Dzien Dobry! Mam nadziaje wszytky jest dobrze na dom! Ja kocham wy! (You can try Google Translating this and the last Polish message if you like. Just, I can't use some of the symbols, and the spelling is a wee bit sketch. But if you wanna try, hey! More power to you!)
So fun news! We were on the Family History site this week, tracing our lines back to Adam (because why would you NOT do that? It's the funnest.), and guess who's related to about a gazillion cool people? This chick right here. First and foremost on the List of Awesome Relatives - Mieszko I, Prince of Poland. Hold the phone - we're POLISH? Say what? Yes. That's right. POLISH. And not just Polish - no no no - Polish ROYALTY (yeah, maybe it's not 100% accurate, but we're going with it. Don't even question it.) Also, we have Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, King Priam of Troy (YES! WE'RE TOTES RELATED TO THE PEOPLE OF TROY! That was maybe the second happiest moment of my whole life), and Robert the Bruce (that was FOR SURE the happiest moment of my whole life. "We will die or be free, cried the Bruce! We will die or be free, cried the Bruce." Everyone now! "Will young Scotsmen fight? AYE - in darkness or daylight! We will die or be free, cried the Bruce!" So that's been my discovery of the week. ALSO - I know, what? Another cool discovery? Yes. - I'm related to Starszy Allen! Not even that distantly! I mean, kinda distantly. I won't be accidentally bumping into him at any family reunions, but still! His great something grandmother is sisters with Mary Ann Angell! How legit is that? We're totes cousins. I'm just sort of thrilled about that. Who doesn't love finding random relatives in their district? Crazy people. That's who.
We leave TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY FOR POLAND. Just in case you lost track. WE certainly haven't, I can tell you that for sure. We're getting our travel plans this week (hopefully Wednesday - Gah! So exciting!), so that's pretty fun stuff! Next email I'll be able to give you all the deets (details, for you old timers not up with the lingo) about our plans for travel. Woo hoo! We are all so excited! Every once in a while, I'll just be sitting, thinking, and then I'll remember I'm going to Poland, and I have kinda of a freak out moment. It's really excting. Gah! Poland! See. It just happened right now. It's crazy.
So. Polish. We've gone over all the lessons we're going to go over before we leave, so now we just review. And review. A lot. The other day Siostra McAdams was saying that we know as much Polish as they knew when she was out four months in the field. Which really makes me wonder - how did they communicate? At all? Was it just a massive game of charades? I mean, I feel like I BARELY know enough to have a basic conversation. Let alone knowing how to case everything. So forget that! Anyways. I can't decide if that thought it comforting, or just really really awful. Also, during CMS (our little one on one chat), she told me that I have really good pronunciation. OH MY HECK, BEST COMPLIMENT OF MY LIFE. Seriously though. That is SO nice to hear. Because I'm kind of a freak (common knowledge), and I really want to be able to communicate correctly (which is why Polish makes me crazy - I want to be able to case the words right and say them right! Ugh!), so at least if I'm pronouncing them right, that's something, isn't it? Sheesh. Polish. Love hate relationship BIG TIME.
Our Missionaries as Progressing Investigators lessons have been going REALLY well! It's so exciting! Even fake missionary work is amazing. Waldymar is getting baptized on Saturday, and Julian is going to talk to his Bishop and get ready for baptism, and he's going to come to Waldymar's baptism! Great, right? Ah! It's so exciting! And it's really cool to watch how our investigators have changed, even in our few short meetings with them. Like, in our first lesson with Julian, he didn't even know if he believed in God. And now, all of a sudden, he's really wants to be baptized, and he's working hard to be ready for baptism. I love it so much! And I know - they're fake. I know. And I imagine some of you might be thinking, "Well, your investigators are actually missionaries, and they're only agreeing to be baptized because of that. It's fake." And to you I say NO! Wrongo bongo, baby cakes. Because when I'm being Zofia, I'm Zofia. Good bye, Siostra Young. It's the craziest thing. And in my lesson as Zofia, they were talking about Lehi's dream. They gave me a chapter to read before our lesson, and I read it, and I was like, "What? What's this fruit? I don't get it. Why is it so important?" So I asked them in our lesson, and they explained it to me in a way that it totally made sense. It was so cool. Church is true, kids. Church is true.
