Tarnowskie Góry & Day of the Dead‏

Dear Family :)Thank you so much for the letters. Super exceptionally good today! I loved them so. I appreciate the guidance Pa and Ma. It helps tons. There have been some amazing developements with Ela, that I'll write about in a second here, but teaching her is amazing because she really is so rational. She is so open to spiritual truth, and though she really likes scriptural support, she is very open once we show her such scriptural support and ask her to pray about it. There have been a couple instances where we have taught her something about the Plan of Salvation and then backed it up with scriptural proof, and she just says, "wow... That is unbelievable. I've read these scriptures my whole life but never knew that truth." Especially with the Book of Mormon, which she believes is Truth all the way, it makes the teaching unbelievably fun, and uplifting. So, I especially appreciate that bit of background Father. Mom, Ania will appreciate your words of comfort and help. She's doing better and better daily. We've just got to have a good lesson with her. You sound like you're dominating with sports! How darn fun is that! Snap, I wish I could see some of these games. One of these weeks, maybe three weeks ago, we went to see Sebastian play in a soccer game, and Elder Strobehn and I both agreed that it made us miss watching our siblings play soccer and football and other things. Very rad Sarah with the Championship :) I was just thinking about Uncle John this week- he came down to SPencer's game? With his Girlfriend...? Poproszę o informacę! Info please! :PWell Family, to tell it to you straight, this week rocked my face off for a couple reasons. Firstly, I traveled practically across the entire planet. First to Warsaw at 8 o clock at night, got to bed at about 12. Woke up at 4 to catch my 7.30 plane to London. I sat in the London airport for 9 hours.....AHHHHH!!!!! I tried on like 80 pairs of Sunglasses in the Harrod's store there. I looked...amazing. :P Just kidding, they were sweet though. I read a lot, and I sat a lot. I ate real cheesecake and drank a liter of chocolate milk, and then I got back on my Plane to my home. I talked to a couple of amazing Polish people on the plane home. It's crazy how when I don't here Polish for a few hours I start to miss it a lot. When I heard this father and his daughter speaking Polish next to me, I had to talk to them. Polish is simply fun. I love it :) I made it home from England, stayed the night with the Assistants, and then the next morning was the Leadership Conference at the Wolska Chapel (the only real chapel in Poland). It was a grand conference, at the end of which we ate REAL MEXICAN FOOD! That was a treat :) Real sourcream and guacemole. How delish! There also was an Opera Singer from Utah, ( a member) who was singing at the International Opera in Warsaw. He came and sang for us. He was amazing. Really loud too ha. The worst part about that day was that I couldn't go home yet because I had to take care of one more thing the next morning. So my district left back to my beloved Zion, and I stayed in Warsaw. The next morning, we did that thing I had to do, and then I got on a train back home, and it felt so good to actually be home. :) I was tired and beat, but it was just revitalizing to get back to my city and resume the work. There is so much to be done! I feel like this is simply how missionary work is supposed to be done...we're busy all the time with people we love teaching. It feels like a fairy tale to be honest. :)I left to Warsaw Tuesday evening. That was Friday when I got back. That night we visited Ela and Carlos and then met with Ola, a girl who Carlos had known for awhile, who lives on a Ranch in Tarnowskie Góry. I don't know if I told you that already...I can't differentiate sometimes between these letters and the journal ha. But it was amazing. Carlos is really doing well- he has such a good heart and an amazing desire to share the Gospel with everyone. Half of our investigators are from Carlos. All of them are amazing human beings who want to know about the Gospel. We went back to visit Ola the next day- we were set up for a real meeting with Ela and Carlos that evening (real meeting meanig we actually sit down somewhere and teach as oppose to simply visiting her in her store) after we taught Ola. We made our way to Ola's- we taught her right on her Ranch. It was so sweet. :) We saw her horses, went and petted them, fed them carrots, and then finally we took some chairs, plopped em in the least muddy area, and then we taught the Gospel to Ola, her boyfriend Jarek, and the ranch Owner, Gennig - my nickname for him is Tiny. He is that typical rock of a man, short and stout Pole, and he comes off pretty rough. We sat there and taught the Gospel in the October frost as the sun came down. It was a neat experience. Jarek is an Atheist, but he listened and contemplated. Gennig is a hardcore catholic, but even he found the conversation interesting. Ola, after Jarek and Gennig both left, told us how interested she is and she feels that it could be true. She wants to come to church this Sunday, and we feel she very well may be baptized. :) Half way through that lesson I got a call from Carlos saying he couldn't come pick us up and we couldn't meet, because Ela was feeling sick. We were kinda bummed about that...ok really bummed. We salvaged the evening though- Gennig offered to