Contrast

Clear sky after a storm.
Late night drive home from Warsaw

It's June now, and that gives us long days of light to enjoy. The rules say missionaries are to be in their apartments by 21:00. A few nights lately we've been out well beyond that curfew.






We were fortunate to attend another baptism, this one in Warsaw. Warsaw has the only church meetinghouse in Poland and the chapel was full of people (about 60). It felt comforting to have such a large group of saints together. I found myself wishing we could bring our branch members to experience a sacrament meeting there.



We had planned with our district, the Elders, the Sisters and us, to spend a p-day in a town on the Baltic called Hel. We got to do that this week and it was a lot of fun to be with them and a couple of young adult investigators. There are too many jokes that Jean won't allow here, so we'll focus on the name's meaning from the Greek, which is "light," like the sun. Sigh, we'll have to leave it at that...

(you can private message me for more pics of that)

No swimming for missionaries.
Wading? OK.

I know what you're thinking, but no,
that's not Elder Bridge

After a beautiful, SUNNY (hot) day in "that place" we got back to the chapel for our branch FHE. One of our missionaries was not feeling well at FHE, and eventually got very sick from the heat.

We ended up following an ambulance to the hospital ER. After a priesthood blessing and the IV fluids, it was like night and day and the missionary was up and about and ready to go. We learned a little about "free healthcare for all" that night.

There are no staff to tell you where to go or what to do, only other patients who are waiting and will make sure you don't get in the queue ahead of any of them. You don't need to speak the language to understand that look. Wait outside one closed door in the hopes that it will eventually open, and when it does push your way to find out what's next. Then wait outside another door and go through the same ritual. Then another. And another. Then wait until somebody says you can leave. I thought of a more appropriate descriptor: health-nowedont-care. We exited the hospital at 2:30 AM, to see the sun rising on another beautiful day. Thankfully, all was well and still is.

(As I write this I realize our ER experiences at home have not been much different)

A bridge.
The "infinity pool" effect from 300 years ago

Tunnel of lindens

Another similar experience was when we took our dear sister to the dentist for a toothache. During our 4 hours of waiting, again in what looked like an abandoned building with only other patients, we heard many stories from her life, some we had not heard before. She is 92, so if you do the math you can see that she was born before the war, the same age our mothers would be. She told of when children were selected to work in the factories during the war. Her older sister was required to go, but because she was sickly, Halina went as her sister. She packed her suitcase with her carefully ironed clothes and personal belongings for the trip. When they arrived they took from them their clothes and everything, even every stitch they were wearing---boys, girls, men, women. They were all together in a large room. They were then herded to another building where there was a pile of old clothes and shoes from which they had to scramble to get something they could wear.

Storyteller Halina

From time to time we hear people refer to life during the communist era. They tell us that stores had two things: vinegar and mustard. For one man, his memory is the empty meat hooks. Some people we able to barter services for eggs or produce from farmers. I'm struck that this was not anciently or during the great depression, but at the same time Jean and I were "struggling" in school to make it with our young family.

This month there are several activities happening in Gdańsk celebrating 1989, the year of the first free elections. This marks the end of communism (and our James's birthday).

We're always happy when we see a 127 to take us home

The shipyards in Gdańsk are a symbol of Solidarity as that is where the strikes and worker negotiations started in the early 80's. In 1989, with a free market, immediately the only customer that every business had had, the Soviet government, was gone. When they no longer took the ships, the coal, the buses, these companies had to compete on the global market and they were years behind in technology. The idle shipyards are now only a monument to that time. Farmers had no means to get their products to market and infrastructure was very dilapidated. We still see highways that are old and deeply rutted, but that is changing rapidly. The new government at the time decided to implement two-years of no business tax and thus everybody started a business. This got them through the initial struggles of capitalism and today there's no product we can't get.



