Warsaw I

November 2, 2015
Dear Family,

Well I officially just finished my first week of my last transfer.  I thought my heart would always be stuck in the Warsaw II area but I actually really like Warsaw I. We are the missionaries in charge of the only actual chapel in Poland and we get Old Town and the Rynek. We scored for the Christmas season area wise. We get the Warsaw Old Town during Christmas when everything is lit up. It is great! The branch here is really great! We also have two baptismal dates we are working with and might have a couple more on the way. I had almost forgotten what it was like to teach! Everything is very much a blessing!

We met one of our baptismal dates on Thursday. She is so sweet and kind. Her husband is a member and they are working towards coming together. We also had a wonderful lesson with our new investigator. Other than service, one of my favorite things to do as a missionary is to sit down and have a spiritual lesson with an investigator. I always see the hand of the Lord in sit down lessons.

We just had a national holiday here this last weekend called Dzień Zmarłych, or Day of the Dead. They deck out the cemeteries with miles and miles of candles, flowers, and lanterns. The chapel happens to be conveniently located between two cemeteries so we held an open house this weekend to try to coax some people in for tours. Most people generally think we are a sect or cult, but we actually had a couple of people come in and learn about the Mormoni! It was a Really good weekend. We spent most of Saturday at the open house and some of Sunday as well. We couldn't get very many people interested at first because it is such a solemn holiday, but by Sunday we actually had quite a few visitors. We took big trays of cookies and would go out and advertise the hot chocolate and tea to catch people's interest. "Ah, Zapraszamy wszystkich na dzień otwarty. Mamy czokolady na gorąco, herbaty, ciasteczka, i bez płatne toalety." Whoever though that I would be yelling "free toilets" for the general public to hear. The things you do on your mission... Sunday night we finished if off by getting to see the lights in the cemetery. So wonderful! Kocham Polskę!

Well love you all. Have a wonderful week!
Siostra Benson

Transfers

October 27, 2015
Transfer news came this week. My new companions name is Sister Antczak and she has about six months of her mission left. She is from Texas and we have been together for approximately two hours or so. I feel optimistic about my last two months here as a Poland Warsaw missionary and I feel like there are some good things to come. I love you all and am so grateful for the support and love that you show me. Watching the departing group go was so bittersweet. Knowing that is me next makes me more determined to work hard and do all I can do to keep the work moving forward.
Love Ellie

Life is Precious

October 19, 2015
Well Hello Everyone,
I would have to say that we had a very interesting past week. Monday we moved out of our apartment for a few days and lived down in Walanów with the other sisters in our area because of some strange events from the past week. But it was a really good opportunity to bond with the other sisters. Wow that seriously feels like it was a month ago.

Tuesday evening we were able to have our culture night and it was awesome. I know call me crazy, but we went and saw Edipus Rex in Polish. I will be honest I probably didn't understand the first 25 minutes because I got confused about the story line, but it was very well put together. We watched it in this old small theater in the magnificent Stalin's Tower in the middle of Warsaw. Overall a really good night.

On Wednesday I got sent down to Lodz on exchanges, which was a huge blessing. This was by far one of my favorite most productive exchanges I have ever had on my mission. Not only was I able to return to my old area, but I also got to serve with my last companion Sister Gustafson who is amazing!!! On Thursday we had this crazy whiteboard in the rain/snow but talked to some really cool people. One of the first people that I stopped was this adorable older lady dressed in a hot pink puffer, and boy was she so prepared! It was probably only a two minute conversation but she asked about baptism and church and then we set up a meeting for the Lodz sisters on Saturday. That reminds me, I actually need to ask how that went! I am so grateful that we were able to meet her, no matter how fast the conversation went. Not only did I get to serve with one of my favorite companions, I also got to see Elder's Wright and Wride, who are two of my best friends in the

mission (Elder Wride goes home next week). The four of us had the opportunity to go to the Jewish cemetery in Lodz, which I believe is the biggest Jewish cemetery in Europe, and do service. It was one of the most spiritual and beautiful experiences of my mission. It was this old green overgrown place, rain and mist falling, graves everywhere, some new, many of them were very very old, and we just raked leaves for a couple of hours. Some of the tombstones read names from victims of Auschwitz. We took a little break where we walked through some of the graves and were reading the names that were not in Hebrew. Through the trees we could see a big field, so we decided to go see

