1 May 2014

Happy May Day!  It is Labor Day here in Poland today.  Everything will be closed again.  The 2nd is Flag day and the 3rd is a holiday also.  I can't remember what, but most of the people will have a 4 day weekend.

Anyway, we had another wonderful week.  We're trying to train the new office elders and get to know Elder Meherg better.  So here is Elder Smith.  We first served with Elder Smith in Wroclaw.  He is awesome!

And here is Elder Meherg.  He is awesome, too.

We just have the best missionaries in the whole world.

This past week, Elder and Sister Hutchinson came up from Katowice because Elder Hutchinson helped put in a conferencing system in the mission office, so that President Edgren can have a conference with up to 8 people at once.  It is called PVC - Personal Video Conferencing.  Anyway, Elder Meherg was the one who got to help.  So he brought his P-day clothes and got to work.  Since all the walls here in Poland are made out of cement, none of the electrical wires are in the walls, they put them in cable runners that are attached to the ceilings and walls with cement screws.  It was quite a mess for a couple of days.  

Here's Elder Meherg at work 

I had to make a few changes to the President's transfer board and thought I'd take a picture so you can see the cards I have to make.

Here is the Warszawa II Zone, the Bydgoszcz Zone and the Katowice Zone

   

Here on the very left are the missionaries that have left since last August, the next group of pictures are the missionaries coming in June (purple) and August (orange), then the Warszawa I Zone.  The two yellow cards at the bottom are the Kowalskis that will be arriving next Tuesday.  I love to work this board.  

On Sunday, we had a baby blessing.  I thought I wrote everyone's name down, but can't find the paper.  So I will show the picture and come back after next Sunday and put in the names.  The father (far left) of the new mother works in England because he can't find a job here in Poland.  He comes home about every 3 months.  His wife (next to him) was just released from our Relief Society because she is leaving next week for 3 months to go to America and spend some time with her daughter who is also expecting a baby.  Next is the new mom and dad and the dad's parents.  Beautiful baby and beautiful family.

Also, today was the Canonization of John Paul II (the Pope from Poland).  They had a big viewing screen set up over at the church by our apartment.  There were tons of people to watch it and they had roads closed all over the place or they just let people park in one of the travel lanes.  We left earlier for church so that we could get by all of the things going on.  It was also Earth Day and people were celebrating that, too.  It was crazy!

We were invited over to the President's home Sunday night.  Elder and Sister Lloyd were leaving Monday morning and we wanted to say goodbye to them.  They were the first Senior couple we met when we arrived.  They took us around to the stores and showed us a lot of things to help us get acquainted with Poland.  We will miss them a lot.

Boy, I look fat!  Time to lose some weight.

On Monday night we had a lesson on "Sin".  We filled a bowl with water and then colored it red.  Passed out paper towels to everyone and had them stick the corner in the water.  Of course, the red water spread very rapidly up the paper towel.  We tried to convey to everyone that this is the same way Satan works.  A little first step can become a giant leap quickly.  We had Dominik read a story about a college student who had a python and invited his friends to come watch as he fed a live rat to the snake.  It took about 45 mins before the snake actually swallowed the rat.  During that 45 mins, the snake would slither a little bit towards the rat and the rat would run to the other side of the enclosure.  The snake just kept inching forward little distances at a time and the rat never felt in any danger.  The snake finally got to the point where it and the rat were touching noses and then it was too late for the rat.  Satan works the same way.  Little by little. Then we had everyone play the game where you put a penny on top of a pile of flour and the person that makes it fall has to get it back with only their mouth.  We didn't make them do that, but everyone had fun.  Then we had some turkey and rice cream soup and apple strudel with ice cream.  Here is part of our FHE group.

Dominik is in front, he's helping Elzbieta and Szeslawa with some family history and Stanislaw is standing in the back.  He is a new convert and he loves the gospel.  

Wednesday, we had Zone Conference.  I decided not to stress about the food, so I just made some sloppy joes, cut up some fruit, potato chips and Magnum Ice Cream bars for dessert.  It was great!

The conference was terrific.  President Edgren sure knows how to inspire these young men and women.  Here are the AP's teaching part of the conference.

Here we are breaking for lunch.

