Poznan...freezing but amazing

Thank you for your prayers and emails! I can't tell you all how much your emails brighten my week. I love hearing from you. Well some of you know but my previous companion, Sister Ostler is home now. She was still sick when I saw her at Zone Conference (WED NOV 7TH)

The Bydgoszca zone includes missionaries from the cities of Szczencin, Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, and Poznan.  the zone conference was held in Poznan. Below is the sisters from the Zone.

and so she flew on Saturday I think and is now home in Utah recooperating. Thank you all for your prayers for Sister Ostler so much. I know it must have been hard for her to go home but I am glad that she can trust in the Lord and His timing. I am also grateful to Sister Nielson for keeping such an updated, informative blog. thanks for sending those pictures from it mom. 

Sister Ostler, who is departing for medical reasons, leaves a part of one of her favorite sweaters.  She will visit with Doctors and will hopefully return soon.  She has had stomach problems for a couple of months and the hospital, doctors and tests were not solving the problems.  We are so grateful for all she did and pray for a speedy recovery and return.  

We are looking forward to hearing from Sister Ostler and her better health. 
She was (is) a great missionary!  FROM SIS NIELSON'S BLOG
SIS OSTLER IS A DEDICATED MISSIONARY WHO FOR 3 MONTHS PRIOR TO HER MISSION STUDIED THE POLISH LANGUAGE WITH THE HELP OF A RETURNED SISTER MISSIONARY.   WE KNOW GOD'S PLAN HAD SIS OSTLER SERVING IN GDANSK TO MEET AND INTERACT WITH AGNIESZKA AND TO SEE THIS WONDERFUL WOMAN AND HER FAMILY COME UNTO CHRIST.  WE DON'T UNDERSTAND ALL OF GOD'S PLANS FOR SIS. SHELBY OSTLER BUT WE APPRECIATE HER EXAMPLE OF  TRUSTING IN THE LORD.  HER FAITH IS VERY STRONG.  WE LOVE SHELBY AND ARE PRAYING FOR PEACE AND COMFORT AS SHE TRANSITIONS BACK TO AMERICAN LIVING AND FOR INSIGHT FOR THE DOCTORS HERE. 

Sister Allen is amazing! We are having so much fun together. I am getting to know her better and better and our teaching is improving. She is never afraid to talk to anyone and is always willing to listen to the Spirit. I admire her desire to be exactly obedient. Later this week we were walking home and usually we have dinner before 6 so we can use our "prime proselyting time" wisely but our investigators could only meet earlier so we ended up having 8-9 as our dinner hour. We were walking home from the tramwaj stop and our street to turn came up. But I just kinda had this feeling we should keep walking. Then Sister Allen turns to me and says, 'hey I feel like we should keep going.' So I was just like yep. me too. let's do it. 

So we kept walking and right after that we see this guy sitting outside an apt smoking with a girl. Sister Allen and I walked right up to them and we just knew it was with them were supposed to talk with. So we start talking and it turned out to be amazing! The girl took a book of mormon and we are going to set up later this week. So we had less than an hour for dinner that night but we just felt so good when we walked home knowing that we had followed the Spirit. 

Something I learned from the scriptures this week: Well since President talked about Captain Moroni in Zone Conference I decided to study him a bit more and his characteristics. So this week I broke down the sentences that describe him and I'm going to search those different attributes and how to get them. This week was "his heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God." So I looked up Heart, Swell, and Thanksgiving in the index of the Book of Mormon. I found a lot of really cool things and I love comparing Alma the younger's description of swelling of the word with the humbling of their hearts of the people of Alma the elder. I can't type all that I'm learning but it was very enlightening and I'm excited to study more.

 

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: gratitude. We thought that would be appropriate considering Thanksgiving and all. I read about gratitude this week with Moroni and I'm excited to impliment it more. Sister Allen is amazing because on Thursdays we only pray for that which we are grateful for. Sometimes we forget in lessons with investigators but it is still really good to try to remember.

