MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!
I'm here in Poland, and the weather has been pretty cold, it got colder when I moved to WARSAW!  Yep, I'm in Warsaw now and not in Poznan anymore.  I miss my Poznan family a lot ,but I'm also really excited for this new place.  After packing and getting ready to leave Poznan, Sister Bezdjian, chicken pox and all, took me to the train station with the Reeds.  I tried to call a few people to tell them I'd be leaving Poznan, but I didn't get to talk to everyone, so sorry to anyone I missed!  I still love you!  And really wanted to say goodbye, only thing was, I didn't know until Sunday night and we couldn't leave the house so... whoops.  I bought a Lech Poznan scarf - blue and white stripes - proud of myself on that one, I hate buying things but HAD to have something from my favorite city in the world... so yep.  (p.s. someone should look at the reed's blog - did we have a baptism in Poznan or not?  I WANT TO KNOW!  DID MARCIN GET BAPTIZED?!?  Who baptized him?  How does he look?)

Gave a hug good bye to Sister B. and headed on down the hallway of the train to find an open spot, I went in and asked a man if I was in the right spot and he told me I could stay and then went on to haul my stuff up on a rack - SO NICE because it was SO HEAVY!  I got to talking to him, and another lady in the train, they were the nicest people EVER and I got to share the Restoration with them and got their ADDRESSES!  And sent them BOOKS OF MORMON already!  So awesome, the spirit was there, and the CHURCH IS TRUE!
Then I met my companion for the second time... I met her once really quick on my second day in Poland, but her name is Sister Nicole Sheahan.  You may have heard of her before.  She has a song on one of the EFY C.D.'s  - yeah she's basically famous...haha, just don't tell her that I don't think she believes it.  She's really humble, kind of quiet, but fun and nice and a red-head.  And since we all know how I feel about red-heads (Tasha...Tom...Tonja...Jacob) this will be super GREAT! :) (p.s., I love red-heads) Sister Sheahan has just showered me with compliments this last week, and I'm so grateful for her confidence in me.  She's super nice and a good cook, also a vegitarian, that'll be interesting :) haha...

Anyhoo...I am really grateful for this new start, I'm ready to start over fresh and really hit the ground running.  The first few days here I've done just that and it's been AMAZING the difference I feel, just being CONFIDENT!  I know that I'm supposed to be in Warsaw.  We're starting from small numbers here, but we're getting tons of contacts a day and the next transfer is going to be a blast!  When I say small numbers, though, I'm not talking about members.  We have a CHAPEL in Warsaw!  I saw it for the first time on my first day here in Warsaw and it made me cry - literally.  WE HAVE A CHAPEL IN POLAND!  YEaH!  Oh man... that was cool. 

I just know that the church is true, more than ever in my life I know it.  I know that Christ lives.  He loves us.  He wants us to be happy and he wants us to be confident.  He also is willing to give us a new start, everyday if need be.  So I encourage all of you with this new year to set some goals, shoot for the sun, and if you fall among the stars it's okay!  I know that you can do anything God sees expedient in Him.  I loved studying that word this week, 'expedient' - Ask for the Spirit to be in more abundance in your life, He can lead and guide you.  Just yesterday we asked the Lord to guide us to someone on the streets.  Sister S., when I asked her what our contact was going to look like, said 'she's a young college student' = guess what!  We found this girl who says she prayed yesterday morning to be able to talk to some sort of priest because she felt lost... then she ran into US!  We're set up for two weeks away, and GOD KNOWS HER!  And He definitely knows YOU.

Remember the true meaning of Christmas!  Christ will be there for you always!
Love,
Siostra Amber Allen

p.s. there was a lot more I wanted to say, but I want to play basketball...WHAT?  HAha, yeah I'm going to play basketball...in a chapel... in Poland...With some elders and sisters of the only true church on this crazy planet we call Earth!  Wahooo!

Goldi Lox & Chicken Pox

Well, folks... Once upon a time, Sister B. was like, I have this weird sore on my thumb... and a couple hours later, yeah and my head itches... day later... little red boils ALL OVER her body... so we went to the doctor and she goes, 'Ospa, na pewno, ospa.'  To znacze  CHICKEN POX!  Man... crazy... my companion has the chicken pox.  She already had it when she was a kid...and so did I... so I've been a bit worried that I'll get it, but so far, so good.  Anyways, we've been under quarantine and in seclusion for like three days in the same 30 square feet... yeah, fun stuff.  We've called EVERYONE I think we could call in the Area Book.  And EVERYONE in the phone.   We're not allowed to leave the house...so we've been creative, cleaning, making Christmas Cards, studying Polish, decorating the apartment for Christmas.  And now we're at the Reed's apartment e-mailing everyone!   We've been in our apartment for like three days... Wednesday night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today.. MAN!  That's like FOUR days... haha, good thing i have the best missionary in the world for a companion - we were up some nights with her in major pain, but it's working out and everything will be okay, she's on the mend.

But what have I learned this week?  How much I really love being out doors and working with people.  I love the work.  Also, I have learned that we can still be really productive as we are at home!  I get worried I'm not being productive enough, but hey... doing my best!    In the one lesson we did have this week - okay we had three... but there was one which I remember the most, where the woman kept saying, 'Well why does God let bad things happen to good people?  Why is there so much death and distruction?  Why is one man born rich and another poor?'  She was so frustrated and upset.  I quietly testified that she could find those answers as she read the Book of Mormon... sad thing is, this woman is also a member, and she loudly replied, 'I've read it and you can't find those answers, we'll never know them.'  I also heard about the school shooting this last week and I know that it may be hard for us (Mom and I) to understand, I was sad about it even and haven't really heard any details - which is fine, don't need to hear any details... however, I read a talk by President Monson titled, 'He Is Risen' given in the May 2010 General Conference...not sure which session.  It was amazing and just what I needed, so if any of you need some answers, read that talk, also I encourage you to talk with God about this, don't shut him out.  If you have questions like this, God is the answer.  HE IS LOVING.  HE KNOWS YOU.  And he cares more about the children of the earth than anyone.  If you want to blame anyone for bad things, blame Satan, or the natural man, or both, they are enemies to God.  But don't blame god.  Also don't think you know better than Him, if something is happening in your life, maybe it's for a reason.  Learn.  Love.  Don't hate.  And don't get the chicken pox on your mission... haha...

