26 Dec 2013

This is our last posting of 2013.  We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We certainly did.  We missed being with all of you, but we have made some wonderful friends here and they took very good care of us.  But we will get to that in a minute.  On Saturday, we walked over to a store to buy a few gifts.  As we passed a little park that we have in our apartment complex, there was an open market.  Most of the places were selling fish.  That's what is customary to eat here on Christmas Eve.

They were also selling apples and vegetables.  Mind you, this is the 21st of December.

Also on our walk, we passed the Lock Bridge of Warszawa.  So here I am standing in the middle of it.  It's all lit up at night.  We will try and take a picture of it, so you can see it.  But here it is during the day.

Also, we have a huge Catholic Church that is being built in our neighborhood.  We haven't seen anyone working on it since we have been here.  But this thing is huge.  We are wondering if they ran out of money or something.  

So anyway, we had another baptism on Saturday.  This is Lajos.  He got together with the missionaries and planned a song to sing.  It was "O Come All Ye Faithful".  He sang a verse in Hungarian and then in Latin.  It was simply beautiful.  

All the missionaries with Lajos

And all of them singing

On Sunday, there was hardly anyone at church.  They all take holiday at this time of year and go visit family.  

Monday was a busy day for us.  We did not hold family home evening because I had to help prepare for Zone Conference, which was on Tuesday.  I had to make 4 desserts and they had to be frozen.  Our freezer wasn't big enough, so I made two of them and Wayne took them over to the office to put in the freezer over there.  It took me until 10:30 pm to make all of them.  But we had a ham dinner for the sisters and elders at zone conference and they all enjoyed it very much.  We have 30 missionaries in our zone.

They always let the sisters go first.  What gentlemen!

Sisters Tobler, Young (backs to you) and Sisters Montesinos and Mikalauska

Here's the elders patiently waiting.  Too many to name.  And here's what they were fed:

  

They had a gift exchange also.  Elder Baranowski got a teddy bear.   

Sis. Edgren gave everyone a little package of goodies and a DVD she had put together of all the missionaries pictures that they had sent to her.  Some of the pictures were funny and some were showing what missionaries do.  It was very nice.

After we cleaned up and everyone was on their way to spend Christmas Eve with someone in the branch, we took Sister Tobler and Sister Wendel and drove out to President Jarosz apartment to spend a traditional Christmas Eve with them.  

Here is their Christmas tree.  And there were presents under the tree for all the good boys and girls.

 

But this was the table with most of the food on it.  So what they served was cold fish, raw fish and some warm fish.  There was carp, salmon and caviar.  They had a vegetable salad, too.  Oh, and some pierogi and bread.  The dish with the tomatoes on is the vegetable salad,  The long dish (next in line) was a gelatin-raw carp something.  They had smoked salmon (right in front of Wayne- kind of the orange colored dish) and then next to that is raw carp (again) on a bed of onions.  So anyway, it is tradition to eat at least 12 different things for each month of the year.  Before we started eating, they gave each on of us a thin wafer and we

would go around to everyone, they would break a small piece of wafer from yours and you would break a small piece of wafer from theirs and then you would wish something for that person.  It was really kind of a neat thing to do. (By the way, Wayne and I didn't take12 things on our plate.)  

During dinner, in came Santa Clause.  

He asked us if we had all been good.  Of course we all said yes.  He started handing out presents, but before you could get yours, you had to sing a song.  Here is Santa really rocking out to the music.

Santa even had a couple of presents for Wayne and me.  It was so much fun.  I sang "Jingle Bells" and Wayne sang "Up on the Housetop".  The sisters help us sing.

Rawel, (brother to Sis. Jarosz) wasn't a very good boy.  I know you can't see it very well, but he got a twig.

They brought out dessert after that.  And I really can't describe what the desserts were, but the one that looked like it was made from apples is the one I took and it was really good.

This is the Jarosz family and Sister Tobler.

