On July 1st, which is Canada Day, we met at the mission home for the Seniors' Conference. Usually it takes about 5 - 5 1/2 hours to drive from Gdansk to Warsaw, so we allowed 6 hrs for our drive, just in case there'd be more construction and/or truck traffic. We were lucky. Hardly any trucks to pass and the construction zones were not backed up either. We got to Warsaw in less than 5 hrs. We were the first seniors to arrive and so were able to help Sister Nielson with the dinner preparations. Clarence made hamburger patties and I cleaned some chicken breasts.
Here we are - 5 couples and 3 single sisters ready to receive instruction from Prsident and Sister Nielson (standing at the back).
After the very good instructional meeting all the sisters met in the kitchen to make the final preparations for the meal. I was mixing a salad and didn't have time to pose for the picture like the rest of the sisters did. The young sister had been released from Temple Square mssion in April and was now visiting her parents on their mission in Poland.
President and Sister Nielson in their "Cook of Mormon" aprons.
Filling our plates with hamburgers, chicken (that the men had barbecued) and all the other yummy stuff.
Emptying our plates.
On Saturday (July 2nd) we went for a tour of Praga, the part of Warsaw which is on the other side of the Visla river. We were to meet our tour guide in front of a cathedral, where he was finishing with another tourist group. While we were standing waiting for him, this man walked there. He was wearing nothing but a hospital gown. His left leg had been ambutated just below the knee so he was walking with the help of crutches. We all looked at him wondering where he had come from and why he was there. It took Pres. Nielson less than a minute to act on the situation. He walked over to the man with our interpreter, gave him his coat, went to our tour bus to get his lunch and offer it to the man, while the interpreter made a few phonecalls. It took longer than we thought, but an ambulance came and took the man with them. Apparently he had had surgery and was on strong medication and had walked out of the hospital which was just about 1/2 block from the cathedral.
(Pres.Nielson got his coat back)
This was our first stop in Praga, which is a very popular place for musicians, artists, etc. because of the atmosphere in the area. This is a statue of musicians. On the drum they have a phone number that you can call to hear music. It didn't work that day.
Pretending to be part of the group.
In the courtyard of the old apartment blocks they have a place where people could stop for prayers etc.
The building with the windows covered in red was very significant after WWII when the Russians were in control. Even though Poland supposedly had its own leaders, about 80% of the government leaders Russians. It is here that they took people to be interrogated to see what part they had played in the Uprising and how 'loyal' they would be to the new government. Many heated verbal 'battles' took place here. Many were convicted of political crimes and either executed or sent to Siberia.
(I copied this from the Nielsons' blog. Sister Nielson is better with words. I hope she doesn't mind.)
Many buildings in Praga have been left as they originally were. This is the oldest wooden house in the area - 160 years.
There are many, many buildings like this one. People live in them. Our interpreter called them "Ugly but beautiful".
After touring in Praga we visited an old prison. Above the gate is a sign "Gate of execution". Some of the prisoners from here were sent to Siberia. It is a big complex of buildings. Today some of the buildings are used by Polish army.
Ready to leave the prison area.
The prison is on top of a hill. Here are the seniors walking down the stairs leading to the prison. This is only about half of the stairs. It was quite a climb going up.
Time to get on the bus and back to the mission home, and back to our homes in various cities in Poland.
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