Other fun things from this week:
* We had a Joseph Smith party with the girls in our neighborhood (by the chapel) and Natalie, our cool member. We ate popcorn and watched the Restoration. It was awesome. And this next week I think we'll watch Finding Happiness. Their older brother is also very interested and really cool. 

* Bogusia our investigator was so EXCITED to learn about baptisms for the dead this week. When we read 1 Corin. 15 with her about baptisms for the dead she said "Jestem w szoku." I am in shock. But in a good way. She's so excited to learn more! 

* This sunday we had a lunch after church for day of independence for Poland! It was so yummy and definitely worth the crazy cooking sister allen and I did the morning of. And carrying huge bags of potatoes, a carrot cake, and the sacrament bread to church. It was all a good conversation starter on the way there though.

Sacrament meeting talks were based on the topics of freedom and gratitude, and the words spoken gave us all spiritual food for thought and reminded us what a precious gift freedom is to all of us. The Branch had an obiad for members and visitors to celebrate this wonderful day with everyone bringing their favorite Polish food – and was it ever good! The special treat of the day was rogaly, which is made only in Poznan. It is a pastry which is rolled out, a filing is spread over it, then it is rolled up and shaped into big crescent rolls with frosting on top. This is the traditional dessert for Independence Day. They are absolutely delicious! FROM THE REEDS BLOG

 

NATIONAL POLISH INDEPENDENCE DAY FEAST WITH THE BRANCH AFTER SACRAMENT MEETING.

* Life is just great! I am loving learning different ways of doing things and being inspired in different ways. 

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

Sister Bezdjian

p.s. Thought of a competition for you all...I have yet to get a letter in Poznan. Whoever sends me one first, WINS!!! So go! Start typing or stamping or licking those envelopes ;)

SIOSTRA SARA BEZDJIAN

Stowianska 38 F M.10

61-664 Poznan, Poland

p.p.s. there is an activity in preach my gospel to stop a bad habit (eating too much, sleeping too late, adjusting glasses etc.) to kind of learn compassion for those who are trying to quit very addictive substances. I'm trying to stop cracking my knuckles and it is so hard! wish me luck guys. 


p.p.p.s. I LOVE YOU RAFFIE, LINDY, HANNAH AND ANDREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE SISTERS HELPING OUT WITH THE ENGLISH CLASS FOR CHILDREN ORGANIZED BY THE SENIOR MISSIONARY COUPLE THE REEDS.

weekly email Poznan 2

ELDER STOCKFORD (FROM SPRINGFIELD OREGON RIGHT OUT OF THE MTC), ELDER TINER (FROM LAS VEGAS WAS IN THE MTC WITH SARA), SARA AND SISTER ALLEN (FROM PROVO UTAH WHO WAS IN THE MTC WITH SISTERS OSTLER AND PETERSON)

Dear Family,

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. And thank you so much Mom for the pictures!!! They really do make my week. 

Sister Allen is such a trooper. She is a hard worker and has really strong endurance. She has been sick the past few days and in pain. Something's wrong with her stomach. But she has endured it all with a smile and a good attitude. I hope I could be like her if I was going through so much pain and sickness. We are having so much fun as a companionship and I am really learning a lot from her. 

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: humility. I am excited to study this attribute and I'm going to look at ways that Christ exemplified it. 

Something I learned from the scriptures this week: Our district mtg homework was to look at how people feel/describe the Spirit in the scriptures. Because next mtg will be on the Role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. So I had some really good studies this week; looking at how Nephi, Alma, Enos, and other experienced conversion. Oh and back to Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well. I noticed that at first he was in the right place and at the right time to meet her. He asked her for what she had and offered her more. He also invited her to partake of eternal life. What stuck out to me this time that in order for the woman to come to the water and drink she had to 1) be clean and 2) be with her 

"husband" in other words we come to the eternal life together, as families. 

