august 20th

Dear Mom, Dad, Hanner, and Broseph,

Thank you for your prayers. Seriously we can feel the power and see the results of the prayers from our family and friends on the other side of the world. Thank you all for thinking about us and caring about what's happening here in Gdansk!
Sister Ostler has such great faith. She's teaching me a lot about prayer lately. I love her example of diligent, faithful praying to achieve miracles. is teaching me so much by her example. We have already experienced so many miracles through praying with faith and then working hard, we are learning to do that more in our companionship. Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: Sisterly Kindness. Together we are striving to treat others like our sister/brother. We have found that testifing of God's love for an individual when we teach a first lesson is a powerful way to invite the Spirit.
Something I learned from Preach My Gospel this week was about preparing lessons for our investigators and how to study for them (chapter 2). As we've strived to think of different questions they might have and their perspectives, our teaching is better and stronger.
Our Book of Mormon English reading group in Manhattan library is going well. Sister Lewis came with us this week and we talked about 1 Nephi 5--how Sariah complains but then realizes that the Lord truly inspired Lehi and her faith is strengthened. We asked our students about a time when they felt like that and they shared some really cool personal experiences. Their homework this week is to draw/describe the vision of the tree of life! It will be really cool because Lukasz, one of our students, is a comic artist. (Btw mom if you want to check out his blog, you can at lukgod.blogspot.com)
But by far the coolest thing that happened this week was our miracle yesterday. We were so close to achieving our goals and we needed was one more lesson with a member present. We had a meeting set up for that day around 18:00.
But let me back up for a second. About two weeks ago we were waiting in Manhattan mall for district meeting to start. We had a few minutes of spare time so we started to make some phone calls. Then this young boy came up to us and just started talking. Well we talked to him, a few minutes later met his mom who told us, "I've been looking for you EVERYWHERE. I live in England but I'm here on vacation [she is Polish actually] and I want to be a part of this church." Well we sat down with her really quick, introduced the Book of Mormon and invited her to read it. Now she's in England but don't worry the missionaries will be in contact with her soon. Anyway! She mentioned she had a friend who is a member in Gdansk. Well considering we don't have too many members, we asked what his name was. "Jan."
Hmmm. Never met him.  But she said she'd text us his number and we'd have contact with him. (didn't happen.)
Ok now back to the story. We just had a meeting, we're in a hot smelly bus rushing to the next meeting and trying to call any member who could come to our later meeting that night. (The person we planned couldn't come.) We called everyone to see who could come. No answer. Couldn't make it. Sleeping. Etc. [Oh and btw, I had to go to the bathroom SO bad. It was terrible and we literally had no time to stop anywhere. Stressful situation let me tell you.] We had just hung up on our last hope when all of the sudden we got a phone call from an unknown number. I picked it up, expecting it to be a call about free English class. Turns out it was JAN! The MEMBER! Who wanted to meet with us at 17:30/17:45 at Wrzeszcz PKP (RIGHT by our meeting). He agreed to meet us and then come to the meeting with us. Well what do you know? Well first of all, our other investigator let me use his bathroom so that was great. And THEN we had our lesson with Grazyna (who is reading and doing great!) and was with us and bore his testimony about being a member of the church. I cannot deny that the Lord works in mysterious ways but he knows everything. If we put our trust in him and then we show our faith/real intent by working hard, He makes the work happen.

Thank you for all you do and for who you are.
Sister Bezdjian
p.s. I LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!!!!

