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
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