(L to R): Lacey, Maddax, Marlyna, Sebastian, Mikolaj, Travis, Elder Hancock, Cody, Basia, Elder Mikolyski, Czarek with McKay and Cole standing in front. This is a great Branch!
Another grill in another part of the country....Gdansk! Sister Bezdjian is in charge of the pinata holding the candy as the kids try to break it at this neighborhood grill. Everyone had a great time...members, investigators and friends alike! And there is no one better on the grill than President Kempa and Patryk! Great job....I heard the food was delicious. Thank you, President Kempa, for the great job you do as the Gdansk Branch President.
Grills were being held all over....like this YSA grill held at the Armstrongs. Seated are: Karina, Marta, Dorota (back from Holland for a few days), Kamil and his friend. Thank you Michal, President Armstrong and Elder Jensen. This was in Warsaw and many more came after this picture was taken. We have great YSA's throughout Poland. President enjoyed this event with these great young people while I was back home with our Young Women Conference. The following morning, Sunday, was another wonderful day...
Warsaw II Branch: Our missionaries ran into a familiar face to Poland...Fenton came to visit! Here he is with Elders Gudnason, Tanner, Siebert, Pofelski, Basha and Myler.
President Nielson has a 'special assignment' for Fenton....who is in Poland for a few days on break from an internship he is doing in Switzerland. Fenton is doing a great job (along with the other instructors) in the MTC helping all of our new missionaries learn Polish. President appreciates the updates and working together with the MTC instructors as these new missionaries become great.
Another familiar face to the Warsaw II Branch! Asia (who recently moved to Hungary with her husband, Richard) is visiting with her two kids, Dougie and Iza. Here she is with her good friend, Jowita, and her children...Jasmine and Sam. It was great to visit with her for a few minutes! I had to add this next picture....just to let you know that the church is the same all over the world.
As Primary was over and the children are waiting for their parents to finish meetings or visiting, they find ways to entertain themselves. Here Marcus (who was baptized last week) is showing his 'manly strength' by carrying Jake (who is a Teacher in the Branch) around the room. Everyone was cheering him on. I have to admit....it was impressive! Later that evening, we headed to the main train station in Warsaw. We are meeting a very special person...
Doesn't this look like a great missionary? It is! Karol, soon to be Elder, arrived from Kielce after giving his "farewell" talk at Church today. He will be in town as we get some last minute items ready for his mission to the England London South Mission.
Before he heads to the MTC in Preston, England next week, President Nielson has called him to serve a 'mini-mission' in Warsaw. We love this great, energetic young man. He loves the church and he loves Poland. He is eagar to help the church grow here...and he will!
With Fenton and Karol here in Warsaw, we called a meeting/dinner as our Assistants, Elders Myler and Basha, go over ways to help our missionaries speak better Polish. Fenton, because he is a Polish Instructor at the MTC, had some great ideas for us to implement. In the next week we will start holding classes in the Mission Office where groups of missionaries will come in to learn and study more effective ways of learning Polish. This will help all our missionaries preach the gospel (D&C 50:14), by the way (D&C 52) and in the language (D&C 90:11) of these marvelous people in Poland.
This was a great weekend. The Church is true and these members are proof of what the gospel does in our lives. "The gospel makes bad men good, good men better and ...changes human nature" (David O. McKay). We are so blessed to be in Poland and around these great Saints. The missionaries are the best, the members are so wonderful and the Polish people are incredible. This is heaven on earth.
Amen!!
ReplyDelete