August 13 2012

Dear Fambliy,

Thank you all for your letters and emails and pictures! I love LOVE love hearing from you! Your words and smiling faces are so encouraging to me :)
Sister Ostler is teaching me so much by her example. Whenever we have personal study, she asks a question and it's so enlightening to see how she receives answers in her study. I've been trying to do that as well in my study and it's been very helpful. She's so inspiring in the way she expects miracles and revelation. Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: diligence combined with humility. We've both been studying diligence this week (both personally and as we've prepared to teach about enduring to the end) and it is steady consistent effort. As a companionship we are striving to both pace ourselves and expect steady miracles.
Something I learned from the Book of Mormon this week was from the war with Lehonti and Amalickiah. Amalickiah was so sneaky and got him to just lower his standards a little bit, and then poisoned him by DEGREES until he DIED. Such a cool, inspiring story to be true to what we know is right and be consisent in our standards.
The coolest part about reading this was that the same day, we met with Lidia's husband Wojtek. It was the most amazing experience. We had been fasting with Lidia that Wojtek's heart would soften and he would have a desire to meet with us and read the Book of Mormon. Well, when she invited us over for soup we just figured it would be normal meeting with Lidia. Turns out the whole family was there! Somehow by the way Wojtek was asking us questions about ourselves, families, etc. I felt like I should share what I learned that morning about the wars from the Book of Mormon. Marcelinka went down for a nap so Lidia went to put her to sleep. We had been talking about wars/games/etc so it was  a good transition so we talked about that chapter and then invited him to read it. Lidia told us on Sunday that he read it the same day and they even talked about it! We can't wait to see what happens next. The principles I learned were: expect miracles. And always be prepared!
Our Book of Mormon English reading group is going well. Sister Harker came with us this week and their past homework was to read 1 Nephi 4. Most of them had, so we read a little bit together (went over some words too), and then we had a theater! We acted it out. Lukasz played Nephi, Ola was Laban, Aleksandra was Zeezrom, and Mili was the Holy Spirit. Oh and Sister Ostler and I were Laman and Lemuel. That was really fun. Sister Harker narrated and it was so much fun! We also had a really good discussion after and Sister Ostler was so powerful. Because they were asking, "Why would God/The Spirit command Nephi to kill someone?" and she just answered it so well and with the Spirit. It was so tangible. We are praying for our students and we hope that they will see how the Book of Mormon will bless their lives.
Other cool things from this week:
*We met a lady named Grazyna who was carrying these heavy bags the other day. We offered to help so we carried them with her and she agreed to hear our message. When we came by at the planned time, she invited us over to her neighbors and all 5 of us had a discussion about the Restoration. It was great! They can't wait to meet next week.
*The Book of Mormon reading this week was up until Alma 51. I hope you're all still enjoying it as much as I am!
*Our spunky 60-something year old Aleksandra loves the Book of Mormon---well everything from Alma on ("Alma writes beautifully" she says). But she doesn't really like "Nefri." or Joseph Smith --"Is he really that important in your religion?" (hint, answer was YES.)
*Agnieszka is doing great! She's so amazing, we just feel like she is already a member. We love her family so much!

Thank you for all you do and for who you are.
Sister Bezdjian
p.s. LOVE YOU!!!!!

busy week in Gdansk... week 21

Dear Family!

This week was very busy! So much has happened. We went down to Warsaw on Monday to do some legal work and accidentally missed our train on the way back (my bad!) so we caught a later one and ended up getting home later than usual. But the cool part was we met a really spunky elderly couple in our cabin on the way back and we really bonded. Then when the train broke and we had to all stuff in another one, we helped them with their bags and it was a really fun experience.Sister Ostler is so good. She is so grateful and willing to work hard. She's very good at learning by observing. Seriously she is such an example to me of enjoying every moment. We've grown a lot closer this week and it's been fun to see how our teaching has improved. Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: humility (again). I personally need to remember to be willing to do whatever the Lord asks and remember that all our blessings and experiences really do come from Him.

