Snow what?

 In a self-efacing way of downplaying our role here as office missionaries, I got feedback that my last entry might give the impression that we aren't keen on the assignment. How can I adequately express that such is the opposite of real. Really, we love our assignment in the office! My attempts at humor can come across as cynical. I just wasn't sure our routine would be engaging. I promise to worry less about what your reactions might be, and just tell you what's happening with and to us.

Last week the weather warned that a "twice in a decade storm was coming" and it hit on Saturday and Sunday. We couldn't get our little car out of the street where we live, it just pushes the heavy snow under it and gets high-centered after a meter of effort. When we did go out during the week I slipped into an icy rut right as a van was coming the other way, and literally, in the words of my Uncle Joe "if we had another coat of paint on we'd have hit him." That was touch and go and I relearned from the other driver various uses of Finnish words for the adversary. Several got thoroughly buried as we looked out our apartment window, starting before the sun was up. I went down to help a young lady who the first and was alone trying to dig out. As I approached I said "Can I help?" She said "What!" "Can I help?" "No, no, no." I watched as she huffed pushing the snow shovel and again she wouldn't let me take a turn. She said she had already called the tow truck. So I looked around the lot for another shovel with no success and had to leave her to her struggle. By the time the wrecker got there, she had a path dug all the way out the parking lot. We watched from our window as the guy got in her car and just drove it to the street and took her payment. She wasn't the last that day, but certainly the most independently minded.

This weekend it appears the second of the "twice in a decade" storms hit. A couple more autos we just pushed back to their parking spots as they gave it up. It was good to see a few people out helping, with several others shouting the solution from their balconies. Church on TV again today.

We spent some time with the nice other couple serving here, the Mottishaws (Springville). They serve as YSA missionaries but much of their effort has been in helping get an English-speaking ward going in Helsinki. They were given a list of 250 potential members that they reached out to. Before the new Rona wave, they had a full house attending. They're doing great work there. There was also a baptism of a young non-Finn yesterday, showing that the gathering work continues in Europe as President Nelson said it would.

I mentioned in an earlier post with our picture of the noonday sun, about the way the snow looked, that the top had melted into ice and that Finns probably had a name for that. A Finnish friend who read that corrected me that it wasn't ice on top but it would be called riite, but I could also use hanki, but she would use hankikanto, the other 6 options I don't need to worry about. Got it.

House doors have an interesting characteristic in Finland: They all lock when you close them, with or without a key. We got a nice drive to see the snow-covered trees and roads as we rescued a pair of sisters who had made that mistake. We keep some spare keys in the office for that contingency. It was nice to get out for a couple hours, and they swore it would never it happen again. This was the second time they've called us since we've been here (a month). The Mottishaws told us they had made that run for them this month too.

The view from our 5th floor balcony on a typical winter day

Another day. Note the amount of snow on the parked cars. 

This isn't the light powdery stuff we get in Utah, more like mortar.

We were treated like royalty at the Aura's home. 

They were mission leaders when we were called to Finland last time

 and were subsequently transferred to Poland.

The beautiful view from my office desk.

The snowy trees ain't bad either.

Not a picture of Bridges on a bridge, but this one under one will have to do.

This is the path we walk daily to the office (the building in the background).

Of course there's no place to put the snow from the pathways,

so they pile it, even to covering the signage, or truck it out of town.

This is Finland winter to me. The two I spent here 40 years ago had snow just like this from November through April. I guess global warming has given them even rain in winter in the past several years. 

I'm happy it's back to normal while we're here.

We're somebody now! 

They put our name on our door.

(yes, I checked that we had the key before taking this pic)

A day in the life

If it held any interest, I'd put a picture of what we see for most of each weekday, and that's the interior of the mission office. The service there is fulfilling, though it might be perceived as mundane, it's to help the Lord's work in this pristine country for these loved children of God.

A common theme in queries is what do we do, so I'll take some space to describe that if you wonder.

