Week #57 of our 78-week humanitarian mission to Slovakia and Poland is in the books.

"The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Poland fact of the week . . . Head to the city of Wrocław in Poland and you will find “Piwnica Swidnicka”, the oldest restaurant in Europe. It was opened in 1275 and you can still enjoy a meal there today.

This was a week of processing loads of paperwork and working on our calendar and appointment schedule. After six weeks in Slovakia we are preparing to return to Poland. For the remainder of the year we will be back to yo-yoing between the two countries. Paperwork and calendaring do not make for an exciting blog post, so I will keep this post brief.

I have mentioned Maria Andricikova in several previous posts. We have worked with Maria on numerous projects since arriving in Slovakia. It is not an exaggeration when I say Maria is one of the most selfless people Kelly and I have met on our mission. She literally wears herself out serving others, which she has done for more than 35 years. Kelly suggested we give her a day of service and that is exactly what we did this week. We picked up Elder Waisath and Elder Noftle and drove to her home willing to do anything she needed. Painting was our assignment for the day.

I told Maria, when I set the day we would visit her, that she did not need to provide us with lunch or exert any energy on our behalf. Of course, she was gracious and fed us a 4-course lunch and sent us home with a trunk full of produce from her massive garden. We look forward to visiting her again before winter arrives so we can be put to work again.

I have always been drawn to cemeteries and have found them to be a place where I can reflect and find peace. I find there is such a sense of calmness as I walk through the headstones. When I see a decorated gravesite I think of the sadness those left behind must feel and their longing to be reunited some day. My heart aches when I see the headstone of a young child or the headstone of someone who died far too young that states "A loving, husband, father, son, and friend". I have a firm belief that there is life after death and that families can be together for eternity. When I visit a cemetery I am always reminded that life is uncertain and it causes me to look inwardly to see if my priorities need to be adjusted so they are in sync with my desire to be a good husband, father, grandfather, friend, and disciple of Jesus Christ.

I have always liked this poem.

Afterglow

I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one. I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done. I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways, Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days. I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun; Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.

By Helen Lowrie Marshall

I had a few minutes between meetings this week and took the opportunity to walk through a cemetery in the small village of Vtackovce.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

We pray you are well and that you will have a wonderful week.