"Nie mogę czekać. Nie mogę czekać!" mówił Arthur./Interviews and Transfer Calls (7/29/19)

Cześć!!

Hey y'all... don't know why, but that quote kept going through my head this morning haha, so proszę bardzo. XD

On Monday, we went bowling with all the Elders and Vova (Vladimir, a branch member). We were split into 2 groups. We played 2 games of bowling. And Dad, you'll be proud to know that I actually won 1 of the 2!! The other one, I got 2nd. But then again, out of Elder Theobald, Zabriskie, and Sister Ludlow.... my only real competition was Elder Zabriskie haha. XD

Bowling with Vova (a branch member) on pday!

After that, we went out to lunch at this great burger place. (My goodness, it has been SO LONG since I've had a burger haha. It's so weird.) And then, of course I emailed and was even able to make it for Nauvoo Pageant music rehearsal!! Made me and Elder Stewart nostalgic for sure!! Hope you all are having an absolute blast there!! I miss it so much... But then, I was able to play the ukulele!! And I was able to teach Vova how to play the "Lava" song. That's actually the only thing he wanted to learn haha. XD But it was great! I loved getting to play again.

On Tuesday, we did our weekly planning like normal. It was also Sister Ludlow's 6 month mark which is pretty cool. So, we got Thai ice cream to celebrate! I've never had Thai ice cream before, but it was WAY cool. Basically it's just rolled ice cream. Look it up, it's way fun to watch them make it. The guy we got it from, he said he had made over 8,000 of them!! CRAZY!!

I got Thai ice cream for the first time this week! It was way good!

Okay, but after that was the more exciting part. We went to English at Skytower like normal. I talked to a guy named Marcean. It was his first time at Skytower. We talked about the church and the gospel the entire time!! And oh my goodness, my jaw literally just... fell to the floor with this guy! He was SO open and holy smokes... he's really searching. He asked about the main differences between our church and the Catholic church. So we got talking about the Book of Mormon. I showed him 3 Nephi and how Christ appeared to the people in ancient America. He thought that was great and even said, "Maybe Jesus Christ visited other people in the world too! Like in Africa or Asia." I thought it was cool that he was already thinking about that. I told him about Joseph Smith and how he prayed for an answer and then God and Jesus Christ appeared to him. He thought about that and then said, "I can't imagine... it must have been amazing to see God and Jesus Christ." He read through the introduction and asked me questions as he read through it. He was very pleasantly surprised when I told him he could keep the book. He said, "What?! I can have this?! Yes! I'm really excited to read this actually! It's really interesting to me." And he put it carefully away in his bag. One of the last things he said just blew me away! He was talking about the Catholic church and basically quoted Joseph Smith and Marcean said, "I'm just really confused right now. There are so many churches and I'm really confused. Are some of them right and some of them wrong? Are some of them kind of right? Or are they all completely wrong? It's so hard to know!" Wow... I was in shock!! He's obviously thought about this before. I invited him to church and to our English class, got his phone number, and we will be trying to meet with him despite his busy schedule. I LOVE contacts like this!! Especially because that day, I was kinda feeling like I wasn't a good missionary, but then I had a contact like Marcean. And I really felt the Holy Ghost and the Spirit working through me. It was just reassurance for me that I am a good missionary and I AM making a difference for good here in Poland. And I really needed that. :) It was nice to feel like Heavenly Father is using me for good.

Wednesday, so.. I had a really frustrating contact this morning. A lady was going on about Peter and the Popes and whatnot. But I tried to explain that after Jesus Christ and His apostles died, there was a great apostasy and neither the true church, nor the priesthood, were on the earth. Then she straight up called ME apostate. Yikes. She said, "No, you are the apostasy. You and your cult with your strange prophets... THAT is the apostasy!" Absolutely ridiculous. So obviously we didn't try to teach her anything. ........But on the bright side! Later, we had another lesson with Doni! He told us that he's going to have lots of questions as he meets with us because he's just starting out on this path. (Which, I take that to mean that he plans to continue on this path!) We taught about the Plan of Salvation, which he loved! He also had a lot of questions about prayer and how we pray. Like what the physical things are. (He still had the little "step by step"/"how to pray" notecard that I had written for him last week, which was cool.) But he didn't know if we had to burn incense or cross ourselves or set up a mat/rug or put out elephant idols... he has a Buddhist roommate haha. XD We told him to pray, he should close his eyes, fold his arms, and bow his head. But also that you can pray anywhere and anytime! He also prayed at the end of the lesson. As part of his prayer, he prayed for us and said, "Bless them as they help me find the right path." Which is way cool that he already feels like this is the right path for him!!

Side note: we also did our companionship study inside of a Catholic cathedral hahaha. And oh my goodness!! Some guy came in there and was just strutting down the aisle saying a bunch of stuff. Pretty sure he was mocking the Catholic church. But he was just speaking super loud. And then right before he left, he started yelling! I couldn't really understand him because he was yelling, probably a bit drunk, and the acoustics don't help make Polish clearer haha. But yeah, it was crazy! And nobody like... arrested him or anything. He literally just came and left how he wanted. Whack...

On Thursday, we had District Council with President Chandler!! It was really good.

Last Wrocław District Council of the transfer!! (President Chandler took the picture for us!) This has been such an awesome District!!

He talked about something pretty cool for when we go contacting. He explained how sometimes people feed off of fear. And we need to not allow them to do that. When we go contacting we need to make eye contact with everyone and not look away. And then if the people maintain eye contact with us, that's when we talk to them. Because those will be the people who are ready. I thought that was way cool. We also had interviews with President. It was all of our first interviews with him. And it was SOO GOOD!! I just felt so uplifted afterwards. He is so smart and has so many good insights and pieces of advice. I feel like I learned so much from him today. I also feel the spirit very strongly with him. He is a spiritually powerful man and I'm truly so grateful to have him as my Mission President!! Part of what we talked about during the interview involved how the 40 day Book of Mormon challenge is going and what I'm learning. And in thinking about it and talking about it with President, I feel that as I read the Book of Mormon every day, there is so much more power when I testify of the Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ! Truly there is a difference. It's just like a little extra boost that it gives me. And I'm grateful that I'm able to sense, feel, and experience that difference. So yeah, Thursday with President was just awesome. I'm so glad I get to work with him for the rest of my mission.