We had a really spiritual experience when the Elders brought us the sacrament yesterday, they blessed it right there in our little apartment and it was just so good.  The spirit was there and I felt so special, that God had sent me His Son, to die for me, and to perform the Great Atonement and he would have done it just for me and my companion there in that little room if needs be because the worth of souls is so great to Him!  Oh it is WONDERFUL!  I'm so grateful for the Savior, and grateful we get to celebrate his birth this time of year.  There are Christmas lights and a big tree in down town Poznan and people are out buying presents.  A regular halla-baloo!  So fun.  

Speaking of Poznan, I also have some pretty big news... drum-roll please...I'm being transferred!  Yep, cried about it this morning for a while, and thought about all the crazy good times I've had in Poznan.  This last transfer has been a serious BLAST, we're so close to some baptisms, I can just feel them.  I wish I could hang around for a little bit longer, especially with Sister Bezdjian, I love this girl so much!  She has taught me how to really work.  I love her for all she has taught me, for who she is, and that she even thinks I'm kind of cool.  Thanks Sister B!  Maybe next week will be an Ode to Sister Bezdjian... and a Welcome to WARSAW!  I'll be in Warsaw for a while with Sister Sheahan.  Super excited about that.  I met a guy who knows her right before my mission. He wrote down his name on a napkin and gave it to me and told me to give her a big hug for him... um not sure where the napkin is but it was a tall big blonde guy with lots of charisma, maybe she'll just know him... I plan on giving her that hug on Wednesday, when I'll be leaving Poznan.  

Yep, so that's the craziness of my life right now.  But guess what, I LOVE IT!  The work goes forward, everyone, and everyday I see the Lord's hand.  I'm learning PATIENCE.  I'm learning DISCIPLINE.  I'm learning lots, and it's so good.

Mom, Dad, Gregg, Nathan, Spencer, Rachel, James, Luke, and Hyrum, hope you know I pray for you every day!  I'm sending you Christmas presents -- maybe just a letter to gregg... but they'll be late, so just wait for them!

P.S. Jenny, yes my hair is getting longer, maybe it's the humidity, maybe because I'm not playing with it as much, maybe just cuz I've prayed for it so long and now it's coming true! :)  Thanks for noticing!  I love you tons girlie and I hope everything is good where you are, thanks for helping my family with lizards and such.

P.P.S. JAMES!  I'm sorry I thought that was NELLA dancing, SO COOL that you did a dance, like seriously, I'm proud of you.

P.P.P.S. Nate-  you went to another school dance... and with the cross country team!  Oh I'm beaming! :) :) :)

P.P.P.P.S. Luke haha... nice, letting the cat lick off your face, you are too cute.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S Sister Ostler, I got your e-mail, thanks you're the best!  Get better soon, Love ya!

- Siostra Amber Allen

Less Duty. More Love.

 

Hey-Ho, Hey-Ho!!!

It's snowy outside!!!  The snow's been sticking, sitting, shouting, dancing, falling, and lookin' GOOD! :)  I'm so happy to see it, even though it means it's gunna get COLD!  I really do love how the snow makes me feel, it's like this crisp, clear, beautiful thing that makes you just want to curl up in a blanket and read a book... the Book of Mormon that is... and listen to Christmas music... the Mormon Tab, that is... and you know, just be excited for Christmas time!  I hope there is more snow in Provo.

 

I think I may start to copy-cat my companion in how she writes e-mails...then again, I've never been a copy cat and like to do things my way, but we'll see how it fits in this time... So what she does is she writes under the following titles:

 

Study Time: Czyli, what I studied this week...

Well, this week I studied about lots of things but two stick out to me more than any others.  One said that people listen to the commandments of men and the commandments of the devil rather than heeding to the commandments of God.  Well I started to think, what are the commandments of men?  What do men COMMAND you to do?  Really we shouldn't be letting anyone except God command us in any way - they should have no influence to make us do anything, but I think some of the "commandments" out there are, 1. Be skinny, look pretty, and show off... Don't listen to them!  2. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die... Yeah, see that one ALL the time here!  People tell us all the time that we are wasting our lives, that we should just try some beer, coffee, tea, smokes, I've been offered to break the word of wisdom WAY more on my mission than ever before...as a matter of fact, I don't think anyone ever asked me to break the word of wisdom before my mission.  But the world is FULL OF IT.   Don't listen to them!. 

This morning as I read our 'Good, Better, Best' article from our Mission President (remind me to send you a copy of that, it's really good - Jenny should read it!) I realized that Good and better missionaries are alot of the time fueled by duty.  I know that alot of the time when I think about why I'm on a mission it's because I felt as though I have been given SO MUCH, and I owe God so much --so it's more of a duty thing sometimes...but I should be more focused on Love.  That should be the motivation behind every commandment for me, and I'm really going to try to work on it.  Less Duty.  More Love.  The word for love is 'Miłość' in polish.  To say 'I love you,' that would be 'Kocham cię' :)

Also, this morning I was reading 2 Nephi 27:11, I think it was, and it says that the good news of the 'book' will be read on the house tops.  I sat there on the fourth floor of my apartment building looking out at the snow topped people and cars and streets and thought, man, I'm declaring this book from the house tops - and just like the Newsies' song - THE WORLD WILL KNOW!  I got pretty pumped... someone should go watch Newsies for me :)

 

Christlike Attribute:  As a companionship we've been chosing a Christ-Like Attribute to work on each week.  This last week we worked on Wisdom/Knowledge.  It was fun to learn about the THREE WISE MEN - you should look them up, they seem really cool.  Also, I read some Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew and found out that Christ spoke not after the manner of men, and he didn't need a teacher.  As a child, He was such a genious and had such a relationship with the Holy Ghost and with God that he didn't need an earthly teacher - how cool is that!?  Oh man, I want to be more like our Savior!

