In Whose Steps: Have you found God? (2)

We are set free for the evening to walk to the Rynek (market square) and get dinner. 

It's effing beautiful. 

I stride off silently and boldly in a randomly picked direction, as is my wont, intending to find a place that translates its menu into English and dine alone. Jesse, however, is suddenly walking next to me. I am not sure what to make of this, but am flattered by her company. We end up at a Georgian restaurant full of spicy meat and copious amounts of flatbread. 

Coca-Cola appears to have bought the city. Nearly every chain restaurant has the same Coke promotion going, complete with huge logo signs on the iron fence that marks each establishment's territory. I am most displeased by this. But the food is very good, so I decide to put my rose-colored goggles back on.

We are walking back along Ulica Swidnicka when we encounter a pair of men with pamphlets. This is an incredibly common sight; on practically every street corner someone has been hired to pass out adverts for new apartments, concerts, banks, etc. People normally just flow around them or take a flyer out of kindness when one is thrust in their direction.

However, there were three fatal things I failed to notice about these two:

1. They were smiling, which people never do to strangers on the street.
2. They were wearing short sleeves and ties.
3. There was an unusually large space bubble around them.

We're on a collision course and are already in their sphere of evangelization. It's too late. One of them peels off to us and starts striding alongside us, chattering in Polish. We realize, too late, that our non-knowledge of Polish is actually our worst possible asset as he launches into his English tirade instead. We are walking rather quickly and almost rudely down the street, but he easily keeps pace. Augh! Small talk is even worse when you know there's an agenda. 

I really, desperately want to respond "Thanks, but I've read what the Mormon church thinks of a few minor issues like women and race and, oh, everything." And although Jesse is awesome I don't know her yet so we can't do the whole hold-hands-and-pretend-to-be-dating trick. 

I finally shake him off with “Thank you for talking to us, but we're both very attached to our respective religions.”

Hah. They see me trollin'. We had just been discussing how she was about as Jewish as I am Catholic.