Poland Warsaw Mission- New Mission Presidency- July 2011.

July 2011- President Richard Nabozny, 1st Counselor. President Nielson and President Krzystof Jarosz, 2nd Counselor. President is grateful for these great men, their examples and their desires to serve.

Things are happening in Lodz!!!

Saturday, July 9th, a 'Cutlet Festival' was held in Lodz. It included a cookoff and performances of original songs, poems and skits by those attending. The weather cooperated as it was the ONLY dry day of the week! 36 attended with 13 non-member guests. This property is owned by the Church and where the chapel will be built.

The Elders were responsible for the grill and they cooked enough sausages for everyone to have several sandwiches. (L to R)Elder Tarasevich, Jakub, Elders Pofelski, Hannemann and Darowski.

Sister Marshall and Emily...an American medical student (from Oregon and she served a mission in Minnesota) completing her final weeks of OB-GYN rotation.

Sister Stay and Adam, a non-member guest with Malgorzata, Zofia, Magda, Miroslawa, and Draman in the background. A special thank you to ALL who made this a very successful event!

While the grill was going on in Lodz, President and I were trying to get to this great city by car. After finally arriving, we were driving around trying to find a place to park and look who we spotted....

... Elders Pofelski and Hannemann were out on the street contacting! (Shhhh....They had no idea we took this picture.)

Sometime later, we met all the Lodz missionaries for dinner at Manekin....one of our favorite restaurants that specializes in 'polish pancakes'. Most restaurants aren't equipped to seat large crowds, so we split up....

...and the Sisters were able to have their own table. And what did we talk about??? Missionary work, of course!!!

Our Missionaries in Lodz! Elders Berry, Hannemann, Darowski, Pofelski; Sisters Marshall and Stay; and our great Senior couple, Elder and Sister Tarasevich! These Missionaries are excited and ready to work. Great things are happening in Lodz. A special thanks to the Taraseviches who serve as the Branch President and are a huge support to members AND missionaries. This picture was taken about 9:15 pm, we eat late so we don't interupt their work schedules and want the missionaries home for their 30 minutes of nightly planning for the next day. This is on 'P Street' as the missionaries call it. A fun street in Lodz with people everywhere.

Sunday....Church in Lodz.

I rarely get a picture of the Priesthood all gathered in one room. A powerful group! Front Row(L toR): Krzystof, Marek, Hubert, Marion, Tim and Elder Hannemann. Back Row (L toR): Elders Pofelski & Berry, Moosa, Draman, Elders Darowski & Tarasevich.

And the Relief Society! Front Row (L to R): Miroslawa, Asia, Dominika, Agata with Frances, and Anja (Visiting from Warsaw II Branch). 2nd Row (L to R): Sister Tarasevich, Irina, Zofia, Mirka, Sister Marshall. Back Row (L to R): Agata, ,Sister Stay, Magda.

Asia and her boys, Michal and Hubert, will be moving to London soon where she has found a great job. This family will be greatly missed. Asia had been serving as the Relief Society President. They have promised to return and visit!

The Dierra family. Another great family in the Lodz Branch. Moosa is serving in the Branch Presidency.

Draman is in the process of taking piano lessons from Sister Tarasevich. We hope to hear him play one day in church....soon!

We have two new members of the Lodz Branch....who also happen to be the youngest, too!

Basia and Kamil's son, Max....

...and Frances, the son of Agata and Tim Tudor-Hart.
After church, the Tarasevich's took us to visit two members who are in the hospital.

It was great to visit with Jakub again. He is doing great and is very happy.

And...here's an interesting story....we also went to another hospital to visit Michael, Emily's (the med student) brother who had gotten sick. He is also a medical student studying to be a surgeon. We went to his room looking for him. He was nowhere to be found. The nurses had no idea where he was. So we started looking around the hospital and went outside and guess who we ran into...

Come to find out, Michael had 'escaped' from the hospital and walked home (it was close) to clean up and eat some decent food! The hospital had no idea he was gone! He and his friend, Shane, (in the orange shirt), and Emily (his sister) are part of a group of 200 English speaking medical students here in Lodz. I think we need to have another grill :)

The drive home. Yes, construction is EVERYWHERE! But....they are making progress! We took our place in the long line back into Warsaw. From Lodz to Warsaw, this is the best road.

