Gdansk week 11

Dzien Dobry Dear Family! 

Thank you for your all your prayers for me and Sister McAdams! We've been having so much success with our potential investigators and contacting people wherever we go. Thank you! Also thank you for reading the Book of Mormon :) I really appreciate every single one of you who is reading!

Sister McAdams is amazing. We are working really hard together. This week she taught me about bravery and not being afraid to talk to anyone, anywhere. I love serving with her! We went to Poznan this week for Zone Conference last Tuesday. We had a few lessons on the train and it was really fun. 

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: listening with love. We are striving to really apply Elder Holland's quote from Preach My Gospel about listening to the investigators (or even people on the street, or members) and then testify. We are striving to not worry about what we will say but rather listen with love and faith, knowing that what we need to say will be given us. 

Something I learned in the Book of Mormon this week was a lot about the gathering of Israel. It really is a unique part of our message that can touch the hearts of the people here in Poland. I thought a lot about Krystyna, our investigator who is fascinated with family history work and how the Book of Mormon is evidence that the gathering of Israel has commenced and is going. We had another meeting with her this week and we talked about the restoration. She is so curious to know why we baptize people who died but were already baptized. She's like I understand those people who weren't baptized but why do you do it for those who already are??? So cute and she's so eager to learn more.

We invited the Spirit this week by: giving everything we have to the work. We honestly gave every scrap of effort and extra spare thought to how we can improve and how we can serve more. We really took to heart the scriptures "serve God with all your might, mind, strength, heart." Very rewarding and also exhausting. The scripture from King Benjamin's speech about not running faster than you have strength came to mind a few times this week...such wise words!

In other news...

*Our investigator Marzena finally invited us over to her house! (We had been meeting in parks up til now.) It's really great because she's really starting to trust us! We also gave Nikki her 10 yr old daughter a copy of the children's book of mormon and she is reading it :D Yay! The only sad part is that Marzena was riding her bike this week and was hit by a car. She is all beat up on her left side but the cool part is she told us she felt something telling her she shouldn't go. A few times she felt like something was telling her not to go--but she said "it wasn't my guardian angel." We testified that the Holy Ghost protects us from danger and one of His roles is to warn us. It was really sad because she is all bruised and scratched and they don't have that much money for medicine but she also is seeing the good from it. Please pray for her!

*That reminds me of a scripture I read this week in 2 Nephi 10:20. How Lehi's family went through hardships but were led to a better land. Often, we go through difficult times in order to come to better things. Lidia (our recent convert) said in church this week how she was grateful she fell away from God for awhile because then she was ready to receive the message of the restored gospel from the missionaries. 

*I miss you all a lot. Friends, family, home, familiar things, sleeping in. But I've been pondering about everything I've been learning and how many miracles I've been able to witness. I wouldn't trade this experience I'm having right now for anything. I am so blessed to be serving the Lord by serving the Poles. 

*We had a lesson with Marta (our 17 year old investigator from English) with Lidia (recent convert) and we talked about God and how much He loves us. It was such a powerful meeting and so fun too! It's amazing to hear Lidia's testimony and feel her teaching by the Spirit. 

*Polish girls wear shiny tights. I just bought myself a pair (to look more Polish) and Sister McAdams jokes that she is blinded by the glare. Hahaha.

Thank you for all that you do and for who you are.

Sister Bezdjian

p.s. boxing at YSA (Patryk does MMA and had his gloves with him!)

p.p.s. the recording (next email) is for the opening hymn when you have FHE this week!

Neptune in the rynek

Pinata at the Grill

boxing at YSA

Sister Caveman... museum culture night

on the train to Poznan!

With some guards in the rynek and our investigator Marta!

week 10 in Gdansk

So, Sara's computer shut down while she was trying to email us this week. So she had her cute companion forward us her family email so we could know what was going on for the week. :) we love Sister McAdams!
Cześć Wam!

