Transfers & News.

So this past Wednesday was transfer calls, and with it came wind of exciting new changes. We’re getting a new District Leader, I’m changing wards here within Othello (covering 1st and 2nd, now), and the most crazy thing… I AM A TRAINER!

I was casually straightening my hair on Saturday morning, and we got a call from an unknown number. Sister Thompson answers in the other room: Oh! It’s President Lewis! I keep straightening my hair, it’s no big deal, he’s just calling her to talk about going home and stuff. Oh wait. She’s handing me the phone. What? He’s asking me to be a trainer? What?! Ahh! Okay, okay I’ll do it. Ahhhh that poor new missionary. Ahhh I need to pray. Annnnd probably consecrate myself 200% more – not that I’ve been super apostate, but you know. There are only three sisters who are training in the entire mission this transfer, and the Lord wanted me to be one of them! 

So that has pretty much been my mindset for the entire weekend.

“Working” with Sister Thompson this past week has been… interesting. I really don’t have much to report on save only an overwhelming feeling of regret for misused time, and teaching opportunities that went untaken. It has been so hard for both of us. Her, because she’s going home, and me, because she’s going home. (This transfer, for being her last one, actually hasn’t gone too terribly. The most of the struggle really saved itself for this last week alone, which I’m grateful for.)

So as a result, I’ve got a lot of exciting goals for this next transfer! Which is an awesome thing, because I think probably a false sense of security is what has led me not to set great transfer goals in the past. But this transfer is going to be different! #SaidEveryMissionaryEver

There really have been a lot of people that I’ve loved teaching this transfer, though. Like Brandee, a returning member who is SO on fire with the Spirit that we can’t go hardly a day without hearing from her about her reading in the Book of Mormon. And John and Karlie, the children of a member named Johnny in 1st ward. They are so into learning the gospel, and they want to get baptized so bad! Saying goodbye to them when they go back to their mom in Texas this week is going to be so hard. I hope that someday I get to hear that they get baptized 🙂

Anyway, this is super short because I am super distracted. Four elders have joined us in the Family History Center today, and we’re listening to music and talking about stuff. So just know that I am super excited for this week, and this transfer and I am so grateful for the box of food my parents sent me because we have only had 6 member meals in these last 6 weeks.

All my love!

Hermana Mrozek

I. Believe. In. Miracles!!

This week’s entry is going to be super short because I’ve spent SO much time figuring out school stuff, but just know that this week was so much better than last week!

On the theme of school stuff, though, here’s some news:  After interviews with President Lewis, I have been told that my last transfer in the field will be cut in half, meaning that I will return home, most likely, on December 23rd. Meaning that I will get released, most likely, on Christmas Eve. Meaning that I will be able to enjoy, most likely, Christmas & New Years at home before returning to school on January 4th 

I have contacted BYU-Idaho and had my mission deferral moved so that I will be excused for the Fall 2015 semester (this September-December) but expected back for Winter 2016 (January-March). #DoIStillHaveFriends #IsEveryoneMarriedNow #SuperSeniorSwag

With President Lewis’ permission, and having already taken care of everything that I need to as far as making sure I am expected for Winter, I will begin enrolling in classes after/on November 4th! 🙂

My companion leaves for home in a week, and it is SO weird that after her, I’ll have just only 3 transfers left. 3 other potential companions. The “end” side of my mission kind of snuck up on me, and I am struggling really hard to shove away every temptation for trunkiness. (And trust me, being with a dying missionary and trying to figure out school stuff does not make that any easier :p) But as one motivational magnet on my fridge says: “Don’t count the days, make the days count.”

Thank you so much for the prayers and support during this last week, though 🙂 We had a Zone fast on Tuesday, and the blessings were immediate. Our lessons increased, our contacts increased, we had 2 people come to church, we found a new investigator, and have seen so many tender mercies 🙂 Things here still aren’t perfect, but acting in faith and handing it all over to the Lord has made them better.

As far as what transfer calls will bring this coming saturday: it’s anyone’s bet. I have literally never felt more unsure of whether I’ll be staying or going (either way, it doesn’t matter). Both President and Sister Lewis are adamant about me doing Spanish work, but with recent ward confusion/changes out here, they very well could have me and a new hermana take over the spanish ward. So we will see!