I had to take this picture.....this is for my grandsons. This machine is HUGE and paves a three lane road all at once. Its a concrete plant on wheels! Someday Highway 8 will be completed and wonderful to travel. Until then, its slow and a long line of trucks and cars from Warsaw to Katowice. Speaking of which, we are home Monday (finishing the Dobra Strona and getting it printed) then Tuesday to Katowice for Leadership Training meetings. I love this Church, this calling and these missionaries!!!!!

Zone Leader Council Meeting! July 8, 2011

After seeing Sister Smith and Elders Augustyn and Torke off at the airport at 6:00am, we hurried home to get ready for our next event today....Zone Leader Council Meeting! The Zone Leaders traveled in from around the country for their Council meeting at 11:00. Because of transfers, we have many changes in mission leadership. We have Elders Curtis and Dabrowski (Katowice); Elders Murphey and Nielson (Bydgoszcz); Elders Sorn and Kennedy (Warsaw). Seated are our Assistants: Elders Hillyard and Eastman.

This was a happy day for President Nielson! As directed, he is supposed to 'check' the 'mission culture' of our mission....and the Zone Leaders are the ones to ask. When the statement was posed to them, "In the Poland Warsaw Mission we....." there wasn't a moments hesitation. "BAPTIZE" was the answer that was shouted out! Our missionaries are 'getting it'. They know why they are in Poland. They are here to 'invite others to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized'. They love the people of Poland and want to help them find happiness and peace not only in this life but in the life to come.

It was a great Zone Leader Council, and the Assistants did an outstanding job with their training and teaching. It was a rainy day but the spirit was shining brightly in our meeting with these great missionaries. Some of the things we went over today will be taught by the Zone Leaders in Leadership Training as we travel to Katowice, Bydgoszcz and here in Warsaw to meet with new District Leaders and Trainers....next week.

Special Visitors and Departing Missionaries....

Returning from the train station, there was lots to do. Bedding had to be switched, towels had to be washed, meals had to be started......AND we had the privilege to make time for two very special guests who would be visiting us at the Mission Home.

This is Mr. and Mrs. Dabrowski (from California).....parents of Elder Dabrowski. They were in Poland visiting family and friends, and we were delighted that they had come to visit us! The Dabrowskis are Polish immigrants who fled the country during Communist times. We had a great visit and learned much about Polish history from these good people. Thank you for letting your son serve the Lord on a mission for His church. Elder Dabrowski is making a difference in the lives of many Polish people. We will love him and send him home safe in a year!

Then came the departing Missionaries...Sister Smith, Elder Augustyn and Elder Torke! Sister Smith and Elder Torke had finished their mission in Poznan...Elder Torke being the Branch President there. Elder Augustyn had come up from Lodz where he had been the District Leader. All three of these Missionaries couldn't believe that their missions were ending. They all seemed to be in a daze....and all were very tired.

After dinner with the Assistants and a great testimony meeting, it was time for our traditional 'tie cutting' ceremony!

Sister Smith left behind a scarf that she had worn almost every day during the cold winters of her mission...

Elder Torke was willing to leave his 'lucky baptism tie' in Poland.

And Elder Augustyn was willing to leave a tie with me.....maybe it's because he had just bought a ton of new ones at 'Adam's Tie Company'!

We will miss these great Missionaries in our Mission. They have bright futures ahead of them, but we hope they will keep us in their prayers as we continue to bring the gospel to the people of Poland who are looking for the truth. Good Luck Sister Smith, Elder Augustyn and Elder Torke! We love you and appreciate all the hard work you put into your missions.

Poland Warsaw Mission transfer day 7/7/11

Well, it's transfer day; and that means that not only our new missionaries find out where they are going, but there will be changes for MANY missionaries in the mission as well.
A very hard transfer is when it's time to transfer an Assistant. Elder Garrett has served faithfully as President Nielson's 'right-hand-man' for several months. It is now time for him to take all that he has learned and go back out into the field. He is heading up to Gdansk to work with the great missionaries in that area. Good luck, Elder Garrett. We love you!

