What's inside

If there are things out of the ordinary, I try to share those rather than our daily routine of being blessed to serve in Poland. I could tell you the schedule of our days and how we fill them, but I know I don't find that amusing or even interesting, so you wouldn't either. I'll remark (again, probably) with happiness that we don't follow the white handbook like we did (should have) 37 years ago. Our church leaders must've figured out that there wouldn't be a senior couple serving their second mission if that were required. They must also realize that if we ain't got the wake-up-stay-busy-go-to-bed figured out by our age, we won't.

All that to justify the pictures I've chosen to share this week.

While driving between cities we had noticed, more than once, a picturesque city on a hill next to a bend in the river and so decided on p-day to find it. It turned out to be much prettier from a distance. The city itself was run down when we got to see it up-close on the inside. 

I guess that's often how some things and people make an impression on us.

This view made me think of Symbiotes (like Venom) taking over this very old, very beautifully restored, very brick castle. It turns out you can rent rooms here which might make you feel regal, if you could sleep knowing how many people have lived and died there.

I hope this picture serves for your weekly bridge. Again, no shortage of bricks here. The arches make nice picture-frame setups. This is a church, which I think is remarkable.

Jean went in to check out the inside and walked in on a funeral. No pics.

The places and structures are indeed interesting, but really it's the people that have the most lasting impact. 

This is what our Sunday evenings look like, usually with a couple more from the branch, but we love being with all the exceptional young missionaries (Elders Stewart, Long, Sisters Memmott, Emett). Sister Memmott kept her birthday secret until after meetings on Sunday, but she got found out. In this picture Jean is saying "Hurry and take the picture Elder, the wax is melting on the cake!"

I adjusted the camera for several more seconds to heighten that emotion.

We traveled to another city, Szczecin (the missionaries call it "Sketch-in"), a 5-hour drive to the west of us, right on the German border. Elder and Sister Williams (Bountiful) serve there with one pair of Elders. Elder and Sister Womack joined us also. The six of us took time to visit a Slavic and Viking village that has been recreated on an original site dating from circa 1000. 

Elder Williams serves as the branch president in Szczecin but his main assignment is as an area auditor. We traveled so I could audit his branch, which was interesting to audit the auditor. Sorry they got cut out of this selfie a bit. In appropriate auditor fashion, he acted as if he didn't hear any of my sharp witticisms about financial processes. 

One of the devices they used in medieval audits was this chair. At that time it wasn't so much about identifying financial malfeasance as it was about identifying witches. 

Sister Williams, a nurse, reminded me about my tetanus booster status as I was sitting down to try the comfort of the thing, so I chose not to. At the village they also had a guillotine and an iron maiden (Excellent!)  

Winding up, I'm sorry I don't have any profundity to finish with. Please be assured that we did feel the Spirit many times in our service and study this week.

I just have one missed opportunity to share. About halfway home from our drive to Szczecin we stopped for dinner in a pretty city, surprisingly large for being out in that part of the country. We found a great restaurant and checked the trusty Google maps also for points of interest. As luck would have it, this attraction had a stellar 4.5 star rating.

Regrettably, it was already closed so we didn't get to see what kind of crap they have in there, which they must value from the tightness of their security. But, you can see the grass around it was exceptionally lush.

The sign is an abbreviation, but it says "Museum of Municipal Water Supply and Sewage"