Lwy i tygrysy i niedźwiedzie... o jejku!! (Oh and last zone conference with President Turek!!) (6/24/19)

Cześć!!

Wow, pday always seems to go too fast. There's always a million things to do in a little less than 12 hours, so that's always an adventure haha. But it's good. We're here giving our time to the Lord and so we can sacrifice for Him. :)

On Monday, for our pday activity, we went to the Wrocław Zoo!! It was a really nice zoo and it actually reminded me a lot of the Oregon Zoo in Portland. It was really cool! But first, on the way there, we stopped by the Jarmark (this cool marketplace type thing that they do. Everyone has these like wooden shack/temporary shops that they set up on the Rynek and they just sell a ton of stuff. It was way cool!) Anyway, I was able to try this one thing I've been wanting to for a while now. I actually don't know what it's called, but it's a literal grilled cheese haha. It's basically just grilled goat cheese with jam. It's really good!

Me with the grilled goat cheese and jam!

Anyway, for  the Zoo... we went with the Elders and anything with them is an adventure. XD They're a fun group for sure. At the zoo, they had this super nice facility called the "Africarium." I was just really impressed by how nice it was kept and how cool the exhibits were. I've always loved going to the zoo and it felt like I was in elementary school again, going on a field trip. :) It was definitely a good time.

At the Zoo with Flamingos that you can't see in the background :)

At the Wrocław Zoo in the cool aquarium tunnel.

Later, we were heading back to the chapel for English and Sister Ludlow wanted to get some ice cream. So we stopped at this one place and one of the waiters stopped and talked to us in English for a really long time. His English was incredible. Anyway, he was really cool and super nice. Basically we were able to get his number to send him information for our English class and potentially teach him the gospel!! So that was super cool! I love it when we get potentials on a pday!!

Tuesday, okay wow. Tuesday was a super significant day. One year ago today was when I opened my mission call.

Opening my Mission Call June 18, 2018.

I cannot believe it has been a whole year! I remember that day so vividly. And I remember thinking that, "Wow, in a year from now, I'm going to be in Poland on some cobblestone street speaking Polish with people." I didn't even know what Polish sounded like back then!! And it had seemed so far away!! I still can't believe how fast that time seemed to go. And now, here I am... talking to people on cobblestone everyday!! Haha! And riding Polish trains all the time! Yeah, we were on a train today heading to Kraków for exchanges with the STL's (Sister Training Leaders). Sister Ludlow and I were in different seats and rows, so our plan was to talk to the person next to us on the way... but the only problem with that... was the guy sitting next to me was either on his phone talking to someone or he was sleeping THE WHOLE 4 HOURS!! So I just called a bunch of people instead and got some to do list things done. But then, okay, there was this young guy sitting in the row in front of me who sounded like he had been crying for most of the train ride. And my heart just hurt for him! The last hour when I had nothing to do, I just really felt like I needed to change seats and talk to him. At first I fought it. I was thinking, "no, that's weird! Going up to him like, hey I just heard you crying the entire train ride, are you okay? Do you want to talk?" But the feeling wouldn't go away and my heart started POUNDING!! The same way it does when I know I need to get up and share my testimony during sacrament meeting. And so I silently counted down from 10 and then went up and asked if I could sit by him. He was totally chill about it and moved his jacket so I could sit there. I told him I was learning Polish and wanted to practice with someone and asked if I could talk to him. He accepted and we talked for the next hour. He was so nice and we had a great conversation. By the end, I didn't even remember that he was the guy who had just cried through the first 3 hours of the train ride. He was interested in English. We didn't really get to talk about the gospel, but even if I was just able to cheer him up or give him a distraction for a while from whatever's bothering him, then I did my job. And I'm glad I was blessed with the courage to open my mouth and talk to him.

On Exchanges in Kraków (Sisters Webber, Me, Christensen, Ludlow).

On Wednesday, we were in Kraków for exchanges with the STL's. I was with Sister Christensen today. It was really cool to be with her and share some experiences with her. The same thing happened to her during her 3rd transfer as it did with me. Her 3rd transfer or (beginning of the 5th month in the country) she trained Sister Berrett from my MTC group. So it was really nice to be with someone who knows exactly what it's like to be training during your 3rd transfer! I really admire her a lot and loved working with her today. We were able to do some contacting and even placed a Book of Mormon with an older woman we met who seemed pretty interested. We also had a lesson with a super sweet girl from Brazil whose name is Gabi. We were able to talk about our Heavenly Father and help Gabi better understand His character and the relationship she has with Him. I think that is one of my favorite things to teach about; that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I love seeing how that understanding and knowledge blesses and changes the lives of so many. There is something truly powerful that happens when we know and REALLY understand that we are sons and daughters of God, He knows and loves us individually, and He will do anything He can to help us succeed and be happy!! I think having that knowledge helps us realize our purpose and our potential. :)

That evening we were also able to go to a service project called "Zupa na Plantach" where we made a TON of sandwiches and then we went and handed them out to homeless people. At the end of the night, we all went back to the apartment and had a fun evening making cookies, telling stories, talking about books, musicals, and movies, and just enjoying being together. I love it when we can have an evening like that where I feel like I can still have fun, even while being on a mission and working super hard the rest of every other day!! Find joy in the journey! (Lesson only partially learned... I need to remember that more often!)

