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