Weekly Email - September 17th

Hey everyone, it is neat to hear of so many amazing things happening at home.

OK, so this week was pretty good. You already know about the baptism, but A was confirmed and next week will become a priest. We are doing some street contacting right now. We met one man who was interested in the Book of Mormon he doesn't really believe in anything. We gave him a Book of Mormon and our contact information and we will just have to see how it goes.

On the bright side we found a 2.99 zł store that was selling fully dubbed copies of Harry Potter movies 1-6 (legitimately marked with Gazetta distribution company) for 2.99 zł. They look completely legit. The Euro Cup is over so now they are selling off all the leftover apparel. They have scarfs and Poland soccer jerseys if anyone wants them.

Last P-day we spent shopping for stuff for Elder T and Elder J so they could get souvenirs from Poland. Today we are going go-karting. I am very excited because I have never done that before. We are also doing IKEA. Fun stuff. I need to start taking pictures.

Our house looks like a new place, very nice appliances. We have a dishwasher, stove, oven, and toaster... and blender. And we have a washing machine but no dryer. I guess some recipes would be good, they do not do a whole lot of canned foods though. They also have weird gaps in what is available and how much things cost. Like no tomato paste, soup, or anything like that. They do have peanut butter but it is expensive as is nutella. Just weird things like that. 

I LOVE pirogi, I don't know how I made it 19 years without pan fried pirogi filled with potatoes and onion. Luckily that is relatively cheap. They also have a really good cabbage dish that I forgot the name of. And kielbasa isn't bad either. Nalszniki (spelling is probably wrong) are Polish versions of swedish pancakes although they are pretty different, they fill them with all sorts of meats and mushrooms and whatever else. And they love mushrooms here. Every Pole knows about mushrooms, they go mushroom hunting for fun. We were doing a cleanup activity and I found a mushroom and asked S if it was edible, he instantly was like "no". I don't know what it is, but they love mushrooms.... and pigeons.

Tell Bryson the following advice:

Only bring 1 American suit, you will want a Polish suit and they are only around $100. and DO NOT buy an H&M suit in Poland go to a real suit store.

Do not spend too much on winter gear, you will also want Polish winter stuff, just get enough to survive until you can get shopping.

Get whatever shoes you need unless you really like Euro shoes, because those are pretty expensive here.

Don't spend too much on a backpack, just get a nice functional Jansport, you will end up switching to a side bag for 90% of your days here, but still need a backpack.

When you get to Poland (this is a must) buy Fiszki... Your trainer may or may not have heard of them. They are language learning flashcards, they come in a blue box at a store called Empik for 60 zł, they are a lifesaver. You will not regret it. Start with level A1 and then buy the support packs later. You should probably print this segment out and have him put it in a safe place in case his trainer doesn't know of Fiszki.

 

We had a lot of rain this past week, like a huge storm. Apparently that is unusual here, they are used to a little sustained sprinkle but got a downpour. It was crazy, but it is all back to normal now.

OK I have to go, I love everyone, miss you all. Hope everything is going well.