39. 5/22/2017 Week 39 (3rd week in Gdansk): Larry Bigos

Hey y'all! (That one's for you, Raquel)

Losing Yourself In the Service Of Others

Yesterday, I taught Relief Society. We discussed several things on the topics of service, love, and unity. One of my favorite quotes that was shared was from the Teachings of Gordon B Hinckley manual: "The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired." I loved that! It is so true. We also talked a lot about why us missionaries are so happy, too! It really is because we are completely focused on other people--I have never been so happy in my life! It was such a neat lesson to teach--at the end, everyone went around and said one example of when someone has offered them service and how it has blessed them...over half of the room was in tears at the end! One small act of kindness really can leave such a big impact on someone! 

My Polish Grandma Murphy & the Temple

We visit this really cute lady here in Gdansk around two times a week. For all of you who know my Grandma Murphy, this lady is HER to a tee (probably the reason I love her so much). Our branch has been focusing a lot on the temple and trying to get as many members there as we can. Unfortunately, from Gdansk, the Freiberg, Germany temple is about 8 hours away by car (which a majority of the members here don't have). We were talking to my cute Polish grandma about the temple in our last meeting and she just started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "hang on, give me a second" and then left the room. She came back a few seconds later with a little, old beaten-up envelope she grabbed from her bedside table. She told me to open it. I did, and to my surprise, it was a temple recommend from 1996! Before I was even born! I asked her why she still had this piece of paper. She said, "I have never been able to go to the temple--for one reason or another. Sometimes it is too far to travel, sometimes my health isn't good enough to bare the trip, etc. But I have always kept this piece of paper near and dear to me...always within sight and always kept it a goal to stay worthy of the possibility of going there". I was just about in tears! How special--a goal we all should always have. 

Well, that's all for today. 

I hit my halfway on Wednesday. WEDNESDAY. How did that go so fast?? Elder Anderson from the Quorum of the 12 is coming to speak in Warsaw that day, too! What a treat. 

I'll sign off with a joke Dooley dropped during district meeting this week: "What happens when a cow jumps over a barbed wire fence?"--"Utter Destruction". It had me in literal tears. 

have a great week!

siostra talia beem

ul. Wiertnieza 135, 1 Pietro

02-952 Warszawa Poland

talia.beem@myldsmail.net

The Polish countryside...

Since Gdansk is a "beach town" Tal ran into some of her Warsaw friends...

Teaching Primary:)

Sopot sand.

The Baltic Sea.

38. 5/15/2017 Week 38 (2nd week in Gdansk): Pimp My Cave

We don't have a lot of time to email today because we are headed to Sopot for a beach day :)

It was so good to catch up with my family yesterday for Mother's Day! I am so grateful for my mom and for all of her love and support. Heavenly Father gave me a 2 in 1--a best friend and a mom :)

I can't believe I only have one skype call left...where does the time go?!?!?!

We had a meeting with a former investigator we found in our area book this week. She is AMAZING! But, she kept saying things like, "It will be too hard for me to change"..."I am not good enough to make this decision"....and then that night after our lesson, I was reading a previous month's Liahona and read the following quote:

"God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord."

Exactly!!! How special is that? 

happy belated mothers day! 

have a great week!

siostra talia beem

ul. Wiertnieza 135, 1 Pietro

02-952 Warszawa Poland

talia.beem@myldsmail.net

Mother's day Skype...

37. 5/8/2017 Week 37 (1st week in Gdansk): Whoa, Amber is the Color of Your Energy

Baby Onion, Fun-yan, Munyan. 

Drum Roll, please....I am training Siostra Munyan! She is from Virginia. She studied for a year at BYU-Hawaii. She is actually older than me (she turns 20 this Thursday!!). She is one of 15 kids--which explains a lot about her....she is super calm and is the most patient person I have ever met. She bore her testimony in church yesterday and killed it!! I can't wait to continue to work together and progress the work here in (beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL) Gdansk.

