TRANSFER CALLS!! Who's the trainer here anyway?! Oh wait... it's me!! (5/27/19)

Cześć!

On Monday, well... we WERE going to go to the ocean.. but then a monsoon thunderstorm just decided to happen. Sooo yeah. That didn't end up happening haha. Anyway, we still had a great p-day emailing family & friends, getting utterly & completely drenched, and almost getting struck by lightning! No, really, we were like.. right in the middle of the storm. It was INCREDIBLE!! But we still had English that night and had 6 people come! Szymon (our very British friend) gave a presentation on World War II and he even brought his Mom to English! She really liked our class and thought it was super cool, and she said she'll be coming next week. So that's fantastic!!

Tuesday we did our weekly planning in Cafe 22, which also happens to be the top of this tower in the center of the city! So as you might guess, we had an INCREDIBLE view for lunch and weekly planning. (Also... highly recommend their hot chocolate ;) haha)

The view from Cafe 22.

While we were there, we ran into... can you guess?? ......More Germans!! There was this huge group of older German people who I'm sure were touring the city. I swear I'm getting reassigned or transferred to Germany! I have ran into SO MANY groups of German people in the last few days. It's a sign!! Or maybe we're just right next to Germany or something haha! Either way, I love hearing the German. It's pretty fun! Also on Tuesday, we didn't have a meeting with Ewa, but she called to tell us that she would be coming to church on Sunday and that lately she's been feeling like she should stop working on Sunday's. She said she never wants to work on Sunday again!! This is AMAZING!! We had been planning to commit her, this week, to keep the Sabbath Day holy. It seems like she's always one step ahead and that when we want to have her do something, or help her change, she calls us and tells us that she is doing the exact thing we were wanting her to do! It blows me away and I am so excited with her progress. :)

Another quick thing for Tuesday, we tried to visit Jakub (the guy who said his door was always open to us), but he either gave us the wrong address or a fake address because the people who live there said that there definitely was no Jakub who lived there.... BUT they did say that we could come back and visit them! So maybe the "fake" or "mistake" address was just a way for God to get us to this other family. We'll see!!

On Wednesday, we had a district meeting and for part of it, we talked about the miracles we've seen this transfer. Ewa has definitely been our miracle. And to think after our first meeting WE were the ones trying to get away!! XD But really, she is a miracle and a true example of how God really is preparing people to receive the gospel. Ewa is so prepared and so faithful. She so readily accepts the truths we are teaching her. She is even sharing it with random people she meets! It's absolutely incredible. And I know that God truly is involved in this work. After all, it is HIS work and we just get the blessing of being part of it. :)

We also taught Polites like normal. But only one person showed up. It was our friend Maksym from Ukraine. It was still a really fun class though and we were just able to have a really long, good conversation. I'm always so impressed by Europeans and the number of languages they speak. For example, Maks speaks 5!! Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, English, and German. I'm just blown away. But then again, I was super lucky to grow up speaking English. It seems like everyone, (okay well, not everyone, but a lot of people!!) wants to learn English. And English is everywhere you go in the world. So I'm super lucky to have grown up with that!!

Alright, so on Thursday we were able to meet with Bogusia's aunt for a bit. She gave us pierogi!! Bogusia is living in New Jersey for a few months, working as a nanny. And we were finally able to get in contact with the missionaries there and they should be meeting with Bogusia soon. We also did an English finding activity. We ran into some interesting people: a drunk man who wanted to hand out fliers (flyers?? I don't know..), a super flirty guy from Denmark, and a man who only spoke German and English. I actually ended up talking to him in a solid mix of English, German, AND Polish. So that was fun. We also were able to Skype with Szymon later in the day and invite him to our service project. Let's just say... he LOVES to talk and we often get on lots of tangents. He was telling us about this movie where a character in it dies from cancer. But the whole time, Sister Godfrey thought he said "Panther" instead of "cancer." So she was thinking that someone in this movie got killed by a panther. XD Thursday night, we went to the train station to pick up Sister Gornichec. She had to come here and pick up her residency card because it was FINALLY ready... 2 months before she goes home. XD That's the legal system here for ya. ;) But we had quite the adventure. Sister Gornichec forgot her bag on the train... and it had ALL her documents in it. So we had to go all the way back to the train station and set up a time to get it when the train came through the following morning. Kinda crazy.. but it worked out.