Hope everyone is well! Drop me a line when you can! 🙂

It’s My Birthday and I’ll Cry If I Want To

I’ve been out 3 days shy of a year, and this past week has been the hardest of them ALL. Not just for Sister Thompson and I, but for all of us serving here in Othello. In the words of Elder Budica (DL) last night during our weekly reports: Satan was on the attack this week.

Not that it started too terribly. Last P-Day was great. Because we haven’t had any investigators, and all the part member families have been out of town, Sister Thompson and I decided to just go knocking. No big deal. We knocked in the English part of town for 2 hours: two doors opened. One of those was nice to us (and only because we were bringing them their pay check which had been dropped in the road and run over by many cars). Before shutting the door, she accepted a nice, non-restoration themed pass along card, and wished her a good night. We then went and had correlation at our Ward Mission Leader’s house for 1st ward. It was a good night.

On Tuesday we decided that we could be using the Area Book way more effectively to find those who will receive us. (To illustrate how poorly we’re received here: one of our recent converts sent us 15 pages worth of anti-mormon material to prep us for our “lesson” scheduled for Wednesday evening at 5pm) So! during Tuesday afternoon, Sister Thompson and I consecrated some time to pray fervently over the potentials/former investigators to come up with two personal lists for each area book. As we pondered a name, we would only put it down if we felt the Spirit confirm that choice. After we both had our lists, we matched the names and set plans to go visit the people. It was an awesome experience! We didn’t get a lot of finding done at all, though, because that night was completely occupied by PEC/Ward counsel and 3rd ward correlation that didn’t happen on Sunday morning.

Wednesday. Our appointment with our anti-recent-convert fell through. We’d done a lot of preparation and organizing our thoughts, so while we were confident we could keep everything under control anyway, it still felt kind of like dodging a big, angry bullet. We contacted one of the first people on the list, and had our first two lessons of the week! We went to a set appointment with one of our part-member families: Johnny Guerrero is a member, and his two children want to be baptized. (But they can’t be, due to a messy divorce, and a lack of mother support D’: ) While there, he gave us a referral to someone across his street: THE SAME PERSON WE WERE GOING TO VISIT ANYWAY! 😀 All signs pointed to “Yes!”

So we went and contacted her: Valerie. 21 years old. She was so nice! She said she had been taught by mannnnnnyyyy missionaries in the past, which we knew, and that she did NOT want to go to church (which we did not know). Not wanting to give up on a doorstep lesson, though, we went to heaven for an inspired question and asked her if she had ever had the opportunity to hear the words of the living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. She said she’d actually really love to! So we set up the return appointment for my birthday 🙂 She was our first new investigator of the transfer!!

Thursday was kind of a blur. We only got to talk to three people, which was hard. As missionaries, we’re sent to preach the gospel! But without anyone wanting to listen, it can be so hard. We did service at the Food Bank and had to lessons an awesome recent convert and an awesome returning member. We tried to contact more of our area book people, but no answer.

And then, my birthday. Oh man. Hahah I am so thankful for all the people who sent me good birthday wishes, but that day was terrible. Don’t pity me, though. I can laugh about it, now. Here’s just a few things that happened:

• It was a weekly planning day, and you know what so, so, so hard? Planning for investigators you don’t have, and struggling to stay optimistic about a week where each hour is filled with “knock.”
• The appointment with Valerie in the middle of our planning time went well, and at the end, she dropped us cold. Sister Thompson and I might have cried eating the birthday cake she made me as we tried to finish planning.
• I got pooped on by Valerie’s cat. At it stank real bad.
• Definite TMI, but I don’t care: Sister Thompson and I ended up starting our lady times together that afternoon, which added a wonderful moody/hormonal twist to everything. Happy Birthday!
• All of our out-in-the-country-finding activities for the evening fell through on to their face because, I state again, no one is ever home! #TalkToNoOne #WhoNeedsTheRestorationAnyway 😦 😦 😦
• I didn’t get any mail, so the only thing I got was my gift from Aunt Flow 😥 (Haha literally the most pathetic statement ever, but on a day like that, it was a crushing blow.)
• I ended up crying at dinner while the cute old members we ate with sang Happy Birthday to me because they weren’t my mom and dad, and I just wanted my mom and dad.

