10 Oct 2013

We have had a wonderful week with conference and spending time with some investigators.  Last Friday, Wayne and I went over to clean the chapel and get ready for conference.  Those who live in town and don't have any family came over on Saturday to listen to the "live" session of Saturday morning.  We had ordered some Pizza for those who came.  We had 5 investigators there.  We had some excitement also.  Wayne and I had taken our computer over so that we could watch conference in English.  So we were in the Primary room and everyone else was in the chapel.  When the choir and congregation started singing the rest hymn, one of the investigators came and got more pizza and decided to heat it up in the microwave.  Well, he put it in for 5 mins and left the room. Needless to say, it was burnt to a crisp!  All of a sudden the smoke alarms were going off and the main fire alarm in the building went off also.  There was smoke everywhere and it smelled horribly.  The guard from downstairs came running up and he was yelling at us.  Luckily, the Fire Dept. didn't come.  The branch would have had to pay for them coming out to a "false alarm".  After everyone left, we took the microwave and stuck it out on one of the window ledges.  We had all the windows open and the fans going.  At least the Elders, Sisters and Wayne and I got a kick out of it.  When we came back on Sunday, it didn't smell too bad.  Everyone came at noon on Sunday.  We played the Saturday afternoon session, the Priesthood session for the men and the General Relief Society meeting for the sisters and then we got the Sunday morning session "live" again at 6:00 pm.  It made for a pretty long day.

Here we are enjoying our pizza!

On Monday for P-day, the sisters came over and we all watched the Sunday afternoon session.  The sisters also watched some of the previous talks in English.  We served them bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches along with a chicken macaroni salad.  By the time we were done with that, we all had to run over to the chapel for FHE.  We knew we were going to have 2-3 investigators at FHE and some of them attended conference with us, so Wayne and I decided we would talk about the Holy Ghost and how you can recognize him in your life.  There was an awesome feeling in the room Monday night.  Sis. Malinowska bore her testimony of her conversion story and she was crying and so was I.  Here is Sis. Malinowska (center) and our 2 investigators,  Albieta on the left and Krystyna on the right.  On Wednesday at English class, the sisters told us that both of them have accepted to be baptized.  The three of them are all alike.  Short and full of energy.  It will be good for Sis. Malinowska to have some close friends.  She is the oldest one in the branch and she doesn't have any family close by.

After our lesson, we played "Spoons".  I don't think the Polish people play any games, except for soccer.  Anyway, the elders explained the game to them and Albieta really struggled to keep up, but everyone had a good time.  Elder Yaeger won the game.  We had ice cream and cookies afterwards.

On Tuesday, the elders and sisters went to Katowice for Zone training, so Wayne and I took lunch over to President Cielenski at the chapel.  He never tasted Buttermilk syrup, so I made some and some pancakes for lunch.  He really enjoyed it.  He wasn't feeling very well, so we didn't stay with him very long.  He had TB six months before we came and so every time he gets a cold, it goes right to his chest.

So on Wednesday at our English class, we had a very special night.  We had found a story in an early Ensign about a 17 year old Ukrainian girl who was caught up in the war between Russia and Germany.  She had to travel about 500 miles to find her family.  It was a very touching story and filled with her testimony of the power of prayer and guidance from the Holy Ghost.  After we had the class read the story, they all wanted to just talk about it.  So we had the golden opportunity to testify to them of the gospel and what it means in our lives.  For the third time this week, we felt the spirit very strong in meetings that were attended by non-members.  We love it here in Poland.  We love it when we get the chance to bear our testimonies and the people can understand our English.    

Here are a few pictures that we took Friday on the Renik.  This person stood in this position forever.  I don't know how he did it.  But this is the way some of them make money.  People would watch for a while and then go up and throw some change in his cup.  

You would think as many times as we have been over to the Renik that we had seen all of the gnomes.  Wrong!  Here are a couple we missed.  I think these two are robbing the store.  Or they are hoisting something up to deliver.

And this guy captured a pigeon and is ready to take off.  They are millions of pigeons on the Renik.

The leaves are starting to change.  Here is the view right outside our window.  The tree is a lot prettier than the picture.

Well, that's all for this week.  Once again, Happy Birthday Desiree.  

We love you all and miss you.