 

My Companion:

I'm guessing here she writes something about me... which is silly, I'm not much to write about... but Sister Bezdjian sure is!  This girl is the most optimistic thing I've seen since sliced apple pie and vanilla ice cream.  She's so on top of things and just believes...even when nothing is happening...which is really hard for me to do sometimes... and then when her companion doesn't believe, she carries the faith for the both of us and tries to get me back into gear.  I'm grateful for her.  So grateful for her example in hard times.  We now have zero of the three people with bapstismal dates, and the Elder's investegator also decided not to get baptized anytime soon, so it's just been feeling a little... slow... but hey, I signed up for this game!  And like Sister B. says, or rather it's just how she acts, things are going to work out, 'they're going to get baptized.'  She asks no questions... and so we go.

 

Funny Things:

We got contacted by this guy yesterday after church later in the afternoon - SO COOL.  He comes up to us, he's got an earing and a nose ring, nothing big, but he's skinny and tall and stops us and is all like, 'hey I see you girls here every Sunday at the same time, right at the time I'm coming back from playing soccer.  I figure you've got to be pretty dedicated to a schedule or something, and you're always smiling.  What are you up to?  what's your deal? 

WELL, sir, we'd LOVE to tell you about it... Man it's so fun to get contacted, it's like my favorite thing EVER :) - so the guy eventually tells us that he doesn't use the Internet because he's an "enemy of the internet" - haha funny, and he also doesn't watch t.v. - he's a young guy, plays goalie and recently broke his wrist from it and we're going to meet with him tonight and he's sooooo gunna get baptized.  :)

 

We ate FROG-LEGS in a CHINESE restaurant, with Christmas Decorations all around and in the middle of POLAND... conflict of traditions and cultures going on for sure... :) 

 

We got hit-on by some random 15 year old guys who asked to exchange numbers and then guessed how old we were... interesting...

 

Other:

Well, hope you liked that organization above, besides that, here's some of the other amazing things that happened this week:

 

Two families came to church yesterday and it was such a miracle!  (No mom, not the cool awesome family with the tiny baby, we'll get them next week I hope)  I miss having kids at Sacrament Meeting, and this church really is a FAMILY church, so I was super excited to have four kids at church. Two behaved really well, the others not so well, and I felt bad for their parents so I showed them where the primary room was - half the size of the play-room in our house - and they let the little boy play during sacrament meeting.  They will learn, it will just take some time... also the members in our ward will have to get used to some noise!  I missed a big part of Sacrament Meeting and realized that this is just the beginning.  Soon enough I'll have kids of my own and here goes my crazy life!  Man, it's so exciting!

 

I've been reading a lot from Daughters in My Kingdom - I LOVE IT!  I just love it so much... you should all read it.

 

We had a crazy couple meetings this week, Smoky meeting with Alcoholics and an Angry meeting with Athiests... the Smoky one was pretty horrible at first, then I just let myself not be worried and it wasn't as bad.  The air was FILLED with smoke and i did NOT want to enter that room, I swear I'm going to get cancer for just sitting in that room for 30 minutes... they were also drunk... and told us they were alcoholics so, that was interesting.  We really didn't get much across to them, I'm sure.  It was a husband and wife, and the man's mother.  Sad... I'm just so glad they don't have children and never did have any.

Then there's the Angry meeting with Athiests.  It's a man and his girlfriend, they've been living together for a long time, he doesn't believe in God and just wanted to fight about it.  At one point he grabbed the book of mormon and basically yelled in our faces saying it was wrong.  I told him right back I knew it was true and just felt real defensive while trying to act peacefully....kind of hard to do...actually kind of cool to feel like I was defending the faith, but the spirit was not there...so we ended with prayer and left.  Aah!  PEOPLE!  God exists.  He loves you.  PLEASE JUST BELIEVE IT!

 

Well, family, I think that may be most of all I wanted to say today... I'm excited to read Gregg's letter!  And all of yours too.  I love hearing from you.  And to everyone who reads anything that I'm reading, thanks for being interested in the work, and in what I'm doing.  I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL holiday season.  Just remember the reason for the season!  Read and remember Jesus Christ, the center of it all!  He is so amazing.  I love Him so much.

 

OH and a SHOUT OUT to Sister Bezdjian's SISTER who just got her MISSION CALL!  Man, that was exciting, I don't even know you and I was still excited.  Congrats - she's going to Georgia, will be the first Sister Missionary there EVER and speaking what... three languages?! WHA!?  Cool.  You're going to rock it girl.

 

Yep, the church is SO true, keep up the good work,

Lots of love,

- Siostra Amber Allen

These pictures are of the snow, what I see infront of me as I study, and the christmas tree in the library here :) enjoy!

1. Creepy nun picture... there are lots of nuns in poland, just didn't think they'd use them in a grocery store add...

2. ICE SKATING!

3. Yeah they're selling these... maybe you guys should make and sell them too...just kidding - YAY FOR RANDOM CACTUS SANTA CLAUSE MEN!

4. Us sitting here typing...last week...or the week before it was I think :)

5. Us by the river... last P-day... we are... MAD!!! Just kidding...

6. Us and the cathedral!

j

Adventures with Gypsies

IT's DECEMBER!!! Well hey there everybody!  What's up!?  I haven't read all the e-mails yet, but I see someone got a new PHONE!  One of you boys should give mom a christmas present by putting all her recipies on Google Documents, then she can pull up her recepies on her smart phone wherever, and WHENEVER!  YAY!  :) haha...oh if only we had a smart phone for our missionary work, things would be a lot easier...we have to use more memory power and a LOOOOOTTTT of WRITING!  Yeah, the internet might crash...uh but when was the last time that happened?  And it's more likely that our house will be burned down...right?  Oh I dunno...maybe someday missionary work will get more hi-tech.