Haha so that’s how my birthday went. The weather did cool down, though! So that was nice 🙂 It’s been in the 80’s since then 🙂  Plus, the birthday package I got the next day more than brightened everything that happened in the days before. By Sunday, none of our referrals had been contacted despite multiple attempts, and we had only two presents (with the Guerreros) but we’re going to keep on going. We’re making some major adjustments to how we roll, so that we can truly say we tried everything.

But the thing I’ve learned by now is that sometimes the Lord lets us go through hard times so that we can appreciate the good times when they come 🙂 And when we’re brought low, it’s so that He can raise us higher. I’ve learned SO MUCH from being here in Othello, already. I don’t know that I’m necessarily the right missionary for this area, but I think think I needed this area more than it needs me. And if in two weeks I’m supposed to stay: great! Come what may and love it.

Some interesting notes: I might be changing wards here in Othello because recent Stake changes put 1st and 3rd ward meeting at the exact same time, in two different buildings 🙂 Sister Haworth in 3rd ward says that we aren’t allowed to leave 3rd ward, because that just won’t do! Sister Haworth has always reminded me so much of my mom (Rebecca) and when she was leading the music at the special 4-ward-sacrament meeting this week, that sense strengthened about 200% 🙂 Sister Haworth is one of my favorite people here. Along with the Freemans and their 10 awesome kids. Haha correlation at their house is always the best.

Anyway, that’s about it for the week. Hopefully the report is way better next week!

Hermana Mrozek

Can It Be Winter, Again?

I met President Lewis this week! And he and his wife are SO nice! During the meet in greet, I definitely felt the Spirit confirm that I am supposed to be here in the Washington Yakima Mission, and that he supposed to be my mission president!
Just a fun note: before my mission, I worked for over a year in the BYU-Idaho University Relations office. Well, President Lewis was the head of the BYU Provo Public Relations office, so while he’s giving his address, he starts using branding terminology and talking about logos, and I just got so excited! 😀
But, so, an update on the area:
Othello is SO HOT right now.  We’ve been in the 100s for the past two weeks (with no shade, clouds, or breezes). I swear our shoes have started melting to the pavement. So for my birthday, I would please like it to be winter again.

It’s also been a pretty hard week. There’s a lot of things we’ve had to take care of in both of our wards, as far as past missionary conduct and expectations go. We haven’t been making a ton of friends as we’ve upheld the missionary white handbook, but whatever. Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles. And trust me: we are IN NEED of a miracle.

We’re adjusting our finding approach here in Othello. After three weeks, we’ve determined that no one wants to open the door, or take a pass along card, or be nice to us in general. The people that do open the door tell us just how many times they’ve told the missionaries to stop coming back, and when we call people marked as “investigator” in our phone to introduce ourselves, we get hung up on, or told that they’ve moved out of state.

During our weekly planning, however, Sister Thompson and I prayed fervently to know the Lord’s vision for this area. We both had (and still have) the very strong feeling that there is a family being prepared for us here, and that we will be guided to them through the members. And this past Sunday, after 1st ward sacrament, we had a recently returned missionary come up to us and tell us that he has had a friend of his on his mind for the past week. He told us that he taught his friend the restoration, and that his friend accepted the invitation to meet with us. And so did his family. So our appointment with them is set for this next Sunday at 3 o’clock, and Sister Thompson and I are so excited.