On Thursday we traveled back to Wrocław from Kraków. Sister Webber and Sister Christensen packed us breakfast for the train!! We have the best STL's!! :) Later in the day, we had a really fun meeting with Agnieszka and her son Daniel. We talked about the Sabbath Day and why it's important. We also had a good conversation about things we should and shouldn't do on Sunday to help keep that day focused on Jesus Christ. We played a "true or false" game with Daniel and most of the answers he gave were, "to zależy..." (well, it depends...) and he would explain something like, "if we don't like church music then we don't have to listen to it." He was pretty funny about it, but I think he got the point. Later, the Poznań Sisters came!! Sister Godfrey and Sister Baldwin came to do some legal work for Sister Baldwin. So it was really fun to have them stay with us for a while and see my mission mom again. :) (My mission mom, or trainer, Sister Godfrey) I love her so much!

Sister Baldwin, Me, and Sister Godfrey.

On Friday, for lunch we were able to go to Babcia's and this time she did feed us food and not just ice cream, haha. :) After that, we went to the service project with Sister Godfrey, Sister Baldwin, Elder Baer, and Elder Zabriskie. (The Elders were on exchanges today and so we had 8 missionaries here in Wrocław!!) We were also able to do a super fun Family History Finding Activity (on the Rynek again) with all 6 of us!! THEN! It started raining, so a ton of people rushed to these tunnels in between the buildings on the Rynek and we all hid out under there while waiting out the rain. It was super cool though, because I was able to have this awesome conversation with these 2 Moms and their son about Family History and also about our English class! By the end we were all making jokes together and having a really great time. And after that, we went and taught English with the 2 British Elders!! How great is that?? English with the English!! It was way fun.

Family History Finding with Sister Ludlow, me, Elder Baer, and Elder Zabriskie.

Then, all the Senior couple missionaries arrived with the food for Zone Conference the next day (Saturday). And I got to see... THE WILLIAMS!!!!!!! I have missed them SOOOO much!! It was so great to be able to see them and talk to them for a bit on Friday night. After we went home, Sister Godfrey and I called Ewa (the grandma) from Szczecin. She was so excited to talk to us while we were together again. She is so awesome!

Me with my mom/trainer, Sister Godfrey.

Saturday was a roller coaster! We had our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Turek! It was fun to see so many of the missionaries and also see the Williams from Szczecin again. (I love them so much and miss them a ton!!)

Me with President and Sister Turek :)

But the Zone Conference! It was really special and powerful. President and Sister Turek talked about some of the things that are most important to them. And they bore powerful testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of His gospel. I love President and Sister Turek!! And I am SOOO grateful that I was able to serve part of my mission with them. I have learned so much from them! I know that President Turek was called by God to lead and preside over the Poland Warsaw Mission. And I also know that President Chandler is called by God as well and also has that same authority to lead and guide this mission. There are going to be a lot of changes, but the work will press on. :)

On Saturday night, after a bajillion and a half pictures had been taken and goodbyes had been said, our Wroclaw District had our culture night! We went to this Beethoven Symphony at the National Forum of Music. It was really good and we had a lot of fun!

Us and the Elders at the Beethoven Concert for Culture Night!

On Sunday, we had a ton of people there for the Turek's last Sunday as Mission President and wife!! It was really great. I had my last interview with President Turek and it was so good! I am just so grateful for them and their service they have given and for everything they've done the past 3 years. I am going to miss them so much! After church, we had Branch Lunch (like a "linger longer") which was a lot of fun. We were able to really talk to a lot of the Branch members. I also was able to talk with Sister Turek for a long time, which of course I loved, and just tried to soak it all up. She's one of those kinds of people where you just feel so happy, uplifted, and loved after talking with them. Then, the Tureks were leaving. So we said our final goodbyes with a handshake and big smile from President Turek and a big hug from Sister Turek. And then they left! And that was the last time I'll see them here in Poland. Sad... Anyway, the work is already continuing on and moving forward. We had a meeting with a member named Lucyna and then another meeting with a potential investigator named Lucyna.

