Oh my goodness. It sounds like it was a crazy insane week for everybody back at home. I'm so sad to hear about Grandma Helen. Mom, don't worry, there's no good way to break that news. It's ok though. I have a testimony of eternal families. She lived an incredible life and it was just her time to go. As much as we will miss her on this side, she was definitely needed more on the other side. It's a comfort to me to know I have another angel behind me helping me in this work. Heather, I'm so sorry about your knee. I wish I could honestly say I know how you feel, but I don't. Major injuries is not something I've ever had to deal with, but I know it's something Dad has dealt with. I'm sure he's helping you with it. I just wish you the best. It hurts so bad to have something just torn away from you like that. The good news is for you, that dancing will be back, just not for a while. It hurt me when football ended my senior year. I felt like that was torn away from me. I wasn't ready for it to end. The same with trying out for lacrosse and not making it. It just hurts. The good thing is there is one thing that can't be torn away from us. That's the gospel. Continually, it is here in our lives to give us perspective, to give us direction. The only way that will go away is if we throw it away. It can continue to be our rock, to give us a direction to go, and to help us when times are tough. I know that to be true. I have so much more I can say about this but I know you are all anxious to hear about my week. Thank you for sharing your updates with me! I love hearing about all that goes on at home. We email at an internet cafe, so I print out your letters and read them throughout the week. Thank you for giving me plenty of details and letting me know what's going on. Thank you also so much for all the Blog updates. It's so great to hear what's going on all around the World, and in the MTC! It's a huge comfort to me to see this work go forward everywhere. Mom, Dad, thank you for your spiritual insights. I know I haven't said much about them before now, but I just wanted to make sure you know I really appreciate them.
Ok, now onto my week. We had another lesson with Z. He's an interesting character. He's worried our church is only about money and that all we do is build temples. We had a member, A with us on the lesson. Let me tell you, this guy is a champ! He is in the branch presidency here in kato and has been a member his whole life. He is incredibly doctrinally sound. He was able to explain a ton of stuff to Z and really help us out. We also had a few lessons with a member named A. He has his mission call to England, so Elder Mikolyski and I are helping him with his English and just all around getting prepared to serve. It's a lot of fun helping him get ready, imagining what I was like at that point and how much I've grown. He also brought a friend to one of our lessons named B. She's awesome and super open. We taught her all about the Restoration and we're looking to meet with her again soon. Oh, and guess what? I placed my first copy of the Book of Mormon all by myself this week! And not only that, but it was in Polish! Oh, and I didn't only place one, but I placed 4! Not at once, but at a couple different times throughout the week. It's still super hard to understand Polish, but I can gain a lot by someone's body lanugage and just kind of how they are acting. It's so great to see the Lord bless my efforts out here. Both times when I placed these copies, I felt super discouraged that day and just like I couldn't do much on my own. So, I said a prayer, asking for the Lord to bless my efforts and not just to make it happen, and immediately right after that, I placed copies of the Book of Mormon. So cool to see that happen! Grace is real and continues to be an enabling power in my life daily. We had a meeting last night with an old man named B. He's so sweet. Heather, you would love his style. Actually, you'd love all the old men here. They have sweet style. Anyway, we had a lesson out in his garden. I took some pictures that I'm going to send home. Make sure you zoom in and check out B's tie. It's awesome. Anway, funny story. He was climbing this ladder to get some grapes for us to take home. This ladder looks like it was made in the 60's. It's made of super old wood and falling apart. Secondly, it's pretty much perpendicular to the ground. Like 90 degrees. No joke. He's making me hold it for him, and he almost falls over backwards like five times, and the ladder is cracking sounding like it was going to break. Oh my goodness, we thought he was going to die on our hands because the ladder was going to break. It was a miracle nothing happened, but Elder Mikolyski and I were just laughing trying to keep him safe. It was an adventure for sure. I haven't got my voice recorder yet. We're going to the mall today, so hopefully I can get it then. I'm sending home a few picture though of B and his garden, and also of us heading to Poland! I hope you like them!
Love ya.
Mom, I love you. I hope you're handling everything well. I know you are. All my love.
I'm sorry I don't have time to write more. We need to get going. I love you all. This gospel is true. This work is real. Jesus Christ lives.
With Love,
Elder Vernon
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