A bright and shining moment from this past week, though, was the 4th of July.  We woke up at 4:45am to be able to help register people for the 5k walk/run, 10k run and mile run. It was a VERY hectic, very fun two hours of service. We got to meet the Mayor of Othello! He called us charming young ladies, and I think we won over Trudy (the lady we knocked into that gave us the gig). We were there until around 8:15 when we made our way down to Royal City for the very first Zone Training Meeting that the Washington Yakima Mission has ever seen (in the Stake President’s home). And usually the ZLs, DLs, and STLs get all the trainings from President Ware at MLC, but since there was no MLC this past month due to the split, all of the trainings were planned by them 🙂 It was pretty awesome. No one else in the mission had a Zone Training Meeting, haha, but I guess our ZLs really wanted to keep us out of trouble on the 4th. Attached is a picture of the Othello Zone at our 4th of July Zone Training Meeting 🙂

Not that there was anything to do/anywhere to knock on the 4th, anyway. Everyone in the WHOLE TOWN was in the Lions Park right across from our apartment getting drunk and making a HORRIBLE mess, and decidedly NOT in our area 😦 So we did more One Church Initiative stuff, and made the best of our 4 hours of proselyting time as possible. It wasn’t great.

We came in at 6pm, finished our weekly planning, and then were blessed to have a PERRRFFFEECCTT view of the fireworks show from our kitchen window 🙂 It was the best 4th of July a missionary could ever hope for.

So that’s just a little of what’s been going on around here 🙂

Have a great week, y’all!

Attachments area

 

Farewell, WKM, The Beautiful

This Wednesday is goodbye to the wonderful Washington Kennewick Mission, and hello to the Washington Yakima Mission. This past Saturday, my zone said our last farewells to President and Sister Ware 😥 Attached is a picture. This kind of thing (mission boundary re-assignment) happens all the time. I’ve had a lot of people ask me why I’ve been moved: it’s not that I’m being banished from the WKM, rather that where the Lord needed me for this transfer happened to be within the boundaries of the newly created mission.

President and Sister Lewis arrive in the mission on Wednesday, July 1st at around noon, and at the moment they touch Washington soil, I am officially under their priesthood keys. We have to send in our gas cards today, and in two days, we have to delete all of our Washington Kennewick Mission phone numbers from out of our phone. I am sure going to miss all of the awesome senior couples in the mission office, especially my favoritest of all favoritiest: Elder and Sister Spurgeon!

The new mission office address is:

Washington Yakima Mission

1006 S 16th Ave

Yakima WA 98902 

Please send any and all mail to the Washington Yakima Mission office. And please continue to use ONLY United States Postal Service.

The new mission office phone number is:
(509) 571-1290

The names of the office missionaries are Elder and Sister Call, and Elder and Sister Thompson. 

There is a bunch that has happened this week, and so here’s some bullet points:

• Teaching an English and Spanish lesson simultaneously with a Vietnamese family and a Mexican family who were chilling in their shared lawn together. I had a Libro de Mormon, and Sister Thompson had a Book of Mormon, and we were teaching up a storm together about Christ visiting the Americas. It was one of the best things ever.
• The power of service is about the only thing we’ve got going for us here in Othello. Everyone’s been knocked into MANY times, and everyone usually turns us down hard. BUT! Everyone has also really wanted us to do some free labor for them – so we’re still happy 🙂 Like this cute old lady named Trudy that we met. She is pretty anti-Mormon, and all her co-workers are Mormon so she thought they sent us to her, but when we asked her if there was anything we could do for her, she got all excited and told us that she needs help with the big, Annual 4th of July Festival here in Othello. (Honestly, this town is like being stuck in the middle of Gilmore Girls, and Trudy would probably be the dance instructor lady.) So we’re going to be in the park outside our apartment at 6:30AM to help get people registered for the 5k and 10k races that day. And after that, we’re going to have a zone meeting. So, yeah. Service! 🙂

  We also did service at the Senior Center here in town this week. We went out looking for service, and when we found the Senior Center and went in, they told us we were an answer to their prayers because they had this HUGE funeral luncheon the next day, and their kitchen staff had all gotten sick. So for two hours the next day, Sister Thompson and I plus Elders Budica and Baker were making vats of potato salad, stacks of tuna sandwiches, dozens of deviled eggs, and so much more. It was so fun 😀 And the ladies there have our number and know who to call next time they’re in a pinch like that.