The administrative duties Jean has center on contact with missionaries and their families. This begins just as soon as they receive their call and carries through. She corresponds on behalf of our mission leaders (nee president and wife). There can be anxieties around getting a missionary ready to leave home and what's happening with them while they're gone. Letters of instruction and updates are the means of easing some of that.

Last Thursday a group of 10 sisters were scheduled to arrive, then that was reduced to 1 who was COVID-free and had her visa. Two came off the plane. Jean learned today that the other eight now have their visas, so they are scheduled to come on the next transfer in a few weeks. As our president (sorry, leader) said, "There has never been a group arrive as expected since the pandemic started. The unexpected is what we expect now."

Jean's other task is to identify every possible configuration of office furniture and supplies. We have the APs (assistants to the leaders) to help with heavy lifting and they earned their reward this week. Apologies to those who came before for former tons of ancient paper manuals and CDs and devices that once were held in high regard that are no longer with us. Oh, BTW, Finns are fastidious in their sorting recyclables. Paper is different from cardboard. Plastic bags are not plastic. Metal lids and their bottles cannot coexist. Bio waste needs a biological bag. 

Daily snow might cover incinerating smoke though (that solution just came to me).

My duties are to get out of the way of the quest for office nirvana. I have a different desk in a different room than I did a week ago. If any thing or body needs to be paid, that falls to me. Apartments, utilities, travel, cars, postage, supplies, COVID tests. Working for the Church I know a little about big beuracracy, but understanding it doesn't breed an avid sustainer of it.

It's not hard to remember that these things allow the important work to get done and with less worry. Many good things are happening in Finland. Missionaries are finding and inviting people, mostly through social media. Changes in teaching people from Islamic countries are annouced regularly. Yesterday our prophet told the members in Europe that many of the blood of Israel are still to be found in Europe or are coming here.

That's the nuts and bolts of the day-to-day nine-to-five metier walk of life slog.

Lest you believe that's all the fun and games we get, we do get Saturdays for a scenery change. Here are a few to help you picture why we love it here.

This shows high-noon. The sun at its apex in the sky over this field of snow layered with ice (I'm sure they have a word for that particular kind of snow).

I know there's not a lot of resolution, but try to pick out the zamboni on the playground to the left. Though our path was as slick as that, it wasn't as smooth and later that day plenty of young'ns were doing their best to scuff it.

Same spot, opposite direction, our shadows. This again at noon. 

We had time to go find one of the areas where I lived 40 years ago near the sea. The most beautiful vista spots now have houses where there were only trees. In 40 years a lot of pretty places no longer remain a secret, but this place still has tons of them.

Look really closely and you can see a fisher of fish out on the sea.

Not saying that we walk on water, but we walked on water.

Interesting to think that we are on the same Baltic that we lived near in Poland, just on the opposite side.

Jean has a Pavlovian response that as soon as I click the selfie, her hand must fix her hair. As you may know, I have dozens of photos like that. You can see in the second pic that it was worth it. Much better!

You'll have to be satisfied that we are Bridges on an ice bridge, I guess.

Just me trying to climb an icy path. 

Jean found some studded snow tire clamp-ons that help a lot but I'm too studly to use them.

Jean likes that lichen and moss still grow during the long freeze.

Already in April the positive temps will be here.

 

Old is new again

From the outset I admit that this will be mostly news, not thoughts to shatter the earth.

You know that feeling that you don't want to admit something might happen because if it doesn't you'll be very disappointed? Much of the past week can be called déjà vu.

Mission Two (hope)

 First off, if you are bored with these updates from us, you have two choices:

1. Reply to the email I sent and tell me to leave you alone

2. Ignore it

With that out of the way, here's some news and some info that might influence your choice. We have received a new mission call!

This call is to serve in Finland in the mission office there. We are scheduled to start the MTC on 27 December and fly to Helsinki 4 January.

I'm being careful NOT to say "we're going to Finland" because we know how that turned out last time. Can't believe that was three years ago when we were in a very similar situation, then things changed to Poland and all the new and great experiences there. Thus, terms like "called to" and "scheduled to."