Now, back to our New Missionaries and their assignments.....

Sister Folsom will be taking the train down to Katowice and will be trained by Sister Allen.

Elder Gudnason will be traveling with Elder Garrett and will be serving in Gdansk with his new companion/Trainer, Elder Krzyminski.

Elder Roberts will be trained by Elder Tribe, a former Assistant, and he will be serving in Wroclaw.

And Elder Pofelski will serve in Lodz alongside his Trainer, Elder Hannemann.

Our newest Missionaries are excited and eagar to serve. President Nielson has assigned them to some of the best Missionaries in the mission to be their first companions. We know great blessings will come to these Missionaries as they listen to not only thier Trainers, but to the Spirit as well.

Our Assistants, Elders Hillyard, Eastman and Garrett grab a 'quick bite' before loading all the Trainees and their luggage into the cars to head for the train station.

The 'hub' on transfer day.....out in front of the busiest train station in Poland....Warszawa Centralna!

And this is what these new missionaries have to traverse through to get to their respective trains. (If you blow this picture up, you can see a group of missionaries in the top right hand corner.)

Our Elders take very good care of our Sisters as you can see by the picture below: Elder Murphey is helping Sister Folsom manuever her lugguage onto her train to Katowice.

Pictured Below: Elders Gundason, Vreeken, Kennedy, Lundin, Hooker, Sheridan, Johnson, Garrett and Murphey. All helping with transfers or being transferred! (Yes, and those are our Assistants in the back showing off!)

Some of the great Sisters serving in the Poland Warsaw Mission....(L to R)Sister Bailey (who is waiting to pick up her new companion, Sister Jones); Sister Stay (who is transferring to Lodz); and Sister Ellis (who is waiting for her companion, Sister Mann, to come in on a train). We love the Sisters in this Mission. They are all such hard workers, have very strong testimonies and are here to serve their Savior.

Baptisms in Katowice and Poznan......

This last week, we had three special women who followed the example of their Savior and were baptized into His church.

KATOWICE! (L to R): Patryk, Adrian, Sisters Allen and Mann, Dominika, Tomek, Anja, Elders Sorn and Jensen.

POZNAN! (L to R): Sister McAdams, Marzena, Elder Torke, Sister Smith.

We welcome these 3 new Sisters into the Church!!! We love you and appreciate your strong testimonies and commitment to follow our Savior. Witam vas!

New Missionaries....Day 2!

Our new missionaries were ready to keep 'a missionary's schedule' as they were up at 6:30 am and getting ready for the day.

Elder Gudnason and Elder Roberts are busy studying their scriptures in the basement where the Elders stay......

...while Sister Folsom and Elder Pofelski had decided on the living room to do their studying.
After breakfast, we were all ready to take the short walk to the Mission Office to start their legal work. As we walked outside, we realized....

that is was MORE than drizzling....the rain was coming down hard. So we switched to plan B! We all crammed into President's car!

Letting Elder Roberts out of the trunk....he volunteered!

With their legal packets waiting for them in the conference room at the Mission Office, our new arrivals were ready to tackle this assignment.....legally entering the country!

We found that Elder Gudnason (far left) had it easy....he is from Iceland and has German citizenship....he basically sat and watched the others go through the frustrating paperwork. Our Office Elders (far right), Elders Murphey, Johnson and Sheridan made it as painless as possible. Also pictured...(Center) Elder Hillyard, our new Assistant!

After the office meeting, the Assistants were in charge of our new missionaries today. Normally, we take them to the Rynek where they can start contacting.....But the weather was not cooperating. Missionaries, however, always have a back-up plan, and our Assistants did.

Then they found themselves at the 'Warsaw '44 Uprising Museum' where they were able to learn some valuable history lessons. Already loving the Polish people, it made them appreciate them even more to see what this country has gone through. The Poles are a great people with a great heritage. Now, you might say....what about 'contacting'? They did it! Books of Mormons were placed, appointments were made as they traveled the city on buses. They talked to everyone.....and some even listened! That's why we are here....to find those who are searching for the truth and want to follow the example of their Savior, Jesus Christ.