• Sister Thompson and I also had the opportunity to witness the power of the priesthood in action this week. The day we were doing service at the Senior Center, Sister Thompson came down with a flu bug super hard core. We actually had to leave the service opportunity because she had to run out of the room and throw up. But she asked the Elders for a blessing, and she was able to sleep off her illness and get out to work the next day! 🙂

  And on Saturday, I woke up with a HORRIBLE pressure imbalance in my ears, which caused remarkable pain and noise sensitivity. I went through the entire day with my head throbbing and my ears fabricating noises, until we went to 1st ward correlation at the Freeman’s house. Brother Freeman (and his neighbor who is also a member) gave me a priesthood blessing before we left. On the way home, sister thompson asked me how my ears were doing. I was so amazed to realize that they were completely fine. The painful pressure was alleviated, and I had no more sensitivity to sound 🙂 The priesthood is restored, and the power is real. (Attached is a picture of the sunset that took place outside the Freeman’s house right after that blessing.)

The number of lessons that we have in this area is soooooo low. For as many people as we talk to, and try to share this message with, hardly anyone gives us the time of day. Only the Spanish people I’ve talked to (a LOT of them, because Spanish is fun) let me get through an entire principle of The Restoration before pointing at something behind us to make us look away, snatching the pamphlet out of my hand, and hobbling quickly away (actually happened with an old lady named Olga two days ago). But usually they just close the door. #PressForwardSaints 🙂

I’ve just run out of time, which is lame, but as far as teaching goes, we’ve had one awesome referral this week, and have been able  to get in contact with a Part Member Family or two. There’s just so much potential and low-hanging fruit that we have to work with here, so that’s what we’re going to be focusing on here. That, and continuing to knock on more doors/ talking with everyone. You never know who the Lord is preparing, and so for that, we keep looking 🙂

Love you, all. Pray for me. Let me know how your lives are when you get a chance.

❤ Hermana Mrozek

PS: My Birthday is July 10th. I’m gonna be 22.

Oh Hello, Othello :)

This week has been a ROLLERCOASTER! Here’s the nitty gritty:

Miracles:

– Being oriented to the lay of the land already. Granted, there are only 7,000 people in this town, but with my sense of direction it’s a miracle.

– Having great ward support in both the 1st and 3rd wards. As we met with our ward mission leaders, bishops and relief society presidents, it was awesome to see just how pumped they were to get the ball rolling on missionary work here!

– Working hard with Sister Thompson to contact all of our investigators, potentials, part member families, less actives, everyone! I have never been more exhausted in my LIFE we’ve talked to so many people in both wards!

Trials:

– We have no one to teach in either ward. The investigators we contacted weren’t really investigating, and they made no trouble of dropping us or letting us know how it really is. So that was/is hard, starting over with a completely clean slate.

– Not being able to converse in Spanish all the time. I’ve talked to a bunch of Spanish speaking people in the street and stuff, but it’s not the same as teaching in Spanish, praying in Spanish, singing in Spanish, and being able to joke around with your companion in Spanish. Yesterday I went to my first non-Spanish sacrament meeting in about a year, and I almost bawled right there in the pew I miss it so much.

– And the worst trial I’m having is missing Kennewick like there’s no tomorrow. I miss my members, my recent converts, and my old district zion. I miss Hermanas Cortes and Jaccard and having in-house laundry. I miss going to the gym to work out every morning, and I miss everyone I left there. It’s such a stark contrast between the two places: there’s more cows out here than people, and most the people smell like cows. It’s so hard. But I will get over it in like.. two more days. Promise 🙂

Experiences:

– Trying every. single. potential. on. BOTH. the. ward. lists. And getting no answer, after no answer, after no answer. Or getting rejected. We have been tearing UP this town, hunting for people to teach.

– We had a two hour lesson with this old guy named Armando on Thursday (an appointment the other sisters had made for us when we got here), and he dropped us with telling us that he’s going to wait until he’s dead to find out if God really loves him. KSDJFKSADJRTI($UF D:< Why wait to find that out! He loves you TODAY! But he couldn’t be reasoned with. He’s had missionaries coming over for 10 years… He “knows it all” but.. yeah. It was a very interesting 2 hours.

– In the contacting of all those potentials, we knocked on a door in the Washington Square Apartments. After we knocked, a man started removing the art and stuff from the windowsill right next to the door and super struggled to slide the window open a crack. Like it was pitiful to watch this man struggle with all the stuff in that window, especially since he had stuck his hands THROUGH the metal blinds to do it. And this is how it went:

Him: WHO ARE YOU!?

