26 Sep 2013

This past week has been cold and rainy.  I guess winter is on it's way.  And we are not looking forward to that!

Last Thursday was Sister Blake's 21st birthday.   We had all of them over for dinner to celebrate.  Sis. Blake loves beef stew so that's what we had for dinner and banana splits for desert.  Elder Smith gave her a Rubik's cube, which was all pink.  They really give her a bad time for being "blonde".

Everyone helps.

We had cupcakes also.

She couldn't quite blow out the candle Elder Smith was holding

Here is the pink Rubik's Cube and a really old jar of pickles that the Elders gave to her also.

I threw the pickles away.  They were gross!

It was a fun hour and of course, we sang Slo Lot!

On Friday, Wayne and I took off for a city called Sobotka to look at a ski resort that we could possibly use for the YSA Conference next year.  It was beautiful up in the mountains, but there was only 1 lodge and it only had 25 rooms.  Not enough for what we need.  Here is a picture from the mountains looking down on Sobotka.

On Saturday, we had 4 kids show up for the English class and it really was a lot of fun.  The kids are so anxious to learn.  Also, President and Sister Edgren came to Wroclaw.  President Edgren spent the morning with the Elders at their apartment for companion study and then went out with them contacting.  Then at 4:00 pm, he met the Sisters at the chapel where they had a meeting scheduled with an investigator.  Her name is Marta and she is awesome.  I hope that she will accept their challenge to be baptized.   We went over to the chapel at 5:00 pm to meet with all of them and go out to dinner.  We learned then that Marta had not come (very disappointing).  We took the Edgrens and the sisters over to the pasta restaurant and had a very enjoyable time.  President Edgren talked about his trip to Paris last week, where he met with 6 other mission presidents and Elders Oaks and Ballard.  They met in the room where the Treaty of Versailles was signed.  Elder Ballard was there also to organize another stake in Paris.  It is very disheartening to see stakes being organized all around Poland.  Especially when in President Kimball's dedicatory prayer opening up Poland, he said that chapels would dot this land.  That was 20 years ago and there has only been one chapel built in Poland.  We know that the missionaries are working hard.  And we know that the gospel will take hold eventually. We kind of wish it would happen while we are here.

After dinner, we had tickets to see an extravaganza of ballet performances at the Opera House.  Sister Blake had bought tickets for us and Pres. Edgren.  The opera house is awesome and the dancing was okay.  At least Wayne and I can say we have seen ballet.  Here are a couple of pictures taken in the building.

On Monday night for FHE, we talked about happiness.  And we all made a commitment to work on an attribute that we struggle with, and hopefully, our lives will be happier when we overcome that struggle.  We had them make braided bracelets to wear so that they would remember what attribute they are working on when they look at the bracelet on their wrist.  We will see how the experiment went in 30 days.  We had 12 people there for FHE and all of them joined in and made the bracelets.  We had to show of couple of the guys how to braid, but they joined right in.  Sis. Malinowska made some szarlotkas (apple fritters) and they were very good.

Tuesday we had District meeting and talked about prayer and how we can help the investigators pray and know when they have received an answer.  Most of these people have never said anything but a "rote" prayer.  After the meeting, Wayne and the elders went and bought lunch for President Cielenski and had a meeting with him.  I came home and worked on what we would be teaching for English class and worked some more on my life history.  

On Wednesday we had to go shopping for some things, especially milk.  And since the milk can be stored on the shelf for a long time we decided to buy to cases of it.  There are 12 cartons in a case.  When we got home, we realized that the cashier had only charged us for one case.  So this was an interesting development.  We didn't know how to explain what happened to people who don't speak English and my first thought was that when we did try to explain, they might think we stole it and put Wayne in jail.  So I chickened out and just let Wayne go back to the store.  (ha, ha)  There's a customer counter right at the entrance to the store and that's where he went.  Of course, no one spoke English so they called someone on the phone.  A very nice gentleman came up and Wayne explained to him what happened and he was astounded that Wayne had come back and wanted to pay for the milk.  He then told the other ladies that were at the counter and they looked shocked too.  The gentleman looked at Wayne's missionary tag and asked where he was from.  Wayne told him that he was from the US and that he was a missionary for the church.  Another little seed.

