Elder Jake Hadfield - Poland Warsaw Mission: August 2018

Hey everyone!

Life is good here in Białystok. With the transfer, Elder Dossett returned to Warsaw to be AP. So that's a little bit of a bummer, I really enjoyed serving with him. We worked well together and had fun, he'll be a great AP though. I'm staying in Białystok and my new companion is Elder Masłowski. We had church in Warsaw on Sunday, then chilled there overnight. We played basketball with the other missionaries and President Turek on Monday, which was way fun. We've been working really hard, and it's gonna be a good transfer.

Elder Maslowski was trained by Elder Toone, which is cool. He entered the MTC last November, so he's a little younger, and this will be fun. We've worked way hard the past couple days, and it's going well. It's gonna be a great transfer.

Don't really have much time, but thanks for the email, the updates from home, and the help with the other stuff. And thanks for the birthday wishes and everything. Have a great week!

-Elder Hadfield

From Elder and Sister Murri:

Hello, It’s time for a peek at your hard working Bialystok serving Elders.

The above photos are taken at H’s home. She had prepared a treat for us, because we had helped her with a light a few weeks ago. H was baptized 6 years ago. She has read the Book of Mormon over 31 times. She is a happy and faithful woman. The Elders prepared and taught a lesson to prepare her for the temple. My husband and I are hoping to take her there in November. The spirit was strong during this lesson. Afterwards, we went outside to see if we could improve her 3 wheeled lawnmower. The handle was also not fully attached. It is amazing what a few nuts and bolts will do. The Elders were going to mow the lawn, but it had rained earlier, so she had called that portion of today’s plan off.

This is a photo I snapped from our balcony window. We had just had lunch together, and the Elders were “finding” on their way to their next activity.

The Murri's are the senior couple in Bialystok, and they work with the Zone Leaders several hours each week. The following photos were sent by Elder and Sister Murri with narratives. Enjoy!

E Wedel is a chocolate shop

The girl you see in the above photo is Patty. She is the YSA leader for Poland. She gave them a language lesson while we waited, so the lunch time wouldn’t exceed the recommended schedule. Here I thought these two were fluent. They were bold enough to ask for what they should improve on. She told them, but she also said their skills were very good. My favorite photo is the one below. It is closer to capturing their happiness. They get serious faces if they know I’m getting my camera out. (E Wedel is a chocolate company.) The background for these photos is in the Rynek.

Some history of Bialystok:

The following are photos of the border between Poland and Belarus. The sign in the first photo warns not to cross. About twenty feet down, the fence just ends. They were tempted to jump over the patch of green that divided the two sides, but they were obedient and did not cross. The last two photos are of the official crossing point. The first thing you get to on the Polish side is a Biadronka store. That is an inexpensive grocery store. We went in and bought drinks and chocolate for the ride back to Bialystok.

Today, we will see your boys for a Birthday celebration / possible transfer goodbye meal. Mini transfers take place on Monday, and we will be out of town. We are all hoping that nobody leaves! I think they are also hoping to stay. Yesterday they brought M over to meet us and teach him in our apartment. He looks promising, as does B. I’d love to see them get to finish teaching them.

B wanted to show how she gets her water and the well works. She does have pipes in her home, but they are broken. She hauls this water (but not today). She said today was the first time she could just come and enjoy... “It was like a vacation.” Here is the village church. She showed us the gate where she would walk along the path to come. The door was missing from the gate, and the path looked unused for a long time. B is 64. Above you will also see the cemetery. She showed us where her relatives were buried (at least the ones on the Polish side of the boarder). We feel that she will love to learn about family history, and may feel our church is different when we talk about that? Belarus is only 6km away:

The fire was getting bigger as they kept building. I asked her if it was getting too big, and she said “Let them play.” She is a warm and kind person. We all had a blast.

B’s neighbor had lots of interesting things. She said they have “the soul of an artist”. The shell casings and helmets found supposedly were Russian (according to what I tried to understand):

The first shot is the mechanical part that connected to the flour grinder. I think the stones from that grinding make up the picnic table in photo 2. B said they would ride to church in the wagon. The tree has a scythe in it. The mission President was trying to describe one in Zone Conference, so I took it’s photo.

Notice the pole with the stork nest on top. They are everywhere in Poland.

I also have too many photos of this excursion to help B with her country place. It was a wonderful day! This home was owned by her great grandfather. She also grew up here and came back here to live with her Aunt and Uncle when she had small children. Her husband was serving in the military at the time. She loves it here (I would too), but it is too hard for her to maintain now. Your sons and my husband sharpened the lawnmower blades and mowed the large grass. She had us build a fire to roast polish hotdogs for a picnic after. Photos above show ancestors head scarfs, the tile is radiant heat source from the fire. The ladder is inside her barn portion of the house. Animals would have been kept there back in the day. The tree is a huge oak that gives off “good energy”. She made us all lie down on separate beds to feel this energy, and that it is a good place to sleep. The boys looked uncomfortable with this, but they were good sports.