DANE ARRIVES IN POLAND.....Finally!

Dane finally made it to Poland. Just 24 hours before he was to leave, he recieved an email telling him that his flight had been cancelled because of bad weather in London. After making some phone calls, he was able to be booked on Lot Airlines and flew out of Chicago straight to Warsaw. Sounds easy, right? After getting a very late start, he started the final leg across the Atlantic ocean.

His plane landed at 11:45 am (2 hours late) and he finally emerged from the baggage claim area around 2:15 pm....missing only one of the three bags he had brought! Every flight was late, the airport was crowded and everyone had luggage that was lost. So...

We found ourselves at the Lost Baggage counter again! This is becoming the norm! Because of the back-up of so much lost luggage, the airline said it may take a few days to get it to us. We can only hope. This short line took 1.5 hours to fill out our lost luggage claim.

All in all, it was a good trip.....long, but good. And it is great to have Dane here with us to spend Christmas together.

Some of the 'precious cargo' that did make it was our daughter, Devin's, homemade cinnamon rolls---yes, Aunt Elberta's famous recipe. Devin has 'mastered' the recipe and it will live on! Rootbeer, marshmellows, Cream of Chicken soup, all the necessities of life also came. We put our gifts under the tree and dug into the treats and called it dinner!

Dane's visit.....Day 2! A trip to Adam's Tie Factory was first on the list. There we visited with Adam, while Dane did a little shopping. Adam is such a great man. Not only does he give the missionaries a good deal on purchasing ties, he just cares about people. Next, we headed to the Rynek for some food and to see the gorgeous Christmas lights.

It was snowing; and it was cold, but the lights were beautiful. The guy from Arizona (he is at ASU going to law school) brought a thin coat and a hoodie sweatshirt........we went shopping after this.

Even though it was 16:00, he was suffering from "jet lag". We headed to the Zlote Tarasy (Golden Terraces or we call it the Glass Bubble Mall) to buy a warm coat, then home before he fell asleep on us.

The square in the middle of the Rynek was filled with all kinds of little shops selling food, Christmas ornaments, scarves, and all kinds of fun things to buy. With Christmas music playing, it was a perfect night. Welcome to Poland, Dane!

The End of a Whirl-Wind Week!

The last BIG thing I had to do was be Hostess to our first annual District/Mission Presidency Christmas Party. As you can see, it all seemed to come together without a snag.....but let me show you what was happening just a few hours before the party......

My dishwasher died a few weeks ago, so I have been washing everything by hand. I know, I AM spoiled; but I do cook for the masses around here. Brother Zelonka was kind enough to make sure that tonight I would not be up all night doing dishes, and he and Godfrey installed a new one. This was wonderful but meant the kitchen could not be used for a few hours. That's ok, there was plenty to do!

Along with the new dishwasher, the mission home got a new microwave.....so I lovingly gave 'the white dinosaur' to the office elders (Elders Taylor, Torke and Darowski) who had stopped by. The old one wasn't called a microwave but a "radar oven". Of course, we had to try the new one out and made popcorn! It turned out great! The office elders just didn't pop in for no reason at all....(they would never do that!) but...

Elder Torke was on his way to Poznan to be the new Branch President there, and he had come to say good-bye. We will miss this good Elder, but he is excited to get out of the office and back into the field full-time.

While the kitchen was being 're-vamped', the living room was being prepared. We were already and the guests started to arrive.......

The Warsaw District Presidency: The Nabozny's, The Hapgoods, and The Shahas.

The Katowice District Presidency: The Neimans, The Pawliks, The Moons---not shown. They had responsibilities in Wroclaw this evening.

The District Council: Robert Magnuski, The Jarosz', The Zelonkas, The Isaacs--not shown.

The Mission Presidency: The Rzeczyckis, The Nielsons, The Wencels. Dinner was great and every one helped by bringing either a great salad or dessert to the party. I have to talk about the desserts. They were great!

Sister Austin, who had come to help me ALL DAY to prepare for the event, is shown here starting to set up the dessert table. Her catering expertise has truly been a blessing to me on several occasions!

  Like I said, dessert was a hit!