Friday morning, we headed over to Psie Pole to have a meeting with Alicja. It was way good! We were going to review some things she's been taught in the past and just make sure she still remembers and understands everything. We went through the ENTIRE lesson on commandments, including tithing, the Word of Wisdom, etc. She not only remembered everything perfectly, but she really cherishes it, understands it, and is really trying her best to live by those laws and commandments. She even started talking to us about how she wants to do a little lunch thing for her baptism, just like the one last week. She's ALREADY planning her own baptism!! This is AMAZING!! She is so ready. Oh and last week, for the other baptism, there was this random guy there who none of us knew. Turns out, it was a friend Alicja had invited to come see the baptism! She's already a missionary too!! WHAT?! I'm so excited for her to get baptized. Later that night, we were tracting by our apartment and a lady came up to us asking if we were lost. Turns out she's a neighbor in the building right next to ours. She told us that the missionaries normally "go down that way." But that's where we live, so we knew that haha. She said, "I've seen you around and I've seen your tags. I've always been wondering what kind of church it is and who you are." So we invited her to church and briefly explained who we are. And in finding out we were from America, she said, "That's a long way!! That must be something you really believe in to go such a long way! I don't think any Polish person would do that." Haha yeah, it is a long way. So hopefully we'll see her at church! If not, we'll see her around.

Saturday morning, in the middle of exercise time, my phone rang and it was President Chandler with our transfer calls! So...  nothing too exciting. I will be staying here in Wrocław for another 9 weeks. And Sister Ludlow will be staying here as well. Which is really crazy... because the only time I've heard of companions staying together is when they're still being trained! So.. honestly I was pretty surprised that she's not leaving. I guess on the bright side, I don't have to pack. Anyway, then the rest of our day was normal. We had Sports Saturday with more people than normal! So we were actually able to get a pretty good game of Ultimate Frisbee going.

Last Sports Saturday with Elder Zabriskie (Doni is on the left side in the sweats, Kuba is in the middle with the crazy shorts, Solomiya is right next to me).

We found out that Elder Zabriskie is going to Lublin for transfers and Elder Stewart will be staying here. Elder Baer will be his new companion here! Then, we were able to have a good time with Babcia for lunch. She lets me borrow her CD's, which is really nice. She has a ton of classical music, which I love! It's really great and fun to listen to, so I've been enjoying that. Later that evening, we had a meeting with a member named Lucyna and then we went and did some tracting. We ran into some pretty grumpy people unfortunately. And it just makes me so sad to see that. Not sad that they don't like me. I don't really care about that honestly, I'm never going to see them again. But sad that they don't even give it a chance, that they don't even want to know what we're talking about. It makes me sad that their hearts are so hard that they're pushing out the truth. It doesn't bother me when people say no, or that they're not interested, or no thanks... what bothers me is when people go out  of their way to bother you and be mean to you. I mean, come on, what harm are we doing?! We only invite! And I'm pretty sure we are actually contributing more to their own community than they are... so... there's that too. It's just frustrating because we could be out doing a lot worse things than talking about Jesus Christ, but some people don't seem to care. Like I said, it's not that bad. It just makes me sad. After an encounter with this woman, when she walked away, I immediately started whistling. I didn't even realize what it was until about halfway through. I had started whistling, "Let Us All Press On." It was really cool how fitting the words were! The whole thing, but especially the chorus. "Fear not, though the enemy deride. Courage, for the Lord is on our side. We will heed not what the wicked may say, but the Lord alone we will obey." I kinda laughed about how perfect the words seemed to be, but it really is true! We are here because we are doing what the Lord asks us to do. And so, even though people might try to stop us or won't listen or they'll say mean things, we don't need to worry or be afraid because the Lord is on OUR side. And that's a really powerful thing to know.

Sunday was pretty good. Okay, our biggest struggle with Alicja is getting her to church.... on time!! Investigators have to be in Sacrament Meeting, and present for the ordinance of the Sacrament, 3 times before they can get baptized. Of course, we want them to come every week too, but that's just the requirement. And this week was better than the first time, she only missed the Sacrament by about 10 minutes. So it was an improvement, but still doesn't "count" in official terms unfortunately. It just was a lesson to me in what a difference 10 minutes can make! In everything, not just making it to church in time. But yeah, the little things really do matter. After church, we said goodbye to Elder Zabriskie!! Then, we headed out to visit a less active member named Kasia. She is pretty interesting. Very nice!! But interesting and she really really needs friends. She called us every few days this week to tell us she had presents for us and that we could buy her something nice too. XD  Well, it's a good thing there's a ton of random nail polish that was left here by other Sisters!! XD Kasia gave us a bunch of random sample size things like perfume, face wash, lotion, etc. It was pretty funny. But she seemed so happy and excited about it. So it was very thoughtful of her. I don't think she really has a testimony of the church. She knows a lot of things, but doesn't have a testimony of them. Also, she's got a beard... so that was cool. Later in the evening, my mom (trainer), Sister Godfrey called me for the last time!! She goes home tomorrow (Tuesday) and I can't believe it! I'm gonna miss having her here in Poland, but I'm excited for all the good things she gets to do at home. I'm just grateful I had the blessing to serve with her, be her longest companion, and have her as a mom on the mission!! :)

Also fam, I discovered that the real reason the Nauvoo and British Pageant music is available is so that missionaries halfway across the world who are desperately missing Nauvoo can listen to it!!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Is water wet?/Baptism in Wrocław! (7/22/19)

Cześć!

