"Satan believes in Jesus Christ too. And he's not going to be saved." XD / "What is this?? The Pani parade?!" (4/29/19)

Cześć Rodzina!!

This week went really fast, but it was probably because we had one less day in between p-days!! So that's fun!

On Wednesday, we had another really good lesson at Polites and we finally got Zofia's phone number. She is our super awesome Greek friend. Seriously, so awesome. You'll see her later in the email. So stay tuned!! ;) After Polites, we went to Ania and Roman's house and taught their kids English. After English, they invited us to stay for dinner. Which, we of course did happily! We love their family! (Side note... the only time I've been fed by people in Poland (invited for dinner) has been with their family. They aren't even members of the Church and they aren't even Polish. Haha I just think it's kinda funny. XD) Anyway, we were able to pray with them and Roman was asking how we pray (like with folding our arms and closing our eyes) and then they all did that! They wanted to pray how we prayed. We were also able to talk more about the Book of Mormon with them. Ania has read 2 chapters, which was pretty exciting. And we asked them to read the Book of Mormon as a family, even if it was just 10 verses a day. They said that they would do it! :) They are such a wonderful family and I love them so much!!

Easter Cake that Ania made us.

Thursday, we went and helped Agnieszka in her garden/backyard again. We cleaned off the porch, swept and mopped it (yes, we mopped the porch because it's like this tiled backporch), and we set up all her chairs and table and it looks all ready for summer now! She was, again, very grateful for our help. She's always very appreciative of our service because there's a lot she wouldn't be able to do without it. I'm glad we can help her! Later that afternoon, we met with Oliwia and talked and practiced English/Polish. It's really hard to know what we can do with her because her mom is very against anything religious we want to do. She won't let Oliwia read the Book of Mormon or learn about the church or anything of that sort. So we just meet with her to keep the friendship and support going, which is good. But yeah, sometimes it is hard to know what we CAN talk about with her. I was able to print off a quote to give to her about service and helping others, from Sister Bonnie Oscarson. So at least that's some sort of compromise! :)

**Quick story for the fam: You all have watched "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (ASUE for my purposes today) right?? Okay good. Because when we first got to Agnieszka's house, there was this dude there. He was an... interesting character... And oh my gosh... he looked just like Stefano from ASUE!! Like.. when Count Olaf dresses up like Stefano in the Reptile Room episode. This guy had the exact same glasses, bald head, face, and even the same beard!! Clothing was different, but still something similar to Count Olaf's normal, daily outfit. Black and such. Anyway, it through me for a loop and he was kinda weird already, so him looking like a villain from a TV show didn't help. XD So basically if any of you were wondering about where Count Olaf was, don't worry. He's here in Poland, so he won't bother you. XD

Friday was a FANTASTIC day!! First, we studied outside today because it was SO NICE!! Then, we were able to make a ton of sugar cookies to get ready for our service project on Monday night. We made those while watching "Meet the Mormons." (Also, it was like 80 degrees today which was CRAZY!!) And THEN, the BEST thing happened. We had been waiting for a package to come for me and the guy was like an hour late so that's cool. But yeah! We walked outside and the DPD Package guy walked up to me and handed me my package. We ran back inside to open it aaaaannnnnddddd.... IT WAS MY PHONE!!! It was actually super fun (and weird) to open it up and turn it on and be holding my own smartphone in my hands. I haven't had my own phone (or even a smartphone) since I left home in November. (And honestly, I haven't missed it at all haha.) So it was WAY weird to have one again. We'll be able to start using the phones on May 9th! I'm so excited to see how much faster and more effectively we'll be able to work with technology!! Also, we met a lady named Ewa and she wanted to meet with us.

