Where do I start? I don't know where to start...
How about I make a list and then...
Haha... HEY YOU GUYS! THE CHURCH IS TRUE! :)
Well, I'll start at the beginning of this week, we found out who
our new companions would be and where we'd be spending our next
transfer. I am now serving with Sister Sara Bezdjian, from Salt Lake
City, Utah. She played lacrosse and soccer in high school and she used
to have really long gorgeous brown hair. (Well her hair is still
gorgeous, but just short now...oh and still brown). She's the one that
came down for a couple days on an exchange earlier last transfer. The
last 2 transfers she was serving with Sister Ostler - one of my MTC
companions - in Gdańsk before that with Sister McAdams for 3 months. So
she's been in Gdańsk her whole mission and now she gets to rock Poznań
with me! It's going to be a blast, I can already tell. She
likes to laugh, and she's good at entertaining us. I have realized on
the mission (if I hadn't before) that I'm sort of...boring. So sorry
for whoever was bored out of their minds whenever they hung out with
me. Gregg would call that a 'hater' - haha, well either way, I'm going
to work on being more fun. But we're also going to work our rear ends
off, and it's going to hurt SO GOOD.
For example, I've never felt so close to getting what they call
'The Standard' as we got this week. We were only 2 numbers off. And
we're aiming high and setting the goal to get the standard this week,
and I'm so excited. I love setting goals and getting a bit
competitive... I mean that only in a good way. I mean, really, all it
is a bit of faith. You believe you can do it, you set your sights high,
and then you go for it - NO EXCUSES! NO BEING LAME! So here we go.
This week was really REALLY cool. There were so many awesome things that happened, to name a few...
1. Izabela came back, she now has a baptismal date again.
2. Danka came out of the wood work.
3. Anna's HUSBAND was on a lesson.
4. Weronika PRAYED!
5. Arseń was on a lesson with Pani Łucja :)
6. Fireside: Armor of God
7. We got an extra hour of SLEEP!!! Hahaha!
8. I got a letter from Allison Barnes, Julia Keleman, and Jenny Williams... and they're going on MISSIONS!
9. I got a letter from Rishi and she's going to have a BABY soon! (I am excited to see pictures)
10. I made Jesus Bread all by myself!
O.k. so #1, #8, #9, and #10 sort of explain themselves. I'm going to give a bit more about the others...
2. Danka - SO we went out to eat at this cool Polish cuisine place
and it's like the traditional meat, potatoes, and salads and soups...
and we were sitting there eating and I saw some guys eating french fries
and really wanted some, so we decided to order them. We did, and I'm
glad we did, because this woman sitting at the next table over just
started talking to us randomly, out of the blue! Haha, her name is
Danka. She's middle aged and interesting, sort of pessimistic, but
we're working on it, and just wuper WILLING to listen to us. She came
to Institute that night, took a book of mormon and has read half of it,
she said on Sunday, and also came to CHURCH on Sunday. She may have a
baptismal date, we're securing that detail tonight. Soooo.... SUPER!
3. So Anna, cute awesome mom with the three kids and one in a
wheelchair! We got to set up with her and went over to her house Friday
and she invited her husband to sit down (which I've been praying and
hoping and praying for him to be on a lesson because I know how a family
should be united and they should communicate about everything! And I
just knew they both had to be in on this!) HE CAME AND SAT DOWN AND
LISTENED! And I think he even felt the Spirit, and he asked questions
and we asked questions. And when I asked him if he believed the bible
was true he said yes, but that more of it was hypothetical and parables
rather than straight up literal. I was confused with what he was
talking about in Polish so I said, 'do you know the Book of Mormon is
true?' He said, 'Well I don't know, I'll have to read it to find
out...' He also believes there are people on other planets, not sure
how he found that one out, but he asked it in such a normal way, like
he's such a deep thinker, but at the same time I think a lot more
spiritual than he lets on. He would be the BEST bishop, EVER! So we
were going to set up for our next meeting and Anna said 'how about
17:30' and he goes, 'Well I'll still be at work then,' - so we get to
meet with them again! And he said he may read the Book of Mormon! It's
a start! I just love them so much...and oh man... after that lesson I
was about to explode with happiness! I want to see them all in WHITE!
4. Weronika PRAYED this week! It was amazing to see her just take
that leap of faith. Weronika is a younger red headed fire ball who
lives here in Poznań studying medicine. She used to be Athiest... over
our four or five lessons and she began dating an Agnostic guy... but now
she's claiming to be Agnostic - where she doesn't really believe there
is a God, but she won't deny it. We talked to her about praying - and
she's been saying no like a million times already - and I felt impressed
to share the story of our friend Darek, who also didn't want to pray
but finally did, and it was just amazing. So she did it! And she said
she felt 'weird' in a good enough way that she's going to 'try it
again'!!!!!! Oh I never thought that seeing someone pray would be so
exciting...but it seriously gives you a high.
5. Haha, so after the Fireside - which I may not get to talking
about... we got Arseń to come with us to a lesson with this older
woman. Which he told us to call her a middle aged dame... but in
Polish...haha...So she talks a LOT and he's usually really immature, but
he was mature on the lesson and it was just so fun to see him behave
infront of an old lady - he just got baptized my first transfer here -
and anyways, super funny, don't have time to tell you more...
The Principle I learned was this, GOD WANTS YOU TO PRAY! Pray about everything! We were missing Sister B.'s new planner this week and after her running around trying to find it for a couple days, I asked if she'd prayed to find it. Well, nope, so we prayed, and pretty soon there after - we found it! Then we said a prayer of thanks. God is THERE for you! We just have to ask. And if we can get Poland praying correctly, we can get Poland baptized.
My companion and I are doing GREAT! We have so much to tell eachother, so many ideas to bounce off of one another, and so many things we AGREE on, that it's really refreshing! I'm stoked to have only 30 minute lessons and to be able to speak more and just there will be some new things going on here and I need this change, it's going to be stellar. I've already learned so much from Sister Bezdjian.
All I can say is that miracles DO happen. A man at a door
yesterday said it was hard to believe everything about this Joseph Smith
character. Yeah well it's hard to believe that Christ changed water to
wine too, I said, but it happened! And so did Joseph Smith story. And
whatever problem you are facing in life right now, it can be fixed
through the Atonement and power of Christ, this I know. MIRACLES will happen in Poland.
Sister B. has more faith in that than anyone I know. She just EXPECTS
it to happen, and it does - it's really weird, but super cool. :) I'm
excited to learn from her and have FAITH!
No pictures this week, or voice recordings, I'll work on it.
Mom, I did get your letter! And I haven't read anything you guys sent me yet but I did look at the pictures - nice deer!
Love ya all!
- Siostra Allen
Hi,
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