Train tracks and the quick return

Rodzina Moja Droga, I was just thinking the other day, I bet when I get home, if I put all my letters into normal book size pages, I would have a couple novels that will rival the 4th Harry Potter in size. Take that JK :P
Fam, i loved your letters today so much. You all sound like your doing so well. It's a cloudy day today in Bydgoszcz- been a bit rainy and even a tad snowy this morning still, but Spring is on the verge of conquering this drawn-out winter season. I've never had to deal with Seasons quite like this- I so look forward to the spring and summer, missionaries talk about it with such fondness, I swear it must be the greatest place on this entire Earth. We'll see ha. I can't believe you got contacts Annie! That's so impressive you can handle that responsibility lol, I can imagine you look so beautiful with those long eye lashes or yours :) Spence, thanks for the Letter brother :) I love you kid- keep that media list up, PLEASE! These bands sound so amazing. Send me a recording of that new song asap eh? Sarah, mom tells me that your loving the new soccer team. So good to hear :) I can only imagine how busy you are with everything, going hard with school and soccer and being awesome, I imagine it wares on a person after awhile ;) > I loved reading that e-mail from Jimmy. Goodness I love that kid. He sounds like he's doing so good. That'll be so fun, training. What a lucky kid, whoever gets to get trained by my Jewish brother lol. Before I shoot into the the bulk of it- that is so great that Gram got the package back! AMAZING! So good to hear, I felt so bad, but now so good lol. I do have some conference talks, but I would love some more. Especially from this conference coming up- It looks like I'll get to watch one session, and I;m not sure what session that will be. I'm really excited for it though :) And for birthday, I would really love just some money....that sounds probably lame, but I would really like to purchase a couple things. So some money would be wonderful :) I got your package Mom and it was AMAZING. That was an ideal package, for sure. The cereal was a magnificent surprise, didn't even see that one coming lol one bit. O! It would be really rad if you could send some CD's of my band. I would love that. A couple people out here would love to hear some of it. Yup, that's about it :) Mom and Pop I love your letters so much. Every week they give me such a boost, and give me such hope and advice and everything- I don't know if you aim for that, but they make me feel so connected to you, my family who i love so darn much. So, since I started writing this and to this point, it is snowing blizzard status. I'm glad I'm inside. This week has been one crazy one, I will tell you. In the first 6 months of my Poland experience, I spent a total of 6 hours on a train. Just in this last week and by the end of next week, I will have been on a train for 24 hours. An entire days worth of time on a train. Nutso eh? So Thursday was the day of Zone Leader Training in Warsaw and we had to leave Wednesday late afternoonish- it takes 4 hours to get from Bydgoszcz to Warsaw. On wednesday, we had district meeting, and then we met an investigator at McDonalds (his name is Maciej, cool guy, but now crazy interested). Zaneta, the member who I talked a lot about last letter, works at this same McDonalds. We grabbed a couple of letters from her, because we told her we were going to Warsaw and she prepared some letters for us to give to Elder Whipple and Thomas and Edmunds, the elders who taught her. WE then RAN, full on SPRINT to our home, grabbed everything we needed for out night in Warsaw, and then SPRINTED to the bus stop and jumped ont the bus that would take us to the Train Station. We really didn't anticipate that we would have so little time...and thus the running. By the time we made it to the Train Station, we had negative 40 seconds to catch our Train. We SPRINTED to what looked like a good platform (we'd never ridden the train in Bydgoszcz lol) and saw a train there. We asked the conductor man who was about to get on the train, "Does this go to Warsaw?" "Yes it does." "SCORE!" We jumped on and it took off. Miracle lol. > Four hours is a long time. But for some reason time flies on a train, we chatted, listened to music (thanks to my iHOME thing) and enjoyed the ride. That night I got to stay with Elder McRae and his new comp. Elder Lehnig. Who is German and ridiculously hilarious and cool. He doesn't speak amazingly good English, but he is the man. > The next day Training was really enlightning. A lot can go into training a Zone. We were really informed on how this ZL thing is supposed to be done, and there's a lot that can go into it. IT's a fine balance between being "the man" and not taking any control at all. I'm still trying to find the right balance. We learned tons, about finances, all sorts of "how to lead" guidelines that were very enlightning, but bottom line was that it was our job to motivate our Zones the best we could. They even used the phrase that we were Mission President's of our Zone. Way intense stuff. I've certainly been racking my brain, thinking of ways to be a more effective and a better example to my Zone. I liked something that you said Ma, about trying to be a better person for the next 7 days after you take the Sacrament. I feel like it's a slow process but as I set those small, but important goals, Ill become who I want and who the Lord wants me to be. > President took us out to eat at the reseraunt at the bottom of the Marriot hotel. I sat next to E.Antczak and there was a huge screen with Professional Soccer on it. My cheeseburger had guacamole on it. Such an amazing meal lol. President is one generous man, I'll tell you. He's so ready to build you up and he's so genuine about it too, really amazing. I rode four hours back that night with Elder Meacham, who was going back to Gdansk. He's a former AP and pres wanted him there. We had a good ol ride :) > Saturday, after we tried to plan and traveled a little way to set up with an investigator, we got on another Train to Warsaw for our District Conference. The conference was amazing. So many members in one building, it truly was powerful to behold. Almost every member in there had converted and changed their lives to be a member of the Church. I saw Irina there and we had an amazing talk, that was priceless for me. She looks like she's doing so good :) I also