From Outside the Warsaw Walls!!

Dear Fam! I write you from the dirty, dirty South, here in the famous and beautiful Katowice. New home of Elder Antczak lol. Elder Daly and I came down here because we have been assigned to write the Warsaw Mission Anthem- So Elder Daly, and Elder Justice (a music major who is ridiculously talented on teh Piano) all met up here in Katowice and spent the morning working on the Anthem, went to Pizza Hut and now are here in this little Internet cafe, e-mailing you all. I rode my first train on the Intercity last night - it was SO NICE it was amazing. I've ridden on trains to go to the Herman's but, this was like a legit TRAIN TRAIN where we drove three hours to actually go somewhere really far and different. THat sounds so ridiculous cos Ameica is so darn big, but a Three hour train ride in Poland is a big deal. It's like driving from California to Idaho. Far-ish. Lol. I stepped off the Train and you could smell the industrial stink of Kato. It smells like coal in the air. Word on the street is that it is dangerous to go running here cos the air is that bad. But the city is sweet. I really like it :) Heading back to Warsaw tonight in about 3 hours. This is my first time out of Warsaw, it feels so wierd- I know Warsaw so so well- it's like home. It'll be strange leaving when I do- the 12th of March is the Transfer day, so a few more weeks to go. We'll see what happens :)Life sounds beautiful in Murrieta. I love you all so much:) I can imagine the Rain, though a bummer sometimes, is nice to have. It's been snowing like maddness here. It's neat though, to have everything covered in snow. I feel like it's even more then in Utah. Craziness. This week has been a really good one :) Again, nothing ridiculously exciting; maybe the update of the week would be the fact that we had another great meeting with Tomek, and we just rejoice in his progress. The man really does have a light about him, I love it. We had a meeting with the BRanch President, Pres. Bulkley, on there. He is so wise and really just did an amazing job at helping Tomek realize how important and amazing it is that he is taking the time to so diligently investigate the Church and that he will be blessed with an answer as he continues to try his best. Way powerful. Our water heater, which was majorly defective, officially is out of comission. I was writing in my Journal and then all of a sudden E.McRae screamed and our electricity just completely went out. "What happened!?" I yell. "I was [going to the bathroom] and the waterheater just exploded! A fireball just shot out of it!" Then we laughed and went to bed. We fixed our electricity, and today our Landlady is putting in a new water heater. We had to take a few old fashioned -boiled water mixed with freezing tap water dumped on us in buckets- showers, but hopefully we'll be good now lol. :PValentine's day was a good one- we made Crazy Cake and everyone made their own little treat and we had a little V-day party for our dinner break. It was way good :) E.Antczak called to wish me a happy valentine's day= that was a treat, i hadn't talked to him since he left a few weeks ago, but now I'm here with him! Ha love it. The winning contact story of the week occured while we were tracting this building in deep Praga- we knocked on quite a few doors, and finally this nice man opened up. He came and talked to us, and said he really wasn't interested in changing religions, but in the most Friendly way in the world. E.McRae really ahd to go to the Bathroom and the man was so nice that he asked if he could use the bathroom. THe man said of course! and invited us in. While E.McRae went to the bathroom, the man offered me tea....and then busted out some amazing German desserts and then we ended up just staying and talking for a good little while. We even got him interested into having us come back some time and talk more about the Gospel. So good :) I love how the Lord works; we were trying our hardest to do what he wanted, and just by a simple question to use the bathroom we found a couple of amazing people. I dont have too much more time...I can't think of too many more amazing things that have happened. I'm taking tons of pictures and I'll be sending some home sooner then later. Poland...so amazing. (Save up your money siblings!!!! You need to come too!! :P) O- yesterday on the train ride home, E.Daly and I played Guitar the whole way here, just jamming it out. In the train station, while waiting for the Kato elders to come pick us up, E.Daly talked us into a situation where I had to play guitar for this girl working this Candy store. I played, she gave us free candy lol. Good experience ;P I can tell you fam, even though I don't have too many life-changing experiences, I see the hand of the Lord in this work every day. I know it is his work and that it has the power to change lives. I love how you end your letters with Change Lives, Spence. that's exactly what this gospel does; it changes lives in the best way possible. So many people here need this Gospel. It is only through this Gospel that everyone can be happiest. My testimony of that Grows everyday. I am so thankful for you family. For the experiences and love i've felt in my life. I know I was thus blessed so that I could better serve here and be a better person even after the mish. You all sound like a million bucks. I love hearing your words of encouragment, news, testimony, whatever it may be. I love them. They are sweet sweet nector to me. Keep enjoying eachother down there eh? Eat some roast beef and taters for me ;) I love you so much. TO next week! = Starszy Michael Rushton. (half of our investigators when they see me say "Rush! Rush! Kolego, jak sie masz?" So funny :)

Pday, Bday!!!