As for now, we're just running around Poznań, LITERALLY - I swear we run to at least one appointment a day - we either don't give ourselves enough time and are running late, or we just want to meet with lots of people and pack our little selves in there - Hey, go big or go home, right?  One of my new motto's.  Oh man, the work in Poland is GREAT and to add to that greatness... I'm LIVING IN POLAND!  I LOVE THIS PLACE!  A herd of pigeons flew over my head today...haha okay a flock...and as we walked by some old buildings with kids speaking polish to one another I just got a warm fuzzy feeling.  I really love this place, I hope you can love it too someday, if you don't already!

This week was super fun, there were some weird days, where I just felt sort of off- but I think that was my own fault for being a bit angry with someone or not following the Spirit... You know, you really do feel better about everything when you just DO WHAT'S RIGHT!  There was someone here in Poznań who just blatantly lied to our faces and blamed us for something we didn't do and I got a bit miffed inside.  Don't do it.  It's not worth it.  Just forgive and forget!  I did end up apologizing for whatever we didn't do, and felt a little better about the whole thing, but still, I could have jsut been okay with it from the get-go.  Lesson learned: Just love life, and the only things you're allowed to stand up for are 1. your life, 2. your religion, 3. your families, or 4. your freedom.  Cuz that's what the Nephites did, right?  They tried not to have skirmishes unless their lives or freedoms were in danger.  Cool.

I got a letter from NELLA this week - and was that a picture of her dancing?  Pretty! Thanks and I will try to send you something soon!

Well, last monday, we went out to this family's house in the middle of nowhere's land.  They're super poor and from Romania -so it would have been cool if Sister Folsom was here cuz I think she speaks some Romanian!  But I think they were gypsies.  Sister Folsom told me about the Gypsies in Romania and how they act like they are poor and just live off of other people.  After being out at their place, I think that's true of these people as well.  They all seemed healthy and happy and had enough food but neither of the parents work and the dad is the only one who understands Polish and speaks it - except for religious terms, he had no idea what we said as we shared a first lesson about the restoration.  But it was sad to see where they live, and that they can't read.  I worry about the kids - there were like four or five in the one family -one room, cold floors and blankets on the walls, low ceilings...and then like four more kids in the other family in the other room.  Man... sad stuff.  We aren't allowed to teach gypsies, and I can see why, there really isn't much we can do for them.  Anyways, that was an experience.  On our way out of there, one of the little girls, dirty and small, her name is Maria, followed us as her dad showed us where to go to get back home.  He told her to go home, in Romanian, but she didn't listen and kept following us, close behind me so her dad wouldn't see her... so I reached my hand out behind my back and she held my hand on the way through the muddy street in the dark.  It was just cool.  I love kids!

Funny stories: So Sister Bezdjian had this awesome green umbrella with white polka-dots and it rained hard a couple days this week (AND SNOWED A LITTLE ONCE!) and so we had out our umbrellas as we ran to a tramwaj.  Well, she opened the door and umbrella first started to get on the tramwaj, but the door shut on her umbrella and smushed it!  HAHA!  Then the door wouldn't open so she tried to rip it out...I encouraged against that...thinking it'd probably just break it more...the poor thing!  Ha, but the tramwaj just DROVE AWAY with it!  the little handle blowing in the wind...oh man, it was pretty hilarious- stander-by's sure got a kick out of it, at least it was a good conversation starter!  : )

Also, we were on a bus this week and this guy in a car next to our bus wasn't driving properly or something and the bus driver kept honking at him, then the guy drove up next to the bus and stuck his angry little Polish head out the window and probably was swearing at the bus driver.  So the bus driver speeds up and CUTS THE GUY OFF!  We were blocking the WHOLE STREET!  Granny's apples went flying, the poor girl down the street fell off her chair, and everyone was in a holler... the bus driver gets off the bus and walks over and yells back at the guy, once he's got his fill gets back in the bus and takes off normally again...not sure what that accomplished but...whatever.  Haha...fun, and all the while I was talking to an awesome 15 year old girl who lives here in Poznań and I ended up getting her phone number and we are going to meet with her this week!  COOL!

We had another lesson with Mama Ola this week, and it went really well, I really think awesome things are going to happen with her family!

One more quick story and then I want to read what you wrote and hope to write a bit back - maybe send some pictures too...

Yesterday we'd just got off the tramwaj (said TRAM-V- EYE) and we were waiting at the light to cross the street and go tracting, for like two hours before lunch, and it was cold and we were fasting...well there was this tall cute couple standing there with their baby in a stroller.  So we awkwardly surrounded them on both sides and Sister Bezdjian asked if it was a boy or girl and - AAH! My companion is so studly at contacting, I need to just do what she does, she's so good at it! - and so we started talking to them and they were looking for an open store to buy bread.  Luckily all the stores were closed, after a while, Sister B. was talking with the mom and I was talking with the dad, just about life and stuff, I somehow got on the topic of the word of wisdom and told him we don't drink alcohol or smoke.  Well after about 8 minutes, they're like, well we live here, do you want to come up for tea?  Um... WHAT!   THAT NEVER HAPPENS!  SURE!  So we came up and refused the tea and told them we were fasting and what we do with fast offerings... haha man they got way more than a first lesson that day...and they like ASKED US what our CHURCH was like (my jaw just kept dropping further and further as the lesson went on) ! SO perfect segue into the RESTORATION of the FULLNESS of the EVERLASTING GOSPEL!  Man... so they let us pray with them and the 2 month old baby was crying during some of it, but then the first vision was quoted while mom was standing up holding baby, and the baby stopped crying and there was this presence in the room... BAM.  It hit all of us, you could see it in their eyes - IT's TRUE!  EVERYONE!  I KNOW IT!  Joseph Smith SAW God the Father and Jesus Christ!  He RESTORED the true gospel, I'm feeling it even now - this tingly awesome sensation... man... so cool!  They set up with us AGAIN!  The dad said a kneeling PRAYER on the end of the lesson, OUTLOUD - he was so nervous.  They said they'd READ the BOOK and COME TO CHURCH!  I'm telling you...this really just fell into our hands and they're so normal!  I love normal people!  Now the only down side of this story is that I didn't invite them to be baptized. It was my turn to extend a commitment, I didn't feel that it was going to fit into the conversation - but at the same time I knew that was just an excuse my mind had made up.  We've been asked to ask people if they will be baptized on the first lesson...and folks, I didn't do it.  I was elated after the lesson with my companion, but I was also being kicked in the soul by the Spirit saying, hey you!  You didn't say what I asked you to say, my friend, not cool.  So then I felt really yucky inside and...you know beat myself up a bit... Moral of the story is, NEVER DENY A PROMPTING.  Just do what the spirit says!  No matter whether it's hard to do or not.  I get so nervous,
 and I'm supposed to say it just right and not stutter according to our Assistants to the President, and I just feel really pressured everytime I try to say it to someone.  So I'm going to work on it, and it'll be much better next time, I promise.

