May 6, 2013

The eagle has landed! I am in the country...the Polish country! The wonderful country of Poland! After the longest day of traveling and losing a bag along the way (don't worry it's found and safe and good and I'm getting it on Wednesday), I got to Poland! This has just been the craziest week full of new things! My mission President and his wife, the Nielsons, are AWESOME! And I love them so so much! We went contacting on our first day in broken Polish and only with a few words that we knew! It was a little scary at first but now contacting (when you talk to people on the street about the gospel) is actually so fun!

The second day in Warsaw, we got assigned our trainers and areas! So nuts! Must nerve wracking thing ever! But as it turns out, I have the BEST trainer in the whole entire mission!!! She is sooo awesome and I love her so much!! Her name is Sister Bezdjian and it's actually pretty funny because I met her sister in the MTC and went to EFY with her brother a few years ago (Ashton, if you're reading this, ANDREW BEZDJIAN! As in andrew, peter, and isaac and butch cassidy and the d.b. kid!!!) So anyways!

We are assigned to a city called Wroclaw and it's so beautiful here! There are lots of parks and good things and places to find people and talk about the meaningful things in life and how this gospel and message of joy and happiness can bless people's lives! I love it here! We are "white washing" which means that we are both new to the area and have to figure everything else out from scratch, but really that makes it so much fun because even though Sister Bezdjian has been here for a while, we are both on the same level about this city. We are starting from ground zero and just trying to do all we can to find people to teach and share joy with!

Sister Bezdjian is awesome and it's her last transfer here! So I am committed to making this the best transfer of her whole mission! We have already been doing some amazing things! I copied an idea from Alex (Bertha) when he was on his mission: The other day, we decided that we'd talk to everyone wearing blue! We committed to the Lord that we would do this and had faith the the people He has been preparing for us would be wearing blue that day! It was so fun and ended up having the best day ever!

I had the most amazing experience this week! Sister Bezdjian and I were contacting one day and started a conversation with a girl. It turns out the she didn't speak Polish because she was from Germany so we talked to her in English (which I must admit was like a breath of fresh air :) ) But anyways, we got to talking about the church, of course, and it turns out the she had already taken all of the missionary lessons and wanted to be baptized a few years ago, but at the time, her school wouldn't allow it. But we just got into a really good discussion about how much joy the gospel brings and it was so great! We could just see her lighten up with the Spirit after a little bit of talking. We got her email address and asked the office Elders to refer her to one of the missions in Germany! It was just so amazing because it reminded me that: Yes, I have been called to the Poland Warsaw Mission, but my mission is the same even if I was anywhere else in the world: to bring others closer to the Savior. Even though Sister Bezdjian and I knew that we wouldn't be able to teach her because she was just on vacation, I really strongly believe that the Lord placed us in her path the remind her of the joy she once felt and remind her that she still desires it! It was just so amazing!

To answer some of Mom's questions:

What days are your Pdays? -- Monday

What area are you serving in? Wroclaw!!!

What are the Polish people like so far? So nice and really cool to talk to! Each person is so interesting and has a really neat story behind them!

Where are you living- in an apt? or in a members home? -- apartment! It's one of the nicest one's in the whole mission!! LOVE IT!!!

What kind of car are you driving- do you get to drive, or just senior companion? Do you drive on the right or left side of the road? --- We don't get to drive, but  people drive on the right side of the road :)

the food? ---the food is good! Nothing really too different this far, but I'll try and get some real polish food soon and tell you what it's like haha

Well I love you all tons!! XOOXX

-Sister Kendall Blake

Funny Moment of the week: Imagine....my 2nd day in Poland. We contact the first 3 people we see (meaning we just go up to a random person and start telling them about our message!). One of those people is an old man who was standing on the side of the street. I say in broken Polish : "Have the sir heard everthing Book of Mormon about?" He starts rattling off in Polish, dies laughing, and then grabs my head and gives me a huge kiss on the check!  Ah the people here are great!!

Below are photos of my first day contacting with my MTC sisters!...other picture is Rynek in Wroclaw!