One thing I'm really learning here on my mission, is how to adapt quickly to changes and not let them stop us, slow us down, or hold us back. Change is never easy and it doesn't get easier just because you're a missionary and change happens ALL the time. Part of this learning has involved me trusting in God and in His plan. It involves trusting that He knows what He wants to do with me and then allowing Him to shape me into that. It's hard and sometimes it really hurts, but in the end, I come out better than I've been before. And that's the goal; to always be improving and becoming better until we've reached our best selves or the version of us that our loving Heavenly Father wants us to be. :)

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Elder Stewart and Elder Zabriskie XD (and for the record.. yes, I have their permission to send this).

**Here's an excerpt from Siostra McKinzi Godfrey's email this week:

Friday we spent the first part in the government office and then did a service project with SISTER CARROLL MY DAUGHTER and her companion sister Ludlow who are in Wrocław. It was SO FUN to be with my daughter again. We also called Ewa, who is someone that we were teaching in Szczecin. She was ELATED that we called her and all three of us were laughing until we cried. I miss her.

Why am I in Poland if I speak German?? (haha kidding, I know why... I just speak a lot of German with people here) (6/17/19)

Cześć!!

Our Monday p-day was a success! And we even got a potential!! We went on these boats on the river and had a fun tour of some things in Wrocław along the water. It was super pretty and really nice!

On the river boat ride.

My comp took without me looking haha, but I did NOT realize how long my hair is actually getting. I have been trying to get it to grow really long for forever!! So that's fun. 

In the Plaza in the middle of the Old Town by the river :)

Before the boat ride, we talked to the lady we bought our tickets from and she had seen missionaries around before. And she had actually looked up our church and read some things online (which usually isn't best because it's not accurate and it's usually some pretty whack stuff that comes up...) But she didn't seem to be scared away so that's good! Although, I'm pretty sure she read about the Amish because she asked if we watched TV or had smartphones. In reply, I just held up my smartphone to show her that what she read wasn't true. XD Anyway, she ended up giving us her business card with her personal number written on it so we can talk more! She said she's really interested in finding out more. So that was exciting start to our day! Then, on the boat, we were with these 2 German ladies and so I was able to speak German again with them! (At least the little bit I know.) But yeah, it was pretty fun switching between English with my companion, Polish with the tour guide guy, and German with the ladies. It was AWESOME! And of course, topped the day off with skyping my family. :)

Tuesday wasn't terribly exciting. We were at the chapel pretty much all day because the Family History Center was open so we had to be there. But we did studies and our weekly planning there! Then, in the evening, we went to Sky Tower for the free English practice. I was able to talk to 3 really awesome people. The first one was Nazar from Ukraine. He's actually a bass player in a Christian band, so that's really cool. He asked for information about when our church services are so he can come and see it sometime! Towards the end of our conversation he asked how old I was and I told him to guess because I like seeing what people think. XD He guessed that I was 23!! And was so surprised when I told him I was 19. The 2nd man was also from Ukraine and his name is Slavik. He had a ton of questions for me and we talked about the Church for the entire time. It was awesome! I even got his phone number because he's really interested in learning more! And the last guy I talked to was Mikołaj who is from a town about 100 km south of Wrocław. We had a super fun conversation and he knows and speaks English very well!! Funnily enough, that conversation ended with him asking about my age too! He guessed that I was 26!! WHAT?! XD And he was absolutely shocked when I told him I'm only 19 haha. At home, people always thought I was younger! Soooo... I guess I just look older here in Europe?? XD

Wednesday morning, we had a meeting with Konstancja! She had so many questions! But they're all really good. She says that when she reads the Book of Mormon, she always has so many questions. And she's really trying to understand it and understand everything we're teaching her. She had a lot of questions relating to the Plan of Salvation. (So like: what happened before this life?, what happens after this life? what is our purpose here?) And I think she is genuinely seeking for answers. Konstancja said that she and her best friend talked about how they probably knew each other in heaven before this life, but she never knew where we really were before this life. So, when we told her about our life in heaven before our life on earth, it made sense to her. She loved that we believed that we all knew each other as brothers and sisters! She also really liked the Word of Wisdom and thinks it's so good that we want to keep our minds and bodies healthy and "live life fully." She's been doing research on the Church website and is really excited to learn more from us. She really likes what she sees so far and said that on the website, and from videos she's seen, everyone from our church looks so nice and happy. And now that we have met with her "officially," she is now a new investigator!! YEAH!! I'm so excited to teach her more of the joyful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!! :) Later in the day, we went tracting in Biskupin. And this guy was outside smoking, but he invited us to come inside and talk to him and his wife. They were super nice! But also very Catholic and not really looking to change religions. Their names are Robert and Jola. I guess Robert has done his research and knows everything about our doctrine. They were really interested in the topic of families. They are going to be new grandparents soon and so it's on their minds all the time. I was able to show them our official church website in Polish and also "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in Polish as well. And we left them with a Book of Mormon. It was a nice conversation, but I think this is just the start for them. I hope they will do some research and reading on their own using the sources I gave them. Funny thing though: I feel like there is such a stereotype in this Mission that tracting doesn't work! And yet, the 2 times we've gone tracting in the past week, we have been let in and had a great conversation with people. Haha Sister Turek called me tonight and even she was surprised that we got let in!! XD I guess miracles DO happen! ;)

Thursday, wow Thursday was a super NOT busy day which hasn't happened in a long time I feel like. We were able to call some people and even get a meeting or two set up which was fantastic! We talked to an old German couple on a park bench, we went to Renoma for English conversation practice, and we also met with a less active member and her son!