So we have been wanting to take this picture for a little while.  We don't know what this sculpture is for but to us, it is the train that goes nowhere.

Also, we pass this building every time we go to church.  We don't know how this is accomplished.  It really boggles our minds.  One day this building was just the building and the next day, they had this advertisement up across the front of it.  It is like some see through material, because you can still see the windows of the building through it and I would think that the people inside can see through it.  The thing that is boggling is that it is in one piece.  The building is about 250 ft long.  We can't figure out first of all, how they make the advertisement, and second of all, how they put it up.

Well, that's all for this week.  Except for one more gnome that we saw on Saturday.  We think this is a war veteran,  because he was in front of a building for the Polish Vets.  Have a good week.

We love you and miss you all.

19 Sep 2013

First of all - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU - JILL   We hope you have a marvelous day today!

Last Thursday night, we met with the Elders and an investigator by the name of Jacoub.  He has been going on-line to LDS.org and reading all that he can.  We were talking about prayer during the meeting.  It is hard to tell you about the feeling that was in that room.  I thought my heart was going to burst.  And to make it all worth it, Jacoub felt it too.  These are the moments that we will remember for a life time.  And the Elders were on "Cloud Nine".  We are all hoping that he will be baptized.

We went over Friday to clean the chapel and again fix a couple of things.  Good thing Wayne knows how to do a lot of the things when it comes to "fixin' up".  We had dinner with the Elders at this small pizza place.  Very good pizza.

Wayne and I started reading "Jesus the Christ" at the beginning of May.  We finally finished it on Saturday. What a wonderful book.  I had never read it before because I always heard that it was hard to understand.  There were some times when we didn't know what a word meant, but the message that Jesus is our Savior and the one we should strive to become like was very clear.  We also finished reading the Book of Mormon at the end of August and started over again the first day of September.

We went over on Saturday for the Children's English class and of course, no one showed up.  Wayne and I went over to the Renik afterwards to see if we couldn't buy him a winter coat.  We did find one at a place called "Reserved".  As we were walking back home, they had a Swedish Festival going on.  Here is one of the wagons they had. 

Saturday night, we had the elders and sisters over for dinner.  I cooked some pork chops, mashed potatoes and cauliflower.  I cooked 18 pork chops, all but 3 were eaten. 

After they left, I had to prepare a talk for Sunday.  My talk only had to be about 7 mins. because I have to give the same amount of time for the translation.  Also on Sunday, we had an Obiad (luncheon) after church.  Sis. Kuchno made a delicious soup that you put over rice.  Wayne, in the mean time was getting audited.  President Zan went in with him too, because he did it before we came.  So the auditor and Pres. Zan started saying everything in Polish and since Wayne couldn't understand, it was very frustrating.  He's hoping Pres. Zan will let him know what problems there were and what needs to be corrected. 

Our FHE went well on Monday.   We had a lesson on Hope and then played "Pictionary".  It was hard to explain, but once they caught on, it was fun.  One of the words was - caboose.  They didn't even know what that was.  They don't have cabooses on their trains.  Elder Jaeger left for Katowice after.  He was part of an exchange.  So Tuesday for District meeting we had one of our Zone Leaders here with us.  As part of the meeting, they do language training and usually Wayne and I just sit there, dumbfounded!!!!! 

Last night, we had a very good English Class.  We decided to pick some of the articles from the Ensign under the "Mormon Journal" part.  Most of them are simple to read, but usually have a strong message and they are written by members of the church.  So we would read a paragraph or two and then ask the class if there was anything they didn't understand.  We had some good discussions.

So we finally took our camera with us when we went running.  Here is a picture of the beginning of the trail we go on.  And the trail really goes on forever.  The trails go through a lot of wooded areas.  Also, there are squirrels all over because most of the trees are oak and walnut.  In fact, there are a lot of people that come over and pick the walnut trees.  The squirrels are red.  They are fun to watch.  We tried to get some pictures so you could see how red they were.  But it didn't turn out so good.

 

 

 

 

Bye for now.  We love you all and miss you.

12 Sep 2013

Cześć from Poland.  We had an exciting night last Thursday.  Our new missionaries arrived and we decided to meet them at the train station.  They left Warsaw at about 9:30 am and got into Wroclaw at 5:15 pm.  They all looked a little tired.  Here is our new missionaries:

Sister Blake, Sister Poklinskowska, Elder Smith and Elder Jaeger.  Sister Poklinkowska and Elder Jaeger are both from the state of Washington.  They are the cream of the crop. 

