27 Feb 2014

On Friday, the AP's let me see the transfer sheet so I could do the transfer scenario on the computer.  This is the program the church has set up so that the missionary department can see where everyone is.  It is really awesome.  We are getting a new AP in the office.  His name is Elder Lanham.  He is an excellent missionary and has a really deep voice.  It's fun to listen to him.  I also get to write letters to the Stake Presidents, Bishops and parents of the Elders and Sisters who have been made Zone Leaders, District Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders.  The church has that all set up also, so that all I have to do is change the name and date.

It was a busy day on Friday.  We left the office about 18:30 pm.  Came home and collapsed.  Just for a little while and then we went grocery shopping.  Friday night is not so crowded at the stores, but also run out of produce and meat by that time.  So I decided to have Sloppy Joes for FHE and we are going to celebrate Elders Vernon and Baranowski's birthdays in the office on Monday and they both wanted Barbecue Pork sandwiches and cookies.   So instead of my day of rest on Sunday, it is always a day of cooking and baking.  But Saturday night, we walked down to the grocery store that is close to our apartment to buy some rolls for the sloppy joes and pork.  And here is a picture of that store.

We always say to each other -  "Let's go and see Alma"  It's kind of funny that there would  be a store here in Poland with a name like that.

We did get to go shopping on Saturday and buy some birthday presents for the multiple birthdays we have in March and April.  We took some pictures with Wayne's cell phone (because I forgot the camera) but we don't know how to get them off the phone and on to our computer.  So we may never be able to show them. 

So on this transfer, Sister Pearson will be leaving Warszawa and going to Bydgoszcz.  She was made the Sister Trainer Leader also.  She has a very bright and cheerful disposition.  We will miss her a lot.  Here she is with me and Sister Stratton.

Sister Pearson has the boots on.  

On the way home from church we passed a huge park and decided to park and walk for a little while.  We came upon a part of the park that is a Russian cemetery (we think).  Anyway, there were policemen there patrolling the park and protecting it, we guessed.  After the things that Russia did to this country, we find it difficult to believe that they would build a memorial, but here it is.

I wish we could tell you what this is all about, but we can't read Russian.

It is a beautiful memorial.  As you pass this first part, you come upon a couple of more statues of soldiers and then this obelisk.  There were flowers on the front from many different countries.

Poland has many huge and beautiful parks.  And people are in them constantly.  We are going to try and go to Chopin's park next weekend.

Monday we celebrated the birthdays and then the AP's had to go and pick up Elder Zelezniak from the train station.  He flew out of here Tuesday morning to go to England and have them stamp his passport so he could stay in Poland for another 2 months.  His residency card will expire prior to that time.  He is from Australia.  When he flies home, he will leave Poland at 20:55 pm on Saturday the 12th of April and will arrive in Australia at 5:55 am on Saturday the 12th of April.  Weird.  He will be able to live Saturday all over.

Our FHE was wonderful.  We talked about the Plan of Salvation.  We took the pamphlets that the missionaries use and let them read it in Polish while we followed along in English.  We talked about the Lord's judgement and how it will affect each of us, if we don't repent and follow His commandments.  

On Wednesday the APs, Elders Vernon and Lanham came in so that Elder Lanham could watch the safety video on driving that the church puts out and each Elder that gets to drive has to watch.  So here are the two of them watching.  It's a very interesting video!!!!

We found out on Monday that our daughter-in-law, Michelle went to high school with Elder Lanham.  So Michelle, here's a picture of him.  

Wednesday, we learned that Jeremy and Heather's little dog, Jazzy, got bit by another dog 

and had to be put down.  Megan and Garrison took it very hard.  Pets really become part of the family and it's hard to see them die.  We hope everything will be alright soon for them.

We had a new Sister come to Warszawa to take Sister Pearson's place.  Her name is Sister Hemming.  I forgot to get her picture, but will take it on Sunday.  

Gary and Robbie - I hope you are enjoying Hawaii.  Bring home some sand for us.

We love you all and miss you.

20 Feb 2014

It has been a beautiful and exciting week here in Poland.  No snow, a little rain and up in the 40's all week. It's like spring.
We have had another full and like I said exciting week.  We are getting ready to do a "mini" transfer this weekend (I think that means that not a lot of the missionaries will be moved).  I have to put all of the missionaries that have been transferred into the church's system so that they know where everyone is and then President Edgren has a missionary roster that he keeps, which I have to change also.  The office elders have to make all of the train arrangements and coordinate each new companionship so no one is by themselves.  And then to top it off, one of the elders' Polish residency card will expire 10 days before he goes home, so instead of paying the 340 zl (110 dollars) and waiting for the decision from the government to extend his residency card, we have decided to fly him to England for a day so that he can get his passport stamped and he can stay in Poland for another 90 days.  That takes place next Tuesday.  So I have been working with the travel department in Germany to get a flight.  I think that today (Wednesday), we got a document from a District Court about owing lots of money for the land that the Warszawa chapel sits on.  I tried to google translate, but it didn't help very much.  And Monday after FHE, I was on the phone with our son Jeremy until midnight, trying to do our taxes.  This is fun!

So this past weekend, the head of the CES program in Europe had a Mission program for the kids of Poland who are old enough to go on a mission and are preparing for that.  They held most of the meetings in the Mission office.  I helped Sis. Edgren with food on Friday.  I prepared a tossed salad and brought some bread.  There were 18 young single adults there, plus the 2 institute teachers.  I used 3 huge heads of lettuce plus green peppers, yellow peppers, red peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, salami, tomatoes, carrots, and a little bit of cheese.  Wayne and I didn't stay for dinner, but Sister Edgren told me that all of the salad was gone.  On Saturday, they had classes all day about missionary work and did some role plays also.  We stopped by when they broke for lunch.  Here are a few pictures of the next Polish church leadership.

This is my favorite young woman from Wroclaw.  Cindy Call.  She is a very talented young woman.  

Here is Wojech, Daniel and Brat Turek (CES)  Daniel was baptized last year and he is only 17 yrs old.  But is very strong in the gospel.

Here is Brat Kerr (CES).  He is from Scotland, his wife is from Ireland and they live in England.  Loved it when he would talk.  Beautiful accent.

So starting from the left is Wojech, Michal (white shirt), Oscar (standing in front), Patrycia (purple blouse and gray skirt), Kasia is standing next to her, then Cindy again, Tsonga has her back to the camera and the red head is Alex.  She went on a mission to Moldova and was helping teach the lessons.  

That's all the pictures we took.  We didn't get everyone, but they all seemed to be enjoying everything.  On Sunday, we had to open the office for them so we stayed for church there.  Beautiful testimonies were born.  It was a wonderful weekend.  

A couple of the kids got to go and be with some of the missionaries and be on a "mission" with them.  Wojech went to Bialystok.  And he had an experience he will never forget.  The two elders assigned in Bialystok, Elders Skolmoski and Garfield took Wojech contacting with them.  They were at an apartment complex when a drunk came up to them and told them to get lost.  (Not in those kind of words)  So the three of them left but the drunk followed them.  Elder Garfield told him that they were leaving and he didn't have to follow them to make sure.  That's when the fun started.  He ran up to Elder Skolmoski and started yelling and then head-butted him right in the face.  It knocked him down and Wojech tried to grab him, but the drunk hit him in the face with his fist.  I don't think he tried to confront Elder Garfield, because he's big.  The drunk ran away and Elder Garfield called the police.  So Elder Skolmoski is bleeding all over the place (he broke his nose) and Wojech just didn't know what to think.  But Elder Skolmoski (I think) is very proud of his broken nose.  It's something to tell his children and grandchildren about.  

And one of the Sisters called and said that she lost her wallet (she thinks that she was pick-pocketed).  So all of her cards are gone.  The church card that she gets funds on each month, her personal credit card, her residency card and the money she had in her wallet.  So we had to email her dad - tell him to stop her credit card, email SLC and tell them a card was stolen.  (They will send her another one)   And Wayne put a few extra zlotys on her companion's card so she would have some money until the beginning of next month.  

Oh I forgot, one of the Sisters on Monday was exercising by doing pull ups on a bar they have in their apartment, when it fell from the door frame.  She landed flat on her back and hit her head hard.  On Tuesday, she called Sis. Edgren and told her she had a very bad headache.  So the Senior couple in Gdansk took her to the emergency room.  She had a concussion which could have been very dangerous through the night. 

English class was fun tonight.  We read an article on Integrity from the February 2013 Ensign.  It was very good and we had a long discussion on what integrity means to them.  

So that was our week.  A little bit of everything

Love you all and miss you.

Happy Birthday Gary!

Enjoy Hawaii

13 Feb 2014

We have been so busy this week, we didn't get to play and we forgot to take pictures.  So this is going to be short and sweet.

Thursday was the Leader Training meeting in the office.  All the Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders come into Warsaw from all over.  The farthest Elders and Sister came from Gdansk.  It was a 6 hour train ride, then the meeting and then home again on the train.  A very long day for them.  Plus, they had to carry back boxes of Books of Mormon and all the mail for Gdansk, Szczecin and Bdygoscz.  Everyone wanted Subway sandwiches that day.  We placed an order for 17 sandwiches and they had them already when Wayne and the office elders went to pick them up at 13:30.  It sure is fun to have all of them in the office.  Everyone hugs each other because they haven't seen them for a long time and you can just feel the excitement.

This week, we learned that President Uchtdorf will be visiting Poland in June.  So we have the task of putting some things together, such as, the hotel, place where we can meet (big enough to hold all of the saints in Poland and I would think that some from the surrounding countries would come also.  Especially the Czech Republic, because he was born there), lodging arrangements for those coming from far away.  It's going to be a busy summer, especially with YSA Conference also.