Thanks for your prayers and everything, I'm doing great, could use help on my polish GRAMMAR...ugh it's not too good... but I'm WORKING ON IT! :)

The church is true!  If you want an assignment for this week, look up John the Baptist - that guy is a STUD!  Love him!

K, love you all,

peace.

- Siostra Amber Allen

The old guy - fixed Sister B's boots - we ran to his shop in the morning for our exercise

The NOGI - those statues that are just feet and torsos - SO fun :) in Park Cytadella

Chuck Norris - he's EVERYWHERE!

Oh and another fun thing - people in Poland get up super early and go to bed super early - it's really weird.

Love you lots!

- Amber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

The old guy - fixed Sister B's boots - we ran to his shop in the morning for our exercise

        

Christmas package info

Hello! We received an email from Ambers mission president concerning sending Christmas packages, so if any of you are planning to send her a package please send it to the mission home! Thanks for your prayers and support! Have a great day!
Love the Allens

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

"Where will ye leave your glory?"

November is almost OVER!?  Crazy... and I see that we have a new Christmas Tree?  Awesome, but there wasn't much snow up there this year, eh?  Gid has glasses!?  Since when?  And Enos came down for Thanksgiving?!  Aaah!!! Oh man I love you guys!  I need an address for them, I want to send them a letter.  And grandma and grandpa back in the picture, yay!  Katherine, nice baby bump – you always look so cute!  Rachel…what is it with you and your tongue?  Girl, keep your tongue in your mouth! Haha… : )  Nice moose! OH I LOVE THESE PICTURES!!! YAY!  Oh my gosh, Tasha doesn’t even look pregnant yet… Aaah!  LIFE!  I also need Tavia's address... need to send that girl a postcard.

Well...that was a bit of gibberish...I don’t really know where to start… Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you had a great one!  We didn’t eat any turkey here, didn’t really celebrate Thanksgiving at all, but I’m still so grateful!  We did end up having a really fun meeting with a family just outside of Poznań on Thanksgiving night along with Elder and Sister Reed.  The father of the family is an older man from America and his wife is Polish.  They have two young kids, a girl and boy.  I really think that Ola, the wife, feels the Spirit really easily and loves the gospel, I’m excited to teach them more!  We got to help clean up their house for like an hour before our meeting and it was just SO MUCH FUN!  I love SERVICE!  And Ola was so grateful for it.  That was a good feeling.  Like yesterday morning, there was a father and his daughter Maria and they looked really poor, we told them we wanted to share the gospel with them and he told us about their destitute situation and that they really were poor. Well I asked the little girl what her favorite food was, her dad said 'candy' or maybe 'chocolate' - can't remember which one, anyways I remembered I had some chocolate in my bag that I really didn't want, so I bent down and un-zipped my back-pack and gave her a bag of chocolate covered nut things, she was pretty happy.  And I was maybe even more happy!!!   Another time this week we saw an older woman carrying groceries and she had a limp, we asked if we could help.  We were supposed to be at the chapel for a meeting but helped her anyways and she was also so grateful - you could just see it in her eyes.  The meeting at the chapel didn't end up happening, so it was alright that we were a little later than we were supposed to be.  Man...God just takes care of you!  Like with Daniel in the Old Testament - we read about him in Young Women's yesterday and how he stood up for what he believed in even though he could have been killed!  But he didn't get eaten by the lions, and he got promotions and all sorts of cool stuff...  - Matthew 10 talks about fearing not those that can take your life, but fear Satan instead, because he can take your Spiritual life.  We need to be more BRAVE in our lives, like that, and just do what God asks of us, because it will all work out - Trust god, and he'll make it all work out.

O.k. got 25 more minutes, I really want to read your stuff and then write back, but I guess I will just type and see where it takes me.  So this week we had some crazy fun things happen, we didn't reach our goals quite all the way this week, but it was still really fun and awesome!  We had a lesson with a woman named Irena who I personally think will end up getting baptized.  She's super spunky and has bright red lipstick and is way nice.  She's got two grown up kids and is divorced but is a fun business type woman with a super full, bright living room where we sat and taught a lesson with Sister Reed.  I loved how Irena described the Holy Ghost - that it's like a wind at her back, kind of softly telling her where to go, what to do.  She recently had a business trip and had some difficulties with a train being late or something and she was in charge of this thing and got really worried at first but then just felt like she should take a certain bus or something and that she wouldn't be more than 10 minutes late.  Sure enough, she walked in only 10 minutes late.  So cool.  I like her a lot.

