Cześć from Szczecin POLAND!!! :) (1/28/19)

Cześć Rodzina!!

This week has been CRAZY!! But sooooo good!!

On Monday, we traveled all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah to Warsaw, Poland. Traveling was so fun complete with stories from everyone in our district and the flight attendants giving us special treatment. :) Everyone loves the missionaries!!

We arrived in Warsaw and were picked up by our Mission President, President Turek, and his wife, Sister Turek. And as many before, I can tell you that they are absolutely WONDERFUL!! We had personal interviews with President Turek so he could get to know us better. Then, we hit the streets for our first time contacting in Poland. (Contacting is when we just stop people and talk to them on the streets.) It was so much fun! My tights were still in my carry on because I didn't have time to put them on... don't worry Mom, I wasn't cold. But I did get a few funny looks like I was crazy (which they'd be right) ;) and even some lady who told me to put on tights because I was making HER cold hahaha. The next day, I put on tights. XD We spent the night at the Turek's/Mission Home in Warsaw and it was probably the best sleep I've had my entire mission. It was the best!

The next day, we met with our trainers and were assigned to our separate areas!! I had the longest train ride, so my trainer and I left first. I said my goodbyes to my MTC District. Complete with hugs for the Sisters and handshakes with the Elders, and even a "Cześć ya later!!" (Hopefully my MTC Polish teachers don't cringe at that.) ;) And then we were off!!

Well, here it is... the information you've all been waiting for... My first area is.... SZCZECIN!!! And my trainer is the wonderful Sister Godfrey. She is amazing!! And we're working really well together! :) Alright, so Szczecin (sh-ch-eh-ch-een), 2 syllables. Think of it like "sketchy," except an "sh" "ch" smushed together at the beginning haha. (Some missionaries actually gave it the nickname "Sketch-in" haha. But..) Szczecin is awesome!! It's the closest city (with missionaries) to Germany!! (I think haha) But I've already been able to use a little bit of German too. (I KNEW it would come in handy!!) Our train ride there was 8 hours long... well, it was supposed to be. We had a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes of delays from various things, and we finally made it to our new apartment by midnight!! And yes, we were still up at 6:30 the next day. :)

First dinner we made after a long day at the urząd. . .hence the glasses.

Oh, that's the other thing... We are whitewashing in Szczecin!! (Basically that just means that both of us Sisters are new here.) There haven't been Sister Missionaries in Szczecin for about 8 or so months... so yeah! Whitewashing on my very first area and first transfer!! :) It's actually really great though!! We have a lot of work to do and a lot of options because nobody knows us. :)

We also have a new apartment that no other missionaries have lived in and oh my goodness it is AMAZING!! It's just super nice. I mean, I know they treat the Sister missionaries well here, but our apartment/flat is just way nice. Sister Godfrey said it's probably the nicest one they have in Poland for missionaries.

Poland is everything you would imagine Europe to be. The classic European architecture, the lampposts (yes, there is a European look), the cobblestone streets, the smell of the bakeries, the colorful buildings.... AHHH!!! And yes, I love it ALL!! :) This is my dream!!  

Okay, so the first few days in Szczecin, we were doing our legal work to make sure I'm legal and to get my residency card. Funny story with this: The first urząd (government office) was great! Just like the DMV, very organized, except very fast!! The second one... wow... So, I guess there's this group of Ukrainians who decided that they owned the place and none of them even work here. So, very early in the morning, one of them starts a list and gets all the tickets/numbers for the day and then only hands out like 11 or so of them. And they have about 5 huge Ukrainian guys who stand guard around the ticket dispenser, so no one can get the tickets. Crazy right? Well, the Elders here in our District told us that this has been going on since.. forever. (Elder Jenkins has been here for 8 months.) And that this is just the way it is. Well, today, this lady came out (who actually works there) and she starts telling all these Ukrainian men off! It was EPIC!! She basically just said, "This is ridiculous! Get yourselves organized. Get in a line!! If anyone is paying anyone to make a list, report them to the Police!!" At that, the Ukrainian making the list kinda ran and hid himself in the crowd. Hahaha!! And yeah, we got our legal work process started and mostly done. (we have to wait for the mail and a process and other boring things you don't want to hear about...) But yeah! That also never happens! I guess the Elders have been there several times for HOURS and never made it in. I guess they just needed the Sisters. ;)

 Waiting at the 2nd Urząd (government building).

After we successfully finished our work at the urząd with our district.

 Elder Jenkins in the glasses and Elder Moody without.

On Saturday, we did an "English Finding Activity." Basically this is where we hit the streets and we find people and we invite them to English class! It was so much fun!! We handed out so many little invitations/fliers to so many people! And honestly, it was one of the most fun things I've ever done. (Either that or I'm officially a missionary and in that mindset haha.)

Funny story with that: I officially got "frogged" for the first time. I guess "frog" or "frogged" or "frogging" is a term the missionaries use over here as like a code for someone who is only interested in meeting/talking to us because they're interested in US or they think we're good looking. So, I was handing out fliers and doing my thing and then I see this 17 or 18 year old boy taking pictures of me on his phone!! Elder Moody (the other Elder in my district) pointed it out to me and said, "Hey, you officially got frogged for the first time! Congratulations!! Yeah.. he was taking so many pictures of you for like... the whole time he walked past." I asked Elder Moody why they did that, and I guess Americans are like super cool here, which is awesome! But supposedly it automatically makes you way more attractive... Kind of how Americans think foreigners are attractive as well I guess.. Well, that was definitely an interesting experience... But I guess there's a first time for everything. Even getting frogged!! XD

Also on Saturday, we met a girl named Hanna. Her English is amazing!! And we asked her about her religious background. She said that her parents have a church, but she is trying to figure things out for herself. How great is THAT?! She's golden!! We exchanged numbers and are currently trying to schedule a meeting with her. :)

On Sunday, I met the people in our ward, except here it is called a Branch. And ours is SO SMALL!! There are a total of 15 or 16 branch members, but only 1 normally comes. We had 4 come on Sunday though!! And they are all great! :) Especially Dagmara, the only one who always comes. She's AMAZING!! And does so much for the branch. She is just super solid and I love her already. I also lead the music, gave the opening prayer, and will be giving a talk on February 10th! (We do a lot of everything here in the Branch because there are barely any who attend. But it's great!)

Me on the street where the chapel is. I get to see this thing of beauty every other day to every day!! It's the BEST!! It's similar to how the chapel in Thessaloniki is; in an apartment/business building.

Also on Sunday, we did service at this center for kids from troubled homes. And it was SO FUN!! The kids were so sweet and I had the best time with them! We made brownies with them and it was so messy because they're crazy kids too, but I've never been happier to have cocoa EVERYWHERE!! :) :)

That's all for this week! Everyone keep striving to come closer to your Savior, Jesus Christ. He truly is the only person who can help us make it through life!! :)

Have a wonderful week! Miss and love you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

*A message from Brigham Kriser:

Here's Brigham's response to your last email that I forwarded on to him. "I just read Shaylin's email, it was so good! And that's so exciting! I can tell by her attitude that she is going to do and see amazing things there. I'm so glad that Poland has her. And Szczecin, that will be so good for that place. I've never been there, it is in the north section of the mission and I never served in that part. But my roomate served there and he loved it. It is a city that needs good missionaries and happy ones, it is known to be kind of grey and can be one of the tougher areas. But with the right missionaries and the right spirit, the coolest things can happen in those cities. My first area was very similar and I had the sweetest experience there and saw the  coolest things."