Some missionaries have had trouble getting their residency (visa) to stay legally in Poland. You have 90 days to secure your residency. One group of missionaries, about 5, didn't meet the deadline and were deported from Poland and reassigned to Chicago. That was obviously very emotional for them and this has caused a lot of worry. Thus, we were sure to file our paperwork on our first day in Gdańsk. The elusive goal is to get a certain stamp in your passport which means you're legally in the country. We were a little stressed because the first available appointment was 93 days after our entry. Of course, you can get no information on the status of your application because they are flooded with applicants. We have spent full days at the immigration office ourselves and with other missionaries. Friday we went to the office again, this time for our scheduled appointment. The lady brought out our files, which was a relief that they had them, a stack of about 40 pages. She had us correct a few pages and stamped EVERYthing. She had 5 stamps that she pounded on several pages at a time---bam, bam, bam, bam, bam---usually three stamps per page, then signed each stamp. I was watching the stamps she reached for, noticing there was a large red one she never used. I thought, that must be "the stamp" we want in our passport. Every time she touched our passports, I held my breath, waiting for her to reach for that stamp, then was disappointed when she only looked at some bit of information in them. We created 30 more pages during the interview for her to pound with different stamps and sign. After just 2 hours, she took Jean's passport, reached under her desk and pulled out this HUGE stamp and BAM! We're legal!

The moment of legality

Stepping in

Of the six senior couples who serve in Poland, three of us are assigned to help with young adults, along with supporting our individual branches. Four of the six senior Elders serve as branch president as well. We've been blessed to work with Elder and Sister Murri who have led the YSA efforts so well and are now returning home (Eden, UT). We met with them and Elder and Sister Womack (Vancouver, WA) to learn all that they know and figure out how we will carry on in that assignment.

Elder and Sister Murri in Toruń
near a section of the old city wall

We had to find a centrally located city to be fair, so Toruń was chosen and we had to wear p-days all day and take in the picturesque old town. Just one of those sacrifices you make as a missionary.

Elder and Sister Womack listening intently
whilst enjoying some refreshment

Interesting contrast in styles

The Vistula (Visła) is the longest and most
important river in Poland, flowing from the south
all the way to the port city of Gdańsk

Elder Olschewski navigating to a good spot to baptize Karol

Among the three YSA couples (now two) we have a goal to support new young adults by attending their baptism whenever possible. Baptisms don't happen every week or month, so it's special to be a part of it. We traveled to Katowice in the south to witness Karol, a fine young man, accept baptism. They had found a pool to rent at a rehabilitation center to do the ordinance after meeting at the branch. The branch members gave great support with a dozen people attending. It was also a treat to meet the pair of Elders and Sisters there and see a little bit how the work goes in that city.

Elder Silski and Elder Wagley with Mateusz and Natalie
changing their family history

Today is transfer day and all around the mission people are crying. There's also excitement for the changes and new challenges. We are so sad to see Elder Wagley leave us in Gdańsk. He has been a solid support for us during our time here and he's just a great young man and missionary. He'll spend his last 4 weeks re-opening an area before returning to Ohio. All the missionaries are great, of course, and saying good-bye is a fact of missionary life, but that doesn't make good-byes easier.

Exactly one transfer ago (9 weeks) the Elders received a phone call from a Facebook sister in England who's serving her mission there from Germany. She gave the name of a man who lives north of Gdańsk who made contact through FB and wanted some questions answered.  Thus they met Mateusz and his wife Natalie.

I could write much about Mateusz and Natalie, but to condense who they are I'd say they are golden. Mateusz is a real manly man who thinks deeply about the things that really matter. Natalie is a strong, independent woman originally from Czech and a great mom to their daughter (1). 

He researched all sides of this Mormon religion before the missionaries even met him, so that the Elders were amazed at what he and Natalie already knew and all the expected concerns were already resolved. One telling bit is that they were listening to the Mormon channel! Incredible.

Finding the right spot where we could be undisturbed.
Interesting sight at the beach with two dressed
in all white and the rest in the
kind of suits and dresses you wouldn't expect.

Being the kind of man he is, Mateusz determined to be baptized in the Baltic Sea. I mentioned before how cold that sea is, I mean, colder than ice cold. Seriously. We knew he could handle it, and Elder Wagley too, but we were concerned for Natalie, because she is more than eight months along. They eventually decided that she would be baptized next week in a pool that we hope to arrange. A nice bonus is that Mateusz received the Aaronic priesthood Sunday so now he can baptize her.