Friday.. we were at the urząd (government office)... basically the ENTIRE DAY!! At least there weren't any Ukrainians making a list this time... But yeah, it started out with the classic early morning alarm that we have on long urząd days. Haha, I was definitely just dead, but it's fun! We went to the train station and got Sister Gornichec's bag. Then, we went to the urząd. And we sat and we waited. BUT THEN! Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles... a lady was super willing to help us out and the line started going WAY fast and Sister Gornichec got her residency card!! WHOO!

Sister Gornichec, Sister Godfrey, and me.

Okay, Saturday was literally insane!! So we went to ParkRun and volunteered like normal, but then... TRANSFER CALLS CAME!!! It was so crazy. So, I will be going to Wrocław!!! (I'm actually on the train right now as I'm writing this... sending the email later though.) My new companion will be Sister Ludlow!! She is just starting her 2nd transfer and so I will be finishing her training. I'm going to be a trainer!! AHHH!! I definitely do not feel ready for this, but I know that the Lord qualifies those He calls. And so I have faith that I can do this!! It's going to take a lot of faith and relying on the Lord, but it will be so good! There will definitely be a lot of growth this next transfer. Both in my Polish abilities, but also just as a missionary! I'm excited to see what happens. :)

Also, Sister Godfrey is going to Poznań. Bye Mom!!! There won't be Sisters in Szczecin and everyone is really sad about it. So, we both opened and closed Szczecin for sisters. Kinda crazy.

We also had a great service project that we did on Saturday where we cleaned abandoned graves of children at the cemetery. It was great! And then, we met up with Gabrysia who made a cake for us because she knew one of us was leaving. When we told her both of us were leaving, she said, "Aww that's really sad!" And then she paused.... grinned, and said, "But I have cake!!" It was so funny!! XD

Sister Godfrey, Gabrysia, and me with her amazing Carrot Cake.

After that, we went to her choir concert. Her choir was singing on a boat, so that was really cool! It was so fun to go to a choir concert again and it reminded me of so many choir memories I have. :)

Honestly, Saturday and Sunday are kind of a blur... basically, we packed in a hurry and had to get everything ready for closing the apartment and the area for Sisters and pass everything on to the Elders. But we got it all done!! Sunday, I was able to bear my testimony one last time during Sacrament Meeting. And we sang our last musical number, "A Child's Prayer." And we sang it in Polish. And yeah, basically we just said a ton of goodbyes on Sunday and everyone is really sad that we're leaving. I am too! But also, I'm really excited for more adventures and to meet more people!! :)

This morning (Monday), I grabbed my suitcases and the Williams and Sister Godfrey all dropped me off at the train station in Szczecin and we said our goodbyes!! Then, I was on my own... for the first time in 6 months. Haha honestly, it wasn't that weird. XD But I should be getting to Wrocław in a few minutes and meeting my new companion!

UPDATE: My new companion is Sister Ludlow from Lehi, Utah. She is awesome and I am really looking forward to serving with her here in Wrocław! :)

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll :)

The pond we go running around in Szczecin.

Me by the river.

Us and the Williams by the river.

I FINALLY found Kalamata olives!!! I've been craving them since Greece way back in September. Who knew I had to come all the way to Wrocław to find them?! :D

Swan Snake... the very unfortunate sequel to Swan Lake (5/20/19)

Cześć!!

On Tuesday, I OFFICIALLY hit 6 months on the mission. So that was a pretty exciting day. Of course we had to do something to celebrate, so we went and got ice cream!! :)

6 months on the mission!!

After our English class, Stanisław tried to visit us again... (our crazy "friend" who has black and white hair and we've been told to avoid...) Haha, so Sister Williams of course came to the rescue and didn't let him come into the chapel. But he did give her some things to give to us. He always brings us the most random gifts!! Seriously though: a bunch of leaves, some tree branches, random postcards, brochures from random places, maps of touristy things.... pretty sure we have like 3 of every tourist brochure there is in Szczecin. So if you want one, proszę bardzo! Haha please come and take some.

Ahhh Stanisław... how did you know this is EXACTLY what I wanted for my 6 month mark present?!?!

Wednesday, we had a nice meeting with Grażyna (a member here). We asked her about her conversion story which was fun. She really loves the Book of Mormon and loved reading it. She hasn't read it in a really long time though, so we're trying to get her to do that again. Later that night, we went and taught English at Polites. It was a really fun class! At one point, Maksym was trying to say "Swan Lake," but kept slipping up and saying "Swan Snake." So I said, "Swan Snake: the very unfortunate sequel to Swan Lake." And drew a picture haha, yeah it was funny. Afterwards, Sofia (our friend from Greece) told us that she's moving to Germany to be with her sister!! But she wanted to meet up with us one more time. Aw, we were way sad about that.