Othing events this week:

*Lukasz, a friend of our investigator Lukasz (who happens to look like Cory from Boy Meets World) has read up to the end of 2nd Nephi in the Book of Mormon! In one week! He is awesome. He didn't make it to church this week but keep him in your prayers.
*We've been meeting with Basia, our recent convert and she is so sweet. She has such a strong testimony. We've been inviting her to tell her family about her baptism and she mustered up the courage to tell her son she goes to church every Sunday (he was like, Mom where do you go on Sundays???).  So that's good.
*We officially moved to our new building! Bye Ulica Daniela Fahrenheita 5, hello bibloteka! that's right, we're meeting in a library. That is, until we find a new place so probably for the next month or so.
*President and Sister Nielson were in Gdansk (for building stuff) and they took us out to Pizza Hut! So nice of them. They have such a wonderful spirit about them.
*We had a lesson with Agnieszka about fasting. It was so cute! Tomek (her 8 year old son) has just finished the Book of Mormon reader for kids. Now he's reading the Doctrine and Covenants for kids. He mentioned to her the other day that he had read about fasting somewhere. And he told her "Mom. I've read about fasting. But I don't think I can last longer than TWO days. That would be the maximum." Cute right? He was overjoyed to find out fasting is only for 2 MEALS so he was excited about this fast Sunday.
*The Harkers took us out to dinner at Degrasso's pizza this week. They are so nice, and always willing to be on lessons with us!
*Thanks to help and guidance of the Spirit, we got the Standard of Excellence again! We weren't really close to getting it but then all the sudden, everything just pulled together!
*We were teaching our English class in Manhattan Mall Library this week. We started reading 1 Nephi chapter 4 and we were JUST getting to the part where Nephi kills Laban when...BAM! we were in total darkness. Turns out we had to evacuate the building and there was a big storm and all the power went out! When we went outside the roads were RIVERS. Cars were swimming and everyone was standing on the mall steps, not wanting to wade through the flood. Sadly it all went away in a few minutes but it was a fun adventure!

The best part of the week by far was sacrament meeting. We were a little bit worried that people wouldn't be able to find the church now that we moved to the library. But there were even MORE people than usual and it was such a powerful meeting. (Not having a piano was an adventure too...singing acapella!) President Kempa asked me to start the testimony meeting so that was a little scary but really good. Everyone had such good testimonies and the Spirit was so strong. One older man (Jan) was there for his first time. We had met him on the bus a few weeks ago. He was feeling the Spirit so much he didn't know what to do! He just kept clapping and he called out "Bravo! Bravo!" when Agnieszka bore her testimony. It was amazing.

I love you all so much. I really do miss you and pray for you everyday.

Love,Sister Bezdjian

 Branch Members

 Hard working companions!

july 30th mission life

Dear Family,

Today has been a great day already. We got on the train this morning to Warsaw at 5:55 am (yikes!) and slept a little bit, had some study on the train, and talked to the couple next to us. Sadly they wouldn't accept a Book of Mormon but it was still good to talk to them and testify to the woman that she will see her uncle (who just died) again. We did some paperwork here in Warsaw and now we're near the train station and in a few minutes we'll be back on the train to Gdansk!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROSEPH YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
I hope it was a great one! You are the best brother ever and I love you so much! Muah and burzaczki ci!!

Sister Ostler is amazing. She truly loves all of our investigators and you can tell in the way she interacts with them. I also love how much she loves to cook! Sometimes she experiments in the kitchen and it's so delicious!! I am really benefitting too much from her good cooking I think.

Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: humility. It is so true that every sin, every thing in contradiction to God and his eternal purposes boils down to pride. Actively this week we are trying to be humble and I'm going to study this attribute more in my personal study.Something I learned in the Book of Mormon this week was how much humility is needed in order to plant the word. It's also impossible I think to feel the Spirit and prideful at the same time. I tried having the Spirit with me more this week by remembering Christ's patience even when I feel like there's so much work to do.