Chellllllo Familio :) - How are you all this fine day? It is wierd that I am writing you here on a tuesday in the find city of Warsaw, but it's enjoyable for sure. Yesterday was the wierd day... but it went well, we worked hard, and now we're a day farther into the week than usual when I e-mail you. Just different, but nice. I think it was changed because of so many people wanting to set up for monday and not being able to (first day after the weekend, it's convenient for most people here) and also because of the lack of open tourist and historical sites. No major reason though lol. Just giving it a try I guess- this morning, E,McRae's Birthday- we made Biscuits and Gravy for 11 people (it was delish!) went to Adam's Tie factory, and then to E.Wedel Chocolate shop (I had Blueberry While Hot Chocolate. I almost died it was so tasty. And expensive. :P) A wonderful day thus far :)Life sounds way good back in the land of California. It is so funny- everyone always asks where you are from here and when they here I am from California they always give a big "OOOO! It's a little bit different here then in Caleeeforneeea eh?" And i just think, You don't even know lol. Yesterday we got our haircuts and the old Polish barber who was cutting my hair says "I always planned on going to California." The other Barber says "You don't have to any more, California came to you! HAHA!!!" ha they got a good kick out of that lol. Polish old men are funny. You all sound so good though. Amazing about the baptism there, I am way happy that you all went. It means so much to support people in this decision :) Thank you for going fam, ;) to annie :) Sarah that is so crazy your going to Baptism for the Dead!! Snap you are an old fart! :P So neat! You will enjoy it for sure. Mom, that is quite the experience.. You seem like you are quite busy to say the least, you carry it very well to say the least and I know the Lord will support you as you need the energy, time or whatever it may be. For sure :) Thank you for the little notes :) Pop, please send a DVD copy of that if you can and i'll find some way to watch it- I'm pretty sure it's legit. I'll find out though for sure, but send it :) I can imagine the weight that rests on your heart due to the cases you read; it'd be hard for me to do. The comfort is that someone has to do it and it's best that it is someone with a tender heart who will actually feel for these kids and decide what is most right, even when the options seem bleak. YOu sound like you're doing great :) Spence, I miss you kid all the time- wish I could be watching that with you :) We'll have plenty time to just chill lol I'm not worried :)I can't believe that about Ryan. Way to keep cool cousin. I love that the people flipped about "yo". What the trash :P That would probably happen here too lol. I'm looking back through my planner at what we did this week and it just seems like it was forever ago lol. We had a way good week though. Not too many incredible Earth-shattering stories, but a few good little updates for sure. We've been meeting with a couple of members to try to plan some activity to build the relationship between the members and missionaries, allowing us to work in harmony better, and the process, though somewhat slow feeling, is rewarding in itself. While meeting with one member, Brat Grotek, he showed that he was more then willing to help with anything. He came in, sat down, started the meeting with prayer and was down to business. The man has such a good heart and wants to do what is best. I love when he bears his testimony during Testimony meeting, cos the man has a powerful charisma for this Gospel. He is bold in stating that he is thankful that we have the one true church and that it is through this gospel that we can be saved and happiest. It's a hard thing to do when everyone around you is Catholic, and changing from that faith is almost like turning on your Polish heritage. It's almost beyond comprehension. Anyway, he is amazing. A hope for me :) One of these days...wednesday it was, we worked allllll day. From 9 in the morning til 8:30 at night, no studies or breaks. Just work baby lol. Because we had to pick people up and drop people off in the morning at the train station, we just worked in between those times, and we had a meeting in the afternoon, so we were just going to work til that meeting. And we did, had an amazing meeting, and then realized that we had a whiteboard we had planned for, so no break yet lol. Then after the white board realized we had a meeting with Tomek, our most faithful and amazing investigator right now. So, because of our own lack of planning, we worked all day. It felt good, but i don't recommend doing it often lol.On the topic of Tomek Prochenka. I've talked about him a bit, but i must expound a bit- he's been investigating for almost a year and a half now, and had been dropped when I was fresh here in the country. And now he has a baptismal date. We now meet with him twice a week for an hour and it is amazing. The man's countenance is visibly changed everytime we meet with him. He's happier, he feels better, his life is being changed for the better. And that is why I am here :) To see this happen to people. He has good questions about the BOM, he reads a chapter everysingle day and additional scriptures from his Baptismal Calendar (that we made for him). Our meetings our amazing and I have just recently come to