Thursday morning... holy smokes people. It rained like CRAZY!! And of course, this was the day we had scheduled to go with Ewa (babcia/grandma) to help her clean her family's graves. And yes... we still went!! Basically, Ewa cleaned the graves and planted flowers while Sister Godfrey and I held umbrellas over her and ourselves. It was quite the adventure. XD Later that evening, we went to Spotkanie przy Zupie to look for Jurek (our super cool friend from Canada). We hadn't seen him for a while and were worried about him. Turns out he got really sick and thought he was going to die last week. He also lost his phone... But he's all good and safe and healthy now!! We were really worried. He was really happy to see us and talk to us again.

On Friday, we had apartment inspections and then went out to lunch as a district at "Wild West." Basically, it's this super American restaurant right on the river.

By the river going to "Wild West".

They had U.S. State license plates and American flags and Route 66 signs... EVERYTHING!! It was pretty awesome.

At "Wild West" with Sister Godfrey.

After that, we met up with Sofia for the last time. We went to this coffee shop and got some really good hot chocolate. XD And yes, it was cold enough for hot chocolate on May 17... Anyway, while we were there, there was this older German couple and their friend (an older Polish lady) who we ended up talking to for a bit. I was able to speak with the German couple in German (Just the basics of course), but it was so much fun!! I'm SO GLAD I still remember some of the German I learned, haha!! But yeah, our meeting with Sofia went really well. She actually treated us and paid for us there, since it was our last meeting and she really wanted to. She is SO SWEET!! We were able to get her information and send her as a referral to the Sisters in the Alpine Germany Mission. Hopefully things go well with all that! Sad to see her leave, but I'm glad I was able to meet her and start teaching her about the gospel. :)

Saturday was really fun! So once a transfer (every 9 weeks) we get to do something called a "Culture Night." Basically we have 3 hours where we can do something cultural. Conveniently enough, Saturday was the "Noc Muzeów" or "Night of Museums." (No, not "Night AT the Museum," "Night OF Museums." ;) haha) Basically a TON of museums in the city have free admission on this night. It was great!! We got the District together, along with Dagmara & her friend Kamila, and also Philip (someone the Elders met). It was a total PARTY and an absolute blast!! XD

Group picture on Culture Night!!

We went to a few museums. Probably the coolest one that we went to was the "Museum of Transportation." It had a science section which reminded me a lot of OMSI or The Discovery Center. And then it had this huge garage area (used to be a "place where the trams sleep" haha) with a TON of old cars, motorcycles, trucks, trams, buses, etc. Just lots of shiny, old vehicles. And it was super colorful!! It was way fun.

Me with a slick black taxi.

Me with my favorite car there!! BRIGHT BLUE!!

Sunday, church went well. We had a member come who we have been trying to meet for FOREVER!! His name is Ryszard and I guess he's the drummer in this band, but he normally lives in Miami, Florida... not here in Szczecin. So that's pretty cool. For Sunday School, we had a lesson on "The One" and how Christ always ministered to the "one" or "the individual." As part of the lesson, Sister Williams wanted Sister Godfrey and I to sing a song by Sally DeFord called, "A Place in His Arms." It's so simple, but so beautiful!! Basically the whole song is about how Christ blessed the children. Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

Bring me your little ones, Jesus said
For of such shall my kingdom be 
There was room in His arms for his little ones then 
There’s a place in His arms for me  

I loved it! And I know that this is true! I know that Christ is there for each of us INDIVIDUALLY!! He is constantly reaching out to us with His arms. And there is a place in His arms for each and every one of us.

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Us with a statue in the History Museum of Traditions.

A picture of us with Ania's kids when we taught English!

Mother's Day and 6 Months!! (5/13/19)

Cześć!!

Monday night we decided to stop by and visit Bogusia. The timing was PERFECT!! She just "happened" to be packing up and carrying things outside, so we were able to help her! She is moving to New Jersey for a few months to work as a nanny for a half-Polish family there. Super random, but it's not the first time she's done this. (That's actually how she originally met the church was when she was working in New York for a few months.) Anyway, we were able to send her as a referral to the Elders in New Jersey and get her contact info. She really wanted missionaries to visit her there and she really wants to do skype meetings with us, which is exciting!