This week:  When we called people to invite them to the grill, they could not understand me over the phone. I was like GRILL! A GRILL!  GRILL SĄDZIEDZKI! (neighborhood grill) And then their response sounds similar to this  "Oh aha! To znaczy greeel" tak yes a grill.
  And as you can see our Grill was awesome! The weather was cold, cloudy, and rainy all week. Until Thursday and Friday when it slowly warmed up for our perfect Saturday Grill. Patryk was the griller.  Everyone else played ping-pong, card games, chatted, and then we had the piñata... and well. The ones from two weeks ago were a little broken so we just through them into plastic bags, threw them up and gave it a go.  It worked, and it was hilarious.

Investigators: Marta (mom) and Krzystof (older man friend) are doing good.  She's been doing her reading, and he is still open to find and have truth be revealed to him.  They just want to take it a little slower and go over what their doctrine says about some certain things. Like for example infant baptism.  They read Moroni chapter 8, and don't agree, so that is the topic for next week. Sister Lidia Królik said she'll come on the lesson with us too so it should be good.

Angelika mom- flaked us last week when we were supposed to go with Lidia.  But it's ok,we went over there the other day and we're set up to meet again.  She just forgot, and we don't have her number yet. So afterwards we just went over to Lidia's house and had a mini lesson talking about the Book of Mormon.  She says it's way nicer reading through it a second time knowing what's already going to happen later.  And she was also talking about the Isaiah chapters. She loves 'em!  What an angel.

Krystyna- we knocked on her door last Saturday and were set up for Sunday, but she was at her sister's house.  So we tried again on Monday night, and there she was waiting for us with ice cream trays and cookies ready to chat!  She works at some place similar to family history, and knows that mormons have the best family history technology in the entire world and she wants the hook up.  So we cut straight to the point that families are the most important thing to us and we want to be with them forever, and that is why we have temple work.  And she was just gawking over it all.  We showed her our family trees (thank you mom) and she was like a kid going through a candy or toy catalog looking at all the names!  And then I showed her the one Aunt Robbie gave me too, and that was it, she was just drooling over it, and can't wait for us to help her find her family.  She's cool, and the ice cream she gave us (Grycan) was the best.

Marta Pokojska-  She has been coming to english class, and YSA, and last friday was our second real meeting with her. Daria couldn't come.  So we talked about her reading from the Book of Mormon.  She said she really likes 1 Nefi 17 where the women in the desert are strengthened by the Lord.  And then we saw that she had all these other places marked throughout the chapters, and we were just shocked! She said that she feels a pull to it! Ughh so good! So we set a baptismal date for June 8th.  Unfortunately we'll have to change it already, because

We spent a lot of the rest of the week passing out grill flyers.  We stopped by crazy Gosia with her son Marcin and Victoria, they were happy to see us. Didn't come though.

Spiritual thought/ Other Insight-  We spent some time weeding the garden before Saturday, gettin' some work done with my green thumb.  It's cool because I also had revelacja (that's how poles say revelation sometimes) when I was reading in 2 Nephi 1 about land.  It's cool how God is the creator of all the earth.  And "land" is something that everyone wants.  In history, everyone fought over land.  God granted to the righteous the promised land.  God took away the land when people were bad.  And land today is also something everyone wants to possess. So I guess while reading that, and doing our weeding this week, I got to thinking how possessing land is a God-like characteristic or something. Rulers were "more powerful" when they had more land.  I think of dad, clint and jayna when I think of gardening, but also how doing something like having your own garden can bring you closer to God, because you are participating in a God- like action. Creating!! It's cool.  I haven't figured it all out, but it's fun to think about.

Ok well, that is all. I love you all and hope you had a great week too! And I wish you all a super warm, happy, eventful, fruitful, playful,  good week this week.

love ya always,
 Siostra McAdams


Bezdjian family- Sister Bezdjian (your daughter/older sister/funniest person in the family) asked me to forward this to you because her computer crashed and couldn't send the pics.)

Gdansk, week 9!

Czesc!!

Hi family! It was seriously SO GOOD to talk to all of you yesterday! It made me so happy to hear your voices and just talk :) Always remember how much I love all of you. I really do and I pray for you everyday. Speaking of prayer, thank you for your prayers and faith. I really appreciate the time you take to pray for me and the people of Poland. Thank you!

Sister McAdams is such a good trainer. We are learning a lot together about teaching by the Spirit. This week she has taught me a lot about listening and how to always keep learning. She really appreciates every chance we have to improve and I love working with her.