On Monday, everything started out pretty normal. Then, when we were emailing at the chapel, I ran to the bathroom for a minute, but then someone tried to open the door of the one I was already in! Sister Ludlow and I were the only ones there, so I was really confused as to why she was trying to come into the same stall!! Then, when I was done, I went back to the computers and she was still there... I asked, "Hey, is there someone here?" Her face drops and she slowly said, "...no?....." Then, we were both kinda scared about this rando who was in the chapel!! We waited for them to come out of the bathroom... and it just turned out to be this old Babcia who needed the bathroom. XD Haha, but then a while after that, something crazier happened. I was done with the computer and the screen had gone black. I was sitting there and then all on its own, it turned on, opened Google chrome, went to family search, and started researching things! AAAHHHH!! It was SO SCARY!! After a while, I realized our computer was hacked?? And someone was using it through a sort of remote control from their own computer. I opened a new tab (knowing they could see) and typed in the search bar, "DLACZEGO?!!" (Like.. "why are you doing this?!!") And immediately after that, they moved the mouse and closed out of this program and weren't using our computer anymore. But they forgot to log out, haHA!! So I got all the information I could on them. But seriously... who hacks a computer to use FAMILY SEARCH?!?! 

Anyway, later we went to this really cool museum called "Hydropolis." It was a museum all about water and everything related to it. Boats, city water systems, different cultures and their history with water, the ocean, mythical creatures, actual creatures, and even how water is important in many scriptures and religions. There was this area they had with these cool chairs. They had a huge projector that showed a beach at nighttime with a ton of stars. And they had the sounds of the ocean playing. And it just felt like you were on the beach at night! It was so nice and I tried to soak it up haha. We took some fun pictures and yeah, it was a good time!! Then, we had English class. And we debated the question: is water wet? It was pretty divided. I was on the side of: no, water is not wet. Here's why: there needs to be opposition in all things! Water cannot be dry, therefore, it cannot be wet. For something to be wet, it has to be covered in a liquid. When water drops on water, does it make it more wet? No! It simply combines with the liquid. For something to be wet, it has to be a solid object covered in a liquid. I don't know... what do you think fam? Is water wet? Let me know. XD Sorry, I went off on that, but this email is just going to the fam, so that's okay! Thought it'd be fun to talk about.

Me touching "fire" at the water museum Hydropolis.

At Hydropolis.

The water falling on the umbrella was so hard!! I could barely hold up the umbrella!

Tuesday wasn't too exciting. We did our weekly planning which always takes a long time and focus. It's kinda stressful too because there are so many little things to keep track of and schedules to coordinate and people to call (and then call again later when they don't answer.) Yeah.. Polish people are really bad at answering their phones. But on the bright side, we did it in this cool cafe. And I got really good hot chocolate! Yes, hot chocolate on July 16. It's been really cool weather haha. Later in the day, on our way to Skytower for English, we stopped and got dinner at these really cool food trucks. I got a veggie kebab. (Its It's not the kebab you're thinking of. Not on sticks.) And there were all these cute, little birds everywhere. I gave them crumbs of my bread.  They would even come and take it right out of my hand!! I felt like a Disney princess! Haha!

A bird ate bread right out of my hand!! I'm straight out of a Disney movie haha :)

Then, at Skytower I didn't have anyone to interested in the gospel. But Sister Ludlow talked to a guy who LOVES Jesus and just wants to do everything he can to follow him. He even said about the Book of Mormon, "Okay, I need to know about this. When can I meet with you?! I need to know if this is true!" So that was pretty cool!

On Wednesday, we had quite a few lessons! We taught 3 new people and we now have 3 new investigators! The first one was a teenage girl named Monika. She is super religious... meaning, super Catholic. But she REALLY wanted a Book of Mormon and also to learn more about our church. So we had a meeting over Skype with her. She said she believes that there could be a living prophet on the earth today which is pretty cool. And she's excited to read the Book of Mormon as soon as we get it to her. Then we were able to do a Family History Finding Activity on the Rynek with the Elders. It was great! Apparently the Elders always do a competition to see "who can get the hottest chick" to write on the whiteboard or something. Kinda ridiculous and it actually really bothers me. Does that bother anyone else fam? Please tell me I'm not the only one annoyed by this sort of thing. And Dad.. please tell me you didn't do this sort of thing on your mission....... 

Finding activity with the Elders on the Rynek.

anyway, BESIDES that we had a good time! And of course, I had to get the daily person asking me for directions haha. This time it was a German guy speaking in English. But as soon as I mentioned I spoke a bit of German, he just switched to German. XD Suprisingly, I understood him! Gift of tongues right there... that, and I'm getting used to people talking in German about directions. XD I know I always write about that sort of thing, but I just think it's crazy how I get asked for directions LITERALLY every day. Later, we had a lesson with Doni from Uzbekistan. His native language is Uzbek!! (I think that's how it's spelled.) But he speaks English really well, so it was no problem. He at first told us he was atheist because he doesn't go to church. But he's not! He believes in God! He is super open and wants to learn more. He's going to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it this week. He even prayed for us at the end. I'm pretty sure it was the first time he's ever prayed, but he really wanted to make sure he was doing and saying everything correctly. It was awesome! I'm really excited to see how things progress with him. Later in the evening, I was able to Facebook message with Brigham to get some information on people here in Wrocław. Just some members and whatnot. But I just think it's SO cool how I get to work with my very own family, my cousin!!, on the mission work here. It's such a cool experience. And I love being able to sort of pick up where he left off and continue the work.

Thursday, we had a meeting with Solomiya which was actually really sad. We've been trying to get her to read the Book of Mormon so we can keep meeting with her. She has kept telling us that she wants to read the entire Bible first and then she'll read the Book of Mormon. But she's only at the very beginning of Leviticus... after at LEAST an entire year!!! So... that's not gonna happen. She keeps pulling the card that she doesn't do things well under pressure and that now that we've told her she needs to read the Book of Mormon, she definitely won't be able to do it. But... this is coming from a very good student who is constantly under pressure to get good grades and she somehow manages to do that under pressure... Okay, so she loves to skate and goes to the skate park all the time. I even made the comparison to how she doesn't wait for the entire school year to be done before she goes to the skate park, she goes throughout. I told her that she can do the same thing with reading the Book of Mormon and Bible at the same time. But yeah, she's not going to do it. So we told her this would be our last meeting and asked her to tell us when she starts reading the Book of Mormon, because then we can meet again. We'll still see her at English and Family Night and everything, but we won't be having individual meetings. So yeah... that was way sad and a lot of tough love... Anyway, then we had District Council and today was Elders Edwards, Stewart, and Zabriskie's year mark!! They were way pumped. They've been out here 4 months longer than me... and I still go home one transfer before them. XD Weird how long those extra 6 months are... Later in the day, we went out to dinner at this crepe place before we went to the English conversation practice at Renoma. (Yes, I still LOVE crepes!!) 

