Monday, April 8th - We flew to Warsaw, Poland and met with our wonderful AAAs there, along with some Polish church leaders! We were not only impressed with the wonderful people we met, but, also their beautiful meetinghouse with its copies of Books of Mormon in so many different languages because of so many different nationalities that meet there. In addition, it has been so interesting learning more about the Polish people and their sad past. However, after almost nine-tenths of the city was wiped out, the Old Town's rebirth was an incredible feat that has earned it Old Town UNESCO World Heritage Status. It is hard to imagine all of this was a pile of rubble 70 years ago because it is restored today to be one of the most pleasant Old Towns we've ever visited with happy, loving people!
The Palace of Culture and Science reminded us so much of the Seven Sisters in Moscow because it was a gift from Stalin and the Communist Government to the Polish people. It is huge! It has 42 floors, consumes as much energy as a town of 30,000 and remains the tallest skyscraper in Poland, even though it was built in the 1950s. Although it is very controversial, it is a huge tourist draw and has many purposes for which it is used.
Our AAAs, the Williams from the Warsaw Poland Coordinating Council.
Our driver who took us all over Warsaw. He was fantastic!
A few observations from our short time in Warsaw:
1. Warsaw was reduced to ruins when 85 percent of the city was deliberately destroyed in 1944 by the Germans.
2. The Polish people have worked together as a nation to rebuild their city and country.
3. They love statues and memorials to famous people, religious leaders, and those who have made a difference in their country. One of their biggest sources of pride is the great composer and musician, Frederic Chopin, who spent over half his life in Warsaw. There are reminders everywhere such as the airport named after him, a plaque at the front of the university that he attended, a church that says he played the organ there, park benches that play his music when you sit on them, a museum about him, a statue of him, but probably the most unique is that his heart was smuggled back into Poland by his sister in an urn and bricked into a column in the Holy Cross Church, although he is buried in Paris. This was his wish when he died at only 39 years of age.
4. The Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East is such a heart-wrenching monument, which depicts a railway flatcar set on tracks. Each railway sleeper displays the names of places from which Polish citizens were deported for use as slave labor in the USSR, and the names of the camps where mass killings took place.
5. About six million Polish people of all races died in World War II. The Warsaw Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish Cemeteries in Europe and in the world. It was established in 1806 and contains over 250,000 marked graves as well as mass graves of victims of the Warsaw Ghetto. It just takes your breath away to open that gate in the high walls of the cemetery and see all those graves!
6. Today, Warsaw is a clean, beautifully rebuilt city. Such an absolutely amazing experience to be there for the short time that we were! I would LOVE to go back again some day.
Wednesday, April 9th - We flew to Tirana, Albania, to meet with our new AAAs who just arrived in Albania two weeks ago. They are going to be fantastic! We had a short amount of time to walk around the city, which consists of old and new. We definitely saw their pride in Mother Teresa who was Albanian, although she spent most of her life in service in India.
A huge hail storm suddenly arose, luckily when we were back in our room, that cause a lot of damage to the trees and bushes.
It was amazing to us how deep and fast moving this canal was right in the middle of the park and walkway. It looked so dangerous to pedestrians!
The Pyramid of Tirana- A huge abandoned structure of concrete and glass originally intended as a museum dedicated to a leader of Communist Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. However, when Albanian communism ended in 1991, there was little demand for a museum celebrating the life of a former dictator. It now stands as a memorial to the dismal Communist Albania times.
Mother Teresa
Friday, April 10th - We returned to Frankfurt. I have to say that we were exhausted, but we absolutely had so many wonderful experiences with family and church members, we didn't realize how tired we were until we got home. After unpacking and washing lots of items in preparation for the next group of family members who will be here in about a week and a half, we pretty much crashed into bed that night!
Saturday, April 13th - Our P-Day was spent as a work day. Although we couldn't get into the Area Office, we worked from home pretty much the entire day catching up on emails and work that had to get done immediately. We went grocery shopping and tried out the new car we had received right before we left and found it to be fantastic! Other than that, we just enjoyed staying HOME!
Sunday, April 14th - Church is always wonderful! We have so many new Senior Couples arriving weekly lately! We LOVE getting to know them and hearing about their callings. They come from all over and it is touching to see the sacrifices they make to come--but we all realize the many blessings received far out shadow any sacrifices we make! We will be having our Friedrichsdorf Fast Dinner tonight. It is really going to be special! I will talk about it next week!
A Happy belated birthday to George's older brother, Dwayne! He has always been a great support and source of encouragement to Gpa George, and we all love and appreciate him very much. George is very blessed to have a brother and a sister who truly love the gospel and all stay in touch with each other. Also, belated birthday greetings to our DIL, Angie, who has so many roles she fills--a devoted wife, a cheerleader for her college son, a constant source of strength to her missionary son, a best friend to her two daughters, a loving mother and MIL to her married son and his wife, and now a GRANDMOTHER! She looks way too young! She is always such a willing helper to her extended family, to her neighbors, community, and church! We surely LOVE this "daughter" of ours and hope she had a great birthday!
Much love to all, Gma Laura
No comments:
Post a Comment