District Relief Society Conference......Day 2!

Saturday morning, the Relief Society sisters gathered at the Wolska Chapel. This is most of us....with several slipping in after the picture was taken. Almost every Branch in Poland was represented. The sisters had a great time visiting before the actual meeting started. The Sisters were entertained by Ewa, Jackie, Kornelia and Gosia (not shown) as they acted out the "Do's and Don'ts" of Visiting Teaching. Nice job, sisters.....we have such talented leaders. The sisters listen intently as Jackie and her translator, Magda, lead a discussion regarding the skits just performed. Visiting Teaching is a program that is making great progress in Poland. The sisters are learning what a blessing it is to be a visiting teacher...the right way. Taking my thoughts from the March 2012 Liahona, Ada (my translator) and I talked about taking our Visiting Teaching to a higher level....to truly love and strive to meet the needs of our sisters....temporally and spiritually. Gosia and her translator, Ola, explaining the rest of the day. As you can see, with many English speaking sisters, a good translator is critical....and we have many of them. A BIG thank you to all these great and gifted sisters for sharing their talent of language with all of us. After a morning of instruction, it was time for ...... ....Crafts! Renata had worked hard to supply the sisters with fabric tubes which they will be making necklaces and bracelets from. When she was done explaining how it was done....

...everyone made a 'mad dash' to the table to pick their favorite color. Iwona and Agnieszka's baby, Maria, work on this bright red necklace... ... while Ania helped her good friend from Lodz, Zosia, make this beautiful pink and white one. Everyone stopped for a minute to 'model' their creations! It was a great activity....but now we're moving on to the next one.....

Teaching the Young Women how to decoupage last May was such a success, the sisters wanted to try their hand at it.

So Iwona explained the process, and everyone had a lot of fun being creative. What a great time with such great sisters. It was also a very special day for Iwona....today was her birthday. She is a lovely '18' (and will be ever more!) as her daughters, Ada and Sara, presented her with some delicious birthday cakes to share with all the sisters.

The Relief Society Conference was truly a wonderful event. It brought sisters together from all around Poland. They are not alone in living the gospel daily. There are many others striving to do the same. It was a great bonding experience that all will remember.

A special THANK YOU goes out to the Warsaw District Relief Society Presidency that spent hours planning and carrying out this great event. Well done, Sisters! (LtoR): Jackie (1st Counselor), Gosia (President), Kornelia (2nd Counselor). You are making a difference in the lives of the sisters in Poland! I love being a member of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...the largest womens organization in the world...and the only one established through the priesthood of God. Heavenly Father loves His daughters!

District Relief Society Conference....Day 1!

The Warsaw District Relief Society has organized a conference. Not wanting to leave any of our dear sisters out, all of Poland was invited! The conference started at the Mission Home Friday evening! Soon after 4:00 pm, Sisters started to arrive from all over the country. (LtoR): Gosia (Katowice), Kornelia (Bydgoszcz), Irena, Sister Tarasevich, Zosia (Lodz) and Gosia (Warsaw 1). They also brought a surprise with them....Polish kabasa (sausage)! You don't have a 'grill' in Poland without kabasa...and guess who has no idea how to buy it? So, these great sisters helped me out! There was lots of visiting to catch up on as we were waiting for everyone to arrive. (LtoR): Monika(Warsaw 2), Irena & Zosia(Lodz), Sister Malinowska(Wroclaw), Marzena and Sister Gorniak(Warsaw 2). The foyer was starting to fill up....as it does when the missionaries come over. But this time, it was full of purses instead of backbacks! Elder Peck and Elder Jensen were busy outside preparing hamburgers, chicken and of course, kabasa! We thank these good missionaries as they worked extra hard keeping up with lots of hungry women! Having over 50 women in attendance, we were feeding them everywhere in the mission home...the dining room, the living room, the stairs inside and...... ....OUT! No one seemed to mind....everyone was just having fun catching up on each other's lives. Soon it was time to break out the dessert....an ice cream specialty of the house! (LtoR): Sisters Jensen, Reed (who serves in Poznan who came with the sisters in her branch) and Sister Peck. A very big THANK YOU to Sister Jensen and Sister Peck who spent the day with me cooking, cutting and organizing. You were both lifesavers! It's amazing what 6 hands can do in a kitchen! After dessert, there was more visiting around the table.... ...more visiting on the couches.... ...and basically any open spot that was available. Above: Marta (Poznan) and Ola (Wroclaw) discuss gospel principles with Marzena who has a baptismal date for later in the month.