Me with crepes.. My favorite!!

Then, we had a meeting with Agnieszka (the less active member) and I was able to help her with Family Search, getting her set up and oriented and everything. I'm really grateful that I did Family History before my mission because now I know what I'm talking about and how to help people do their own!!

Friday morning, I had a phone call appointment with Elder Dewey (the Area mental health specialist). Since this email is just going to the family, I can actually update you a bit on that. I'm making progress. I don't know if this is something that will go away completely while on my mission or not, or even after! But I'm finding ways to feel happier faster/earlier on in the day. And I'm finding ways to deal with it. Waking up every morning is still really hard and I hate that part of the day, but it usually gets better after I play the violin. Elder Dewey told me he thinks that I kept this at bay during high school because i was so intensely involved with music and sports. So hopefully when I get home, I can get back to that. But yeah, I don't know if I was actually keeping it at bay during high school because I honestly don't think I was dealing with depression then. But who knows, maybe I was and didn't realize it. Yeah, sometimes it's really hard though because it makes me feel weak and like it's a defeat that I am dealing with this. Like, am I not strong enough to have control over my own emotions?!? It's so frustrating especially when you tell yourself to snap out of it, but you can't. It just makes me feel weak and wimpy that I'm struggling with this. And while I know that's not true and that depression doesn't mean you're weak and it's not your fault, it's still hard. But I'm figuring it out and things seem to be getting better.  So there's an update for ya.

Anyway, later we just had our normal service project where we put together grocery bags of food for homeless people. And later, we taught our English class to 8 people!! I'm always so impressed by how big the classes are here and in other cities. Because sometimes in Szczecin, we wouldn't have ANYONE show up and we'd have to find something else to do. It was way annoying. But no other city seems to struggle with that, so that's really nice. Funny Kuba moment this week: we asked what his favorite book is. He says, "This one!" as he holds up the book he's been looking at. It was was was the dictionary. XD He said, "I use it every Friday!!" Kuba is a 30-ish year old man, mind you. So when you read stories about him, remember that. Also, think of like.. a sort of Polish Spencer Davies character and you'd be on the right track. XD

Saturday was exciting! First, we had a meeting, with a girl named Ola, in this BEAUTIFUL park! We had a great first lesson with her. She was super open and chill with everything. Even when we brought up baptism, she was way cool with it. She said she first wanted to read and pray and get to know the church better first, but that she could be baptized. So that was awesome! She is way nice and I'm really excited to teach her more!

With Ola in the beautiful park.

Right after that, we headed over to the chapel for the baptismal service of Michał and Gabriel!! Gabriel is from the Legnica branch and the Michał from our branch in Wrocław. He is actually our Branch President's son. Michał is their oldest, so it was their first child to get baptized. They were really excited!! And so were we! Alicja came to the baptism and was talking with the members which is fantastic!! Oh, and fun fact: for baptisms, we don't have a font, so we rent a swimming pool at a spa or fitness center and do the baptisms there. But yeah! It was a really fun and happy gathering of the Branch. We all had a good time together! :)

At the baptism! Michał and his family!

Later that night, Sister Ludlow and I watched the 2nd half of "17 Miracles." (We never have enough time to watch an entire movie in one night, haha) But it is SO GOOD! I loved the reminder of the Pioneers and how much they sacrificed and gave for us. There's a quote at the end by President Gordon B. Hinckley that says, "I hope you never get over being thankful to them." And I don't think I ever will. I am just in awe at the many sacrifices they made and terrible things they went through, all so that WE could have the blessings of the gospel in our lives today. It truly was a remarkable sacrifice of such incredible faith and love for the gospel, their children and posterity, and our Savior Jesus Christ. As I remember their trials, I know that I can get through mine, as long as I follow their example of staying strong in the gospel and truly & completely relying on Jesus Christ. "It will all be worth it."

Sunday was glorious haha. Well, we didn't have any meetings which was kinda unfortunate, but we did some other great things! So, first, a Russian lady from Provo, Utah was visiting today! She is super nice! She and her 2 youngest kids actually stopped by yesterday to meet us and find the chapel. And today I was able to translate for them and hang out with them at church. I loved it and I loved getting to know Yulia better. She's super nice. And she told me I was welcome to come visit them anytime I'm in Provo. :) Oh! Anyway, the main point of this is: her son, Jefferson, got his mission call to Poland!! He enters the MTC at the beginning of December. Which makes him part of my "shadow group." That just means that they enter the MTC the same time as you and kinda follow the same timeline (in the year and transfers and stuff) as I did. So yeah! He'll be in Poland the beginning of February which is way cool. Anyway, after church, we were able to visit Babcia. Then, Sister Ludlow and I did a Musical Finding Activity! Basically, we went to a park and I played hymns on the violin and she sang! We set up my violin case to hold a ton of brochures, Book of Mormon's, English ulotki (flyers), etc. And we put a sign that said they were free and to please take some! It was so much fun!

Musical Finding Activity in the Park.

A lot of people stopped and looked at our stuff. Some even listened for a bit before moving on. A lot of times, little kids would become entranced by the violin and watching it and they wanted to stay and listen for a while. It was so cute! I loved seeing the interest and curiosity in the eyes of the little kids!! It was such a fun activity to do and I really felt like I was able to bear, or convey, my testimony by playing these hymns. It was a cool experience to feel the power and truthfulness as I played these hymns, thought about the words and meaning, and allowed many people to hear them for the first time ever! It was especially cool with songs that hold truths about such fundamental parts of my testimony. Specifically, "I Believe in Christ," "Joseph Smith's First Prayer," and "I am a Child of God." Those were powerful. I'm so grateful for music and the spirit that it brings!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

"My parents are reindeer!!": Extended Edition (7/15/19)

Cześć!!