We invited the Spirit this week by really listening to our investigators and teaching to their needs. It was really rewarding to listen to the Spirit and teach the doctrine that would help them. 

Some fun things from this week:

* We had a Halloween party! I LOVE having a senior couple and a chapel. It is just fun to have more tools to find people and get to know them and invite them to meet with us. Sister Allen and I took the elders' tags and wore white shirts and dark skirts so we were elders. You can see pictures of it on the Reed's blog (so go google their blog! reedmission.com)!

*Natalie is amazing. She is one of our members and is one of the coolest people I've ever met. She's 12 years old and was baptized spring 2011. Her parents met the missionaries when she was 3 and ELDER JOHNSON (my first district leader in gdansk) called them 8 years later to meet. Well little did he know that they both, individually had been praying for help for their family. Well time went on and it turns out they didn't want to be baptized (they used to come to church frequently though) but Natalie did! So she joined the church and is just seriously amazing. 

NATALIE AND SARA

*The Reeds are so fun. I love them. They are so fun and energetic and loving. 

We spent "Day of the Dead" the first of november with them and had a blast. We went with them, the elders, and our member Natalie to the cemetery and had so much fun. You can look at the pics/listen to the recordings for more deets on that. On the way back in the tramwaj a hooligan pulled the emergency safety handle so the tramwaj stopped and that was an adventure. We got home all right though.

Candles such as these were on sale by the thousands all around the city.

Here we are on this beautiful fall evening in Poznan. This night was another occasion to gain an even deeper appreciation for this wonderful country and its people. We are so blessed to serve here as missionaries.
FROM THE REED'S WEBPAGE

Graves were beautifully decorated, and the candle lights could be seen for acres and acres all around us as we walked through the grounds. It was a stunning and beautiful sight. FROM REEDS WEBPAGE

One of the biggest holidays in Poland is All Saint’s Day which is November 1st. Families gather together to enjoy delicious food and to visit and decorate the graves of their deceased loved ones. It is a sacred holiday for the country, and everything is closed for the day so that people can enjoy their families and memories. The missionaries and Natalie came over to join us for dinner, and then we went to one of the cemeteries to get a feel for this special occasion in the evening hours. FROM REED'S WEBPAGE

 

*We're having fun memorizing scriptures to songs. Sister Allen is really musical and has a great voice. So we've mastered 1 Nephi 19:23 to the tune of the Circle of Life from the Lion King. I'll record it when she feels better.

*We went to a hospital last monday because this cute mom and her 3 girls and 2 sons live by the chapel. her daughter was in the hospital so we went and sang them songs and they loved it!! we hope they all become new investigators this week.

*Danka, a lady we met not too long ago has made the decision to be baptized! Her date is the 8th of December. And also Bogusia! an amazing woman who truly wants to follow Christ. Her sister drowned though so she is scared of the water but we talked about it this week and she has faith that it will be ok. (SEE LAST WEEKS POST FOR HOW THEY MET DANKA)

*Another fun small-world story:When i was in the MTC I met a Pole named Wiktor who was really nice. He is in Michigan now on a mission. Well I didnt' know his mom lives in poznan and is one of the sweetest ladies in the world! her name's regina, and she comes to church every week I think. We just have to help her read the Book of Mormon so she can, like her son, experience the blessings of the gospel. 

 

*I am so glad sister ostler is feeling better and that they've finally figured out what's up! We're going to see each other on wednesday for zone conference. I imagine she and sister peterson might stay with us--that's what sis mcadams and I did when we had zone conference in poznan, it will be fun to hear how everyone in gdansk is doing. 

Wow that's all for now. I LOVE YOU ALL. Really, I pray for you by name every day and I wish the best for you all. 

Love,

Sister Bezdjian

PICTURES FROM THE PUTTING ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD FIRESIDE 

BY THE REEDS -  SATURDAY OCT 27TH

Saturday evening we had a fireside for the Branch and visitors based on the Armor of God scriptures found in Ephesians and the Doctrine and Covenants. Our spiritual armor is vital to find true joy and peace in this world. Everyone seemed interested in the topic, members and visitors alike. We had 6 visitors in the meeting, making around 18 people in attendance. It turned out to be a great evening.

