Wow, yet another of the many pdays is here. :)
Last Monday, we kind of had a slower, more relaxed pday, which was really nice. We were able to visit the Mary Magdalene Cathedral, here in Wrocław, and go all the way to the top on the "Witch's Bridge." It had an INCREDIBLE view of Wrocław and we enjoyed spending some time up there.
Also that evening, we taught a really fun English class... which for some reason featured Elder Zabriskie pretending to be a meerkat?? Picture included below... you're welcome. ;) Haha, but really it was a lot of fun. And for Family Home Evening, we played some games. We played the "name game" or I guess some people call it "salad bowl." I played that a lot with my family at home, so it was super fun to play it here. :)
View from Witch's bridge.
Me with the view from Witch's Bridge.
A wild Elder Zabriskie in his natural habitat...
Tuesday we didn't have too much going on. We had weekly planning, which we did in this library on the Rynek, so we had a really cool view the entire time. Later, we did some Family History contacting. We talked to a few cool people. One of them was a man named Marek from Hungary. We talked for a while and he said if the Book of Mormon was the word of God he would definitely read it. He said he would think about it and maybe it's a sign from God that we talked to him and that maybe this is the direction he needs to go. Well, as great as that sounds... he was literally rolling a joint and then smoking it right in front of us... that's cool. But hey! If he really does think it's a sign from God and wants to change, we can help with that!! He was way nice though. We also met a lady named Eloise from France. She had actually lived in the U.S. for a year for an exchange. And during that, she actually visited Salt Lake City and Temple Square. She said she thought the temple was really pretty. She also said that she's been to many different churches and has worshiped with many faiths. She said she might come to church with us, which would be awesome!!
Wednesday... Well... I accidentally kicked a moth during exercise time.... so that's how my day's going. XD Haha, but really, it was good. Also, it was SO HOT TODAY!! It literally felt like DEATH outside.. XD It was about 99 degrees Fahrenheit, but it said it "felt like 102." Haha so that was an adventure in itself. We went out to Legnica for District Council and then an English Finding Activity after that. At the very end of the Finding Activity, we ended up getting stopped by 3 Jehovah's Witnesses. They were really nice and wanted to talk. They asked a bunch of questions... but they didn't want to listen to the answers, so it was kinda pointless. Anyway, after that, we went home to our SWELTERING apartment and we started working on calling a ton of people in our area book. We're starting to make the transition over to our digital area book, and so we have to go through everything first. Its pretty fun though!
Oh also, I've had a few nights this past week where I wake up in the middle of a dream where I'm speaking Polish!! Or German!! Or both!! So I guess I've reached the point where I'm kind of dreaming in Polish, for those who were wanting to know that. :)
I was just thinking.. it's pretty funny, but President and Sister Turek are passing us off to the Chandlers as if they're babysitting us. The Tureks are like our parents and they're just like, "Okay, now be good while we're gone! Behave yourselves for the Chandlers!" XD
Group picture from President and Sister Turek's last Zone Conference :)
Thursday, we had 3 different meetings! And in every single one, we invited them to be baptized! And only one of those was a planned invitation. So that was pretty cool. We met with Solomiya (a girl about my age from Ukraine). She's met with missionaries for a really long time, but not always for the gospel. She really likes the church and the people, but hasn't really progressed spiritually in that direction. We asked her if she could ever see herself getting baptized and joining the church. She told us she had never really thought about it! I couldn't believe it. After all these years, not one missionary had asked her about this?! (Maybe they did and she didn't remember, but still!!) So we actually wrote out a pros and cons list with her and help her think about it. Of course the pros were WAY more than the cons. Actually, I think the main con for her was actually going to church on Sunday, because that's normally her only free time I guess. But she said she would think about it more this week. :)
After that, we had a lesson with Konstancja! We were able to teach about the Plan of Salvation! Konstancja loved it and she said she really hopes and wants it to be true. She's going to pray about it this week. :) But yeah, she said it makes her really happy and gives her a lot of hope. I love teaching this lesson because of that. It truly is a message and plan of hope and happiness and eternal joy!! I think it's my favorite lesson. We also read 2 Nephi 31:17-21 with her and talked about baptism being the gate to starting on that path back to our Heavenly Father. Then, I extended my first baptismal invitation!! She said she would pray about it and if it feels right, then yes she will be baptized. :) She said she always tries to do what she feels is right. And I love that! It was a great lesson with her! :)
Later, we called more people from our Area Book. Well, we called a TON of the potentials we had in there.... from 2013!! 2013 PEOPLE!! Crazy... We just wanted to make sure they weren't interested before getting rid of the phone numbers and stuff. But, we were able to set up a meeting with a lady!! WHAT?! So, we'll be meeting with her on Sunday! AND we had 2 people say they didn't have time to schedule something right then, but to please call them back!! It was awesome! Then, we had a meeting with Agnieszka and Daniel. We talked about her conversion story and talked about baptism with them. It was a great lesson and Daniel even prayed at the end!! (He NEVER does that.) We were all so excited!!
