Warsaw Zone Conference...June 2013

 

The Warsaw Zone: We finally made our way to Warsaw....our very last Zone Conference of our 3-year mission. It doesn't seem possible....it's all gone by SO fast! Let's meet the Districts...

The Warsaw I District: Elders Raines and Tingey (Zone Leaders); Elders Peacock, Garfield (District Leader), Gibby, Szymanski; Elders Hayes and Baranowski (serving in Bialystok). Sitting: Sisters Antkowiak, Barth and Howells (Sister Leader Trainer). Elder and Sister Hutchinson.

The Warsaw II District: Elders Finch and Stockford (serving in Lublin); Elders Zelezniak and Tiner(Assistants); Elders Saltmarsh (District Leader), Boyce; Elders Cieslak and Manwill (both Office Elders).

The Lodz District: Sisters Holmgren and Wendel; Elders Van Bakel (District Leader) and Wolfley; Sitting: Elder and Sister Lloyd.
After some great instruction from our Assistants and Zone Leaders, it was time for our Missionary White Handbook Chase.

 Elders Cieslak, Van Bakel, Wolfley, Baranowski and Hayes are quickly finding the page with the answer to the question.  Elder Hutchinson is the "scorekeeper" for this wonderful group.

 Elders Peacock, Tingey, Raines, Szymanski, Gibby, Stockford and Finch are also easily finding the page with the correct answer.  Elder Tiner there to see if their answers were correct.

Elder and Sister Lloyd are helping this 3rd group.  Elders Saltmarsh, Boyce and Garfield, with Sister Lenhart, Masters, Antkowiak (directly behind Sister Wendel), Barth, Howells, Wendel and Holmgren.

After adding up the points, Elders Van Bakel and Wolfley were able to pick their prize first (From the other blogposts, you know what that meant!) This Trainer (Van Bakel) has taught his Trainee well!
By now, everyone had worked up an appetite, and it was time for lunch!

Everything was ready and waiting for these hungry missionaries. We still had much to do, and lunch wasn't going to last long!

"The Sisters Table". The Sisters all had a great time just visiting together. They work hard, and we never worry if they are using their time wisely....they just do! (Sisters Lenhart, Masters, Barth, Howells, Antkowiak, Holmgren and Wendel.)

Our Elders also enjoy visiting and finding out how missionary work is progressing in other cities. (Elders Stockford, Gibby, Manwill, Boyce, Wolfley, Hayes, Szymanski, Zelezniak and Finch.)

And the rest of our Elders....(Elders Tiner, Raines, Garfield, Cieslak, Baranowski, Tingey, Peacock, Saltmarsh and Van Bakel.)
And who put this great lunch together???

Our wonderful Senior Couples, of course! We love these 'seasoned' missionaries. You never have to tell them what to do...They just see a need and fill it! We love them all!  (Elder and Sister Jensen, Elder and Sister Hutchinson, Elder and Sister Lloyd.)

President Nielson leading into our next activity...

Now, let's get down to business.

We started with the Assistants where both Elder Tiner and Elder Zelezniak gave something special to remember them by.

Our Zone Leaders, Elder Raines and Elder Tingey, were next.

They were followed by Elder Saltmarsh and Elder Boyce.

Then it was Elder Peacock and Elder Garfield's turn.

Bialystok was next with Elder Baranowski and Elder Hayes giving something of themselves.

Elder Manwill and Elder Cieslak were our next 'victims'.

Elder Stockford and Elder Finch followed closely behind.

Elder Gibby and Elder Szymanski were next...

...who were followed by Elder Wolfley and Elder Van Bakel.

Now for our Senior Missionaries....Elder and Sister Lloyd, who are YSA and MLS (Member Leadership Support) missionaries, volunteered to be first.

Elder and Sister Hutchinson (who are the Office Couple and MLS) were next...with Sister Hutchinson's 'article' taking a little longer to cut and not ruin!

It was now Elder and Sister Jensen's turn. They serve as YSA reps for all of Poland, MLS, help in the Office and Elder Jensen is the Branch President of  the Warsaw II Branch. Busy, busy missionaries.

It was finally the Sisters' turn. Sister Holmgren and Sister Wendel volunteered to be first...

...with Sister Lenhart being next. Sister Masters will 'leave something behind' in a few days!

And finally our Sister 3-some. Sister Howells and Sister Barth donate to the 'cause' as Sister Antkowiak looks on. She 'donated' a few weeks ago when she started her mission.

There were a lot of ties, etc. to cut. The 'group picture' after is always a favorite of mine. Everyone is curious to see what I plan to 'create' with all these 'donations'....Frankly, so am I!

I wanted to end this blog with one of the highlights of the day. Our great Missionaries had a special song for us which they sang at lunch. Here it is...

THE  "PRESIDENT AND SISTER NIELSON, WE LOVE YOU" SONG (sung to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

The Nielson's came to Poland with a call to serve the Lord.
Sister Nielson conquered buying food and then her spirits soared.
Once she wasn't feeling well, was found, and many blessings poured.
By us she is adored.

Who'Il remember all the birthdays?
Who will cut off ties and sweaters?
Who will blog our mission doings?
Sister Nielson's going home.

A mission president is like a business CEO
All the hard decisions come ... waiting to see what you will say
Will it prep the missionaries for their lives, foundations lay?
YES, let's do it today.

Who will text us every morning?
Who will listen to the spirit?
Who will motivate and lead us?
The President's going home.

We love the Nielson's testimonies of the Mormon Book,
We appreciate their time with us, there's much that they forsook,
Now it's time to fly to Vegas ... there to at their family look,
Their grandkids need them too!

Who will get us at the airport?
Who will pray to know our area?
On what will we eat spaghetti?
The pottery's going home.

A BIG THANK YOU to our clever, clever Sister Hutchinson for this wonderful song! It brought tears to our eyes as our wonderful Missionaries sang it to us! We love our Missionaries, AND we love serving the Lord!