On our way to the bus stop, along a seemingly empty road where NOBODY was walking. A man suddenly turned the corner and crossed the street to our side. He was wearing headphones, so we tried to invite him to English. He immediately stopped, took of the headphones, and was ready to talk to us. He was SUPER nice! His name is Jago (not sure if that's how it's spelled, but that's how it would be if it were spelled the Polish way haha). And he is from Brazil!! He spoke English really well. He said he's actually heard about the Book of Mormon and our church before when he was in Brazil. (Shout out to all the missionaries in Brazil who are doing a good job!! THANK YOU!!) He was really open and willing to meet with us. He even asked us if he could bring his wife because he really wants her to meet us. He is so cool!! So excited to meet with them.

On Tuesday, we were able to watch President Nelson's address in the Priesthood session of General Conference. Holy smokes, it was powerful!! It was so good! If anyone has not watched it, I highly recommend it. It's called, "We Can Do Better and Be Better." I love how much he talked about how crucial it is at this time for us to be worthy and ready at a moment's notice. I think this goes for all of us, not necessarily just the men. We are "among the finest, most valiant [people] who have ever come to the earth." I LOVE that!! Being called that, we need to act like that, and BECOME like that!! Do better, BECOME better.

On Wednesday, we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders (they're a trio right now) in Poznań. (We took a train Tuesday night.) I was with Sister Baldwin and Sister Aramaki! It was way fun! We did this thing called a "chalk talk." For this one, we drew out a big tree and put a genealogical tree (family tree) on there and some information for people to go to . We also were able to talk to people about our chalk drawing, to talk about the gospel. Sister Aramaki actually talked to a lady for a while. This lady had a son who had lived in Salt Lake City, Utah. So the lady actually knew about our church and had even been to Temple Square, which is WAY cool!

Thursday, we all took a train to Wrocław for Zone Conference. It was a combined one and so I saw and met even more missionaries this time. There were a bunch from my MTC group. There was Sister Webber, Sister Eberting, Elder Cheal, and Elder Olschewski. It was really fun to see everyone again! This zone conference was way great! We did a bunch of training on how we will be using our smartphones as missionaries. And now we can officially use smartphones in our missionary work! I am so excited!! We are also able to use Facebook. So if anyone has seen me pop up on there, that's why! Don't worry, I'm not just completely breaking rules. And yes, I am still on my mission haha. I'm not home not yet!! I still have a while.

Actually, speaking of that, I hit my 6 month mark tomorrow!! CRAZY!! Haha, I just thought that was something worth noting for a moment.

Friday, we took a train back from Wrocław to Szczecin. We spent some time getting all set up on Facebook and had some struggles getting logged in. Since I've never logged in while in Poland, it was doing the whole security check thing. Basically, it was trying to make me get in contact with 3 Facebook friends who they randomly selected from my page. They give 5 options of people to contact. And 3 of those 5 are currently on missions!! HA! Facebook just doesn't understand how hard they make things for missionaries. (#MissionaryProblems...) Later, we were able to get Kebab at this place by our house. It's owned by 2 men from Turkey. We were able to have a really good conversation with them about religion and prophets. They're both Muslim. One of them is way closed off and just tried to preach to us the whole time haha. But the other seemed pretty open actually. He said something like, "we can't really say if we know something's wrong when we don't have the information for it." So, we are trying to get him information! ;)

We got Kebab!!

Saturday, at ParkRun, Josh (our Australian friend) told us that he had accepted our friend requests on Facebook. He said, "Ever since then, all my friend suggestions have been very happy looking, young Americans holding copies of the Book of Mormon." We all laughed super hard because now he has a ton of missionary friend suggestions. XD  Later, we had another really great lesson with Ewa. She is still progressing really quickly. We were able to watch the "Restoration" video with her and talk about Jospeh Smith. She says she already knows that he was a true prophet of God and she believes everything that happened to be true. So that was really great and exciting!

Sunday was Mother's Day! We tried to make it really special for Sister Williams since she's like our mom here in Szczecin!

Sister Williams on Mother's Day.

So we wrote a card for her, gave her Reese's peanut butter cups, and picked some flowers for her. She loved it! During church, in Sacrament meeting, I gave a talk on the Book of Mormon and it went really well. (Warning: if you come to Szczecin, you WILL give lots of talks :) haha) After church, we had a "Mother's Day lunch" with all the missionaries which was really fun. Then, we met with Ewa (a different one). She asks so many questions and just wants to know EVERYTHING she can about the church. Lessons with her are always fun.

Sister Godfrey, Ewa (with lots of questions), and me.