Me: We’re the sister missionaries

Him: BYE!

Me: …from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 🙂

Him: I SAID BYE!!!!!

And then he tried to close his window for EVER. And stuff kept falling, and when we were knocking the neighbors doors, he was STILL struggling! It was so hilariously sad. He was this big, beefy dude, thwarted by some window blinds and art work.

Goals:

– Maintain the gift of tongues by finding/talking to/referring all of the Hispanics in Othello.

– Stay hopeful by exercising diligent faith to find

– Working and serving the members like never before

I have prayed to know that the Washington Yakima Mission is where I am supposed to be, and I know that I was called here to Othello for a reason. Those reasons have already started becoming apparent 🙂 I’m super pumped to keep working; please keep me in your prayers!

So, Kennewick or Yakima?

“And Hermana Mrozek said unto the king: Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called me another way; I go to the land of Othello, to teach the people of the Washington Yakima Mission.” Alma 22:4 (Kind of.)

There it is, folks. I’m leaving Kennewick, and it ain’t great. (Attached is a picture of our last district meeting outside the Union Building.) Well, I’m sure it will be great. I’m just super sad at the thought of saying goodbye. This place is paradise, and my companion is the best. But hey! She’s following me up to the Yakima Mission! And she’ll be in my ZONE! 🙂 Let the good times keep rolling.

I am being transferred to Othello, 1st and 3rd wards, English speaking. I’m going to be in a zebra companionship, so that I can give Spanish referrals to the Zone Leaders up there. My new companion will be Sister Thompson, and it will be her last transfer. I heard trunky is contagious, so I’m hoping her case won’t be too bad. I hear she’s GREAT though 🙂 I’m actually super pumped about learning how to share the gospel in English. English OYMS have always been fantastically terrible for me, because all of my gospel vocabulary is in Spanish now.

I’m not really sure what else to write about, honestly. Since Saturday night, I’ve kind of been in shock. The area that Hermana Brighton and I are in now will be absorbed by Hermanas Jaccard and Cortes, who are both staying in the Kennewick Mission. We want to know if now that we’re not in the same mission, we’ll be able to write each other. I hope the answer is yes, but I could see why the answer would be no.

I was called on to bear my testimony during sacrament yesterday, and it was so hard. After being here for over 7 months, these people are like my family. I’ve experienced some of the most exquisite trails and felt some of the most indescribable joy while laboring here. I’ve seen miracles, and I’ve grown so much. I’ve had the best mission president there is, and learned a lot of valuable life lessons. It’s so strange that on July 1st, everything that I’ve known (mission leadership, the people I’ll be serving with, everything) is going to change. I’ll make it through, though 🙂

What we face this week is going to be the biggest trial ever: Cleaning out the apartment. There will be no new missionaries moving into it, and it’s going to have to be scrubbed. Also, the car will be given back to the mission. And the phone. There’s so much work that has to be done in preparation for leaving, PLUS all our teaching appointments PLUS saying goodbye to everyone. It’s going to be a tough next two days. Oh yeah, and helping the Hermanas get briefed on the area before they take it over. Guess we’ll have to update that area book…

D:

But seriously, this change is going to be great. I’d be absolutely terrified and upset if it weren’t for the comfort that I feel from Heavenly Father. I know this is so inspired, and that I won’t lose my Spanish.

“When we know why we serve, it doesn’t matter where we serve.” These words from a prophet of the Lord echo a lesson I’ve learned from my dad. In the middle of serving his mission in San Antonio, he was transferred up to Detroit Michigan. And, in response, the best mission president in the world lays it out so clearly:
“Faith is the Power, Obedience is the Price, Love is the Motive, The Spirit is the Key, and Jesus Christ is the Reason we exert great faith and work with all we’ve got to find and teach our brothers and sisters of Christ and His restored Gospel.”

So in Kennewick, or Yakima, it’s still the Lord’s vineyard 🙂
Now, who’s ready to work?

Hermana Mrozek