We have three women with baptismal dates right now, Danka, Izabela, and Bogusia.  Thing is, none of them are really progressing right now, and I think we're going to have to push back their dates.  Danka was the one we met in a restaurant - she contacted us really - and she is kind of a cute old drama queen.  She calls my companion Sister Bet, and it's really funny.  She also diminutizes Grzegorz's name so she calls him 'Grzeszu' and it's hillarious.  It's like calling dad 'Benny' or something - oh man, gotta love Danka.  I think Sister Bezdjian wrote more about her, you should check out her blog too, it's sistersarabez.blogspot.com.  She probably has some fun stories on there that I haven't told...  Yeah, so we're really praying for these women.

I may have also told you about our friend Kamila - she's so cute! and awesome!  She came to church on Sunday for the first time!  AND Marcin gave a talk in church Sunday - he's the Elder's investegator who will be getting baptized on December 8th if all goes well and he stops smoking - I'm praying hard for him, I think he's the coolest thing since sliced cheese - seriously, he's the BOMB!  These young people in Poznań really get me excited, if we could just get a group of young college kids to join the church in Poznań, things would really have a solid basis.  Another young girl we met with is named Iwona - she's musical and studying languages, she's way awesome, and I want her to date one of the elder's investigators, Maciej, they'd be soooo cool together... um then just get them baptized and married in the temple and...and... !!!  O.k. I get carried away sometimes, but it's worth dreaming about!

A fun thing, a crazy thing, and then a spiritual thing, and then I got to attatch some pictures! and maybe a sound recording from sister B.'s recorder :)

Fun thing: We went ICE SKATING LAST WEEK ON MONDAY - and I had LEGS! I haven't worn jeans in a good five months and so that was crazy, and so much fun, I actually felt like I learned a bit this time I went skating, one foot in front of the other as you turn - I'm still really clumsy but I got better at it!  It was cool cuz we had the rink all to ourselves for like the first half an hour, and it was just five Mormon missionaries hanging out on an ice skating rink in POLAND and it just felt so GOOD.  I felt a little guilty for singing a long with Adele a couple of times, aaah!  Music!  Weird...

Crazy thing: We were coming out of an appointment with our investigator and we walked down the street, I contacted this lady and she started talking to me like she knew me from birth...Uh... I didn't really know how to handle the situation because sometimes I DO meet people a second time that I just don't remember, but I didn't know this woman from Adam and...well... haha so I just played along and said can we get your number and set up sometime and I think by the end of the conversation she realized she didn't know me but we just awkwardly parted cuz she said she had something she had to go do... so here comes the crazy part - this guy comes up to us, he's probably like 60 years old - and he says something like, 'what are you handing out little angels?' and Sister B. goes, 'well we have a message about Christ.' and he's like, 'what's this you have?' 'A flier with more knowledge about Christ's gospel,' and she hands it to him, well once he has it in his hand he goes 'WE HAVE OUR OWN RELIGION!' and he rips up the flier, crumples it up and throws it at the ground and sort of yells some other things at us as he walks away.  Sister B. said 'have a good day' and I picked up the ulotka to throw it away and... well...it was funny...but sort of shocking - that people are so...closed minded...so hard...

Spiritual thing:  As I read in 2nd Nephi this week, I've been reading a lot of Isaiah - I love how Nephi says that he loves the words of Isaiah - I think I'm loving them too.  They have so much imagery!  But I want you to look at 2 Nephi chapter 20 vs. 3 - there are three questions there that I want you to answer, expecially the last one - 'Where will ye leave your glory?' - When something good happens in life, who are you giving the credit to?  When you accomplish something great, where are you leaving your glory?  Let's work on giving it back to God - he's the giver of every good gift and we ought to remember that with a sincere heart!

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the ONLY true church on the earth today - it's a pretty bold statement we have to declare to the world, but it's TRUE, and we stand by it, whether there be lions...scary old men... or anything else.  Stay strong, I love you all!

- Lots of Love from Poznań

- Siostra Amber Allen

Snow White and the 7 Dwarves

So... I just wrote like a whole paragraph of good stuff but part of
this computer's brain isn't working, so I hope this ends up working
today!  Aaah!

First of all, JENNY IS GOING ON A MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
LOVE YOU SO MUCH!  So cool, sista!  And to the Dominican Republic, my
cousin Shannon went there... if I'm not mistaken - you should ask her
about it!

Second of all, I have a NEW COUSIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Bridger?  Awesome!
Man, Goldie may be feeling a little lonely right now, tell her that I
felt her pain, but that boys are the BEST!  And she should be happy!

 Aaaah.... life, it comes at you SO FAST.  I can't
believe how fast time is flying, like seriously, this is crazy.  It
doesn't even feel like MONDAY yet, and yet here I am sitting at a
computer e-mailing again... crazy.

This week was AMAZING.  We achieved some really high goals and it was
only because we had the faith to set them.  I can't tell you how much
setting goals and just BELIEVING in them makes SUCH a huge difference.
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.  Sister Bezdjian (have I
told you how to pronounce that yet?  - Bez Jen - like the beginning of
Jenny's name) is so good at this setting goals stuff and just SHOOTING
for it.  She also gets really excited and stoked to meet the goals and
that's half the fun.

When you can get motivated and excited about the work then things like
THIS happen:
I felt like we should go talk to the lady who runs the parking lot
around the corner from our chapel.  We go over there and chat with
her, her name is Basia (said BASHA) and she took a book of mormon,
agreed to read and pray about it, and as she flipped through it right
there with us she told us that her DAUGHTER's name is ALMA!  There are
NO coincidences, my friends!  LOVE IT!