saw Tomek on Friday night walking to the chapel in Warsaw. He went to the District Conference Saturday night Session. That was a real treat for me too- I love that man, he looked like he was doing so well. I said, President will let me come down when you get baptized. He said he'd look forward to seeing me there. I know he'll get baptized sooner than later. > Sister Banks, the member with whom I worked in Primary down in South Central also was there. Her Husband was the District President and he got released, because their family is leaving to go home soon. Sis. Banks came up to me and thanked me, with tears in her eyes for how much E.McRae and I had done for their family. Primary and such is not the same in Poland as it is in the States, and she was just really grateful. Said if we didn't do another thing in our mission, it would suffice that we had changed their life. They are truly amazing people. I felt so honored and grateful to hear those words. > President Ford of the Area 70 and his wife spoke- also very powerful. He had an amazing spirit to him.> I saw Brat Herman as well and he is doing so well. It really was just a blessing to see all these people who have been sucha big part of my Mission, my life out here in one place. Even though I've only been gone for a week, it felt like a long time reunion. Kinda funny eh :) > That has mostly been the highlights of the week. It's just been so different and we haven't had the greatest amount of time to just get out there and Work- I look forward to things calming down a bit so that we can get back on a normal schedule. > In terms of my Zone- my Zone is the shizzle. Everyone here truly are amazing. There is so much potential from all these cities and I love having the chance to talk to all the district leaders at night and hear all the good things that are happening. No one from my Group (MTC) is in my Zone lol. Not one. Someday I'll serve around em. Cities in my zone - SZCZECIN - a little border town in the north west, next to Germany. They have some beaches up there - it's not particularly beautiful I hear, but it's one of the newest cities. Opened right when I got here. POZNAN - I don't know much about it, but I hear it is amazingly pretty. GDANSK - is the city most north. It is on the beach and is the gem of Poland. People go there to vacation. It's called the trzymiast- tri city, cos there are two other big cities right by it- missionaries are in them all. One of them, Sopot, is supposedly like a Cali beach city. I'm stoked to see that :P My new district is so cool. Elder Schoenrock is my district leader- he's in Elder McRae's group and is one funny kid. A really nice kid too. But this is a snap shot of him- I'm making Biscuits and gravy this morning for us all and I ask him "So, How's the morning been?" reply- "Crappy. I woke up, man." :P He's always jokin around and keepin the mood light- but knows how to work too. Elder Adams is his companion and he is the man. McRae and him were Companions before, and he actually trained E.Beaty. Really nice kid, bought a Larry some bread, simply because he doesn't think that anyone deserves to go without bread. E.McCuistion and Kalian are in Torun, an hour away but still in my District. Kalian is old in the mission, McCuistion is a bit more than a year and two months in the country. Their are way nice too. McCuistion plays music and is way smart. Really good at the language. My comp and I are still getting along well. He really is a great guy. Teaches well, really organized. I go on my first exchange this next week- Elder Meacham's Trainee is coming here tommorrow. My first full day as senior companion ha. Wish me luck eh :P JOnes is going to Gdansk. I'll get to go next month. I look forward to it. But tomorrow is the exchange and that'll be a kick in the pants too :) That is about all of it for today :) It's still snowing harder and harder lol. Someday I'll see the sun, maybe ha. I love it here though. So much :) I can't even tell you. I feel like this is the place for me. I'll be sending some pictures soon for sure. One thing I'd like to share, just from reading in the scrips this week in 3 Nefi, it's interesting how Nephi, upon preaching with the power and authority of God at it's full power, only convinced a handfull of people unto repentance and baptism, but those handful were like rocks. I feel like that is how it is right now- slowly there will be more, and more and eventually there will be stakes and a temple here, but for now, those who are ready will be converted. I know there are those who are ready everywhere on this Earth. Just got to work to find em :) I love this Gospel so much. I love you fam so much. It's so amazing to see all my friends on missions- I love reading their letters so darn much. So much. I'm way stoked Kellen is heading out soon, I can't believe I've been out so long. I can;'t believe Josh is gone in practically no time. Unreal. So darn cool :) I love you fam. SO much. Keep praying, keep being happy and know how much the Lord loves you. AND PLEASE SEND ME YOUR FAVORITE SCRIPTURES!!! lol. > Starszy Michael J Rushton :) p.s. I have to go to England next P-day because of legal work, so I don't know if my E-mail will be there next p-day, if it's not it'll be just a day late. I'll explain that later :)

Blue-skyed, bursting with brilliance Bydgoszcz :)

> My beautiful fam, how are you all this beauuuuutiful Tuesday :)> I got to tell you all, I scored again on e-mail location. I write to you from a beautiful library on the second floor over looking the Rynek (city head courters here in Bydgoszcz. The sun is beaming through the bright puffy clouds and it is looking goooood :) > Fam, you all sound way good. Life in Murrieta sounds wonderful per usual, so good to hear. Spence I hope you had one amazing Birthday kid. I thought about you all day, and by the way you failed at giving me your ultimate favorite scripture! That is way necessary. All of you fam! It sounds like you had a good one, minus the sickness. I wish I could have been there at BJ"s eating some delish deep dish. O we will be hitting that place up quite a few times, I guarantee that. Pizzookie. Sweetest of all mercies :) ROcking out at the school dance sounds legendary too, so cool brother! Please record the song will you? Annie you sound like you had such a fun party! Snap sister I wish I could have gone Survivoring with you :) You sound like your doing so good in soccer too! It'll be so fun