🐍🚗🎆 Snakes, Senators & 4th of July — The Never-Boring Adventures of Week 5 with UtahOla 🏜️

It’s hard to believe we’re already wrapping up Week 5 on the BookField. Every week brings its own surprises, but this one felt like it had a little bit of everything — unexpected animals, multi-language conversations, warm families, awkward door moments that turned sweet, and memories that make us pause and think “this is exactly why we’re here.”

Alina started the week thinking it would just be about the usual cute dogs and cats 🐶🐱 — but it quickly turned into her unofficial “animal week.” One day, she had a sit-down with a family who proudly showed off their pet snake 🐍 (not exactly what you expect when you open a living room door). But her real highlight was meeting Joe, a dad who had served a mission in Ukraine 🇺🇦, living in Sevastopol, Dnipro, and Mykolaiv. Their conversation effortlessly danced between English, Spanish, and Russian, sharing stories and laughs that felt like home on the other side of the world.

Martyna had her own slice of cultural magic when she met a family who was genuinely fascinated by Poland 🇵🇱. They kept asking questions, so curious and excited, that by the end of it they invited her to come back for a family barbecue 🥩. That’s the beauty of this job — you arrive as a stranger, and leave with an invitation to someone’s backyard.

On Saturday, July 5th, Veiko decided to spice things up by sending us a BookField bingo challenge, with a bunch of funny, slightly awkward tasks — the first to complete them all would win a lunch. One of them was singing the American national anthem 🇺🇸, and Kuba, ever the character, decided to do it using a map for dramatic effect. But then the mom he was with flipped the challenge on him:

“Only if you teach me the Polish anthem!”

So there he was, in the middle of Utah, teaching an American mom to sing “Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła.” If that’s not a wild internship story, what is?

Karolina had a moment of perfect BookField philosophy when she knocked on a door and found a guy proudly wearing a big “Hakuna Matata 🦁” T-shirt — which, by total coincidence (or maybe BookField magic), was our theme for the week.

We picked Hakuna Matata as our motto because it’s all about a stress-free philosophy, exactly what you need to build character out here. After all, one of our favorite self-talks is:

“We don’t take ourselves seriously. We take our job seriously.”

And nothing says that better than two Swahili words that remind you to keep smiling.

Bohdan had one of those classic rollercoaster experiences. He knocked on a door where the husband bluntly told him they weren’t interested and shooed him away. But then — plot twist — the wife came out. Turns out she was an ex-Senator from Washington 🇺🇸, and not only did she share a warm conversation, but sent Bohdan off with a Cinnabon and a glass of milk 🥯🥛. Who needs coffee when you’ve got BookField plot twists like this?

For Margo, the biggest highlight was hands down the 4th of July 🇺🇸🎇. There are no words that can really capture it — the parades, fireworks, flags everywhere, families laughing together, kids running around with glow sticks. Just scroll through our pictures and you’ll see it was pure small-town movie magic.

Artjom had a big practical win this week — he finally found a new HQ 🏠, this time not through a church or knocking, but through Facebook. Now he and Janek are happily settled in Cedar City, with a comfortable new place to sleep, cook, and share all those end-of-day laughs that keep us going.

And speaking of Janek — the family just got prouder, because our newest teammate Yannick also earned his Success Coin 🥇 this week. We’re so happy for you, buddy. Keep stacking those achievements.

But the absolute top highlight of the week was our Sunday meeting ❤️. We got to spend time with Michael, who sold books way back in 1976 📚, hustling for four summers straight. Now he’s the proud father of four successful businessmen and grandfather of nine.

He shared countless lessons, but the biggest takeaway was what Southwestern truly taught him:

“The people factor. Treat everyone with love, an open heart, stay kind, keep smiling — that’s what makes all the difference.”

Thank you, Michael, for pouring so much heart and wisdom into us. We left that meeting inspired, grateful, and reminded exactly why we keep knocking on that next door.

So here’s to another week of surprises — snakes, senators, anthems sung in Polish, fireworks under Utah skies, new homes, old wisdom, and always leading with love. 💛

Stay tuned — we’re only halfway through the summer, and the best is still ahead. 🌞