Siostra Bown and Sara to be comps in Poznan 12/19/12

This is Sara's new companion.  Siostra Bown is from St. George and she entered Poland October 23rd! Sara will not be writing an email on Monday since she get to talk to us by phone on Tuesday Dec. 25th, Christmas Day!

The Apoxalypse

Dearest family,

Thank you for your prayers. Knowing that you are all praying for me
and our companionship is a huge comfort. Because I won't lie, I've had
a pretty crazy week! We had Zone training on wednesday and then we
found out something crazy. But first answer me this:

What has white feathers and lays eggs?
What do most people get once in their lives?
What has an incubation period of 21 days?
When do you use Camomile lotion?
What did we get from the Griffiths when we were kids?
Why does Hannah have a scar near her eyebrow?
What did the pani doctor tell me I have this week?

That's right. CHICKEN POX. For the second time. It was really crazy
and painful and I DO NOT recommend it! Apparently I just caught it
from the air and stuff. It all started on Tuesday, my head was kinda
itchy but I didn't know why so I just kept scratching. Well that night
my hands had all these red tiny itchy bumps. The next day they were on
my face and feet and knees and elbows and just everywhere. It was
pretty gross.

But anyway!
Sister Allen is an amazing comforter. This week was kind of painful at
times (chicken pox are NOT enjoyable, trust me) and there wasn't much
I could do to help the burning, itching feeling all over my body. But
Sister Allen is so amazing. I was in a lot of pain one night and she
woke up and helped me, brought me cool rags to put on my poxes, told
me stories to get my mind of the itching, and was just overall so
patient with me. The next day one of our investigators had broken her
hand and called us in pain, crying on the phone. Sister Allen sang
some christmas carols and our investigator still keeps thanking her
for doing that.

Something I learned from the scriptures this week: Well, before we
realized it was chicken pox, I was just itching all over and really
not liking it. So I decided to ponder about who also had red
irritating boils all over their skin and I thought about Job. So I
decided to read his story. Well little did I know! I thought maybe his
hardships lasted, 2 or 3 chapters but to my surprised there is 42
chapters of his suffering before he gets back to normal. We had just
had a lesson with a member and an investigator who asked "why does God
let some people be born rich and others are in poverty?" I was
pondering that question as I read the story of Job. True, it wasn't
'fair' that God allowed Satan to tempt Job. But then Job, in the end,
received double what he had in the beginning. And not only that, but
he gained knowledge throughout the experience. Even though he "cursed
the day he was born" I think Job has astounding character for enduring
faithfully and staying true to what he knew to be right. I hope I can
follow his example, even in hard trials. He recognized that God gave
him all those things, and God could take it away too. It was helpful
to think of Job while I was in the depths of chicken pox. Ha ha.
Sister Reed was also really really helpful too. She brought us all
this baking soda and I took a nice bath in it.

My Christ-like attribute for this week is: adapting. I want to be
flexible to the change that's going to happen. Sister Allen will be
transferring to Warsaw on Wednesday and I am really going to miss her.
But I know that change is a good thing and enables other things to
grow. So my goal is to adapt to the needs of our investigators,
members, and contacts that we meet. I'm excited for Christmas and to
celebrate it here in Poznan.

Ways we saw the Lord's hand this week: I am healing from the pox! That
has been the greatest miracle of all. I am so grateful to have health
and be remotivated to go out and work and talk with people about the
gospel. I love missionary work. I can't wait to get out there again!
Also since we've been stuck inside all week (we have officially called
EVERYONE in the area book, phone, and investigators) the Elders and
Elder Reed came and brought us the sacrament yesterday. That was
really amazing and personal as sister allen and I were the only ones
and it was just for us. I love that feeling of renewal.

I love you all! And I pray for you every day. Keep up the good work :)

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

Dec. 10, 2012 -Amazing, freezing week in Poznan Poland

in the rynek (market)

my makeshift shelf in the bathroom

with rotten yogurt in our kitchen

morning soccer

at a cathedral last pday

by the river, serious face

Dearest Family, czyli Dad, Mom, Andrew, Hannah,

Thank you for the pictures! I love love love hearing from you all! It
just brightens my entire week.

Sister Allen is wonderful. Honestly I think we are having too much
fun. We are learning so much and I love the joy of missionary work.
Sister Allen is really good at pondering on the words of the
scriptures so I love hearing her thoughts in companion study.  She
taught me something really cool from the scriptures this week. She was
reading in D&C and it says to "fear not, and hearken not unto the
commandments of men." Me, being a rusher, would just race through it
and keep reading. But Sister Allen is a level up. She stopped and
thought, what are the commandments of men? and pondered it. So then
she told me some and we thought of some together.
-That one has to be skinny and perfect to fit into society
-Take care of yourself---meaning in a selfish way, don't bear the
burdens of others
-Get money
-Eat, drink, and be merry
etc. I'm sure you can think of some more.