playing in Murrieta! I hope your Birthday was amazing too, I thought about you tons as well. Sarah, you are such a goof. I love your letters and thank you so much for them. So good! > I am ecstatic to be here in Bydgoszcz, family. I left Warsaw on Thursday morning after somewhat of a crazy couple of days. Tomek came with E.McRae and I to see Phantom of the Opera, and because of complicated problems and restrictions, E.McRae and I were the only missionaries to go see the play, with Tomek. And it was 100% amazing lol. I didn't understand everything, but I understood more then enough to enjoy it. I got a good grasp of my understanding level, because at the begninning when they are doing the auction, I understood all the dialogue and what not, just great, and i thought, "Yah! Woo! This is great! I understand!" ha and then they start describing the things their auctioning...and I understood close to nothing ha. It's alright though, it'll come. > We spent the next couple of days calling our potentials that we had gathered and setting up meetings for the Elders that would take our place there in South Central. E.Daly was with us, and we had to buy almost every single train ticket for the mission and then had to photocopy them all and yah. We did some good contacting and had some good meetings, and then packed. The Banks family ( they're American and work in the Embasssy...Sis. Banks is in Primary) had us over for dinner the night before transfers. We had pork roast, mashed potatoes, american Cheese cake and pumpkin pie, and there was much rejoicing in my belly. It was so nice of them- they were said to see me leave and said that, because they are returning to the states in teh next couple of months, we will for sure be in contact, adn they want to come to E.McRae and My (respective) weddings lol. So darn nice of them.They're amazing. > Living in the same place for 6 months leaves lots of time to accumlate random junk, but I did ok, and packing wasn't too bad. My tie collection...is beautiful and kind of big ha. The biggest addition to my belongings. My train was on Thursday morning at 11. Elder McCuistion, going to Torun ( a city an hour away from Bydgoszcz, they go to church with us and spend p=day with us) was with me until the last hour of the ride. I was alone for an hour and it was the wierdest thing in the whole world. The first time in 8 months I was alone in a train car by my self. I played guitar and took pictures of the beautiful Polish country side. The train ride was amazing. An old, rickety train on old rickety tracks riding through old and beautiful Poland. > I made it to Bydgoszcz and had help with all my things- two cuitcases, a backpack and my sidebag, my comfortor and my guitar. I knew right away I would grow to love this little city, very quickly. It looks so old compared to Warsaw, the buildings are all beautiful and I feel like I'm back at least 60 years in time. The cobblestone roads and many colored buildings with the river running right through it is enough to make me never want to leave. :) My apartment is soooo big. So darn big. I actually have a kitchen now that is bigger than a meter by a meter. We have three huge rooms and our shower is a gift from above. It hadn't been vaccumed since August. Yup. August. It was gross in that sense. The vaccum had broken and we bought one yesterday that actually works and I wnet to town on that bad boy during lunch break. Ha. My bed is way comfortable and it['s a good deal there.> E. Dan Jones, originally form Fresno California, but now from Alpine, Utah, is in the same group as Elder Daly and has been in the country for around 16 months. He has a little bit less than 8 to go I think. He speaks great and is a way easy going guy. I'm glad I get to be his comp.- I miss E.McRae's guts just cos we were way good buddies and we had a good groove going, but I know we can get it to go well here as well. We get along really well, he's easy going about food, he wants to work and he kinda knows how the Zone Leader thing works, just cos he's been around a lot of Zone leaders, so that is helpful. He teaches really well and I have no doubt I will learn tons from him. Definitely a blessing. > THere is so much to tell I really could write to you all day, so I'll give you some info on a couple of really neat experiences I've had thus far and then answer your questions pop :) > Neither E.Jones or I have ever been here to Bydgoszcz, so we both came in here never knowing any of the investigators or members, but it's been a pleasant surprise explorting both of these categories. > We met with the only progressing investigator, Marek. We had to travel a good ways out to his house to set up with him, cos he didn't have a phone. On the second try trying to set up, we caught him at home and set up for yesterday. Our meeting was amazing. The spirit was most definitely present and I felt it so strongly because he knew it was true. He felt like the Book of Mormon was of course from God and that this Church is true. MY favorite was his own personal statement that "if people here don't listen to you, it's because they are afraid of the truth that you have. Because this is true." I for somereason felt like I'd never meet someone this prepared on my mission. We're asking him tonight to get baptized.> Another man, Blazej, came into our meeting, having no intention to rad the book of mormon or pray or anything. At the end of our meeting we agreed to meet after a month so that he could read the entire Book of Mormon and pray about it, and then we will meet. So amazing :)> A newly converted member, Zaneta, it one of the sweetest most tender souled people I have ever met. The last elders that were here (Elder Thomas and Edmunds) baptized her and she loves them and is so thankful to be a member. She currently lives in a shelter for single mothers who need financial help, but she does not belong there. She is an amazing woman with such spiritual strength and so much love for life. We traveled out there last night to visit her- it was the second time we had met her - and I could feel how much she loves the Gospel. She has a lot of hope, and to be honest, I don't know excactly what we can do to help her, but we will be here. I'll think of something. She has a 2 year old son, Czarek, and he is a little firecracker of energy and we're already buds. Love the little guy. > Church is in this AMAZING old looking building and the second my eyes laid sight on it I