It has been a great year here in Utah since January 15th 2021. Our intent, thanks to the generosity of Sherry, was to stay in her basement until we could find a place. This turned out to be such a good deal for us, well, we stayed. We've had a fun time doing things with and for our kids. Jean's skills with plants have been put to good use. There were many weeks that we drove to and from Utah County Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We really enjoyed it and enjoyed helping out in the small ways we were able.

Don't know why, but just about every job I (Stewart) applied for didn't work out for one reason or another and that left us free to do those things whenever the heck. Looking back, it was a good thing. It kept us free and humble enough.

One mandate from the 4 Bridge offspring was that we must not miss another holiday season after the three previous. You'll notice our start date is the 27th, so that box is checked.

There are many people we would've/should've connected with during this summer of love, but we failed. (If you need to, please see The Healing Power of Forgiveness (James E. Faust, 2007 Annual General Conference)

I know many would be sad to read one of these updates without a bridge with Bridges, so here's one you might recognize. We travelled to San Francisco in October to apply for our Finnish residency permits (visas), thus the Bay Bridge. That trip gave us a taste for how things could still not work out. You might know a little airline called SkyWest out of St. George Utah. We were lucky to be flying to and from SFO on the day that little airline's servers went down. The result was the joy of standing in a line that stretched "all the way back to Terre Haute" as ours and others' were delayed, delayed, delayed, then finally canceled. Sitting for hours in the airport is fun enough for anyone, but standing is even better. We did get out the next day, but the lesson is that even small things can upset the very complex interconnectedness. We will let you know if and when we arrive in good old Finland.

We got notified the day after Thanksgiving that our application for residency in Finland was granted. We received our residency cards (just like the Polish cards we had) a couple weeks later, which means we can legally and legitimately enter any time we please until July 2023. Excitement.

We'll speak in Bountiful the day before our MTC date. You shouldn't expect much, but if you want to know more about that (43rd Ward, 1000 N 100 W, at noon) let me know through an email or other.

I avoid trying to describe emotions here, but I have to say that we sincerely appreciate the love and support you give us just by being interested in what we're up to. It means more than you realize.

Wrap up

It's time to wrap this as we come to the close of our adventure. We are scheduled, but we know that schedules are uncertain like anything these days, to return to Utah on 13 January.

As mentioned in previous posts, a big part of the Poland mission has been the numbers of missionaries leaving and only recently arriving. The newly arrived young missionaries have more than doubled our ranks and it's been wonderful to see their joy and enthusiasm added to the joy and enthusiasm of those who had been serving here all along. It also gives us a lot more to do—a blessing. Knowing that senior missionaries have become more rare serving outside their home countries, there was no expectation in that regard. In November our president was surprised to learn that a couple was called to serve in the office, arriving in March. This put their assignment a month after our return date. Someone from the Area office called them in December and asked if they could be ready to serve sooner. They said yes. He then told them that the window for moving missionaries to Europe through the UK might close with Brexit becoming official on January 1, so could they be ready to leave for England on December 15. They again said yes. That put their arrival in Poland at December 29 with a 14-day quarantine at the England MTC. The new strain of Covid got all of Europe excited and Poland announced its borders would be closed to UK travelers starting December 22. Elder and Sister Rebeck and two young Elders and two young Sisters and we miraculously walked out of the Warsaw airport at 11:52 PM December 21, the Lord knowing was 8 minutes to spare.

With their earlier than planned arrival and quick learning, our presence is becoming redundant and thus we hope to fly out 3 weeks earlier than planned, already next week!

The week of Christmas was a different kind of busy, with vacating our apartment sooner and finding places for us to camp out, well, camp in. Now our tasks are trying to figure out how to say goodbye properly and what we will do once we're not missionaries.

It is still as if the end of our mission will never arrive, but here it comes, and packing these two years into two suitcases will be how we wrap it up.

***

Thank you for reading and thank you for caring about us during this story. We have loved every challenge and blessing that came from it.

Merry Christmas from old Warsaw

One of Jean's favorite things, making a cold, empty space feel like Christmas

And getting Elders to do what they learned when they were 7

The resultant warm atmosphere for our Christmas Zone conference

Having a merry missionary Christmas.