Daughter Sara, Grandma, Sis. Jarosz, Sis. Tobler, daughter Ula, and Brat Jarosz and family pet.

We left about 9:00 pm and were very, very tired.  We drove the Sisters to their apartment and they told us that they were going to meet some of the elders and go to "Midnight Mass".  President Edgren had given all of them permission to do that, but you could tell he was very uneasy about it.  Well, about 1:30 am, Sister Edgren's phone rang and it was Elders Waskiewicz and Boyce.  Someone had sprayed Elder Boyce with pepper spray and his eyes were hurting and he couldn't see anything.  President told them to grab a taxi and come to the mission home.  They got a hold of a doctor and he said that they needed to just keep flushing his eyes out with water.  It was a very scary time for the Elders, tho.  

So Wednesday, Christmas Day, our gift to the missionaries was to feed them breakfast.  We took everything to the chapel because it was easier for them to get there than at our apartment.  So we fed them scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, and hash brown potatoes.  And President and Sister Edgren showed up and she had made some cinnamon rolls.

Here we are eating and talking and laughing and having a wonderful time.

Since this was a "day off" for the elders and sisters, some of them changed and went outside to throw a football and/or frisbee.  It was 44 degrees outside with the sun shining.

And some stayed in and sang some songs

Elder Kotter is playing the guitar. 

We got home about 1:00 and died on the couch.

  

It has been a marvelous week and I've been thinking a lot of what I could give my to my Savior for all that He has done for me.  And I finally came to the conclusion that I could give him "me".  I can give Him all my time, my talents, and my love.  I really don't think he wants anymore than that.  So on this day that we celebrate His birth, please remember that He loves you and has given all that He has to you. 

Thursday, it's back to work!  We love you all.  We hope that this next year will bring you joy and happiness. 

POLAND is awesome!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

   

  

19 Dec 2013

I think I can get used to living in the big city, but not the way they drive around here.  I am constantly putting my foot through the floor trying to use the imaginary brake, because I just know Wayne doesn't see what's up ahead.

We had another baptism on Saturday.  I made some brownies, because they always have something to eat after baptisms.  But Kasia was baptized and it was a wonderful experience for everyone.

Here is Kasia and Sisters Pearson and Tobler.

And Godfrey was asked by Kasia to baptize her

On Sunday, they announced that we were all invited to come back at 17:00 hours and listen to the First Presidency Christmas message and then we would have some salads and desserts afterwards.  That was going to be our branch Christmas party.  So I came home and made some Rice Krispy treats and we went back at 17:00.  So you should have seen "just salads and desserts"  It was a regular sit down meal.  They had some Polish made mushroom soup and beet soup.  They had herring in a red sauce and a white sauce and whole bunch of salads and desserts.  The missionaries sang Christmas songs and our Branch President (who works for Mattel) brought in a bunch of toys for all the children.  Everyone really enjoyed themselves.  

For FHE on Monday, I made some Chicken Noodle soup and chocolate cake for dessert.  We showed the DVD called "Joy to the World"  and everyone loved it.  

Tuesday night we walked down to the Post Office that is near our apartment to mail a package.  They are open until 20:00 hours and when we got there at 19:20, it was packed.  We didn't leave until 19:55.  I think I told you before, the customer service here is very poor.  And people get really upset with each other.

Wednesday night at English we read the story of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas and played some games.  We had our biggest class.  I had made some sugar cookies for them as our Christmas present to them.  Everyone said they were very sweet but enjoyed them anyhow.  So here is our class:

Sorry, I can't remember all of their names.  But we enjoy having this class.

