Thank you so much for the letters and cute pictures this week! Mom I
got two cards from you and Hannah your letter and they made my day!
And seeing the pictures of the whole family just made me so happy :)
Life is good in the Poznan city. Just getting colder and colder! Frost
was on the grass this morning on our run and I've been wearing two
coats lately...still not warm enough. I don't know what I'll do in
January! Just kidding, I'll survive.
Sister Allen is a really good listener. I like observing the way she
listens either to me or an investigator and then really strives to
respond according to their needs. I had a moment of
sadness/frustration and she was really nice to hear me vent a little.
She is really good at that and I hope I can be like her and develop
some good listening skills.
Something I learned from the scriptures this week: I read in Mosiah 26
about the Lord's words to "gather His sheep." Our baptismal candidates
are not going to be ready by this Saturday unfortunately. We are
hoping and praying that they will be ready either by the 22nd of
December or January 5th. We will keep praying for them and supporting
them. And instead of getting disappointed, I am going to keep working
hard and waxing my faith and humility that the Lord will take care
things in His own way, and in His own timing.
Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: knowlegde/wisdom. I'm
excited to study this more. So far I have been reading many scriptures
about how neccessary knowledge is and where we can attain it. Can a
man or woman be saved in ignorance? How do we attain more knowledge?
Well I think first we must desire to know. We must want it, which will
lead to working for it and then asking Heavenly Father for it. It was
interesting because this morning in companionship study Sister Allen
related wisdom to humility. It is a humbling thing to ask for
something and also to receive correction. I hope I can learn to be
more open to correction and the Lord's guidance and advise.
Way we saw the Lord's hand this week: Well yesterday we were heading
towards an appointment on the tramwaj. We had planned to do some calls
(we had about 30-40 min) and some tracting in the area before our
meeting. We saw a cute mom and dad walking a little stroller and, like
with most families, we wanted to talk to them and invite them to learn
about the restored gospel. Well, not unlike other times of street
contacting, it started out a bit awkward but then gradually more
natural. We asked them about their baby, how they met, what they do,
etc. Then when we started to talk about how the gospel blesses
families, how a living prophet directs the church today, they still
kept talking to us! It was great. I thought to myself 'MAYBE, just
maybe we'll get their number!" But we kept walking and talking and
eventually we were in front of their apartment. Well the really
miraculous amazing this is, they invited us in! It was truly amazing.
We sat down and shared the message of the restoration with them. They
ate it up. And the best was when Sister Allen quoted Joseph Smith's
Vision the baby stopped crying, the parents were intently looking at
her and I could feel the Spirit testifying so strongly, this is true!
I know that the gospel was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith and
that our message blesses families now and forever. The cute parents
agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and come to
church. I am so excited for them.
Other fun things from this week:
*We were running to a tram waj and had barely made it. It was a rainy
day so I had this cute green and white polka dot umbrella Sister
Folsom left. I was trying to get into the tramwaj (you have to step up
on this one) and I put my umbrella inside to grab the railing. Well,
THEN the doors started closing on me!!! And somehow the tramwaj ATE MY
UMBRELLA!!! Anxiously, I tried to yank it out but to no avail. And
then the tramwaj starting moving away! with my umbrella flapping in
the wind. Goodbye umbrella.
*We had a lesson with a woman and her 3 kids and her friend was over
with HER kids too so we had a total of 6 kids, trying to teach them
about prophets. It was awesome. We talked about the 12 apostles and
they tried to name them, it was so cute. "Moses?" Um, actually nope.
*Marcin, the investigator's baptismal candidate is doing great. The
bday should be this saturday. We were coming home one night and there
is a Zabka (frog-kinda like 7 11) under our apartment and who do we
see? Marcin and Arsen!!! Arsen was baptized in July. They are so fun
so we talked to them for awhile. I told Marcin he can come visit us in
the States. They are so cool.
Other than that, I think that is all the exciting things from this
week! Just know that I LOVE YOU ALL. I really do pray for you everyday
and I hope all is well back home!
Thank you for all you do and for who you are.
Sister Bezdjian
p.s. For christmas we're doing a really good prank on the
elders...I'll tell you more about it next time :)
p.p.s. you all should google andrzejki---it was a holiday this week
and see what Poles do for it! I want to play when I get home. Yay.
FROM THE INTERNET ABOUT ANDRZEJKI
Andrzejki (pronounced an-dzey-ki) is the day of St. Andrew, who is the patron saint of Scotland, Greece, and Russia. In Poland, the holiday is celebrated on the night of the 29th through 30th of November. Traditionally, the holiday was only observed by young single girls, though today both young men and women join the party to see their futures - and to drink enough to forget the present at the moment as well!
During Andrzejki, your fortune is told in the form of wax: hot wax is poured into cold water, often through a key, and the resulting shape is supposed to predict your future - most likely, who you're going to marry! Another popular Andrzejki game involves unmarried young women. Participants line their shoes up in a straight line one after the other starting at the back of a room. After all the shoes are lined up, the person at the end takes their shoe and puts it at the front of the line, and so on, until someone's shoe reaches the door. It's believed that the owner of the first shoe to cross the threshold will be the first one to get married.
But whether you believe in fortune-telling or not, today Andrzejki is mainly about having fun with your friends and enjoying your youth - while you still have it!
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