27 June 2013

Elder Stumpf got a letter from the government saying that we had been approved for residency.  And that we needed to go back to the City Government office and fill out one more paper.  We did this on Thursday.  Then we needed to take that paper to the State Government building but we had English class on Thursday, so we couldn't make it in time.  We decided to hit the SG office on Friday.  English class was awesome.  We only had one person there.  Her name is Marta.  She told us all about her and what she had plans for and we were able to talk a little about the church.  Another seed planted we hope.

When we went back on Friday to the SG office, we handed them the paper from the CG office and he went back into a room and then came out and told us not to come back for three weeks.  This is getting ridiculous.  Since transfers are Sunday night we are really hoping that Elder Stumpf doesn't get transferred.  He needs to stay here with us to see this through.

Friday night the Elder's had set up a "Movie Night" at the chapel and had been passing out little notices all week long.  They were going to show "The Restoration" (it's the only movie that have in Polish).  We popped some popcorn and waited for people to show up.  Only two people came, but the one lady, Lucynda, was really interested and asked the Sisters to teach her more.  Which they have done and committed her to baptism in July.  One by one they are coming. 

Saturday was very hot!  I can't remember what the temperature was, but I decided to open the window in the bedroom.  Boy was that a mistake.  There are no screens on any of the windows and when I got up in the morning, I had 17 mosquito bites all over my legs and arms and they were big and red.  Wayne had a few, but not like me.  I guess we learned a lesson.  Our air conditioning consists of two fans, so I guess its going to be a long summer.

Sunday was really neat.  We went with the Sisters to one of the branch members home.  She was baptized last year and has an awesome testimony.  The Sisters are teaching her the Temple Prep classes, so that she can receive her endowments. Our District has a temple trip planned in August to Germany.  And we all want her to go.  Anyway, when we went over there, she had read the pamphlet and was really concerned about the covenants she would be making and wanted to know more about what they were and what she was getting herself into.  All of us bore our testimony to her about the temple and that the promises we make with Heavenly Father are just there to help us become a better people.  It was a very special time and we know that she felt the spirit of the endowment and how it will help her. 

Monday we woke up to a cloudy day.  Since it was transfers Sunday night, we had apartment checks again.  We went to the sister's apartment first.  Sis. Bedzjian was getting everything packed and Sis. Blake, who has only been out for 8 weeks told us that she was getting one of the "Greenies" from the MTC and that she would be a trainer.  She was really excited.  We also learned that Elders Stumpf and Smith were staying in Wroclaw for the next 9 weeks also.  While we were there, Elder Stumpf called and asked all of us if we wanted to go out to lunch.  He had received a call from a Bro. Earl and he was going to take us all to lunch.  We all wondered who this Bro. Earl was but decided to go out to lunch with him.  The sisters remembered they had another appointment, so they didn't go.  It was a very enjoyable lunch.  Bro. Earl is from Las Vegas.  He had his granddaughter and a family from his ward with him.  There was a young man with them and came to find out that he had served in Poland 5 years ago.  Bro. Earl just wanted to do something nice for all of the missionaries.  And he spoke German.  So Elder Stumpf and he had a very enjoyable time.  We went to inspect the Elder's apartment after lunch.  They must have used two cans of bleach on the tub, because you could see yourself in the bottom.  It was awesome and they gave each other a "high-five" after I told them that.

Monday night it started raining and rained all day Tuesday and Wednesday.  It didn't get above 58 degrees.  It was down right cold.  We had to put a blanker back on the bed. 
When we walked over to the church on Wednesday for English class there was a great big sink hole in the park by "Tight buns".  They had it all roped off, but it looks like part of the sidewalk will be dropping into it if it continues to rain. 

Monday night we also got a call from the APs at the mission office.  They asked us to drive Sis. Bedzjian to Katowice to catch the train there and then pick up our new sister coming in from Warsaw.  So we will be leaving very early on Thursday morning to catch the train to Warsaw for Sis. Bedzjian and then have to wait a little while for the other train to come in. 

Wednesday night we had 5 people at our English Class.  For the game portion of our class we wrote down some idioms that we use in the US and asked them if they new what they meant.  It was fun to see them try and guess what they were.  Like - "you're barking up the wrong tree".  They couldn't understand why someone would bark at a tree.  Or "the cats out of the bag".  Why do we put cats in bags.  It is really fun to be here.

That's about it for this past week.  Here are some more gnomes.

This little guy is by the "Naked Swordsman"

 

 

Here's the tax collector

 

Have a good week.  We love you all.

 

20 June 2013

It's Thursday already.  Weeks go by fast.  And I know I wanted the rain to stop, but now it is hot and humid.  Never satisfied!!!!

Friday, three of the other Senior Couples came to our apartment and we did a little tour of Wroclaw.  We went to the top of St. Mary's church where you can see all of the city.  It was a little cloudy in the morning, but turned out to be a beautiful day.

 

From there we went over to the Japanese Gardens.   It was a nice ride on the tram and then a short walk.  We all had to walk on some rocks to get from one side of the garden to the other. 

