Easy Stories in English

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A Letter from God

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Transcript

Welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from OK to Good, and from Good to Great.

I am Ariel Goodbody, your host for this show. Today’s story is for intermediate learners. The name of the story is A Letter from God. You can find a transcript of the episode at EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/God. Thatā€™s EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/God. This contains the full story, as well as my conversation before it.

So todayā€™s story is another listener-submitted story. One of our listeners, Hubert Lenartowicz, sent in the story. So thank you so much again, Hubert, for your wonderful story. Itā€™s a really interesting personal story. Itā€™s a real story. So itā€™s a bit different. Weā€™ve never had a real-life story on the podcast before, except perhaps the episode about Ludowik Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto. Thatā€™s at EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/Hope if you are interested. But anyway, todayā€™s story is a very personal story, so I really appreciate Hubert sending it in.

Hubert’s father’s funeral

Hubert is from Poland and the story takes place in the capital of Poland, Warsaw, or, as itā€™s known in Polish, Warszawa. Poland is a lovely country. I have been there quite a few times for Esperanto events, mainly. Uh, I havenā€™t been around Warsaw very much but, uh, Polish food is delicious! And Polish people are very nice. Actually, there is a very large population of Polish people in the UK, especially in London.

Hubert’s grandmother, Bronisława Włodkowska

So todayā€™s story is about Hubertā€™s grandparents and his experience with God and religion, specifically, Christianity. Hubert has collected some wonderful pictures of his grandparents when they were young, so pictures from the 40s and 50s and 60s, and Iā€™m going to post some of these pictures on the transcript at EasyStoriesInEnglish.com/God. So thanks again, Hubert, and remember, if you want to send in a story that you have written, write me an email at . I would love to read your work.

Since todayā€™s story is related to religion, I thought I might as well talk about my own experience with religion. So, both my parents are Christian. I think thatā€™s the right word? Iā€™ll be honest, even though my parents are religious and I went to a religious school, I really donā€™t understand the differences between the denominations very well. So the denominations are the difference between Christian, catholic, Roman catholic, protestant, Church of England and so on.

Anyway, I went to a catholic school and I used to go to church every week but I donā€™t think I ever really believed in God. I found church and religion very boring, to be honest, especially when I was young, and when I became a teenager I started looking up stuff online and I formally decided that I was an athiest.

So an athiest is a non-believer, someone who does not believe in the existence of God. And I became an athiest officially maybe around 12 or 13, and I was a really annoying, obnoxious athiest, actually. I read a lot of forums online about athiesm and how ā€œreligion is stupidā€ and all of those things. Luckily, I never got angry at anyone. I never really told anyone these views apart from my friends at school. I think now there are a lot athiests online who are incredibly annoying and very obnoxious and loud about their beliefs or lack of beliefs.

I still consider myself an athiest, or maybe agnostic. Agnostic means that you are not an athiest but you donā€™t strongly believe in God, that youā€™re open to the idea of religion or open to the idea of God existing. I would still say I am an athiest but itā€™s not important for me. It really isnā€™t a big deal.

I think my problem is actually more with Christianity specifically. I have considered both Judaism and Buddhism before for converting and, I donā€™t know, at the moment I donā€™t have enough time to really convert to another religion, you know? I want to do the research and really figure out if itā€™s right for me. The part of Judaism that interests me is the discussion, the debate and the interpretation of texts such as the Torah. I really get the feeling that in Judaism thereā€™s a lot of interpretation rather than just being told what to believe, and I really like the practices and language that are used in Buddhism.

Obviously, there are many different branches or denominations of Buddhism but generally the incorporation of meditation into the religion really, I appreciate. Actually, I was going to a Buddhist group for a while in my city, in Bath, uh, where we did meditation together, but I donā€™t know if I could convert to Buddhism, ā€™cause when you convert to Buddhism you have to say you will never killā€¦ OK, I will never killā€¦ a person, at least! Maybe Iā€™ll kill a fly, I donā€™t know. Uh, you have to say you will become a vegetarian and that you will never steal and, OK the vegetarian part I could probably do, but like sometimes I steal pens from work, and I donā€™t think thatā€™s such a big deal! So, I donā€™t know if I could formally convert to Buddhism, but Iā€™ve definitely considered it. So for now, Iā€™m not religious but we will see what happens with that.

Recently, the podcast hit an important milestone. So a milestone is a way of marking progress, and the milestone that we hit was 500,000 listens. So the episodes of the podcast have been listened to over 500,000 times, which is crazy! Itā€™s so big. I cannot believe itā€™s grown so quickly. I appreciate all of you listening so much and I need to figure out what to do when we hit a million, because obviously a million is a really special number so I should find some way to celebrate. But thank you so much for listening, and I really am enjoying doing the podcast.

OK, Iā€™ll just explain some words that are in todayā€™s story.

Communism is an ideology, a belief system, and a system of government. Communism is based on the writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg and so on. The goal of communism is to achieve a society with complete economic equality, meaning that all arms of productionā€”factories, farms, workshopsā€”will be owned and run by the workers themselves. Basically, there will be no CEOs who make money from other peopleā€™s work. In addition to this, communist societies would have free access to healthcare, public transport, education and so on.