We had some sad news this week.  When we got to the office on Monday and opened up our email, there was a flight itinerary from the church for one of the sister missionaries.  She arrived in Poland in May and was going home on Tuesday.  When she first arrived in Poland she was assigned to Wroclaw, so we got to know her very well.  It was very sad to know she was going home.  And we are losing another sister today.  But she is going home on schedule.  The President had to call the missionary department and request another sister missionary.  But even with that being done, we won't see her for at least 3 months.  So there will be a threesome of sister missionaries for a long time.  We did get notification of another Senior Couple coming in on Jan. 28th.  It's kind of fun to know what is happening with all the missionaries, but very difficult also.  

Well, that's it for this week.  I'll try to have some more pictures of the Renik lit up and what we did on Christmas Day.  We wish you all a very Wesołych Świąt!  We love you and miss you.

12 Dec 2013

Hello everyone.  We hear some of you have been getting lots of snow and it's really cold.  We had  a very foggy and snow blowing morning last Friday.  This is a picture taken from the office window.

 

We were glad we were inside when this started.  

And this is a picture out of our apartment window.  We have a very beautiful courtyard in the middle of the 4 buildings.  I'm sure during the summer, we will be listening to children playing when we are home.  

The next day, a couple of families went out and built a snowman.

On Saturday we went shopping in the morning and then finally got over to the Renik to see what it was like.  It was freezing.  I decided right then and there that I needed a different winter coat.  But the Renik is nothing like the one in Wroclaw.  Here is a picture of the Christmas decorations that they were putting up.  All of the lights were lit in Warsaw on the 7th.  

Christmas tree in the square.

This is the main part of the Renik.

Also on Saturday, we had a baptism in our chapel.  All of the missionaries that serve in Warsaw were there.  Here is a picture of all of them and Michal, the one being baptized.

So I will try to name them all:  in front is Elder Waskiewicz , Sisters Pearson and Tobler, Michal and Elder Blom, Sisters Packard, Mikalauski, Wendell, Petersen, and Elder Baranowski and then starting in the back from the left is:  Elder Jespersen, Elder Wilson, Elder Neuner, Elder Boyce, Elder Stumpf, Elder Brown, Elder Rittmanic, Elder Tiner, Elder Stockford, Elder Whiting, Elder Kotter.  Aren't they beautiful and handsome!

Here is Elder Jespersen and Elder Blom with Michal.  Michal bore a beautiful testimony after he was baptized.  The spirit was very strong that afternoon.  Michal was one of three baptisms on Saturday.  There was one in Bydgocscz and one in Wroclaw.   

After the baptism, we went to the mall and bought me a coat.  I guess that's my Christmas present, because it was a lot of zlotas!  But it has a hood and that's what you need here.  So I am happy.

We learned Sunday that we are going to have another baptism this coming Saturday also.  She will be number 37 this year.  So on the average, Poland had about 3 baptisms per month.  

We didn't get to listen to the Christmas Broadcast until Monday.  But we really enjoyed listening to the music and the speakers.  We listened at the office.  It kind of brought a neat spirit to our otherwise hurried day.  

Anyway, President Edgren came in for a little while and met with the APs.  They had to talk about Christmas and phone calls, etc.  We are going to hold Zone Conferences the week of Christmas.  So on the 23rd, Katowice District will hold theirs, Warsaw District will hold theirs on the 24th and Bydgocscz will hold theirs on the 26th.  Once again, the Senior Missionaries will be cooking for the missionaries for the conferences.  We decided to give them a ham dinner with all the fixings.  I get to make all of the desserts.  We will be feeding about 42 missionaries on Tuesday (Christmas Eve).  The missionaries get to sleep in on Christmas day until 8:00 am and they are not to do any proselyting that day.  And they are to be in their apartments by 5:00 pm on Christmas Eve.  Poland's celebration is on Christmas Eve, that's when Santa comes and hands out all of the presents, then Christmas day is celebrating with family and Thursday is for friends.  No stores will be open for Christmas Eve through Friday morning.  

In our English class on Wednesday we had 9 people there.  So we asked them to tell us about their Christmas traditions.  Most of them just told about what they do for the three days.  They don't eat any meat on Christmas Eve and we really didn't understand why, but they all go to Midnight Mass also.  But it was a good class and I think everyone enjoys getting together. 