Singing Polish carols with the Warsaw Elders and Sisters in old town.

Thanks again

August 29, so long since the last update from here. And here it's already time for Thanksgiving.

It's not that nothing has happened, it's that the things that have happened are mostly the same things and once expressed, novelty is over and interest is questionable.

The restrictions resulting from the pandemic being global, we can only share how it has affected us as missionaries in Poland. I've mentioned that our fellow servants have dwindled monthly and in two weeks we say goodbye to 5 more great young missionaries and 2 great old missionaries. That'll decimate us to 16 plus 8, down from the complement of 46 and 12. Not a big mission even with a full roster, but the difference is drastic. Small branches of 4 or 6 members that are used to the support of 4 or 6 missionaries now have at most 2, even 0.

The reduction in force brings that kind of challenges, but missionary finding and teaching is experiencing a Covid wave.

The day after October General Conference 2018 is the day we entered the MTC in Provo. Another October conference we watched in Gdańsk. The most recent we watched from our apartment in Warsaw. The two previous both seem like last week or a life ago. Two reassignments divide our memories like yellow and blue recycle bins as if decades, yet all end up in the same heap.

Zone Conference day was an hourly progression on repentance. Sister and President Chandler called us each to deeper introspection and higher faith. A full day spent with no other purpose. The results were private but apparent. At 1:00 AM Warsaw time, Jean got spammed with one email then another dinging her mobile. Blurry-eyed checking what the phone was going on about, she read Reassignment, Missionary called to Poland but serving in the US. Another, and another until 17 in the mission inbox. There's now12 Elders and 5 Sisters waiting out their 14 days at the England MTC, scheduled to land in Poland Friday after Thanksgiving. 5 more scheduled for December. A math whiz can see there are more new missionaries than old who can show them the Polish ropes. Some will have twins. These are not all new missionaries, they have been faithfully serving and waiting in their respective temporary assignments, some for almost half their mission life. All hands on deck here as we prepare for this infusion. They're getting daily doses of all the zone conferences they've missed and a chance to work with the older missionaries one-on-one finding and teaching people in Poland in Polish. Repent and He immediately blesses you (so said King Benjamin and so say all of us).

***

My birthday remembered by the office Elders. Exceptionally weather highlighting the view at my desk.

Our favorite hotel when inspecting missionary apartments in Kraków

A bridge that's stood for 8 centuries. On a tram once I stood for 8 minutes.

Try to picture the scale by comparing the altar and the stained glass.

Enjoyed a "senior" conference at the 1231 Hotel, named for its history, with some old timers. 

From the back: Miskins (Syracuse), Johnsons (Parowan), Pres & Sister Chandler (N. Carolina), Southards (Queen Creek), Womacks missing because of Covid (Vancouver WA)

Poland mission

This answers are we still on our mission.

To 2/2/21, God willing.

Poland continues to provide unfamiliar photogenic streets in every city. 

Unassuming and unexpected places have almost become commonplace.

We visited the pair of sister missionaries holding the fort at Lublin. 

The Vistula has been the most important waterway for centuries, running through large cities from the south to the Baltic north. 

Warsaw centrum from this frequently crossed bridge shows the expanse to our part of the city.

After isolation, our president decided wisely that a summer mission-wide conference would provide needed rejuvenation. 

This is all of us, 25 young and 10 old called to invite 38 million. Yet undaunted. 

We often have occasion to be at the Warsaw chapel, situated on the opposite side of the city. 

One pleasant evening walking out with the assistants.

 

 Happened upon this salon with an appropriate name for Sister Bridge, known for cutting hair at the end of monthly mission funds.

What typical 18 and 19 year-old boys do when waiting to catch their 4-hour train ride home by twos. Face planted in their phone.

This scene outside the Warsaw chapel captures the unwinding of two days of hard playing and intense learning and renewing friendships with people they're closely connected to but separated from.

What is not seen is that each is typing a message, having another verify each word and its reply, and thus conversing about how God's plan has affected them personally and how it can also the person they only just met through Facebook.