8

Dearest Family,

Hello! Wow it has been such a good but really fast week. Everything is blossoming and families are out in parks, and Sister Bown and I are having a blast. It's amazing. I don't even know where to start!

Here's the big news. Transfers are this week and I'm going to....

WROCŁAW!!! Which is said to be the prettiest city in Poland. Needless to say, I can't wait. I will be training and the two sisters currently there are both going home so we'll be whitewashing. Fun fun.

Wrocław is one of the prettiest and liveliest cities in Poland. Multicultural, it has an important university, a vast array of restaurants and bars, designer shops, theatre and musical events. The Odra River and dozens of little canals that meander through its tree-lined streets with their tall, multi-coloured buildings set the scene. In fact, Wrocław is made up of no less than 12 islands, joined by over 100 bridges, and simply begs to be explored.

Other things, we went around to some funeral homes this past week and got rejected. But hey, it was all good because we found another really amazing family!! His name is Piotr and he has probably 50 grandkids running around. It was amazing though, they all sat at the table politely and listened as we told them about Joseph Smith. It was really cool. They're coming to FHE tonight so that should be pretty fun.

What else? Oh yeah. We had a Young Women's activity. We "tie dyed" with sharpies on t-shirts and one of our sheets. I tried to draw Malfoy's face from Harry Potter but it ended up looking like Neville Longbottom. I'll send a picture next week. Natalie loved it though so it was really great.

Arseń spent some time with us this week going to lessons and visiting members! Who could have guess how well a 20-something year old russian guy could get along with a 60-polish woman? He is a charmer.

We had lunch again with Iwona and her 5 kids. She is amazing! Please pray for her. She hadn't read yet but I know as we keep meeting with her it will be great.

carrying stuff to do a table set up in freedom square yesterday with Natalie

The principle I learned from the scriptures this week was...Moroni 7. One of my favorite chapters. I love his encouragements to be full of faith, hope, and charity. If we all strived to have a little more charity each day, I know it would change the world.

Sister Bown in her blue pants

Sis Bown grocery shopping

Translated this says BAN COMPLAINTS

funny card Sis Bown received

Sara in her purple pants

Sister Bown and I are....so sad to be leaving each other! Well, at least I am to leave her. She's probably sick of me haha. Anyway, what more can I say about Sister Bown??? She is amazing, full of wisdom, calm, wonderful in every way, graceful, and fun. I am going to miss this sister.

Love,

Sister Bezdjian

p.s. I sent my letters home today (they wouldn't fit in my bags) and it weighed almost 5 kilos! So that box should be coming in a few months.

Janina (a sister that Sara and Sis. Ostler had worked with) was baptized in Gdansk

 new member joins the Gdansk Branch!

Janina is the newest member of the Gdansk Branch. Here she is shown with the Sisters who taught her, Sister Swenson and Sister Masters, and Brother Harker who baptized her. 

What a welcome addition Janina is to this great Branch. Many members were in attendance to show their love and support of this new Sister in the gospel! Welcome, Janina!

 some of the Sisters in the Gdansk Branch.  (LtoR): Anja, Lydia, Wioletta, Agnieszka, Halina, Sister Harker, Ilena and Janina...an investigator. of the Sisters in the Gdansk Branch.  

THIS PICTURE WAS FROM SIS NIELSON'S BLOG FROM SEPT 2012

Theses pictures were taking on Sara's last day in Gdansk
note cute Janina next to Sis Ostler
How great she is now a member of the church!

9

Hellooooo Mom, Dad, Andrew, and Sister Bezdjian (and friends!),

This week was so amazing! I had so much fun and learned seriously a TON. You all must be praying for me because it was a bright, miracle-filled week! Let me just start out with a few of the blessings:

*The sun is shining!!!

*We had an exchange with Gdansk--Poznan! I got to go to Gdansk and work with Sister Swenson and Sister Masters came here to Poznan to work with Sister Bown.

The missionaries had a meeting at the church - members and past
investigators came.

Art work created by Agnieszka's children for Sara

*The most amazing experience this week...was DEFINITELY seeing Agnieszka, Kasia, Tomek, and Ania, Irena & Józef, Brother and Sister Lewis, Darek & Marzena and their daughter, and even just the streets, tramwajs, and our old ghetto apartment in Gdańsk again! It was so good knowing I left all I could there and that those wonderful saints are continuing on the path to eternal life and are holding on to the iron rod. I have so many good memories in that city and especially with those people. It was like a dream going back.