And now the entertainment.....First, Sister Neiman lead us in some Christmas Songs......but the star of the night was...............

Brat Herman who lead the group in singing tradition Polish Christmas Songs....koledy. Everyone sang along, and it was a great evening. To watch and listen to our Polish friends sing their traditional songs was the best part of the evening. One more look at some great people in Poland that we are honored to call our friends.....

President Andziej Wencel, his daughter, Ola and wife Alicia.

President Pawlik with his wife, Lisa and son, Spencer-----today was Spencer's 1st birthday!

Brother Zelonka and his wife, Dorota.

President Rzeczycki and his wife, Gosia and daughter, Maja.

Brother Jarosz and his wife, Iwona and daughters Ada (who is heading to BYU shortly) and Sara. And last but not least...

President Nabozny and his wife, Asia. What wonderful people we have the privilege to serve the Lord with. We cherish all their friendships. Kochamy vas!

ZONE CONFERENCE #3...Warsaw Zone

Our last Christmas Zone Conference. This is the Warsaw Zone which includes Missionaries from not only Warsaw but Lodz, Lublin, and Bialystok. An exciting thing happened on the way to this Conference..........

......our back window blew out! We aren't sure what happened but in traffic while driving along, something hit our window. The car was loaded and we were heading to the conference when we heard a loud POP! So...we quickly turned around, unloaded "Zone Conference on Wheels" and quickly threw everything into my tiny Skoda....and off we went!

Luckily, when we got to the church, I had plenty of help getting everything in order. President started the Conference and Sisters Briggs, Ireland and Harding helped me create 'the special atmosphere'.

Not bad for a cultural hall! We don't have the basketball group come in and rearrange things after its set up. One, because we set things up as we arrive and two- there are no basketball hoops...

Meanwhile, the potato soup was being looked after by Sister Austin. A special thank you to her children for sending over a HUGE box of individually bagged Christmas goodies for every Missionary in our Mission. They did it to surprise their mom.....and she was.

At the 'girl table' L to R: Sisters Stay (who leaves for Katowice shortly...they found her luggage!), Marshall, Lefevre, Allen, Briggs, Austin, Spear, Pritchett and Steadman. You should have seen the reunion of Sisters Stay and Steadman, they are eternal friends.

And we can't forget this table! L to R: Elders Taylor, Klosowiak, Stohel, Sister and Elder Harding, Sister and Elder Ireland, Elders Davis, Augustyn, Nielson, and Garrett.

After lunch we moved to the Relief Society for a special Christmas program put on by the Warsaw Zone (impromptu). Everyone participated....there was a great spirit there. L to R: Elders Davis, Darowski, Kalinowski, Nielson, Garrett and Augustyn were some of the first to be in their places.

Sisters Spear, LeFevre and Pritchett---3 of the 5 Sisters that will be returning home at the end of the month. We are going to miss them!

WE HAVE THE BEST MISSIONARIES IN THE CHURCH. WE DEARLY LOVE ALL OF THESE WONDERFUL SERVANTS OF THE LORD. WE THANK THEIR PARENTS FOR PREPARING SUCH TREMENDOUS MISSIONARIES.

President and I with Godfrey......a member who is one of the Missionaries greatest friends. If you have ever served in Warsaw, you know Godfrey. He is Mr. Do Everything.

And this picture is for all the members of the Nevada Las Vegas Lakes Stake. The Harbers, The Nielsons and The Richards would like to wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! We are having the time of our lives here in Poland serving the Lord.....

COME JOIN US!!!!!!!

This mission has changed our lives. There is nothing like serving a mission. Set a date, get ready and turn your papers in. The Lord will help when he sees you are serious. We have seen it and have lived it. President Teshima would love to meet with you and help.

We love you & Merry Christmas!

ZONE CONFERENCE #2...Bydgoszcz Zone

We got up at 4:30 am to get ready and make our way to Bydgoszcz for Zone Conference. We were a caravan....President and me, Elder Stohel and the Tarasevichs in their new mission car, and Elder Tribe and Crittenden in the transporter with mail, Christmas packages, everything we needed to put on a nice lunch and a lot of other stuff. After 5 hours of icey roads and lots of weaving in and out of traffic we got there. BYDGOSZCZ ZONE: Front Row: Elder and Sister Tarasevich, Sister Austin, Sister and Elder Zatylny. Middle Row: Elders Kennedy, Plumb, Lundin, Sisters Helfrich, Hulme, Bailey, and Bautner. Back Row: Elders Crittenden, Krzyminski, Dabrowski, Ball, Handley, Contor, Attebery, and Eastman.