My companion, Sister Godfrey, wrote a very good summary of what happened with that meeting. Here's the story:

"Saturday we met with Ewa. It was a very successful first meeting. We challenged her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Then, we started to head off to our next activity, but she wanted to help us get there (not that unusual for people in Poland) . She walked us to the bus stop (very slowly because she is an older woman) and then, to our surprise, proceeded to get on the bus with us. Sister Carroll and I at this point were trying to politely get her to stop "helping us" (we had looked up the directions before hand and knew where we were going). However, she kept following us. Finally, after being really late, we decided just to throw in the towel and go home because we needed to still do personal and language study. We told her that we needed to go home to study the Gospel. Guess what? She followed us to the bus stop by our house! We started to walk home, but of course, that took FOREVER because 1) she walks really slowly and 2) she wanted to take us on random paths. To finish it all, right next to some pretty lilac bushes she decided that we all needed to take a picture. Sister Carroll and I, a little exasperated, decided to just go ahead and do it. 30 minutes later, we finally took a picture that she really liked... FINALLY we made it home."

And yeah... that's what happened. She's kinda crazy and obsessed with her looks and saying she looks so young. (Pretty sure she's in her 70's or 80's, but doesn't look like it AT ALL!! Which might be part of the reason..) But yeah, she wanted pictures with us to prove that she "looked like us" and was "young" too.. weird day... Oh! And also, this other old lady started following us too.. so weird.. and Sister Godfrey said, "What is this?? The Pani parade?!"

Also, on Saturday, we were able to go and eat at this Greek Restaurant right on the river!! Zofia works there!! She offered to get me the recipes of everything I could possibly want!! I love Greek food, so this was such a good thing!! We had dolmadakia, tzatziki, spanakopita, baklava.... all the good things!! :D Made me homesick for Greece!! :) And of course, we were able to visit Zofia at work! It was awesome!!

At the Greek Restaurant with Zofia!! :D

Me with the Dolmadakia (grape leaves with rice).

Our Greek meal!! :)

On Sunday, a ton of people came to church. (A ton, meaning, more than normal haha) We had Jan, Szymon, Vladymir, Tadeusz, Jurek, and Dariusz. So yes. All men. The Sisters were greatly outnumbered haha. It was really good though!! We also received some exciting news that Jan Trukszyn is really wanting to go to the temple. He hadn't really had the desire to go for a while, but now he really wants to! So happy for him!

**For the fam: Also, not sure how this got brought up, but Dariusz is like super Catholic and was going off about how you only need to have faith in Christ to be saved... blah blah blah... And then, Tadeusz (the Elders' investigator) just says, "Satan also believes in Jesus Christ. Faith alone does nothing." It was AWESOME!! And he totally just roasted Dariusz and Catholics in general. So that was a definite highlight for me. XD :)

This week if you are able to go to the temple, please go!! It will bless your lives and the lives of others! If you are not able to go inside right now, please walk around the temple grounds. And if you don't live close to one, look at pictures of the temple or study about them in the scriptures. Temples are such a blessing in all of our lives!! Please make time for the temple and take time to really learn about and understand why they are important. I love temples and I'm so grateful for the blessings and strength we receive there.

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Never have I ever been to a JW church service..... (also, HAPPY EASTER!!) (4/23/19)

Cześć!!

On Tuesday, our mission president, President Turek, came to Szczecin for our weekly District Council and for interviews! It was great! So, quick story: The day before (Monday) we had our English class and for some reason we talked about turkey. And so, Sister Godfrey tried to draw a turkey. Emphasis on TRIED. (don't worry, she agrees with me on this.) But it turned out looking more like a goat. So, when President Turek was there, he saw it, and said, "What IS this?" Sister Godfrey told him it was a turkey. "THAT.." he says while pointing to the board, "is not a turkey. THAT is a goat. The goat-iest goat I've ever seen!!" We all died, it was hilarious! XD

Turkey? Or Goat?? You decide...

On Wednesday, we taught our weekly English class at Polites and ended up meeting a lady there who also wants us to teach her kids. Maybe even about religion. Her name is Malina (which actually means "raspberry" in Polish) and her English is WAY good. Practically fluent. But yeah! She said she's really interested in what we do here in Poland. Also, this Polites English class was super fun. Last week we assigned some homework and wanted people to write a poem or short story to read this week. And they actually did it! It was super fun to hear the poems and it was a really funny class!