After the initial presentation, groups were assigned to make the various parts of the armor. This is the helmet group.
FROM REED'S WEBPAGE

ach group came up and put a piece of armor on Chris and explained their piece of spiritual armor. This is the spiritual man complete with his armor! FROM REED'S WEBPAGE

Here are all the armor builders. How we love these wonderful Polish people!
FROM THE REED'S WEBPAGE

POZNAN OCT. 29, 2012

SARA'S NEW ADDRESS

Stowianska 38 F M.1061-664 Poznan, Poland

Dear FAMILY!!!

I feel like it's been forever since I wrote you all! But it really it's
just another 7 days ago. Just so much change, it's weird. But I am
loving it here in Poznan. It's a beautiful city and I still have no
idea where everything is but I am learning! I miss Gdansk and the people 
but being busy helps.

Sister Allen is great. I really love working with her and I know that
we are already on the brink of many miracles. She is a joy to be
around and I'm excited to work with her and see the progress of our
wonderful investigators.

THIS IS SIS. FOLSOM AS SHE LEAVES THE MISSION FIELD FOR HOME
WITH THE TRADITIONAL FAREWELL TOKEN.

Seriously she and Sister Folsom have tons of
really cool investigators---they just need to get in the water! So
please be praying for our investigators and their progress :)

Something I learned from the scriptures this week: Well our homework
from last district meeting in Gdansk was about first impressions. We
read through Ammon (the first one with King Limhi) and what his first
impression was like after being imprisoned. He was humble, respectful,
bold, and grateful. Then we compared him with Korihor and his
attitude. He was proud, he said "great swelling words" insulted the
people's traditions and lied/exaggerated. Then it was cool to apply
that to missionary work and see how we can be more like Ammon as we
teach and testify. Then the homework part was to find what Christ's
first impressions are like. It was so cool. I loved that homework. One
of my favorite ones was Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well. I
really liked it--so I'll let you read it yourself and see how cool it
is. Then next week I'll give my thoughts.

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: Hope. We are going to have
the hope in our investigators that they will progress, come to church,
and make and keep their commitments to prepare them for baptism. If
there's only one thing I've learned so far on the mission it's that
FAITH WORKS MIRACLES. It is so true. So I am really focusing to have
the faith and the hope that if we work hard in a spirit of love, the
Lord will follow through on His promises. In our personal studies this
week, Sister Allen and I have been researching the promises made to
Poland concerning missionary work and wow--I'm grateful to be a part
of it. It's really cool. I will write some next week.

I saw the Lord's hand this week when: a woman came up to us in a
restaurant as we were having lunch. She started talking to us and as
we testified about our purpose, she felt the truth of what we were
saying. Her name is Danka and she came to Institute, church, and we
are so excited to continue meeting with her.

Other cool things from this week:
* Izabella, our cute maybe 40s investigator has a baptismal date for
7th of december!

THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE REEDS THEY ENTERED THE MISSION FIELD TO POZNAN APRIL 2012
* The senior couple, the Reeds, are AMAZING here. They are so helpful
and they already have served a mission in the Ukraine. (which is not weak.) This saturday they did an "Armor of God" fireside and it was so fun! We invited members investigators and everyone and we created an armor using tin foil and cardboard.



* I lost my planner this week (very important thing in the mission) so
Sister Allen's like "have you prayed to find it? ...oops. Hadn't done
that! so we prayed together and next place I look-bam. there it is.
Not much has changed in that dept of my personality.

