Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!

So it's been a strange week. It's different at the moment. I knew I'd face trials on my mission but I didn't expect it to come in this way. We're pretty much confined to our apartment now, and sharing this gospel is bizarre because it can only been done online. Knowing that friends are returning home is hard to see because I've found a lot of strength in knowing that I'm sharing the same experiences with them. My heart goes out to them.

These are trying and uncertain times, but I've been reminded again and again of my Saviour Jesus Christ and how He knows exactly how I feel. I don't know exactly how He does that, I don't know how He has felt the anguish, the fear, the pain and the tears of all of those affected by the coronavirus, but I know that He has, and I am so grateful for it. There is peace to be found in Him when we turn to Him, when we understand His atoning sacrifice for us and the love that He has for us. There's always one who knows and understands how we feel, and it's our Beloved Saviour Jesus Christ. 

I haven't much else to say, this week has just been a lot of Polish practise, scripture study and prayer. I hope everyone at home is safe and happy and well.

"Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and ye shall have peace in me."

Speak to you all soon,

Starszy Ashworth x 

:)

I had 0 clue what to put for a subject so yeah. This week has been eventful, to say the least. In terms of missionary work it's actually been quite boring haha, but like the world is going crazy because of coronavirus. Poland has shut everything down, nothing is open apart from Lidl which is actually super useful as we were able to do our weekly shop this morning. Besides that, we haven't really done much this week. The work has been pretty slow here in Łódź so we'll see what we can do now that we're kinda stuck in our apartment all day. 

Overall though I'm happy. There's not much else to say. I'm the happiest I've been for a little while, I feel calm and peaceful about everything, I know Heavenly Father is in control and He won't forsake His people. That doesn't mean life is perfect, it just means that we can have the surety that God is with us in all things and it brings comfort to the soul. I love my Saviour and I'm grateful for Him, I'm coming closer and closer to Him and for me, it's been the best thing about my mission. 

Warsaaawwwwww

So this week was such a good week, its flown by, I can't believe how quick time goes, and it's because I'm having so much fun. The mission is such a huge blessing. It stretches you and pushes you to the point where you feel that you can't carry on, and then comes the sweet relief from the Saviour, who finished His course for me, who never gave up and pressed on to the end in faith. I know I can do whatever my Heavenly Father asks of me, because the enabling and strengthening power of the Atonement is real, and I really have felt it carry me.

This past week I turned 19 which is crazy! I'm like nearly 30 lol. But seriously it's wild that I've been alive for 19 years, whatttt happened hahaha. It was such a blessing though, I went to see my family in Warsaw and it was the best birthday ever. My Polish family have such a special place in my heart, and I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father, and for the tender mercy of being given the opportunity to labour for His people here in Poland. Speaking to my family in Polish was such an amazing experience and quite surreal, I remember like 4/5 years ago when Josef got his mission call to Poland and we'd talk about me one day serving there also, speaking to each other in Polish etc. and now here I am! It's such a blessing.

I spent Saturday in Warsaw with my family and got to see old town, it's so beautiful, and I'm looking forward to going back some day. The rest of the week was just the usual missionary work, I'll save you from the details haha.

Sorry for not replying to everyone's emails but I read them all and I'm grateful for those who write to me. It puts a smile on my face.

Speak soon everyone!

Starszy Ashworth x

Family

Cousins

Birthday Cake

I ate at a milk bar.

Well where do I begin. This week has been pretty jam packed. We had exchanges this week, so I got to go up to Gdańsk and spend a few days with the zone leaders. It takes us 6 hours on a fast train to get there, my mission is huge hahah, but the train was comfy and it gave me enough time to finish the Saints book which was mint. If you haven't read it yet you should, it's such a good book and has strengthened my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith so much, what a man he was. Exchanges were mega because I was with 2 English elders! Absolutely loved it, I miss English people so much. We had a right laugh, and it was a really good refresher. Gdańsk is a beautiful place, the buildings are so pretty and it just has a really nice atmosphere, and I took a walk through the old town and it was stunning. 

Also, I went to my first milk bar and it was the best food I've had since I've been here. Sounds odd I know, I was like 'what do they just have different types of milk?' lol but it's basically just a Polish restaurant but there's not really a menu, you just walk up to the front and point to what you want. I asked for one thing and got something completely different but I loved it! I'd definitely recommend it.

Besides that, Łódź is still good. I really like it here, some days I'm just like 'what is this place?' but most days I love it. It really is like home. And the people here are awesome. I had a hard time at first, loving the people, it was a challenge because I wanted to desperately to have a love for these people, so I've worked and worked at just loving those who I get to meet, and the Lord has blessed me and softened my heart for these people and I'm starting to see them through the eyes of my Saviour. It's a special process and I'm grateful for it. For me I've just made sure that my first motive is love, because that was the Saviour's way.

For my personal studies recently I've been focusing a lot on the Plan of Salvation, mainly the atonement and the resurrection. Its a study that's brought me great comfort and peace, in knowing that no matter who we are, we will all one day be brought to stood before our Saviour in the flesh. So this part is for those who've lost loved ones, which means just about everyone at some point in life. Death is an essential part of God's plan. It isn't the end, rather it's a gateway into the eternities, a gateway to eternal joy and perfection. I read that, 'The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take the love out of life' and while we cannot take the sorrow out of death, we can have a perfect brightness of hope that all things will be restored 'to [their] perfect frame' and that 'this mortal body [will be] raised to an immortal body, that is from death, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided.' This hope comes through our Saviour Jesus Christ and His atonement. All will be made right, and all things will one day make sense because of our Beloved Saviour. Lastly, I just wanted to leave one of my favourite scriptures ever, which has brought me great comfort on this subject.

"Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow." Alma 40:11-12

Speak to you all soon!

Starszy Ashworth x 

Poland is very cool.

This week has been really good, probably one of my best since I've been here. I've had a couple of tough weeks but this week I've really focused on being happy and trying to find joy no matter what my circumstance is. My mum sent me a really good quote from President Hinckley about happiness, about looking deeply and searching for the good in life, and that's what I've done, and it's helped me to realise that happiness is a mindset. Of course we're not going to be happy and bouncy and smiling every day, but we can always be grateful for something, and we can see all the good in life that God has blessed us with. It takes time too, but all things that are worth it require work and time and effort. If we want happiness we have to seek it, we cannot wait for it to show up, it has to be something that we look for.

 I've been making a lot of friends here in Łódź. I'm really growing a love for the people here. There are 2 people in my ward who I adore, they're both a bit older but I just love them so much! It's a funny thing really, but when Heavenly Father let's you catch a glimpse of what He sees it just changes everything, these people are children of God, we all are, and when we see people that way our love for them grows and grows. Łódź is my home now, it's a funny place, sometimes scary, sometimes I feel like I'm back in the 60s or whatever but I love it! 

We're still going to the handicapped school as well, I love going there and seeing the smiles on people's faces, they're usually quite happy to see us but I think I love it more than they do. We had zone conference this week too, it was really good and I'm glad I got to see all my mission friends, especially my boy Starszy Jensen. It was also tłusty czwartek which is fat Thursday and the whole nation just eats donuts haha. I only managed 5 but as a mission we ate a total 655 donuts. These things aren't small either.

 My Polish is alright as well, but all thanks goes to Heavenly Father. I've been having good conversations with people, and I can understand maybe about 50-60% of what people say lol. Still scares me but it's actually quite fun being new to something. 

To finish off, I wanted to share something from the scriptures that really touched my heart, and grew my love and adoration for the Saviour. It's in the book of St. John in the New Testament. It's after Christ's resurrection and He appears to Mary as a resurrected being. The account says,
"And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master."

I loved this account because of the way that the Saviour reaches out to Mary. He appears to her as a resurrected being after doing what no man had ever done before, or ever could do, and rather than introducing Himself as the Risen Lord, proclaiming Himself and His glory, He simply calls Mary by name. This is when the realisation hits, and she recognises that it's her Saviour that stands before her. She recognised the love in His voice, the care, the kindness, the compassion and His gentleness. He reached out in the most Christ-like way possible, by ministering to the one. The Saviour teaches us a lesson here on how we should reach out to others and how we should minister. We need to do it in the same loving, caring and individual way. Let people know that they matter, let them know that you love them, and know them and care for them.

In short, try to be more like your Saviour because He's the best.

Love you all and speak to you all soon.

Starszy Ashworth x 

An okay week.

This week was an okay week. Missionary life is busy, sometimes repetitive, actually mostly repetitive but I wouldnt want to be anywhere else. Some days have been tough this week, it feels like you're pushed to your limits but I'm always reminded of the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. No matter what he's there, He hears the silent pleadings of our hearts and He helps us in our quest to become more like Him.

We visited the handicapped school again which was really fun, always boosts the spirits and helps me to see all the things I should be grateful for. We also had one of those cool missionary things happen where someone just rocks up to the chapel and asks to be taught. It finally happened to me lol. Good times. Only a short one but speak to you all soon. Peace

I bought some T90's!

So for those of you don't know what T90s are, they are some of the most legendary football boots ever and I found a brand new pair for about 20 quid haha. So when I actually get the chance to play football I'm gonna be like Rooney, Henry and Bergkamp mixed into 1 player. That also probably made no sense to most who will read this hahaha, but basically I'm just really excited that I found my favourite football boots ever. Oh, they were also the only pair left and they were in my size. Happy days.

For the week, I've been busy, it's been the usual contacting and meeting with people and all that good missionary stuff. 

On Thursday, a Babcia from the ward came and made us some Polish food at the chapel for FHE and it was amazing. It was basically a cornish pasty (if you don't know what that is then look it up) and then she made some barszcz for us which is beetroot soup and I actually loved it which I never thought I'd say haha.

Also, last week for the first time in forever I did leg day and I have been regretting it now for 4 days and counting haha. I've literally been struggling to stand up and walk about haha and I can hear my dad saying, 'get on with it you wuss,' hahah. That makes my dad sound really mean but he's not, he's the best and coolest dad ever.

So for personal study this week I've been mixing it up with Plan of Salvation study, the Restoration study and then reading all of the scriptures from the topical guide about the Saviour and it's been really good, and so many times this week I've been reminded of the mercy of our Heavenly Father in providing for us a Saviour who came to Earth to rescue us, to literally save our souls and allow us to one day enter into the rest of our God. There's a quote from Elder Jeffrey R Holland that I just love and it says,

"That first Easter sequence of Atonement and Resurrection constitutes the most consequential moment, the most generous gift, the most excruciating pain, and the most majestic manifestation of pure love ever to be demonstrated in the history of the world. Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, suffered, died, and rose from death in order that He could, like lightning in a summer storm, grasp us as we fall, hold us with His might, and through our obedience to His commandments, lift us to eternal life." 

It's so powerful and so true! 

I'd love to hear from you all! I hope you all have lovely weeks.

Starszy Ashworth x