Some fun things in this week:
*We played tennis with the Harkers last Monday for Pday fun! It was great. Even though my swing was pretty bad...after awhile the instructor was like "I can't watch this anymore. I must correct you." Embarrassing right?
*We went to a referral who lived kind of far away. When we got there, she opened the door, said "NIE!" and slammed the door in our faces...oops? We left a letter explaining that she requested our visit and on the way out her neighbor invited us in for coffee! It was really great and Elzbieta (the neighbor) said she would read the Book of Mormon and would like to come to our church.
*Our Manhattan English/Book of Mormon Book Club is going great! We read the introduction together this week and talked about words like covenant, scattered, revelation. It was really cool. Please keep Mili, Ola, and Justyna in your prayers :)
*We had our last neighborhood grill, HAWAIIAN style thanks to Sister Harker! It was sad but our contract on the building is up so we are moving! To where, we don't know yet. For now we are meeting in a library downtown but I'll let you know when we figure it out.
*Agnieszka is doing well! Her 8 yr old son Tomek prayed for the first time in front of us last night! She is amazing and we had a lesson about charity. We love her so much.

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

Sister Bezdjian

p.s. Congrats to Justi who got her mission call to Germany!!!! I am SO SO SO excited for you!!!!

p.p.s. I want to also congratulate Kelsey and Josh who were married this weekend :)

Sunny July

Dzien Dobry!  Hi there family!

Thank you for your support. I know that your prayers are blessing us here in Gdansk. Really, thank you so much for praying and thinking about us.

Sister Ostler is teaching me a lot. I love how simply she testifies about the work. I want to be more sincere like her in the way she teaches. She also is a really good example of faith for me. We were working really hard to achieve our goals this week and she just has so much faith to pray and work and then wait for our prayers to be answered. Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: diligently seeking to be persuasive. (I thought of persuasion and she thought of diligence so we combined them.) We are striving to diligently find people who are being prepared to hear the restored gospel.
We had a ton of miracles this week. They are:
*Agnieszka set a baptismal date for the 22nd of September! Please pray for her!
*...and Tamara as well set a baptismal date! She is really a sweet lady, with a 7 year old daughter Natalia.
*We had a really great meeting with Darek. He is seriously one of the most sincere, great people I have ever met. I really hope he will read the Book of Mormon and let it strengthen his already-rock-solid faith.
*Also met a really cool man named Andrzej who was a bible smuggler for 20 years to the soviet union! So amazing.
*Lidia prepared a great lesson for primary this week and we had so much fun with Klaudia, talking about what we can do to be more Christ-like.
Something I learned in the Book of Mormon this week was the way Aaron taught King Lamoni. I want to be more like him in the way he discerned needs and taught boldly and then invited to action. I also want to be more like those missionaries--Aaron, Ammon, Omner, Himni, Alma--especially in their patience. All of them didn't succeed after one day of work.
I love you all and I hope you are doing well in the Book of Mormon! Today is up to Alma 23 :) Next week we should all be at Alma 33.

Sara Bezdjian

gdansk happiness

Dear Family,
Such a crazy, amazing week!

I love Sister Ostler. She gets the big picture. I've been learning a lot from her this week. She's taught be so much about the basic things. Kindness. Helping others be happy within their families. She's so real in the way she does missionary work and I love her sincerity. We're both working especially hard lately to put off our natural women and help each other to do so. Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: kindness. We are striving to be like Christ in a very fundamental way, loving every single person that we come across and treating them like He would.
Also something I learned in the Book of Mormon this week was how Ammon didn't start teaching Lamoni until he had served him and Lamoni had the desire to know. It really stood out to me this time reading that first he served and then Lamoni was willing to listen. We are going to be like Ammon especially this week by finding through service.
We invited the Spirit this week by working on our prayers. We wanted our prayers to be more specific and heartfelt . Having the baptism was such a blessing and I felt so happy. I can't even describe what it was like to see Basia really yearn to be closer to Christ. Sister Ostler told her after the baptism "You look beautiful" and Basia replied, "I know! It's because I'm without sin." You can really see the light in her eyes and I'm so grateful that we got to be a part of this experience! It's important to remember though that we really didn't do anything. Her whole conversion was led and guided by the Spirit.
Other amazing things this week:
*Great lesson with Janina (see picture) and she made us perogis with wild berries that she picked for over 6 hours! They were SO DELICIOUS.
*Agnieszka is doing great! She and her kids helped clean the chapel this Saturday and she stayed up til 3 am two nights ago reading Gospel Principles and the RS handbook. Keep praying for her :) oh and Mom, look for her friend request on Facebook, we told her to add you! Lidia came with us on a lesson with her this week and it was so much fun.
*always remember an umbrella...we got drenched a few times this week! In the morning it is all sunny and then in the afternoon...BURZA (storm)!