Saturday was our work day at the apartment.  Clean, laundry, shopping, etc.  It's usually the only day I don't wear a skirt and Wayne doesn't wear a tie.  We had to go back into the office because the Sisters locked themselves out of their apartment and we thought we had extra keys.  But we didn't.  So we looked up their landlords telephone number and had them call him.  He came over and opened up the door for them.  We keep reminding ourselves that these missionaries are just kids.

We had two injuries on Monday from basketball.  One of the elders had to go to the hospital and get a scan because he fell on his head.  The other one twisted his ankle, so Sister Edgren told him to go buy some frozen peas and an ankle brace.  Everything imaginable happens on missions.

Our FHE was awesome again.  I made some Corn Chowder and toasted cheese sandwiches.  Everyone loved it.  We talked about the vision of the tree of life.  And I found some pictures on the internet for all of the different things, the tree, iron rod, spacious building, etc.  Elzbieta wanted to keep everything so I gave the pictures to her.  And she asked me to write my testimony on one of the papers.  I had Stan help me write it in Polish.  There are some very wonderful people here.

The weather has been up in the 40's so Wayne and I walked to the office on Tuesday.  It took us about 30 mins.  When we left about 17:30 it felt nice to get out in the fresh air.

Wednesday's English class went very well.  One of the girls in our class started taking the lessons from the sisters.  We're hoping she will join the church.  When they asked her if she would be baptized, she answered like most of the people here do - Why do I have to be baptized?  I already was baptized.  We took some brownies, ice cream and fudge sauce for the Elders and Sisters to have after English class.  We told them we loved them all and their hard work.  We also told them that the Lord sends the strong missionaries to difficult missions and they should fell very blessed.  Besides it's Valentine's Day this Friday and I wanted to do something special for them.

That was our week.  We will try and take some pictures of some of the parks around here.  They are beautiful and huge.  Bye for now.  We love you and miss you.

        Happy Valentine's Day!

6 Feb 2014

Last Thursday we had an office meeting with the Pres. and Sister Edgren, the APs and Office Elders.  It's hard to know where the President is going to be every week, because he really doesn't say anything and we find out after he's left.  So we had a meeting so that we could put down his travel and talk about some other concerns of the mission.  It was a good meeting and we got a lot of things ironed out.  I have been tasked to look at how we orient the new missionaries coming in and what we can do differently so they feel more comfortable and knowledgeable about the Poland Warsaw Mission.

On Saturday, the Relief Society had an activity.  They asked everyone to bring some kind of food for everyone to eat and then bring the recipe.  After we ate, we made a recipe holder and we got a copy of every one's recipe.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon.  I didn't understand a word, but I had fun.

Here we are eating.  The Elders were there because they had an investigator meeting and, of course, they didn't show, so the RS Pres. felt sorry for them and invited them to eat with us.  We had an onion soup, a carrot soup, I made a casserole, some Thai food (very spicy and hot) and some brownies.  And I don't know what it was, but it had eggs in it and a whole lot of garlic.  And of course, they had their fruit tea to drink.  

Here we are working on our recipe books.  

And here we are with the books we made.

Not very many people there, but we all had a lot of fun.

This is the week that one of the Senior Couples are going home.  They decided to take a train from Poznan to Warszawa so that they could leave their car for the new couple (Shaws) that replaced them.  The Elders were at the train station with them to help them on with all of their luggage.  So all four of them were on the train trying to get all of the luggage situated when the train started to pull out of the station.  Once it starts moving the doors lock.  So Elder Peacock and Solmes rode on the train to the next stop, which was 1 hour down the track.  They explained to the conductor what had happened.  They didn't hear the whistle blow so they thought they had time to help the Sheleys with everything.  The conductor actually apologized to them because he said he forgot to blow the whistle.  So they left them ride the train for free to the next stop.  When they got off, they had to wait almost 2 hours for the next train back.  And then travel for an hour.  They got home in Poznan after the Sheleys were in Warszawa.  Anyway, we all went out to dinner on Monday night to say our goodbyes.  Here we are at the restaurant.

Poor Wayne, he doesn't get in any of the pictures.  But here are the Jensens, the Sheleys, Sister and President Edgren and me.  Oh Wayne placed the little tree there to represent him.  It was a bittersweet night for the Sheleys.  It's really hard to say goodbye.  The food was excellent and so was the company.  So we missed our FHE, but the Sisters filled in for us. 

On Sunday, at home in Salem, it was Stake Conference.  So Wayne and I got the URL address and we were able to watch the Sunday morning session.  It was wonderful to see some of our friends and to listen to our Stake President.  And we got to listen to a whole church meeting in English and understand everything that was being said. 

Well, that's it for this week.  We love you and miss you all.