Mission Life in Kraków

Taken my Lisa K. from Warsaw while visiting church in Krakow
(I emailed these pictures to him before he wrote)

with Elder Hon

Elder Allen waving from that window up high in the middle
(click on it to see it bigger)

 
Dear Mom,

Hey, where did you get those pictures? Secret paparazzis?

That's not the apartment building window. That's our CHAPEL! :) haha We are on the third floor. (well, I guess they call that the fourth floor in USA)

The group of Poland missionaries who went home
just a week ago

Wow, that is so crazy about all of those missionaries going home.

Those were my MTC Sisters and I knew all of those missionaries really well. 

I got to see Elder Hubbard in Warsaw
at the Missionary Council for Zone Leaders

Practicing the song "If you could hie to Kolob"

Okay, for the missionaries who just came to Poland,  Elder Campora is serving in Lódź.  So I won't meet him this transfer.  And Wright is in Warsaw, so I also won't meet him.

But tomorrow I will meet Elder Summers, because he is in Katowice with Elder Dodge and they are coming to Kraków tomorrow for Zone Training, which I am teaching.

The Kraków Zone Training Meeting.  

Racer is flying alone to Salt Lake City? That's fun. Has he been on a plane before? Is he scared? Tell him that I think that flying on airplanes and going to airports is one of the funnest things to do on Earth! haha :)

So who is Racer rooming with at BYU-Idaho?

And how long will he be going to school there?

As far as what's going on here, Romek's baptism is actually going to be this week because we had to postpone it due to some family matters. But it's still going to happen. And Marcin is still doing it. I gave a talk this Sunday in Church and it was about gifts. It was really cool preparing for it. I focused on 3 gifts that we all have or can all have in this life.

1. The Gift of Agency

2. The Gift of the Holy Ghost

3. The Gift of the Ability to believe in Jesus Christ

Talking about the third one was the coolest. I talked about how every single person on this Earth accepted Jesus as the Savior before this life and that we chose to follow him. We were able to believe in Him there, and we had faith in Him there, so we still have that inherent ability here on Earth. EVERYBODY does. Everybody one Earth has the ability to believe in Christ because they believed in Him before this life. I even said in my talk that deep down, every single person on Earth is a Christian. But not all of them know it. :) haha That's really interesting. And true.

I don't have a voice recording this week but I will send you one next week! :)

Love,

Drake

Still loving Krakow (and a TON of pictures!)

Dear Family,

I have been in Krakow for about 6 months now.  It's rare to be in an area in our mission for that long.  And I just found out that I get to stay in Krakow for another 9 week transfer! That will be 8 months here.  I'm super excited about it!  And when President Edgren told me that Elder Hon will be staying with me, I literally jumped up and down because I was so happy :)  He's a really great companion!  He will continue to be a district leader and I am now a zone leader.  I'll get to go to Warsaw next week for a missionary council (aka Jedi Council) where the zone leaders all meet with Yoda (well, President Edgren :) ) .  Elder Hubbard is a zone leader,  also, so I'll get to see him there!

It will be great to stay in Krakow with the people that I love so much.  Just one month ago, Marcin was baptized.  And this Friday, Marcin will be the one to baptize Romek!  That is just amazing.  

That's super fun that you got to meet the Jensens and Aleks! They are so awesome.  Aleks helped me SOOO much with my Polish and the Jensens are just wonderful.

Here are many pictures from the past few weeks:

Pawlik's Cobra Factory -- We went there again on a P-Day

Elder Dodge joined our companionship -- a trio!

Elaine S. Dalton came to Poland to speak at the Eastern Europe Young Single Adult Conference.  She & her husband wanted to spend time in Krakow and we met up with them and the Edgrens in the Rynek.  She is super nice!

Marcin with a new haircut!

Branch Luau -- During the Spiritual Thought

We bought some Hawaiian shirts at a thrift store for the Luau
Romek is the one on the far right;
he is the one getting baptized this Friday.

Everyone else did the hula while I played the ukulele

We made a Title of Liberty and wrote the things that would 
motivate us to want to stand up for what is right. 

Biking in the rain -- a total blast!!!

We got caught in a storm while riding bikes across the city and just kept riding 
and riding because it was so much fun!! :) 

 and we rode on bumpy fields which reminded me of riding my bike 
in our yard in Fieldbrook when I was growing up :) 

    Elder Vernon came back to Poland with his family post-mission.  