However, the transition to communism would take a long time, so before communism is achieved, a stage of socialism is required. There is sometimes confusion because countries such as China and Cuba are ā€œcommunist countriesā€ but have socialism as their current system. Based on the theory of marxism, communist countries such as China are trying to move gradually from socialism to communism.

In todayā€™s story, there is reference to the ā€œcommunist eraā€ in Poland. Along with many countries, Poland used to be a communist state. It was part of the Soviet Union, a union of many communist countries, along with Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan etc.

An urn is a big pot that you put a dead personā€™s ashes in. So when someone dies, you can choose to bury them, put them in the ground, or have them cremated, burnt. When you cremate a dead person, you take their ashes, their remains, and keep them in an urn. Some people keep urns of dead relatives in their house.

A wake is a kind of party that happens after a funeral. At the wake, people eat food and talk about the person who has died. It is sometimes called a ā€˜receptionā€™ as well. Sometimes, wakes are very quiet and sad, but some people have happy wakes, to try and celebrate the life of the person who died.

Carefree is when you have no worries. You are not at all anxious. You are literally free of cares. I wish I was carefree. Usually, I worry too much about things, and I am not so carefree.

A baptism is a ceremony for new babies. When a baby is baptised, a priest pours water over their head and gives the baby a name. In Christianity, all children are baptised.

A wreath is a decoration made from leaves and flowers. You make a ring of green leaves, and then attach flowers, ribbons and bells to make it look nice. Wreaths are usually made for Christmas, and you put it on your front door. In this story, a wreath is made to put on a grave instead.

Intimate is when you know someone very well, you are very close. For example, I am intimate with my close friends and I can talk to them about everything. Intimate can also mean a private matter. For example, I donā€™t want to talk about my romantic life on the podcast, because it is something intimate

If you enjoy the podcast and want more, you can support us on Patreon. For just $2 a month you can get exercises with each episode, and for $5 you get an extra story every month. You can support us at Patreon.com/EasyStoriesInEnglish. Thatā€™s Patreon.com/EasyStoriesInEnglish.

On Saturday, I had the first $15 Patreon level class. So at the $15 level on Patreon I do a two-hour online class once a month and I record the class so that you can watch it again later. So I did a class with Sinan, just one student, and it was very fun. I told a story with puppets, we chatted, we played a game and we wrote a little story together. So if that sounds like fun for you, go to the Patreon and subscribe at the $15 level.

A big thank-you to our new patrons, szymon, Danko Ljubic, Jairo Andres Ballen Mosquera and AndrƩ Gama. Your support really means a lot to us. Thank you.

OK, so listen and enjoy!

A Letter from God

My name is Hubert Lenartowicz, and this is my story. All the details in it are true. I hope you will believe me.

Iā€™m 57 and I grew up in a family of athiests. My father in particular did not believe in God. In addition, he was a police officer in a school for traffic police, as well as a history teacher. In the communist era in Poland it was forbidden for police officers to believe in God or have any connections to the Church. It might not mean losing your job but it would be the end of your professional career. Even as a retired man, my father was critical of the Church.

My wife, on the other hand, is deeply religious, and tells me religious stories regularly. I donā€™t care much for them. I told her that I am not an enemy of the Church, I simply am not a believer.

ā€˜Maybe one day Iā€™ll see a sign and change my mind. Iā€™m open to believing. But for now, Iā€™m not interested.ā€™

I always saw her when she came back from church, or other religious meetings. She always looked so happy. But I didnā€™t see myself as part of it.

My father died at 86-years-old on the second of April 2018. On the ninth was his funeral. The day before, I went to see our family grave. I wanted to see if they had changed it. I also visited the hall where my fatherā€™s urn was, and checked the restaurant for the wake after the funeral, as well as the parking facilities. Everything seemed in order.

I also went to visit my grandmotherā€™s grave. She passed away in 1982, and she was my guiding light. Her grave looked the same as ever. There was a stone cross coming out of it, with her picture placed on it. I stared at the picture for a long time. Then I covered it with my hand and looked up the sky and thought.

ā€œYou were the most important person in the world. I think about you a lot, you know. You are always close to my heart.ā€

I went home, and a few hours later, my mother came to me.

ā€˜Look. I found this while cleaning out Dadā€™s drawers. Itā€™s an old letter. I didnā€™t know we had it. My mother wrote it in 1964, when you were just two years old.ā€™

The letter was written by my maternal grandmother, my motherā€™s mother, to my paternal grandmother, my fatherā€™s mother. My maternal grandmother talked about me in a way that only a grandmother can. She called me ā€œPeterā€, the name I used as a child. The letter was cheerful and carefree, but there were two sentences that were very serious.

It is time for the child to be shown to God. I know Peterā€™s father does not want to baptise him, but it must happen. We will do it in secret.