We had them over for dinner that night because we knew they wouldn't have anything in their apartment.  We had some chicken noodle soup (homemade) and toasted cheese sandwiches.  It's been getting kind of cold outside.  We leave the one door open to our little deck and it is 63 degrees in the apartment when we wake up.

 

Friday we stayed home most of the day and cleaned the apartment and did laundry.  Saturday the sisters took the train out to Legnica to visit with the Call family and do some contacting.  Since they were gone, the elders and Wayne and I went over to the chapel to do the children's English class.  No one showed up.  It's kind of sad, because the church has a wonderfully outlined 9 week course which teaches some very basic words.  Hopefully, now that school has started, we will get some kids to come.

 

Sunday was very cold and windy.  I taught the Young Women and we talked about virtue.  It was a very good class and all of them participated.  They had a lot of questions.  Next week, the three of them decided they would teach the class.  I tried to take their picture, but Jsonga didn't want to.  I will try again this coming Sunday.

 

Monday, Elder Durrant and I planned our very first FHE.  We are holding it for the singles in our branch and any investigators the missionaries want to bring.  Our lesson was on "faith", we played a game called 4 corners and then I brought some Rice Krispy treats, some cupcakes and drinks.  Everyone had a good time and we hope to continue it for a long time.  Here is our first FHE:

Me, Brat Kotlinski (member), Sis. Malinowska (member), Sis. Poklinskowska, Sis. Blake, Lucyna (investigator), Elder Jaeger and Elder Smith.  There was another investigator there by the name of Yarek, but he had already left.

 

Tuesday the elders and sisters were back on a train to Katowice for Zone Training.  We went over to the chapel to discuss some things with President Cielinski and Wayne needed to put things together for his first Financial Audit which will be done on Sunday. 

 

Wednesday night we had our English class.  We had some students move up to our advance class from the intermediate class.  After we read the story and went over some vocabulary words, one of the new girls said that it was very hard for her to understand.  So we are going to have to choose some simpler stories from the Liahona and discuss what is being read all the way through.  We were missing two people.  But here is a picture of our class:

Monika, Michal, Magda, Mikel, Katja.  We are missing Uliana and Inna.  Hopefully, they will be back next week. 

 

We stopped at a pizza place to buy dinner.  I sick of cooking all the time.  It was very good.  The only thing is they like to put corn on their pizzas.  It's not bad, it just doesn't look like a pizza should.

 

Okay, another gnome.  We couldn't figure out what this one was doing.  He is on a planter that is between two restaurants.  It may be a bottle of booze in his one hand, because that's what everyone does here.  

Well, another week has gone by.  It's amazing to us how fast they go.  We also learned some sad news from our daughter Teri.  Her two boys participate in school football, wrestling and track.  They had their first football game on Friday.  The coach was trying to get one of the boys to go in on the line and he wasn't paying attention, so he grabbed Cassius and told him to go in for him.  On the play, one of the other team members stepped on Cassius' foot as he was tackling another player.  He had to hop off the field.  They took him to the emergency room and they were told that he probably broke his ankle.  Teri took him to an orthopedic surgeon on Monday.  His ankle isn't broken but the tendons were torn and the doctor told her if Cassius wants to continue in sports, they will have to operate and re-attach the tendons.  So Cassius will be out of all sports this year in school.  He is really bummed. I guess the thing that is most discouraging is that he wasn't suppose to be in on that play.  We know he will heal and next year will be a lot better for him.  Get well quick, Cassius.  We love you.

Miłego dnia.
Kochamy cię i tęsknię za tobą.

 

 

5 Sep 2013

It's Thursday and Elder Durrant and I have been without the Elders and Sisters for two days.  It makes it very lonely.  We didn't have English class on Wednesday either, because all the missionaries were gone.

Last Thursday we had a meeting schedule with an investigator and the elders.  But it was cancelled at the last minute also.  But the elders said they would come over and bring us some desert.  They showed up about 8:00 pm with the most delicious sweet roll desert.  I wish I could remember what it was called.  We heated them up and of course, put ice cream on top.  The elders go over to an old members apartment every week to help the lady that is very crippled.  Her son lives outside of Wroclaw and only comes on Sunday, so they kind of watch her during the week.  Her name is Danuta and she is a terrific lady.  Anyway she had her son purchase these from a bakery near her apartment and gave them to the elders. 

