The Last Day for a wonderful Group- The Mission will miss these Elders and Sisters

In keeping with our tradition of "leaving a part of you" in Poland, after the dinner, interviews and testimony meeting, the ties and scarfs are cut off. We will remember this group for a long time. Great missionaries departing. Their ties and scarfs will be on display in the Mission Home for all to see and remember their service and goodness. Elder Mehner, one of our first assistants. The hardest decision he has made in a long time was which tie to wear this night.

Elder Balija, our other first assistant, also a big decision with the tie.

Elder Clemons, the soft spoken dancing wonder.

Elder Holden who gave a great story about his father in his last testimony that we all will remember.

Elder Owen, the tour guide in the DVD that was sent to us about the Mission Home while we were still in Las Vegas. A remarkable talent in front of the camera.

Elder Anderton, everybody loves Elder Anderton.

Sister Kocaj, a great Polish Sister who returns home about 4 hours away and we hope she comes and visits us- soon.

Sister Sheffield, heading back to finish up at BYU and she majors in Dance. We will all miss her.

Here they all are after the ceremony. Happy faces and yet this is the last night, and they still have a few hours of packing to do.

We got up at 4:30am to catch their 7:55am flight. Everyone was going through Vienna then to either JFK or O'Hare and then home. Just a long day ahead... But waiting loved ones to greet them.

President and I caught a 9:55am flight to Frankfurt, Germany for a new mission presidents seminar with our Area Presidency. We were there for 27 hours and then home again. We walked in late at night and forgot about all the sheets, towels and dishes we left behind, but it was also too quiet. Last week was full of the ups and downs of being a mission president. The thrill of greeting great new missionaries and hours later saying good bye to the best in your mission. It's so great to be a part of this and see it right in front of your eyes.

Tomorrow are District Priesthood and Auxiliaries Leadership Meetings, Sunday we should be in Lodz because they will be meeting in a new building and then a new Elder arrives (Elder Ball) on Monday and then we start over again....