 

 

This is a good view of the gardens, not so much of me and Wayne.

After that, all of them wanted to go to the Rynek.  I guess Wroclaw has one of the biggest and nicest town centers, because all of the couples were awed by what they saw.  We captured some more gnome pictures.

 

This one has the key to the city.

 

These two little gnomes are fixing an ATM machine.  It was located on the sidewalk right below an actual ATM machine.

 

I believe this is the one that people take pictures of the most.  These two fellows are both pushing and going nowhere.

 

They all came to our apartment for a late lunch and started leaving about 5:30 pm.  Elder and Sis. Sheley had to drive about 3 hours up to Posnan, Elder and Sis. Lloyd came over from Lodz, and they had a 3.5 hour drive, and Elder and Sis. Reed came from Katowice, which was only 1.5 hours.  They stayed a little longer because we had to plan what we were going to feed the missionaries at Zone Conference the following Wednesday.  It was a wonderful day.

 

We  didn't have anything planned for Saturday with the Elders or Sisters, so it was a catch up day for us.  Laundry, etc.  On Monday, Wayne and I decided to drive down to Rogoznica and visit an old concentration camp called Gros Rosen.  There weren't any remains of buildings except for the foundations.  They had a quarry close by where they would take the prisoners of the camp to chisel out the stones for the buildings.  Most men didn't last but four or five weeks.  They would work them from 6 to late in the night without hardly any food. 

 

These were the size of the blocks the men had to chisel from the quarry above.

 

This is the first crematorium they used.  It held 10 bodies and it took 24 hours to cremate them.  It wasn't very efficient.  They built a three room crematorium later.

 

These are the wash basins the prisoners were allowed to use.  They told us if there was an outbreak of lice or some other disease, they would allow them to use the wash house and scrub them down.

 

All of the wooden fencing and barb wire is original.

 

Monday Night for FHE, we went to one of the members house to give a little lesson and just talk.  The wife, Agnieska is a member but her husband Adam, who has been investigating the church for 20 years is not.  They have a 4 year old boy who is darling.  Anyway, we talked about eternal families and talked about our families and the gospel.  They both grew up under communism, so the conversation was very interesting.  They are a good family and we hope we can make a difference in Adam's life somehow.

 

Tuesday was grocery shopping, cooking, baking and chopping vegetables for a vegetable tray for Wednesday.   We got up early Wednesday to drive to Katowice.  We had to wait for the Piekarnia (bread store) opened to get the Kaiser rolls and then we were on our way.

 

This is the Katowice Zone.  This is President and Sister Nielsen last one.  They will be leaving on the 29th.

 

Good looking group of missionaries, don't you think?  These kids are just awesome!

 

Bye for now.  Love you and miss you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

13 June 2013

Last Thursday, the Mission Office called Elder Stumpf and told him that the government office had called them and told them that since Elder Weir had left the country he was not able to be our Power of Attorney anymore, so we would need to go to the government building AGAIN and assign Elder Stumpf that privilege.  How they figured that out so fast was a surprise.  So, off we went.  Filled out some more paperwork and paid another $34.00.  Also, we had to have our health insurance paperwork translated into Polish, which cost about $90.00.  this time it didn't take too long, but transfers are coming up and wee hope that Elder Stumpf doesn't get transferred.  We're afraid we'll  have to go back again. 

Wayne and decided to start writing our life histories when we have a little bit of time.  So I started writing mine on Friday.  And Wayne started about a week ago.  We both have been amazed what we have been able to recall of our childhood.  Maybe not so much how old we were when things happened, but names and places came fairly easily.  We're hoping to be up to current times when we come home.

Friday we went over to clean the chapel and to fix the little nursery table.  Also, we cleaned out one of the closets and found a whole bunch of clothes - pants, shirts and underwear.  It looks like some of the missionaries may have left them.  The things we have found over there is amazing.  Like I said before, they don't throw anything away. 

On the way, home we thought we would look for some gnomes.  Here is the picture of the "Daddy" gnome.

Here's one sitting on a park bench!!!!

 

Here's one that was in front of a bank working the ATM machine.

 

I've got more, but will put them on another time.  They are cute, though.

 

Next week on the 19th, we will be going down to Katowice for Zone Conference and Sis. Reed and I will be planning the luncheon for all of the missionaries.  So we decided to have sloppy joes.  Friday night I made some so that I would make sure they tasted okay.  The way they grind their meet makes it look likes worms after you fry it.  So here is our "Sloppy Joes"

 

On Saturday after the children's English class, we walked over to the Renik.  A TV station was interviewing the people from the Opera.  I can't remember what opera they would be preforming that night, but here are some of the cast in their costumes.  They were awesome.

 

We also ran into a man you had a marionette that was dancing and playing it's guitar to a Michael Jackson song.  You can see the donation cup in front.  But he was very talented. 

 

We also went over to the University of Wroclaw.  It was founded by the Jesuits in 1670.  During WWII it was used as a Nazi headquarters.  At the end of the war, the Germans were kicked out and the Poles once again took control.  Since its start, the university has had 9 Nobel Prize winners and has about 40,000 students right now.

