Dear Hannah, Andrew, Dad, Mom,
First to arrive in the mission home, where our meetings were held, were the Warsaw Sisters. Sisters Young and Packard (serving in Warsaw II) and Sisters Allen and Sheahan (serving in Warsaw I).
They were followed by our friendly DeGrasso Pizza guy. He came right in the house like he was a man on a mission. Once inside we told him about our mission and some other great things that could change his life. He was right on time as lunch was the first order of business.
Sisters Masters and Forsey arrived next after a 5-hour train ride from Gdansk. They were up early this morning but still have tons of energy, and they are ready for our meeting.
The group that all arrived about the same time at the Warsaw Central train station were Sisters Bown (Poznan), Smithee (Wroclaw), Howells (Katowice), Ence (Wroclaw), Bezdjian (Poznan) and Holmgren (Katowice). They all piled into the transporter, and the Assistants drove them to the mission home.
Once we were together, lunch was ready and there was plenty of visiting and socializing going on. These are just great Sisters, and they really do love each other.
After being the escorts and having their own pizza, Elder Mikloyski and Jensen were on a train to Wroclaw for an Exchange with the Elders there. Both said it was a little too noisy for them to stick around.
We spent the afternoon discussing various lessons, guidelines, training programs and goals that our new missionaries needed to be aware of. It is important that all the 'righteous traditions' of our mission be passed on.
The Sisters of the Poland Warsaw Mission! A special thank you to Sister Allen (front row, far left) for sharing some rope games emphasizing the need for unity and leadership amongst our Sisters. The training meeting ended with 9:00pm planning and a resolve to reach the mission goals...then it was off to bed! Back row (L to R) Sisters Smithee, Ence, Bezdjian, Bown, Forsey, Masters, Packard and Young. Front row (L to R) Sisters Allen, Sheahan, Holmgren and Howells.
Early the next morning, it was time for 'hugs' and 'good-byes' as all our traveling Sisters got into a Taxi/Van to head to the train station.
As usual, they were loaded down with mail, packages and supplies.
Meanwhile, our four Warsaw Sisters headed for the bus. They were returning to their apartments to continue scripture study and language training....and District Meeting.
What a great few hours we spent with our faithful Sisters. There is such love and friendship shown amongst our Sisters. They are a joy to serve with. They are diligent, obedient workers who love the Lord....rain, shine (or even snow)!
We just got back from Warsaw this morning from Sisters' Conference. It was really cool! I really enjoyed it more than I expected. It is always uplifting and inspiring to discuss and read the scriptures with President Nielson. I am so grateful that he is my mission president. I'm grateful for Sister Nielson and her example too. I couldn't have asked for a better mission president and his wife. 
Judi A. and Stanford W. NielsonTUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 FROM TEH NIELSON'S BLOG
Sister's Training Meetings...January 21,22.
Our mission has 14 new Sister missionaries arriving between February 23 and July 2. So we have many things to do and prepare for. President arranged for all the Sisters to come into Warsaw Monday and Tuesday for training and review. With 12 Sisters scattered around Poland, it took some time to gather everyone.
Sister Bown is doing well. I'm excited to see where the mission takes her next. She is a good example to me of a willing helper. Whether it's in the mission home, or in the chapel, or in a tramwaj, she is observant and willing to lend a hand, give up a seat, or greet someone. Without drama or complaining, she is always ready to help someone else. I noticed that when we spent Monday and this morning in the mission home. Whenever Sister Nielson needed help with the food, or moving things, Sister Bown was always right there to help. I like that she helps quietly too; she doesn't make a big deal or let everyone know that she's the one helping--she just does it.
We started doing this new thing in companionship study. We have to find an object in the room or out the window and relate it to Christ. Maybe this is a stretch but the coolest one from this week was the picture of coffee beans on our wall (don't ask me why it's there, it just came with the apt). As all you perfume shoppers know, coffee is essential when buying some really good smelling cologne or perfume. Why? Because after testing and spraying so many different scents, the human nose can get confused about what the smell actually is. It's easy to get mixed up between the smells. But coffee beans clear the nosal palette. Christ is like coffee beans because we can often get confused about our priorities in life. With so many good things on this earth, it's easy to not realize what we're smelling. But Christ clears our minds and helps us make a correct, fragrant choice.
Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: Charity and Love. I am going to study how this characteristic will change the way I teach and think about our investigators. I also want to consider different ways we can teach our investigators to develop this attribute. I'm excited to study it more.
Something I learned from the scriptures this week: Reading the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon along with the footnotes from Isaiah in the Bible was really helpful. President Nielson sent us a text--even though it mentions that it's helpful to look at the Isaiah footnotes in the BOM, I probably wouldn't have done it. But thanks to his text I did and it made a lot more sense with those and with prayer. I still don't understand all of it but certain things were clearer. My favorite part was actually in today's reading--2 Nephi 25. At the end Nephi says we need to do three things. 1 Believe in Christ 2 Bow down (humble ourselves) before him and 3 worship Him with all our heart, might, mind, and soul. And when we do this we will be happy, we will have peace, and it will be well with us at the last day. It reminded me of Elder Holland's talk in the last general conference. We watched his talk again also for Sisters' Conference.
Other news from this week:
*I got to see Sister Young, Sister Masters, and Sister Allen at the conference! That was really fun. It's cool to see the changes in them. Then Sister Allen had this ropes course game from it (you can see pictures of it on Sister's Nielson's blog. I probably look awkward!). Anyway we all stood in a circle and then had this orange rope on the ground surrounding us. We all had to get under and outside the rope but none of us could use our hands and only 4 sisters could talk and 2 of them only in Polish. So we worked it out and it was pretty fun. The other side held it with their legs. I just took the rope in my teeth and then our side crouched under it. First time we did it in 48 seconds and the second time was 20. We talked about teamwork and leadership. Really fun.
*Romana is doing great! She is really progressing and learning how to read the Book of Mormon. She's getting excited for her baptism on the 9th. So are we!! Marcin has been a STAR on her lessons and so helpful in explaining things.
*Irena is back on board! She was on vacation for awhile, and I guess she dropped her phone in the pool there so that's why she hadn't been answering. But now we are back on track, she was at church, and will be at Romana's baptism on the 9th to see how it is.
*Sad news: The Reeds are being transferred to Katowice! :( I wanted to cry when I heard but I was just in shock. So now the senior couple from Wroclaw is coming to Poznan now. That will be fun. Starszy Tingey worked with them and he likes them a lot. I will miss the Reeds though.
On short notice, since we didn't have a chance to say good-bye to our Branch members, they organized a little gathering on Institute night to say good-bye. We are so thankful to those who could come, and to those who couldn't make it that night, we extend our love to you. This is a great group of Saints who will always be dear to our hearts. Thank you, Poznan members, for a wonderful 10 months with you. FROM THE REED'S BLOG
*Our families are doing great! I just love them so much and can't wait for them to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.
*We went to the Old Folk's home again. We wrote out the song "row, row, row, your boat" phonetically polish for them and then we passed out copies. It was the cutest thing to hear them all sing it. I have to bring my recorder next time.
Thank you for all you do and for who you are.
Sister Bezdjian
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