drive us to the Bus Station (Ela replied to us telling her this story "HE TOOK YOU TO THE BUS STATION? GENNIG? For real?!" with a big smile) and we caught a bus to Ania's house and had a good lesson with them. They said they would come to church the next day. That morning Ela texted and said Natan, her son, wasn't feeling well. We asked if we could come visit them that afternoon. She invited us to her "humble abode". Which is a miracle. Quick Background- we've had conversations about Ela's mom and how she doesn't want anything to do with us, and how her Brother is against us and all this stuff, and we kept saying how we'd love to meet her mother and her sister and her brother, and Ela simply didn't think that would ever be possible. Well, on Sunday we went over there, to Ela's mom's house. Carlos picked us up from the Bus Station. "Woooow Elder! The Lord is really working here, I'll tell you! Woooow!" Love that man's trash. We got there, and had a good lesson with Ela. She had a few questions and we came very prepared. An hour later, her mother and older sister walk in, and are so kind to us. They both come in, we introduce ourselves and talk a bit, and then Ela's mom just starts busting out all types of food from hidden closets and drawers and stuff (Old Polish Babcias hide things in the coolest places). We were talking about having a good time. We set up a meeting with Grażyna, Ela's sister and the next time we come back to Ela's house, her mom is going to make us all this amazing POlish Food! We finally had to leave, which was a bummer. But the day was such a major success. We had another bus-chasing extravaganza, where the bus escaped us and we chased it down in Carlos' car. When the bus was a good 100 yards away caught in traffic, we bailed from the car and ran our brains off! My shoe was untied and as I ran I kicked it off in front of my and caught it, "right in the bread basket!" and then took off, sprinting not on street or cement, but through leaves and rocks and whatnot. We barely made the bus before it took off. We walked in our of breath, me holding my one shoe in my hand, every single person staring at us in bewilderment. "Yah, that's right, we're extreme bus catchers." We met with Ela and Carlos yesterday briefly and Ela was so happy and expressed how happy her family was to meet us. Ela knows the Gospel is true deep in her heart. She talked about it with her Sister and now her sister wants to hear the Gospel. That Family is simply not of this world. We love being around them so much. Every time we teach them, we feel equally built up as they do. That Sunday was the Day of the Dead, and it was quite a treat. After we left ELa's mom's house, we went to Sosnowiec, where Elder Brown and Anderton leave. We walked through this HUGE cemetary, all lit up with candles, placed on the graves of loved ones, by loved ones. It was a overwhelming sight and made me think a lot. It's amazing how many lives had been lived and were remembered just in that grave yard alone. It was very neat. We walked around in the freezing cold, telling a scary story here and there. It was a wonderful evening :) My last day of the dead as a missionary. I have to leave soon, but there's so much to tell.On Sunday we had a sweet Testimony meeting. There's the new Elderly couple, the Neiman's, from Canada. They are really trying to speak Polish and are doing a grand job. Elder Neiman got up to give his testimony, and not feeling fully apt to do it in Polish, asked me to translate and I did. It was powerful, hearing how his great grandparents left Poland to live in Canada, and now here he his, back in his true home Country, preaching the Truth. It was very neat. I myself bore my testimony and it felt so nice. I love those people there. We had a Halloween party set up by Martyna. She is seriously out of this world in terms of being on top of the ball and organizing events well. She did so so well and we had a great little party with tons of members and the missionaries. Very cool :) We've had some good meetings with her lately. It's hard to express how amazing she is, because you don't know the kind of change she's had in her life. It's as 180 as it gets. And you would never even believe that she was anything less than Mother Teresa her whole life. We visited Dominik yesterday in the hospital, for recovering Alchohlics. The kid is making amazing changes himself. He looks so good and he's reading the Book of Mormon and really set on getting baptized as soon as he gets out of the Hospital. As you see, life is good here. I love it more then anything and I can only pray with my whole heart that I stay here next transfer. I'd probably shrivel up if I had to leave.These people are gold, the salt of the earth, and they will be baptized. Please pray for us. We need the courage and the faith to do whatever is necessary for these people, and that is not always easy. Every prayer is so appreciated. Have an amazing week, and remember our Saviour. I love you family so much and am so grateful for this Gospel. I'm so grateful for all my friends who are serving on missions. I love them and am so grateful for them. I just got a package from Jimmy and it is amazing. Love you Jimmy boy so much, and miss you tons. Can't wait to go to Chicago with you :)Love you fam. Remember how lucky you are. I can't ever forget it whenever I think of you and what I'm doing right now. Til next week!z miłością,Elder Mikey Rushton