It was a great evening...but still another great day to come!

The next morning: Those sisters that spent the night at the mission home. Everyone was well-rested and ready for a day full of spirituality and fun! Standing: Sister Jensen, Renata(Bydgoszcz), Sister Reed and Marta (Poznan), Renata (Bydgoszcz), Malgorzata and Gosia (Poznan), Marzena-Ola-Sister Malinowska(Wroclaw). Sitting: Kelly(Bydgoszcz), Patrycia(Bialystok), Gryrzena(Poznan), Ewa (Bydgoszcz), Dagmara (Szczecin) and Zoja (Bialystok). Saturday we all headed to the Wolska Chapel for the conference. This was so fun to be with all of these great Sisters. This was a tremendous event.

Zone Leader Council at Nowy Swiat

We changed things around this month for our Zone Leader Council and held the meeting at Nowy Swiat 38. This office space located on the most popular street in Warsaw was the first piece of property owned by the church. It was the first meeting place for the Saints in Warsaw and also served as the Family History Center for years. Now, it is a great location to teach investigators as it is in the 'heart' of town and is very accessible. (L toR): Elder Myler, Elder Fletcher (ZL Warsaw), Elder Jensen (ZL Bydgoszcz), Elder Basha, Elder Hooker (ZL Bydgoszcz) and Elder Waits (ZL Katowice).

Part of the reason we held the council meeting here was to help Elder Hooker obtain his residence card. He and Elder Jensen came in from Bydgoszcz and needed to go to a specific government office to finish up some legal matters. It was downtown and rather than have them run back across town we took the Council to them...Nowy Swiat was the easier location. (These residence cards are similiar to visas, this allows us to be in Poland for two years. Sometimes they can be a real 'challenge' to obtain.)

We had not planned on this being one of the hottest days of the year. Nowy Swiat has no air conditioning and poor ventilation. Elder Basha was doing his best to make things better for everyone. (Notice President Nielson's 'make-shift desk!)

With the distractions, the Council accomplished many important things for the mission: discussing ways to unify the mission, ways to increase our polish language skills and set baptism goals for the next quarter. It ended with a wonderful, spirit-filled testimony meeting.

Lunch break---Subway sandwiches, 7 layer dip, chips, homemade cookies and (warm) juice...

... and a needed break next door for some COOL refreshments. This is one of the advantages of meeting at Nowy Swiat!

It was a great day and what a neat experience to meet in the historic and wonderful Church site. It's back to our areas and getting all that was discussed to the mission. Everyone headed to the train station or their areas. What a wonderful meeting. We have great leaders in this mission. It's a small group at this time. Some of these Zone Leaders have had to do 'double-duty'...Zone Leader and trainer! But they are doing a great job....the mission is in good hands!

On the way back to the mission home we followed this important business truck. It says "insurance for your buildings against pigeons" --correct my polish if I am wrong! We can only imagine how busy they are....

We love this country! It is full of great people who are looking for truth....and we are finding them!

Fourth of July in Poland

Our Assistants helped us 'kind of have' a 4th of July celebration. Elders Myler and Basha volunteered to man the BBQ if we organized a little something later in the evening. So they showed up in true American Missionary Patriotic attire.