Sister Swenson and Sara in Gdansk

*I learned a lot from Sister Swenson on the exchange even though it was only about 28 hours together. She has such a sweet, heart-felt testimony of our Savior. She is still pretty fresh (only 9 weeks out!) so the language of course is still challenging but she doesn't let it get her down! She is determined and sincere in every contact and interaction with people. I have a lot of respect for her. Also she gave up a lot of great things to be here on the mission. Way to go.



*The principle I learned was this week...to always testify as we invite people to commit to come unto Christ. Testimonies don't need to be a long or overwhelmingly eloquent testimony--just a heartfelt witness of truth. I always want to be working better at that in our lessons.

*Sister Bown and I are....doing so good! We both learned so much on the exchange and it was really great to evaluate what we learned together. She is really good at discussing and brainstorming with me. We are so open with each other and we really trust each other. It sure makes our missionary work a ton easier because we are usually on the same page, and if not, we can always take a second, stop and think and get back into gear. She is so amazing!

do you think this photo is "Satorian" worthy?

*Yesterday we went to Warsaw for some legal work for Sister Bown. That's why we're emailing today and not yesterday. We were only there for about an hour but we got to see President and Sister Nielson. They are such amazing people. I tried to convince President to tell me where I'm going next transfer but no go. But I gave him my guess in the hint that it starts with K and rhymes with shmakoov. I know that wherever I'm called it will be where I need to be. But still--I can't wait to hear what's going to happen!

FROM SIS NIELSON'S BLOG:  11:29am:   Sister Bown with her "card" and her companion Sister Bezdjian, who had been out contacting people on the street. (I was the Jr. Companion!)  The Assistants had finished with their 'traffic directing' assignment at the train station and were now ready to shuttle both of these great Sisters back to catch the next train to Poznan.

Basically I am loving life, this warm weather, the people and everything in Poland. We are on the brink of some big things happening I just know it. Love you all and I pray for you by name every night.

Love you,

Sister Bezdjian

p.s. My scripture for this week is Mosiah 3:19 

19 For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyieldsto the enticings of the ^fHoly Spirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnaturalman and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. 

 LOVE YOU!!!

10 weeks to work the best I can!

Dearest Family,

Thank you for all your support and wonderful emails! I love love LOVE hearing from you!

I had the most amazing experience this week...when our kids english family invited us over for dinner! We had dinner with them on Saturday and the whole family (parents and 5 kids) were there! It was a great time to talk, get to know each other, and kind of feel out how they are feeling about the Church. From that dinner Sister Bown and I now feel that they are ready and willing to talk with us more about the gospel and not just english. They are the cutest family and they already have such strong faith. We are now going to help them receive the restored gospel. So please pray for them!

The principle I learned was...I read the coolest thing in Jesus the Christ this week that really enlightened something for me. Whenever I read Moroni 7:48 I often wonder what does it mean that "we will see Him as He is for we will be like Him." I didn't really get it. But this week I was reading a bit during breakfast and I came across the parable of the talents. A Lord gave his servants each 5 talents, 2, and 1 according to their several ability. And the first two increased their talents and saw their Master as a good and wise man. The last, who buried His Lord's money and did nothing with it saw Him as a "hard man, who reaped where He had not sown." The author of Jesus the Christ goes on to say that the last servant didn't see the Master as He is. That is because the servant fell short of where he should be and how he should have served. If we truly apply the doctrine of Christ in our lives and we try to be merciful, helpful, forgiving, wise just as Christ is--then when we will see Him as He is. 

Sister Bown and I are....doing fantastic! I love Sister Bown and we are getting in a good groove of teaching and finding together. She is really good at talking things out and I have really loved her humor this week.

I have been laughing from morning til evening and it's great because we're still working hard. One funny joke she did really made me laugh. We were planning (on the floor because we were so tired) and I said "Hey, let's make tomorrow a church day! We'll invite everyone on the streets to church, and that will be the focus of all our lessons." And she goes "YEAH! And hey! Let's wear church clothes!"

Get it? Cuz we always wear church clothes. Hahahaha. 

 

Other things:

 

*We bought a frozen rabbit and decided to cook it this week. Yum. But kind of hard to cut. And I thought the legs were ears. Oops. 

 

*President called on Friday and has called me to be a "Sister Training Leader!" It's like a mix between zone leader and assistant. Basically it means that I get to attend Missionary Leader meeting once a month and travel around the mission and do exchanges---starting with...

GDANSK!!!! I leave on the train this afternoon.

*Darek (from Gdynia) called the other day. It was SO GOOD to hear from him! He and his wife Marzena are some of my most favorite people in Poland. I love them!

Love you,

Sister Bezdjian

April 8th -NOTE THE LENGTH NOW THAT SHE CAN EMAIL FRIENDS:)

Dear Hannah, Andrew, Mamusiu, Tato,

Thank you for the beautiful package!!! It was so fun to get and I'm so excited to hear from you all.