It was so great to see him!

Elder Vernon's family (& you've already met them, mom :) ) 

We offered "free paintings" at our street display.  The Polish people were not interested for some reason, but the Chinese tourists were!  :)

We went up to the Ogrodzieniec castle to play capture the flag during our Zone Conference for P-day (click to see it bigger)

Me at the castle ruins  

Capture the Flag -- Our companionship

Our District

Kielce, Kraków, and Katowice Districts at the ruins

P.S. While in Utah, our family went to visit the Jensens, who were in Krakow with Drake for 4 months, as well as Aleksandra (who is from Poland), who served a mini-mission in Krakow for 3 months.  They loved James so much that they wanted to keep him!  

Marcin's Baptism

Our MTC District at the Uchtdorf Conference

The conference with President Uchtdorf was a time of reunions with church members from areas I used to serve in and with missionaries I haven't seen in a long time.  My MTC companion, Elder Blom (far left) and I haven't seen each other since we arrived in Poland early last May!!  Same with Sister Young (in the white sweater).  It was so great to see them all again!  But the conference was also a time of goodbye's.  All of the sisters from our group will go back home in August and it may be until I get back home till I see some of these elders and many others I've served with, as well.  

Singing in the park

Laser Tag with the other missionaries :)

Dear Mom,

The baptism this week was amazing. I'll make a voice recording all about it.

Haha, I don't even remember talking about Pringles during a voice recording, but I guess I must have. I tend to ramble on those.   (He had told us a few months ago that he was super excited to find Pringles in Poland and spent quite a bit to be able to have some :) )

Elder Hon, Marcin, and I
It had been raining all week and early in the day.  But when we got to the lake, the skies had cleared.

Marcin's baptism went really well. It was really cool to have it be at the lake and to be able to be the one to baptize him.

The Pawlik's are the best. We are hoping to actually go to their house next P-Day! I'm excited.

The Pawlik family and Aleksandra (far left)

Tell Elder Hammond congratulations from me and ask him if he still wears the H-Dizzles :)

Love,

Elder Drake Allen

Singing a medley of hymns at the church for the conclusion of the service after the Baptism.  

4th of July, Dinners out, New Companion, Reflecting on Uchtdorf Conference

My new companion, Elder Hon

Elder Hon is from Gilbert, Arizona

With Brother & Sister Jensen, the senior couple missionaries in Krakow
(before they left to go back home to Utah)

I love translating!  I got to translate Brother and Sister Jensen's testimonies in our last Testimony Meeting before they left to go home.  After they finished, I thought, "Well, I'm already up here -- I might as well do it too" so I shared my testimony.

Our 4th of July ties!

For the 4th of July here -- well, no one celebrates here  -- For companion study, we went out on the balcony and we sang The Star Spangled Banner (all 4 verses).  People poked their heads out their windows and some even took videos of us :)  Then we went back into our apartment.  I drew a picture of the American flag and Elder Hon and I pledged allegiance to the flag.  I hadn't done that in a year and a half!  Then we read scriptures from the Book of Mormon  and from the Doctrine & Covenants and read about living in a promised land of liberty and promise.

An American came to Krakow on business
and treated all of us to dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant

Another American man was in Krakow for a conference and met up with his relative (Elder Saltmarsh on the left).
He took all 3 missionaries out to eat (Elder Caskey on the right)

Elder Saltmarsh got transferred to Katowice until he goes home in August.  It was really great getting to serve with him in Krakow.

I found LOTS of Disney movies on sale at the grocery store on dvd for just $3!   I bought Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, and Finding Nemo.  All in Polish!  When I get home, I can watch them all and remember my Polish (and I already sent home Star Wars and The Incredibles and maybe a few others).

This was on Facebook at the time of the conference; Drake said the man shaking hands with President Uchtdorf is Dennis, the member from the Congo who made them "foo-foo" for dinner. :)

We had a Zone Conference last week and talked about President Uchtdorf's visit to Poland. We were told before President Uchtdorf spoke that he didn't just come here because he likes Poland or because it fit into his schedule.  He came here to bless Poland.  This was the FIRST time in 28 years that a member of the 1st Presidency has been to Poland (last person was President Monson when he was a counselor).  President Uchtdorf came to give us counsel and because of that, Poland will never be the same again.

I loved getting to see Elder Hubbard and Elder Harris
at the Uchtdorf Conference

Goodbye to you all!

Love, Elder Drake Allen