Monday, February 21, 2011

Wroclaw Branch Conference and more...

This first picture is of Jolanta...the woman on the right. She was baptized yesterday by Elder Sheridan. She was taught by Elders Vreeken and Sheridan. Here she is shown with a friend she had brought with her to church. Jolanta is already a great missionary! While we had 5 baptisms going on the Warsaw, Jolanta was being baptized in Wroclaw, being number 6 on Saturday.
Sunday was Branch Conference is Wroclaw. The Wroclaw primary (plus a few guests)! The Zan kids, the Call kids and the Pawlik kids.
The Wroclaw Young Womens class....Cindy, Gabrysza, Chonga, Sister Moon (Counselor in the Young Women) holding Emilia, and Sister Cielinska--the Young Women's President.
The Wroclaw Relief Society: Standing L to R: Ola, Agata, Sister Sheets, Dorota, Lisa, Sister Malinowska, Sister Moon. Kneeling L to R: Monika, Jolanta, Wioletta

We had a great Branch Conference. After church the members all stayed for lunch and some visiting. Because most of these members travel a great distance to their meetings, on special occasions, lunch is provided after the meetings.
The Kitchen Crew! Sister Moon, Sister Malinowska, Przenek, and Sister Call.
Some were not as happy as others....like Spencer Pawlik. He wanted to go home and knew he had a long drive ahead of him!
President Nielson was able to put Spencer out of his misery. Now, which 'talk' did you give him?

Some great members of the Wroclaw Branch......
Brother and Sister Zan and their three boys, Jakub, Samuel, and Damian. Sister Zan is the Relief Society President in the Branch. Brother Zan is Gospel Doctrine instructor and Sunday School President. He also is great with Family History.
Wioletta Call and her three children, AJ, Cindy, and Cynthia. Sister Call is the District Relief Society President.
Two of our great YSA's...Adam and Andrzej with Elder and Sister Ireland who were here visiting. They are in charge of Institue and Seminary in Poland.
Branch President Cielinski and his wife, Agata, and daughter, Emilia.
District President Pawlik with his wife, Lisa, and their four children--David, Spencer, Ewi, and Aaron.

That night a fireside was held at Elder and Sister Moon's apartment.
It was a well attended event by members and investigators. This was a fun fireside and those attending stayed and visited for some time. A wonderful spirit was present this night.

After the fireside, President Nielson and I decided to 'ride' around town and see the sights. (It was 17 or 18 degrees Fahrenheit and we were not 'up' for a walk!)
  Beautiful Wroclaw at night....
...which included a beautiful bridge:) I think this goes to "Cathederal Island".
A beautiful building with a unique feature....
...a road running through it!

The next morning, it was time to visit District Meeting at the Wroclaw Chapel.
Just down the street from the chapel is this unique white building on the left...When Germany occupied Poland during WWII, it was from this infamous balcony on the 3rd floor (2nd floor in Poland!) that Adolf Hitler came out and stood and addressed the people of Wroclaw.

WROCLAW DISTRICT MEETING:

After all this role-playing, the missionaries had worked up an appetite so it was off to (their) favorite place, Pizza Hut. Elder Vreeken is challenging Elders Hancock, Nielson and Hillyard (none of which are shown here) as "biggest eater" winner in the mission. These are some hungry missionaries- but also some of the hardest working too.
At a table close by were our dear Senior Missionaries who take on any assignment asked of them. Elder Moon, shown below, is not only a support in the Branch and Center for Young Singles, but is also the 2nd Counselor in the Katowice District in Poland.
It was a nice visit to a very nice town. After lunch, it was time to go back to work....there are 'people looking for the truth' to find!
So, we left Elders Vreeken, Berry, Smith and Sheridan in the middle of the most beautiful Rynek in Poland (in my opinion!) dressed for the weather and ready to work! We love Wroclaw but in our four visits here, it has been either raining, snowing or just COLD! Hopefully in our return visit in eight weeks, it will be a little warmer.
There is a special spirit in this great Branch. The members and missionaries are Great!

3 comments:

  1. Sister Nielson,
    Thanks for posting these pictures, I'm Spencer's aunt, and I just love the shots (and write up), especially of President and my cute nephew!
    Susan (Lisa's sister)

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  2. It's great to see the Call family. I had the opportunity with 3 other Elders to open Opole to missionary work about 13 years ago. We had church in our front room and the Calls were the only members at that time. Cindy was a toddler. I can't stop looking at all of the pictures of Poland. It's great.

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  3. What a great blog! As a historian, I must clarify, however, that until after the war, Wroclaw was Breslau and very much a German city. So Hitler would have been addressing a German city, and not "occupied Poland." Great to see my dear friends, the Pawliks, Agata Cielinska, and Wioletta and her children. When I served in Wroclaw as a missionary (1992), I taught Agata and her brother, Mateusz, in primary and their dad was the branch president. We met in an art school for a while and had huge garish drawings staring down at us during sacrament meeting!

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