Then Sister Bezdjian felt like we should drop in on a mom who has five
kids and just hasn't had time to meet yet, but was contacted like a
year ago for the first time.  We dropped in, she was HOME! set up and
asked for a referral - we ALWAYS are supposed to ask for referrals
from EVERYONE... and she said to go upstairs and talk with the people
right above her... well we do, and we get ANOTHER family, with three
kids.  The one little boy said to me, 'Jaki pani ma włosy?' - or
something like that, which meant like, 'do you have hair?' or 'what
does your hair look like?' - because I had a hat on over my bun... I
realized what he was saying and took off my hat, then he goes 'Oh!
Jaki włos!' which is like, 'wow nice hair!'  I had a braid in front
and a cool bun in back, it was just a fun conversation with a 9 year
old, I shouldn't be that excited about it, but it was fun.  We asked
his little sister how old she was, and she goes 'cztery!' - she's
four... so cute!  They're all super chubby kids and awe man, so
excited to teach them.

Then we had to have four recent convert or less active members by the
end of Sunday evening, but Sunday morning came around and we only had
ONE... so we had to get 3 in one day...so I was praying hard and
thinking hard and we got one right after church with a girl Agnieszka
who I wasn't thinking would make it to church, but did, and we got to
meet with her right after the block of meetings... THEN we went to
Bożena's house and she wasn't answering her phone OR domophone...but
we kept ringing and kept waiting and finally she answered and let us
up!  Two down... one left... and we had about used up all our options
- don't have many here... so we decided to drop in on this guy we've
never met who was baptized like 6 years ago and we hadn't heard
anything about him, just had his address - was close to our house.  So
we walk over there and ring in and he ANSWERS!  My jaw about fell to
the floor...man, we were SO blessed.  So we got to have a lesson with
Przemysław and that was SWEET, told him to come to church, man... God
totally blessed us this week, we did NOT accomplish our goals through
our own power, of that I can surely testify.

We also had some really powerful lessons this week, lessons where I
felt like my face was hot because I was concentrating so hard and
hoping so much that the people would accept and act on our message.
Especially Kamila - she's our age, and is such an AWESOME young lady
with SO much potential, I sure hope she'll come to church soon.

Also, so sometimes when Izabela - who has a baptismal date on December
8th, answers her phone, she goes 'Hey-Hey, Ho-Ho' and it's just so
cute and funny so I said back, 'hey-hey, ho-ho' and she laughed, and
then I laughed and then we chatted for a while and such... Later that
night we had a lesson with her, I think it was on tithing - which she
ACCEPTED to pay!!!  - and after the lesson she walked with us to our
tramwaj stop and sister B. asked her why she says 'hey-hey, ho-ho' and
she was all like, well haven't you ever heard of the fairytale about
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?  Well we don't know the word for
Snow White or Seven Dwarves in POLISH so we're like, 'NO!  Tell us!'
and haha she starts in on this story, she's linked arms with Sister B.
and I'm just walking along side listening to this cute little
middle-aged polish woman tell us a Fairy tale about a princess!?!  And
we're walking down a beautiful street in Poznan!?!  It was one of
those times where I was just full of joy about to burst and giggling
at the fact that we actually knew what story it was after about 30
seconds and, oh man.  Life is good, isn't it?  I love it!  So much to
be thankful for, especially right now, I feel so, so, so blessed.

The other night we were so hungry and yet neither of us seem to cook
quite up to par...so we ate like broccili and popcorn for dinner, that
was fun... Are you college kids getting enough to eat?  We should make
a pact to eat better, eh?  Haha, so fun.
Another time this week, we were walking over to go tracting when we
saw some people unloading furniture, it looked way too big to unload
but Sister B. asked if we could help - she's so cool, and ALWAYS
looking for ways to help, and she's SO good with people!  Man, I'm
learning so SO much from my companions, it's just crazy.

Other than this all, I want to say a bit to each of my siblings, but I
only have 7 minutes and still have to copy and paste some stuff
because the computer wasn't working earlier - OH I HAVE SO MUCH STILL
TO SAY!...oh well...

O.k. well, I just love you all SO MUCH! 
AAAh!  The church is so true, love you all!
- Siostra Amber Allen

Potatoes and Carrot Cake

Dear Family,

       Well, I’m no longer chora (aka SICK) – and I’m SO GRATEFUL!  It really stinks to be sick.  I don’t know if I was being a wimp or if it was really just that nasty but I felt so, so gross.  I would drift in and out of sleep and had the worst fever ever… haha but at least it was funny!  Sister Bezdjian had a good time with it.  One time she tried to feed me some bread and I like fell asleep while she was putting it in my mouth and then… oh yeah she was complaining about how she thinks someone destroyed some records that we should have in our apartment of members – their teaching records from before they were baptized, we don’t have some of them – and so I tried to quote Star Wars – you know when they destroy the records and Obi Wan is trying to find the Bounty Hunter and can’t find that planet… He comes and asks Yoda and Yoda asks the younglings and they say, ‘well somebody destroyed the records.’  - Yeah, tried to explain that part while I was deathly ill… was pretty funny I guess, I got some laughs out of it anyways…

        Yeah, but besides that, after a blessing from the Elders, and telling my MOTHER that I was sick (thanks for the prayers mom, I wished I could have told you earlier that I was sick so I could get some mama prayers, those always work 200% of the time!) – I got all better and now we’re working hard as ever.

 

So: Some funny/ awkward stories:

          This week we taught a lady named Jagoda – which means blueberry, I think, in Polish.  Well she’s got a 2 year old, maybe 3… and randomly during the lesson she started breast feeding him in front of us.  Yuck.  He’s WAY too old for that, my good woman…

          Haha, then this guy came into the chapel and asked if he could use the bathroom…’Sure’ – so he goes in there, and doesn’t shut the door.  Then Sister Reed walks by and shuts the door for him, and makes this face, -- you know the ‘Oh my chicken what is he doing!?’ kind of look – haha, yeah.

What else… oh yeah, not so funny – we just double scheduled ourselves this week and forgot to buy stuff and it was sort of stressful…but we made it through and now we’re back on schedule and we learned from our mistake and we’re going to do better.

 

We ate at a cool pizzeria and watched the guys making pizza throw the dough up in the air and swing it around and make the big crusts – super fun, and delicious. 