was so darn happy that was our building. You'll see when I send pictures ( which I'm reaaaaaly working on, promise!). Sunday morning, when I walked in the Building, a young boy and his sister came up and greeted me, with the fist punch and treated me just like I had been there for ages. The other members were just as friendly and I was amazed. The branch here functions so well- it would be just fine with out Missionaries...which is a way wierd concept up in Poland. But they are amazing. Sunday school and priesthood ran like a normal ward at home, minus the numbers. But it's just a matter of time and some intense missionary effort to add those numbers. Truly though, I was amazed and am so excited to be part of the Branch. A little intimidated even, cos they;'ve seen so many missionaries come and go, who they love and remember I hope I can live up to that. Lol we'll see. > One more thing, about last night's meeting with Zaneta. I had been thinking a lot about how we got to get some way good numbers as ZL's, we've got to set the example, bring the most, do the best and whatnot. And I kind of was focusing on numbers more than not. But as we met with Zaneta and she expressed how the Church had changed her life, how she had so much hope and love because of this Gospel, I realized how much more important it is to find those who are ready, those who need this Gospel and will accept it, then any numbers. True, the numbers are indicators of success and guide us, but the people those numbers represent cannot be properly expressed and accounted for by any mark on a paper. > Bydgoszcz is quite from from Warsaw, a four hour Train ride away. In the zone, the cities are decently far away, 2-3 hours away for each city. Szczecin might even be around 4. As a Zone Leader, I take calls in everynight, take numbers for the whole zone on Sunday evening, set the example as far as what is ok to do or not, we are in charge of the funds for the zone, and it all must be accounted for (travels, government costs to be legal, and so many more things), we go on exchanges with all the District leaders twice a transfer, and I'm sure I'll find out more. We have a Zone Leader training meeting this Thursday out in Warsaw, followed by our District Conference in Warsaw on Sunday. I'll get to stay with E.McRae this Wednesday night which'll be sweet. I feel like in a way Zone Leader can be an amazing way to serve your fellow missionaries and build the unity in your Zone and fire to work hard. It can be as big or as little of a responisbility as you make it, to a point of course. > Other missionaries reaction...not to much of one? It's young that's for sure, but it's how the Lord wants it I guess. No one is really shocked or hatin' or anything. It's good lol. > The city is just amazing. I haven't been here long enough to check the "digs" but there is this Nalesniki place (crepish things) called Manekin. It is beyond description in it's amazingness. So glorious. Hope that answers most of the quesitons pop :) I had no idea you were a Zone leader at 8 months, or at all. And you trained at 6? I gotta say pop, and ma, when I was there first night in Bydgoszcz away from everything that I had grown accustomed to and Loved, having to take on more responisibilites, not having my buddy McRae, I would have given anything to call you and talk. I can't thank you enough for the support and love you give me. Pop I can't wait to talk to you about your mish more when We have the chance. that'll be the best :) > Well I must wrap it up. It is so good here. I'm so blessed to see this Gospel change people's lives here in Poland and I pray I'll have the chance to see several people's lives change. I know there are several who are ready to hear it here in Bydgoszcz. Just have to search em out :) Keep praying hard, reading scrips and trying to be like Jesus. Christ like attributes are a sure way to happiness for yourself and those all around you- we'll strive our whole lives to achieve them, but the happiness comes in the trying, failing and trying even harder the next time :) I love you fam, and friends thank you all for writing me, I'm trying my best to write back! Ma, can you give me Tayla merrills address? Please lol. Love you fam :) To next week! > > > - Starszy Michael j Rushton > AND DON"T FORGET YOUR FAVORITE SCRIPTURE!!!! Please :) if Grandma and Grandpa would give their favorite Scripture too, that woudl be amazing :)>

The Rush, has left the big buildings :P

Dearest FAMILY! I'm writing to you from Warszawa for the last time in probably a good while! And it has been an amazing week to say the least :) It's been jam packed with Zone Conference, and TRANSFERS!!!!! SO here is the news....the second city for Elder Rushton.............is......................BYDGOSZCZ!!!!!! Haha i'm imagining you reading this outloud and getting to the climactic part and then not really knowing how to say that city's name lol. One would say it BID-GO-SH-CH. And I am so darn excited!!!! President called us Sunday evening and let E.McRae know that he would be going Zone Leader over the South Warsaw Zone (so he's living just where our Zone Leaders used to live, on Kabaty). And then he asked to talk to me, and told me I would be going to Bydgoszcz with Elder Dan Jones, as a Zone Leader. Which is pretty crazy stuff. Thus far in my mission Zone Leaders have been the people I've looked up to because their so wise and teach so well and speak Polish so well...and I don't really feel like I'm close to that level that my Zone Leaders are, but I know the Lord will qualify me, for sure. President told me he has complete faith in me and I know that It'll just be amazing. Part of being Zone Leader is the perk of going on exchanges with the District Leaders in the Zone- the cities in my zone are Gdansk (Elder Meachem is District LEader there now for the last two months of his mission!...and it's ridiculously beautiful there) Poznan, and Szczecin. It's the North-West zone, and I'm stoked out of my mind. Gooooooodness gracious :) I'm way excited to just be in Bydgoszcz cos I've heard just the greatest things about it- word on the street is that the Branch there is the most self functioning Branch in Poland (without Americans and whatnot). It's a small guy- not half as many people - only 360,000. Tiny compared to Warsaw. I'll know that city so well, makes me smile just thinking about it :) It's just an added privelege and responsibilty to be Zone Leader up there, and