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

just another week in Gdansk!

Dearest Family,

I really appreciate all the emails and pictures. Really. We know we are blessed by your prayers. Thank you! I love you all so much, and we pray for you everyday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RAFFIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope it's a great day dad! let me know if anything cool comes in the mail for ya...

I love Sister Ostler. She is so down to earth. She taught me a lot this week about being verbally positive with each other and she's so real with people. I love it. I also like how she decides to not let anything ruin her day. It's very uplifting. We learned a lot together this week about planning and communicating better. I have to learn this lesson too many times but it is always better to be upfront and communicate clearly.
Our Christ-like attribute for this week is: prayer and faith. We are focusing on praying specifically and working hard, expecting results. The other day, we prayed to find a family who would receive us and the third door we knocked on has a family--two kids and at least 5 cousins were there when we returned! I'll keep you updated on them. I keep learning and relearning the importance of planning. Everything boils down to how well we prepare and allow the Lord to place miracles in our paths. Better planning leads to being better led by the Spirit. We invited the Spirit this week by: being patient with each other. I need to focus on being a better companion. Sometimes I am so worried/thinking about our investigators and appointments I forget to be the best companion I can be. I am going to work on that this week.

Something I learned in the Book of Mormon this week was from Alma 5:49. I thought about how that relates to missionary work. I also saw a little note I had written maybe 2 years ago and I thought Dad would appreciate it. "He who is isn't busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan. (If your daughter quoting Dylan isn't the birthday present you get today Dad then I don't know what is.) We read Ammon's lesson with King Lamoni this week as a companionship and identified ways we can better teach like him. Our companionship study has really improved our teaching and even strengthened our own testimonies.

Other than that we have a lot of cool news!
*Our investigator Bozena who makes arrows for her business gave us some as a present! she is really cool.
*Huge rain storms every couple days or so...they make life interesting. And kind of hard to pick clothes. But it's fun.
*We did a whiteboard with the Elders on Saturday downtown and before we even set up this man came up to us! His name is Are and he's from Norway. He and his friend Ania (who is Polish) came to church on Sunday too! THEN after church he took us to the Hilton and we ate Ania's homemade cheesecake. He is awesome! He'll be in SLC in October and here is his email (are@svedsen.com). PLEASE have him over for dinner! He is really great. He also bought us a taxi to our next appointment and now we're set up with the taxi driver (Waldek) in a week and a half to teach his family about the restored gospel.

Coolest story of this week. We had a little "Women's Conference" (there was one in Warsaw but none of our sisters from Gdansk could go) at our chapel on Friday. Well our investigator marzena and her daughter nikki biked there and this dog followed them all the way from brzezno (probably like 4 miles) and so after the activity two of our little neighbor girls (Kinga, 10 and Natalia 13) were going to take the dog back to its owner. Well we were going to go follow up on some tracting but we decided last min, those little girls shouldn't go alone so we went with them. It was really cool! We met Ewa on the tramwaj and she helped us find the address. We met with Ewa, her son Witold and his friend Kalina yesterday and we talked about Joseph Smith as we ate her homemade chocolate cake. It was really fun. They told us they'd read the Book of Mormon.
Then the lady who actually owns the dog, Rex met with us yesterday. Her name is Dorota and she is really cute, has 4 sons under age 11. Wish us luck with her!


I love you all! I hope you love the chapters in Alma. He is a stud. Next week is up to Alma 14. Enjoy the reading and savor it. Love you!!!!


Sara