After English at Polites, we went to Ania's house (the Ukrainian woman) and taught her 2 kids English!! They were so cute and super energetic, so it was a lot of fun!! She has a son, Rostek, who is 7 and a daughter, Diana, who is 4. At the end of the class, we shared a spiritual thought with them. We watched the Church's Easter video for this year ("Easter is Christ") and then talked about what we saw in the video. It was so cute to see the kids talk about Jesus Christ. Ania was even asking them questions about what they saw Jesus do in the video. It was perfect! Also, their Dad/Husband came home right before we showed the video. His name is Roman and he was so nice! Also, Ania has already read some of the Book of Mormon! We have another meeting set up and so the are now considered "new investigators" or "new people we're teaching." And it's their whole family. Can I say that louder?? WE ARE TEACHING A FAMILY!!! This is the first family I've taught on my mission and Sister Godfrey's first as well, so it's pretty rare that this actually happens. But it's super exciting! Also, there is such a light in them. They are all so kind and loving to each other. And even though they have to work all the time, they are still so happy. You can really see the love they have for each other as a family. It's perfect!

On Thursday, we met with Gabrysia again, finally! This time, she seemed WAY open and interested in everything. (We met her on a tram a while back, went out for pancakes together, she speaks English really well, and said she wasn't interested in changing religions. But we stayed in contact!!) Anyway, we covered so many different topics. Family History, our books of study, the Restoration, living Prophets and Apostles, etc... She said she was really interested in all of it and wants to hear more! After that successful meeting, we went and visited Irena and Józef again and were able to share the Easter video with them and we were invited back again for this week.

Friday night was interesting... We were supposed to have a meeting with Ania (the lady who asked for our number on the bus). But instead, she invited us to come with her to this Jehovah's Witness church service. So, we went with her to that! I guess they only take the sacrament once a year, and this was the meeting where they did that. BUT here's the catch, I guess the only people allowed to take the sacrament are the members who are "saved." (which they believe are only 144,000 in the world) So basically, nobody took the sacrament. Ania said she thought there was one person, but we aren't sure haha. The meeting wasn't anything crazy though. They sang on opening song, had a prayer, and then someone gave a talk, they took the sacrament (not really though haha), and ended with a song and prayer. And that was basically it! But let me tell ya.. I have never been greeted by so many people when going to church! I started counting and I received 33 different handshakes and "dzień dobry's" before the service started. XD Crazy... So yeah, now I've been to a JW church service...

Saturday morning, we got together with Gabrysia and decorated some eggs to go and get them blessed in the Catholic church. Basically, Polish people have a tradition where they have a basket and they fill it with a part (pieces or small portions) of their Easter Breakfast. It usually has things like eggs, salt, pepper, horseradish, bread, babka (like a cake), white sausage, cheese, and anything else they'll be having. They decorate the baskets, fill it with the food, and then they go to the church for a short Easter mass where the priest blesses the eggs and throws/splashes holy water on everyone. We were actually able to go with Gabrysia and her Mom to get the eggs blessed. It was a really neat experience to see that Polish tradition! And yes, I did get splashed with holy water for those who were wondering. ;) XD

Traditional Polish Easter Basket!!

Sunday was Easter!! We had a really nice Sacrament Meeting (our church service) and we even did a few musical numbers. The Elders and us sang "I Stand All Amazed" for one of them. For the other, Sister Williams played piano, Sis Godfrey played violin, and I sang "Peace in Christ." It was weird not to be the one playing the violin for the musical number. That usually seemed to be my role at home haha! Later, we were able to have an amazing Easter dinner with the Elders and the Williams. And after that, I was able to skype my family!! So we were all together for Easter. :)

Monday (yesterday) we did a Family History finding activity in front of the Szczecin Central Cemetery. This cemetery is actually the largest in Poland. I was also told that it is the 3rd largest cemetery in Europe! And it was huge! It was so, so beautiful! Tons of trees and grass and it just feels like a huge park. It was beautiful. And we actually ended up getting 3 phone numbers for people during our finding activity. So it was definitely successful!!