"Smile More" and Sara Bareilles:

I was feelin' the stress of traveling to a new city with 6 pieces of luggage, training, and white washing on Wednesday. I was sitting on the train and reading a language book and just couldn't seem to shake these nervous/stressy feelings. So, I said a prayer. I needed to know God new about the feelings I was having and that He was there for me. And you want to know what happened within the next 5 minutes? I looked over to the man across the aisle on the train from me. In that moment, he took off his sweatshirt and his t shirt read, "Relax, smile more"....and then seconds after that, his ringtone went off...it was "Brave" by Sara Bareilles. Now, they may have seemed like little things to everyone else...but those were little, simple ( and even cheesy!) reminders that God is aware of us and our needs and that He listens & answers our prayers.

I love this work. I love Gdansk. I love my district. I love the members. I (am learning to) love Polish. I love my little companion. I love this gospel. And I love you!

"g'day in gdansk!"

siostra talia beem

ul. Wiertnieza 135, 1 Pietro

02-952 Warszawa Poland

talia.beem@myldsmail.net

Mom note:  In regards to Talia's title for the week, Gdansk is famous for its amber.  Called Baltic Gold, "amber is the surviving resin of ancient trees which over millions of years has been covered by sediment and compressed by rock movement and glaciers where chemical processes we are unable to comprehend take place."  

I'm pretty sure this was Talia's "Welcome to Gdansk" celebration!

Talia meeting her trainee from the MTC, Siostra Munyan.

With Siostra Rawson (one of her MTC comps).

The Gdansk waterfront.

36. 5/1/17 Week 36 (28th and final week in Warsaw): No Pressure

Transfers:

I'll will take you back to Saturday night. 

My phone rings at about 5pm. 

It's President. 

I answer. 

He says, (without even saying hello), "Sister Beem, are you ready?"

I was like, "Uh...I think so?"

He said, "Okay--you are white washing in Gdansk and training".

And then I was silent because on the inside I was like, *LKDJFHSDFGH;ALSDFJ;ALDKGHA;ODSHG;ALSDHG;AOLDSKHG*. 

President then was like, "Any questions?"..

And I still was shocked so I was like, "No..."...but I really wanted to be like, "YES! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?????"

And then he said, (in English...which he never does), "No Pressure, Sister Beem. Goodbye!"

So, yeah. Tomorrow, I pick up my baby trainee!! And then we head off to Gdansk (I mean, PINCH ME...Gdansk in the summer is my dream). I can't wait to meet her and meet this new branch! :)

I hope I can be a "Sister D" to her. I really was so blessed with such an amazing trainer (and best friend)...which brings me to:

You're Gonna Miss This:

...and by "this", I mean Sister DeMordaunt and Warsaw. Sister D left this morning to return home. I love her with all my heart and I am so grateful for the times we had together in Warsaw. We worked really hard, but we had a lot of fun while doing so. We were so blessed and saw miracles everyday. I am going to miss Warsaw SO much (cue the tears)...I love the members here and I love everyone that I came in contact with...but I trust God that Gdansk is where I need to be right now. 

So, I leave you with my motto for this past transfer: "If you do your best, it will all work out". (That's a promise!!!).

So, trust a little more and love a little more! 

Here goes transfer 4, 

siostra talia beem

ul. Wiertnieza 135, 1 Pietro

02-952 Warszawa Poland

talia.beem@myldsmail.net

BYE WARSAW :'(

A Ghetto Wall marker...

With B and Starczy Adriano

With B.

With Starczy Alvarez and Adriano and B.

Siostra Stahl, Starczy Alarez and Adriano and B.

The Warsaw gang...

More Warsaw pics...

With Starczy Ashworth

35. 4/24/17 (27th week in Warsaw): Baem

Today marks...8 months!! Where has the time gone?? Where is the pause button??

L funky:

This week, Sister Stahl and I went on exchanges to Lodz...a cute little city about an hour train ride outside of Warsaw. While there, we got to attend institute, learn new finding methods, teach some members, street contact, and set some solid goals to continue and progress the work here in Warsaw. It was so good to learn and laugh with Sister Dekker and Haight!