By the end of the evening we also Celebrated with a Polish favorite- Kinder Joy Eggs...even BETTER than Kinder Eggs! Elders Pofelski, Szymanski, Gudnason, Dopp, Elder and Sister Peck, with Sister Holmgren and Forsey along with the Assistants.

We wanted to thank Sister Forsey for helping. She is serving in Warsaw I and teaching some great people and doing a marvelous job.

Her companion, Sister Holmgren, is also a great missionary and doing well with the language and in teaching. She also is good at contacting and talking with everyone.

Elders Pofelski and Dopp helped the assistants with the hamburgers. Elder Basha handled most of the chores, but the others were there for moral support.

In the end it was a great evening (we got together after proselyting hours- so around 8:30pm)
and had a good time together. We are grateful to be where we are and from where we came from. We are truly a blessed people. The weather is getting very warm but our spirits are bright and excited to be doing what we are called to do- Preach the Restored Gospel to the great people in Poland.

Bialystok- Out and Back Sunday 1 July 2012

We left this morning for a 2 1/2 hour drive to Bialystok. After coming back from Lodz last night on the newly opened A2 Highway, we were excited to do some more driving.... Well, perhaps not... but the drive to Bialystok is not bad at all. As you leave Warsaw and cross the Wisla River you go through the sound tunnels (thank you Marcin for letting me know what these are). The construction of these tunnels is now complete. They are pretty cool, and we sailed right along.It was a beautiful day. It's that time of year when people selling berries and mushrooms come out of the wood work...out of the forests, at least, to display their products. Certain parts of the road are lined with people selling fruits and vegetables. We rarely see anyone stop. But someone has to because there are many people who have their little jars and baskets all lined up. The storks are back! They are passing through Poland for about 6 months, have their babies then fly back to South Africa for the winter. This is a rare sight. Usually you see 3 storks in a nest...a mother, a father and a baby. This lucky family had twins! We saw this little cemetary with a small church in the distance and had to pull over and just take a quick picture. This was such a nice setting and a great morning. Some of our favorite friends were also out today. They were giving things away to certain drivers... now they had a lot more business than the berry people! The Euro Cup games ended last week and through the road construction zones on top of one of the big cranes some hopeful fan placed this enthustic fellow. We wished Poland had gone a little further in the tournament than they did.We arived in Bialystok and saw in the distance one of the many large churches in this wonderful city. Things this morning were still quiet and the weather was fabulous. Finally reaching Bialystok, we followed this cautious driver all the way to the chapel. Sundays seem to be the 'day of choice' for the 'L drivers' to be out. For someone to get a license in Poland, you must pay to take a driving course, take a written test and spend 30 hours in an 'L' car with an instructor. We just loved the "racing stripe" and this car. Arriving at the Bialystok chapel, Helena (a recent convert), is already there fulfilling her church calling. She has a few callings and one is to make sure the Hymnbooks are ready for use. Elders Walter and Manwill were in Missionary Correlation meeting with President Libbert, the Bialystok Branch President. The Relief Society of the Bialystok Branch: Patricia, Anna, Helena and Zoja...all great Sisters. They do a great job taking care of one another. Our 'traveling trainer', Elder Kennedy, was also in Bialystok. (LtoR): Elders Kennedy, Walter and Manwill. Expect some baptisms in this little Branch soon...they are teaching some incedible people right now.

It was such a great Sunday...a great spirit was at church, the members there are fulfilling their callings and it was a beautiful day..... Until we were on our way home and just outside of Warsaw. We got caught in a flash hail storm! I thought the hail stones were going to break the front window of the car! And the sound was horrible. But at least we were in a car! We pulled over and waited under a tree until it got a little better... These poor people were ALL drenched but had found some shelter under cover of a bus stop. It was truly a 'freak' storm. It only lasted about 15 minutes and then......... ...the clouds began to break, and we had sunshine the last few kilometers to the mission home. All in all, it was a great day. How can it not be a great day when we get to gather and mingle with the Saints in Poland? I love this church......and the people of Poland. This gospel makes EVERY life better!