Real men

When Elder Wagley ventured first into the water to find a suitable spot that was deep enough, we all watched in anticipation for his reaction to see if this could actually work. He said, "This is really not bad, it's kinda pleasant." It was a given that Mateusz wouldn't flinch, and he didn't. The two zone leaders waded in with their suit pants rolled up to be able to hear the ordinance. Afterward we enjoyed a picnic with the family, us missionaries, and Mateusz's mom. The day had been forecast to be cloudy and cold, but was sunny and warm, beautiful.  We were alone on this long strand. While we were enjoying lunch and the great day, Elder Wagley was looking at the sea, reflecting on this experience at the end of his mission and rolled up his pants to dip his toes in one more time. He yelled "This water is freezing!"

The hits keep coming

It's no mystery that none of us really get what's going on in each other's lives, but that won't stop us from telling you and from saying that new experiences just keep coming at us and it's awesome!

We loved getting to video chat with all our kids on Mothers' Day last Sunday. So glad to see them and be "together" as a family again, at least for a little while. We feel blessed that they are all blessed.

Happenings this week: the mission schedules apartment checks (for young missionaries, not us because I guess they figure if we don't know how to keep an apartment clean and safe by now, there's no hope for us anyway, which is kinda how they are about all the missionary rules, come to think of it) each transfer so one day this week we got to go to the other city in our district, Bydgoszcz, a two-hour drive, and visit the set of Elders and set of Sisters there. We are always impressed with the quality of missionaries we get to work with. Every one of them seems exceptional. They have an amazing capacity to show love for all God's children and do so in ways that are mature beyond their years. We always learn from them.

With the great sisters in Bydgoszcz.
Jean invariably decides to fix her hair
right when the photo is snapped.

The excitement around the mission is that the young missionaries just got smartphones at the last zone conference. Their response has been, in some ways, expected, they're in their element to get that little device again that they've missed. However, one simple question the mission president instructed them to ask changes everything: "Am I using this to help others come unto Christ, or am I using it for my own desires or distraction?" 

We've been watching and it's a beautiful thing to see the difference in how a phone is used. They're sincerely trying to find ways to help other people using the technology and it's kinda strange---so opposite to how most of the world views it. Makes us want to change too.

Sisters in their work

We had a good plan for church meetings this last Sunday, our leader's turn to speak in sacrament meeting which is about right since we haven't heard him yet and the STP get regular chances to take their turn. Then, we still have a couple of sessions of conference to watch so that takes care of the second hour. At 10 minutes before start we learned that our keynote wasn't coming, so Sister Bridge stepped up to the plate. She hit a home run. She gave a super talk about Christ and His atonement and had the help of a willing interpreter. She chose and led all the songs and except for the sacrament, she was the entire meeting. Ain't she great?

I admit I was feeling a little miffed and disappointed in people as we got the meeting going with the less-than-normal turnout and through the sacrament song. I moved from the piano to sit by the Elder who was conducting the meeting and watched as our one young married member and our one Aaronic priesthood holder stood by the uncovered single bread tray. At that moment, unexpectedly the Lord told me He was there. 

(See Matthew 18:20)

These pics really have no point in this message, but we wanted to include them.
This is looking down the stairway we descended to the first level of the salt mine near Krakow.

One of many, many chambers that were excavated from the mine which has been worked for 400 years.
As impressive as the excavation itself are the massive timbers used as supports and stairways.

The largest of the chapels that have been made in the mine.
All the walls, sculptures, altars, floor and steps are carved from the salt.

Not sure who Moniko is, but good to know Ulka loves him.
A bridge we came "across" in our city.

With our awesome Gdansk Elders and Mateusz while casing the location for him and his wife to be baptized (miracle),
in the Baltic (see previous post "Divine Orchestration" for more about being in the Baltic).
I can't explain my pose except that the picture was taken before I could point.
We've always wanted to visit this village north of the city,
it's named Mosty, meaning "Bridges"

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)

Divine Orchestration

Gdansk is a seaside city, a city people travel to in order to visit the Baltic. We've made great efforts to visit the sea ourselves over the years. So it's a little out of character that we've lived here these two months and never gone to the seashore. There just never was a time to do it. Finding ourselves with a couple hours to spare this week, we located one recommended spot and "hit the beach."