Monday!! I guess Poland decided (or remembered) that she didn't give us Spring earlier this year. I guess she forgot and skipped straight to summer! But she's making up for it now by taking the heat down a few big notches. This week, we had really cool weather and quite a bit of rain. It was in the low 20's all week!! (That's like 60's and low 70's in Fahrenheit.) Anyway, it was SUPER nice. On pday we just did some things to get ready for the week and we had our normal English class and family night/game night! It was a party for sure. Oh! We went to this Indian restaurant for lunch/dinner. (Not sure which meal you'd count it as at 4:30pm?? Haha!) But I've been craving Indian food and music like CRAZY!! Well, I got my fill!! And it was SOOOO good. There are some cultures and countries who really just know how to use spices the right way. And India is DEFINITELY one of them.

We went to a super good Indian restaurant.

So.. fun thing: I just fall asleep on my knees like every night... #missionarylife haha. Who needs a bed anyway? I don't! But really, it's a REAL PROBLEM PEOPLE. Missionaries don't make this stuff up. It actually happens. XD

Tuesday I had my first meal with a member here in Poland!! So... all you stateside people listening in... we don't get fed NEARLY as often as you do. So this was HUGE!

Lunch with Isabel (a member from Portugal!) my first meal with a member here in Poland!!

Anyway, before we had lunch, we decided to tract around the neighboring apartments for a bit. Well, there was a lady who let us in, only to stop us on the stairs and tell us to leave. She literally blocked us from going up the stairs to visit her neighbors. I think she was a little too defensive because we weren't even making any forward movements as we tried to talk to her. XD You know how in Doctrine and Covenants 123:12 it says there are some "who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." Well... there are also some who are kept from the truth because their neighbors block the truth from even coming up the stairs and getting to them... #missionarytractingproblems... Hahahaha XD But it's all good! We were able to have a really good time with Isabel (a member who is originally from Portugal!!). She is super sweet and just so awesome!! Later in the evening, we went to Skytower and I ended up listening to this guy go on and on about different conspiracy theories, karma, and zodiac signs, something about entering a new era of aquarius??, and the illuminati. Fun fact: Apparently the illuminati has extraterrestrial technology like food replicators?? XD And it's ALL true!! XD I hope y'all can hear the sarcasm in my voice.... but yeah, that was 45 minutes of my life that I'm never gonna get back. Haha, at least it was entertaining!! But hey! Sister Ludlow had some success. She got paried with Kamil, who I talked with last week! And he's really interested in learning more about the church, so we were able to set up a meeting with him! Yay!!

Wednesday was awesome! To sum it up, we got 5 phone numbers from different people we met, we set up 2 meetings, and we placed 2 copies of the Book of Mormon! We did a Book of Mormon Finding Activity with our District after District Council. During that we met Doni from Uzbekistan, who I guess had met the Elders on the street about a month ago. And he's pretty interested! We also met Jan Jakub (yes the song "John Jacob Jingle-heimer Schmidt" was going through my head the whole time). And we also met Anton from Belarus. We gave him a Book of Mormon and set up a meeting with him for the next day. So, it was really successful!! Later, we went tracting for a while and met a really nice lady named Magda who we will be in contact with. And a man named Genek. Now, there was this apartment that was being renovated and we could hear them working inside. At first we thought, "oh they're just workers they don't live here" and we were going to skip that door and we headed down the stairs. I got about halfway down before something was pushing me to go knock on that door. So I ran back up the stairs and knocked. A man answered and sure enough, he was just a worker. But we were able to talk to him for a while. He believes in God and Jesus Christ, but not in "church" and he doesn't like what's going on in the Catholic church right now, so he was glad to hear that we weren't Catholic. He is only here until the end of the month and then he goes back to his hometown. Which is pretty far, so we never would have met him! He said he was very willing to read the Book of Mormon. So we left him with a copy and exchanged phone numbers. He was super nice and I am SO GLAD that I went back and knocked. Because renovators need the gospel too!! :)

HOLY SMOKES...Thursday was crazy!! So the quick version of Thursday is this: we had 5 lessons, 4 lessons taught about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, people from 4 different countries, 5 different languages spoken (not by us haha), 1 referral sent, and 2 very tired, yet fulfilled Sister Missionaries!! Our first meeting was with Kamil who ended up being just curious and wanting more information on our church which is fine. Even though he didn't want to learn more, he did want to keep the Book of Mormon, so that's cool! Then, we had a lesson with Agnieszka who is a member. We had a really good conversation about missionary work! And also, she wants to learn how to do family history next time, so I'm really excited for that! Then, in the afternoon we had 3 lessons, literally back to back!! First was Kristina, who is from Ukraine. She wanted extra English help, but also wants to learn more about our church. She even brought her copy of the Book of Mormon with her!! We'll be meeting with her again. Right after that, we had a lesson with Anton from Belarus. He is really cool! Basically he seems to be genuinely searching for truth, which I always love to see in people. He really wants to know if God exists, or if He's really there. Also, he had already read all of the introductory pages of the Book of Mormon and had started doing the Book of Mormon challenge!! When we looked impressed he just said, "What?! It's easy!" Uh.. yeah it is!! But like... NOBODY actually does it! So yeah, we were excited about that too. He is going back to Belarus (on Friday), but will be back again in October for University. When I mentioned that we have missionaries in Belarus too, he really wanted to meet with them there! He was super open to that. So, we got his address and info and sent off a referral to the Baltic States Mission! Hopefully I'll still be here in Wrocław in October to follow up!! :) Oh! Last thing about Anton: he even prayed for us at the end of the lesson.. in Russian!! It was awesome!! Then, after him, we had our last meeting of the day with a guy named, Marek, from Hungary. He was kinda the same as Kamil where he was just curious. But we had a good conversation and invited him to church, which he said he might come. Oh, and he prayed for us at the end of the lesson in Hungarian!! And he took 2 copies of the Book of Mormon; one in Hungarian and one in Polish. So even if these people don't want to meet again, every single one of them has a copy of the Book of Mormon!! Yeah! :) So basically, 5 meetings in a day is insane and I think I know what it feels like to be a stateside missionary now, haha!! XD :)

