June Zone Conferences Begin! Bydgoszcz is first...

Bydgoszcz Zone:  It was so good to meet with our missionaries in Bydgoszcz one last time for Zone Conference.  We had lots planned for this Conference, but first let me introduce the Districts:

The Poznan District: Sisters Lidtka and Bown; Elders Jespersen (District Leader) and Caskey. Sitting: Elder and Sister Sheley. What a great group of Missionaries we have serving in Poznan. They are finding and teaching some amazing people right now.

The Bydgoszcz District: Elders Vernon and Wilson (Zone Leaders) with Elders Allen and Harris (District Leader).

The Szczecin District: Elders Waskiewiecz and Mikolyski (District Leader and Branch President) with Elders Kotter and Godwin.

The Gdansk District: Sisters Young and Swenson with Elders Skolimoski and White. Sitting:  Elder and Sister Tufts.
Making sure our Missionaries are reading 3 pages a day in their Missionary White Handbooks, we decided to have a 'White Handbook Chase'.

Companionships worked together to find answers to questions like: "Find the quote regarding chewing gum while proselyting in the White handbook." (Actually, that is a hard question....it is 'hidden' on p. 42)

All companionships did well. We could tell that they had been studying the Handbook as they should. There was one companionship who did a little better than the rest....

...the Zone Leaders! We would expect nothing less from them. But since the White Handbook also states that Missionaries should not engage in competitive activities (p.22), everyone received a prize but Elders Vernon and Wilson got to pick their 'prize' first!

It was time for lunch. When we are in Bydgoszcz, there is ONLY one place we go....Marcin's! They are delicious and worth the drive to Bydgoszcz! He delivered our lunch and we said 'good-bye'. A very nice man.

Next item of business....Birthdays! The traditional 'Sto Lat' was sung as the cookies were passed out. Happy birthday to Elders Kotter, Godwin, Sister Lidtka, Elders Tufts, Sheley and Harris.
And now for an event the missionaries were wondering if we were going to continue....

Since we want to include every missionary on the Poland Warsaw Mission 'Tie Quilt', we had to cut their ties early.  We wanted to take something from them that we would remember (and they would remember).  We do give them something back in returen...   We started with our Zone Leaders....Elder Wilson and Elder Vernon. (President Nielson was my helper! He did a great job!)

Elder Kotter and Elder Godwin were next.

They were followed by Elder Allen and Elder Harris. (By the look on Elder Harris' face, I think President Nielson must have slipped with those scissors!)

Elder Waskiewicz and Elder Mikolyski's turn......Again, President Nielson hasn't had any practice at this and I think the missionaries are nervous!

Elder White and Elder Skolimoski were our next 'victims'...

...and they were followed by Elder Caskey and Elder Jespersen.

Now for the Sisters. Sister Swenson was ready to give up a piece of her sweater, but Sister Young is going to wait until next week when she leaves to go home to give up her 'memento'.

Sister Lidtka and Sister Bown both gave up scarves....

And now for our great senior couples.  Elder and Sister Tufts each donated to the cause...

...As did Elder and Sister Sheley.

The Bydgoszcz Zone holding up their 'donations'. What a great group of missionaries. We love each and every one of them. We will continue to pray for their success when we return home.

So why the photo of President Nielson driving the car? As we were returning home, we realized that this was our LAST road trip! No more eating in the car. No more getting mislead by a GPS that wants to take us down a muddy dirt road. No more beautiful Polish countryside. (Sniff!) Does that deserve a photo? YES! We have spent countless hours of our mission in the car. But every minute was worth it because it meant we were going to visit wonderful missionaries, faithful members and investigators full of hope.

Arriving at Kosiarzy 22 (6 days later), we find the brickwork in the front of the house complete. Yeah! And we also found an extra surprise.....

We have a water drain! No more 'Lake Kosiarzy' in front of the Mission Home. There are blessings around every corner! I love this life!