what it was. The further we walked the older and more decayed the graves became and the thicker the trees got. Then suddenly the trees thinned and we appeared on the edge of this gigantic field. It was a field of victims from the Lodz ghetto and I believe other concentration camps from all over the east. It was a mixture of random tombstones spotting the landscape, a field of hundreds of grave markers of those without official graves, a couple of twisted trees, and then the wind tossed grass. I just had this striking moment standing on the edge of that field with the wind blowing where I was struck with such reverence and respect that it seemed to bring my world into focus and quiet the tumultuous thoughts that moments before had been running through my mind. Human life is sacred. Anyone who forgets that needs to quickly get that back into focus. The other turned back into the forest of graves and trees raining their colorful leaves, but I was just stuck there on the edge of that wind blown field. It was my privilege that day to serve those people, even if it was just by raking a few leaves.

Later Sister Gustafson and I got to teach a new investigator on her first meeting. Man I don't know what I am doing wrong in my own area but it went flawlessly. Why can't I pull that together when I need an investigator! Ironic eh! Then we got to meet with one of my other investigators . She took us to a bar/nightclub to get hot chocolate. That was an interesting experience. Friday I came back to Warsaw and

we got to can apples that evening with the relief society sisters from our branch. Looking around at all of the different nationalities American, Polish, Ukrainian. It was so funny to see so much diversity, yet a spirit of love and friendship was still there. We get transfer calls this Saturday. I had honestly planned on for sure ending my mission in this area, but with some events that have happened lately, there is a high likelihood that I will now be transferred. Watching all of the ladies of this branch that I love so much was a bittersweet moment, but I am trusting in better things to come. I always thought that I would care a lot more my last transfer where I would end up, but I am good with where the Lord needs me to be. I had a feeling at the beginning of this transfer that it would be challenging, but that I would learn a lot and the spirit whispered to me that I had lessons yet to learn and things yet to change. Looking back on this transfer, it definitely was a hard one, but I

know that the Lord has a plan for us much greater than we can often see. Trials are still hard to accomplish, but they are a part of the plan. There are two blessings that I always fall back on, my family and the gospel. Protect your testimonies and protect your families. When the going gets tough, those two things are all it really comes down too. Love,
Siostra Benson

Different Shades of Life

October 12, 2015


I am currently sitting in the mission home stuffed full of the most delicious food I have eaten in months. Sister Edgren had the sisters over today for us to fix some of our sewing repairs, have some TLC, email, and have lunch. She made the most incredible lunch ever. Carrot soup and tomatoe cheese pie, then for dessert, the best homemade apple pie and banana cream pie I have ever eaten. Seriously soo good!

The past week was pretty good. We have had a bunch of random things going on lately so our schedule has been all over the place. Some of my favorite parts of this week have been working with some really amazing people.

On Saturday we had a really cool relief society district activity. When we showed up at the Wolska chapel at the start, right clustered around the door was all of my wonderful Lodz Sisters, Zosia, Irena, Mirka, Dominika, and Wiola. I ran to go inside to greet them and Zosia turned around and when she saw me she had the biggest smile on her face. Oh I love them so much! We had a great conference on Sunday about service. We baked a strange banana bread cake with cream cheese frosting for the sisters. Knowing Polish people and how much they hate too sweet of cake, I have no idea what they thought of it. Then that night we got to see our wonderful Thai member Sam Chit at her Indian/Thai restaurant and she was so thrilled to have us come visit her at work. Man curry and pad-thai is amazing!

We had kind of a psycho weekend, spent yesterday in the mission home, finally got to see some good old general conference the Sunday afternoon session. General conference was really wonderful this year. Every single talk resonated with spirit and meaning. This week I also have a greater appreciation for my companion. Sister Carlson has been a wonderful companion this transfer and she has been such a huge support to me!

