"Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn..."

Happy new year to you my family -
Goodness, I started off the new year with a good haul of e-mails :) Thank you so much, ha you guys are the best. I wish I could write you all individual letters every week- but I sadly do not have that much time. And I would write novels to you each, and you'd get bored, and never want to write me again in fear that I'd write you a novel, and just a bad cycle would begin ;P I know that's not true- I can at least write my individual notes :) Spence- thanks for the novel kid. It was rocking, and I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, but kind of not cos those were rocking letters. I'm so glad all is well for you brother and I can imagine you loved the ski trip. I wish I was there right next to you. Someday soon eh i love you bro :) Sarah girl- you sound so good and I loved your letter-lacking letter. Ha it was so good, you are amazing little sister and I love you so much. You sound like you had a way fun time. I remember how frustrated I would get snowboarding. I admire your percerverience (goodness I'm forgetting ENGLISH) and spirit. You always had a lot that :) Annie, thanks babe for the letter! Your trip sounded so fun! Goodness, I wish I was there for the snowball fight, it would've been something else- there's TONS of snow right now, and I'm getting pretty good at throwing a snow ball...I would have been an asset to the team ha. I love you little sister :) Parents-first ma, with the money, I'll be way better about taking out home funds I our monthly fund came in way late this month and I was short on money to Christmas shopping, so yah. Mom, you are going to do amazing as Relief Society president. They already love you, I know it. The fact that your worried about it is a confirmation that you will do great- you'll rely on the Lord and you'll do the right thing. I'm not worried one bit :) Pop,I wish I could be there on your lessons. I always said you would be an amazing seminary teacher. I can't believe you resume work either. Sworn in eh? Serious stuff there in Legal land. ;) I'm excited for you and to hear how it all is :) I wish I could have been there boardin with you pop and ma. That would have been something else :) OK...I don' t have tons of time, but I'm going to shoot into what has been one BEAUTIFUL week. :)
I'm gonna lay it down like the Book of Mormon does- very straightforward and without any major suspense- because we know that even in the face of all opposition, the Lord's way will prevail. So there are a few facts t=
hat you need to know.
1. IRINA ZDRZALIK was BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! by Richard Nabozny- he lives here and speaks Polish and English, he will be a great friend to her, and that is what we need here. Elder McRae and I were in the circle for her Confirmation!
2. We achieved the Companionship Standard of Excellence!
3. Transfers came today. And Elder McRae and I are still together :)
This week has been jam packed with miracles and it honestly has too many to write down to you all right now, but I will relay as many as I can. Fam, I wish you could see what it is like here- this place is Catholic. Poand 3D Catholic. And people here are brave enough to think that maybe their Parents are wrong, maybe their ancestors didn't have the whole truth=
and that maybe tradition doesn't always mean correctness, and they choose to listen to us. It's unreal. I can understand how difficult that would truly be, but I'm blessed that my tradition is truth. And I'm here to share it with these People. I've really thought about it alot this week as we met with this boy named Lukasz. He's young, 22 or around there, and he is a thinker. Such a genuine nice kid and he really likes us, but he just doesn't know what to do. We met twice this last week and in the latter of those two meetings he came in with two pages of deep questions, some that were obviously off of Anti- internet pages and he's really struggling. He came to Irina's baptism though and really enjoyed it, which was way neat. So, onto Irina's Baptism! Irina shocked me, in all honestly. She didn't take tithing super well the first time we had taught it and she was so accepting of everything, I questioned whether she had a testimony of it all. But as she met with us right before her baptismal interview, she held in her hand her Book of Mormon and a Study Journal where she had been taking notes. She knew all the facts and as we went through the questions with her, just to make sure she was good before her actual interview, she fully accepted everything. We even talked about tithing more and the Word of Wisdom and everything, and she promised to live it. The day of her baptism I was feeling terrible- chills all over and aching, and the major runs...probably didn't want to know that, but it was bad. I stayed in bed all morning and got ready to go just before we had to be there. As we went there I realized that I had lost my wallet with all my credit cards and Drivers licesnse, which was a big deal. THe Assistants said they would look for it, cos I was sure I had lost it near the bridge by our house. I was feeling like a loser right about then, with the thought of Irina getting baptized pushing me through. 10 minutes before the baptism, I get a phone call from Ada Bednarska ( old lady who fed us cookies with maggots, remember?). She had given me her address and it happened to still be in my waller.She said a bridge cleaner had called her and he had my wallet. She gave him my number. He called me and I had him call the AP's and they met and exchanged the Wallet. It truly was a miracle. The whole thing was so stressful and I had so much adrenaline going thorugh me, my body forgot I was sick for the next 2 hours. Elder Mehner and I sang "When I am Baptized" and there were some talks given. She was baptized and it went amazingly. She bore her testimony and was so sincere. She is amazing and I know that she will be a great member here. :)
Other news this week- New Years was amazing! There was a MAJOR party going on in the middle of Warsaw, where all the major music artists were going to be - it wouild be as if Coldplay, Avril Lavigne and another really modern popular band were all there - we were not allowed to be there lol. New Years Eve, we helped move Brat Herman and his family to their new house, just outside of Warsaw. It was way good- it took about 4 hours, and t was just really good to help. We were fed way good food afterward too. Ha and we talked to this Russian man who was helping us - he spoke English pretty well but didn't understand everything...which led to some random misunderstandings, and we laughed a lot- Elder Antczak, Mehner, McRae and I. It was a blast. That night we all got together as missionries and played random games and that was a blast. When Midnight rolled around, the=
fireworks were going off everywhere!!!! it was unlike anything I have seen. EVERYONE had fireworks. It was really cool- everywhere you looked there was an explosion in the sky. One of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen- just cos of the randomness of it all :)
Another one of our investigators, Tomek, has taken a baptismal date. He's been progressing for a year! And his date is still pretty fragile, but it was a major step for him.
Elder McRae and I are offically in Warsaw, South Central for at least another two months. I am a happy missionary. Life here is just so good! I talked to Elder Tanner on our 6 month anniversary as missionaries (6 months I've been a misisonary!) and he said Warsaw is goldmine right now. That was good to here. Because when Elder McRae got here, we made a couple goals. One goal was to achieve the District Standard of Excellence. Another to achieve the COmpanionship Standard of Excellence and another to make Warsaw a place missionaries hope to be, because it had a rather sour reputation at one point. Elder McRae and I have been blessed with accomplish=
ing our goals here. And i am quite happy with that. :)
Some other awesome transfer news---- that really is awesome, but you all will laugh nice and good. Elder Fuller and Elder Whipple were my zone leaders this last transfer. I see the the Zone Leaders all the time, they are part of my zone, we're buddies. So this Transfer, Elder Fuller is out of here, to Wroclaw! And now.....Elder Daly is the new zone leader!! Ha i love it. He really is one amazing kid, I think we have the coolest district....
I read Ryan's letter and that blows my mind. That experience is one he will never ever forget. How unreal is that. So powerful. I love you cousin
Also, Jake- I Shop at Carrefour too!!!!!!!! Man I miss you kid. I hope you still read through the novel that is my letter. Just remember, that half way around the world, I'm shopping in the same store as you. ;P
Fam- my time is just about up. I love you all. Your letters are the best and I miss you tons. I dream about the fun times we'll have on future fam vacations. Have a great week ok? Enjoy yourselves and remember who you represent as members of the Church. Read the Book of Mormon everyday, cos I know the power that lies in the constant feasting of such powerful wor=
ds. I love you all so much. Please pray for us over here :) To next week eh?
- Starszy Michael