Departing Elders

After a week of Zone Conferences- the departing missionaries start coming into the Mission Home.

This group has Elder Brown and Thomson going home a few days earlier for school.A tradition we are starting is "cutting off the tie"... signifying that a part of them will stay in the mission. We will keep their "ties" and show them off to all who come into the Mission Home. Eventually, all these ties (with their names embroided on them with the dates they served) will be made into a quilt.

The first Official Tie. Elder Jason Brown.

Elder Andrew Thomson, what a wonderful Elder and a great Branch President.

Elder Hampton Beachum, heading back to UNC to continue his studies.

Now it's off to the airport and the flight home. We will miss this great group of missionaries.

OUR GOODS FINALLY ARRIVED IN WARSAW!!!

You can see how excited I am....I was willing to carry EVERY box in the house...myself! But, let me tell you the story....

FINALLY...after waiting over 2 months with only 2 skirts to my name, our things arrived. The process took MUCH paperwork, notaries, countless phone calls and emails, an attorney and this small card....our Residency Card-the last item to be found! This small piece of paper was the culprit.

We're still dealing with repairing the mission home and this plank did not look very inviting for bringing our things into the house....SO.....it was around to the back..............

...to face a STEEP FLIGHT OF STAIRS!

they made it up the stairs leading to the living room.....

AND MORE STAIRS....(this home is 4 levels!)

...until we came to the top floor! A final resting place for my favorite exercise machine! This was the biggest and of course had to be placed in the most difficult spot.

 But regardless of how big a hassle it was to get everything into Poland, we are glad our things are here; and we feel very much 'at home' in this great country!

A Humanitarian Service Project...

On Saturday, August 7th, a disaster hit several towns near the German/Polish border. Rivers have been full this summer from all the rain and a dam ended up breaking. The Relief Society President of the Warsaw II Branch, Asia Nabozna, called the Mayor of Zgorzelec--a larger town in the area --to see if the Church could help. He was grateful, and so the work began. Donning our yellow 'Helping Hands' vests and loading the Transporter with items that had been collected, we set off with members of the Warsaw I and II Branches to help. The sign reads Help for Bogatyni.

Along the way, we saw a few unusual sights...notice the sticker on this car. It is from the German Democratic Republic--- 20 years ago---East Berlin. There are not many of these around any more. And now, my personal favorite...

This sign is advertising a store that specializes in "everything for pigeons"! Can there really be a market for this?

President Nielson sent me and the Office Elders to represent the Mission. I was picked up by the Office Elders at 4:00 a.m. The ride was long and tedious. Elder Lewis was a great help....

...and so was Elder Torke.

We were met by the Elders in Wroclaw where we shopped at a Macro (a store like Costco).
We split up the list and gathered shovels, work gloves, cleaning supplies, hygiene supplies, laundry soap, etc. L to R: Ada, Dorota, Elders: Allred, Lewis, Holden, Taylor, Anderton, Torke, and Elder Harding.

Items were labeled in hopes to find some referrals and to let the people know that our Church cared about people.

We showed up 'hours' late to meet the people in charge of the relief project in Zgorzelec. We had to unload the goods into a large truck then they drove the truck and our cars to a secure place for the night. So what was supposed to be a one day trip had turned into a two day trip. The people in charge were very kind and put us up in a motel.

Slumber Party! with Ada, Asia, and Dorota.

That morning they took us to an elementary school where they served the volunteers breakfast (mostly Polish soldiers)--'tripe' soup (cow stomach) and kebabs (polish sausage). I had bread. It was too early in the morning.

This line on the building shows how high the water was. On the right side of the picture is Poland--left side is Germany.

While here we met German Elders who were helping with a service project on the German side of the city of Zgorzelec. We met on the bridge for a picture.

Back at the big supply truck, we had to load up smaller vans and cars to get into the towns that had been hit the hardest. Many roads had been destroyed, so smaller vehicles were required to make the journey.

City volunteers and church volunteers.

In the pouring rain, we caravaned our way to the town of Bogatynia.

Beginning to see the destruction of the water.

This is why so many of the roads have been blocked off.

We finally had to stop---the road was out. The people came to us.