The walk from the road to the beach was itself beautiful, through woods of (per Jean, the arborista) sweet smelling Scots pine and beech and alder just leafing out. The vista when we got there could just as easily be from somewhere in Hawaii. It was a beautiful, warmer than normal day, only 4 other people in sight, and lots and lots of sand.

Jean's first inclination at any beach is to look down to see what new and different seashells are waiting for her to discover. Again, a picture that could've been taken from a dozen different spots at a thousand different times in Hawaii.






Fun fact, did you know that senior missionaries don't have many of the restrictions that young missionaries do? For example, we know of one couple serving at the Polynesian Cultural Center who, on their p-day, were taking surfing lessons.

This day, being in our missionary uniform, I thought I'd at least remove my shoes, roll up my slacks to the knee (blind a few people with the transparent whiteness of my shins) and have a wade out into the sea. You know how in the summer you make homemade ice-cream by putting salt with ice in the churner to make it get colder than the freezing point? Have you ever played with liquid Nitrogen and seen how it will instantly turn something flexible like a rubber band into something that will shatter? Yeah, that was my feet.

Another day this week, after a meeting with a member at their workplace, we were walking back to the chapel and passed through the old town. We were with our local guide, whom we've mentioned before, a young man (late 20's, I mistakenly said he was 20 before) and he saw that the tower of St. Mary's, the largest brick church from the middle ages, was open to visitors and had the best view of the city. We entered and were discussing the wisdom of walking up the very narrow circular steps, 430 of them. We heard from behind "Faith in every footstep, right?"


Behind us was standing Nathan, a man from Munich who is originally from West Valley, Utah. He picked us out (don't know how) and followed us into St. Mary's. He teaches English in Germany and tours a different part of Europe when he has a break. This being the Easter break, he came north and east. Nathan attended our meetings on Sunday and pitched right in by playing the piano and sharing his testimony and a wonderful story from his mission to Hungary.

What was especially happy for us this Sunday was that the man and woman we help with soup for the homeless, came to our sacrament meeting. I've mentioned many times that they are really wonderful people and devout in their faith. On Saturday they got talking about some of the miracles they've seen while doing their service for the homeless. They told of times when at the store they had spent all the money they had for the food, but felt bad they were not able to get enough, and a person will walk up to them and give them $50 and they don't know why. One day they got to the spot to serve the food and locked the keys in the van. They prayed to know how to solve that problem and right then a taxi driver stopped, he didn't know why, but he happened to know how to get into the van. They had a donor contact them just at time they needed to fix their van and basically gave them a blank check to handle it. They are always so appreciative of the help we and the young missionaries give. They find that many people contact them or see what they are doing and are excited to help. They help once with great enthusiasm, then they never see them again.

These two have intended to visit our services, but this week, when Elder Wagley told them he would be speaking and would like them to be there, they finally came. It was perfect timing for them to hear Nathan's story of the Book of Mormon influencing a woman's life and Elder Wagley's heartfelt feelings of how it has influenced his and his parents' lives. Both of them had not intended to talk about what they did. Our two friends were very touched by the services and, I think, surprised at the format of our meetings.

If you look at our meetings from an outsider's perspective, it might seem strange that the members are the meeting, that we sing a lot, young men distribute the sacrament to everyone, members say the prayers, and members share their personal feelings about Jesus Christ and His gospel, and hopefully through it all the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit. I take the significance of that simple format for granted sometimes.

 Amazing what Jean can find from an hour at the sea.

A bridge over the Vistula 

(I had three more bridges I could've shared too, so, see, I can show restraint) 

Our car where we stopped to photo the bridge over the Vistula. Jean waving at you.

After I got back in the car I noticed what was in front of it. 

A great example moment for Mormon missionaries.

Easter 2019

We hope that you have had an enjoyable and joyful Easter, ours certainly was.