For some reason when we started this transfer I felt like it was going to be a challenge. And thus far it has been, but I have also seen the growth. My friend Julia emailed me this week about an analogy with watercolor. We had been emailing recently about the lessons that our trials teach us. She said, " It was in watercolor class. I finished a painting but I wasn't a huge fan of it- it really didn't look that great, and it was of the temple so I was rather disappointed! When my teacher looked at it, he said, "it looks like you're hesitant to go in with darker values." I experienced first hand that a painting does not look whole, complete, or perfected, without some serious contrasts (light AND dark shades) in the overall painting. Long story short, I just understood so clearly that sometimes there are dark shades or times in our lives, and it may seem unfavorable or unfair. But those very experiences are what makes the painting complete, balanced, and beautiful in the end!! And no matter what you are doing in a painting, you always keep elements of design such as lines, color, shapes, in tact. Just as no matter what we are experiencing in our lives, we must always keep consistent principles such as faith, scripture study, prayer, temple attendance etc. in our lives." I would say that this is a wonderful depiction of learning from the different shades in our life!

Well gotta run, love you all!
Siostra Benson

Bread of Life

September 28, 2015
Dear Family,
Wow what an interesting week. This week we saw some really cool miracles that I cannot wait to tell you about.
Last Monday my companion and I were out tracting in the middle of the city. We were blessed to find a random two streets of houses. So we are tracting along down this street, it was getting later and we weren't having much success. We rang this beautiful Polish house, and I remember looking through the front window and seeing the elegantly decorated parlor wishing I was inside, the woman who answered the door said no, so we kept going. We tracted a couple more houses down then crossed the street. Suddenly my companion turns and say's, "I need to stop this woman across the street." She jumps the bushes on our side and I follow. We are so creepy sometimes... but we come walking up on this dark street standing off of the sidewalk and stop this girl. She was like ,"it is so cold and late out here, what are you doing out this late in the dark girls, my house is like three down, come have some tea with me." We were thrilled, trying not to look too giddy, but went with her. Then she stops... right in front of the big beautiful house we had just tracted. I awkwardly explained that we had already rang the house and she just laughed and said that she will explain that we are her new American friends. So we ended up sitting inside that beautiful parlor I had just been admiring 5 minutes earlier drinking tea with our new friend Klara and we were able to teach her a bit about what we believe. She is our miracle of the week.
We had the opportunity to later go back on Friday and teach a Plan of Salvation. She is a very dedicated Christian, but I love how open she is to learning about our message.

This week we also had the opportunity to make cinnamon rolls for our branch. We went to the mission home on Friday and baked three huge batches of cinnamon rolls and then made a bread of life message that we attached to all of them for as many of the members of the branch that we could get to. We spent all of Friday and Saturday delivering them. Gotta love public transportation with Biadronka grocery bags full of cinnamon rolls. The Polish members were so funny because when we tried to call ahead to let them know that we were dropping by with a surprise, most of them were like, uh ehh no we don't have an appointment with you. Some wouldn't even let us come over, but when they found out what it was, they loved it. One of my favorite things to do on my mission is serve people. Honestly some of the greatest joys in life don't come from living for yourself. It is about living for the Lord, your family, children, and the people you touch along the way. Service and true changing growth bringing you closer to God and the Savior is what brings true joy.
John 6: 35" And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
John 6: 51" I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
As missionaries we have the opportunity to bring people the "bread of life." We testify that through our Savior Jesus Christ, we may become spiritually full. As we come unto him our lives will be happier and filled with  true joy that comes through living in accordance with the will of God. We must choose everyday to partake of this spiritual bread. We promise you that as you follow and partake you will find greater satisfaction in your lives and be able to feel the eternal happiness and love of our Redeemer. We love you all dearly!
-The Missionaries

We were really blessed this week to have many of our kind members feed us which was such a blessing. I have never had it happen this much my entire mission. This must be what it is like to serve in the states whoot haha! Anyways, Have a wonderful wonderful week to you all. I believe in a loving Heavenly Father, may we all believe and live according to the knowledge that we have. Good luck with Gen, Conf this week. I get to watch a few sessions yayy! Make sure you spiritually prep!
Love,
Siostra Benson