Monday was also a holiday (basically 3 days of holidays. Gotta love Poland!). It's called "Śmigus Dyngus." Don't really know the history of it, other than it's the day when everyone splashes each other with water! Like, people will hang out on their balconies or out the window with buckets of water to dump on people walking below!! The Williams saw this happen to a girl when they were out walking and she just got drenched!! Luckily, and somehow!, we didn't have any water poured on us today haha. BUT we did try to get Jan!! He had been making it seem like he was going to get us with water, but we decided to beat him to it. We waited for him to come for Family Home Evening. We had a bowl of water. When we saw him below, I yelled, "CZEŚĆ JAN!!!" and dumped the water!! Lucky for him, he moved quickly and the water missed him. But the whole deptak (foot street), everyone was laughing, even Jan! It was really funny and I definitely enjoyed participating in this tradition!! XD

With Easter being done, don't forget about Christ!! Always be trying to remember Him throughout the day and do what He would do. Easter is all about Christ and everything He's done for us. I think we should use it as a reminder to increase our efforts to be like Him and serve others as He would. Today, and always, try to do something Christ would do!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

This pretty door we found when the church was closed and we couldn't go inside.. :)

 A bit of springtime here and what the Deptak looks like during the spring/summer.

 Park Run

STRAJK!! (Strike)/I'm a heretic? And a real missionary?? All in one week??? (4/15/19)

Cześć Rodzina!!

**First off, next week my p-day will be on Tuesday because of the holiday next Monday. So don't freak out!!**

On Tuesday, we met with Lenka at Polites to help her with her family history. She was really excited about it and way into it. She was really trying to research/find a lot of her relatives. She really likes the FamilySearch website as well. Also, while we were doing it with her, the 4 other people who were at work at Polites when we were there, they were asking a bunch of questions about what we were doing and some even took a brochure for it. And Batu decided to get on and make an account as well!! It was awesome.

So all the kids were out of school this week because "strajk." Yup. All the teachers in Poland are on Strike right now because of pay or pension or something. Not entirely sure. But it's super interesting! All the kids just get a ton of days off of school and there are homemade signs on schools everywhere that say, "STRAJK!!" We'll see how long it lasts... XD

Thursday, we HAD a lot of meetings set up, but Łucja got sick and Ania was in the hospital. It's super unfortunate because this always happens. Whenever we're going to talk to someone about baptism and try to set a date for that, something ALWAYS happens and we can't meet/have a normal meeting. Karina's friend died... Łucja got sick... Ania had to go to the hospital..... Yeah, super bad luck with that so far. But we're not quitting!!! We were still able to go and visit Ania at the hospital. She was really happy that we came to see her.

This week has been super cold!! The warm, lovely weather from last week just did not last, unfortunately. And on Friday, we actually had SNOW!! It was absolutely freezing! But hey, I firmly believe that missionaries are even better than the Postal Service because we are there in ALL weather. And we will stand out in it... cały czas!! The whole time!! XD But yeah, we still did a 2 hour Family History finding activity on Friday. And I was so surprised at how many people were still out and about in that weather. We talked to some old guy for a while who supposedly wasn't religious, but then told us we needed to study the scriptures. He would tell us all these things, but when we asked him where in the scriptures he found it, he couldn't tell us and he just kept saying "in the scriptures." Yeah... don't think he really knew. Oh and our conversation ended with him asking/saying that I was a heretic. So that was fun. But really? I'M a heretic?! I literally have Jesus Christ's name on my chest all day every day... maybe he didn't see?? Okay, sorry, rant over. BUT BESIDES THAT ADVENTURE we did get 5 phone numbers (potential investigators) from that finding activity! So it was a definite success!!

On Saturday, we stopped by to visit one of the potentials we got yesterday. It was this super cute older couple who live really close to Deptak Bogusława (where the chapel is). Their names are Józef and Irena and they are like our Polish grandparents now. They have a beautiful apartment! They invited us in, fed us a light lunch, and we had basically a tea party. We had such a nice conversation with them and they actually invited us over for Easter to have lunch or something with them. Don't know if we'll go, but it seems like we made a pretty good first impression on them! They are so great! We will definitely be visiting them again.

haha only thing about them... is that they're either super Catholic or just super Polish. Because they have a huge portrait of John Paul II above their bed haha. He was the only Polish pope and EVERYONE here just loves him. But yeah, we'll see what we can do about them. We were also able to pray with them and show them how we pray. They wanted to kneel, so we did. That was actually pretty cool! But yeah, pretty sure they still think we're Catholic even though we specifically told them that we aren't. XD