On Friday, we FINALLY had a meeting with Alicja again, after being canceled on and rescheduled about 4 different times!! But it was really good! Kinda weird because we were walking and traveling with her and teaching her on buses and such. But she didn't seem to mind. She is unlike most Poles I've met, in the fact that she was totally not afraid to be openly talking about religion and asking lots of questions in front of other people. So her comfort with that definitely put me at ease and it wasn't a problem! Pretty cool stuff. We checked with her again to make sure she still wants to be baptized. She does! And she seems really excited about it too! She said she's been praying about baptism and the Book of Mormon and she just feels really good and happy about all of it! Another cool thing she talked about: I asked about her previous doubts from the first time she wanted to be baptized. She said that all of her doubts, questions, and worries have turned into joy and peace!! That is SO COOL!! I was so excited to hear that. She says that she just feels peace in her heart and she just feels so good about everything. I love it! She even talked about the temple and wanting to go there. Well shoot, if that's your goal then baptism is just a natural step to that and it'll be so easy to do!! I'm so excited to see her progress so far. She knows and understands so much. Now we just gotta get her to church on Sunday!! Later in the day, we went to this Mexican restaurant called "Panczo" (Pancho in English haha). And I got a big fat burrito and couldn't have been happier haha. Just wanted to mention that. I've been craving Cafe Rio now, so we fixed that one right up! XD

The closest thing I'll get to looking like I'm in South America on my mission. XD yeah, no... that's a COMPLETELY different world!! But at least the burrito was good. ;)

Anyway, we had a crazy English class with 8 people! And then 6 of those decided to stay and talk for another 1 1/2 hours!!! Oh my goodness, there's this kinda crazy guy named Kuba who is very... exuberant. Very much, one of a kind. He is hilarious though. At one point in the English class, we were talking about our families and he yells out, "My parents are reindeer!!" And I died laughing for a while... he was trying to say retired. XD Haha also, he things the word nickname is "nick." He thinks the translation of his name (Jakub) is Jim and so he says that's his English nickname. It was so funny though, I said, "Hey Jim!" And he was confused at first and then realized what I said and he said, "Yeah! Yeah! That's my nick! Haha!" And he just says, "That's my nick." Such a funny guy. XD

On Saturday, we were able to go and visit Babcia! I always love visiting her and listening to her stories too. (Haha actually I love the fact that I am understanding Polish well enough to actually understand her stories.) She told me a lot about her life yesterday. Babcia's Mom died when she was only 16 months old. Babcia's first husband died pretty early on. And she told me about how she and her 2nd husband were just good friends who went to this French conversation class together. Eventually her husband to be asked her, "How long until you will let me marry you? And how long until you can be my wife?!" Really cute story actually. Especially when she's telling it and reminiscing about everything. :) She also talked about the day before that husband died. It was so sweet, but so sad! And she started crying and I teared up and almost cried... and it was a good time. I love Babcia!! You always feel good after talking to her! Right after that, we headed out to do some contacting, but decided to tract instead since it was really rainy. As we walked down the street, these 2 ladies stopped me and asked, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" (Do you speak German?) I told them (in German) I spoke a little bit, but that my Polish was better haha. (THAT was weird to say. Never thought I'd be to that point haha.) But yeah, and guess what they wanted?? Directions! Literally, I'm not even kidding.. EVERYONE asks me for directions!! Don't know why.. maybe I look like a tour guide or something?? But hey, it's pretty fun to have people start talking to you for once. XD Anyway, later, we had a meeting with a man named Stan. I guess he had lived in Wisconsin for about 38 years. Stan was the sweetest old man! He really wants to meet again and take us to dinner at a nice Polish restaurant! So stay tuned! But he was really grateful for the Book of Mormon we gave him and he said he would read it and pray about it. He also said he'll come to church next week. He seems to already find a lot in common with our church and our beliefs, which is really cool. Right after that, we went to the Post Office to mail 2 copies of the Book of Mormon to these referrals we got. Outside the Post Office, there was this teenage guy working at a souvenir stand. He was reading the 2nd book of "Beyonders" by Brandon Mull!! IN POLISH!! (Didn't even know those were translated into Polish!) But yeah, I started talking with him (thankfully he spoke English for this one) about those books and we both love "Fablehaven" and that whole series. Then, I had the most normal and natural transition into the gospel that I've EVER had in my life! XD I said, "Hey, did you know that Brandon Mull is actually a member of our church?" He said, "What? Really?! That's so cool! Which church?" Basically the conversation ended up with us giving him a Book of Mormon which he was very grateful for and which he is going to read. And an invitation to come back and visit him there at work! So that was way cool.

On Sunday, Alicja came to church! She arrived at the very end of sacrament meeting, but she still came!!! We were way excited!! Also, she participated in Relief Society and had some really good comments about how the importance of prayer and strengthening our relationship with our Heavenly Father. She also talked about how the things of the world only bring temporary happiness. She said she's been there and she knows from personal experience. She said that true and lasting happiness comes only through Jesus Christ and being close to Him. Wow... couldn't have said it better myself. She also talked to the Branch President and told him that she's really excited to get baptized! So THAT'S awesome! In the afternoon, we had a meeting with Lena. She's still really caught up on how bad things happen in life and how it seems like God doesn't even react to it. So we're trying to work with her on that.

This week, I've been able to spend some time in the mornings playing the violin! Now, I didn't realize how much I had missed music and being able to play music until I've had it back! And this week, it has really boosted my spirits and uplifted me as I play through the hymn book. (It's kind of a game too because it's in Polish, so I don't immediately recognize which hymn or song it is!) But really, I have such a testimony of music and the positive effect it can have in our lives. There is truly a power in music that we don't understand. I am so grateful for music and the uplifting effect it can have on us. I'm grateful for the emotions and unspoken words it can express. There really is a depth that can be reached by music that nothing else seems to be able to reach. It's incredible. And I love it!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Actual picture of me getting rejected through the domofon.