 

I had the most amazing experience this week...when our family had read the chapter we assigned! It was so great to walk in their home, see the Book of Mormon laying on the table, and listen to what they thought about Helaman 5!

The principle I learned was...miracles happen--even in crazy ways. We had some crazy searching out new investigators, random telephone referrals, and it led to a new family that we found and are now teaching! I love how the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Sister Bown and I are....doing AMAZING. I love Sister Bown. She has taught me so much this week. She is so faithful. We had a little event with an investigator where we thought maybe we were losing her but then we decided to move forward with faith and trust in the Lord's timing. Also Sister Bown is always on the ball. She always has our goals in mind. Cool experience this week when we were walking and contacting and an older man was coming by---I didn't want to talk to him because I told myself "he is old." But she stopped him, testified to him, got his number, and placed a Book of Mormon with him. So amazing.

 

Sorry I'm not writing much. A lot of the experiences this week can't be put into words. Just know this: I know it's all true. And the Spirit is really powerful. It can change people's hearts, minds, and lives. And God is our loving Father who cares about us and is involved in the details of our lives.

 

Love,

Sister Bezdjian

 

Happy Easter! And śmingus dingus!

Dear Family czyli Mom, Dad, Sister B2, and Broseph,

Making Easter Eggs

Thank you for your easter pictures! You all look SO STINKING good. I can't wait to do the bunny hop with you all again. All our investigators keep asking us what traditions we have and whenever I try to explain the Bunny Hop, they're like what? First time I've heard of that. Strange. But it doesn't matter because I love it!

easter lunch at bożena's!

 

We had a great experience this week...when we had a big Easter Obiad and a family of investigators came! It was great. We are hoping to teach our members how to better friendship and reach out to other but overall I think it was a great event. It was amazing to see everyone eating, talking, and laughing together. We had a family there and it was fun becuase we had an "easter egg hunt" in the chapel with them. So great. We also watched a short film about the resurrection. The principle I learned from the scriptures was...He is Risen. What better news could I bring to others? It was wonderful reading John 20 and Jesus the Christ this week. I love the season of Easter.

aprons made on Pdays

 

Sister Bown and I are....doing wonderful! I am still learning lots from her. This week she taught me a lot about listening. Sister Bown is a great listener. I don't think I've heard her interrupt anyone once since we've been serving together. And that sure is saying something! Anyway, she is always so patient and listens. Another example of her patience was when the Elders/Zone Leaders played a really good april fools joke on us. They called us late Sunday evening and told us that unfortunately Pday (Monday) and Tuesday are being switched due to the holidays. We were very upset to say the least. All of our meetings on tuesday now had to be moved and our precious pday time was being eaten up by district meeting and other nonsense. Well we were pretty bummed until mid-way through language study on monday when we get a call from the Elders. "APRIL FOOLS!" It was funny but Sister Bown was patient through it all. So that's why we're writing Tuesday because Śmingus Dingus was yesterday and everything was closed.

In Poland, Easter Monday is known as Wet Easter Monday or Lany Poniedzialek and is celebrated as Śmigus-Dyngus Day (SHMEE-gooss DIN-gooss) when people try to drench each other with buckets of water, squirt guns, whatever's available. 

 

Oh man, it was so good though. The other cool thing about Sister Bown is that she knows how to have a good time. We played THE BEST prank on the elders!!! MUAHAHAHAHA. Natalie was with us and we told the Elders, hey let's meet up at the chapel and we'll all go to dinner together.

Well. When they came we were ready for them. Six pitchers of hot water. (Natalie added horrible perfume to the water too.) 1 bowl of soapy water. A corridor sprayed with horrible perfume. And all of it on camera.

 

They had no idea what hit them.

 

One minute they were walking into the chapel, opening the door, and the next--WHABAM!!! We soaked them! Then when they tried to escape--WHABAM!!! I got them again!! Oh man. Revenge is sweet.

 

AND if that wasn't enough, we had to get them one more time. So that night when we were at Kamila and Marek's for a follow up visit, Marek joked that oh we should call your missionaries and say you're here at our house completely drunk. And we all laughed. But then we were like. Wait. Do it. So he called Elder Tingey and told him "there's these girls here and they say they need to go home but they kept drinking our beer...who should I call?" etc. etc. They totally fell for it even though we were laughing in the background. It was pretty funny.

 

Thank you so much! And happy late Easter.

Love,

Sister Bezdjian

P.S. So apparently there is a new rule with emails. We can write to friends and family! And apparently we get more email time. So that is great. More details when I find out.