Something I learned from the scriptures this week: For district
meeting we answered questions that we get asked all the time, using
the Book of Mormon. It was such an enlightening discussion! Some of
our questions were:
why are you here?
how did you learn Polish?
why does God allow bad things to happen?
I already have been baptized/the Bible/my church. why do I need to be
baptized again/your message/the Book of Mormon?
It was really cool to search through the Book of Mormon to find the
answers and discuss. I'm excited to sum up these doctrines in Polish
and be prepared to tell and testify to people.

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: I have patience and Sister
Allen has faith. Then at the end of the week we're going to talk about
them and how they relate to each other. I think as we both work on
these, we will strengthen our faith and wax stronger in our patience
to fulfill the goals we have of having one baptism before the end of
the year.

HAPPENINGS IN GDANSK!

 ONE OF SARA'S FAVORITE FAMILIES FROM GDANSK HAD THEIR YOUNGEST DAUGHTER WHO IS NOW 8 ENTER THE WATERS OF BAPTISM.  ANIA WATCHED HER MOTHER, OLDER SISTER AND BROTHER BE BAPTIZED SEPT 22ND - THE WAIT SEEMED LIKE IT WOULD BE LONG BUT IT HAPPENED 12/8/12!  CONGRATULATIONS ANIA!!!

BACK TO POZNAN:
Way we saw the Lord's hand this week: We had so many people in church
this week! It was great. And with two families with kids there too, it
felt like home (aka noise during the talks, kids running around,
parents going in and out). It was amazing to feel the Spirit with our
investigators outnumbering the members. I loved it. I can't wait to
see the branch in Poznan grow and grow. Later Sunday night we had a
lesson with one of the families. They are doing so great. We acted out
1 Nephi 1-4 with the kids and it was actually really fun. I was Lemuel
Zoram, and Laban and the 4 year old was the Spirit, the 8 year old was
Nephi and the 13 year old was Lehi. It was so cute and fun. Oh and the
Mom was the narrator/reading person and Sister Allen was Laman. You
can already see a difference in their family; I love seeing the change
the gospel brings in people.

Other things from this week:
*We met this cute couple walking on the street one cold night. We were
on the way to a less active's house and we started talking to this
lady about the Book of Mormon. Next thing we know she invited us
inside and we had a lesson with her and her boyfriend!

*Sister Allen and I ate frog legs for lunch one day at a Chinese
restaurant. Cool to hear Polish with a chinese accent.

*We had a really fun YSA event. We decorated the Christmas tree in the
foyer! One of our families came and they loved it and then these two
young boys we met came too. That was crazy because we didn't expect so
many people.

FROM THE REEDS BLOG - the two boys were put in charge of the lights

beautiful tree!

*Basically life is great. It's just kinda cold. But even that's kind
of fun sometimes. I am loving the mission and our investigators and
all the opportunities we're having! Heavenly Father is truly blessing
us immensely and I love being able to see His hand in all that we're
doing.

Thank you for all you do and for who you are. I hope you're all
getting ready for the holidays!
Sister Bezdjian

p.s. For those of you who don't know:
I just got an email from my sister, Hannah and she got her mission call! She
is going to the Yerevan, Armenian mission and will be one of the first sister
missionaries in Georgia!!! She will be teaching in Georgian!! I am so excited for her. I am just so happy--I am speechless!

Dec 2nd - Baby It's Cold Outside

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!

Look Behind the Swine

Sister Allen and Sara at their finest!

Sara cooking in the kitchen in Poznan

Sara in front of their grocery store The Lady Bug
on one of their morning runs.

Dearest family bamily,

Thank you for praying so hard and so sincerely for us. I feel your love and I'm so happy to see you all had a good time in Denver! It looks really fun. I love seing those pictures. 

Sister Allen is doing great! She is a woman of skills. I am growing to realize what I talented companion I've been blessed with! She is really good at singing (as I've mentioned) but not only that she is a really good seamstress. She made most of her skirts before the misson and they are all really cute. She helped me this week because my slit ripped and I am not really too good at sewing. So she helped me do it and now it is sewn well and will last. She is also a really good teacher---she really thinks about the lessons from the investigator's perspective and I love hearing her insights from the scriptures. 

She taught me something cool this week. Sister Allen had read the story in Matthew about the devils that Christ casts into the swine. And then the people don't want to listen to him. Well she said we need to 'look behind the swine'. There may be 'bad' or difficult things in the restored church that, on the outside, are hard to understand or easy to reject (polygamy, the rumor that we're a sekta) but we need to look behind the swine and see the Lord's hand working miracles through the members of the church and throughout the world (humanitarian work, service, love and care for fellow neighbors and friends, greater patience, moderation).

