Small things - 2019 Christmas

What's wrong with this picture?

Here it is Christmas Adam (tomorrow's Christmas Eve) and this is our small tree. At the pinnacle of decorating, Jean had nine trees ready for Christmas by now, with ornaments enough for four more. 

We returned to our apartment in Gdańsk from our trying to grasp all that departing Elder and Sister Małachowski know about running the mission office in Warsaw. After a few final days here for Christmas we'll return to Warsaw for good. The four-hour drive back and forth and living in three places at once has pushed aside what have been the normal activities of the season.

(The other wrong thing you noticed with this picture is the bottle of milk on the balcony. As a welcome home after two weeks we found that our fridge was cold only in the dead sense. We're so lucky it happened at this time of year when outside it's a steady 3° C—perfect to chill milk)

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 Jean loved that some child thought to cheer us all by adding their small decoration to the apartment building elevator.

More elaborate, but no more important decorations are setup at the Wilanów palace which is not far from the Mission Home. President and Sister Chandler hosted half the missionaries on each of two days at their home. The nine hours of speaking and music and food in that homey environment seemed like minutes as they addressed head-on that missionaries rightfully are missing home.

As they, then we, reflected on the Christmases that are most memorable, it was obvious that the acts for others stick most. After 18 or 19 years of Christmas being "What am I going to get?" it can become "What am I going to give?"
Beyond that, what small things can I give "of" not just "from" myself.

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 At the Oliwa cathedral in Gdańsk we were lucky to enjoy a very good performance of The Messiah. The relatively small space and excellent diminutive orchestra with talented soloists brought us the powerful emotions of that work we love.

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The Church branch in Warsaw is unique in all of Poland. There are over 100 people attending weekly.
We were there for the Children's sacrament meeting program. Two children at a time approached the podium; the first said their part in Polish, the second said it in English. The children sang each song in Polish, then repeated it in English. Little kids are amazingly adaptive.

For our Gdańsk Christmas sacrament meeting we sang and heard Christmas hymns with individuals' sharing their thoughts on each, ending, as appropriate, with Silent Night.

Edit out the 7 missionaries and it's obvious our little branch is quite different from where we are going to be.  

With the driving back and forth and general busy craziness, 

these weeks have reminded us how much our hearts have grown to

💗 GDAŃSK

Ever learning

We're lucky that the blessing of never-ending learning is such a part of our lives right now. We get that learning accelerated sometimes by experiences, but also from people who have something to share. In the past couple of weeks we've had a flood of the latter. 

This generation of (young) missionaries seems uniquely skilled at using social media tools for reaching more of our Father's children who are seeking to know more of Him. We had two brothers from the Church area office talk to the missionaries about how to transition a Facebook connection to a face-to-face connection. Though we can reach millions, the teaching of the gospel and testimony of the Holy Ghost has to happen one person at a time.

We get to interact regularly with our regional Seminaries and Institutes coordinator Henri Kosak. When we're really lucky, we get to have him visit and teach. He attended a YSA Christmas get-together in Warsaw this week. The first instructions from Jesus when he visited His flock in the Americas were to: arise; come to Him; thrust their hand in His side; feel, that they may know.

How do I do that daily?

(3 Nephi 11:14)

Elder Kopischke of the Seventy and area presidency uplifted the missionaries and members with his insights on experimenting with the word constantly. He reminded missionaries that our faith does not change another person's agency, no matter how diligent, or prayerful, or faithful we are. 

He compared this small group of 40 among 40 million to Oliver Granger in that "his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord."

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 In the basement garage of our apartment building, as we hurried to church last Sunday, we met Santa Claus and one of his elves. 1300 Santas road their motorcycles through the city encouraging people to donate for poor children for Christmas.

He is one of our most friendly neighbors, though all those we have met in our building are really nice and also willing to speak English with us.

This might appear to be just two festive, awesome missionaries, which they are, but it requires a little more explanation.

As you know, we serve in Gdańsk where we help in the small branch and also with the young adults throughout Poland. We love both of those assignments. Three months ago the couple serving in the mission office had a health scare which threatened to send them home early. We happened to be with the president around this time and told him we'd be happy to fill in at the office if that became necessary. Fortunately the health issue was resolved and the couple is feeling great and able to complete their mission as planned, on January 15th, so crisis averted. Then December began with still no replacement couple assigned. Thus, we are training with the departing office couple to fill that roll now and it may be that we stay in that roll or that we pass our training on to a couple arriving in February. We are happy either way, as in "the hour and the day is not given unto them, wherefore let them act upon this land as for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good" (D&C 51:17).

Oh, what about those Elders? Right!

 We are staying in Warsaw at an apartment previously occupied by Elders (whoosh, in Jean's vernacular) and these two met us late to give us the key. They wore those hats to brighten our night. Success.

So many bridges, so little space to share them.