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