Friday was a little busier. We did an English finding activity with the Elders. They were also on exchanges with the Kraków Elders today so we had 4 of them and it was awesome! On a whiteboard, we wrote some English words that are really hard to pronounce. Then, we went on this bridge by our chapel. Elder LeFevre was literally chasing people down... who were on bikes!!! It was totally insane, but we actually had quite a bit of success. And that was definitely my entertainment for the day. XD During the finding activity, I was able to talk to this couple about English and tried to get them to try to say a few of the words we had put on the whiteboard. The guy was actually trying! Until I asked him if he could say, "supercalifragilisticexbialidocious." And then he just laughed super hard and said, "I don't want to." It was awesome. XD Later, we went to a service project to put together bags of groceries for homeless  people. That was pretty fun too! Then we had a meeting with Anna and Piotr for Polish help. We talked about numbers today. And most of you probably don't know, but in Polish, there are SO MANY different ways to can say numbers. There are different case endings for all of them and it's insane. There's even a specific way to say the numbers for trams and buses. Seriously people, it's crazy. I honestly don't know if I'll ever understand numbers here, but that's okay haha. XD

Saturday morning, we had Sports Saturday and played a super fun game of ultimate frisbee! It's funny because we get more investigators or just friends to come to Sports Saturday than actual members of the branch. Which is FANTASTIC!! After that, the missionaries went over to Babcia's house for lunch. Or should I say, "lunch"? She said it was too hot to cook anything and so she just fed us ice cream. XD It was so funny. Also, if any of you want to know what Babcia sounds like, please reference the movie Anastasia. She sounds just like the grandma in that!! (Except she speaks Polish of course, but same voice!!) It's awesome! Later, we were at the chapel doing our studies and the Elders had just finished their English class. Now, there's this member of the church from Russia who, I don't really know what he does all day.. because he just like... stays... like forever. And doesn't get it that we have other things we need to do. XD Elder Stewart tried many, many, MANY times to rescue us by telling him we needed to study or trying to distract him with something else, but to no avail. Eventually he succeeded... with the help of Google Translate. Google Translate saves lives people. XD Later, we had a lesson with a member named Lucyna. We read the talk "Blessings of the Temple" from President Thomas S. Monson and had a super good conversation about the temple. After that, we did some contacting before heading home and had to deal with 3 middle-aged Russian guys who were messing with us and just trying to get our "individual phone numbers"... even though we share a phone number... Well, all I have to say about that is, sometimes I wonder what's gonna happen when we all get to heaven and recognize and remember each other. And I wonder if guys like that are gonna feel super awkward about messing with their sister... just sayin'... ANYWAY, then we had to take some chairs home from the chapel because the ones in our apartment have been broken for forever. And let me say, I've never realized how convenient it is to have a chair with you all the time! I mean, the only inconvenient part about it is the actual carrying it around part, but besides that it's great! Like.. you always have a place to sit! XD Feel free to try this at home, kids. ;) Oh, and on the way home, I also saw a car with a Virginia state license plate. Yeah, like from the United States. So that was pretty weird...

Found a Virginia license plate!!!

Sunday we had a nice sacrament meeting. Konstancja wasn't able to come because she was out of town with her parents. But next week she should be there!! :) We were able to do a little bit of family history contacting today. We talked to this old couple on a bench who, at first, were super mean and cold. Like, the wife completely ignored us and was turning away and looking super angry at us. But the husband was talking so we stayed. He was going off on a rant about the Catholic church and all the bad things happening with that right now and the things he doesn't like. I literally had to interrupt him just to ask him a question. I asked if he was Catholic. He said not anymore and proceeded to rant even more. I interrupted him again and told him that we weren't Catholic. He was totally surprised and said, "You're not? Are you Jehovah's Witnesses?" I explained that we weren't, but that we were a different church. He then became super friendly and kind. Through that whole time, the thought that kept coming to me was, "Just Listen." And so that's what I did. By the end of our conversation, we had become friends and even his wife was smiling and talking to us. It was a complete 180 from the time we met them. They even accepted a flyer (which they previously declined) with our number on it so they can call us if they need help with anything. It was such a cool experience to see their hearts completely soften and that hard outer shell crumble away. Sometimes we just need to listen and try to understand people in order to help them. It was a really neat experience. Later that evening, I was able to Skype home to my family for Father's Day! I love this new rule so much. My family is the BEST!!!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Myth Busted: "Tracting doesn't work here..." FALSE!! (6/10/19)

Cześć!!