to tell you the truth, I think I'll learn more from all the District Leaders I'll be with than they'll learn from me. Maybe that's how the Lord Planned it eh :) My comp, E.Jones, was here in North Warsaw my first two months. He's a way nice guy, he was E.Daly's companion in the MTC lol. My excitement is uncontainable at this moment ha.It's been an amazing week, but a wierd one with the thoughts of leaving Warsaw on my mind. This place has been my home. I'm been here In Warsaw for so long, and I'm so comfortable with the Branch, the members there and I love em so much, leaving feels like leaving home again. That whole anticipation I had when I first got into Poland rises again into my stomach everytime I think about jumping on a train and heading to my new home. It'll be such an experience. I truly do feel so blessed, to have been here for as long as I was, and to go somewhere as amazing as Bydgoszcz. Mmmm just the sound of it...Bydgoszcz. One More time. Byd. Gosz. Cz baby. We've had a couple of amazing experiences this week that were great to have this last week here to say the least.First off we had this amazing lesson with this lady and her daughter. Jola and Natalia, respectively. I believe I talked about them last letter, but to recap, we had tried to get in touch with them so many times and after many mixed up phone numbers, conversations with Jola's mom, and a lot of phone tag, we finally talked with her and she was SO happy to meet with us. We finally made it out to her house and they truly were kind as could be. She has probably the nicest apartment I've seen yet in Poland, and she invited us in and we just talked. She brought out her Book of Mormon from when the missionaries had visited with her Four years ago and asked us about it and we talked about it. And about Joseph Smith. It wasn't the most formal lesson, but the Spirit was there and I knew right then that these people will be Baptized. I don't know how soon it will be, but It will happen. As we left, we set up a time to come back, which is tomorrow. She's making us soup :) She gave us these Capri Sons as we left (another sign that she is chosen, jk :P) and we just rejoiced as we left. Such a good feeling :)Tomek continues to progress; I truly do feel love for the man. He is so good hearted and wants to do the right thing...it's just hard to know when someone isn't going to be willing to do the truly hard thing and make the big changes...for Tomek that change is going to Church. I'm really glad E.McRae is going to be here to watch over these investigators. Gives my heart comfort.By far the craziest thing of the week was when we ran into Edyta this week. I'd talked about Edyta tons, earlier, but her time was completely consumed with taking care of her heavily drug and achohol addicted cousin. For the past two months, since right after new years, we had 1 phone conversation, where she told me the above info, and that was it. A week ago, she called out of the blue. She told us that she thinks about us all the time and that she really does want to meet, she just is so busy with her cousin and it's putting a heavy burden on her. We understood, and I told her that I probably was leaving Warsaw, and she said we would meet before I left. We told her we would call on the 10th and set up. It broke my heart that we had not met in so long, becaus Edyta is such a quality person. She is sympathetic, has so much love in her heart and truly wants to just be a decent person and it's impossible for me not to admire that. Sooo--story two begins.We're contacting down this street, and we stop this Older, heavy-set man dressed nicely, and started to talk to him. We told him that we wanted to give everyone the chance to read the Book of Mormon and that it was even for free, but we had to meet first. For some reason, the man truly wanted the Book of Mormon right at that moment. We said we'd give it to him after we met. The man started to get frustrated. I saw out of the corner of my eye, a woman standing there a few feet off. I turned my head and found that it was Edyta! Just waiting for us to finish the conversation. With each passing minute she came closer and eventually she was there, talking to the man with us. The man was getting SO frustrated that E.McRae would not give him the Book of Mormon for free, right than, and I was confused, cos the man was dressed nice and seemed like a very dignified character, but boy, was he just persistent. I felt like we should just give it to him, but E.McRae was worried we'd look like fools after persisting on meeting first. I was lost with what to do. Edyta pulled me aside and said "I think maybe, if you have one, we should give him one. I think he could use it." I agreed and went and gave him the Book of Mormon, the last one we had on ourselves, which we had been saving for a lady with whom we were meeting with that day. I let him know the situation and told him, that he really needs to read this book. He said he would, 100 percent. He told us how he had been poor as can be, not even any socks or shoes on his feed and that he doesn;t take anything free for granted. He told us with tears in his eyes. Edyta understood him really well and sympathized with the man and we consoled him and he eventually left. It was really so strange, and there's even more to the story but already this page is so long lol.Edyta talked to us more and said she had spotted us because of my Red hair and had come over to say hello. She texted us a couple times over the next couple of days, just reflecting on that experience and I texted her back, adn we communicated a little more that way. It was such a pleasure to see her and I hope E.McRae gets to meet with her some more- she will be baptized. The last visit at the Herman's was grand. They gave elder McRae and I both these really nice books about Poland and fed us Spaghetti and PIckle soup. Delish :) I do love them. I'll see them again, no doubt in my mind. I think Ola Herman wil lbe baptized very soon. :) We spent Saturday with Artur, taking him to Sports Saturday and then to a Baptizm. It was really good for him, just to get away from video game land and playing some sports. He loved it. It was really good for him. Irina came to church on Sunday and I told her I was probably leaving. She was quite sad and I was quite sad to say goodbye. She will remain active, i hope and pray. She's an amazing lady, she is. We met with another past investigator, Lukasz, the young cool kid. It went really well, McRae will teach him still too.Tonight, we're going to see Phantom of the Opera, in Polish at the Theatre here. And Tomek is going with us! ha how cool is that!?!?!? We bought tickets a few weeks ago and our whole district is going. So excited! I'll let you know how it is :) I hope i understand some things lol. We're working during the day to compensate for our Play at night. Very neat :)I've got to leave you all now. I love you so much and you all sound so amazing. I love this gospel and the work I am so blessed to be able to do. SPencer and Annie, I hope you have the best bIrthdays in the World. I can't believe how old you are. That is insane. I'll be thinking of you all day :) Can you all do me a way important favor? Send me your ultimate ultimate favorite scripture that just inspires you. To next week :) SO much love.Elder Michael Rushton :)

