Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 4:34 AM The Most Uninteresting Week Ever.

Sooooooooooo. Head's up. Next week, we're probably going to Hel. And the next week, we're probably going to Malbork. And the next week, I'm probably going to Warszawa. And the next day, I'm probably going to America. So the emailing is all a little questionable from here on out. I just wanted you all to be aware so if the emails are short (or if they don't happen at all, but I'm going to try REALLY hard to not let that be a problem) you don't freak out. Consider yourselves warned, chillin's.

Let's see, let's see.

What happened in my life last week.

...

Not much, apparently.

Monday: Sopot date. JADWIGA.

Tuesday: Zone Conference.

Wednesday: English is cancelled until September. So.

Thursday: PIONEER DAY! But that means nothing for us in Poland. Bohdan.

Friday: Magda and service. Planning.

Saturday: Wio and Klaud. JADWIGA TEMPLE PREP. Stanley and pierogi.

Sunday: Lunch at the Tufts with Marinella, Janina, and the elders.

Yep. That's it.

Exciting stuff.

Shoot, I don't even know what else to say! Sorry, this is the MOST BORING EMAIL EVER TYPED. Seriously though. Apologies. I can't even think of any funny stories.

Pathetic.

But.

I LOVE YOU ALL FREAKING A TON!

Oh - guess what?! On Saturday, for Culture Night, I'm going to the POLISH SUPERBOWL. It's probably the only Superbowl I'll ever go to. It's going to be big.

That's all.

Much love!

Monday, July 21, 2014 5:19 AM It Was Hel.

Well. You know, we had a beautifully planned P-Day for today. It was going to be beautiful. It was going to be Hel. To znaczy, there's a peninsula north of Gdańsk, and it's cool, and it's called Hel. And we were going to go there today. But alas. Our plans were foiled - as so often happens - and we are NOT going to Hel. So we had a plan. And it was Hel. And now it is not. So instead we're having a date in Sopot, Monty and I. It's going to be beautiful. Just not as exciting as Hel. ... And it doesn't lend itself to as many jokes as Hel does, if I'm being honest. I've gotta say, we've definitely been living the whole Hel thing up.

But enough of that.

You know what's really awesome? Gratitude. Mmm hmm. Gratitude is the best. Last week, Monty and I were having a crummy day. Nothing was happening. We were both a little grumpy. It was lame. So we decided to play the Gratitude Game. Czyli, we took turns saying something we were grateful for. And what do you know, it worked like a charm! After that, we were both happy as clams can be! It was great.

So I've been thinking about gratitude. And things I'm grateful for. And if you feel A List Of Things Sister Young Is Grateful For coming on, you're a genius.

1. MY FAMILY

Well, shoot! I've got the best family in the world! Who WOULDN'T be grateful for that? I've been spoiled silly with family. I'm so grateful to have a family strong in the Gospel. I'm so grateful to have a family with so much love for each other. I'm so grateful to have a family that rocks. What can I say? God loves me.

2. EMAIL

What would I do without email? How would I talk to you guys? Letters? Meh. That would take FOREVER. And the Polish mail system isn't even that great. That would be tragic. Email is the handiest thing ever.

3. OPPORTUNITES TO LEARN
Cough cough TRIALS. They're not fun, but dang are they important. And without trials, where would be anyways? I wouldn't know jack squat. Trials are important.

4. GDAŃSK

I love this city so much. I feel SO blessed to be able to finish my mission here. And I also feel EXTREMELY lucky that I got two transfers here - especially coming off two transfers where I only got to stay in my city for one. It's really hard to come to city and love it and then get snatched out of it after a few weeks. I feel REALLY lucky that I got to stay here for longer than that. I love this city, and I love this branch.

5. GRATITUDE

How original, right? But I am really am grateful for gratitude, and the way it turns our focus to the things we've been blessed with rather than the things we lack. It's fabulous! It makes me happy. And I like to be happy, so it all works out quite nicely.