On Monday, we had a fun pday with all 4 Elders and Wiktor. We all went to this park where there is something called "The Labyrinth." It's basically just a big hedge maze and it's exactly what it sounds like: a labyrinth! So, we all played a ton of games in there like tag, infection, cops and robbers, find Elder Theobald's nametag...... Haha yeah he lost it somewhere in the midst of all that, but by some miracle we found it.

A lovely collage that google photos made of me lost in the labyrinth. XD

In the labyrinth.

After that adventure, Sister Ludlow and I went to the Rynek (Old Town) and found an ice cream place because we both have been dying to have some for a while now haha. And while on the Rynek, I was able to Skype and talk to my family and even show them the view which was really fun! Oh and throughout the time with the Elders, Elder Stewart and I discovered that we know a ton of the same people, even though he's from England haha. How? Because of the Nauvoo and British Pageant!! He was really involved with the British Pageant at home (in Great Britain...) and yeah, that's how we know all the same people. It's so nice to have someone here who understands, like really truly understands, how wonderful  Nauvoo and the pageants are!! If y'all ever get the chance, I highly,  HIGHLY recommend going to Nauvoo or even better, being a part of the pageants. Some of the most spiritual experiences of my life were there. :)

On Tuesday, we had a really interesting meeting with Julia (from Italy). Now, she's a very logical thinker and if it doesn't make sense logically, she doesn't trust it. We tried to teach about the Plan of Salvation with her, but she tends to interrupt quite a bit and will argue every little point... even if you're agreeing with her..?? She's really hard to teach, especially because we barely get through any material. She just really gets stuck on the little things. Not that it's bad to want to know the details or fully understand something, but when we're trying to explain something she has a question about and she doesn't let us answer the question, I just don't know what I can do to help at that point! Well, one good thing is she says that if she didn't want to come to the meetings or if she didn't feel it was worth it, she wouldn't be there. So I guess it's good that she comes. And she says she reads the Book of Mormon every morning and she feels good when she reads it. So I'll take that as a good sign. She very much is the kind of person who hates being pushed into things, doesn't like being told what to do, and definitely has to feel like she's making her own choice. Anyway, just trying to figure her out a little better. Also on Tuesday, we were able to do our weekly planning at President Turek's favorite naleśniki restaurant! It's called Pattie's. And a worker there told me that he had seen a lot of people with our nametags (missionaries) in the restaurant before. He said we were always very warm (friendly) and had a different spirit about us. So if you or someone you know was a missionary in Wrocław and went to Pattie's.... thanks for the good rep. :)

On Wednesday, we went to visit a referral we had received from a member of the Branch here in Wrocław. As it turns out, she doesn't live there anymore! So we decided to tract the neighboring buildings as well and we actually had a girl (maybe in her 20's) answer the door. Her name is Konstancja. At the door, she said that she believes in science. But then she invited us in for water because it was really hot. She was super nice and just ready to listen. After talking with her a bit more, we discovered that she also believes in God, or "something bigger" in general, and she reads the Bible. She said she believes in a mix of things. Then she told us she wasn't exactly sure what she believes and my guess is, that's why at the door she told us she believes in science. XD She also said she doesn't really go to church because Catholic mass is "too boring and always the same." But she was really interested and asked us if she could come to church!! Of course we got her name, number, and were able to leave her with a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she said she will come to church on Sunday! Oh and the coolest thing she said was that she believes that all churches have part of the truth, but not the whole truth. Sound like anyone else we know?? :)

Also on Wednesday, we did a family history finding activity on the Rynek. I ended up talking to this guy from Egypt for like a solid 45 minutes and it was awesome!! I told him I had never met anyone from Egypt before and immediately he pulled out some Egyptian coins and gave them to me!! What?! So cool! His name is Nader. He was practically fluent in English, so that was way convenient.  He also said we were the first missionaries he had ever met in Europe and that we were way different than he thought because we "are actually cool"!! XD But anyway, so he is Muslim and after talking with us, he decided that we actually have a lot of similar beliefs! And he really liked that. We had a really good conversation about the Bible and different things in there. He wants to come to church, but will be out of town. He was asking if we'd be in the Rynek the next day because he really wants to meet us again!! We did exchange contact info and plan to give him our church's website because now he is super interested in seeing what we believe and studying everything about it. At the end, he asked us if we could take a picture together "for memories." Man, he was seriously so cool!!

With Nader from Cairo, Egypt!!

