I love Poland!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

I have so much to tell you and no time! Ahhh!! :) We are going to visit the beautiful city of KRAKOW for our Preparation Day today, and I'm so excited! We will be visiting Wawel Castle, the Rynek, some different museums and cathedrals, and I can't wait to send you all pictures next week! :) So... We will be leaving to Krakow soon, so I have to do this email speedy fast! Lightning fingers! Here we go! :)

This week was AMAZING!!! There are so many highlights that I could talk about! We'll see how many I have time to mention :)

So, first! Our investigator Priscilla, and her boyfriend Mickey. They are wonderful, oh my goodness. I absolutely love them, and I love teaching them. They are so spiritual, AND the lessons are in English (they are from America, they are just here for Med. School!) so I can actually understand what they say! It is wonderful for me, because I have a personal relationship that is difficult for me to have with our Polish investigators because of the language barier. But hey, I will get there. :) But anyway, this week we taught Priscilla and Mickey about Tithing and Fasting. It was the most wonderful lesson! We spent the first little bit of the lesson just talking to Priscilla about her feelings, and she shared with us many thoughts and experiences she has been having recently. I was very humbled to know that she trusts Siostra Johnston and I to confide in us the way she did, and we had a wonderful conversation about faith at the beginning. :) So, the lesson went very well, and Siostra Johnston and I were able to share some personal experiences we have with the blessing of tithing, and Mickey even shared an experience! (he is a member! Just in case I forgot to mention that! He just hasn't been active for a while.) His experience was so special. Then, we asked Priscilla if she would pray to end our lesson, and she said yes, even though she was very nervous. But man, that woman is so amazing! Her prayers are so personal, and she is such an example to me. Every time she prays it is like she is having a conversation with God. I love it so much. But, I will never forget what she said in this prayer. She said, "Thank you very much for these wonderful meetings. I always feel so warm. And, Father..." then she paused for a while and said really timidly, "Father, I think I do know that this church is true." And I was a bit embarrassed afterwards because as soon as she said that, the tears just started comin'!! The spirit was so strong, and I couldn't hold them back. After her prayer, she looked at me and smiled, and I just gave her the biggest hug. The love Heavenly Father has for her is incredible, and I can feel it every time I am with her. If only I could bottle up the spirit we all felt when she said those 10 words... :) The Church is true, and nothing brings me more joy than seeing the people I love come to know that for themselves. :)

Okay, I don't have much time left, but I'll just share a quick funny story! So, we were doing a little contacting activity with our Elder's, and Siostra Johnston and I had just finished talking to a very nice lady. She walked away, and all the sudden this old man practically ran over to us! We greeted him, and he just kept saying, "Wow, you two are beautiful! Beautiful hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful face, and cute matching hats!!" (We have matching beanies :) ) And so Siostra Johnston and I just looked at each other like, "Oh great, we caught another frog." (That's what we call the creepy men here in Poland ;) ) But oh man... He turned out to be the BEST MAN EVER! I'll have to just tell you all the short version, but basically he made us guess how old he was, so of course we said 45 because he looked 70! But he told us he owns a kind of "cultural center" where he teaches a dance class, they do acting classes, you know things like that! Then, he told us his students always think he is 18 or 20, and he told us he is 90!! NINETY! And here he is running around, dancing, wearing this nice suit... That is one awesome 90 year old. ha ha! Then he stuck his hand out to me, so I went to shake his hand, and he just grabbed my hand and spun me right around in the middle of the street! ha ha ha! I was cracking up... Oh my goodness, he completely made my day! And he just kept calling Siostra Johnston and I "My beloved" (in Polish of course. That is what all the old people call us... It's so cute!! :) ) And he gave us candy, and invited us to tea and his dancing class, and it just made my whole day. :)

So, there's a little funny story for you! This week was also "Fat Thursday"! (Quite possibly my new favorite holiday... ha ha!) Basically Polish donuts (paczki) go on sale for super cheap, and everyone just eats as many Paczki as they can!! It's great!! So, us and the Elder's had an awesome time with that :) There really is an amazing story to why the Poles celebrate this, but I don't have any time to tell you all...

I'm sorry I have like no time today... But this week was incredible. I have so many amazing spiritual experiences to tell you all, and no time to do it... But I'll just have to tell you all when I get home!

I love you all, and hope you have the most amazing week!!

Zawsze,

Siostra Kamp

Katowice has the most beautiful sunsets...and stars.  Don't even get me started on the stars!

There are Catholic churches like this around every bend! Poland is the Catholic version of Utah! :) (LDS Church buildings everywhere you look! haha!)​

FAT THURSDAY!!!

Siostra Johnston's sandwhich was the size of her face!! :)

Poland has amazing history, and so many statues of rememberance. This is one in our town square, dedicated to the soldiers who died defending the city of Katowice from Hitler and his armies... ​

  I got a packaggggggge :) I love my family!!!!!