Here and there

After a busy week my companion has gone to bed early. This provides two things: 1) Time to stop putting off writing a line or two to you, and 2) A chance to get the bag of chips she's been hiding from me. If you care about either, I'm guessing it's the first.

It's not for lack of events that I haven't written, it's more because of not knowing where to start. So, to the photos...

We and our rental van left home in Gdańsk when it was dark, added young adults at 4-hour intervals, and arrived at Freiberg when it was dark. We planned on a bus for more than 20. The number who could go changed our plan first to two vans, and ended up as one van and a car. 

All I can think of is joy from the trip and from being at the Freiberg temple. 

Five of our eight young people, having been baptized just months ago, learned by experience what it means to be baptized for a dead person.

 "the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also" D&C 128:18

Our service opportunity allowed us to search everywhere for a leaf that had not already been raked.

"Each temple is a beacon of light and hope. The temple, the House of the Lord, stands as a symbol of our faith in life after death and as a stepping stone to eternal life for us and our families. The temple is a sacred and essential part of God’s plan for our happiness, now and forever." ---Russell M. Nelson

Dresden, near Freiberg and not far from Poland, has been carefully rebuilt in much the same way as our city of Gdańsk.

The old, dark stones contrast the new ones making obvious the painstaking rebuilding effort.

"It matters not how completely ruined our lives may seem. It matters not how scarlet our sins, how deep our bitterness, how lonely, abandoned, or broken our hearts may be. Even those who are without hope, who live in despair, who have betrayed trust, surrendered their integrity, or turned away from God can be rebuilt." ---He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2016

And there were bridges.

"Excuse me, we're going to go up on this interesting bridge, will you take our picture on it?" 

I can't fault them for this picture, they did what we asked.

Inspecting missionary apartments gives us a chance to see new cities, such as Białystok (the one in eastern Poland, not the one in The Producers)

There is no want for churches here, just one with authority to perform ordinances and a plan for us to become like our Father.

“Ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God” D&C 42:6.

This could've been a selfie if it weren't for the nice man who snapped a picture of us after the Jim Gaffigan show in Warsaw. 

I won't include it here, but he did end up taking a selfie too, "because he's a weirdo."

If I included the picture of the friends and missionaries at our house, you're probably nicer than me and wouldn't react with "Oh, a bunch of people I don't know, eating food. Fascinating!"

We had a great feast, though, and good feelings all around. We hope you did too.

Half of the people it reminded of home, and for half it was their first Thanksgiving. 

They now understand why it's the best holiday. 

Bonus, WE get to relive it for days to come.

"Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul." D&C 59:18-19