Later on Saturday, we went and visited Kesja in the hospital. We had a really fun time visiting her and talking with her for a while. It made me really sad though because the other kids in her hospital room were so mean to her!! I mean, I realize that Kesja isn't exactly the most normal, socially, but we still love her and want to be with her! But these other kids would just all sit in one corner, opposite from her and make fun of her or make jokes about her. Luckily, it didn't seem to be affecting Kesja, but I almost cried. It just hurt my heart to see that. We talked to the kids and told them to be nice, so hopefully they stop. Anyway, it was really good to visit Kesja!

Sunday, I gave a talk in church about Eternal Families and it went really well! After my talk, we sang the hymn, "Families Can Be Together Forever." It just made me so happy!! And I really do know that we can be together forever with our families! And I'm so grateful that we have this knowledge because it brings such comfort, peace, and joy to me!! After that, Elder Thornton gave his talk and I translated it into English for Elder and Sister Williams! It was my first time translating, but it went really well and I really enjoyed it! It was actually really fun! Later, we were able to visit Kesja again today! And the kids were actually a lot better today! They weren't making fun of her at all and were even talking to her and being nice. So that was really good to see that things got better.

Last thing, Sunday was my last day of training/as a trainee missionary!! So as of today, I am officially a "real missionary"!! WHOOOO!!!! Haha kidding, I know that I was always a real missionary, but now I don't have the excuse that I'm still in training. ;) XD

Love and miss you all!!
Siostra Shaylin Carroll

An awesome JW sticker we found.

In the Hospital with Kesja :)

Volunteering at Park Run.

Elder Boden, Sister Godfrey, Elder Thornton, Sister Carroll, and Monika Dyker-Woźniak.

Snails are falling all around...../Blue Skies and Sunshine in Szczecin!!! :D (4/8/19)

Cześć Rodzina!!

This week was just SO GOOD!! Lots of wonderful conferences haha.

We started off with our Zone Conference in Poznań on Tuesday. Those are always fun!! And on the way home from that, we started talking to a lady and we actually ended up talking to her for the ENTIRE train ride back. It was so much fun! AND best of all, I was actually speaking Polish and was an active part of that 3 hour conversation! Which is probably really boring for y'all to hear about, but I was really excited about it! Anyway, her name is Jola and we gave her info to the Poznań Sister missionaries. Jola was way nice and really hopes to see us again! (We do too!!)

On Wednesday, we did an English finding activity and were handing out a ton of our little flyers. I handed some to these kids (probably about 10 or 11 years old) and they kept asking me for more. I thought they wanted to give some to their friends. But then, they asked for more!! And then I thought they were just going to throw them away somewhere. BUT THEN, they started handing them out to a TON of people!! They thought it was so much fun!! And a ton of people actually took them from the kids. So much, that we had to move to a different spot so we would actually have people to hand them to. Then, the kids just disappeared they were walking down the street handing them out and we don't know where they went. But yeah! They just did a ton of work for us! XD It was awesome!!

Okay, the weather this week was GORGEOUS!! So warm, no jackets, everything is starting to bloom, clear blue skies, and sunshine everyday. It's felt like I'm in Disneyland everyday walking down these European streets!! :)

On Thursday, we were able to go and help Agnieszka (Maja's mom) in her garden. We raked, pulled weeds, found a bunch of snails.... no really, there are snails EVERYWHERE here. It was awesome! And it was just so warm and pleasant!! It was really enjoyable. And a good service project!! Later, we had a meeting with Ania.

Wait! I never told you how we met Ania!! Last Monday, we were on our way home from the chapel at the end of our preparation day. We sat down on the bus and this lady was smiling really big at us. So we smiled back, of course. Then SHE leaned forward and started talking to us. And SHE asked US for our phone number and said that she wanted to be in contact with us!! I could NOT believe it. That literally never happens here. Long story short... she had met with missionaries about 4 years ago, but had a midlife crisis, moved away for a while, and then fell out of contact with them. We quickly set up a meeting with her.