Thank you for all you do and for who you are.
I LOVE YOU!!!! JA WAS KOCAM!!!
Sara

SIS ALLEN ON THEIR MORNING RUN

p.s. I don't know WHY but everyone here thinks I'm mexican or spanish!
It's so funny. First of all no one can say my nazwisko (last name) so
I think Bez will just have to do. And then after I introduce myself
the person asks, "are you spanish or mexican? you look like you have a
little....yeah...the eyes..." It's so funny! I never got that before
in Gdansk.

TRANSFER TO POZNAN - HARD TO LEAVE GDANSK :(

Dear Family,

First things first...I'M GOING TO POZNAN!!!! 

Poznań, today Poland's fifth largest city, is also one of the country's oldest cities, and was an important political and religious center in the early Polish state of the 10th century. Poznań Cathedral is the oldest church in the country, containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers, Duke Mieszko I and King Bolesław I Chrobry. - FROM WIKIPEDIA

Poznań Cathedral today, with the Church of Our Lady in the foreground, standing on the site of the original ducal palace

The Town Hall(Ratusz) today

In about two hours. Crazy huh? Well you all should know that President Nielson is truly an amazing person. He is so inspired. Sister Ostler and I were talking and we are so grateful that he is willing to do everything to be in tune with the Spirit. I have complete trust in him as my mission president that Poznan is the area the Lord wants me to be and Sister Allen is the companion He wants me with. SIS ALLEN IS WHOM SARA WORKED WITH WHEN SHE WENT ON AN EXCHANGE TO POZNAN WHILE SIS FOLSOM CAME UP TO GDANSK TO BE WITH SIS OSTLER FOR A DAY AND A HALF ABOUT A MONTH AGO.

Sister Ostler is so humble. This week was a crazy one for our companionship. But I'll get to that later. I love her so much and it's been so cool to really BE with each other not just live/work together this week. Spending time together in hospitals, at home, and me not being distracted by lesssons or investigators or calls was really a blessing for me. So we both felt pretty sick Monday, then I got better and she's still feeling terrible. Well Agnieszka, Star that she is, threw a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY for me on Tuesday! 

(Btw, thank you so much for all your bday wishes, I feel so so lucky and happy!!) Anyway so we were at Agnieszka's because she was so sneaky. She told us she had a friend who was interested to meet us and we totally fell for it. So we went over at 7pm and she was standing there with cake and lit candles and Ania was there too and it was so much fun. I loved it. AGNIESZKA HAS BEEN A GREAT AND ETERNAL FRIEND!

Well we just chatted for awhile and she was looking at Sister Ostler and she knew it was getting bad/worse. We had been at the gastro-whatever-doctor that morning but to be honest her diagnosis didn't really help. So Agnieszka worked some magic and the next day it was crazy. About 12 different people were calling us, all giving their opinions on what we should do and how so I really tried to do my best. The result was I called an ambulance, they came and took her to the hospital by University Medicyczny. So then the Elders came, got me, and we went "Sister Oslter hunting."

We searched the hosptial where she was supposed to be but the lady came and said "nie ma jej" czyli she's not here.Oops.Well luckily the next place we went they had her name so we go to the room (with 5 other patients) and the nurse goes "oh yeah, she's right here..." but then she wasn't. Then ANOTHER guy is like oh yeah! she's in here...nope. Long story short she came down with another doctor and it was good. We spent a few hours in that hospital, the elders were studs and they always make me laugh so that was nice. THEN crazily enough, later that night we went to another hospital and....yeah. 

Basically the point IS, that I saw the Lord's hand this week when: doctor after doctor, medicine after medicine, so many opportunities opened up for Sister Ostler. She finally got a pill that helps her hold down food and she's having a gastroscope tonight so please pray for her. It was a miracle we even got it because Sister Nielson has been in the hospital and she worked her magic and there was a cancellation for this Monday. So Sister O has already gone on the train down to Warsaw to get that done. Also Agnieszka and President Kempa were OUTSTANDING in this whole process. They seriously helped so much and I am in their debt. 

Something I learned from the Book of Mormon this week: Well I was just pondering about it. And many times it says "and a hundreth part cannot be contained in this work." Well in District Mtg Starszy Myler talked about Alma so that got me thinking about him. And his conversion story is recorded at least 4 times in the Book of Mormon, to different audiences. I thought about that a lot and so I've been studying and comparing the different parts of his story. I love Alma. 

I think I'm finally beginning to understand what a friend told me about the mission once. That it makes you hard. I finally get it. Or at least I'm starting to because yesterday was probably one of the hardest days in the mission. I had to say goodbye to so many wonderful, amazing people who I love. At church it was great because Darek and Marzena came. They truly are Christ-like people and I really felt the Spirit sitting in church with them. But it was still awful when the moment came to say goodbye. I feel like I'm leaving part of my heart here in Gdansk. Saying goodbye to Lidia was sad, and Janina (who is getting baptized next month), President Kempa and Marzena, and by the end of the night when we went by Agnieszka's it was just bad. The kids jumped out when we walked in and I just started crying. I'm such a baby. But it was really hard. Agnieszka said "to nie jest fair." This is not fair.
As we walked home I just cried and cried.

Anyway sorry to get all emotional on you all. Life is good and God is good to me. I love you all so much!

Sister Bezdjian
p.s. Hannah I shared the car story in church, I hope you don't mind :)

GDANSK OCT 15TH 2012

Sara enjoying her Zakhtar Pita bread that was carefully carried by Sis. Lewis from Utah as she returned to Poland.  Sara Hit her half way mark on Oct. 11, 2012 (interesting card she received?)

Dearest family,

Well it's October 15th. I can't believe I am over halfway through my mission and one day away from my 22nd birthday! Thank you all for remembering my birthday and wishing me a good one :)

The Book of Mormon is so good. I almost didn't want to finish it! I read the last couple chapters really slowly, just savoring it all up. I hope you all had a good experience reading it this time around. Something struck me more this time. Verse 3 of chapter 10 in Moroni just hit me more. I love how Moroni exhorts us to remind ourselves how merciful the Lord was and is from the creation of Adam til the time when we are reading his final words. 

I encourage you to sit down for 5 minutes. Don't have anything else going on, no phone or computer or anything in your mind other than verses 3 and 4. And just think. Think about how merciful God has been to our forefathers, all the people in the scriptures, and then in your life individually, personally. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It all really happened. And it has changed my life. I feel the Spirit when I read it and I know that anyone who asks in faith with real intent can receive an answer through the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is of God. 

So for those of you who maybe haven't finished the Book of Mormon, don't worry! My birthday's not until tomorrow. You can get some good reading/listening in today and then finish it :) 

This week has kind of been different. Sis Ostler wasn't feeling too good last week so we went to the doctor's on Tuesday with President Kempa. He was really nice and set it all up for us and even waited with us there. But things haven't really been improving that much as far as her health goes so we've been at home most of this week. It's been pretty fun though because I got to go through the entire area book at once, which I've been dying to do. AND we bought a new map and that makes me really happy.  Anyway it's funny because on average we have about 17-18 lessons a week...well this week we had 4! Haha. But it's good. It was good to prioritize our meetings and decide what was feasible and what wasn't. 

Anyway, Sister Ostler is so patient. She hasn't been feeling good last week or this week but she has had a bright attitude through it all. I really admire her diligence and endurance. Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: "All things work together for the good of them that love God" -Romans 8:28. We are trying to be positive and see the good in everything, even in our sickness and trials. I was feeling pretty healthy throughout this whole thing...up until last night. I got a headache which was hurting and then last night I got really really hot and then really really cold. Anyway it wasn't pretty and this morning at about 6 am I was just moaning in the bathroom like a baby :( I just felt SICK. Anyway the cool part is Sister O got up and helped me a lot and gave me some hot water and salt and that helped a lot. She was sick too but she was super nice and took care of me.

Other fun things from this week:

*Really cool mtg with Magdalena, an awesome girl from Manhattan library. She's 24 and interested. And searching! Who could ask for more?