So starting at the left (in line) is Elders Kimball, Blom, Kotter, Gibby, Anderson, Sister Hemming, Elders Wilson and Platter.

This is our Zone Leader, Elder Caskey enjoying his lunch.

And here's our Zone.  Elders Gibby, Kotter, Baranowski, Caskey, Anderson, Peacock, Garrison and Platter.  Front Row:  Elders Solmes, Wilson, Sisters Owen, Blake, Poklinkowska, Hemming, and Elders Wride, Neuner, Kimball and Blom.  Good looking bunch and faithful missionaries. 

They actually went out contacting this time with the main purpose to tell everyone they met of how the gospel could change their lives.  They had 1 hour to contact.  Sister Poklinkowska and Owen met someone who had had missionaries before and after a short discussion, she asked them when she could be baptized.  They were on cloud nine!!!

Anyway, it has been a great week.  We love being here.  We love serving in any way that we can.  We love being with the missionaries.  We love knowing that our family is being watched over and are doing the best that they can.  I asked Sister Lloyd during dinner what the first thing she was going to do when they got home and she said she was going right down stairs and kiss her dryer.  Amen to that!

We love you all and miss you.

24 April 2014

No birthdays this week. WOW!  Easter was very interesting here.  Friday was Good Friday and the churches/cemeteries were packed.  We did take some pictures of the cemetery near our apartment.  There was one lady in the cemetery scrubbing her husbands stone box.  A lot of the stone boxes have dirt filled in on top and people plant the flowers there.  But here are a few pictures.

We don't know if everyone is buried above ground or not.  

Lanterns with candles lit and lots of flowers everywhere.

Then on Saturday, once again people go to church with their baskets of fruit, breads, pork, vegetables and eggs to be blessed by the Priest.  We decided to go over and see what they do.  Everyone puts their baskets on a table and then the Priest says a very long prayer.  He then takes like a small whisk broom and dips it in the holy water and then sprinkles it all over the baskets.  The people then pick up their baskets and take them home.  The food cannot be eaten until Monday morning.

This is the church we went to.

The people have laid their baskets on the table and the Priest is say his prayer.

So here's a new group of people with their baskets.  They just keep doing the same thing most of the night.

Sunday morning, Easter, we woke to the music of the bells chiming.  It lasted for 30 mins. and then there were fireworks. They love their fireworks.  But the bells were very beautiful.  When we left for church, there was a huge line of people outside of the church (I guess they couldn't fit everyone inside) and the Priest was outside giving communion.

We only had sacrament meeting Sunday.  The Branch President told everyone to go home and spend the afternoon with their families.

On Saturday, the Roulstones and the two of us went grocery shopping for 72 hour kits for the missionaries.  The church has asked the President to update the evacuation plan and make sure the missionaries know what to do in case of an emergency.  We spent about 1,700 zlotys for 14 kits.  (That's about $40 per kit)

Monday is called Wet Monday in Poland.  It is part of the Easter weekend and everyone gets off of work and none of the stores are opened.  It's called Wet Monday, because anyone can squirt you with water.  Wayne and I took a chance and walked to the office.  We left our apartment at 8:00 am.  There was not a soul on the street.  I think we say one jogger and one bicyclist.  We didn't hold FHE either because of the holiday.  

So, I got a picture of the 5 new missionaries that came in on the 15th.  Here they are.  Everyone looks so young.

From the left - Elders Remy, Wynne, Platter, Hon and Garrison.  Good looking bunch of elders.

The President and the AP's took them over to the spot where President Kimball and President Monson (then Elder) dedicated this land to mission work.

We also took a picture of the front of our building.  Most of the apartments that the Seniors and missionaries live in are very nice.  We are very lucky.

Springtime is here. 

On Wednesday the sun was shining and so beautiful and then it started raining and it came down hard.  When we left the office to go to English Class, there were puddles of water everywhere.  We only had 2 people at English class.  Nice weather comes and people don't want to be inside anymore.  

So that's it for this week.  We love you and miss you. 

17 April 2014

Ryland - Happy Birthday on Monday-6 yrs.

Friday was a lazy day at the office.  We were all prepared for the new missionaries coming in on Tuesday.  President and Sister Edgren, the APs and the four missionaries traveling home on Saturday were all down in Lodz to witness 3 baptisms.  And the new office Elders were learning all the things that they will be doing to keep the office running smooth.