 

 And this statue is parts of the grounds of the university.  He's called the naked swordsman.  Anyway, legend has it that this fellow was an extravagant gambler and that he lost all but his sword in drunken card games.  They put it on the university, serving as an example to the students. 

 

Okay, I had to add this little guy, I think he's my favorite.  See his little "Wave" he's giving?

 

I have to tell you about this important statue.  When we first arrived in Wroclaw and were trying to find our way around, Sister Ence told us to turn right past "tight buns" to get to the church.  She said we would know what she means when we get there.  Sure enough, we knew the minute we got to this corner that this is where we should turn.  This is Hercules taming a lion. And I hope you can see why they nick-named it tight-buns!  So now whenever the missionaries give instructions of where to meet us or what tram stop to get off of, they always say tight-buns and we know right where to go.  It's a good reference point. 

 

 

Sunday night, we had a terrible thunder storm.  Wayne and I usually play Scrabble before we go to bed on Sunday.  Anyway, the lights went out for about an hour in our complex.  I don't know why I brought candles from home, but I did.  We lit a couple of those and kept playing. 

 

Once again for P-Day it was raining in the morning, but cleared up right after lunch.  We did venture out in the afternoon and walked up through the Renik and our to see if we could find the only church in Poland that faces north and south.  All of the other churches are built facing east and west.  So we saw a lot of people going into the building below. 

 

 

We wanted to see what was in it, so in we went and here's what we saw -

It's a huge Farmer's market.  We bought some raspberries and peaches.  Both of which were excellent.  We love the fruit here.  We also decided to buy lunch/dinner there.  Remember a little while ago, I had talked about the little dumplings that they make here, that are so good.  Well, that's what we ordered.  They are called "Pierogi" and here's what they look like:

 

 

By the way we did find the church.  It's St. Anthony's Church.

 

 

I know it seems like all we do is sight-see, but that's not true.  We went on a teaching assignment with the Sisters on Monday and then we had a real good discussion with a wonderful lady on Tuesday with the Elders.  We have been going around trying to find the less actives and try to get them to come back to church.  This lady was the mother of one of these less actives.  Came to find out that he is in England and still going to church.  But she let us teach her and it was a very spiritual night.

 

Wednesday night was our English class and afterwords I went with the sisters and met with a wonderful lady named Victoria.  She is like most of the people here in Poland.  They think that they don't need to go to church to be a good person and that God will not let them die without forgiving them for their mistakes.  It's very humbling to try and teach them the gospel.

 

Well, we have to go meet with the sisters again.  Goodbye for now.

 

Love you and miss you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 June 2013

Not a lot going on this past week.  It has been raining everyday and below 50 degrees.  Wayne and I have been reading a book by James A. Michener called Poland.  It has been really intereesting to read about the history of this country.  Anyway, in the book, he talked about a  family by the name of Ossolinski and their many castles.  They lived here at the time the Suedes overran the country and lost many of their holdings and treasures to Sweden.  Anyway, we got looking in our Wroclaw information book and there happened to be a museum called the Ossolineum.  So we set out to find it and it is a Baroque palace complex right on the Odra river.  Of course it was closed.  We will have to go back, but here is the picture of the outside.

 

Every Tuesday we have District Meeting at 11:30 am.  During that meeting the DL gives us instruction from Preach My Gospel and we each have a few minutes to tell something that we learned from our scripture study.  Before we close the meeting we all get a chance to role play contacting people.  For most of the weeks we have been here, Wayne and I have been asked to talk about the gospel to someone that is sitting on a park bench.  Usually one of the elders or sisters will be the person sitting on the park bench.  This Tuesday, the DL had us role play that we were in someone's home discussing and bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  We kind of commented on the fact that we didn't get to teach on a park bench.  Everyone laughed.    This past Sunday, Wayne and I went out with the sisters to visit some people.  All of the places we went to, the people weren't home or didn't answer their door.  But on the way back, we had to walk through a park and guess who we started talking to,  a couple sitting on a park bench.  I guess all of that practicing paid off.  

 

I thought I'd take a picture of the kids in the nursery.  They are eating their treat right now.  These two little kids are quite the handful. 

 

They actually broke the little table they are sitting at this past Sunday, so Wayne will have to try and fix it.  The little boy is Kuba, and the little girl is Mila.  Sorry the picture is fuzzy, but I can't stop my hand from shaking.

 

On Monday, it was very cold, so besides just doing some shopping Wayne and I stayed in the house.  But the Elders and Sisters went cruising the city together.  I told you last week about the little gnomes that are all around the city.  Here the sisters are reading with one of them. 

 

We had 5 people at our English class last night.  It was awesome.  We have them read an Ensign article and then talk about it as we read.  We're hoping that something will put a spark in their lives and they will ask us more about the gospel. 

 

Because of the rain this past week, they have had to sandbag parts of the Odra River here in Wroclaw.  Also, we understand there was flooding in Germany and the Czech.  I think this is very unusual for June, but hopefully it will change quickly.  We want some sun!

 

 

 

That's it for this week.  We love you all and miss you.