*We had brinner (breakfast for dinner) at the Lewis's and watched conference! I loved it. We watched Elder Holland and President Eyring from the Sunday session. 

*We met Sister Lewis's neighbor Halina, who is so fun. We made quiche together--well, she taught us how to make it. And then we ate it! so good!!

*Saturday President Kempa sent us missionaries a text saying he wanted to meet with us after church. I'll admit I was kind of nervous--did I do something wrong? Does he want us to do something differently? etc? But it was really cool. All he did was thank us. He told us the members have called him and told him what a good job the missionaries are doing and he really appreciates everything we're doing. I was in shock! And I was really happy. So then today he took us to Politechnika and showed us around. It's really cool because it was built by the Masons so there a lot of interesting symbols on the walls and doors. 

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

Sister Bezdjian

OCTOBER 8TH GDANSK

We will now be the old ladies in the mission with the amazing 19 year old Sisters coming.
Yippppeee the work is moving forward with even more speed.

Dearest Hannah, Andrew, Raffie, and Lindy,

Thank you always praying for us. We really do feel a difference and I love knowing that you are all so supportive. How did conference go this week? Sadly we only got to hear a few minutes of it because the computer stopped working. But I did hear that women and men can serve missions earlier! that is exciting. Then Brat Lewis invited us missionaries to share our testimonies and that was nice.

Sister Ostler is such a trooper. She hasn't been feeling her greatest this week (some throwing up and major headaches :( sad huh!) but she meets it all with such a good attitude and a smile. She is seriously so positive even when she's in pain and feeling terribly sick. I admire how patient she is in her sickness!

Something I learned from the Book of Mormon this week: I read Moroni 7 this morning and the verse about "by their works ye shall know them" triggered some thinking. Where do our works come from? Well actions stem from thoughts and if our thoughts have such influence on our works, what controls them? I thought a lot about desire and how our desires really define who we are. Still studying that though so I'll let you know what I conclude. Anyway we should all be finishing Ether today which is exciting because Moroni just breezes by. Please, like you all should for conference, have questions in mind as you study these last few chapters in the Book of Mormon. Sis O has taught me a lot about that--asking questions really enriches our reading and study of the scriptures. Anyway, dalej in chapter 7 Mormon talks about charity. So our Christ-like attribute for this week is a focus on charity: "seeketh not her own." We are going to turn outwards and seek the happiness and benefit of others rather than focusing inwards. I'm excited.

I saw the Lord's hand this week when: we went to meet with a potential. We met them a few months ago and they set up with us in Oct. So we went to their house and sadly they weren't home. But then on the way out of their apt we met a man who has been searching for the truth. His name is Zygmund and he looks like a Polish version of Gene Wilder (know you'll love that Han). He nearly cried when we gave him a Book of Mormon and we're meetin with him and his wife next week.

Other miracles:
*Irena says she feels more powerful and more confident since she's received the Holy Ghost. It is amazing and true. You can totally see a difference in her demeanor from now compared to before her baptism and she is so happy.
*We had a mtg with a mom in a park this week but at the last minute she cancelled (her kids are sick) so our back up plan was to find someone in the park and talk to them about the gospel. Well then guess who walked up? OLA!!! From our Manhattan English class (which is put on hold now until we can figure out another time to do it--they changed bosses and the new boss is not down for us coming in the library and reading the BOM with the staff). We're still in good contact with all of them and we LOVE Ola so of course we were excited to see her! We talked for awhile and at the end of the conversation she told us, "you know as I was walking through this park [she was on her way to work which is harder now with the new boss] I was kind of sad. And I thought 'I wish I could meet someone here' and then I ran into you sisters." Well that was definitley NOT chance. Definitely the Lord's hand is in our lives and work.
*Agata, this really cool lady is half-way through the Book of Mormon! She is amazing and so so smart.

