HAPPY 10 TH BIRTHDAY KAMERON!!!!
This has been a wonderful week. Last Friday we were going to meet with the sisters and one of their investigators at 11:00 am. The sisters were going to meet her at the Opera House and then walk over to the chapel. Well, guess what, she didn't show up. But she did have a good excuse. While the sisters were waiting for her, they started talking to this 18 year old. She told them that she wanted something more in her life, but she wasn't willing to listen. As she was leaving them, she turned around and asked them if we (LDS) believed in angels. The sisters said yes and she asked for the BOM and told them she would meet with them the next day. And they did, and she wants to be baptized. The sisters have 3 baptisms set up for the 2nd of November. We are all crossing our fingers or enclosing our thumbs in our fists. (That's what they do here for good luck)
Sunday was interesting. We had all gone to class for the second hour when Wayne came into the nursery and said some people visiting Poland had come in late. He wanted me to meet them after nursery. So when I went out in the hall, he was standing with them. He introduced the first gentleman (can't remember his name) and then the second one as a Brother Durrant from Saratoga Springs. He is related to the American Fork Durrants, but his Great-great grandfather is the same John Durrant as in our family. It's weird to meet a relative in Poland!!!! Even if he isn't a close relative. We had the sisters and elders over for dinner also.
Monday morning we got up and packed some things and left for Torun for a Senior Missionary Conference. It was wonderful. This is the way the fields outside of Wroclaw look every day. I'm sure it's because of the humidity. Once the sun warms the air up, it starts to clear. But it really looks cool as you drive through the mist.
We drove for 3 hours to Poznan where Elder and Sister Sheley are serving and then drove with them for another 3 hours to Torun. Torun is famous for its gingerbread and it is the birth place of Copernicus who was a Polish astronomer and mathematician. He is the one that found that the earth and the other planets actually revolved around the sun.
Anyway, here is a picture of the hotel we stayed in and our room. We were right in the middle of the old ruins of a Teutonic Knights castle. These Knights were one of the many groups of countries/people that ruled over Poland.
So here is the entrance gate of the old castle. This is how you drove into the hotel. And another picture of part of the ruins. The Vistula River runs right through the town. So here is another picture looking down on the river from just down the street of our hotel. We really didn't have any time to sight see, but maybe we will go back. It certainly was a quiet and peaceful little town.
We had dinner in the restaurant. It was fabulous. Here is everyone getting seated. And a picture of Wayne's salad. They presented the food very well.
So on to the purpose of the conference. First of all, a new senior couple arrived on Friday and they were introduced to us. Their last name is Gay and they are from the city of Joseph. They said they had 13 kids and I can't remember how many grandchildren, but they also told us that there were about 350 people in the city of Joseph and we all laughed when President Edgren said that it sounded like the Gay family made up the whole population of the city.
Sorry, I took this picture. I still shake a little. (ha,ha)
Secondly, President Edgren wanted to talk to us about our roles of leadership in the branches and how we are there to teach and train the members of the branch so when we leave they can continue to function properly. That is easy when there is enough priesthood in the branch, but most of them only have two or three priesthood leaders. Two of the Senior Elders and two Elders are Branch Presidents here in Poland. There were tears shed as stories were told of trials and triumphs. It is very easy to want to come in here and take over, but that isn't our purpose. Wayne and I have a lot of growing to do in that area. It was an awesome two days and hated to see it come to an end. It was good to be with others our own age and learn from them.
Here we all are in front of the hotel.
We left right after the meeting and got home about 7:00 pm. On our way home we stopped for a little while to see a place called Wielkopolski. It is a village made to look like a pilgrim (colonial) settlement. Something like Jamestown in America. Anyway, Wayne and I had to have our pictures taken next to the wooden pilgrims.
Also on the route home we say a lot of windmills. You would have thought we were in Holland. We just took a picture of one of them.
Our English class on Wednesday was awesome again. One of the girls brought her fiance so that he could listen to our testimonies and read a little about the church.
We tried to get a picture of where we run, but it turns out too dark. The leaves and falling and we are walking/running on a thick bed of colorful leaves. The acorns are falling off the trees and we can hear them hit the ground all around us. We haven't been hit on the head by one yet.
Well, that's it for this week. Wayne and I will be driving up to Warsaw this weekend to meet with two of our YSA committee. We think we have found the hotel, so we need to get our theme and get the website up and running for 2014 YSAC.
We love you and miss you all. Have a good week!
No comments:
Post a Comment