This week has been a great one. I think something I have really been recognizing is growth this week. In myself, and in the people we are teaching! It has been such a good week!!

Friends we’re teaching:  

– We’ve officially started doing skype lessons with some of the people we’re teaching!! On Sunday we had a skype lesson with one of the sweet girls we’re teaching, and honestly it was one of the best lessons we’ve probably ever had with her. She is young but she has continually read the Book of Mormon over the last several months and is almost at the end of 2 Nephi. For this last lesson she kept her commitment to read  Nephi 29 and she was ready with a bunch of really amazing questions. What was even cooler was at the end of the lesson, we had her explain to us what the Bible is, what the difference between the Old and the New testament are, and how the Book of Mormon is a Second witness of Christ. It was amazing to see how much knowledge and what a beautiful testimony she has gained of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the Book of Mormon. I am so excited for her!! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is SO life changing!

And YES, as the title of this email suggests, we did become part of a Catholic parade (kind of). What really happened is that we were heading home on Friday and we were almost at our tram stop when a huge and I mean HUGE crowd of people started coming up the street. The literally hundreds a of priests and nuns and other people came down the street and there were so many people that we were literally pushed along. The trams were stopped all the way down the street. A ways down he street, everyone in the crowd started singing hymns together. it was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever been a part of. It was one of those moments when you realize where you are and you are just so grateful!! And truly, I am so grateful for the mission. I am so grateful I get to share this beautiful message.

I love you all!! I hope you have a wonderful week!! Kocham was!!!

z dużoooo miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

Letters/packages:

Kościół Jezusa Chrystusa świętych w Dniach Ostatnich
ul. Wiernicza 135
02-952 Warszawa Poland  

pics:

–Our żabka sign 🙂

-The parade!

-After Parkrun!

Hej cześć friends and fam! I hope you all have had a good one!! 🙂

This week:

-We had exchanges with the Bydgoszcz sister missionaries and I got to be with Siostra Miller all day!!  It was a total blast!!

-This week we had our LAST Zone Conference with Prezydent and Siostra Turek.  They are both truly amazing and they will be so missed.  At zone conference we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite scriptures that was discussed is 1 Corinthians 15:22 –

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

And I know that this is true!! Because of Christ, we know that death is not the end.  Through Jesus Christ and his Atonement, we can all be made alive!

This week, our district in Poznań is splitting up!  Starszy Wagley has finished his mission and is on his way home, and Starszy Posacki is headed off to Szczeczin, which means we don’t have Elders in Poznań, just Sisters!!  These next few weeks are going to be an awesome adventure! 

I love you all!! I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Kocham was!!

Siostra Baldwin

pics:

1. Serving in Poland or Disneyland??

2. EXCHANGES with Siostra Miller and Siostra Lueck 🙂

3. The Poznań branch!

4. The Poznań missionary district

Hejka cześć!! Hope you all have had a wonderful week! First off, I have to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all the fathers and wonderful fatherly figures out there!! You are so loved!! I am so grateful for my dad and for the amazing example he is to me!! I want to be just like him when I grow up!! 🙂

This week was a great one to be in Poznań- the weather has been pretty hot and humid recently and we’ve been busy!!

A couple highlights from this week: 

We had our first sports night of the summer on Saturday and it was so successful!!! We had a few branch members, a few people we’re teaching, and some new friends we met contacting recently come!! We played volleyball and frisbee and it was such a good time:) 

On Wednesday we had a leadership meeting (Called MLC) in Warsaw and it was amazing 🙂 Prezydent and Siostra Turek are so inspired!! It was also a really sad MLC because it was our last one with Prezydent Turek!! We’re getting a new mission President, Prezydent Chandler at the the beginning of July!! 

I love you all!! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

z miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

Letters/packages:

Kościół Jezusa Chrystusa świętych w Dniach Ostatnich
ul. Wiernicza 135
02-952 Warszawa Poland  

pics:

1. Ice cream with Martyna<3

2. One last picture with Asia before she goes home for the summer!

3. SPORTS SATURDAY!!!

4. Parkrun with Sister Womack :))

Hej cześć friends and fam!! Hope you all have had a wonderful week!! 

Here’s a couple highlights of this week:

This week we also got to volunteer at Parkrun, an organization that sponsors free 5ks every single week. We were in charge of directing the runners so they would all stay on course- it was pretty funny because Siostra Godfrey and I were cheering really loudly (for everyone that ran by- and usually Polish people don’t really cheer until the end of the race!! Several people came up to us afterward and we got to share who we are and what we do 🙂

On Saturday we had our branch barbeque/ picnik and it was SO MUCH FUN!! We bought several of pizzas, drinks, cookies, and salads, and went to one of the beautiful outdoor parks here in Poznań and played football (with an authentic American football!), frisbee, badminton, and a bunch of other games. The time went wayyy too fast!!

We also went out this week to Park Cytadela and drew the Plan of Salvation out in chalk this week, and Emyla (from the Poznań branch!) and Michal (visiting from Lublin!) came out and helped us. We had several awesome conversations!!

This week was a little bit slower of a teaching week because most of our people are either taking exams or going home for the summer. We’re going to keep on teaching some through skype, but this also means we’re going to be out talking to people and finding people to teach! 🙂

I hope you all have a great week! This gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is TRUE! I love you all!! Kocham was!

z miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

pics

1. PARKRUN!! 🙂

2.Runners at Parkrun 

3. Chalk talk!!

4. Michal at the chalk talk 

Hejka!! Hope you all have had a wonderful week!! Thank you for the sweet birthday wishes last week. 🙂 My birthday was wonderful!!

We had transfers this last week, and for the first time ever, I’m STAYING in a city more than a transfer. Siostra Aramaki and Siostra Gornichec headed off to Łódź and Gdańsk, and I was assigned a new companion – Siostra Godfrey! Sister Godfrey and I were in the same mission zone when I started my mission in Katowice and we even went on splits together once when I visited Krakow. We’ve already had some great adventures and teaching experiences this week and I can tell it’s going to be another amazing couple of months in Poznań!! 

Today I want to share a quick thought from a devotional address I read this week given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, titled “The Two Guiding Lights”. In this devotional, he explains that the Savior has given us two great beacons of light in our lives to help guide us through the storms of life. These two great lights are the first and second commandments. In Matthew chapter 22:37-38, we read:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/joseph-b-wirthlin_two-guiding-lights/

In these few short sentences, the Savior has provided us a foundation for everything we think, say, and do as disciples of Jesus Christ. When loving God and loving our neighbor is at the core of everything we do, we find increased direction and peace in our lives.  Truly, we find ourselves when we lose ourselves in service—at least that’s what I’m discovering!! 🙂

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support for me! Although sometimes I can’t respond to every email, know that I read every single one and I am so grateful for you all. I hope you have a wonderful week!!!

z miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

Letters/packages:

Kościół Jezusa Chrystusa świętych w Dniach Ostatnich
ul. Wiernicza 135
02-952 Warszawa Poland  

pics:

-Ice cream feat. the 2 biggest BYU fans in Poznań 🙂

-Siostra Godfrey and I after being caught in a May rainstorm!!

Hej cześć family and friends!  Jak tam!? It’s been an exciting crazy fun couple of weeks to be in Poznań!!!

Okay so to start, we have our smartphones now!!  Many of you might have noticed that I’m back on Facebook and Messenger!  Our mission is now authorized to use online tools to help us do missionary work!  This won’t change anything about communication (still emails on P-days!), but I’m so excited to see how this great change will help hasten the Lord’s work! 🙂

We’ve had some amazing meetings with people we’re teaching recently:

• We had an awesome lesson with a girl we’re teaching this last week and she decided she wants to prepare to be BAPTIZED on June 22. Step by step, she’s building her faith in Christ as she is reading the Book of Mormon and praying.  I’m so excited to see the changes she’s making in her life as she prepares for baptism!

• We had a great meeting with a less-active member yesterday after they came to church. We talked about the importance of Prophets and how amazing it is that we have a living Prophet today.  The world might change over time, but the Lord never changes- throughout history, He has always called prophets on the earth to serve as the mouthpieces for God on earth!

• And we had another meeting with Nikola and her mom!   We talked about the Plan of Salvation, meaning God’s plan for us.  I’m so grateful I get to share such a beautiful topic with so many people!

And funny language moment: This week, as we were teaching Sunday School, I meant to say I was very thankful for something (Jestem bardzo wdzięczna).  Instead, and without even realizing it I said: “Jestem bardzo dzięki“, which means “I am very thanks!!!”  I couldn’t figure out why my companions were laughing but when they told me afterward we all laughed pretty hard! 🙂  Learning polish is such an adventure!

I was reading an Ensign magazine this week, and I came across an article that I’ve been thinking about ever since.  God is the ultimate artist! There aren’t very many people who can sit down with a blank piece of paper and draw a beautiful landscape.  I, for sure, can’t! But God is the creator.  He is the ultimate artist.  Not only did he create everything around us in beautiful 3-D, but he also created people, with all of our differences, personalities and talents.  Not only did He create us, but He is our literal Father in Heaven and He allows us to call Him Father.  He loves us and He knows each one of us so individually.  And for that, I am so grateful.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Kocham was!

z miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

Hej cześć friends and family! This week I want to share an awesome teaching experience:

We just started teaching a great guy who heard about the missionaries, but didn’t take action until much later.  Two years ago, he met the missionaries and played frisbee with them one day, and then just two weeks ago he remembered that the missionaries also teach a free English class.  He showed up for the first-time last week and then participated in our religious discussion afterwards.  During our discussion, he accepted a copy of the Księga Mormona and scheduled to meet with us the following week.   Our first lesson with him was this last week and he was very prepared with some great questions likes: “Why do you believe in God?  Why do you believe in Jesus Christ?  Why are you a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Why not another Church?”  

I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that YES, there is a God—we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and knows us individually by name. YES, Jesus Christ is the Savior!  And YES, the same Church that Jesus Christ established when He was on the earth has been restored and is on the earth again today!  I don’t just know these things because they have been written in the scriptures or they have been spoken of in Church. I know these things because I have searched for the answers, and I have felt the confirmation that these things are true!  In The Book of Mormon from Alma Chapter 32, we can read about an ancient American prophet Alma who compares faith to a seed:

“Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.”

and then in verse 33 he explains:

“And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.”

If we want to find answers to the questions our new friend had, whether the Gospel is true, first we need to have the desire to know. We have to really want it and be willing to work for our answer! And then, as we strive to listen to the word of God, to read the scriptures, to pray, and to ponder, we will receive our answer.  I know this is true because I have taken Alma’s experiment myself!  And I have received a personal witness that these things are true. The Spirit was so strong as we testified to this man that we CAN receive answers to our hard questions—all it takes is us having the desire and the willingness to try.

I love this gospel, and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share this life-changing message. I love you all! Bardzo was kocham! I hope you have a wonderful week! 🙂

z miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

Letters/packages:

Kościół Jezusa Chrystusa świętych w Dniach Ostatnich
ul. Wiernicza 135
02-952 Warszawa Poland  

pics:

1 & 2. The daily run!

3. The story our intermediate english class wrote together! 🙂 W

Hej cześć friends and family!

As I consider my missionary experiences from this past week, I feel greatly blessed to be serving in Poznañ with my two companions—Sister Gornichec and Sister Aramaki. We kept ourselves busy with teaching appointments and meetings, we spent time reflecting on the last week of the Savior’s mortal life, and we celebrated with the Saints of Poznañ the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! 😊

Here are a few highlights:

We had a terrific meeting with the sweetest girl we’re teaching.  Our conversation focused on God’s plan for us as His children, and our purpose in life!  We also talked about the meaning of the Atonement and how powerful it can be when we apply it to our own lives.  The Spirit was so powerful as we testified of the power of the Atonement and the peace it brings!

Several people we are teaching are steadily progressing and it’s amazing to see them week after week, as they keep their commitments, read the Book of Mormon, pray, and grow so much spiritually! 😊

For our service project this week, we visited a non-profit hospicjum (hospice) here in Poznań. The staff and residents are preparing for a huge festival the first couple days of May where, as their fundraiser for the year, they will sell hand-crafted and painted butterflies. Our project was to assemble and glue each butterfly. It was awesome!

On Sunday, I spoke in Sacrament Meeting on some of the varied and distinctly meaningful titles of Christ including Savior, Redeemer, Prince of Peace, Son of God, and Son of Man—and on how His Atonement and Resurrection are the greatest gifts we will ever know. It was the first time I wrote my talk in Polish (up to this point, I have written them in English first and then translated them into Polish). I felt especially fluent and was grateful to share my testimony with the members and guests of the Poznañ branch. In addition to this week’s special assignment of speaking, one of my regular weekly responsibilities is pianist for the congregation so I stayed quite busy during the meeting.