Miracles this week:
*Finding 3 new investigators! A hardcore Catholic, an atheist, and a Muslim all living together in the same apt! So great :D They all want to read the Book of Mormon and meet again. One thought we were Amish at first but that got cleared up.
*Wonderful YSA activity with pinatas! Pictures to come. We love candy and making fools of ourselves.
*Met with a woman named Beata who met the sisters a year ago on a whiteboard. She knew the Catholic church wasn't right because she said she sat in there praying to stones and idols and it didn't do anything. So now she is Pentacostal but she was happy to hear we recognize Christ as our Savior! She had no idea before that haha. Anyway she has 3 blonde little boys all under the age of 5 who are SO CUTE. We love their family already.

Something I learned in Preach My Gospel this week was about the Plan of Salvation. I studied a lot about the Plan in 2 Nephi 2 and found cross references to the Bible about the war in heaven, our pre-mortal existence, and our life on earth. It was very enlightening and it increased my gratitude for the Book of Mormon which really helps us understand the Plan of Salvation better. Marta and Aldona (our Jehovah's Witnesses) don't have in their doctrine that God knew the Fall was a necessary part for our learning and growth. It's so good to know that Heavenly Father knows everything and He has planned it out.

We invited the Spirit this week by: being guided by the Spirit in lessons and humbling seeking answers to our questions/problems from the Lord. Oftentimes this week it meant being patient and waiting upon the Lord to give us guidance through the Spirit. Patience is something we are both striving for and we have seen the results of that this week. 

Thank you for all that you do and for who you are.
Sister Bezdjian

Book of Mormon Reading Schedule! So read through the chapter by the date next to it :)

May
7th - 1 Nephi 11
14th - 1 Nephi 21
21st - 2 Nephi 9
28th - 2 Nephi 18

June
4th- 2 Nephi 28
11th - Jacob 7
18th - Mosiah 5
25th - Mosiah 15

July
2nd - Mosiah 24
9th - Alma 5
16th - Alma 14
23rd - Alma 23
30th - Alma 33

August
6th - Alma 42
13th - Alma 51
20th - Helaman 5
27th - Helaman 8

September
3rd - Helaman 16
10th - 3 Nephi 11
17th - 3 Nephi 21
24th - Mormon 1

October
1st - Ether 3
8th - Ether 13
15th - Moroni 8
My Birthday!! 16th - Moroni 9 and 10

Week 8 in Gdansk-blooming love

Dear Family,

Dzien Dobry! Guess what? We're going to talk this Sunday! Sister M's parents will coordinate with ours and plan it. On the phone for 40 minutes so 10 minutes for each of you :D yay!!! I want to hear about 1. Your Book of Mormon reading 2. Everything else!

We had some really fun things happen this week:

*We went on a picnic with Sister Braszka this week to the beach! She is Russian and she first met the church in Provo for the Festival of Colors. The Church helped build that temple there (for her previous religion) and she thought it was so nice so when she met the missionaries here in Gdansk she already had good feelings about our church. 

*After English class every Tuesday we have an optional spiritual thought. Lately all our students have been staying so that is cool! Last week we simply testified about the Book of Mormon and what it means to us. (I testified about how it's the reason I left my family to come to Poland--shout out to you all!) So the coolest part was we had a new student named Darek who's about 40ish and does photography. After the lesson he came up to us and said "Wow, I felt what you were saying was true. It was so powerful. I felt something..." And he couldn't really describe it but it was so amazing to see him try. After we walked to the tramwaj stop with him and testified that his feeling was the Holy Ghost. He's like oh no, I"m roman catholic. But we gave him a Book of Mormon anyway! And then we tried to invite his DAUGHTER to YSA activity on saturday but instead he came with his wife! oops...kind of awkward when it's us, the Elders, Patryk (17) and 2 16 year old girls, Daria and Marta. But it actually turned out really fun! We made pinatas for Cinco de Mayo and it was great :D We ate chips and salsa and then we had a lesson after with Darek and his wife and she teared up when we talked about eternal families. It was really good. She said she'd read the Book of Mormon too which was fantastic. 