The Museum/Palace thing next to our chapel.

A cute little town square/plaza we saw this week (near Psie Pole).

We have some beautiful sunsets here! Nothing like Idaho sunsets, but it'll do for now! :)

Wrocław Apartment (7/14/19)

Goes into grocery store... sets baptismal date!!! (7/8/19)

Cześć!!

I can't decide what's sweeter?? Trying my first ever McFlurry or setting the first ever baptismal date on my entire mission?? You decide. ;)

On Monday, for pday, us and the Elders, we went to Świebodzice (Wałbrzych more specifically) to visit a CASTLE!!

This was the first castle I had ever been to!! It's called Zamek Książ. And I guess it has around 5 or 6 hundred rooms? They don't really know because nobody's actually counted. But it's HUGE and we didn't even see a 4th of it I'm sure.

There was a tunnel inside the castle... This is a picture of me entering the actual Twilight Zone....

*duhduhduhduhduhduhduhduh* (sorry, hopefully you can hear the theme song through that haha)

We were able to explore a bunch of rooms, the gardens, the courtyard, the grounds leading up to the castle, and even this sort of marketplace leading up to the castle (which is now all restaurants of course).

But I could only imagine what it was like... Oh,  and we literally had to hike 5 kilometers to get there. It was a castle on a hill!! But as we were walking up there, I honestly felt like I was in a fairytale.

Like, we were traveling from some distant village to come to the marketplace and visit the castle. And as you climb up the hill and start to see it peek into view, it's magical!! I can only imagine how people back then felt who journeyed to the castle. There must have been girls in the marketplace who daydreamed about going inside the castle or even living there. It was such a cool trip to go see this castle!!

Tuesday we had our regular weekly planning and studies. But at the end of the day, we went to Skytower for their English course. How this works, is we all pick cards with numbers on it. And whoever gets matching numbers, those 2 are conversation practice partners for that round. There are three 45 minute rounds. As luck would have it... Elder Zabriskie and I drew the same number. XD Well... that won't work. We're both missionaries and we're both native speakers... so that kinda defeats the point haha. Luckily, someone else didn't have a partner, so Elder Zabriskie went with him and I was left to wait for any latecomers. Which was a huge blessing! About halfway through Round 1, a man named Vlad showed up and asked me if we could talk or if I was just hanging out. I, of course, told him that I was here to talk! He is from Ukraine and speaks really good English. We had a really good conversation which turned to the gospel fairly quickly. We ended up talking for the rest of the 1st round and the entire 2nd round and were still talking and almost missed the 3rd! He had a lot of questions about our church and really wanted to know what we believe. He said that recently, he's really been feeling like he wants to be baptized and that he wants to do that to follow Jesus Christ. He brought this up! Not me! He also talked about how he loves reading the Bible and he feels like it's changing him. He said something like, "I can't describe it... but there's this power I can't describe. And I feel it when I read the Bible. When I read, I feel like I'm closer to Jesus Christ. And I feel Him coming into me." (Meaning, he feels like he's becoming more like Jesus Christ.) I couldn't believe it. It was beautiful listening to his words and hear him express his feelings about these things. As we were still talking almost into the 3rd round, the coordinator came over and asked us to come and switch partners. XD Haha, so I got Vlad's contact information and he is really interested in meeting with us. He was super willing and down to give me his number and meet with us sometime. He's a super nice guy and I really feel like he is genuinely searching for and seeking truth. I love to see this in people!!

On Wednesday, we had a really good meeting with Konstancja. She's always so ready and excited to learn!! She listens and seems to accept everything. And she always has really good questions. Also, she says that she agrees most with our church, or that our church is the best fit for her, than any other church she's studied. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ; which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. She really likes how repentance is between us and God and not between us and a priest. We also talked about baptism and read Mosiah 18:7-12 with her. We asked if that seemed like something important to do. She said something like, "Yeah, if there's a God, then I think baptism would be a good thing. I would be baptized." So, her main thing is knowing that God exists. She believes in a higher power, but she doesn't know if that power is necessarily God. She's praying for an answer to that question. I love how she is so faithful, whether she knows it or not, she is! She is praying to receive an answer. And that act of praying is an act of faith. She doesn't even know if she believes in God and yet, she's already praying to Him to ask Him about her questions and concerns. It's beautiful. I think the lesson in this, is that we don't need to know everything in order to act in faith!

Also that day, we had a meeting with a lady named Alicja. We thought it would be a normal meeting, but I guess she wanted to meet just to say hi, get introduced, and set up for another meeting. We met her in this shopping mall.. in Aisle 76 of the Auchan grocery store. And we were just talking about the gospel.... in the middle of this grocery store.... that's a new one! Haha! So we talked with her and she believes the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Also, she's met with missionaries before. It was actually exactly a year ago. She told us that she had a baptismal date for January 2018, but she still had doubts and questions and didn't feel ready back then. But then SHE said (in the middle of this grocery store.. XD), "So, I was actually thinking again that I want to get baptized. I was kind of thinking like, August 21, but then I thought that might be too fast. But maybe..." By that point I'm struggling to stay calm... I pull up my calendar on my phone and she picked August 31 to be baptized!! It was so exciting! She's trying to come to church on Sunday and we'll be meeting with her on Tuesday. But that was it for today. She's not even an investigator right now and she set her own baptismal date!! WHAT?!?! It was too easy!! XD But I am so excited to finally have gotten my first baptismal date EVER!! And I'm so excited to get to know her better as we help her prepare for baptism! :) :)

Oh yeah... and we got McFlurry's to celebrate. Which... I've never had a McFlurry before, so this was a day of many firsts. XD

1st Baptismal Date EVER and 1st McFlurry ever!!