On Saturday, the Roulstones and Wayne and me, drove up to Bialystok to do an apartment inspection and try to fix the Elder's bed.  So Sister Roulstone and I met with Patty (the chairperson of the YSA Conference) and the guys fixed the bed.  We took Patty out to lunch and then she showed us around Bialystok.  

As we walked under the street to get to the other side, there was a huge star on the pavement which pointed the way to many famous landmarks.  I tried to get a picture, but it didn't turn out very well.

The one in the middle said Eiffel Tower, so many kilometers.  

Then we went on to the Renik.  They were having lots of sales on for Easter.  

Every huge town has a Renik.  Open space in the middle of the town.  I took another picture of the building you see in the middle from a different angle.  Do you see the face with a smile?

Here is part of the square where the little outdoor booths were.  They had a variety of eggs and flower arrangements that looked like palm leaves.  Since Sunday is Palm Sunday, everyone was buying these "palms" so that they could take them to church and have the priest bless them.

We ate lunch at what they call a milk bar.  It's just a cafeteria type place, but the food is really good.  On our way to the mile bar, Sister Roulstone fell and stuck out her hands to catch herself.  She cut the palm of her one hand up pretty bad.  She was a trooper though.  She stayed with us ate and then went to have our meeting.  Here is the milk bar and Sister Roulstone and I eating.

I'm always on the phone.  We had some beet soup - very good - and some kind of meat.  Don't know what it was called.  And then we had some cheese crepes with cream over them.  It was a very good meal.  

Afterwards, we went over to see the castle of Bialystok.  Here is a bulldog guarding the entrance to the park.  That's me and Patty hugging the dog.

Here is the castle from the back.  They have made it into a school now.  So it is constantly being used.  The gardens were very beautiful.

This is the middle court.  I don't know if you can see it very well, but one of the statues was a man carrying the world on his shoulders.  Maybe it was Atlas, I don't know.

And here is the entrance gate to the palace.

When we were done with our meeting with Patty and the guys had fixed the bed, we left and drove back to Warszawa.  A 2 1/2 hour drive.  We all were very tired.  Sister Roulstone did fall asleep.  I know her body was aching and her hand hurt alot.

We went back to the office and the AP's showed us who was getting transferred and to where.  We were going to loose Sister Stratton.  It's hard to see these missionaries leave when you have gotten to know them so well.  So Sunday, I had to take a picture with her.  She will be going to Katowice.

She's a very cute girl and a wonderful missionary.  

So back to the office on Monday.  It took me all morning to make the changes in the church system with all of the transfers.  The office Elders were calling everyone to tell them when they leave and what train they would take.  It was a hectic day!  We also had a luncheon for Elder Baranowski since he was leaving the office.  So I made his favorite things - barbecue pork sandwiches and potato chips.  I also had bought some fresh vegetables and made a raspberry and blackberry cobbler.  And some sugar cookies.  I also made a casserole for FHE and took the remaining cobbler and cookies.

Tuesday, the new missionaries arrived at the office about 2:30 pm.  They were very tired, so we didn't spend too much time with them.  Just kind of went over the basics and had them sign all of their legal paperwork.  We forgot to get a picture of them all.  We won't know who they will be going with until tomorrow.  Then I can finish the transfer scenario for the church.   

Wednesday was crazy, too.  We had to go pick up Elder Fotu from the mission home and take him to work with us.  He was going to be one of the trainers and the President didn't want him there until all of the other 4 trainers came.  So we were at the mission home by 8:15 am.  Went it to have the president sign some papers and I found out on Tuesday that one of the forms we were using was an old one, so I had to have all 5 new missionaries sign another document.  Sister Edgren asked me to order Subway sandwiches for the new missionaries and their trainers.  So we had to find out which each one wanted.  Then we went to the office.  At 11:00 am, president came and got Elder Fotu.  At 12:00 pm, Wayne went to pick up the sandwiches and deliver them to the mission home.  Meanwhile, one of the Sisters that was transferred to Warszawa, couldn't get into her apartment because she didn't know the door code and the sister she needed to ask was on a train to another city and didn't have a phone.  Then one of the Elders moving to Lublin called and asked what apartment he was suppose to be going to.  I told him which one I thought it was.  I didn't check to see if it was correct.  Then another sister called and said that they went into their new apartment and the place was a mess.  It had been an Elder's apartment and they left it very dirty.  Wayne and I had to go over and inspect the place after English class.  By the way, I still don't know where the 5 new missionaries are going.  I guess I'll find out today.

So Happy Easter everyone.  We hope you have a wonderful day!  We love you and miss you.

10 April 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY ON THE 15TH!

This week has gone by fast.  We  learned last Friday that Elder Dodge would be leaving the office and Elder Smith would be coming in.  So we said goodbye.  President and Sister Edgren came over to the office in the afternoon also.  

This is Elder Dodge (standing) and Elder Baranowski talking with Sister Edgren.

And this is Elder Dodge on the phone helping another missionary.  He is always on the phone.

Good pair of missionaries.  We also learned that Elder Baranowski will be transferred on the 16th.  So we will have two new elders in the office.  That's a scary thought.

We had a wonderful experience listening to conference in our apartment.  We stayed up until midnight on Saturday so that we could see and listen to the Saturday afternoon session.  We got up Sunday morning and watched and listened to the rebroadcast of the Priesthood Session.  It was excellent!

Then at 2:00 pm we left for the chapel.  We prepared a lunch for the Elders and Sisters who were listening to conference there.  Sister Roulstone got a prepared some fresh fruit for everyone, Sister Edgren had made a salad and some cake.  I got the ham, cheese, bread, tomatoes, chips, drinks and made 2 cakes and some brownies.  Oh and the drinks.  They had a pretty good lunch.

Here are Elders Garcia, Woofley, Waszkiewicz, Kimball and Wilson (standing) and Sisters Mikalauska and Young.

We caught Elder Waszkiewicz and just the right moment.  I know it looks like he's asleep, but he just leaned his head back so that Elder Dodge and Elder Woofley could talk.

  

All of them are a lot of fun to be around.  And they sure can eat!!!!

So on Monday and Tuesday, we had another Senior Conference.  We held it in the office.  It is very comforting to meet with the other couples.  We talked about our accomplishments in the branches we serve and how we can best use our talents with the members and also the missionaries.  

Here is Elder & Sister Tufts (Gdansk), Elder and Sister Shaw (Poznan), and Elder and Sister Lloyd (Wroclaw)

We all fit in the conference room at the office.  So starting at the far left is Elder and Sister Roulstone (Warszawa), Elder and Sister Hutchinson (Katowice) and sitting behind them are Elder and Sister Jensen (Krakow) and then then the Tufts and Shaws.  I am in the picture too.

And Elder Gay is sitting with his back to the picture.

So on the other side of the table is Elder and Sister Tueller (Lodz), Elder and Sister Lloyd again and the President and Sister Edgren.  

Then afterwards, we all went out to dinner.

And here we are at the restaurant.  It was very nice and I didn't have to cook!!!!! 

So here we are altogether.  The Lloyds are going home on the 28th of this month.  And the Hutchinsons are leaving on the 26th of May.  

From the left - Elders Shaw, Tufts, Wayne, Roulstone, President Edgren, Hutchinson, Lloyd, Gay, and Sister Gay.  In the middle from the left is me, Sisters Roulstone, Edgren, Lloyd and Elders Tueller and Jensen.  Sitting down are Sisters Shaw, Tufts, Hutchinson, Tueller and Jensen.  Good people and faithful servants.  We have grown to love all of them.  

In English class we read a story about the Atonement and then talked with everyone about some of their Easter traditions.  Of course the Catholics start on Friday with Good Friday.  They have Mass at 6:00 pm on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  On the Saturday one, everyone takes a basket of food which gets blessed by the Priest.  The Priest will sprinkle "Holy Water" on the basket.  Then the people take their baskets home and they will not touch the food until Monday morning.  There will be eggs, breads and vegetables in the basket.  That will be their morning meal.  Monday is called "Wet Monday".  It is the day that you might get water thrown at you just walking down the street.  The kids have lots of fun with this day.  It was a good class.

One last thing.  The elders told us that they found a drink that we might like.  They said they would buy some and bring it to the office.  I had to take a picture of it.  We couldn't believe it when we saw it.  

It's the real stuff.  Wayne and I are going to go buy some vanilla ice cream this weekend.