appreciate the growth he has made in these past 4 months. We fasted together this last Saturday and Sunday,Tomek E.McRae and I, so that he can get an answer. I know he will sooner then later. Please pray for him. We tracked down this old former investigator who was contacted by Missionaries in 1998! Like right when the mission opened! She is devestated by the loss of her 30 year old son who died several years ago, but listened as we talked about the PLan of Salvation. She was Baptized in the Jordan river, in Israel...lol. By a random priest there. She says she saw a dove when she came out of the water....so we've definitely got some work to do, but she's a way kind lady who hopeful will find some hope and truth in the Gospel. In the land of food lol. We found the best Nalesnikarnia in the WORLD. Nalesniki are like Crepes, but HUGE and have either this sweet cheese, fruit, nutella, whipped creme or all sorts of stuff on them. A Nalesnikarnia is a place where they specialize in Nalesniki. Now i've searched far and wide, but that day where we worked all day, we were walking on the street and I happened to look down this alley and see this little homey looking hut that said "Nalesnikarnia". Turns out E.McRae had been there before- we went there and I was in heaven. So delcious. We're going there when y'all come over here to carry me away from Poland :P ;)When I was first here, I had heard of this activity known as Sports Saturday, where they play sports and investigators come and it's a great party of fun and member, non-member, missionary activity. lol. So this last Saturday we did just that; we organized this Soccer game, and the Sisters said that they had an investigator who had like 20 friends who wanted to play with us. So when the Saturday rolls around, we all meet at this metro stop, Pole Mokotowskie, and we follow this investigator- a kind man from Iraq. So we follow him on this TREK of a lifetime lol. We walked forever, with all us missionaries, like 8 investigators, and finally, we make it to the field. Turns out this guy's 20 friends are this entire legitamite football squad form Iraq. Lol. This other investigator from Ireland and I had been chattin the whole way over, and when we got there, he was all stoked to play. "Us versus them!! Let's go, we can take em!" All in an Irish accent. So cool. 2 of our investigators were from Africa, they were some of the best soccer players I've ever seen. We played us missionaries and investigators vs. the Iraq soccer team. Lol. It was such a blast and for the first 30 minutes we were beating them 4 to 0!!! So good :) A lot of good relationships were built and a lot of good soccer was played ha ;PPrimary was hilarious this week- two highlights. This Mongolian boy, like 3 years old, got his head stuck in between the seat and back of the chair lol. I didn't think it was even possible- everyone was singing and then slowly everyone stopped as this mom struggled to get her kid out- it was way more comedic then dramatic and I was laughing probably harder then I should have. lol. The second highligh was when this little American Girl answered Jesus for everything. We were on a walk- "Who do you think planted that tree?" "That was probably Jesus." ":P I love being in Primary. One last thought...I liked the last line in your letter pop, to seek to build my own unbreakable testimony. Because, it is hard out here. E.Weber and I were talking and he relayed to me something his brother said that we got a good laugh about - his brother said, trying to console him "I know it's hard out there and you get rejected a lot...it didn't happen to me a lot (in the Dominican Republic), but when we did it wasn't fun." lol. It's heart-breaking to talk to really good people who find excuse after excuse not to believe in God, and it hurts sometimes. Sometimes it feels like I get a little "rocked" spiritually. I have an image of me on a boat, with waves all around. I sometimes do get rocked by the waves outside and it's tough to hold my feet sometimes, but everytime I do get "rocked" I remember why I am here, what this Gospel has meant to me my entire life and even more since I've been here on the mission and it helps me keep my ground. Rejection can be hard, but it is worth it to see the select few accept the gospel and feel it's blessings. I hope that didn't sound like my testimony is on the rocks- cos it is the farthest thing from it as I share something so close to my heart and personal with people on a daily basis, that i know to be true. It, I guess is the pain of that person not giving something you know to be so amazing and wonderful, rationalizing to themselves that it is simply impossible that this is true. It's kind of like the people who wouldn't look at the Staff with the snake and be healed. lol. Maybe too much thinking lol. :) Ok, I've got to wrap it up here - Fam I love you so much :) I love being here and I know how true this Gospel is. I love being here more than anything and I know it's what I'm supposed to be doing- I feel the blessings daily and I hope you all do too. Keep on smiling and truckin on :) Your letters are sweet mana to my heart. Pray for Tomek! Look forward to hearing form you next week :)- Starszy Michael Rushton! p.s. I did get Grandma Cohen's package and Grandma Diane's Letter. I appreciate it so darn much. The package was wonderful :) And Grandma, The letter was so great, thank you :)

No Letters?!!

Just kidding :P :P :P That probably wasn't nice at all. It's Elder McRae's fault, he jokes about EVERYTHING! Fam, I got all your letters and they were amazing :) Per us(ual) :) You all sound so darn gooooood it makes me smile so much. I way appreciate the little updates about home - it makes me feel connected for sure. I love that the Payne's moved back. I sometimes worry that Murrieta will be wierd when I get back, but now it'll feel even more normal then when I left :) Sarah, you sound like you are just rockin that soccer field's trash! I can only imagine, you fighter, you. And P.S., when you were talking about playing capture the flag and you did that cool thing, I knew EXACTLY what you were talking about. Psha. ;) Love you sister :) Annie I love you soooo much too!! Thank you so much for the shout out. SPencer I love you kid. I know you're busy- don't sweat it, you've been faithful as could be, and I appreciate it so much :) Just keep me posted kolego :) I love you Spence. Parents, thank you so much for the insight. I was eating those scriptures and stories up. I really do love em- it's always nice to get some outside gospel influence. Refreshing :) This week has been an amazing one. I cannot complain. At all. Major events that happened in the week are as follows (considering I never really go in chronological order in my letters...I figure I'll just give you the big happenings and then I'll go to the little stories and such). - Zone P-Day on Tuesdaywas funny. Because half of the zone kind of ditched us to go to Hard Rock Cafe and Adam's (the Tie store). Lol so the people who are normally in Warsaw all played bastketball and capture the flag lol. It was good stuff :) - Zone Conference on Wednesday (also the day our water just stopped working) was inspiring. We learned that the number of Elder's coming in the mission would be cut by 24. Which is like an entire Zone. And there's only 4 zones in Poland as it is, so that is crazy stuff. Our P-Day is GETTING CHANGED TO TUESDAY PERMANANTLY. Which means that this is the last day that I get to e-mail you all on a Monday. The plus side to this is that everything is closed on Monday, museums, gyms, everything cool like that, so now we'll get to go do those things, which will be way nice :) But remember, TUESDAY=P-DAY! lol. We got a new and refined stop smoking program that is 85% effective in getting people to stop smoking in one week. ONE WEEK. Amazing. We've been using it, and we've had some amazing conversations thus far. Smoking is bad news- people realize that when they're smoking 3 packs a day and would rather smoke than eat. And then they want to quit. And then we help them!-Exchanges with Elder Daly on Thursdaywas spoko (rad), to say the least. He is one cool cat and we get along so darn well. The exchange started actually the night after Zone Conference- we went down to deep Praga to visit a member and to teach her non-member sons - Sergiusz and Pawel. We had a way good meeting and had a way good chat the whole way there. As we were leaving, this HUGE dog stuck it's head over this fence and started barking at us, and then it stuck it's PAWS over the fence, and turns out, this dog was THE BEAST from Sandlot!!! E.Daly and I took three steps back and looked at eachother in fear. And then we stood in fear as it barked at us. And then we ran for our lives, literally screaming at the thought of that BEAST jumping the fence and eating us alive. We made it safely, and laughed :) The next day we went out to visit this man who lives out in the flipping shire lol. He had made us lunch - he lives in this mansion house by himself and has a bunch of animals to keep him company. He didint' seem crazy interested at first, but we taught him about the Book of Mormon and ate his rich man food, and I think he actually listened to what we had to say. Other great things happened, that I don't have tiem to write, but it was an amazing exchange and there is no awkardness at all. Now that is something I would have loved to know 6 months ago :PIn other news- our water just turned off the night before Zone Conference- the only water that barely worked was the FREEZING kitchen water. In the morning, I refused to leave the house without showering. (that is why i am in Europe) So we heated up some water in the chinique, poured freezing water in some bowls and made it luke-freezing with the water from the chinque, took it all in the shower and did it Pioneer style. It was an experience to say the least lol. But I was clean :) We made biscuits, mama McRae style, and Gravy for 8 missionaries. And filled them all up! Yah baby. Betty Crocker, watch out cus here I come! Sorry for the random stuff, but it helps you understand missionary life more lol. We continued our district work-out challenge, the Britney Spears work out. 700 cruches, every single day. Lol we did it for the entire week, and it felt good, but there is NO WAY that Britney Spears does that trash! lol. Now we're just doing it every other day. We searched out some former investigators and found some really promising people, but they didn't have any phone numbers. They were all in Praga (the district across teh Wisla, the poorer