Suddenly I understood. Those words were not written to my paternal grandmother, but to me, reading the letter now 54 years later. It was a letter from God: a sign. It was clear, as clear as daylight. I had tears in my eyes. It could not be a coincidence. I had just visited her grave and thought about her, and suddenly this letter appeared. It had waited 54 years to be read by me.

My fatherā€™s mother had given my father the letter. My father knew that I was baptised, but he said nothing. Still, he kept the letter in his house, so that he could prove to his employer that he was against his sonā€™s baptism, if he needed to. The two sentences about my baptism were underlined in red pencil. And God, in his wisdom, used my grandmother to lead me to Him.

But this is not the end of the story. The day after the funeral, I went back to the family grave to say my last goodbye to my father. I was moving away from Warsaw, so I wouldnā€™t see him for a long time. While I was there, I checked that the flowers and wreaths were in good condition.

ā€œHmm, if I put these two wreaths on the cross itā€™ll look much better.ā€

While I put up the wreaths, I hit my head twice on the cross. It felt like a message from God: ā€˜You understood the message in your grandmotherā€™s letter, but that is not all. Now you must take action.ā€™

Over the next weeks and months, I told this story to some close friends. They were just as amazed as I was. I started to wonder, is it OK to tell other people? Or is it an intimate matter between me and God? Is it our secret that I should not be boasting about?

But as the months passed, my fear of telling the story disappeared. I felt like God was on my side. And in the last two years, my life has been full of happiness. So now I tell you this story not with fear, but with joy.

THE END

If you enjoyed the story, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Go to Patreon.com/EasyStoriesInEnglish. Thatā€™s Patreon.com/EasyStoriesInEnglish. For just a few dollars a month you can get extra episodes, exercises, and much more. Thank you for listening, and until next week.

Comments

19 responses to “A Letter from God”

  1. ratchagorn suangsunton avatar
    ratchagorn suangsunton

    I love your podcast , my english is not very well especially listening

    your podcast make me happy when I heard about many story by your beatiful voice and accent

    thank you for your hard work from Thailand.

    ps.sorry for my bad english gramma
    ps2.I had play FF14 too!!

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks for the comment, Ratchagorn! You’re very kind. I’ll work hard to keep my voice beautiful šŸ˜‰ And your grammar is good! I haven’t actually played FF14 in a while. I’m playing Persona 5 at the moment.

  2. Javad Esmaili avatar
    Javad Esmaili

    well,
    First of all I need to say thank you about your good and obvious voice and also good website.
    This is really useful for me.
    I repeat each sentenses after you and it’s help me very much.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks for your comment, Javad! I’m glad you’re finding the podcast so helpful šŸ™‚

      1. Javad Esmaili avatar
        Javad Esmaili

        Thank you my good teacher

  3. Danou avatar

    Thanks a lot for your podcasts. I really love your stories and your accent is amazing. Iā€™ve been learning english by my own since four years now. I am always looking for new tools to improve my english and I have to confess that it is the first time that I found a podcast that fulfills my expectations. Greetings from France

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks so much for the comment, Danou! I’m really glad you’re finding the podcast useful šŸ™‚

  4. On the site you write a lot about yourself Ariel, just as much as I wrote about myself. I hope this story and the comments could spark a discussion about religion in general. On this way we learn english and exchange our opinions.
    According to the story described, I may not have done as much for my faith as the God expected of me. I can only say I believe in him.
    But the most important thing I want to mention in my comment here is this: Arguments of the non-believers almost always concern the church as an institution but not the belief itself. The believers also often criticize the church. Arguments against the church or belief should be separated.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      That’s a very good point, Hubert! Personally I think growing up in a very religious environment (religious parents, going to church, Catholic school) put me off it, because I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I’m a bit of a “quiet rebel”, so I gradually decided it wasn’t for me. But I think spirituality is very important and I respect people’s beliefs.

      1. Because I have exactly the same considering how you, I ask often the believers now – Are you a believer because you were brought up that way or out of your own conviction? I often get the answer – because that’s how I was raised. Probably these are not the real believers.The problem we’re writing about is also not a argument against the belief. That is one of the problems of belief.

        1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
          Ariel Goodbody

          Very true!

  5. Ahmed Nour avatar
    Ahmed Nour

    The stories are very nice

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks, Ahmed!

  6. Pedro Petrucci avatar
    Pedro Petrucci

    Very nice story. Plenty of intimacy and personal decisions. I liked it. I hope someday writing a story

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks, Pedro! I look forward to reading your future story šŸ™‚

  7. Amarilla avatar
    Amarilla

    Hello from Argentina!
    This is the second story I heard from you and I just love it! I just want to say you thank you for the space, this allow us to a lot of people around the world we can to learn and to improve our English, thanks for shared your knowledge and experiences. God bless you generous heart.

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      Thanks for the lovely comment, Amarilla! I’m glad you’re finding the podcast helpful šŸ™‚

  8. Bassam avatar
    Bassam

    Thank you for the lovely story, God bless you

    1. Ariel Goodbody avatar
      Ariel Goodbody

      You’re very welcome, Bassam! šŸ™‚

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