"Comforting those that stand in need of comfort"

I was rushed last week so unfortunately feel like I missed a lot but it was sort of in line with the rest of the week. It was a transfer week, full of excitement and fun. I am officially in Wola with Elder Garrett and we are excited. He is only one group behind me so we are even in skills and experience around the board, which is fun. This week was a check for my mission. Groups going home and coming in always create a stir. I am officially old. I have been here for nearly a year, the new missionaries are so young - sisters who graduated from my grade and elders who graduated 2014 are already here - and at MLC (the missionary leadership meeting) we had 5 missionaries from my group there. It's ridiculous! This new group of trainees looks so good though! We just get the best missionaries here and as sad as I am to see some missionaries go I am filled with excitement to work with these new faces (there are two new missionaries here in Warsaw I: Elder Wright and Sister Smith). 

This new Warsaw I group is great! So much energy and excitement. MLC was focused on diligence and answered a ton of questions I have been having. We talked about the difference between diligence and hard work. It reminded me about advice my dad gave to me about not just working"hard" but working "smart". It gave some good guidance of how to hone this energy into being effective in not just working hard but reaching the outcomes we are shooting for. Zone training this week is going to be great! 

This week we enjoyed a fun miracle. We were talking with a young mother, Marta, who was accompanied by her son when a man came up who appeared to be a member by how he was greeting us members. I didn't recognize him, which made sense when he said that he was in "Warsaw II" the other branch or congregation here in Warsaw. He joined right in the discussion and shared his personal feelings about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We had a great meeting there on the street and I was grateful to see how precise Heavenly Father is when we crosses our paths. 

We are currently working with Andrzej, he met with missionaries about 7 years ago and then Elder Platter ran into him on a whiteboard. He is funny and interesting and it's just fun to meet with him. He came to church and I look forward to our meetings this week and see his experiences as he applies what we teach.

As missionaries we focus on helping others come unto Christ through baptism. Baptism is a covenant or promise between us and our Father in Heaven. We are promised forgiveness, a remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide and purify us. In return we promise to be disciples of Christ and something specifically we claim we will do is to "comfort those that stand in need of comfort." As we were discussing the needs of the branch the sister missionaries mentioned is that comfort is what everybody needs, the way to do it is to give and receive. We are all busy and all have trials, we all need comfort and little reminders of love. Yesterday in church Małgorzata Rzeczycka spoke basing her talk off of President Eyring's from October 2013 General Conference. She relayed the same story he did of the Good Samaritan. She noted that we often say that we want to help others, we may even pray for or seek those opportunities but she then asked a vital question: are we prepared? The Good Samaritan was not only willing but ready to help. I thought of that a lot. Not that we need to be perfect or that we should wait to act and to serve but it's an excellent evaluation to see if we are ready to serve others. I know that Heavenly Father will put those in our paths that we have the ability to help but in order to gain His trust we need to prepare ourselves to serve. Christ is our perfect example of this and I am looking to be ready to serve others and execute those little acts of love that we all need to give and receive. 

Have a good week, searching for those you have the influence to help.

Trzymajcie się,

Starszy Kimball