Statues of fertility of the ground

I had been wondering why some homes had statues

of Virgin Mary or of the crusified Christ on their

property. I thought it kind of strange, knowing that

most people are poor. How could they afford these

statues!! One day I asked Clarence about them, and he

told me that they were to bring blessings to homes.

When we were driving in southern Poland this past

week, we saw lots of these statues at the corners of

farmers' fields. I asked again, and Clarence said that

they will bring the blessing of fertility to

fields. Here are some pictures of the statues.

I think this one had the year 1901 engraved on to it.

When we saw this one, we thought that these people

 had really gone all the way.

This is what was inside that little building.

We don't know what message this is

supposed to give to us.

Baranow castle

On Wednesday October 19th we visited another

Leszczynski castle. This one is in Baranow

Sandomierskin, south east of Warsaw. 

 This is at the front door.

This is Maria, King Stanislaus Leszczynski's

daughter who married King Louis V of France.

King Stanislaus Leszczynski

Leszczynski coat of arms.

Looking down to the courtyard.

Park around the castle.

On our way towards home

On Tuesday afternoon (Oct 18th) we drove to Warsaw

for the last time. I took this picture with a $100 camera,

through the car window, going 80 km/hr.

Pretty good, eh?

That night we stayed in this hotel. I have no idea who

Ksiaze Poniatowski was, but the hotel was nice and

affordable.

This is the outside of the hotel.

 The curtains looked pretty royal,

..as did the ceiling around the light...

.. and the decorations above the window and around the room. 

The next few pictures were taken through the window.

 This was on the front lawn.

Another picture of the back yard. This building looked

pretty old.

Good bye Gdansk

The branch members got togehter after church

 for a linger longer to say good bye to us.

 Unfortunately we forgot to take a camera with us on Sunday.

On Tuesday we got together with our elders,

had some pizza for lunch and took pictures outside the chapel.

October 5

We have been to Old Town so many times without

a camera and have seen this woman sitting right there

on Dluga (Long street, the main street) knitting away.

I didn't want to leave Gdansk without a picture of her

and all the things that she has knitted and has them for sale.

Too bad she wasn't knitting this time.

Maybe she was getting ready to leave.

As we were walking down Dluga we heard some music.

That is not uncommon. Many musicians come here to

play their instruments and to sing and hopefully earn a few zlotes.

But this time the music was by a youth orchestra from Norway. 

 We stood for  a while to listen to them 

They were quite entertaining.

I hope they got enough zlotes to at least pay for their supper.



This is the real reason why we were out on Dluga.

This choir was singing at the Russian hall.

We've been to that hall several times for various concerts.

Sister Marinella Braszka is Russian and invites us to

concerts that are held at this hall. This time was quite enjoyable.

Their soprano soloist had a beautiful voice. 

September 27

Elder Garrett is an adult now.

Relief Society, October 1, 2011

The sisters in the branch had been asking each other

for recipes, so we decided to get some favorite

recipes together and make them into a little

cookbook. Marzena did an excellent job putting the

book together. What would I do without Marzena! 

Once the book was ready to be handed out some

sisters got together to learn how to braid "pulla" -

Finnish sweet loaf.

While the "pulla" was in the oven.....

...we discussed the importance of visiting teaching.

Our "pulla" didn't quite look the same as it does when

 braided by an experience baker.

 But warm "pulla" tastes good no matter what it looks like.

New soccer stadium

 In 2012 the European soccer tournament will

be in Poland. This is the new soccer stadium that

was built in Gdansk. It seats 44000 people. 

There is another new stadium in Gdynia, which

is only 30-45 min from Gdansk.

When I asked Clarence where he wanted to go

or what he wanted to see on his birthday, this

is where he wanted to go. We did not go in.

Just to see the outside was enough for him. 

Just a close-up of the "arena". I don't know what

PGE stands for. I guess I should ask somebody.

Two baptisms

The Gdansk branch got two new members on Sept. 24th.

This is Anna (we call her Ania)

And this is Patryk.

We don't have a baptismal font at the building where we meet,

so we rented a swimming pool for this occassion.

The pool is within a walking distance from our chapel,

but this time we had three cars available so we could drive

to and from the pool.

President Kempa baptized both Ania and Patryk.

Elders Garrett, Gladun and Waits had taught them

the discussions. Elder Gladun has been transferred.

Elders Waits and Garrett are in this picture. 

Here we are after the baptism at the chapel  ready

to enjoy some cookies and juice and to visit.

It was a very happy evening for all of us.

Pres. Kempa took this picture.