So I know I told you a long time ago how we have to wash all of the fruit and vegetables and even the eggs.  I took a picture of the eggs I used this morning so that you could see why we wash everything.

Yes, that's a feather and there's blood on the other eggs.  It's fun, believe me.  

We really do love it here.  So that's it for this week.  We love you all and miss you.

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!

5 Dec 2013

Wow! where has this year gone?  We haven't had any snow yet.  It's cold and the darkness at 3:00 pm makes for very long nights.  We find ourselves at 8:00 pm going:  "Is it time to go to bed?!?!"  So we usually get out the scrabble game and play or Skip-bo.  We've been listening to a lot of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir also.

We had an awesome day last Thursday.  The dinner at the mission home was great and so was the company.  We had 10 Elders, 2 sisters, the president and his wife, another couple from the branch, Wayne and me and a gentleman from our branch that has no family here.  I forgot my camera, but I am hoping to get some pictures from Sister Edgren.  Sisters Pearson and Tobler held their own with all of the guys.  It was fun to hear them laugh and talk about their experiences.

I want to tell you a little bit about Godfrey.  He was the gentleman from our branch that was there.  He is from Africa and had to leave because of the political strife and they thought he was an enemy to the state.  Anyway, he has been gone from his family for 10 years.  They are still strong in the gospel.  He told us Thursday night that it was his daughters birthday.   She was turning 18 years old.  They pay him to clean the chapel and keep the grounds at the mission home.  All the money he makes, he sends home to his family.  He joins us for FHE.  And I am so glad because he gets a meal and time to spend with friends.  He is a spiritual giant.

This month in FHE we are talking about Jesus Christ and his life.  Everyone participated on Monday by reading scriptures and helping to translate.  Then we played LDS Bingo.  The cards had pictures of things that pertain to our gospel.  Like baptism, sacrament, scriptures, etc.  I won the first game and I think Sisters Pearson and Tobler tied on the second game.  I had made a casserole and carrot cake for dessert.  Elder Brown just couldn't wait to eat the rest of the casserole.

Here is a picture of Godfrey and Elder Stumpf.  You can see a little bit of Sis. Pearson and Dominigue is walking in the background.

On Sunday, I went in to the nursery to help Sis. Jagard.  No one else was there.  Anyway, I told you about little Isaac Jagard.  We built a castle and he was really proud of it.  He is so cute.  President Jagard works for Mattel here in Warsaw and he spent two years here on a mission.  

So here are some pictures of our new "dig".

Here's our kitchen

Living room

Bedroom

And finally the bathroom

Monday I went to get my haircut at noon.  I found a place real close to our apartment.  So when I was done, she told me I owed 85 zl., which is about $30.00.  I almost choked.  When I got my haircut in Wroclaw it only cost me $12.00.  Oh well, welcome to Warsaw.  

This week is Zone Training for the Katowice, Warsaw and Bydgoszcz Zones.  So Wayne and I are alone in the office.  I've been working on getting all of the legal paperwork typed up for the incoming missionaries on the 7th of January.  And Wayne is still frustrated with learning the accounting stuff.  He talks a lot during the day to Germany.  There is one person assigned to Poland that helps with the accounting.  And she has been a very big help to Wayne.  

So Tuesday night, I decorated our apartment for Christmas.  Here you have it.

I went all out, don't you think!?!?

By the way, we finally got the hotel we'll be staying in for the YSA Conference next year.  That is a big relief.  And the Area Seventy got back with us and told us that we could have all 5 missions of this part of Europe join us.  That is good news.  Now all the other planning begins.

Wednesday night at English Class, we had 3 gentlemen there that were trying to out do each other in their language skills and joked around with each other.  I just sat and laughed.  When we were reading, one of them would correct the other one when he said a word wrong and then we would correct both of them.  So the chapel is 20 Kilometers from the mission office and it took us 44 mins to get there tonight.  Crazy traffic.