*Marta and Daria (see above) are really cool girls who come to English class. Daria's kinda just fun but I'm not sure if she's into church things. Marta is reading the Book of Mormon and really likes it so far! They both watched a movie with us (the Joseph Smith one that's pretty recent) this week and it was really cool. I liked it a lot. It's different with them though because everything is really slow and more...casual since we have known them for awhile and don't know how interested in the church vs. english. 

Sister McAdams is such a good teacher. I love how she never gives up and she is so patient with me too. Her example of love for the work is motivating. I can't believe it's already been 8 weeks--time is just flying by! Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: purity. We are striving to be cleaner in our living, neater in our organization, and purer in our thoughts and attitude.

Something I learned in the Book of Mormon this week was how Nephi desired to know the things of the Lord and that is when his heart was softened. Desire is so important! Even with investigators it's possible to see the change that a simple desire can have on a person. Those who lack any sort of desire to change their lives are like empty soil but those who really have a yearning to know the truth are teachable and malleable. I want to increase my desire to come closer to Christ so that He can change me and refine me. Elder Holland told us in the MTC, "Everything you will want for your investigators, God wants for you. You want them to read, to pray, to keep commitments--well God wants that from you. YOU are God's investigators." So I am going to treat myself like one and be a progressing investigator. With desire and commitment. 

As for Book of Mormon reading this week: Great job all of you who read to 1 Nephi 2! (Those who didn't, catch up now so you can be on track with all of us :D ) This week things are going to pick up a little so by next Monday, please read up to 2 Nephi 13. Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to read. I promise if you do this prayerfully your lives with be blessed.

We invited the Spirit this week by: planning by the Spirit and sticking to those plans. It's amazing to see who we meet when we have planned the night before by the Spirit to achieve specific goals. I'm really excited to see where the potentials we met this week will go after our next meetings. 

Thank you for all that you do! I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!!

Sara

p.s. For those of you who don't know...my address is:

Ulica Brzozowa 9c/1

Gdansk 80243

Gdansk...interviews plus a very important meeting

From Sis. Nielson's blog - for the President's Interviews

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Gdansk...interviews plus a very important meeting

Whenever we travel, the Office Elders load us up with supplies and mail for each of the cities we will visit. Hence, our car is always so full that there is barely room for our small suitcases. This adventure to Gdansk was no different; except we ended up driving one of the smaller, slower Skodas. (President's car was in for servicing. They found all kinds of problems, and it wasn't ready in time for this trip. Too many miles!)

Along the way, we met Andrzej's brother outside of Bydgoszcz to 'squeeze' in one more box! The Gdansk Branch has been waiting for their new printer. No problem. With a little rearranging, and a suitcase on my lap, we were ready to go!

One of the goals of this trip was to evaluate the current chapel location on Gdansk. We found some great options for new locations. More news to come!

Now, back at the old chapel...

...Elder Johnson (District Leader) and Elder Klosowiak met Roman for a lesson. These great Elders are working hard to bring new converts to the Gdansk Branch.  (ROMAN CONTACTED THE SISTERS AFTER FINDING A FLIER THAT SIS MCADAMS LEFT ON THE BUS)

We walked to Dluga Street to meet with the Sisters and were delighted to see how beautiful everything looked. Gdansk is getting ready to host some of the Euro Cup Soccer games, and the city looks better than ever! Even 'Neptune' is getting a facelift and new lights. You can feel the excitement in the air already! These two workmen were doing their best to get their job done without too many people noticing them. Ha Ha...

Here are our great Gdansk Sisters, Sister McAdams and Sister Bezdzian. They have just returned from a teaching appointment with a less-active member.

We are so proud of our Missionaries in this city. They work hard, and they don't give up. They talk to everyone! They are teaching more lessons every week. Keep up the great work!

week 7 in Gdansk...time is flying!

Hi Family!!

Dzien Dobry! It is a beautiful day in Gdansk! I don't know about the States but everything is blooming here in Poland! It literally is snowing blossoms and everything is green and fresh. The smell is incredible too, I keep inhaling everything! I love spring. Thank you so much for your prayers. Knowing that you all are praying for us here in Gdansk is comforting and strengthening. Thank you all for the love that you give!

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: being positively grateful. We are striving to see the positive in every situation! It is a very rewarding attribute to work on.