Sunshine on the Streets and The Embassy of Good Taste‏

FAM!!! I don't have tons of time today to write this one, so i'm gonna get as much down as I can :) I don't feel like I have too much to write, but no doubt stuff will come to me as I go. :) Firstly, the ceremony looks and sounds like it was the world's greatest event. I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it so much. I would have loved to be there; the fam looks so good! Ma, your hair looks rockin when it's long too :) I can't wait to see the DVD lol. It'll be nice. Thanks ma for the recipie's! I look forward to making something smaczne. Soccer sounds so fun for the girls and spence, i remember those choir concerts so well ha. Way fun times ;) Pop, I hope San Francisco is treating you well :) Last time I was at the Herman's, the daughter who is Sarah;s age, Agata, had a San Francsico shirt on, and I told her, I used to live there! I love being able to claim that. :P Ok really don't have much time....- the weekly report from the land of milk, honey and hot paczki....POLAND!!!! The transfer is winding down WAY too fast! I don't have a single clue where I'll be going yet, but I did talk with Prez this week and he did say that I'm leaving for sure. I'll know by next P-day for sure. I just realized that my little brother and sister are going to be having their Birthdays the day before transfers, and Annie's is on Transfer day! Crazyness lol. You all are getting waaaay too old. You all looked so darn attractive in those pictures; that's my family ;) But I'll know next P-Day and you'll have the news. There's some rumors going around where i'll be going, but I don't want no bad mojo by assuming that'll i'll be there...not that bad mojo gets in the ways of the Lord, but ya know. It's been bitter called, save it be these last two days, the sun has crawled out from hiding and graced us all with it's glorious presence. It is so beautiful to see a little sun these days. Just yesterday, we spent 90% of the day outside, just talking to people, which can be totally miserable, but also the greatest thing in the world when there's a little sun shine :) Honestly, for the last couple of weeks, I thought to myself that I do not have the power to get these Polish people to listen to me. People are in a hurry, it's cold, I have a wierd accent and a limited vocabulary, and so on. But this last week, the Lord has blessed us as a companionship in a big way. Yesterday in particular, as the sun was shining, we talked to so many neat people, who listened and were intersted, either in the Gospel, or this Stop Smoking program we have. It was the best. This one lady in particular, who was sitting on a bench in this park, watching her child play, chatted with us for a while. At first she wasn't interested at all, but as she discovered more about us, who we represent, and our goal here to share this gospel, she gladly agreed to set up with us. I walked away from that conversation with a pretty good idea of how a "chosen soul" or "golden investigator" would look like. It was so great.Polish people can be so darn cool if you're real with them. It's one of the things that Elder Broadbent just recently shared with me. Poles love it when you are genuinely yourself and let them know why something is important to you. They are respectful people and if they are at least a little interested at all, they will set up with you. A lot of people don't give you the time of day, and that's their loss, but those who do, are legit. Legitamitely cool. On the investigator page, Tomek is still progressing. We had a chance to watch the Testaments film with him and several other investigators and missionaries this last Sunday night. He understands and speaks english enough that we were able to enjoy that together. That film has some real power to it, i'll tell you. Especially as Christ shows himself to the Nephites and Helam is healed. His reaction is so powerful and I think, for the first time, I realized how powerful it is, that Christ, the son of God himself showed himself to these people, and that he will one day soon come again to us in all His love and glory. I prayed that Tomek felt the impact of that all. We met this lady, Barbara, (which sounds so darn funny in Polish. It's like bar bar a, but they roll their R's real hard....and yah probably gonna just have to hear it someday lol.) and she is one of the kindest and most genuine ladies I have met here in Poland. She set up with us, showed up and we met in this little Kawiarnia and drank hot cocoa and talked about the Gospel, why we are here and what the Gospel means to us. She is very excited to meet and I'm excited to get to teach her before I leave good ol Warsaw. We also finally set up with this lady, Jolanta, and her daughter Natalie, who is like 8 years old. We didn;t have the right number for Jolanta at first, but we did have her mothers, and her mother who is just a really cool lady, gave us Jolanta's number. When we called, she was sooo excited to meet! We called last night just to make sure about our meeting, and little Natalie answered the phone- there's just something about little children speaking this ridiculously hard language of Polish that hits my soft spot- I have so much hope for this mother and her daughter and pray with all my heart that they will join this gospel fold. We'll let you know how that will all go :)There's this group of teenager, 20 year old's who we call the Gothic Nation. They play guitar a lot in centrum so they can go...i dunno, they never make enough money to do anything with it lol. But