When we woke up this morning and looked outside, there was a "skiff" of snow on the ground.

Well, it's off to the office.  Hope you all have a wonderful day.  It sounds like you got some snow, too.  We love you all and miss you.

28 Nov 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!

We hope you have a wonderful day.  We have to go into the office because there is no Thanksgiving here in Poland.  And you can't buy a turkey either!  One of things we miss are the holidays.

Last Thursday night we went with the Hutchinsons and Jensens out to dinner.  Here we are with our glasses of lemonade. The glasses were filled with lemons and water.  Very interesting!

Wayne took the picture.  So it's me, Elder Hutchinson, Sister Hutchinson, Sister Jensen and Elder Jensen.  The food was very good.  But we waited for a long time to get it.

On Saturday, we kind of boxed up as much as we could.  We couldn't move into the apartment until Sunday.  Pres and Sister Edgren had traveled down to Kielce for a baptism, so we were alone again in the mission home.  We went shopping for a little bit of food. And then we walked over to the cemetery.  I wanted to show you what their cemeteries looked like every day.  People even go over and clean around the graves of their loved ones.  They sweep around them and pick the weeds.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures.  And I thought our cemeteries were crowded.

Here's one of the statues that a lot of the grave sights have.

On Sunday, we just stayed for sacrament meeting and then went home to move.  It was the only time we had to do it.  We had to get moved in, make something for FHE on Monday, and get ready for Monday.  We will take pictures of our apartment and show them to you next week.  But Sunday was our Primary Program.  President Jagard (Branch President) let us take pictures in the chapel.  The first song was "I am a Child of God"  And the missionaries sang the song.  First Sis. Tobler stood and sang by herself.  Then Elder Tiner stood and joined her on the second line and then the rest of the missionaries stood 2 by 2 and joined in throughout the song.  It was awesome.  

So here is Sister Jagard, the Primary President.

And here are the 5 primary children singing a song.  And they did an awesome job at saying their parts, too.

Well this is our first week in the office by ourselves.  Now comes the real test.  We got a call from the Theater Group of Warsaw the other day.  They are doing a production of different broadway songs and one of the songs they are doing is from "The Book of Mormon" broadway show.  They wanted to know if they could have 40 Books of Mormon to use in the show.  I had to call the president on that one.  He decided that we weren't going to give them the books.  First of all, they cost money and second of all, we don't know what they were going to use them for.  On Monday night, we held our first FHE all by ourselves.  I made chili and took some bread and cookies for dessert.  The cookies weren't very good.  Each stove cooks differently here and I burnt a lot of the cookies.  I have to figure out how to use this stove.  But everyone enjoyed themselves.  We talked about being thankful.

Here's a picture of my desk.  And Wayne busily paying bills.  

On Tuesday, we got to orient the brand new Senior Couple coming to the Poland Mission.  They looked like they were on a plane for 15 hours.  I know they won't remember anything.  They are the Tuellers.  Here is their picture.  They will be going down to the city of Lodz (pronounce wooj) 

And these are our wonderful office Elders.  Elder Stockford and Baranowski.  We should have taken a picture out the window also.  You can see by the clock what time it was and outside it was dark already.

That's it for this week.  Once again, we hope you have a wonderful day on Thursday.  And we want to tell Kaylee and Megan how proud we are of them and wish we could be there for their baptisms on Saturday.  Take lots of pictures and send them to us.  

We love you and miss you all.

21 Nov 2013

Happy Birthday Garrison on Sunday!

Hello everyone. We are finally feeling like we belong in Warsaw.  We haven't moved into our apartment yet, but hopefully, this weekend.  Things are going easier at the mission office.  I'll take some pictures of our office elders next week.  They are very smart young men.  They will help us alot.