We helped this sweet man get the supplies he needed to his home. His wife was there and greeted us with tears in her eyes and many "dzienkuje bardzo's"...thank you very much.

We were told that roads were closing all around us and we needed to get out of the area immediately. We gathered the supplies that were left and drove to a school that was being used as a 'supply base' and unloaded.

As we were leaving, these two vounteers asked for our 'Helping Hands' vests. Wear them with pride! These girls are members of the 'Polish Scouts' --a very well respected volunteer group. (The 'Polish Scouts' began during the Polish uprising against the Nazis. They were children who would carry messages, guns, explosives through the city for the underground and the soldiers wouldn't bother them thinking they were just playing.)

Because of all the destroyed roads, we were not able to leave the way we had come. We had to detour through Germany.

We followed the retired fire chief from Zgorzelec (for over an hour!) who was kind enough to escort us to the Polish Border. What a great experience this project was. There is more work to be done and the Church will be back to help. Dowidzenia!

More Activity around the Mission Home

The tile on the entry way stairs is finally getting repaired. In order to do this, they need to seal the foundation so the moisture doesn't keep causing more damage. This is how you get into the mission home. Every time it rains the works stops. Arriving and departing missionaries are coming and going in 8 days. Think it will be done?

 While they're here, lets fix the balcony that leaks which is causing damage also.

This is the back entrance, where President has his office, but its blocked off, so the front entrance right now is the only way in.

With the construction, we get some of these. In fact, maybe it's just our backyard but there are a bunch of spiders here. This one is about 3 inches long. Now Devin, please come and visit us, we promise the spiders will be gone when you come.

Chloe, Riley and Dax visiting with us on SKYPE. As time goes on, it is getting easier for them to understand we don't live inside the computer and you can talk to us.

 When the grandkids are on SKYPE nobody bug grandma.

How Great are the Senior Sister Missionaries

Sister Austin, from Snowflake, Arizona is mending and altering some clothing for one of us. She is fantastic with the sewing machine and teaching this skill to many throughout Poland.

Sister Marshall, from British Columbia, is such a joy to have around. These Sisters are serving in Bydgoszcz and came in for the day to help with the conference, make clothing alterations and as Sister Marshall is doing, helping in the kitchen. The senior sisters and couples are so important and valuable in a mission. We love them all and are grateful for their service, commitment and sacrifice.

Zone Leader Council Meeting

One of the great cars on the road in Poland. The Transporter. Everyone is arriving for Zone Leader Council. Held every month on the first Thursday in Mission Home. This wonderful van either picked you up your first day or took you home on your last day. It is used just about by everyone.

Headem up movem out......

Elders Balija, Turley, Plumb, Tribe, Stohel, Garrett, Brown and Davis. A great day with much ahead of us.

Kielce- A Beautiful City

In the first 38 days of our mission, we have driven over 6300 miles and stayed 17 nights in hotels. In our initial tour of the mission to interview missionaries and meet the members, we have visited 11 of the 13 branches in Poland. Kielce was the first city where we actually had a few hours to walk the city and visit. Above is one of the very few divided highways in Poland. They will have a great highway like this and then is goes two lane through a small city and the traffic backs up. This is a typical overpass which are always painted in bright colors.

This was the "silver lining" over the city as we entered. The baptism started shorlty after this.

Part of the group that was walking with us back after the baptism (see the previous post)

The downtown area was beautiful with the main streets only for pedestrians.

 Like most cities, park your car where there is room, your garden is your balcony and on the corner is a grocery store. You only buy enough for the day, so you shop every morning.

This is Main Street on a Sunday morning, not much traffic; but the other streets were lined with people nicely dressed heading to the Catholic Church. We are amazed at the number of people who go to Church every week. Poland consists of a very Church-attending population who are set in their tradition, but wonderful people who believe in God.

These two nice men stopped Stan and started talking. He told them he was from Las Vegas and America and they started to cry. They hugged him and kissed him on the cheeks and kept saying "Dziekuje, dziekuje!" which means "Thank you, thank you!" They insisted we take a picture of them.

The bus station, with the Church in the background and the train station off to the left. Kielce is a very nice city and one we hope we can visit more and spend time walking around.