Friday, we had someone call us back who didn't answer a few days ago and we were able to set up a meeting with her!! So we were really excited about that! I also called some people to invite them to Sports Saturday. One of them knew my cousin pretty well. She said she thought I was Polish! She said at the end of our call (in English), "By the way, your Polish accent is awesome! I thought it was a Polish girl calling me!" After that, we went to service and did some tracting. And then we taught a fun English class! We did our Spiritual Thought for English on Service. One older guy there was way impressed that we do service for people.. for free. And that we actually ENJOY it and that we actually WANT to do it. He said he's never met anyone like that, who enjoys that sort of thing. But he really likes that we do service and that we are those kinds of people. Little does he know that we do get paid!! ;) With smiles and with feeling good and with happiness!! ;)
Okay, side note... so there's these group pages on Facebook where missionaries post their finding ideas and offer to help teach in languages like German or Arabic or anything really. I love how missionaries from all over the world can work together. Like, we're all helping each other out with teaching people, by offering to Skype them. For example if someone in Oklahoma or Colorado speaks Polish.. we can Skype teach them! I love how we are all serving in different places, but we're all working together to reach the same goal. This work.. is so.. COOL!!!
Saturday... Well, I'm all the way across the world, in Poland, and I STILL can't escape summer construction. XD It changes all the tram lines for us and it's now really complicated to get anywhere. It's kind of ridiculous actually. Oh well, feels like home. XD ;) But yeah, Saturday, we had Sports Saturday and then we went to Babcia's for lunch. While talking with her, she told us how she reads the Bible and the Book of Mormon every night. Then she said this, "In all the times I've read the Book of Mormon, I have never found anything that is not good. Every time I read it, I find something good." I love that! And I feel the same way about it. Later, Sister Ludlow and I went to this really big, beautiful park and did some Book of Mormon contacting. Elder Edwards had told us about this cool idea of picking a spot on the map and thinking about a number of people who are prepared in that area. I felt like there would be 2. And guess what?! We found 2!! It was such a cool experience! The first was a woman named Ilona. She was with her boyfriend, Adam, and asked if I would take their picture. So I did, and then we were able to talk with them, give them a Book of Mormon, and exchange numbers. I guess she doesn't give her number out very much because she texted us later to tell us not to give her number to anyone and that it was just for us. I, of course, told her not to worry. But I felt really lucky that she trusted us and wanted us to have her number! She was super sweet and I'm excited to talk with her more! And then, at the end of our time at the park, I started talking to a man named Jarek. At first, he did NOT want to talk to us and he was going to keep walking. But then he asked where we were from and when we told him the United States, he started speaking English! I told him about our English class and asked him if he'd be interested in coming to that, he said he would. After that, I was able to talk to him more about the church and the Book of Mormon. In the end, he accepted a Book of Mormon, we exchanged numbers, and he wants to meet and learn more. It was a complete turnaround from when we first started talking. It was really cool to see the difference.
This super pretty park we went Book of Mormon contacting in.
Later in the evening, we were at our apartment and we called more people from the Area Book. All the while, I was laying on my bed, in my pajamas, suffering from a massive headache... but hey, the work keeps moving forward, right? ;) But yeah, a guy named Krzysztof called us back and remembered the missionaries from 2014! I guess, orginally, he was a self-referral which is pretty cool. He was super nice and really wanted to meet with us again. So we set up, yet another meeting from the Area Book calls!!
Sunday, we had church like normal. Then after church, we had 3 meetings scheduled!! Two of them flaked.... but then, 1 of those unflaked.... and then... well, basically we had 2 meetings, just a lot later in the day than we had originally planned! XD First, we met with Wiktoria who is a less active member. It was a really hard lesson. Really sad. I just hate seeing people turn away from something that brings so much peace, joy, hope, happiness, direction, and so many blessings!! She told us that her faith is even smaller than a mustard seed right now and she doesn't want to grow it anymore. She doesn't want to come to church or do any of that. And I just had to hold back tears for half the lesson. It was way sad. She said that she totally still believes that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. So, I'm thankful that she hasn't lost faith in those 2 foundational and super important beliefs!! After Wiktoria, we had a meeting with a man named Wladek. He is from Ukraine and we met him about a week ago. We had a good meeting with him. It was interesting, and kinda hard, because Polish is a 2nd language for all of us. But we made it through!! And we were able to teach him about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ! At the end, he said he would try to come to church next week and that he will read the Book of Mormon this week. And we'll be meeting next week too! So we have a new investigator!! :)
Love and miss you all!!
Siostra Shaylin Carroll
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