On Saturday, we got to go around Warsaw a little bit with the Hutchinsons.  It was very cold and windy, so we didn't get out of the car very much, but they did show us the place to buy chocolate.  I am definitely going back there.  I think the chocolate here can compete with the Swiss any day.  The first place we went was to the US Embassy and right across the street is a statue of Ronald Reagan.  The Poles honor him for bringing down the Iron Curtain.  They even have a street named after him.

Here's looking at the embassy from behind the Ronald Reagan statue.  I don't know if you can see the American Flag flying, but it sure looked good to us.  And here we are standing next to Ronald Reagan.

After that, we went to the park where Spencer W. Kimball dedicated the land of Poland in 1977 for missionary work.  It is a beautiful park and probably looks gorgeous in the spring and summer. 

The people actually gathered inside the bushes.  There is a little open area where everyone stood so that

they could have a little privacy.  Here is a close up of Wayne and me.  Wayne's ears were freezing.  He was trying to keep them warm.

So in this same park is the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  They have two soldiers protecting it and they change the guard every hour.  There is an eternal flame also. 

As they change the guards, the two pictured above come out of the tomb area and stand in front of the structure waiting for the two new ones.

The two new ones walk the full length of the courtyard and then stand by the ones leaving.

They came from the building in the far background that you can see.  Their walk was very precise.  It 

very interesting to watch, but doesn't compare to our Unknown Soldier tomb in Washington DC and the changing of the guard.

Here we are in front of the tomb.

We then went over to the Renik. (Every city has a Renik)   We didn't get out, because of the weather.  But they were putting up Christmas decorations.  So we will go back over and get some pictures when it's completed.   At the one end of the Renik is a statue dedicated to the young boys that were used during the war to take messages back and forth from the front lines to the commanders.

People in Poland put flowers and candles on every statue.  We'll have to take a picture of the cemetery just down the street from our apartment.  It really is beautiful.  

So that's what we did on Saturday.  On Sunday, I had to talk.  Wayne got out of it because they ran out of time.  I also had to go into the nursery and watch the kids.  Wayne was in with me.  And he snapped this picture.  The little girls are twins, Helena and Ania and the little boy is Isaac.  We had a lot of fun. 

Monday night was FHE and I can't remember if I told you or not, but Sis. Hutchinson always cooks dinner and takes it to FHE.  So I will have to cook also.  But we have had the same people at FHE all three weeks:  there's Stan, Alsbieta, Jeslawa, Godfrey and Sisters Pearson and Tobler. And some times Dominique. 

After we had dinner, Alsbieta and Jeslawa came in the kitchen to say good bye to the Hutchinson's and give them a little gift.  

The one with the package is Alsbieta and her mother in front is Jeslawa.  The Hutchinson's are on the left and Sister Tobler has the scarf on.  Jeslawa started to cry.  She is 90 years old. 

  So this is what the Hutchinson's got.  

It's bread sticks and they are very, very good.

Tuesday was a very busy day.  The office elders had gone down to the Ursad (government office) to do some legal work for the 9 new missionaries that arrived on the 5th of this month.  They didn't like the signatures of 6 of the 9 presented to them, so Wayne, Sis. Hutchinson and I printed their name on the documents before we went home.  The office elders were going to try again in the morning.  

Wednesday we went to English class.  I know I told you before that it takes us an hour or so to get to the chapel during rush hour.  We did find a faster way, but I'm used to walking to the chapel.  Everyone said goodbye to the Hutchinsons.  It was very sad for them.

By the way, the government office accepted the printed "signatures".  We just don't understand what and why they do the things they do.  

So another week almost gone by.  Sister Edgren said she was going to make a Thanksgiving dinner for the missionaries in the Warsaw 1st branch.  She asked me if I would help.  I don't think we can get a turkey here, but she will think of something.  

We can't wait to get into our own apartment!!!

Love you all.