Before that, though, I want to tell you that we've put our emails into a blog for ease of reading and sharing and commenting, if you like.

Just follow this link https://steweva.blogspot.com/

Postings are shown with the most recent at the top with older ones following. You get the idea.

Working backwards from tonight, we ended the day with a Polish Easter dinner. A young woman (19) is being taught by the missionaries and she attends all our meetings and activities. She plans to get baptized, but she hasn't decided she is ready yet. For most young people, attending our church causes a lot of friction within their families. It's not that their parents or grandparents are active in their church, but they hold on tight to that tradition. This girl invited the four of us missionaries to her parents' home for dinner. We were a bit apprehensive that they might say "It's nice to have you at dinner, now our daughter doesn't want to talk to you any more." It turned out to be quite the opposite. We had a lovely meal and pleasant conversation. The father lead most of the conversation and his manner is typical of Polish men, very serious. He told us he respected the young missionaries and us as retired people for taking the time from our lives to serve other people. He mentioned that very seriously several times during our meal. He does not feel a need for religion himself, but he trusts that his daughter and son are wise enough to decide such things for themselves. He said that he did not know anybody who would do what we do for 2 years, whether old or young. It makes him believe there is still good in the world amid all the bad. He also made an excellent observation that he sees that our church differs from the one he knows in that they focus on traditions and ritual, while ours goes deeper and connects with our inner feelings.

FYI, food was a traditional soup made with white kielbasa and boiled eggs, followed by pork roast, duck (my new favorite meat), red cabbage salad, and then lots and lots of pastries. After eating all that and as much of the pastries as we could stuff, they made us some herb tea, then took our dessert plates to give us clean ones to start again with the desserts. It was awkward getting out of that, but their daughter helped them understand that we were just topped up.

Dessert round 2

We saw many families Saturday walking to their churches with baskets of eggs. The eggs represent new life and they take salt to represent the preservation of life. The priest blesses these with holy water and they have them as part of their Easter meal on Sunday. It was great to see so many families together and people taking pans of food on the bus, etc, to grandmothers house or wherever. It's like our Thanksgiving with food and family. Plus all the stores, even the Zabka (like 7-Eleven) on every corner were closed. Love that.

Before that dinner we served soup for the homeless. It was also the traditional soup plus lots of pastries. We do the preparation of it on Saturdays. It was sweet to see the little cakes wrapped individually and tied with a bow for each person. The dainty morsels in their stained hands was a juxtaposition that reminds you that they too deserve an Easter treat and the respect to enjoy it like anybody else.

Before that we had an Easter "munch and mingle" at our branch. We had salads, eggs, and pastries. Are you getting the idea that pastries are a big deal at Easter? It's pretty awesome.

We had two surprise additions at our Sacrament meeting today, the mother of another young woman investigating the Church came with her daughter and a man who had met with the missionaries a year ago but then got sick.  Nobody knew these two people previously, so that was nice. Stewart spoke and Jean sang "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" as a solo. We wanted everyone to have the words to the song in their language. We printed copies for speakers of Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Romanian, and English. It's crazy to think that for 12 people we need that many languages and the lingua franca is Polish, of all languages. It's a linguist's dream. 😁

Going back to Friday, we find that visa problems don't elude us even in Poland. We spent much of the day as companions to a sister who had to come back to Gdansk to be sure she wouldn't be deported. Two elders and a sister from her MTC group had to leave the country last month . They are now serving in Chicago and hopeful that after 6 months they can return to Poland. It was great to be with her again. While waiting for her number in line to come up (3 hours) we were able to visit the art museum nearby that, as luck would have it, houses the painting I've been dying to see since we arrived: Memlings The Last Judgment. It was more than I hoped for. It has a remarkable history and survived WWII and many other wars and occupations since the 1400's. Its iconography and their interpretation are interesting to compare to our own understanding.

Sister Bridge pointing out some of the interesting bits in The Last Judgment

Detail from left panel showing Peter's greeting, sentinel angels, 

people before being clothed as they enter heaven.