Let's see ... What else to say. Ah! Yes! My song yesterday. It went okay. But everyone was like, "Hey! You guys did so good! I love that song, and you have a beautiful voice! Blah blah blah." I guess really there are two possibilities. Possiblity Number 1 - It didn't go that great (the way I felt), and people were like, "Oh, poor lamb! She thinks she can sing, and she didn't do that great ... Awkward. I'm going to compliment her. That will make her feel better." Possibility Number 2 - It actually did go well, and people are nice. Let's be real - I've got no idea which one is legit. And it's entirely possible I'm being overly critical of myself. But it's also entirely possible people don't want to squash my dreams and tell me I stink (Which I don't. It just so happens my performance did not reflect my abilities as well as it could have). So here we are. Just for the sake of whatever, we'll say it was the second one. It actually did go well, and people are nice.
Mother, my dearest. Here's the deal. Just forget about hemming the skirt and send it. If it's too long, I'll just take it to alterations and have someone take care of it. Whatever. I'm just in GREAT need of a little more skirtage around here. Also, I have a MASSIVE favor to ask. I mean, it's not actually that hard, but it would mean a lot! I would like copies of a few (or maybe a lot) of General Conference talks. They way I see it, we've got two viable options. Option 1 - You print them off for me and send them along with my skirt. This is probably the one I'd prefer, but there are quite a few, and it might take more paper and ink than you're wanting to send my way. Understandable. Which brings me to Option 2 - You just copy and paste them into DearElder and they'll do all the printing for you. I don't like this one as much, because DearElder has a tendancy to screw up the puncuation and they're a little awkwardly printed, but it will totally work if that's what you want to do. So. Here's the list. Sister Dalton, Pres. Eyring, Elder Scott, Pres. Uchtdorf (both Conference AND the YW Broadcast - the YW Broadcast talk is the most important, so if you can only send one - heaven forbid - make it that one), Elder Anderson, Elder Perry, Elder Holland, Elder Oaks, Brother Porter. I know - it's a lot. But conference was really good! I can't help it!
Now then. Is there ANYTHING else I've been wanting to share ... Huh. Nope. I think that's it. For reals, friends and family. If you think of questions, just email me and I'll answer them in the next email. I LOVE having questions to answer, because it gives me a little more direction for my emailing, rather than sitting in here at a computer thinking, "Huh. What do I tell these people. Do I have anything to tell these people ... I guess I'll just ramble about things that don't matter for a while or something. I don't know. Maybe they'll find [insert something boring] here interesting." Not ideal.
Okay! Here's something fun! A few P-days ago, just for fun, I sent a letter to Sister Pearson's friend on a mission in France, and he wrote me back this week! So that was exciting. I mean, come on. It's mail from FRANCE. Who doesn't love that? And he said in the next letter he'd send pictures. Ah! How exciting, right? And guess what? It's kinda fun just writing a random stranger for fun sometimes. So that's cool.
Okay. So our Zone. We don't spend a TON of time together, but the ones we spend the most time with are for sure the Bulgars. Bulgarians. But those last two syllables are just too much work sometimes. They came the same time we did, and they leave the same time we do, so it's like the Poles and Bulgars are siblings, and the Czechs and Slovaks and Slovenes and whatever (I can't remember them all for sure ... there are just so many) are our cousins. Ma sens? (Whoa baby! Check me out, whipping out Polish phrases willy nilly!) They're fun. There are only Elders in the Bulgar district, so that's weird. But we like them. They're fun. Slash they often act like late teenage boys, which isn't exactly a compliment. But we like them.
Well. That should just about do it then. Thanks for the mail, and I continue to love you all! Probably I will continue to love you all for the next 16 and a half months. Probably. I mean, who knows, right? Anything could happen!
Okay, so you all recall the Olsen List, right? The list of things Starszy Olsen gets argumentative/really intense about? We've been working on it. It's quite long, actually. And SO funny. So we've decided we're going to get it copied and laminated, and we'll give it to him before we leave to give to his future companions. Just because it's funny! Hopefully he's not offended by it ... I don't think he will be. It's hilarious! Anyways. I've drafted a letter to send with it - just a brief explanation of the list, if you will - and it's funny. I mean, I just kinda want to send you all a copy of the list and letter too, just because it's funny. Sorry - this probably isn't amusing to people who don't know Starszy Olsen and The Llist. Anyways. Just pretend it's funny. Good. We're good.
And now - farewell. I send you my best wishes, and all my love.
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