we had a whiteboard where they were playing and I had talked to a couple of the less- gothic ones and actually got their numbers, and then I went over there and talked to them. The kid playing handed me the guitar and I played a Brand New song for them lol. And then I went back to whiteboarding. Lol show the Gothic nation that the Mormons got some skills. :PWe had a sports saturday this last saturday and Ola Herman went there, which was a major breakthrough! It was at the North Chape, and it was a ping-pong/fooseball tournament. Ola hung out with this young member girl, Nasa (she's mongolian but has lived here forever) and now their major buddies! I talked to Nasa on Sunday and Nasa said that Ola has so many questions about the church and I was just so stoked. Maybe I was here to get her started on hearing the Gospel. I think so :) This could be the start of the whole family! You, family will no doubt meet the Herman's when you come to pick me up. YOu will love them. They are amazing!In other news, yesterday, while contacting, we found the best paczek in the world. It costs 5 ZLOTS for 1 paczek. But they are worth it. The Cukiernia (Sweet Shop) where we bought it is called (in Polish) The Embassy of Good Taste. That's right. They have an Embassy of Good Taste and i bought a 5 zlot paczek there. And loved it :PI went on exchanges with E.Whipple- such a wise man. We had some good meetings and E.Whipple, who found Tomek, had a meeting again with him and taught him so well. I learned a lot about speaking from the heart and saying what you know to be true, while applying that to the scriptures. Way powerful. We also celeberated the Mongolian New Year with this family. It was a blast lol. I have to end it at that Family. I love you so much I can't even tell. Having Faith leads to miracles. Faith is the key to allowing God to use his power here on Earth. I'm so impressed how you, Spence and Sarah still fasted even when you didn't have to. That;'s honorable and I have know doubt you'll be blessed :) I love you all so much- can't wait til next week. Have an amazing one and remember I love you and the Polish people need your prayers :)- Starszy Michael J. Rasztyn :P

Snow on the ground, enough panczki to go around, a few lost souls found. And that's why I'm taking creative writing when I come back down, yah. :P‏

Dearest Fam :)Another week down- I can't believe it has flown so fast. Lol at least it always seems like that as I write you this letter :P It's been white and beautiful as can be down here. I'd say the prettiest I've seen it all winter for sure. The only real chapel we have here, in North Warsaw, has a big park full of trees, leading into a Cemetery. The entire park is just covered by several inches of snow and I couldn't get enough of it :) Funny to imagine the weather back home lol. I get plenty of sympathy from the Poles here whenever they ask me where I'm from - funny stuff. Life sounds good back at home - I can't believe that ceremony is happening so soon- That is too rad pop :) I do wish I could see it, that is for sure. Please send pictures! Please send pictures in general lol, I love those rectangular pieces of eye-candy. :P Ma, I can only imagine your pushing yourself to the limit, per usual. Whenever I feel like I've pushed myself past the limit, I eat a paczek. Which is like the missionary form of relaxing :P The Lord will always be helping you- the mission is one place where you get used to being "knocked off your kilter" and after it happens a few times, you realize that the fastest way to catch your feet is to ask the Lord for help, to put your head down and be ready to do what he wants (which usually in missionary land involves working hard, doing the best things, even when they may the harder things.) I know you're doing just beautifully ma. You always do :) I do want to see the new hair too, lol. I saw that it was getting a little longer, I thought it was great, lol kind of funny too. Looks great either way :) Pop, I can only imagine how stoked you are for your upcoming ceremony. Enjoy it :) It's so good to hear you have so much more free time. I can only imagine how the siblings love that. I love reading all my buddies e-mails every week because it opens my eyes to how many different problems there are in each individual country. I feel like Troy and I are in the same boat often with our investigators or the random people we talk to and this week I feel the exact same thing in regards to people on the street spitting out the same reply- that the Catholic church is the true church and that is the end of it,...! Those who take the chance to see something else find out that this church, the one that bears his name, is the True Church of Christ. I've been thinking a lot about what I could say to these people to at least give reading the Book of Mormon a chance, but so far my best solution is to talk to as many people as I can until one of them is ready to change, at least a bit :) We've been on the street quite a bit this week - not a whole lot of meetings sadly- our investigators were bailing left and right lol. But yesterday, after a tough week- number wise (we felt like we had truly worked hard and just came short) we found some very ideal investigators. One man in particular, a Polish man who had moved to Australia when he was very young and had come back for business for a couple of months, said that he was proud of us and glad that we were here. He said the Poland needs the gospel, needs a church that is more then simply going to church, and then never thinking about God again until the next Sunday. It was enlightning though- this Polish man had the chance to see something outside of Poland, truly experience how another culture work and was proud of us now and appreciated us and is even going to meet with us. Kind of random, but way cool. :)This transfer is winding down SO FAST! In a mere 6 days, I will have been in POland for an entire half of a year. All in Warsaw lol. Elder Meachem pretty much told me that I'm out of here so I'm kind of getting excited to leave and see somewhere else, but truth be told I will miss this place so dearly. It's home to me here. We had interviews this week- I know you like to hear about em pop :) He's always so complimentary, but so sincere at the same time. How were your interviews with your president pop? Were they more formal or informal, or how? Also i'd love some more of your journal entries from the mish :) President