Eat Me

Yesterday we arrived to Father Wieslaw parish at Ulmerfeld-Hausmening-Neufurthin in early afternoon and after a short rest, we celebrated a solemn Mass in a parochial church with a brass band and a parochial choir Audite Nova. I was deeply moved by their warm welcome, love and joy. I had an opportunity at the end of the liturgy to offer my heartfelt thanks to Father Wieslaw, my classmate and best friend of more than 28 years now, and to the parochial community which has been with me for a few years now and helping as best as they can, under circumstances, with mission projects in Kiabakari and my personal upkeep.


Right after the Holy Mass the whole community gathered in the parochial garden for a party. We had some drinks, beer and soft drinks, sandwiches, cookies, cakes, sweets, sharing and chatting, walking around and mixing with people. Some great chats there I had. Amaying people, rich in knowledge, versatile in conversation...

It was great experience for me. At the end of the function, the chairperson of the mission committee of the parish which organized the event came up to me with special gifts: a special parochial calendar signed by all people present and a unique 'cake' called in this area Linzer Torte (A Cake from Linz). This was an arrangement of various foodstuffs in a shape of a dog! A body was made of a loaf of bread, a head with a cheese in wrapper and sticked to to the body with toothpicks, ears with sausages, tail as well, and legs with processed cheese in wrapping. It was so funny! I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief! People had good fun of me seeing my facial expression! Check the photos of the event.

I asked what was the name of the dog. Maria, the chairperson, explained to me that the dog is a girl as she had a head scarf on her head (people bursting into frantic laughter), and her name is Iss Mich, which means Eat Me (cracking cheers from the audience)!

I love these people! They have great sense of humor, great love for the church, sensitivity for the missions, open heart for visitors and all this in simple elegance, just as simple and elegant is their church and their pastor. God bless you much, my wonderful friends of Ulmerfeld-Hausmening-Neufurth community !!! You, guys, simply rock!