6. TRAINEE

You guys. I am SO lucky. I'm SO glad that I get to spend my last transfer with a trainee. It's so cool to see his beginning, and to be living my ending. It's like the whole mission is splayed out before me. And it's so fun to be able to help him. Seriously. I love it. And I love it even more, because guess what? My cute brother William is off in the world being a missionary right now, and I don't get to be with him, and that's kind of a bummer. But I DO get to be with Elder Jourdan, who's in a very similar stage of his missionary life. So it's almost like being with Will. And I can help Elder Jourdan in the way that I hope someone is going to help my brother when he gets to Oregon. Cute, right? I love it.

7. COMPANIONS

Glory be, I've been spoiled silly again. This time with companions. I have had the best companions ever! I've been SO SO blessed! I don't even know why. Apparently, God still loves me. I have met the most wonderful people, and learned so much from them, and they are amazing.

... Well. I could go on LITERALLY for forever. But I don't have time. Also, my fingers are tired of typing. Co zrobić? Life is hard.

But.

I LOVE YOU ALL OODLES AND OODLES!

Siostra Young

Monday, July 14, 2014 4:54 AM Nature. Mm Mmm. Not A Fan.

So what else is new? I'm still not a fan of nature. Or creepy crawlies. Or slimy things. And yet. My life is fraught with disgusting experiences with those things. What is THAT about?

On Tuesday night, we did a whiteboard with our starsi. That was nice. Except for the part where A BUG FLEW INTO MY EYE AND THEN GOT STUCK THERE. That was fetching disgusting. And it freaked me out. So naturally I freaked out. I was just sitting there, minding my own business, talking to Monty and Elder Jaeger for a second, and then he says to me, all matter of factly, "There's a bug in your eye." And then I said some angry loud things for a second (because there was a bug in my eye! What the flip would YOU do in a situation like that?!) So then Monty had to extract it's small corpse from my eye. It was every bit as gross as it sounds. Ugh. I'm getting ill just reminiscing about it.

On Saturday, Monty and I were in a park. And it was VERY wet. It rained from sun up to sun down. But we've got to contact, and we've got to contact somewhere, and there aren't really people anywhere, so a park. That is what happened. Anyways. We were in the park. And then she was like, "Oh look, a toad!" And I was like, "WHAT?! Gross! ... Pick it up!" She said no. But then we found another toad, and she picked up that one. So as she's holding the toad, I pulled out my camera to take a picture (because what else would you do?), took a picture, then I was taking another one, and she was like, "Oh!" So I look at the picture I just took, and there's no toad in her hands. It had literally JUST leapt from her hands. So I freaked out, and screamed, and ran halfway down the path in case it was coming after me. GROSS. But I survived, so it's cool. Also, later down the path, we found the TINIEST FROGS ON THE PLANET. They were literally half the size of my pinky fingernail. It was CRAZY! They were adorable. (Well, as adorable as slimy nature can possibly be). I made Monty hold one of those too. And then, we found a GIANT snail. It was disgusting. But Monty held it. She's a trooper, that comp of mine!

Okay.

So.

I know this was a SUPER lame email. But I gotta run.

LOVE YOU ALL like CRAZY a lot!

Monday, July 07, 2014 5:27 AM I Blinked.

Dear Everyone.

Welcome to the fastest week of my entire existence.

Monday. P-Day. Shopping.

Tuesday. Bydgoszcz.

Wednesday. Sister Swenson. English. Jadwiga. MY BROTHER WENT TO THE MTC.

Thursday. Chalk and Talk. Grill. Sopot. Lena.

Friday. Magda. Manekin.

Saturday. Sister Swenson. Wioletta and Klaudia. Banana bread.

Sunday. Church. Magda. Stanley.

And that, my friends, is all she wrote.