As I was preparing my talk, I found a General Conference address by President Ezra Taft Benson from October 1985.  Included below are a few favorite sections:

“Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world…Men changed for Christ will be captained by Christ. Like Paul they will be asking, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6) Peter stated, they will “follow his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21.) John said they will “walk, even as he walked.” (1 John 2:6.)  Finally, men captained by Christ will be consumed in Christ. To paraphrase President Harold B. Lee, ‘they set fire in others because they are on fire…Not only would they die for the Lord, but more important they want to live for Him…Enter their homes, and the pictures on their walls, the books on their shelves, the music in the air, their words and acts reveal them as Christians.”

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1985/10/born-of-god?lang=eng

I love you all so much!!  I am so grateful to be a missionary!  I know this Gospel is true, and that if we are captained by Christ, we will find more joy than we can ever know!!  I hope you have a wonderful week!

z miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

Letters/packages:

Kościół Jezusa Chrystusa świętych w Dniach Ostatnich
ul. Wiernicza 135
02-952 Warszawa Poland

Dearest friends and family,

It’s been another amazing week to be a missionary in Poland! Here are some highlights: 

-We found out our mission is getting smartphones in a few weeks (No more little brick Nokia phones… WAHOO!!!)  It’s going to be a total game changer for missionary work and we can’t wait!  Group messages, Facebook, google translate—anything is possible! 🙂

I promised I would talk about the amazing people we’re teaching more, so this week I’ll tell ya’ll about Ola!  Ola is the cutest young mom from Ukraine who has been learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the last few months.  She has such a beautiful spirit and always asks the best questions.  This last week, we taught her about living prophets and watched one of President Nelson’s talks from General Conference with her in Ukrainian (I couldn’t understand anything, yet the Spirit was still SO STRONG!).  Right away, she said that President Nelson was a wise man and Ola decided to pray more to know if he is really a prophet of God.  I’m so excited for her to get her answer! 🙂

This week I’ve been absolutely awestruck by the way the Lord leads us to the right place at the right time if we just listen.  We were coming home one night and were already in our apartment building when we met the cutest 13-year old—Nikola—and her mom.  We were exactly in the right place to help them with something they really needed; and afterwards, they invited us to their apartment.  We had the absolute best conversation and got to testify of Christ, that He knows us so individually and that He will put the right people in our lives when we need them.  The next day they invited us back and we gave them Books of Mormon, shared our favorite verses, and taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Meeting them was a total MIRACLE and was the total highlight of an already great week!

General Conference was this last weekend and it was AMAZING!!  If you didn’t get a chance to watch it (or if you want to listen to it again!) you can check it out on churchofjesuschrist.org!  I especially loved Elder Brooke P. Hales’ talk.  He reminded us that God knows everything—He knows the past, the present and the future, and that sometimes the answer you get to a request is a ‘no’ in favor of a later, better ‘yes’!  I testify that what he said is true!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2019/04/13hales?lang=eng

I love this Gospel and am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. This Gospel is TRUE!  I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week!

z miłością,

Siostra Baldwin

Hejka! Our first week in Poznań has been a blast!!! We’ve been super busy teaching several awesome friends (I promise I’ll write more about them next week!) 🙂

Cool experience this week:

Since all three of us Sisters are new to the city, we’re still finding our way around.  On the way to visit a member—Bożena, we knocked on the wrong door and met a man named Joseph who asked if we could provide him address information so he could come to Church!  It all worked out a little bit too perfectly to be a coincidence!

I want to share a favorite poem of mine that I was reminded of this week:

Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

 The further sky, the greater length;

 The more the storm, the more the strength.

 By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

Life isn’t easy – but our Father in Heaven gives us trial and challenges so that we can learn and grow – and the hard things we do make us stronger!

General Conference is this coming weekend!  Twice a year we have the awesome opportunity to listen to a living Prophet and 12 apostles and it is worth it listening to them!!!  Last conference, I made a list of personal questions that I was hoping to find answers to; and EVERY single one was answered as I watched conference!  I know that when we bring our questions to Conference we WILL hear the answers we need – whether by direct words from the speakers or inspirations from the Spirit!

You can watch General conference live at https://www.lds.org on Saturday and Sunday, March 6th & 7th, or go online anytime and watch afterwards 🙂

I love you all!  I hope you have a wonderful week!!!

xoxo,

Siostra Baldwin