Something I learned from the scriptures this week: Our district homework was to study the way the Savior prayed. Next district meeting is about "revelation through prayer" so we are studying how the Savior taught us to pray. I noticed that Christ always prayed for the benefit of others. He also prayed humbly, and reverently too. I want to pray more like that. I also had a question this week: How to help someone become humble? I've been studying conversion/the Spirit and I noticed that one of the first things someone experienced in conversion was that they were brought down to humility. So Sister Allen and I have been pondering, How can we help the people in Poland and our investigators feel that? It was really great because I happened to turn to Alma 5 which is exactly the same problem Alma was facing. I don't think I could teach like him but he helped remind the people of how merciful the Lord was to them and to their fathers. He reminded them of Christ and testified of the witness he himself had received from the Holy Spirit. It was a good study. 

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: charity. It is certainly one of the things that I can ALWAYS always improve on. And I think it is the 'magic something' behind every missionary success or miracle. Without it, all our work is worthless. And with it, we can have amazing experiences and be happy. 

Fun things from this week:
*We went ice skating with the Reeds and the Elders last week! So fun. And Elder Tiner taught me how to do a step over thingy on the turns. It was really great. Also Elder Reed made us breakfast for dinner and that was delicious. The Reeds are so cool.

*Our prayers were answered when both of us lost our camera cords! Luckily they were still here in the library but MOST luckily, God answered our prayers when we asked to find them.

*We're meeting with a really great lady, Irena, and this week we talked about faith, repentance and baptism with her. She described that there's "wind on her back" telling her that this is a good thing. We said "Hey, that's the Spirit!" She's doing great progress. 

* Danka told her family about the church. they got a little bit freaked out but hopefully it will smooth over soon. she's still feeling good about baptism and meeting with us.

* Marcin the elders' investigator gave a great talk in sacrament meeting! He is so cool.

* There is such a CUTE family. Husband is american from cali and the wife is polish. they have 2 little kids and we with the Reeds went over there last friday. we helped them clean for awhile and then we had a lesson. they are so cute! hopefully everything with them will keep going well.

*We had a really cool branch activity this week. We read the Family: A Proclamation to the World. It was really cool. The Reeds divided us into two groups--one read it from the perspective of an adult parent and the other from the perspective of a baby. It was really interesting. I invite you all to read it and think about how it applies to you.

 
*We met some really cool people on the bus the other day. I love contacting strangers sometimes. It can be such an adventure.

I love you all so so so much! I know that this church is true and that happiness and peace comes from living the restored gospel more than anything else. I love you and I know that Heavenly Father knows and loves each of us individually. 

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

Sister Bezdjian

Sis Allen, Sara and the cobbler, zbigniew, who fixed her boots

her boots newly heeled and with a metal tab which clicks when they are out walking.
In the back ground is their study area

If you are thinking of sending Sara a package for Christmas the mission suggests sending it to the Mission office at the address below:

Please send packages to the Mission Office address in Warsaw. 

(Name of Missionary)

Kosciol Jezusa Chrystusa Swietych w Dniach Ostatnich

Ul Wiertnicza 135

02-952 Warszawa

POLSKA

a morning run in front of the chapel where they meet

Sister Allen at the lady bug grocery store

WALT DISNEY WOULD BE PROUD.......

Dear family,

Thank you for the package!!!! It was so nice to see hannah's handwriting and I love those carl bloch cards dad. Thanks for all the candy Mom too. Please tell Vicky Anderson thank you for the gloves! How did she know I needed new ones? Mine were getting kind of holey and I kept trying to sew them up haha. I am grateful that we're just one letter apart fam. I think most large missions don't get so many opportunitites to get packages or letters that mcuh so I'm really glad I get to see you (I love the pictures in the emails) and hear from you often. Thank you!!!

Sister Allen is doing great!  PIC OF SIS ALLEN FROM HER BLOG

She is a really observant person. I'm learning a lot by how she observes the atmosphere in lessons. She has really good feedback at the end of lessons and it's so cool to evaluate our teaching together. She is also REALLY good at singing so it is fun to listen and sing with her. I feel that it keeps our minds focused on the work but also in a cheerful way. I really like it. She also says "Go big or go home" a lot which is fun when we're planning and trying to do something. So we just do it all and somehow it all works out. 