Thursday was pretty good too. We had a meeting with Solomiya. She said she feels really good when she reads the Bible. And so we're trying to get her to read the Book of Mormon and see that she can have that same feeling when she reads it as when she reads the Bible. After that, we went contacting for a bit. We talked to a man from India, named Arwin, and he is a Professor who was heading to Dresden. We had a nice talk about religion and his beliefs. He said that he identifies truth in every religion. He also said that he is a physicist and that as a physicist, he really likes to experiment with things. So of course, we asked him to experiment with our church and the Book of Mormon. He's going to download the Gospel Library app and do some searching on his own. Then if he wants more, he said he would call us. I know that normally means they're not super interested. But this man was so genuine and sincere that I'm sure he will do some searching on his own! Later, we went to Renoma for the free English conversation practice and I got paired up with a guy named Dawid. Now, he actually comes to the English class that we teach as missionaries, so we were able to have a really good conversation. I asked him if he had ever met with the missionaries about our church and he said no. Even though he stays every time for religious discussion after English class, I don't think the Elders have asked him to meet with them. I asked if he would want to meet with the Elders about our church and he said yes!! I love it when people can really get to know us first as normal people and then they feel comfortable enough to meet with us about our church. Then they are actually interested in learning more because they see what we are like and how we live.

On Friday, we all took a train to Katowice!! We had zone conference there today and it was really good! Sister Webber, Sister Eberting, and Elder Olschewski from my MTC family were all there.

A group selfie at zone conference in Katowice this week!

When we got back to Wrocław, we were met at the train station by the Einfeldts!!

With the Einfeldts.

Sister Einfeldt was one of our MTC teachers!! It was so good to see them. Of course, we spent some time with them and went out for ice cream in Old Town and had a good time catching up. They both talked to me about Brigham and how they have nothing but good things to say about him. They said he is one of the best people they have ever met. It is so cool to see how many lives someone can touch, especially while on a mission. It makes me so grateful that I have a cousin who is an absolute legend in this mission!! Anyway, we just had the best time with the Einfeldts!

Quick story about heading home from that: I guess if you say "Szczęść Boże" to a nun, they're like required to say it back to you. Like, they get in trouble if they don't. It means "happiness in God" or something like that. So as we walked to the tram stop we saw some nuns, and Elder Edwards says, "Hey watch this!" And then he says it to them, and they said it back! It's actually pretty funny. And I wonder how many people say that to them just to make them say it back haha. XD

Saturday, we had something called Sports Saturday! But of course, SOMETHING had to happen on the way over. This kinda crazy guy came up and was just staring at my nametag and suddenly said, "Mormons!! From Utah!!" And I just said, "Actually.... I'm from Idaho!" He then started talking to us in slow broken English that definitely came from more than English just being his 2nd language. At one point, he admitted, "Sorry guys.. I'm really high right now." Fantastic. He followed us around on our tram and got off at the same stop. He wanted us to pick him up for church  on Sunday, but I was like "sorry dude, not gonna happen." Haha, not actually but kinda. I told him we had some friends we could have pick him up. As we were finally going opposite directions, he very suddenly tried to give me a hug, which caught me off guard and I'm pretty sure I literally jumped out of the way. XD And I explained that we couldn't give hugs because it's a rule we have, but I could give him a handshake. He was really disappointed and stormed off after saying, "F... this rule!!" Oh dear... XD Well, we did get his phone number from it. So we'll set the Elders up with him. XD

Sports Saturday.

After that adventure, Sports Saturday went well! We played some ultimate frisbee with some of our friends interested in the church. After that, we went and visited Babcia for lunch and enjoyed spending some time with her. Then, Sister Ludlow and I taught English class. We taught a girl from Ukraine and a girl from Kazakhstan. Both of them stayed for the religious discussion afterwards and were really interested. We had such a nice conversation about prayer and they are both really faithful! They talked about how they think of prayer as a conversation with God. Which is exactly what it is! I loved hearing that from them. We ended the night going out to dinner and ice cream with a member of the church from Arizona. His name is Jackson Shaver. I guess he travels a ton for work and loves the missionaries that he's met here in Wrocław. He loves helping missionaries out and taking them to dinner. He was a super cool guy and we had a fun evening getting to know him.

With Jackson Shaver.

On Sunday, we had quite a full sacrament meeting! (Which was a new experience for me to have while here in Poland haha.) We had the Einfeldts, Brother Shaver, Wiktoria came!!, Grażyna (a less active member), and... Konstancja!!! It was so great! Our branch president here, President Kvasnitskyi, had asked me to take 5 or so minutes to bear my testimony/give a short talk during sacrament meeting. And I was really grateful for that opportunity! (Even if it meant that I had to speak Polish in front of my MTC teacher who originally taught me Polish *gulp* haha) After the meeting, I talked to Konstancja to see what she thought and she really liked it! She said it was really different, but she had s really positive experience. She told me that she's really jealous of the faith that we have. She says she wishes she could force herself to believe, but it doesn't work like that. She really does have such a strong desire to believe, which is SO, SO GOOD!! She is fantastic!! Also, she has already read all the introductory pages of the Book of Mormon and also started reading it by doing 3 of the different days of the Book of Mormon challenge. That's at least 3 chapters!! Plus, she said she wants to read the whole thing and that she could read it really fast, but she won't. Why? Because she really wants to understand it. Man, she is so good. Honestly, I just love her so much already!!

And one more funny story from Sunday, we were talking to these 3 old ladies on the street and then this other lady comes up to us and says, "What do you have? Oh, the Book of Mormon! I have one of those." Wait.. you have one of.. WHAT?! Haha, anyway, she is way funny and we had a long conversation. Really long story short, she really likes us and wants to meet with us. She went off about Adam and Eve for a while, but not in the normal "Eve is a terrible person" sort of thing we normally hear. Instead she said something like this, "You know why Eve was good? Because Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, all women are wise!! Boys are just dumb! All boys are "głupi" (dumb or foolish) because they didn't eat the fruit first. Eve ate it first, and so, now we are all wise!" So ladies, if any of you were wondering why boys are dumb... there's your answer. ;) XD She made me laugh so hard... I really hope we get to meet this week. XD

And that's all for this week! Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

A picnic dinner we had.

RIP to Fuego... He will live on in our hearts and on Polish hotel bikes forever... 

(@ThoseWhoGetIt.... I love you!!).

Me making Strawberry Pierogi at this service we did on Sunday.

The Black Hole: Szczecin (6/3/19)

Cześć!!

I am now in Wrocław and I love it here! It is so beautiful! My companion is Sister Ludlow and she's from Lehi, Utah. She did a year and a half of college before the mission, so she is 20 years old... And I'm still 19. Haha, so it's definitely interesting being the "senior" companion and training someone older than me. She did swim team and cross country. She's also the oldest child in her family. And that's a bit about her!

Well, I'm surprising myself more and more with my Polish! I actually know a lot more than I thought! But this week, really just forced me to actually use it. It's hard, but it's so so good!

Monday, I was picked up at the train station by my new companion, Sister Ludlow! She's been out on the mission for about 4 months, so this is her 2nd transfer. It's going to be interesting to see how things work with both of us being fairly new to the Polish language and everything, but so far we haven't had any major problems! Monday night we went to family home evening which was a blast and a half. It was so fun to meet some of the people here! I met Wiktor and Wiktoria. And when I talked to them, we discovered something.. Actually, I had forgotten (or maybe didn't even know), BUT my cousin, Brigham Kriser, served here in Wrocław when he was on his mission in Poland!! Not only that, but he was the missionary who started teaching Wiktoria!! When we figured that out, we were all really excited! So far, it seems like my cousin was a legend out here in Wrocław. I'm definitely very grateful that he was such a good missionary!! Thanks Brigham!! :)

On Tuesday, we did a lot of logistical things like weekly planning, where Sister Ludlow told me about everyone we're working with here. And I got my public transportation card, and we organized a bunch of stuff in the apartment. This apartment has been used by a lot of missionaries, so it has been collecting a lot of random things, which I fully intend to organize and clean out haha. XD We just will do that at night though, when we're done with everything so it doesn't interfere with anything during the day.

Wednesday morning, we organized the Area Book here. (That's basically just where we keep track of the information or people we teach, for example which lessons they've been taught.) I even found a few people that Brigham found. Or random notes next to a bunch a people that said, "Tell them you're a friend of Brigham's." Haha maybe since I'm a cousin of his, that will be even better?? We also went contacting. And holy smokes, I love contacting here in Wrocław!! People ACTUALLY stop! And they even listen first before just rushing off. I'm impressed. Szczecin was hit and miss, but most of the time we just had the classic "wow, this tree over here is suddenly so interesting" avoidance tactic. Haha! But in Wrocław, even the people with headphones stop, take them out, and listen. It's glorious. We also met with Julia who is from Italy. We gave her an Italian Book of Mormon today and she was really grateful. She told us that she feels really drawn to the Book of Mormon and really wants to read it.

On Thursday, we met with a less active member named Agnieszka. She was super nice! We had a great lesson about the Sabbath Day and Fasting. She didn't know that you could fast with a specific purpose in mind. She thought it was just a good spiritual thing to do. So, this Sunday, she is going to fast for something specific. After that, we had District Council. We were able to meet everyone in our District. In Wrocław, we have us, Elder Zabriskie, and Elder Stewart. And in Legnica, there's Elder Edwards and Elder Theobald. Once again, I'm in a district with the new/trainee missionary. It's super cool though, because I actually am really good friends with Elder Theobald's cousins. He was super surprised that I knew them and was really excited about that. I love having fun connections! Anyway, our District is awesome and it's going to be a really good transfer!! Later, we met with Solomiya and talked about the Book of Mormon with her. She's met with missionaries for over a year with nothing really coming of it. So we're really trying to get her to actually read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She said she would try and read everyday this week! After that, we went to this mall called Renoma. And I guess every Thursday they have this thing where people just go and practice their English together. You get paired up with someone and just talk for 30 minutes. It's super nice because then you can basically just teach an entire first lesson to them or introduce them to the church and they aren't going to run away!! From what I've heard, a lot of people have become interested in learning more about the church after talking with the missionaries at Renoma. Anyway, I got paired up with this guy named Zbyszek and we talked about the church a few times, but every time I tried to go further, he kinda skirted around it. (He's talked to the missionaries here before haha.) Anyway, we ended up talking about soccer and champions league and if Real Madrid or Barcelona was better hahaha. I think the last time I talked about soccer like that was with my Dad. So it definitely reminded me of him. It was really fun though. And I'm glad I'm a bit educated on the teams and such because of those conversations with my Dad!! :)

Friday was really fun! First, we visited Babcia. That's not her name, but it's what she has all the missionaries call her. Basically she first met the missionaries about 10 years ago (or something like that.. it's been a long time though!). She's never joined the church, but she LOVES the missionaries! Basically she thinks of us as like her many, many grandchildren. And she wants to know all about you and talk to you for forever. She's just like a grandma. And that's why she has us call her Babcia! :) She was also really happy to hear that Brigham is my cousin. She said how happy she was when he came back and visited her. (I'm telling y'all.. I already have connections thanks to my cousin!! It's so nice!) After a really nice time at Babcia's, we went to this service project where we bagged up food for homeless people. As we were leaving, a bunch of them just really wanted to talk to me! So basically the next thing I knew, I was being bombarded by a TON of questions. I was asked if I was from Sweden or Norway or even if I was Polish! Wow! Haha, and then a man made a comment that I spoke Polish, but I wasn't even Polish! And they all thought that was pretty funny. There also was a lady who thought I had Polish ancestry because of my blonde hair. Babcia had also complimented me on my "beautiful, blonde hair" and said how she had always wanted blonde hair. Wrocław just loves my hair I guess. XD

On Saturday, we were out contacting and all of a sudden, we see this older lady coming straight for us and she said, "Sisters?! First we see the Elders and now we get to see you?!" She was a member (of the Church) from Germany! And her daughter and their family were visiting from St. George, Utah!! They were so excited to run into the missionaries and we were so excited to meet them! I bet they thoroughly enjoyed the completely shocked looks on our faces when we heard American English and had people know exactly who we were!! After that fun adventure, we had a meeting with Wiktoria (the member who Brigham actually started teaching). I love her already! She's not always making the best choices, but we're doing what we can to help her out and be her friends. :) We also had a meeting with a sweet older lady from the Branch here in Wrocław. Her name is Lucyna and she's really quiet, but it was fun to see her light up when she talked about the Book of Mormon. And right after that, we had a meeting with Nadia (a woman from Ukraine and she's actually Solomiya's mom). It was actually a straight miracle that she could meet. She apparently always has work, but we happened to call her this morning on her only free day!! MIRACLE! We taught her about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She met with missionaries a while ago, so she already had a Book of Mormon in Polish, but we got her one in Ukrainian. She says she knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true, which is super great!! We were able to set up another meeting with her (another miracle). So now we have a new Investigator! My first one in Wrocław!!

Sunday was pretty good too! We went to church of course which was kinda crazy just because I didn't have to do... ANYTHING!! There are probably about 15 active members, maybe more.. I didn't actually count. But for once in my mission, I didn't need to lead the music, give a talk, sing a musical number, give the closing prayer, and translate all in one meeting. XD Anyway, after church, we went contacting and talked to some really cool people! We went to Old Town over by the river. It was literally like walking through a fairytale town! It was BEAUTIFUL!! We met this lady named Lubomira who is actually a professor at the University here in Wrocław. We had a really fun conversation with her. She actually lived in the US for a while, but doesn't speak any English haha. And while in Florida, she met some "Mormons" as she said (*ahem*...members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) haha. And I think that pretty much sums it up for this week. It was CRAZY!! But so so good!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

P.S. The reason for the subject line is because the entire week I have basically still been taking care of/contacting/passing on info about a ton of people in Szczecin. As Elder Thornton put it, "Szczecin is like a black hole. Once you go there, it just sucks you in and you never actually leave." So yeah, basically that's true. XD

Me not knowing how to take a normal picture in front of some yellow roses haha.

In front of the yellow roses (excuse the squinty eyes... my eyes aren't used to seeing the sun anymore... XD).

Me and Sister Ludlow by a canal and a pretty sunset!!

Fairytale Land haha.

More magical things.

Me on the Lock Bridge in front of Fairytale Land :)