Sister McAdams is such a good example. We had some hard lessons this week but she was so strong even when we encountered hard things. Something I learned from her this week was to use my personality to teach and really be honest with our investigators. Being real and honest sets the tone for the investigators to open up and invites the Spirit because there is nothing pretentious or deceitful in the meeting.

Basically we had to drop 3 investigators this week. It was hard and sad but they did not want to come closer to Christ or read the Book of Mormon. Very sad :(

One especially significant one was with our investigator Aleksandra. She had ordered basically everything possible off the internet. She ordered the pamphlets, books, the Book of Mormon, Restoration DVD, and everything else. So we delivered it to her, had a good lesson and basically we had really high hopes for her. She had a lot of questions like "Why can't women hold the priesthood?" and "What happens after this life?" Our first lesson we asked if when she comes to know the Book of Mormon is true, would she be baptized. She said yes. We were so excited to set a baptismal date with her. However the second lesson was terrible. Not because of what we did...she just kept yelling questions and not listening to us and told us she didn't want to meet anymore and she did not believe and would not believe our message. She said that spirits don't have gender and said it wasn't fair that women could not hold the priesthood and it was pretty terrible. Sister McAdams was crying and I just felt so...empty the whole lesson. We testified that all her questions and answers rest on the Book of Mormon and whether it is true or not. She wouldn't listen. In the end, she said she wasn't interested in our religion so we closed with prayer and as we were going out the door I turned to her. I said "Aleksandra I'm going to say this in English now because I can't express it in Polish. (And I knew she understands English.) I am so sad for you and for what you're giving up. Your eternal salvation depends on this! On the Book of Mormon. And my heart is so sad for you that you are throwing away this. But I want to leave you with our testimonies that WE KNOW this is true. And I hope that one day you will want to come to know it's true too." Something like that.  It was terrible and sad but so many people looked at us as we cried on the way home I say it was a good finding tool! Sometimes people avoid us but when they saw us in that state they all stared and wanted to talk to us! hahaha. 

Other side: the best thing that happened this week was a member/less active member lesson! 

We had a meeting with Bogumila and Elzbieta. Bogumila is 75 and energetic and spunky! I love her so so much. We had a great lesson from the Liahona, we sang a hymn, and the Spirit was so strong. They are so fun and it was powerful to see these two old women supporting each other! Bogumila and I also taught Primary this week to Klaudia and it was so much fun. Mostly the lesson was putting in different sets of earrings on Sister Bezdjian but it was great.

Other news:

*I had a talk this Sunday...I think it was pretty much understood! Hopefully...Hahaha. Oh well.

*Sister Lydia (our new member) gave her first prayer in sacrament meeting!

*Our registering Books of Mormons in local libraries project is going well.

*Marta and Krzystof are still reading the Book of Mormon and we are praying for them a lot!

*Contacting in parks is so much fun with the new beautiful weather!

Something I learned in the Book of Mormon this week was that when Moroni extends his promise and exhorts us to ask the Eternal Father in the name of Christ about the Book of Mormon, he didn't say 'the first time you receive this words' or 'when you read this for the first time.' He said when you receive these words and I know that every time we read the Book of Mormon we can ask and receive that witness from the Spirit even if we already have our own testimony of its truthfulness.

An Idea: So in lieu of the above, I would like to extend a challenge to you all. I've figured out what I want for my birthday this year!! I want you ALL to read The Book of Mormon, cover to cover. Yes this means YOU. I would like us all to finish it by my birthday, October 16th of this year. That means we have around 6 months to do it. Together. I think that's fair. So forget any amazing packages you were going to send me or any fantastic letters you wanted to send. All I want is for you all to read the Book of Mormon. (But you can read AND send letters :D if you want...) So starting this week we will begin together! We just finished it today as a mission and it was such a rewarding amazing experience that I want to have again with my family and friends. I know you will be sacrificing time to read it but I promise it will bless your lives. And it's only around 3 pages a day I think? I'll have to figure out exactly. Anyway this week the reading is the title page, testimonies, and first 2 chapters of 1 Nephi! Milego czytania (happy reading)! I can't wait to hear how it goes with you all. 

I love you all! Love,

Sara