Thank you for all you do and for who you are. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Sister Bezdjian

p.s. Prank from this week:
Starszy Harris asked me to make him a case for his book of mormon with pics of sports etc. so I made a fake one with a model make up lady on it hahaha. Pics attached. PICTURE DIDN'T COME THROUGH:(

p.p.s. I got letters from the Bezdjians!!! YAY THANK YOU!!!!!!!! they made my day!

Trip to the zoo on P-day Oct 1st
So different not to see Sis Harker with them.
They miss Sis. Harker

October 1st, 2012

Dear Family,

So I have something to confess.

We didn't really go to the JLo concert. Ha! I know you all fell for it right? Well joke's on you. :) It's ok though because I played the joke on Presdient too. He almost fell for it muahaha. He actually called  Elder Myler to make sure we weren't going to the concert...haha. 

OK seriously now, thank you so much for your prayers. We are being so blessed right now and yes, because we are trying to talk to everyone but I think it's mostly because of the faith from ALL OF YOU. So keep it up! thank you :)

Sister Ostler is amazing. I learned a lot from her this week. She is a very supportive person. I noticed how she always strives to support others in their experiences/trials/or whatever it might be. I really admire how willing she is to talk with anyone about something and work things out. 

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: Thinking no evil. That includes any negative thoughts. I'm excited to do this because I feel like I have become better on my mission about not SAYING as many negative things but I could improve a lot on not THINKING negatively. 

I saw the Lord's hand this week when: we met some young really cool kids on a whiteboard this week. We weren't completely sure if they would meet us (sometimes people flake us) but they were there even before us to meet and talk about the Book of Mormon. They are really smart, amazing kids and we've been praying to find young people especially lately so I hope that they will progress and feel the power of the Spirit.

Other fun things from this week:
*Krystyna our neighbor interested in family history work made us dinner this week! so good. (see pictures.) We are going to watch the Joseph Smith video with her tonight. 

*Jozef and Irena made us a lunch and it was so much fun. And yesterday they introduced us to their friends! They have two little ponies and they are so cute. The couple is just sweet and we exchanged numbers and they'll hopefully become new investigators. 

*Sad thing...Sister Harker left this week! And Brother Harker too. We miss her a lot already (Bro H is coming back next week or so)! She was the light of our week and so calm in everything she does. ALSO before she left, she bought me and Sis O skirts! So sweet. 

The Harkers are shown here with Pres. and Sister Nielson.
The Harkers are so kind to the missionaries even when they are not in Poland.
 Since Bro Harker is returning to  Poland he took orders from the missionaries
for something they miss from America:   Sister Ostler (Salt/Vinegar Chips)
Elder Myler (Microwave Popcorn/Hot Chocolate) Elder Harris (Ranch Dressing Packet)

Sara didn't put in an order so we will see!  The Harkers treated the missionaries to Mexican Burritos in Poland, a favorite spot of the mission on their last P-day together.  Sara and Sister Ostler were so blessed to be in Poland during Sis. Harker's 12 weeks there. 

*We are offically homeless! Haha just kidding. We are out of the library and now meeting in the Hotel Mercur. So please pray that we can find a good place for a chapel soon. We would love to have a more permanent place to meet. 

This is the library where they were meeting.  They will not be able to meet there for a month so they will be meeting in a Hotel downtown.  Hopefully they can find a good location and building soon.  They also will not be able to teach their English Class in the library right now see below.

*We did a whiteboard with the Elders by the Manhattan mall and talked to a TON of people! So fun. Sad news though...our Manhattan library book of mormon reading class is postponed because they have a new director...so please pray for that to go through too!

So Book of Mormon reading. We should all be going through Ether 3--13 this week. I'm so excited. I'm actually a bit ahead because I couldn't stop the other day! Ether is one of my favorites and it's just so fun to read. I think the brother of Jared is a excellent example of faith but as I was reading through this time I think he was something else too. He has so much humility and I think that is what made him so faithful. I want to be more like that. 

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

Sister Bezdjian