Now skipping back to Tuesday and I'm sorry for this long edition. The elders had an invitation from a community center in their neighborhood to share about America and our church. The people who run the center invite residents to come learn about new cultures. The elders had spoken with them on the street a while back and asked how they could help. They've helped them with flyers and other projects and now this. There were about a dozen ladies there. We had two extra elders in town on exchanges also. They loved hearing about America, asked a lot of questions about our Church and the elders handled it with aplomb. The Elders read some bits from the Book of Mormon and six of the ladies took copies, at which point we ran out and one lady will get hers delivered. Two of them asked if they could attend our meetings. You know the answer to that. It's pretty rare to have such a positive exchange.

Monday, being p-day, we had a chance to visit Malbork castle, about 40 km away. It's the largest brick castle built by the Teutonic Knights and was very impressive. We enjoyed being there with our elders plus the elders and sisters from Bydgoszcz, about 2 hours away and in our district. Do you know what a Hyundai i20 is? Probably not, but we hear that one can hold 8 adults, but that can't be true.

Like a scene in a video game

Imagine sorting all those bricks. 

The castle was never taken in battle for 500 years, then came WWII.

Another example of Poles' knack for rebuilding.

The old drawbridge mechanism still in use. 

Yes, another bridge.

14 April 2019

(Can't think of a catchy subject line, so the boring date will have to do)

We had more new experiences this week than we can count.

All the old missionaries in Poland gathered in Warsaw for a 3-day "conference" or mutual support or group therapy, what have you. All the branches are spread out around the country and so it's nice to see how other missionaries are doing what they do to help the work move forward with their little flocks. There are 5 couple besides us and each is about 3 hours away from any other. Warsaw is 4 hours by car from Gdansk and we took a very pleasant 3 hour train ride to get there. Warsaw is the national capital, it's very crowded and busy and there's lots to see and do there.

We enjoyed a Chopin piano concert in a restaurant where the composer himself played. He preferred to play for small groups instead of in concert halls and it was great to be just feet away from the pianist. The young man was just amazing and his performance was full of enthusiasm and passion. Some of Chopin's works are emotional roller-coasters and we loved it.

We visited a museum of Jewish history in Poland, which was interesting and at the same time depressing, of course. The 12 of us visited other sites, including the old town which is another beautiful tribute to the Polish people's respect for their history and their rebuilding prowess after WW II. While we were standing together deciding where to explore, we heard some girls scream and Jean ran to where a crowd was forming. Turns out some members of BTS (google K-pop if you dare) were dancing on the square. She got some video right up close. When she showed it to our president's 14-year-old daughter and her friend, they literally screamed and started crying. That's pretty much been the reaction to everybody she's shown it to. Whatev.

We walked a lot and saw a lot and discussed where to eat a lot, then ate a lot. It was exciting and new. Contrast that to us joining the mission president and his family for breakfast and scriptures on the last day. There are lots of things in the world that are fun and we enjoy them, but the things that last are the ones that are quiet and bring you peace. That was our most salient takeaway from the week.

Peace to you all,
Elder and Sister Bridge

Pics

Polish Spring countryside at 150 km/h

Title this either "Tomb of the unknown soldier" or "Unmoving blue jeans and white sneakers" 

(He just wouldn't move out of my shot!)

The flowers in foreground are the colors of the Polish flag

Note the senior missionary holding her phone up high with her mittened hand.

Soup for the homeless on Sunday. I told you we help a couple of groups prepare soup and sandwiches for the homeless. Today was the first time we had room in our schedule to help the Sunday group serve it.

I hope you can see enough detail and I can set the scene for you. There were about 100 or 150 in line for soup (hard to count because they get back in line until the soup is gone). The folks also hand out new socks and underwear each week after serving the soup because many homeless people have no way of washing those in the winter when fountains aren't running. I happened to notice off in the corner some of our group standing by a seated older man. He won't go to a doctor for his feet though he should. Some people don't trust institutions. A young lady was washing his feet. Away from the handout crowd. Out of sight. Avoiding notice. She does it for him every Sunday.

I had to turn away for a long time, there was pollen or something in my eyes.