Walking down one of the main streets in the city I was accosted by a blond woman carrying a book. I had tried to walk around her but there hadn't been enough space and once she said hello to me I knew I was done for, she had reeled me in. Being the friendly sort, I just had to say hello back, and get into the inevitable conversation. She hadn't actually said hello in English, but in Polish. This was within my limited Polish so I replied within the same. When I told her (in Polish) that I didn't understand (this was one of the few phrases I have learned), she asked me if I spoke English. After asking me where I am from, and telling me that she was from the US (which I had already guessed), she asked me what I knew about the Mormons. I was about to reply not much, but thought for a second and replied with what I did know.
"What I know about the Mormons is that they believe that when someone dies they are reunited with all their family members throughout their life..." I paused, and looked at her. She gave me a look that seemed to indicate that she was happy that I had understood a fundamental Mormon belief already.
"...but then I wonder, what happens when a man has had more than one wife and the wives wouldn't get on, say he has divorced one wife, or the first one died... or he just had a bad relationship with his wife and was forced to spend the rest of eternity with her... it seems a bit problematic to me."
She was smiling broadly as she had done since our conversation began. I had stumped her. "Well, I don't have a specific answer to that question," she told me, disappointingly.
After I had asked her how long she had been in Poland for and why she was here (she's a missionary and they just sent her here... and she seemed pretty happy with the whole situation), I suddenly realised that she hadn't actually told me what Mormonism is about. So I thought I had better ask her.
However, as soon as she started telling me about this guy Joseph Smith, who had had a conversation with God in New York, I sneezed. I sneezed just the once, but found something odd in her reaction. Or lack of it. She just kept on talking. While she was telling me about this Joseph Smith chap, all I could think about what why she hadn't stopped to say "bless you". Is this something that the Mormons don't do, I wondered? Why do they believe that one person should not bless another person? Is it because only God can bless?
However, to avoid getting myself into a theological quagmire I simply asked her why J.Smith had built the temple out in Salt Lake City, Utah if the vision had occurred on the East Coast. I forget the reply, I was still thinking about why she hadn't blessed me.