Banana Scrambled Eggs and Brownie Batter Coma

September 21, 2015

Rodzino!
We had a wonderful week here in Warsaw II. Same trials and tribulations but we are creating joy in the journey. Poland actually had a fairly warm last week but is getting chillier now.
I absolutely love the YSA in this country. Sometimes we go with our members or investigators to the FHE for the youth and it is so much fun. They all have such humor and character, put it all in a foreign language that you can kind of understand and it makes for some good times. It makes me excited to see my three little sisters soon! Congrats on your 16th birthday little Wee.
Wednesday evening my comp and I had a meeting with a member later in the evening and were going to be late home. Rather than waiting for the bus that wouldn't come we took off running. We ran probably a mile or two in ballet flats and skirts, and we made it in perfectly on time. It was fantastic, but I think my feet are still bruised haha!
Zone conference on Thursday was probably one of the highlights of this transfer and my mission. President Kearon a current member of the first quorum of the 70 and also the President of the European area came and directed zone conference. Seriously so inspired. Something that has continually struck me is the immense love that general authorities have. I was preparing myself for a smack down, like the whole those whom the Lord loveth he chaseneth. Instead we were shown absolute love and respect from the get go, such a good lesson to me. I really impressed that we can change and grow; expecting good things from ourselves, and do it in a way that we are not demeaning to ourselves when we mess up. Everything they said was just what I needed to hear. I love the general authorities, and looking at the steps they take in life, I see that they are following closely and diligently in the steps of the savior. It inspires me to do the same.
Thursday evening Sister Johnston, my trainee who is not so much a trainee anymore, got to stay the night with us. It was so good to be with an old friend and especially see the growth she has made. It is incredible. She speaks better Polish than I do!
Sundays for the missionaries here are usually fairly crazy. Every set of missionaries running around trying to juggle our investigator friends, members, lessons, and everything else that happens at church. This Sunday was especially overwhelming. The missionaries are assigned to speak and put together sacrament meeting every third Sunday of the month. We had the other Warsaw II sisters stay the night at our apartment after splits the night before because they live so far away, and we live close to the chapel. Friday the elders sprang on me that I had to play the piano in the musical number. Those of you who know me know that I hate playing in public. In my last branch in Lodz I had to play every Sunday, but only after much prayer and practicing. So Friday we throw together this musical number and I made up an accompaniment. Somehow the musical number went fairly well, even with me playing a made up accompaniment haha. Then I had to speak, whoot whoot, my first talk in Poland. Somehow I have escaped until this point without having to speak. It was a wonderful growing experience, both preparing and giving the talk was a privilege from the Lord. Then I had to last minute direct the music in the meeting and teach a primary lesson flying from the seat of my pants. Gotta love the day of rest eh!
Last night, Sunday, we  got to meet with  one of our members here. We sat under a tiny little light in her tiny Polish apartment and had such a beautiful lesson. I know the Lord helps us know what to teach because it was exactly what we needed to discuss. Her little turtle was running wild around the floor and her dog is worse than Kaiser and won’t leave you alone. I love Polish people, they are just the best.  When we got home I was starving, but our house was literally destitute! No flour, no milk, no meat, no butter. We only had a couple of eggs some old bananas and jam with moldy bread. So I tried to make pancakes out of eggs and bananas. I know call me crazy, but it had worked before. Well last night it did not work because alas no flour. It turned out to be scrambled eggs with smashed banannas. We were so desperate that we started eating it with jam smeared all over and sugar and cinnamon. It was so gross, so I was like... Sister Carlson I need something to eat that is sweet. Then we remembered that we had a box of hidden Betty Crocker brownies that Kaja had given us from an American family. We tried to make brownies with some of the ingredients missing, got too impatient after it was only in the oven for twenty minutes, so we took it out early and drank it with spoons. My companion might have a sugar intolerance and I am a horrible influence. Both of us were sick all night, well my comp more than me. I just slept like a rock all night haha! Thus we went from a sweet meeting to a couple hours later sitting on the floor with brownie batter everywhere happy as clams until the sugar hit. We missionaries are strange people!
I love my mission and I am so grateful for the privilege to represent the Lord at this time. I know this is His true church.
Have a good week!
Love,
Siostra Benson