Thursday... HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! We took a train to Katowice for our first Zone Conference with our new Mission President, President Chandler!! It was awesome! Fun thing, both President and Sister Chandler served their missions here in Poland. So they are so excited to be back! For Zone Conference, we were even able to sing the Star Spangled Banner!! (As much as Elder Stewart tried to fight it... but.. looks like the Brits lost again.) Hahaha ;) XD Anyway, we were able to get to know President Chandler, his wife, and 3 of their kids who are here with them (Ellie, Sam, and Emily). President Chandler was pretty excited to hear that I'm from Beaverton, Oregon too! He is actually from there, so he was excited to have a "fellow Oregonian" here in Poland. They talked a lot about how we're going to change the way we do missionary work here in Poland. Instead of trying to contact and talk to EVERY SINGLE person on the street, President really wants us to let the Spirit guide. Finally, after 30 years, we're changing. :) (His words, not mine. But I wholeheartedly agree!) We're going to walk down the streets and talk to people we can see and feel are ready. He talked about how the Lord has prepared people to receive the gospel, but we need to let Him help us to find those people. And the way we do that is by contacting with and by the Spirit. Brilliant. I'm so excited to see how this changes things. :) I'm also so excited to work with the Chandlers! They are amazing people and I KNOW that they are called by God to be here at this time and to lead this mission. There was such a strong feeling of the Spirit with them and I know that the work is really going to pick up speed. They are going to be wonderful and I'm so blessed to serve with them here in Poland.

Katowice Zone Conference with President and Sister Chandler!! :)

The Elders were OUT on our way back to Wrocław from Katowice (4th of July Zone Conference).

On Friday, we were able to go and visit Babcia!! I love her so much and I love being able to visit her every week. She doesn't have any grandchildren, but she says that all the missionaries are her grandchildren. So she had many, MANY grandkids. She has such a light heart and a happy spirit. I just love being around her. She really is like a grandma to me here in Poland. And I'm so grateful for that! After visiting Babcia, we went to our normal Friday service project where we pack grocery bags for homeless people. Normally, it's about an hour or so. But today, they had 2 truckloads of food!! Which took a while to unload and get situated around the room. Oh, and not to mention like 8 crates of asparagus!! I don't think I've seen more asparagus in one place.... and we had to bag that up so we could put it in the bigger grocery bags... anyway, the whole thing took about 3 hours!! But they didn't have quite as many people as normal, so we were needed even more. I'm glad we were able to be there!

Me with the TONS of food for homeless people that we packed up.

In the evening, we were able to have 2 quick meetings with Solomiya and with Wiktoria. Today we talked about obstacles that could be keeping Solomiya from getting baptized. She said she thinks her only obstacle is that she wants to know more and understand more about our church. She even said, "I should probably read the Book of Mormon." Which was the first time she's ever said that!! She always talks about reading the Bible and wanting to read that first, but hopefully that will change! As a mission, we're going to be reading the Book of Mormon in 40 days (starting today! Monday) and we invited Solomiya to do that with us! She said she'll think about it. And Wiktoria, we talked about service and committed her to do some service or go to service projects or activities with the missionaries in Germany. (She's going there for a few weeks.) She said she would and that will be really good for her.

Saturday morning, we headed over to the park for Sports Saturday. While waiting for our tram, a lady came up to me and asked me for directions. Which is like the hundredth time this has happened. XD Literally EVERYONE asks me for directions. XD Which means 2 things: 1. I look Polish, or at least that I look like I speak Polish. 2. I look like I know what I'm doing. Haha!! XD Anyway, Sports Saturday was fun. Then, we taught our English class at the chapel. We had a new girl there whose name is Krystyna. At the end, we had our religious discussion (or spiritual thought) about the Book of Mormon. She seemed pretty interested and asked if the copy we had handed to her was for her. She asked if she could take it home and use it. She really seemed like she wants to read it! Of course we told her that the book was for her. She said she'll be coming again to English. So I'm excited to see where this goes. Later in the day we were able to call a lot more potential investigators. And then we visited Lucyna for a while. We read the conference talk from Elder Uchtdorf about missionary work and asked her to invite 3 people to church this week. She said she would! :)

Sunday was really great! We had a meeting with Lena, who is now our newest investigator!! I guess she met missionaries on the street 8 or so years ago, but they never set up with her! WHAT?! So this was her first meeting with missionaries. She really wanted another copy of the Book of Mormon and she'll read this week. She started crying towards the end of our lesson as she talked about how she "doesn't know the goodness of God" or she hasn't experienced it yet in her life. I was able to testify of God's love for all of His children. It was just such a simple, sweet, tender moment. :) Later in the evening, we went tracting and MIRACLE!! We were immediately let in by an older woman. She said, "Please come in!" She brought us into her living room where her family was already gathered (after they had just finished dinner together). She said to them, "There are missionaries here to talk to us!" And everyone looked happy about it! I have never experienced anything like this before on my mission. We came in and there were 6 people just sitting there ready to listen. Anna (the woman who answered) and her husband Bolek. Then, their daughter was there with her family. Joanna (the daughter) and her husband, with their 2 teenage kids Stefan and Hanna. It was so nice because we were just able to have a conversation about our beliefs. They asked a lot of really genuine and sincere questions about our church. And then, they just really listened. They were all SO NICE!! And it was just such a relaxed environment where we were sharing about our church. And I think we all genuinely enjoyed each other's company. We left each family with a copy of the Book of Mormon (which they said they wanted to, and would, read). And we were invited to come and visit them again! AMAZING!! And people say tracting doesn't work in this mission. Psssshhhhhh... I'm just proving that wrong left and right!! ;) And right after that meeting, we were walking home and met a woman named Halina who had heard a lot about our church and found it really interesting. She wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon to read and she wants to meet. Holy smokes what a day! So.. we got 1 new investigator, 2 potentials (well, that's just the phone numbers! It's more like.. 7!!), and gave out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon!! Best Sunday Ever!!! :D

This week we're starting our 40 day Book of Mormon challenge. I invite any of you who have never read the Book of Mormon or who would like to read it again to do it with us!! You can be part of the Poland Warsaw Mission even from the comfort of your own home! ;D But really, I know that reading from the Book of Mormon daily brings such blessings into our lives. I always feel happy and uplifted after reading the Book of Mormon. I know that you will too!!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll