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!