Friday, the city turned off our water (because there was a broken pipe) about 8:00 am and didn't turn it back on until 3:00 pm.  So Elder Durrant and I went over to the chapel to clean it and walked on the Renik for a while.  We also saw some new gnomes that we have missed.

 We can't tell what this one is doing.  It looks like it's riding on top of a camera.

Can't remember if I showed this one or not.  But these little guys are holding up a tank where people can put money in.  These are asking for donations to a hospital.

 

This little guy is coming down the pole.

 This little guy is showing off!

And this little guy had too much PIZZA.  And everyone rubs his tummy for good luck.

 

On Saturday and Sunday we didn't have any hot water.  That was fun.  On Saturday at noon we went over to the chapel for English class.  Once again, no kids showed up so we went out to lunch with the sisters.  They took us to a place where they served crepes.  Elder Durrant got a crepe with chicken and cheese and I got one with strawberries, raspberries and peaches with sweet cream. They were huge, so we each took half and had a wonderful meal.  Another 10 lbs added on.

 

Sunday after church I had the YW over for dinner and some games.  I just had sandwiches, fruit and chips, but everyone enjoyed.  By the time the evening was over, we had the whole Call family, the brother of one of the YW, the sisters and elders in our apartment.  It was crowded, but very fun. I had made 3 dozen sugar cookies and they were all gone within 30 mins.  By the way, we had 4 investigators and 1 inactive at church today and testimony meeting was awesome.  Hopefully, the spirit was felt by all of them.  This was also the Sunday of transfers and President Edgren had already called everyone to tell them what their new assignment was.  So here's what happened to our little flock:

 

Elder Stumpf:  headed to Warsaw as Zone Leader

Elder Smith:  our new District Leader and trainer of new missionary

Sister Blake:  staying here and will receive a new missionary to train

Sister Ellis:  will finish up her training in Bydgoszcz (first time in this city for sister missionaries)

 

All of them were excited at the news.  They will all be going to Warsaw on Tuesday to meet new companions.  This is hard to see these wonderful "kids" that we have grown to love leave us. But we also know that it will be a wonderful time for them to grow in the gospel and meet new people.

 

Monday we all decided that we would have our "last supper" together.  An we had to have "Frit Kabobs".  Elder Durrant and I had to do apartment checks during the day.  So we went to the sister's apartment first at about 11:30 am.  Sister Ellis was packing and throwing things away.  After we were done the sisters asked us to go to lunch with them.  So we ran down the street to this outside stand where they made these potato cakes like things.  (10 more lbs)  I'm going to have to learn how all of these foods are made so that I can make some things for everyone when we get home. 

 

Also, the Reeds (Senior Couple) will be leaving on Monday the 9th, so they had their 3 daughters here with them in Poland and they were travelling around the country for a week.  They came to Wroclaw on Monday and we went our with them for ice cream after our dinner with the sisters and elders.  (10 more lbs)  We so enjoy the Reeds.  They are a wonderful example to us and kept our spirits up when we were feeling down.  They will be missed here in Poland.

 

Here we are eating in the elder's apartment after we checked it.

 

And this is our very last picture together.

 

 

 So the elders left early Tuesday morning and took the train to Warsaw.  A 7 1/2 hour train ride.  The sisters didn't leave until 3 pm so we met them for lunch (again) and some more ice cream.  (20 more lbs) 

 

This is our lunch meal.  Elder Durrant, Sister Ellis and I had a pasta dish (huge) and Sister Blake got a steak sandwich.  There was a whole steak on that sandwich.  It was huge also. 

 

The sisters only went to Katowice to spend the night with the sister missionaries there and then went into Warsaw on Wednesday.  So it's been or will be two days without the young missionaries here and like I said, we miss them a lot.

 

We will meet them all at the train tonight at 5:00 pm.  And will get to meet the "newbies" also.  And we will have all of them over for dinner tonight.

 

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

 

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SON JAMES AND MY BROTHER ROBBIE ON THE 9TH.

HOPE  BOTH OF YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY.