Christmas Zone Conference...Katowice

Yes, this is what we are traveling in! We keep thinking we are going to take the train....but we have too many things that need to be taken to the missionaries. Maybe next time! The drive early this morning took 4 hours from Kielce to Katowice. Most of the roads were not cleared from the snow and it is next to impossible to pass the trucks that are slow. So, the roads we travel look like this.............

or this.......yes, this is a highway running through a little town. These little towns slow us down considerably! Or we often find ourselves behind....

this! It's our own private parade! We finally made it to Katowice and were met by some very excited Missionaries that are wearing their "festive' Christmas ties.

Elders Siebert, Guthrie, Murphey, Turley, and Buckner are all ready for the special Christmas Zone Conference being held today in Katowice.

There is a lot of activity in the kitchen. Part of celebrating today will be a special lunch.
L to R: Sister Brown, Elder Loosli, and Sister Kimball.

These marvelous 'bread bowls', which I think resemble polish pots, were a great find by the Neimans. Good work!

We all sat down to hot potato soup in a bread bowl, salad, and texas sheet cake. Clockwise: Elders Turley, Buckner, Murphey, Sisters Brown and Smith, Elders Guthrie, Smith, Hannemann, Loosli, Hinckley, Curtis, Sheridan, Berry, and Siebert.

The Adult (?) table....Clockwise: President Nielson, The Neimans, Sister Sheets, The Moons, Sister Kimball, Elders Hillyard and Allred.

As is our tradition, we celebrated our birthdays with a boistrous rendition of "Sto Lat", the Polish Birthday song. Our December birthdays: Elders Leimer, Guthrie, Allred, and Sister and Elder Neiman.

After lunch, President Nielson introduced a Book of Mormon reading program our Mission would be participating in starting January 1st. We will be reading 2 chapters or 4.5 pages a day as a mission, and finishing the Book of Mormon by April 30, 2011. In the back of every Book of Mormon is the attached reading schedule (as shown in the next photo) and also the colors for marking scriptures.

Then came the Christmas Program.....starring everyone in attendance! It was a program made up of scriptures and songs recounting the Savior's birth. What a great spirit was in the room. What a great time of year to be on a Mission serving the Lord and bringing his gospel to the world.

And of course......the Zone Picture! Featured in front are five of the missionaries that will be going home on the 30th of December. It was a great conference. We left for home, a 5-hour drive because of the snow, so can be ready for the rest of the week-- Bydgoszcz Zone Wednesday and Warsaw Zone on Thursday. Tuesday will be the airport day as new missionaries are arriving. Friday and Saturday are Branch and District/Mission Presidency Christmas Socials.

Spending some time in Kielce....

We left Lodz after the baptism, traveled through the snow storm and were able to spend some time in Kielce Saturday night with the great threesome there. As the sign says..."Life is Beautiful"... and it really is when you are on a mission. I wouldn't trade our experiences for anything. These days are priceless!

President Nielson and Elders Hinckley, Curtis, and Guthrie in the Plac Artystow (Artists)...a square in the middle of this most beautiful street named...

...Sienkiewicza Street. A resident of Kielce told us that it was voted 'most beautiful street in Poland'. At the head of this very long, lovely street is the following statue:

This is a statue of Henryk Sienkiewicz who was a famous author and poet who wrote about the persecutions of the early Christian church. All students are required to read his books in High School. (And this great street is named after him.)

The weather went from rain, to snow to calm, back to snow. Just before this picture was taken, the First Fall of the mission took place. I was walking with President Nielson around a corner and slipped on the ice. I grabbed his arm, he slipped and both of us were sprawled out on the street. Nobody was hurt and I am sure it will be the first of many such falls. My only regret---I didn't think to take a picture! But the Elders will always have a great memory of it!

And last of all....the only statue in the world of the American Jazz Artist, Miles Davis. Why in Poland? Go figure! President Nielson, show a little respect to all our jazz enthusiasts! It was great to visit with these great Elders in Kielce. Life IS Beautiful!

WHAT A WEEK WE HAVE AHEAD OF US....

When we head out on these "trips", we load up with mail and packages for the missionaries from home, the supplies the branches need, and everything else that the Office Elders tell us to take. If there is any space left over, we throw in our own luggage. Our first stop is Lodz. There is a baptism at 2:30pm. It began to snow a few minutes after this picture was taken, so we had to drive fast.

The baptism was held on the top floor of a hotel. Because the Chapel in Lodz does not have a baptismal font, we rented a swimming pool.

This is at the water's edge at a beautiful setting overlooking the city.

Elders Klosowiak (L) and Nielson (R) with Romould. There were 21 in attendance at the baptism. Nine were members and 12 were investigators. It was a wondeful event and hopefully many more such occasions are soon to follow.

The program was conducted by Brat Krzyszstof, and it was a marvelous to see this good brother enter the waters of baptism. Because it was snowing so hard, we left right after the meeting and headed to Kielce to see the Elders there and spend Sunday with them.