And then, in the evening, I was able to skype home and talk with my parents! :D It's crazy to think that today would have been the first time since December that I would have skyped them! So glad we can skype every week if we want to!

I think that's all for this week, but go give your mom a hug and tell her you love her!!

*tries to hug mom through email and skype... doesn't really work* XD haha! I LOVE YOU MOM!!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

View of Szczecin, riverside...

We visited the Crooked Forest today (Krzywy Las or "Crooked Wood") and had some fun taking pictures there. Basically it's just a bunch of crooked trees that nobody, not even science can explain how it happened!

Us and Ania (the one we met on the bus who asked for our number).

Church in Szczecin, Poland Today (5/12/19)

Nabożeństwo z Anią dziś był bardzo fajnie. Mieliśmy dwa przemówienia na temat Księgi Mormona i świątyń. To dwa z moich ulubionych tematów. Jestem wdzięczna za Księgę Mormona i za wskazówki, które mi daje w swoim życiu. Jestem również wdzięczna za świątynię i dzięki błogosławieństwom, które tam otrzymujemy, możemy być z naszymi rodzinami na zawsze. Jestem tak wdzięczna, że mogę być częścią przywróconego Kościoła Jezusa Chrystusa i że mogę podzielić się tym przesłaniem szczęścia tutaj, w Polsce.

Church with Ania today was fantastic. We had two talks about the Book of Mormon and temples. These are two of my favorite topics. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon and for the guidance it gives me in my life. I am also grateful for the temple and that through the blessings we receive there, we can be with our families forever. I'm so grateful to be a part of the restored Church of Jesus Christ and that I can share this message of happiness here in Poland. ❤

Spotkałyśmy się z Ewą i pokazałyśmy jej, gdzie co tydzień odbywa się Nabożeństwo. Ona zadała kilka dobrych pytań. Jedno pytanie było to, dlaczego nie mamy obrazków w kaplicy. Chcemy, żeby wszyscy skupiłi się na Jezusie Chrystusie podczas spotkania sakramentalnego, kiedy przyjmujemy sakrament. Dlatego nie mamy tych obrazków (nawet jeśli są w innymi miejscach w budynku). Nabożeństwo jest bardzo ważne bo odnawiamy nasze przymierze z Bogiem, że będziemy podążać za Nim, że będziemy przestrzegać Jego przykazań, i że będziemy się starać zostać jak Jezus Chrystus. :)

We met with Ewa and we showed her where we have church services every week. She asked some good questions. One question was why we do not have pictures in the chapel. We want everyone to focus on Jesus Christ during Sacrament Meeting, when we partake of the sacrament. That's why we do not have these pictures (even though they are in other places in the building). Church is very important because we renew our covenant with God, that we will follow Him, that we will keep His commandments, and that we will try to become like Jesus Christ :)

Szczęśliwa w Szczecinie (Happy in Szczecin) (5/6/19)

Cześć!!

Well, this week was a week of holidays. And the Polish people?? They love their holidays! (Also, side note: The teachers are still on strike!! They've been on strike for almost an entire month now... I think it ends on May 9th though. At least, everyone is supposed to go to school that day. So that's been fun!)

Monday was super crazy. We had a really fun service project again with lots of people. The Elders also had a super cool investigator (Jurek) there for everything. He lived in Canada for a really long time and says his English is better than his Polish haha. He is loving everything he sees about the church so far. He even was saying things like, "Wow! Your church also does service?! That's exactly what Jesus taught. Your church does what Jesus taught. This must be His church." So that was awesome to hear from him! Then, this crazy guy showed up and was talking about our church and was secretly taking pictures (which I caught him doing). And actually is illegal for people to do anything with the pictures without other people's permission. After we asked him to leave because he was beginning to cause problems, he started going off on a rant and getting loud and stuff. After he left, Jurek just says (in English), "Well, you can't save em all!!" It was SO FUNNY!! But besides that, we had a really nice evening and even an impromptu musical performance with Elder Boden on guitar, Sister Godfrey on violin, and me on the piano. It was a great end to a crazy p-day!

Our p-day jam session (before the service night) BEST THING EVER!! :D

Family Night/Service Night (frosting cookies for homeless people!!)

