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
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