Something I learned from the scriptures this week: Well this week was great studywise. Still studying Moroni and his attributes. This morning I studied part that says he "labored exceedingly for the welfare of his people" and was "firm in the faith of Christ." It was really cool to study those main words separately throughout the Book of Mormon and then see the connections. For example, Alma and the sons of Mosiah also "labored exceedingly" to bring the Lamanites to a knowledge of their truth. And once they were brought to the truth the Lamanites became so "firm in the faith of Christ" that they would rather die than sin and fight their enemies.

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: remembering. So much wickedness and pride could be avoided with remembering. Remembering who we are, our relationship with God, why we are here on earth, and what Heavenly Father has done for us. It was funny because a few hours after we decided what our Christ-like attribute was, I was like "hey sister allen, what's our Christ-like attribute? I forgot." Ha ha. 

Anyway I'm excited to study this week and see examples of how Christ remembered the important things as well as the small things and how it was a part of His nature. 

Anyway, other cool things from this week:

* Danka, our baptismal date was sick but still came to church! She's so funny. She calls me "Bet." (I told her she could call me Bez when Bezdjian was too hard.) So in sunday school she made a comment that Bet called her and she loved to hear my voice. It was funny. Marta, this way cool member who is turning in her mission papers soon, asked what missionaries are? And so Danka said we're her psycologists because we listen to her and help her. That was nice to hear.

 
* Izabella, our other baptismal candidate took us on an adventure! Her kitchen was out for a few days so she asked if she could come use the stovetops at the chapel. Elder Reed said it was fine and we just had a lesson cancel so we thought, hey why not. So we had a lesson and then we ate lunch together. Then she told us she knew a place where some people might be interested. Our plans were to contact in a park but we figured, if Izabella's got some potential referrals, let's get them! It was a great adventure. We met quite a few people along the way and we offered to volunteer at an orphanage place. Really great. Later this week she answered the phone "hey ho, ho, hey" and so later after a lesson we were like Izabella why do you say that sometimes? And she's like it's from a bajki! (fairy tale.) and she's like you've never heard of flkdan jfkld;aj (some polish words I dont' know) and we said no. tell us! So then she told us Snow White and the 7 Dwarves in Polish and sang the "Hi, ho, hi ho, do pracy by sie szlo!" (the dwarf's song). It was hilarious.

 
* Another night we were following up on a potential back from Sister McAdam's day (SARA'S TRAINER IN GDANSK, WHO ALSO SERVED IN POZNAN AND DID A GREAT JOB KEEPING RECORDS) and it was great. She has 5 KIDS and couldn't meet then but we set up another time. At the end of the conversation we asked who she knew who'd be interested. She referred us to her neighbors upstairs and what do you know?! A cute family!!!! They're great and we set up with them too. Then later that night we met a mom named Malgorzata and her dog Feta. We met with her last night and sister Reed was with us. Great fun and she has 4 kids too. I'm loving this family thing.

 
*Arseni our recent convert went contacting with us (he's Russian/Ukranian) and evaluated our contacting.

 
*We --with the help of Sister Reed and of course the Lord-- got the standard of excellence! It was so fun to see the miracles. 

So one night it was about 10:26 and we were hungry and we have to be in bed by 10:30 and we're snarfing down a bunch of random food--like popcorn, broccoli, meat, cheese, and I said "welp, siost, this is the life of a missionary." and she goes "at least you're not picking up ulotki (flyers)." Hahaha. I feel like sometimes all I'm doing is dropping flyers all over the place and people help me and we start talking. Just kidding. 

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

Sister Bezdjian

p.s. The knuckle-cracking is going better. But still I have urges and I crack, especially in personal study! Oh well I am working at it and I'm sure it will keep getting better. 

GUESS WHO IS NOW SERVING IN GDANSK!

 With Sister Ostler returning home to see Doctors, Sister Peterson transferred down to Warsaw II.  Because of the need, Sister Forsey and Bown, who are serving in Lodz will be transferred Friday to Gdansk.  Sisters Young and Peterson will be the Sisters in Warsaw II and continue to do great things.   Sister Masters will join Sisters Forsey and Bown in Gdansk in that wonderful companionship.  Gdansk is one Branch that flourishes with Sister Missionaries and this will surely be the case.  What a great new start for all of these tremendous Sisters.

 Gdansk was 'hopping' with missionaries.  President just transferred 3 Sisters (Bown, Masters, and Forsey) to that great city where there is lots of work going on.  Elders Finch and Myler are serving there as well.  Elder Basha was on an exchange with Elder Hayes. These two Elders had  helped the Sisters get moved up to Gdansk from Warsaw II and Lodz.  It was fun to meet up with this great group of Missionaries and spend some time with them!

 Chloe had a great time talking with the Sisters.  With the age limit for Sister Missionaries lowered, Chloe realized she only has 12 years to wait before she serves a mission.