Well, It Can't Get Worse Than This...

Good morning, everyone!

This week has been… an adventure, to put it mildly. I’ll spare you every little detail, but let’s just say it was *eventful.* Somehow, in the middle of all the chaos and heartbreak, Sister Trost and I found ourselves laughing, crying, and occasionally both at once. One thing’s for sure: be careful what you pray for.

So, it all started on Tuesday. Sister Trost and I, the assistants to the mission’s medical coordinator, went out to dinner with Sister Roney, the medical coordinator and our mission leader. The conversation shifted to training new missionaries—what it takes, why it matters—and I got all reflective. I thought back to some of the hardest moments of my life, times that brought me to my knees and helped me build my relationship with God. That night, I prayed and thanked God for every one of those difficult moments. And then… the week began in full force.

On Wednesday, while I was in the office prepping a post, *poof!*—the entire folder I was working from just disappeared. Not the ad folder, thankfully (we thought), but basically everything else. This folder was literally YEARS of work. It hurts to think about. Not just because of the months of work we have contributed... but because this is content we felt inspired to create to help bring the joy of the gospel to the people here in Poland. This was all our mission’s media work, years worth of effort and inspiration—gone in an instant. That night, Sister Trost and I went home and threw ourselves into making a comfort meal (we love cooking together): tomato soup, pesto mozzarella grilled cheese sandwiches (from scratch, except the pesto and cheese), and, naturally, cinnamon rolls. It helped… kinda. We consoled ourselves with “At least it wasn’t the ad folder.” ah, famous last words. 

Then Thursday came. Just as we were turning in another ad campaign, we watched helplessly as our ads started disappearing one by one, right before our eyes. We scrambled, logging into every device we could think of, desperately saving whatever we could. It was the most high stakes game of whack a mole. Most files were rescued, but we lost a couple of ads that had taken weeks to create. And when the dust settled? Our good “friend” left us a little present in the empty space where all our hard work had been: a picture of an emoji cat. Yes, the hacker had the audacity to delete our work and leave us with a cat photo. Nothing says, “Your hard work is replaceable” like a smug little cat staring back at you.

Then came Friday. We had a meeting with a visiting authority, and we shared what it’s really like working with social media here and some of the roadblocks we’ve been running into due to the loving support of the-powers-that-be (if the sarcasm is not coming through... that was sarcasm...) Right after, we went into our regularly scheduled meeting with the “powers-that-be,” and—surprise!—they changed everything on us again, just because they could. But this time, our president and the visiting authority saw it all firsthand. Right then and there, it was decided: social media work in the Poland Warsaw Mission would be put on hold until our feedback was heard.

For those still with me, this basically means that Sister Trost and I are officially out of a job. Honestly, given everything that happened, it’s probably for the best, as our dear hacker friend had already cleared most of our work for us anyways.

So after all that and some more long meetings we decided the best direction for the mission would be to dissolve our relationship with curtain organisations and have no dedicated social media leaders. This means that my sister trost and I will be leaving the office. 

She will be going to Kraków this transfer with a little trainee:))) And for me, I will be going to Legnica with a trainee?? She is from Ukraine so I will actually be in training hahaha I am so excited!! Learning Ukrainian is going to be so much fun! I got started during all the chaos this week and it has been so much fun. We are an only sisters city. meaning it will only be my companion and I. It will be so interesting. I hear it is not the most safe city ever but hey guess we will find out. 

Oh but sister trost is not done with me yet. We will be serving as STL's together... tbd on how that will work but we may be six hours away from each other but we still will share an assignment so that is a W. 

All jokes aside, I am really going to miss the family we have built in the office. Sister Trost is truly my sister... there is no one else I could have (or would have haha) gone through all this and so much more with. I am grateful for all the elders that we have gotten to serve with in the office. In the words of Elder Grodecki "this little six person companionship". It has been real. 

I am so grateful I got to come back to Warsaw. I love this city. I am so grateful for my time in the office and the ways it has allowed me to grow my testimony in ways I did not know it needed to grow. One way it has grown was in my testimony of tithing.

I am grateful that I have the opportunity to pay tithing. sharing the gospel with God's children is the most important thing we can do. To share such joy and love with others is priceless. I know that by paying my tithing I am able to help push those efforts forward. I am grateful to be able to give what I have in order to help people receive hope and joy into their lives. 

I love my saviour. I have grown a deep personal witness of His living reality as my redeemer and healer. 

I would not have such a burning testimony had I chosen not to come on a mission. 

Serving the Lord in this capacity is the best decision one could ever make. 

God is so good and is always there with open arms waiting for us with eager anticipation. 

I love God and His Son, Jesus Christ. 

"He is in relentless pursuit of you." 

I often find Him in others, in songs that play while walking on the street, little animals, but I always seem to find Him on bended knee, in prayer talking with my Heavenly Father. 

I am excited for these last 12 weeks of my mission. I know they are going to be incredible and help me grow my relationship with my saviour in remarkable ways. 

I love you all. I hope you have a great week. I am excited to hear from you and how you are all doing. 

As always, thank you for the emails. I love reading them. 

Elder Campbell (what salt lake called me when encouraging me to start My Plan)