did say as I was walking out the door that he had a "surprise for me" at transfers. President then took us out to lunch for our District Standard of Excellence lunch - some way nice Italian restuarant. It was amazing, and so darn expensive lol. We're still meeting two times a week with Tomek- he decided he didn't want to have a set baptismal date- the man is really knowledge oriented more then feeling, and he doesn;t quite feel ready to be baptized. Doesn't feel qualified enough, which is a bummer. We're trying so hard to help him feel qualified enough and to recieve the kind of answer he wants, but it all comes down to his own desire. Please pray for him. Irina is doing great- her son is quite the trial right now. She didn;t make it to church this last sunday because Artur had lied to her about his grades and homework- turns out he's putting out some smelly grades and she freaked out and stayed and had to talk it out with him. She promises she's coming this week to church. Whenever we call Irina, it's E.McRae and mine's favorite thing to hear her say, without fail "How are you doing?" In this way funny, but identical way, every single time lol. So good :) She really is doing just find though. She has a visiting teacher who is on the ball. Money :) This last friday, we visited this couple who E.McRae had visited when he was a greenie here in North Warsaw (we're in South now). They absolutely love the Missionaries - they are not memebers, but right when the church was started, this couple, Stanislaw and Emilia, would clean the missionaries apartments, do their laundry and cook for them! South America status! So darn kind. When we went over there, they just welcomed us in with so much energy andf excitement. Emilia reminds me of Joni, mama Grossman :) SO much energy and love for life and just so friendly. (Love you mama grossman, I'll write you soon, I promise!) She was just so funny though- she's 70 years old as well as her husband, and they had played in this band together all over Chicago and Europe with their family. Emilia busted out the pictures immediately and we had a great time. She made us this amazing Polish dish with some beef stew thing with potatoes and veggies and mmmmmmmmmm! And then Stanislaw played piano for us. I decided to start praying that I can play the Piano as well as stanislaw does when I am 70 years old. The mans fingers fly like hummingbirds wings over those keys! I played for him, my Glory song and a rendition of We THank thee o God for a Prophet. He thought my Glory song was a "hit American song! You must keep writing!!!" :P Definitely a smile-sparker. They asked E.McRae to pray before we ate, and then before we left, Stanislaw prayed for us, such a beautiful prayer. And Emilia made sure that he prayed for us to return to their home soon :) Way sweet. It was good to feel so much love :)The Herman family continues to do so well. We can only stay at their house for an hour and Alicija gets so frustrated when we have to leave so soon- Brat Herman understands our schedule, the rest of the fam not so much, but we have a master plan to get them all to church very shortly, I hope it works :) All the missionaries made cookies for the members- each companionship made around 100 cookies each. We wrapped them up all nice on Saturday and distributed them on Sunday and the members were so happy :) I don't know if members in the States would trust missionary cooking but they loved it so much here- we're just trying to build solid relationships with all the members, trying to meet with them so that we can become more acquainted and they don't feel bad when we tell them how they can be most effective with us on a lesson...( some members feel the need to throw down some intense Heavenly Mother status doctrine in the first lesson lol). Way sucessful though. We got let in twice again this week because we had to use the bathroom. Lol it feels kind of lame using the excuse that we really gotta go to get into someone's house, but sometimes people who would listen are a little put off by the knocking on door tactic. Some really good conversations though :) Hmm..ok Polish lol. The language is ridiculously hard! A man gave a talk yesterday- actually the same Mongolian man who drove us while I played piano in his van - and he's lived here for like 10 years and STILL he made a couple of grammar errors that I caught. Crazyness! I honestly think i'm getting along pretty darn well though. People always are saying their are amazed that i've only been here for 5 months and know so many words and how the endings work and all. Half the time I think their just being kind lol. But i understand so much more now- newspaper articles are still pretty tough, but i can get a good gist of what's going on- road signs, random signs ads, whatnot i'm getting pretty good at. I understand PMG pretty much fluently, only missing a word here and there. I love the language to death. I can roll my R's like a native chilean :P E.McRae told me that i speak at least 3 times as good as he did when he was my age. That was a major compliment from E.McRae. He doesn;t throw those bones too often lol. Speaking of Newspaper - Kielce, the city McRae opened, just published an awesome, majorly pro Article about our church! So rad! I think that is the latest in mission news :) OOO!! Last thing. This last thursday, was Tluszczy Czwartek. Fat Thursday! It's the day before lent, and everyone eats as many Paczki as they can! People everyone are selling them for dirt cheap lol. (I wonder if Jimmy has had a paczek?) E.McRae and I, who are trying to obtain figures of manliness that the Hoolies here would be afraid of, ate a mere three paczek a piece. One sister ate 20! Yes, she is still a live. Ok that is the news :) All is so good here. We're working hard so that the Lord will bless us with some solid new investigators and I feel that he has. We hope to have some new and promising investigators before this transfer ends. I'm sorry these things are long as can be, but a lot happens up here in the Eastern Side of Europe lol. Everyday i gain more of a testimony that this work is God's. Don't be afraid to have faith, about anything. The Lord blesses those who have righteous desires and follow his commandments. Especially in missionary work, the Lord acts through Faith. True story :) I love you fam so much. Have fun at that ceremony, I'll be thinking about you all :) - Starszy Rushton, Michael, your son and brother.