 

We watched The Restoration video in Polish with some neighborhood kids and their big brother Bartek, ate popcorn, cookies and sok (juice).  By the end, there was popcorn all over the floor, the kids were stealing cookies to take home, and they also didn’t want to leave.  But we gave them a book of mormon – the picture book version – and that was super fun.  We had our member, Natalie, there with us and it was good for her to be an older sister for the night.  I wonder if she ever babysits… she’s an only child.

         Speaking of Natalie – So I was wondering if the Young Women in our ward, preferably the beehives – but really whoever wanted to – I was wondering if you could send a picture of yourselves with your testimony to Natalie and then maybe I could get her to send her picture and testimony to you guys.  If you want to, you could write it and then try to translate it on-line, or I could just try to translate it here…or both… I just think it’d be cool.  She’s always saying how she wants more young women her age to be in church with her and so we can have activities.  I feel so bad for her, I was SO LUCKY to have such a big group of girls my age with the same belief system I had.  I was SO BLESSED to have friends in High School who I could go do baptisms for the dead with, or attend a early morning fireside with!  YOU ARE SO BLESSED!

 

A few things I’ve learned lately:

From Marlena, our sweet recent convert, who is currently sick and probably at home in bed.  We visited Marlena last night and our lesson was on Baptism and Confirmation.  As we talked with her she told us about how before her baptism she was sort of shy and always felt lonely and sad.  After her baptism and activity in the church, she said she was more confident, that now she could talk to anyone – Even OBAMA, she said! Haha, I thought it was pretty funny that out of anyone she chose Obama to be brave in front of.  Cute.  And she says that even though she lives alone, she now never feels alone.  I wonder sometimes, what it would have been like if I hadn’t had the gospel.  I wonder, and know that it would have just been harder.  There really IS SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS to people after they are baptized.  The Holy Ghost is REAL.  It’s not something we just talk about!

 

Speaking of the Holy Ghost, I had a really cool experience this week when as we walked home from an appointment and we were about to turn down the street to walk home when I felt like we should keep walking.  Sister Bezdjian later told me she had felt the same way so when I suggested it out loud, she agreed whole heartedly.  So we keep walking and the first people we see are this young guy and girl standing out on the door step smoking and chatting.  I felt like my stomach kind of leaped or something and sort of felt pulled towards them.  Immediately we walked up to them and started a conversation.  I remember that the way I contacted was really weird.  It wasn't super interesting and didn't say anything fancy, may have just said, 'hey I'm Sister Allen, what's your name?  What are you guys up to?'  Anyways, it turned into a full on conversation and we were able to give sort of a whole Restoration lesson there on their front porch!  We gave a book of mormon to the girl and she said maybe we could chat later.  This whole experience was just AWESOME and I KNOW I saw the hand of the Lord in our lives that day.  The Principle I learned was this:  ALWAYS listen to the Spirit, ALWAYS!

 

 Also, last night we had a lesson with an older member of our branch, named Bożena.  She’s upset with an investigator in our branch who she feels has offended her.  It’s pretty ugly.  Thing is, I don’t think this offending stuff has really been happening as much as she thinks – a lot of it is just built up from months and months of callouses of the mind!  You know, when you think about something long enough it starts to make it’s ugly head bigger… So we suggested she talk to this investigator about it and work things out. Well, she’ll have none of that, she said, no sir.  It just made me sad.  Are you going to let imagination get in the way of friendship?  What if things really aren’t all that bad and all you have to do is talk about it?  Really, people, COMMUNICATION!  Sister Bezdjian read me something this morning about how Moroni was a man of great understanding, then she looked up synonyms for understanding and somewhere found communication.  So Moroni, yeah that guy who shook Hell and if every man (or woman) were like unto him, the very powers of Hell would be shaken forever, yeah that guy – he’s a man of great communication.  You better believe it.  We really need to talk things over with people, in a kind and gentle way, but really just be open and HONEST.  If this world were just more honest with itself! 

Want to hear some MORE cudowny things?  Miraculous, that is?  We had like 30 people at church this week!  THIRTY!  Okay there was more like 28 or 29, but still, THAT’S A TON!  I was STOKED!!!

We woke up Sunday morning and all we did was peel potatoes and make carrot cake and Jesus Bread for like 2 hours.  Man… we had so much to bring – but the OBIAD (Lunch/Meal) after church was delicious!!!  We also had these things called Rogale, they’re special to Poznań and it was a holiday celebrating this guy who came in on a horse and usually gave money to the poor, didn’t have money at the time, but his horse lost his shoe and the peasants sold the horse shoe and had enough money to live, so now they make these super yummy pasteries in the shape of a horse shoe and they’ve got almonds on them and almond flavored filling and they’re seriously DELICIOUS!

Yep, what else…

We are really trying hard to get to bed on time!  We seem to have so much to do at night time recently.  Filling out teaching records, etc.  At the same time, it's so AWESOME that we have so many teaching records to fill out!!!  I also want to just make sure we're taking things at a pace in which the Spirit can keep up with.  If we're moving too fast to feel the Spirit, that's besides the point!  I also am working on saying nothing negative.  It's hard!  Not because I say negative things all the time, but I've realized I do say them more than I thought...in small ways. 

 Basically, my companion and I are doing SO great.  Especially now that I'm feeling completely back to normal health and we're just ripping it up again in Poznań.  We heard about Sister Ostler going home because of sickness, and we're not sure how to handle that, super sad!  I hope you are okay, girlie!  Also, Sister Folsom, I've got a present for her from Pani łucja and I'll try to send it if I get the chance, just don't know where to send it.

Thanks, everyone, for your prayers and smiles.  I can feel them even over here in Poland!  I love you all SO VERY MUCH!  I read something this morning in Preach My Gospel that said, we are helpless without the Atonement of Jesus Christ - and it's true.  Remember as you're being THANKFUL this week, that Christ suffered and died for you.  But I know he lives!  And loves us! 

Much love,

- Siostra Amber Allen