Tuesday evening we were able to meet up with Sofia (our friend from Greece) and spend some time talking with her. The conversation very easily turned to religion and it was really good! I'm really grateful I was able to spend some time in Greece and have a better understanding of how things work over there and how our church works over there as well. As it turns out, Sofia's home in Greece is just about 5 minutes north of where the chapel/meetinghouse is in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is NOT a coincidence! Her family isn't super religious and she's really open to learning about new religions. I'm working on getting a Book of Mormon in Greek for her and I'm really hoping to connect with the missionaries in Greece to start teaching her in Greek!! Now that we'll be able to use technology starting on Thursday, it will open up a lot of opportunities!! :) I'm so excited to see what happens!

On Wednesday, it was Polish Labor Day! In the morning, we went with Marcin to the Szczecin Central Cemetery and he gave us a tour of the whole thing, complete with a lot of history about the place.

At Szczecin Central Cemetery with Marcin.

The Cemetery is BEAUTIFUL!! Here's a taste of Springtime for ya :)

Old windmill in the cemetery.

It was really great! And Marcin is honestly the best. We're really good friends with him now. We had a meeting with our babcia friend Ewa (the one we kinda had to escape from). (read more about her later in the email) And we met a guy on the street named Jakub. He lives on the same street as us which is cool. And he is super open and really wants himself and his family to meet with us!! Something really funny though, he said, "I have only one question... Are you Jehovah's Witnesses??" We told him no and he did a huge sigh of relief and said something along the lines of, "Oh praise the Lord!! Yes, you are always welcome!! We are very willing to have you come over. Our door is ALWAYS open!!" Best street contact ever!!

Thursday was Flag Day! We did some English finding today. About halfway through, this guy comes and sets up shop on the corner where we were standing. He had a ton of boxes of packages of cookies!! And he was selling 7 packages for only 10 złoty (under $3.00)!! It was insane. We asked him where he got the cookies and he only said, "from far away..." and wouldn't actually answer. So... we think they might have been stolen and that's why they were so cheap haha. And yeah, we met the Black Market Cookie guy. XD

Friday was Constitution Day! (And my little brother Ethan's birthday!!) We went to the place where we do ParkRun every week, but today they were doing a mile run. . .

So, we of course ran it!!

Arkońska Mila on Polish Constitution Day.

Arkońska Mila with the Park Run crew (Marcin on the far left, me, Sis Godfrey, Oliwia, Josh and Michalina (his wife), the Elders, and Elder Williams).

We even got the Elders and the Williams to do it with us.

We got Oliwia to run with us.

It was way fun! Even Marcin ran!! (He normally just volunteers and helps out with everything.) Everything was decorated with Polish flags and red & white everywhere. It was awesome! After the run, they had a fire and roasted kiełbasa. Classic Poles. XD I love it. :) Honestly, it felt a lot like how the 4th of July feels at home. It was the best! Oh! And I even won a giftcard as a prize for a drawing they did.

I NEVER win those things at home. So I guess that's a blessing of being a missionary. ;) hahaha kidding!

Saturday was Star Wars day... May the 4th be with you!! hahaha sorry, just had to throw that one in there since there were so many other holidays this week!

Sunday was...another holiday!! CINCO DE MAYO!! And yes, we did eat tacos!! ;) President Turek came to church on Sunday. He's starting to make his "goodbye tour" before his time as Mission President ends! We had a really good fast and testimony meeting. About halfway through, he asked the missionaries to bear their testimonies. Now, we normally do this since there's not a ton of members, but it was kinda cool to be requested by your Mission President to share your testimony. It really brought the Spirit into the meeting to have all the missionaries do this.

Szczecin Branch with President Turek.

After church, we had lunch with the Branch and then we had interviews with President Turek! (He told me it could potentially be my last interview with him, depending on where I am next transfer. Ahhh it's crazy!! I can't believe he's already finishing up his time as Mission President!) But yeah, church and interviews were both really nice!!

Sunday evening we met with Ewa again. This week, we've met with her quite a bit. She is progressing SO FAST!! She's already in the middle of 2nd Nephi, she reads the Book of Mormon every night, she has been praying to know when she should be baptized, and she has received an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. In her words, she said, "najprawdziwe" (which basically means "the most true"). She also talked about receiving an "answer" (information?) that her husband is in heaven, but he is waiting for salvation!! (Of course, we immediately told her about the Plan of Salvation and temple work!!) She is awesome!! And she's so easy to teach!! I've never experienced teaching someone like her. She is so believing and so full of faith.

I think that's all for this week. Hope you all celebrated Cinco de Mayo haha. If not, go eat a taco today or something. XD

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Guess who left their keys IN THE CHAPEL DOOR??? 

Not us! It was the ELDERS!! XD