After instruction from President Nielson, Zone Leader Elder Eastman, and the Assistants we broke for a great lunch. Potato soup in breadbowls! (Look familiar?) As always, the soup pot was licked clean by all the hungry missionaries.

The Senior Missionaries sat with Elder Tribe.

Gdansk Sisters Bailey and Helfrich.

Bydgoszcz Elders Dabrowski and Krzyminski. After lunch we had a nice Christmas program that was actually put on by all who were in attendance.

The Bydgoszcz Acapella Quartet was back with their rendition of "Away in the Manger". But we found a new threesome that could give them a little competition if it weren't for two of them were going home in a few days.

Our surprise threesome: Elders Handley, Contor and Attebery. They had an amazing sound.

After the Christmas program everyone gathered for the distribution of mail. Always a highlight of Zone Conference but especially at Christmas. Sisters Bailey, Hulme, and Helfrich. We had a great conference with these missionaries; then it was back in the car (at 5 pm) for a long drive home. Once home, we had another special ceremony to perform..

Elder Crittenden leaving a piece of him behind in Poland. This fine Elder has been reassigned to the England London South Mission.

We will miss Elder Crittenden. He was truly a strength to his companions, and he will be missed by all. Good luck in your new assignment. We love you!

"THE TERMINAL"....Polish style!

Our adventure started at 10:00 in the morning as President, myself and our great Assistants (Elders Stohel and Tribe) headed to the airport to pick up (we thought) our 3 new missionaries at 11:40. There was no traffic and we got there in record time so we decided to test a few polish pastries. At 1:00 pm with no missionaries in sight, President called Missionary Travel in Salt Lake City to find that they had been re-routed because of a storm in Chicago. They would now not arrive until 3:40pm!

...Elder Tribe and President stayed, had a little lunch, and happen to catch two of our Senior Missionaries (Elder and sister Harding, from Soda Springs, Idaho) trying to skip the country! (Actually, they were at the airport picking up a Family History Coordinator who was giving a fireside in Warsaw tonight.....or so they said!)

The Tarasevichs arrive--and they only lost 2 pieces of luggage! This great couple will be serving in Bydgoszcz over the Young Single Adult Program there. We are so glad to have them in our mission. WELCOME! So, it was back to the mission home for some dinner, orientation, and to bed. BUT WAIT??? Where is Sister Stay??? She was put on a different flight when changes were made in the states and wouldn't be arriving until 10:05 pm! So......................

............it was back to the airport for President Nielson! 10:05pm...no Sister Stay. 11:00pm ...no Sister Stay.

11:15 pm Finally....Sister Stay came through the Baggage Claim doors! This young Missionary is a real trooper!! She wasn''t frazzled a bit. Welcome to Poland, Sister Stay!

As usual, Sister Stay had lost 2 bags herself. Here we are at the Lost and Found Baggage Claim office. I thought it would be great to get our 'group' picture in front of it. Here is Security telling us we can't. Hey....it's the Lost and Found for crying out loud!!!! And we had lost a total of 4 bags today.....let us take a picture! As far as Security knows, we didn't take a picture. Don't tell.

President and Sister Stay. Who would have thought that picking up 3 Missionaries could be so difficult! We dropped Sister Stay off at Sister Lefevre and Sister Allen's apartment after midnight where she will be staying until she receives her luggage....which is supposed to be dropped off at the Mission Office tomorrow. When her lugguge does come, she will be serving in Katowice with Sisters Brown and Smith. President figures he spent around 12 hours (because of the weather and traffic he could not go back and forth) at the airport today, but it was definitely worth it to greet these 3 very excited and ready-to-work Polish Missionaries.

Hurry and get to bed- we leave at 5:00am (3 hours from now) for the Bydgoszcz Christmas Zone Conference.