So, our meeting with Ania went really well!! She agrees with everything we believe in (that we've discussed so far) and she basically was roasting the Catholic church the whole time. (didn't put that on the group email because of Mr. P hahaha...) She also said that she's read the entire Book of Mormon before. Actually, miracle with that: She has dyslexia and it's really hard for her to read anything. Even when she read the Bible she struggled. BUT she told us that when she read the Book of Mormon, she had no problems with her dyslexia at all. She was able to read fluidly and with zero problems!! MIRACLE!! We have another meeting set up with her for this week. She's fantastic!! :)

On our way to the chapel after our meeting, we contacted a JW lady. Also, Jehovah's Witnesses are VERY prominent here in Szczecin. They are EVERYWHERE (probably the same amount as the snails in the garden) haha XD But they never take any flyers or anything from you. But I invited this old JW lady to conference and she actually took the flyer!! I couldn't believe it!! Crazy...

On Friday, we did a Family History finding activity in the park and we actually ran into some friends of ours from Polites; Batu from Georgia and Lenka from Slovakia! We had a really good conversation about families, culture, traditions, and family history with them. We ended up setting up a meeting with Lenka to set up an account and help her get started on FamilySearch. That will be really cool!!

Fun thing about all the Catholic churches everywhere in Poland is that at the hour, you hear the church bells... EVERYWHERE!! At noon today, you could just hear a ton of church bells chiming and ringing and ohhh.... I love it so much!! Honestly people, if you think of stereotypical European things... That is what I see and live with every day here!! And I can't get enough of it!! :D I'm so grateful I get to be here in Poland!!

On Saturday, we did one more finding activity, but this time for General Conference!! We had a really good conversation with this cute mom named Alicja and she said she's actually searching right now for a church for her and her family. We got her phone number, but haven't been able to get in touch with her yet, but we'll keep trying. We also had a long conversation (I say long because usually it's just a "hello, excuse me..." and a "no thanks" or "I don't have time." XD) Anyway, we talked with a 17 year old girl named Łucja and invited her to General Conference. We also gave her a Book of Mormon (which she had heard of before). Later, at 18:00, we watched the Saturday Morning Session (10:00am MDT... time differences are fun haha) of General Conference!! Monika came in right before the last talk (President Henry B. Eyring), but she still came! Afterwards, she said that she felt like that talk was meant for her and she loved how much our church focuses on families!!

On Sunday, we were able to watch the Saturday Afternoon session in the early afternoon and then we watched the Sunday Morning session at 18:00 again. And guess who came?! Łucja came!!! She came and stayed for the entire 2 hour conference (plus dinner the hour before!). She really enjoyed it! And she said she really liked the first talk (Elder Dale G. Renlund) because it talked about things that she was really interested in. She said that her parents are Catholic, but she's just really searching right now. (Perfect!!) We set up a meeting with her for this week. :)

General Conference was AMAZING!! I haven't been able to watch the last session yet, but I'm really looking forward to it. So no spoilers from any of you!! ;) Haha kidding, it's okay. But if you haven't watched it, I encourage you to do so!! There is something for everyone in conference.

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

We went and explored Old Town Szczecin today. This included the Old Town, the White Castle here, and walking along the river. 

I made a smoothie this week because it's getting super warm! :)

 White Castle.

Dramatic European "balcony" life.... haha...

Flying down the stairs in old town :D

The urząd where we conquered the Ukrainian system!! XD

Took a picture of Old Town while on a tram... pretty good for being on a tram!

Ziemniak i Społka (Potatoes and Company) Feeling the Idaho Potatoes love!!

Bonus picture for the family!! :) Sister Godfrey took this one as I was walking up to grab the camera haha enjoy!

Happy April Fool's!!/I got reassigned to Chicago....... (4/1/19)

Happy April Fool's!!!

Cześć Rodzina!!