BIRTHDAY VISITORS!!!

Monday was my birthday....as we got ready to leave the house for 'missionary business as usual', I was surprised by 2 birthday visitors.......

Elders Snieg (Snow) and Balwan (Snowman) leaving me a most important message regarding the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What better birthday present than to have this knowledge, right?

I was very impressed with the details of these 'missionaries'.... Who could have left this great surprise for us?

Come to find out, it was our great Office Elders, Elder Torke and Elder Darowski! Thanks Elders for the creative gift! You have won the 'Best Snowmen Ever' award in my book! We love our missionaries!!!!

The Great City of Bialystok.

Members of the Branch in Bialystok- Krzysztof, Elders Davis and Kalinowski, Branch President Libert, Sisters Kuc, Sisters Zoya and Nielson.

President Libert and Sister Zoya after a temple recommend interview and preparing to receive her Patriarchal Blessing while in the Ukraine.

As usual, Pizza on a Saturday night with Elders Crittenden, Davis and Kalinowski.

It was a cool 4 degrees Frahenheit outside tonight.

Part of the Rynek at night.

An Ice Rink they had built a few days before. Seems pretty easy, throw down some water and in a few hours its ready to skate on. This was a pretty busy place.

  The Christmas decorations were just being put up. The city Centrums are beautiful this time of year.

Early Sunday morning, the first day in about a week where the sun was trying to come out. It was quiet and just beautiful. The sidewalks are semi cleaned off. This will be interesting to see these walkways in a couple of months, with more snow.

More of the shops along the Rynek.

This sidewalk was actually pretty well taken care of. Just enough to get by.

One of the Churches as we were leaving Bialystok on our way home.

One of the many little Churches in a little village. Its about 6 degrees outside and the wind in blowing pretty hard.

The snow is blowing hard across these two lanes roads and we are told to be careful of black ice.

With all the warnings, you still see this all the time- the truck on the left is passing on two solid lines, on a two lane road and going about 90 Kilometers in a 70 Kilometer zone, wind blowing hard, 4 degrees outside with traffic coming in the opposite direction. We really expected to see an accident. As usual, everyone just crowds around and creates a third lane and you survive.

The Mission Office...Moving, Relocating, and Dedicating

December 1, 2010. At the beginning of our monthly Zone Leader Council, President Nielson dedicated the new Mission Office. Seated L to R: President Nielson, Sister and Elder Richards, Elder Torke. Standing L to R: Elders Eastman, Garrett, Leimer, Stohel, Tribe, Darowski, and Crittendon. Moving this office was not an easy process. Let me take you back a few months to where it all started.....

October 14, 2010. The old Mission Office...ul. Polczynska 50. This office was located across town, and it could take up to 1 hour and 45 minutes to travel to it....ONE WAY! And so the move began....

Everything in the office had to be taken apart.

Four of the best movers in town....Ada, Rafal, Brother Kodym, and Brother Jarosz.

Meanwhile, President Nielson carefully removed his transfer board. While this move was taking place, it was 'business as usual' in other parts of the office.

The new Office Couple, the Richards had just arrived; and Sister Thueson had much to teach Sister Richards before she left for home.

Elder Thueson was busy getting Elder Richards 'up to speed' on how to keep the Mission finances in order.

We had one last office meeting in the old office, then.........

it was all about getting the new Mission Office ready to function! This new office is located at

ul. Wiertnicza 135. On a 'heavy traffic day', it may take us 5 minutes to get there from the Mission Home.

Here's how the office looked before we moved in. Bartek Wojtkowski (translator), President Nielson, and Brother Jarosz .

Getting the Conference Room set up. In this room will take place New Missionary orientations, Zone Leader Councils, and Leadership Training classes.

President Rzeczycki worked many hours getting the phones and internet working up to speed.

Finally, the new Mission Office was ready for business...and look at the space! Office Elders Torke and Darowski and Elder and Sister Richards in their 'new home'!

A big THANK YOU to our office personnel who keep the mission running smoothly. We appreciate you!!!

The SNOW is here!!!

No, this is not President in the backyard with a Russian Cossack hat on! After much anticipation, the snow has finally arrived! In all about 8 inches worth. The cold weather arrived all at once. The forecast is about the same for the next week- snow and cold.

Our backyard furniture where a few months ago the summer humidity was a killer. Tonight it is -4 degrees Frehenheit (-20 Celsius).

It started snowing yesterday morning and continued through the night.

This is our driveway....it's very steep in good weather, and we have had our doubts about being able to get our car out of the garage when it snowed. Well, it took President 6 (!) tries to finally get out of the garage this morning. So............ This is where the car will stay for the night!

This is really quite an adjustment for two people who have grown up as 'desert rats'!

But come the next morning, it IS really beautiful.....white and peaceful. It looks like we are in for a 'White Christmas' this year!

The traffic in Warsaw instantly became the worst and it is so great that the Mission Office was moved to this side of town a few weeks ago. It took the Office Elders 4 hours to drive one last time to the Old Mission Office today.