24 April 2014

No birthdays this week. WOW!  Easter was very interesting here.  Friday was Good Friday and the churches/cemeteries were packed.  We did take some pictures of the cemetery near our apartment.  There was one lady in the cemetery scrubbing her husbands stone box.  A lot of the stone boxes have dirt filled in on top and people plant the flowers there.  But here are a few pictures.

We don't know if everyone is buried above ground or not.  

Lanterns with candles lit and lots of flowers everywhere.

Then on Saturday, once again people go to church with their baskets of fruit, breads, pork, vegetables and eggs to be blessed by the Priest.  We decided to go over and see what they do.  Everyone puts their baskets on a table and then the Priest says a very long prayer.  He then takes like a small whisk broom and dips it in the holy water and then sprinkles it all over the baskets.  The people then pick up their baskets and take them home.  The food cannot be eaten until Monday morning.

This is the church we went to.

The people have laid their baskets on the table and the Priest is say his prayer.

So here's a new group of people with their baskets.  They just keep doing the same thing most of the night.

Sunday morning, Easter, we woke to the music of the bells chiming.  It lasted for 30 mins. and then there were fireworks. They love their fireworks.  But the bells were very beautiful.  When we left for church, there was a huge line of people outside of the church (I guess they couldn't fit everyone inside) and the Priest was outside giving communion.

We only had sacrament meeting Sunday.  The Branch President told everyone to go home and spend the afternoon with their families.

On Saturday, the Roulstones and the two of us went grocery shopping for 72 hour kits for the missionaries.  The church has asked the President to update the evacuation plan and make sure the missionaries know what to do in case of an emergency.  We spent about 1,700 zlotys for 14 kits.  (That's about $40 per kit)

Monday is called Wet Monday in Poland.  It is part of the Easter weekend and everyone gets off of work and none of the stores are opened.  It's called Wet Monday, because anyone can squirt you with water.  Wayne and I took a chance and walked to the office.  We left our apartment at 8:00 am.  There was not a soul on the street.  I think we say one jogger and one bicyclist.  We didn't hold FHE either because of the holiday.  

So, I got a picture of the 5 new missionaries that came in on the 15th.  Here they are.  Everyone looks so young.

From the left - Elders Remy, Wynne, Platter, Hon and Garrison.  Good looking bunch of elders.

The President and the AP's took them over to the spot where President Kimball and President Monson (then Elder) dedicated this land to mission work.

We also took a picture of the front of our building.  Most of the apartments that the Seniors and missionaries live in are very nice.  We are very lucky.

Springtime is here. 

On Wednesday the sun was shining and so beautiful and then it started raining and it came down hard.  When we left the office to go to English Class, there were puddles of water everywhere.  We only had 2 people at English class.  Nice weather comes and people don't want to be inside anymore.  

So that's it for this week.  We love you and miss you.