The Key to Not Being an Idiot

September 14, 2015
Hey Family,
So I don't have very much time this week, but I will try to give you the run down.
Tuesday- Went out to visit Grójec and got to see the wonderful Wiśniewski family. The Lord is a miracle worker, for some reason Namra was inspired to tell us that the next bus back to Warsaw left in like 30 minutes, and the one after that wouldn't come for several hours leaving us stranded and late. Somehow we managed to run across the city, heart attack Wiola's house, and make it to the bus in time. Cud!
Wednesday- We got to spend some time with the Warsaw I sisters on Nowy Swiat and teach, so awesome. I love the other sisters kind and diligent examples. We also might have eaten two Pączki and a milk bar dinner in the process. Soo tasty, I wish you all could try it. Good old fashion Polish food has some great secret recipes!
Thursday- Life really hit the fan this day. I had to go to the dentist, which turned out not being as traumatic as I was working it out to be. Yay for modern day technology. My companion and I did a week of exact obedience this week. So we worked hard all day and were trying to be diligent and stay out and teach but be exactly in on time. We tracted and then raced home, running as fast as we could, to make it in exactly at 9:00 pm. to be diligent and obedient. We race up the stairs, get to the door and the clock is right at 9:00, throw the key it the lock, and and and... nothing. It wouldn't work. So we wrestled with our door for ten minutes before accepting the fate that something had happened and we were locked out for the night. We spent the night at the other sister apartment out in Wilanów.
Friday- In the morning we woke up like crusty homeless people after spending the night on the floor. Had breakfast with the other sisters, put back on our same clothes from the day before, gathered our little kid dolphin toothbrushes that we had managed to buy at a grocery store the night before, and set off for home. Of course the door was still locked when we got home. We tried again to open it and then racked our brains as to why the lock wouldn't work. We called a member to come help us. He called our landlord who then sent a locksmith. The locksmith man was not very happy at all, actually he was quite angry for no reason right from the get go. He kept asking me if we were using the wrong key. Well we only had one giant key that went to our apartment, and I don't ever carry the key's my companion does so I kept telling him no, we have no other key. We hadn't given anybody else the keys either in the past couple of days. We went downstairs to try the mail box key, which then didn't work either. It was then we had the horrifying realization that they were not our keys. My companion when she had transferred from Wrócław had accidentally taken the keys from that apartment. She had put our house keys in my bag, and in the process of trying to find the keys the night before had mistaken the Wroclaw keys to be ours. Of course the locksmith was even more furious and even though he had only been there for 10 minutes charged us 350 zł. Brat Jarosz the member had mercy and convinced the office to refund us. Oopsies. We are idiots.
I will just say. The mission teaches you many many things. I have learned so many hard lessons in the past year plus. So the key to learning how to not be an idiot is to serve a mission and learn everything the hard way. We limped into our apartment emotionally and physically battered that day.
Saturday- Taught some really awesome members and recent converts
Sunday- We got invited over by an American family, the Chadwick's for dinner. It was AMAZING. We got there and Bother Chadwick pulled out this giant meat, cheese, bread, and cracker spread for us and the other Ukrainian family over for dinner. I am assuming the nice meal was primarily for the Ukrainian family, but oh boy were we grateful. Then we had chicken and dumplings with an amazing salad, cookies, and cobbler. Sunday was the saving grace of the week!
Wow sorry this is all so jumbled today. I am hanging in there and trying to work hard and be an instrument in the Lords hands. In our week of obedience we may not have been perfectly obedient, but in the pursuit of trying, we saw a lot of improvement. Thus is the nature of our lives. In the pursuit of excellence we experience detours and lots of failure, but God expects that each of us tries our best and improves bit by bit until someday when we are worthy of eternal glory. Carry on my dear family and friends, we have good things to do yet!
Love,
Siostra Ellis Benson