Bye for now.  We miss you and love you. 

3 April 2014

Well, one year ago, we went to the MTC in Provo to start our training and mission to Poland.  We were scared and apprehensive about coming to a land we knew nothing about.  But we have been pleasantly surprised and really have grown to love this country and the wonderful people with whom we share the gospel.  We truly have been blessed!

We've had some wonderful experiences and some tough days, too.  We've laughed and cried.  We've been freezing in the winter and smoldering in the summer.  We've had some spiritual experiences with missionaries and investigators and not so good experiences.  I've cursed my oven, put my foot through the floor of the car because of the crazy drivers, cooked till I'm blue in the face, and missed my clothes dryer, but would not change this time we've had here and will continue to have for anything.

Thursday was MLC in the Mission Office.  This meeting is for the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders.  I love to have this meeting in the office.  You can just feel the excitement and dedication of these leaders.  Here's a few of the missionaries that came.

Elders Caskey, White, Kotter, President and Sister Edgren.  Sister Hemming is kneeling next to Sister Edgren and Elder Brown.

This is lunch break.  Elder Lanham (facing us) is talking with Sister Blake, Elder Vernon (in the back) and Elder Finch.

Last Friday when we got to work, there was an email from the Missionary Travel Dept.  It was a flight home on Saturday for one of our missionaries.  He had been sick for 2 weeks and they just couldn't figure out what was wrong.  The doctor in Germany didn't want to send him home until he was feeling a little bit better and hopefully wouldn't have problems on the plane.  This wasn't too sad though, because he would have been going home on April 12th anyway.

Then Friday night after we left the office, we went over to the Mission Home to give President Edgren all of the paperwork needed for this elder and Sister Edgren was on the phone with the companion of a Sister who passed out in an investigator's apartment.  They had called the ambulance.  Come to find out that she had been taking many, many vitamins and Airborne to stay healthy.  We haven't heard what made her pass out, but she is up and going again.

On Saturday, Wayne and I played "hooky".  We got up and went food shopping and then came home and changed into our jeans and went exploring.  We decided to go to the Stalin Building and go up to the 30th floor to look out over Warsaw.

We think this is the funniest shaped building.  It's all twisted.

This is facing West.  The tall white building is the Marriott Hotel.

This is probably the busiest round-about in Warsaw.  You wait forever to get through it.

The Vistula River in the background.  This actual starts up near Gdansk near the Baltic Sea.

The round building is the International Soccer Stadium.  One day, we may go see a soccer game.

And here I am standing next to someone.  Maybe it's just a symbol for justice or something.  They have these statues all around the Stalin Building.

After that, we went to the biggest park in Warsaw - Lazienki Park.  It has a statue of Chopin in it.  And while you are sitting there, you can hear some of Chopin's music playing.  Here is the statue.  

We think that is a tree bending over him, but really couldn't tell.  But it was a beautiful day and there were tons of people in the park.  

It was built around the palaces of the royal Lazienki Family.  We walked around for about an hour.  Here is one of the buildings that you can go into and look around.  But we didn't take the time.

Then there was the outdoor theatre that was built.  It said that perhaps Chopin played here for the Royal Family.

They also had clusters of Forsythia bushes everywhere.  It was just beautiful and peaceful.

Monday we talked about the Book of Mormon in FHE.  The lesson went very well and then we fed them some chicken sandwiches, chips and chocolate chip cookies.  We had a word search game for them to play and it was fun to watch them try to find the words.  They were all names from the BOM, but I guess being in English is was kind of hard for them.

On Tuesday, since transfers are coming up in a couple of weeks, we cooked lunch for the Office Elders and AP's.  They actually wanted french toast and pancakes.  So I made some more buttermilk syrup and maple syrup.  We took some strawberries and whipped cream.  We cooked two packages of bacon and had eggs also.  They ate everything!  Boy they can sure put it away.  And they all stay so skinny.  It's really not fair!

We had a good English class and had a wonderful discussion on missionary work.  They wanted to know why the church makes the missionaries learn the languages of the different countries they serve in.  Sometimes the questions are really way out there, but we do our best to answer and hope they understand.

Well, we have to say goodbye.  We love you and miss all of you.

Happy Birthday Derek on Thursday!