and can change a life around and I'm dying to see the gospel work in these people's lives and I do more and more everyday. It's sometimes hard to see...but than I remember little things that people say and little ways that the Lord reminds me that these people are feeling the goodness of his Gospel. ANd it is all I need.
I thank you so much for your support and prayers. I love you so much. Thank you so much for the letters and for the Christmas package. Life is so good. Live it to the fullest. Remember how blessed you are and how much the Lord and your son and brother loves you. I know my letter was a little jumbled this week, and there is more to tell than I could ever write down, but that's why we have countless hours of story telling while I make you Polish dishes after the mission eh? :) Smile for me and live life in such a way that you make God grateful that he gave you such amazing and able bodies in such a beautiful living atmospheres. I know you all are making Him proud every day. I know it :) Talk to you in a week :)
so much love, Starszy Michael Joseph Rushton Jr.
p.s. Mom- the phone call info will come by President. He'll e-mail you and let you know how it works. I think you get to call our cell phones (which we do have pop ha. I never answered that for you. Next week I'll elaborate.)
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