Green

It helps me to get some perspective on distances, so this superimposition of Poland on Utah might give that. Last weekend we had a country-wide YSA conference in Zakopane in the south. So we drove what would be from Preston, ID to Kanab, UT. On this map, Warsaw would be about where the word Provo is.

The first week of May has two different national holidays, so we traveled south to the mountains with half of the Poland populace and the other half passed us going north to the Baltic. As we passed one toll-booth I clocked the stopped northbound traffic at 3 miles. A fun start to your vacation. I guess it's good for road building because they get the tolls plus the tax on all the spent gas from sitting to pay the toll. The roads are pretty good, thanks to the EU, but a lovely freeway suddenly becomes somebody's farm within 100 meters. You learn quickly how good your brakes are.

Twice a year the young adults from across Poland get together for a conference. The 13 small branches are spread around the country so they really look forward to these events. Many are the only young adults in their branches, and they're on their own and sometimes they're even more isolated from family because of their Church membership. Sharing fun and spiritual experiences with like-minded people becomes very important. We had 28 there and they originate from Ukraine, Taiwan, Thailand, Denmark, Holland, Spain, and of course even Poland.

The Carpathian mountains were green and beautiful and we were lucky to place our hike during the hours of the week with the heaviest rain. A dollar bought you a lovely rain poncho so the trail was covered with Teletubbies 

There are several of these shepherd cabins in the mountains and they're happy to sell you some smoked cheese made from the sheep there

Bridges on a sort of bridge

The young adults stayed in a hostel and we held our activities there as best we could, though there were other guests so we had to respect their use of the place too. One dinner we ate at a nearby restaurant. The lady who owned it was very accommodating and someone asked if we could use her restaurant to hold our Sunday meeting. She agreed and asked if she could sit in. During our sacrament meeting she asked if she could take the sacrament with the rest of us. She sat mesmerized as so many of these strong young people bore testimony of their love of the Savior and what the gospel means to them.

Not every day was dreary. This is the view from our room.

We completed our first transfer (9 weeks), which made us proud. We stopped in a small city on our way home to see another senior couple and also an Elder who was with us when we arrived in Gdansk. He had to inform us that "you're pretty much green through your third transfer."  Sigh, we're still as green as the countryside.

Beautiful gardens in our city of Gdansk. The building is a "bishop's palace." 

There's also a well-funded church next to it. We were lucky enough to visit right when an organ recital happened, showcasing the instrument built in the 1700's. 

We were walking and talking with our local friend about some of the symbols at the church and its abundant iconography. Jean pointed out the Greek symbols on the side of this building. 

If you look at the symbols on the open door you can get a clue to what these symbols mean.

(common symbols in Europe for the Ladies' and Men's)