Little Lions:

Yesterday for 3rd hour in church, I got to translate nursery. Which really just meant we had a 10 minute lesson on prayer and then acted out Daniel in the lion's den for the other 50 minutes. Good stuff. Roar. 

 The Prince of Peace...,

...my new favorite title for the Savior.

"The Savior, our Prince of Peace, says to us: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Not as the world giveth. Not a quick answer. Not a list of five things we can do to solve our problem. Not a historical overview in our minds. Not a method to turn our symptoms into a diagnosis. Not a cure. Not someone brought back. Not immediate restitution or reconciliation. Not always a phone call when we need it. Not always someone reaching out at just the right moment. Those moments do happen, and I am grateful for those moments. But at times, all I need is a great calm. When the answer is peace."

Other:

-We have transfers next week! I am really interested to see what happens. I have been in Warsaw since the end of October...so, a while! But, I love the city and people here so much. Stay tuned!

earth is crammed with heaven. 

peace and blessins,

siostra talia beem

ul. Wiertnieza 135, 1 Pietro

02-952 Warszawa Poland

talia.beem@myldsmail.net

Siostra Dekker and Haight in the background.

With Siostra Haight

With Siostra Stahl in front of the Warsaw chapel.

34. 4/17/17 Week 34 (25th week in Warsaw): Naleśnikifora

Hey!! 

Wielkanoc...you are "egg-celent":

My one (and only ) Easter in Poland was wonderful. We had a beautiful church service where we talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how to become like Him in this life. The Spirit was so strong! I am so grateful for the knowledge we have about the resurrection. Did the Lord in reality die and rise again? Yes. “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."

After our amazing Easter dinner, another family invited us over. When we got there, they said, "Sisters, have you had an Easter egg hunt yet today? We just finished our one with all the other (9) missionaries and our kids" And I was like, "No, but that's okay!"...and they said, "No it's not...hang on". They took us down to their basement and set up an easter egg hunt just for us. Seriously, I was just about in tears. It may have seemed small to them, but  it meant so much to me!! 

We ended the night attending part of a Catholic mass at a local Catholic temple. 

Other:

- It snowed this morning. Tears. 

- I got DRILLED in soccer by Elder Sommerfeldt. You can still see the outline of the soccer ball on my leg haha. When it happened, I thought I shattered my femur.

-An American member hooked it up with some American toaster strudels for Easter breakfast. And American Dr. Pepper. 'Merica. 

-"Hey, Elder Ashworth, you are egg-celent'. Elder Ashworth: "I don't get it'...me: "get it, like 'egg' because it is Easter?" 

-The Polish word for "teenybopper"...because I know you all are curious: smarkula

-We had a Passover party with a YSA from our branch this week!

I hope everyone has a great week!

peace and blessins,

Talia

ul. Wiertnieza 135, 1 Pietro

02-952 Warszawa Poland

telefon: 48-22-665-9892

talia.beem@myldsmail.net

With Sister Stahl in Warsaw.

33. 4/10/17 Week 33 (24th week in Warsaw): Sweaty Tacos

The Prince of Peace:

More than 2,000 years after Isaiah called Him the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ is still our key to peace. This year, in the week leading up to Easter, focus on one of the eight principles below to honor Him and find His peace in your life: Faith, God's word, Compassion, Gratiitude, Prayer, Forgiveness, Repentance,  and Hope. 

This week, I worked on Gratitude. Earlier this week, I was feeling pretty down--just about a lot of different things. As I was figuring out how I was going to fix it (because I HATE being in a bad mood)...I got the impression to write down everything I was grateful for. After 45 minutes and a severely cramped hand, I had a list of over 400 things...ranging from my family, the restored gospel, and my mission call to pugs and sunshine. 

There is SO much to be grateful for. 

The Church put out this film about the Prince of Peace...I encourage you all to watch it. I'll attach it in Polish too :) Find peace in a troubled world by learning more of Jesus Christ. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly9xk59Qkfc  (English)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL3y8WhIwEE (Polish)

"Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover"...a thought from Dad.