This week was crazy flipping fast. I don't even know where it went! I'm sitting here, looking at my planner and the things crossed out and circled and all the arrows and numbers, and flip! I don't know when all of it even happened! It's weird. REALLY weird. I don't think I've ever had a faster week in my whole life. Which is saying a lot, because I WAS once an elementary school student, and summer as an elementary student literally flies. I feel like I was emailing you all, like, two days ago. Which, I'm not gong to lie, is pretty nice. I'm definitely not complaining. It's just freaky weird.

So that's nice.

Let's see ... Can I possibly expound on ANY of the above listed happenings of my life ...

Bdygoszcz! Duh! Oh lands. I love that city. It was so fun to go back again! We had Zone Training on Tuesday. It was really nice. And guess WHAT!? I'm possibly probably going to Bydgoszcz for exchanges again this transfer! And I'm possibly probably going on my exact birthday to that beautiful promised land! It's not for sure (as far as I know), but it's looking pretty likely! What I wouldn't GIVE! Ah. Please bless that it happens. It would rock my whole world.

Oh. Sister Swenson. Because that's possibly confusing. So! On Tuesday night Sister Swenson came up and hung out with us (hung out? Okay. Well. We did missionary work. We didn't just hang out. But you get the idea) for the week! It was super fun! And we got to see a bunch of members, and that was cool! So that happened this week. ... Alright, I just reread this explanation, and it makes a total of 0.00071 sense. So. I'm going to try again. Once upon a time, there was Sister Swenson. She started her mission in Gdańsk, and she was here for forever basically, and now she's going home in two weeks. So. For reasons that are too complicated to explain, she had to come up for something, which ended up not happening. But she was here. And she spent basically forever here, so it means a lot to her, so she wanted to see a bunch of people while she was here. So we did. The three of us saw a bunch of people while she was here. Then she went home to Warsaw. It was nice. Oh. Er. Not the fact that she went home. The fact that she was up here. We had fun while she was up here. THAT is what I'm trying to say. Ugh. Words. They're so ... difficult.

And we totally had the Fourth of July last week! It was a good time! We did normal missionary life things, and then we had Manekin with the fam and Stanley (who's basically part of the fam anyways). It was delicious. Of course. I'm not sure why Manekin was the restuarant of choice for Independence Day. Naleśniki aren't really very American. I feel like Billy's American Diner (which does, in fact, exist - I haven't tried it yet, but there's no way I'm leaving this country until I do) would have been a more appropriate choice, but there you go. I like naleśniki as much as the next kid.

MOM. I GOT MY PACKAGE THAT WENT TO WROCŁAW ON TUESDAY. And I've been eating Sweet Baby Ray's on literally EVERYTHING ever since. It rocks. Thank you SO SO MUCH! How I have missed BBQ sauce! It's delicious. I've never been happier. And everything else - it's all delicious! The Cheese It's, the marshmellows, the peanut butter, the Fruit Roll-Ups - I'm living the dream! THANK YOU times a thousand. God bless America, and her delicious American foods available only in America. (William, Annlie - treasure your lives. You are lucky, beautiful people.)

In other news. (I'm sorry - I think I overuse that phrase, but I REALLY like it, and it always seems to be indispensable as I'm emailing. It's just such a good change-of-topic-er.) MY BROTHER WENT TO THE MTC LAST WEEK. Yeah. THAT happened. I'm dying here. I don't even know if the kid's going to read this, but William. If you are reading these words. I LOVE YOU. (And if you're not, I still love you. Don't worry about it. You just won't know it, because you aren't reading it ...) And I'm REALLY proud of you. And I tell you what, I think about you basically all the time. Because you rock, and I miss you.

I made some banana bread on Saturday. As previously stated. Guys, it was really good. Like, REALLY good.

So. Um. Yeah. That's it. That's my week. It was very exciting. (I think ... it was so fast, I can hardly remember what happened. But as far as my memory allows me to remember, it was very exciting.)

Much love!

Siostra Young