part of Warsaw) and so we dedicated an evening to find them all. I think you all would be blown away with how I can navigate Warsaw. I actually can figure out tramwaj lines and buses and how to get where. I thought I'd never get this stuff down, but whabam. The Lord had other plans ;) So we found this Venezualen family who had not been contacted for four years and we knocked on their door. The man seemed so excited and asked if we could meet on this next Tuesday. I am so stoked to meet this man and hopefully his family eventually. Maybe they are ready now. I do hope so. It's amazing how many Former Investigators we have. It would blow your mind. An entire Area Book, seperate from our own, filled to the brim with Former Investigators. E.McRae and I feel that there is without a doubt a couple of people in there who are now ready to here this Gospel and accept it. And we will find them. There was a baptism this last Saturday, that sadly didn't go as smoothly as possible. We had been helping this lady, Anna....and we ended up having to be late to this Baptism. Out investigator, Tomek (who has a baptismal date and is solid as a rock), sat next to the Zone Leaders. When we finally get to the Chapel and change into our Pros. clothes, we walked into the foyer to see Preszydent Zielonka of the First Branch in a kind of fury, talking to the Elders of that Branch. Apparently, at the end of the Second talk, right before the baptism was to happen, a man, who had recently been baptized this month stood up and said he had something to add. He wasn;t on the program, and no one really knew what to do. HE walked up to the front and proceeded to talk- everyone could tell he was drunk. Pres. Zielonka quickly escorted him out of the room and building, and the baptism went on as normal. Luckily, Tomek wasn';t wierded out by it at all, and neither did the other Investigators, but it's just a bummer that stuff like that happens. Mkaes me sad, but sometimes it just happens. Church was packed - which was way good! We've gotten some less actives to come to church consistently...so they're not really even less active any more! WOO!! ;) We had break the fast as a branch and it was amazing. The Polish people are hilarious when it comes to these kind of things. Everyone, adult and child alike, just dive bomb the food, grabbing what they can. And when they brought out the cake, everyone kinda just reached in and grabbed what they could until an organized line started for actualy pieces of cake. I think dad would have destroyed somebody :P Ok i know, so many stories lol. This one though, was a goody. Yesterday, we traced into the lonliest Babcia I have ever met in my life. Here name is Maria Natalia, and she let us in after three words. We started talking and before long we realized that a) she couldn't hear much of anything we were saying, b) she had very poor memory and c) she really was glad we were there. So we stayed- we talked about her family, all of which have passed away. She showed us the same picture 3 or four times and was so excited just to have someone there. She even invited us to stay there - "I only really need one room...". I kind of looked at E.McRae and wondered why we didn;t leave...but I realized that the Lord would probably have stayed here for at least 30 minutes, talking with this lady, no matter how many times she showed you the same picture and how many times she asked you how far away you lived. She was lonely, and I think that was one of the best forms of service that we could offer. We tried to leave her with a word of prayer...and we thought that we understood that we're going to pray. So E,McRae starts to pray....and she just interupts and asks how far away we live again. lol We tell her and start to pray...and E.McRae prays for her, and she throws in some other names for us to pray for...and he's about to end...right at the very end! And she asks, how far away do you all live? We were both laughing really hard right about then, trying so hard to suppress it. She's a cute nice old lady. We're going back there just to say hi sometime this week- it feels right :) Well that's the week in a nut shell, More like, way longer then you wanted to read lol. But it was a good one. I love you all so much. I love being a missionary. I honestly learn so much about myself, find things I want to improve in, character traits I admire, etc. I love the scriptures so darn much. So so much. They are amazing. They have the power of God bursting from them and every time I read them I know why I'm talking to these people. Thank you so much for the letters. So much for the love and prayers. I feel it everyday. You are the best, fam. Tell the Stratfords how much I love them as well as the Payne's and Mama Grossman too :) . I miss them all like Family. Fam, I'll leave you now- til next week :) - Starszy Michael J. Rushton. Spartacus. p.s. The office elders should be calling or e-mailing you asap about the package. I've been on their backs about it- one of them is My Mission Grandpa so i'm allowed to do that. :) p.p.s Spence and Sarah, check out the band, Fiction Family. E.Daly heard about them and their supposed to be legit! Lemme know!