My dad just sent this to me in an email and it really made me think....

"You might be wondering about the title of my email.  It came to me just now.   I am sitting in a downtown Corvallis Starbucks right now.   I just dropped off Noah for team warm ups and have an hour to spare.  It is also lunchtime and I have a $25 gift card from work.  So here I am eating an $8 dollar salad and drinking a $5 orange juice and thinking I would NEVER buy this with my own money (it is quite tasty actually).  As you can imagine, this place is packed.  I am sitting near the entrance to this small shopping center inside the building where the Starbucks is located.  There is a rickety old piano in front of this hippy bagel shop about 20 feet away from where I am sitting.   A homeless man who looks like he has lived a hard life just came up and asked if he could take the other chair at my table.  Absolutely, I am by myself.   He thanked me and took the chair over to the piano.  The Starbucks employee rebuked him and told him not to bother customers (he wasn't) and they brought the chair back to my table.  He mumbled and went over to the bagel shop and took one of their chairs and placed it in front of the piano.  He was mumbling to himself.  Like he was having a conversation between his current self and his past self.   He put his hands on the keys and poured out some of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.  It was like he was awakened in some way but I think it was me who woke up and just took in the sounds.  It made me feel warm and peaceful and probably the most heavenly thing I would observe today.  He played for no more than 30 seconds and he mumbled some more and said "That's it" to himself and then he just got up and walked out of the building.  I'm sure I will never see this man again but for a brief moment he lit up my world...  

This man was shown no respect and I'm sure feels shunned at times everyday.  I know I would have looked the other way if I passed him on the street.  I wonder how many amazing people are in front of me everyday that I ignore or judge.  It just made me think a little deeper today.   Heavenly Father loves all of us, warts and all.  His love is unconditional and he sees the eternal and devine potential in all of us."

This made me think of my experience I had a while back with Glitter Girl: 

"Sister D and I have been really blessed contacting lately. The other night, this lady with SO much glittery makeup walked by. Honestly, I was pretty intimidated by her because she just had a lot goin' on (makeup wise and neon colors everywhere) and I honestly (I hate admitting it) didn't want to contact her. But then, I felt this overwhelming feeling (hint hint--Holy Ghost) to contact her. I then said, "Good Day, We are missio--" and then she cut me off. I thought she was going to yell at me (like a good amount of the people do), but instead, she said, "You're mormon missionaries, yes, I know! I have your book in English, but I would like it in Polish. *we give her a book*. I have to go, but here is my number, I would love to talk later"...then ran away. I can't believe I wasn't going to contact her because she was all glittery! I immediately repented for making such a shallow judgement"

Whether people are a little more sparkly than usual, homeless, too skinny or too fat, too tall or too short, have crazy colored hair, or 1,000 tattoos...they are a child of God. Like my Dad said, His love is unconditional and he sees the eternal and devine potential in all of us! How special is that? We need to try and see them like God does, too! 

Other:

-On Monday, I broke Elder Alvarez's finger while playing volleyball. We both went up to take the ball to Spiketown...and BAM. Broke it. 

-Wondering what "Sweaty Tacos" is? The other day on the tram, the windows were really foggy. This little 6 year old Polish girl in front of me started giggling to herself. Then, she drew with her finger...on the window (in English)...the phrase "sweaty tacos". I seriously lost it. It was the last phrase I was ever expecting this little girl to write. 

-There is a cute little Polish girl in our branch. She is maybe 4? Anyways, yesterday at church, Elder Einfeldt asked her who her favorite missionary was. She pointed to me and gave me a bear hug. I might have teared up a little bit. 

Have an amazing Easter! Remember, He is the reason for the season!

Wesołych Świąt! 

Szczęśliwego Alleluja!

be kind to one another,

Tal

ul. Wiertnieza 135, 1 Pietro

02-952 Warszawa Poland

telefon: 48-22-665-9892

talia.beem@myldsmail.net

I think B wants to be a missionary...he looks good with a tag!

Tal with B and Elder Ashworth.

A young adult activity in Warsaw...