On Tuesday, we were able to have a meeting with Brygida. She's decided that she wants to prepare to go to the temple and we are so so excited for her!! On Sunday, she paid her tithing, which was really a big deal and exciting for her. And on Tuesday, during our lesson, she would periodically start crying tears of joy because she was ALREADY seeing a literally outpouring of blessings in her life!! She just kept saying, "How fast the blessings come! How fast they come!!" She definitely has a testimony of that now and it's been really exciting to see her faith grow so much this past week! There was just such a sweet spirit during that meeting and it even helped my faith to grow. I know that God, our LOVING Heavenly Father, is always looking out for us and knows about our lives. He wants to bless us, but we have to do what He asks before he can give us those blessings. It was so sweet to see a daughter of God recognize the hand of her Father in her life this week. :)

On Wednesday, we met with Grażyna again! This time we were able to set up a Family Search account for her and get her started on working on her family history. It was really exciting! And she's going to meet with Dagmara to do more family history and research and things like that! That night, we taught English at Polites again which was SUPER fun. It's always really fun to be with that group of teenagers. We played the game where someone starts telling a story and then the next person continues the same story. They LOVED it!! We did that for about a half an hour and the story was just hilarious. So much fun!

Thursday, we had District Council and we met our new Elders for the first time! We have Elder Thornton, who was just the Assistant to the Mission President and was in Warsaw this last transfer, and Elder Boden who is fresh from the MTC in Provo, Utah... AMERICA!! So we have another set of missionaries training here in Szczecin! We're so glad to have Elders back here in Szczecin! Later, we were able to have a meeting with Karina about the Plan of Salvation, which went really well!

Okay family, Elder Boden is literally SO GREEN!!! Like.. you don't even know how green he is. Actually, just go and watch "The Best 2 Years" and the new missionary (Kirby Heybourne) is actually Elder Boden. Sometimes I can't tell if he's being funny or serious when he says some really spiritual/stereotypical missionary thing. But he's way WAY excited to be here on a mission, is the oldest of 7 kids, from Orem, Utah, and is just so enthusiastic about the work. He's going to do really good things here and be a wonderful missionary! But it is pretty funny to see all the stereotypes of greenies being displayed in one missionary. XD

Friday was pretty fun! We had to do some work on the computer. We were working on designing a flier that we could hand out to invite people to General Conference this weekend. We were originally making it just for us here in Szczecin, but then I guess they wanted us to design one for everyone in the whole Poland Warsaw Mission to use. So that was pretty fun! We also stopped by Monika's apartment this week. She had changed phone numbers because of her neighbors being crazy or something? I never know with her... But she was so excited to see us and had actually been hoping that we'd come by! I guess she almost came to church on her own a few times, but then never ended up doing it. So hopefully we can actually get her to come sometime soon!!

Saturday, we volunteered at Park Run again! I was able to talk to Monika in Polish, (at least my little bits of Polish that I can say) and I was able to joke around and stuff, which was exciting to do for the first time in Polish!! But yeah, we really bonded with her more today and I think we finally have a solid connection with her. I think that because the original Elders who met her are gone, that she really likes us Sisters now, since we're part of that "original" group. It's really great! She's really great and I love her!

All of us at Park Run with Monika.

(Elder Thornton is the Elder with glasses and Elder Boden is the blonde Elder.)

Okay, Saturday, was just such a good day!! It was SO WARM!! We took off our coats and everything! It was just GORGEOUS outside and things were looking like Spring! :D We had been wanting to get ice cream today since all the ice cream shops are opening now!! So, we had planned to go after our lesson with Karina. Unfortunately, one of Karina's friends passed away this week, so she was feeling really sad. We decided to all go out for ice cream and just talk instead, to get her mind off things for a while. It was a lot of fun!! And oh my goodness.... Polish ice cream is SOOO GOOD!!! Anyway... yeah! Saturday was great!!

Ice Cream w/ Dagmara and Karina :)

Sunday was great as well! Super clear blue skies again, but not super warm. At church, we had Szymon come again. And also Grażyna!! We're so glad that Grażyna has been coming every week now because we were so persistent with her haha. :) After church, we went and talked to a ton of people and families about Family History. We went through this BEAUTIFUL park behind the city urząd. I'll get a picture of it one of these days haha. ;)

This week, coming up, we have General Conference and I am SO EXCITED to listen to what our Prophet, President Nelson, has to say!! It will be amazing!! And I invite all of you to watch or listen to that on Saturday and Sunday!! There will be something that will be said specifically for YOU if you are paying attention! :)

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll