My last week of the longest 4 months of my life and My last week as a teenager... (9/30/19)

Cześć!!

On Monday, Elder Stewart left Wroclaw to go to Warsaw! (He's going to be an Office Elder now!!) We all went to the train station to say goodbye. Ah, it's so crazy moving cities honestly. And that first time you leave your city... you're sitting there and you pull away from the station and you're alone. And it hits you. I remember feeling like, "Whoa! I'm ACTUALLY leaving. I'm actually moving away!" And it was so weird. Kind of sad, but also exciting. There's definitely a lot of anticipation too! Anyway, it was also Sister Ludlow's last pday in Wrocław! So we went around to a bunch of souvenir shops because she wanted stuff for her family. So, if you need any price checks on things, I can tell you the cheapest place to get souvenirs. Hahaha, not really though. (Which, of course I got to take you around the city with me. :) Which was really fun!) And later, we got some lead sheets and played/sang some songs before English class. So that was a lot of fun! After English, we went to get ice cream and hang out with Wiktor for a bit. He and I are pretty solid and we've got a good relationship. He unfortunately is struggling a lot with his testimony right now. And that's the first time I've heard him openly admit that. So, I know I'm going to try and help him as much as I can this transfer (and even after!!). But yeah, it made my heart ache and ahh, it's just pretty sad. But we'll keep working on him.

Tuesday, Sister Ludlow and I had our LEGIT LAST weekly planning session. We talked about how we had 18 of those!! That is SUCH a LOOOONG time. We did weekly planning at Pattie's for our last one. (We did our first one at Pattie's, so we had to do it for the memories. The first time was SO HOT and humid. But today was cold and cloudy and very foggy. Kinda cool!) And of course we had to get naleśniki for lunch while we were there. (Naleśniki are basically just crepes. So of course I love them!) Later, in the afternoon, we had a meeting with a guy named Edie from Brazil!! Holy smokes, this guy is incredible!! He actually met with missionaries for a long time a little while ago (some of the Elders we knew in the mission even). He said that when he came to Poland, he was an atheist, but after meeting with our missionaries, he definitely is NOT! He absolutely believes in God. So that is way cool!! But he is probably the most down to earth, genuine, and open person I've met with on my mission. He really just opened up with us and asked some serious, genuine questions that he had. It was so nice just to answer his questions and really have a discussion about the gospel. He definitely wants to learn more about our church and meet with us. He is a real seeker of truth!!! Also, he said that when we "happened" to meet him again, he had been thinking a lot about spiritual things lately. When we asked him to pray before we had our meeting today, he told us that he had an insight while praying to "knock on the doors and it will be opened to him." So he knows that he needs to ask for answers in order to receive them. He also said that lately, a lot of "coincidences" happened that he doesn't believe are coincidences. This guy is seriously so prepared. And there's nothing I love more than a genuine seeker. I'm so excited to teach him!! Also, we thought it was funny that we seem to teach more foreigners than people from Poland. (Uzbekistan, France, Brazil...) And I decided: We come to Poland to SERVE the Polish people, but then we actually TEACH everyone else!! Haha, don't worry, I'm joking. Of course we teach Polish people! But also others, because as missionaries, we are called to preach to all those who will listen and hear our message. And to teach all those who will receive us. So of course we will teach people from other countries as well if they will receive us. :)

Wednesday was good. We started out the morning right away and had a meeting with Ewa and her 4 daughters. They are so awesome! Basically Ewa is just very supportive of them and their choices, but isn't exactly sure if she believes. She believes in something higher for sure, but isn't sure what to call that. She says she wants to know, so she has that desire. And that is a perfect place to start. She's a very logical thinker and has trouble with faith, meaning it's hard for her to believe in something she can't see or hold in her hands. We read Ether 12:6-7, and verse 12 with them. We asked the girls what they thought about it. And one of them, who is the only other one who isn't a member actually, answered perfectly. She related it back to her Mom saying she didn't have faith and how in the scripture it says we have to have faith before the Lord can show Himself to us. (Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.) But yeah, the girls got to the exact point we were trying to explain. It was way awesome! We also had a meeting with Wiktoria today, for the first time in forever... And she said she WILL come to church. She said she's not gonna say "try" but that she "will" come to church, so that's way cool! Yeah, she's on an upswing right now which is super great! We're gonna work to keep it up there! Later that night, we went to dinner with all 4 Elders. We went to Hard Rock Cafe on the Rynek!! I've never been to Hard Rock Cafe before. But I swear, the Elders are literally obsessed with it!! So of course, we had to finally go with them haha. It was pretty cool! And I guess it's not a bad thing that my first time eating there is in Wrocław, Poland. Cool stories I guess, right? But it was fun!!

We ate at Hard Rock Cafe Wrocław.

Story from Wednesday: I totally saved some girl from getting swindled by the gypsies. She spoke Polish, but definitely wasn't from here. We were doing an English Finding Activity on the Rynek. I saw this gypsy guy go up to her and offer her the rose. She accepted it and said thank you to him, to which he immediately whipped out his little rule/law book or whatever to tell her she was gonna have to pay him or get in trouble with the Police or something. I hate how they use natural human reaction to prey on people. I was so fed up with it. Either way, I don't know HOW I thought of this. But I just went over in the middle of this and tried inviting the kid to English, but he said he already had a flyer. I said, "But she doesn't!" And I gently took the rose from her hand and put an English ulotki (flyer) there instead. I balanced the rose on the gypsy boy's arm because they won't grab it back from you. And me and the girl just walked away. She quietly thanked me and then she went on with her day and I kept inviting people to English. So hopefully she comes to English or something because I TOTALLY just saved her!! If anything, hopefully she looks up our church. Anyway, I had NO idea that would actually work!! But it did!! I was so pumped about that.

Thursday was pretty fun! Kind of a weird day, but it was good. We had just finished personal study when I noticed we had a missed call from President Chandler. I called him back and it was just President calling for Transfer Calls!! It was a huge surprise because normally that's been done on Saturdays in the past, but he decided to start doing it earlier so we can do any last things or say last goodbyes to people before suddenly getting transferred. So that's way cool! But yeah, we got our transfer calls. We were pretty spot on with our guesses actually. Sister Ludlow is going to Kraków to be with Sister Lueck. I will be staying in Wrocław and my new companion will be Sister Aramaki!! I am SOOO excited!! I've been on exchanges twice with her and absolutely loved it. So I can't wait for this transfer with her. I feel like this is an answer to my prayers and Sister Aramaki will be the perfect companion for me. I am so so grateful. :)

After that, we had our apartment inspections done by Elder and Sister Williams!! Besides our apartment missing random lightbulbs and having problems with the shower... it was great! And everything I CAN control was great! They were so proud haha. After that, we went out to lunch with them and the Elders to "Shrimp House." It was just so fun to spend time with the Williams! I love them so much. :)

Lunch with the William's at Shrimp House.

Then, we had District Council, the last one of the transfer!! Soo.. that was kind of interesting because Elder Stewart was our District Leader... and now he's in Warsaw... so as Elder Baer put it, he was the substitute teacher for the day. XD It was pretty fun! Oh and we found out more about transfers! Elder Olschewski is going to Szczecin!! The place of my mission birth!! He will be whitewash training. So both him and his trainee will be the new missionaries in Szczecin!! Ahh! I'm so excited about that. This is the 3rd time, while I've been on the mission, that Szczecin has been "whitewash trained"!! Its It's so crazy! Anyway, later we did a "Book of Mormon Book Club" on Plac Wolności. We just set up a bunch of chairs and laid out copies of the Book of Mormon and invited people to come read with us. We actually had some people come over and talk to us which was cool. And even a return missionary from Poland came over and talked to us!! He is WAY cool!! He served in 2007-2009 and his Polish is still way good! But yeah, the odds of that happening seemed way too low... but it did!

Friday was AWESOME!! First we had a great lesson with Agnieszka focusing completely on Jesus Christ. We watched some of the Bible Videos which was really good. On her own she wants to read the scriptures that go with them. Then, I was able to do a bunch of filming again. Honestly, it felt like I was back home spending the day filming with friends again. Basically, Elder Nielson is making a video about the missionaries to help spread the word in Poland about who we are and what we're doing here and to show that we're normal people! So we just filmed us doing a bunch of different things throughout the day. We started out doing a big Plan of Salvation chalk drawing and had some people stop and talk to us from that, which was cool. A bit later we went to the Rynek and I played my violin there!! (AHH kinda scary because there's a lot more random people there and you can hear it ALL around the Rynek. And also, the video is going to be silent except for narration and music, so you can't hear me play. And so... I was just playing random stuff haha. I had way too much fun messing around in D major haha.) But anyway, that was probably one of the coolest things! Elder Moody and Elder Nielson said those were their favorite shots of the day just because it looked so cool! I mean, the Rynek is hard to beat and then there were a ton of bubbles too and wow... it was just EPIC!! But yeah, they definitely got some WAY cool shots and I was so excited about that. 

Filming on the Rynek.

After the violin on the Rynek, we headed over to Babcia's. Just as I expected, she was WAY into it. We told her what we were doing and she instantly went into "actor mode Babcia." She was so cute about it and played the part PERFECTLY.  It was so much fun!!

Filming with Babcia.

Then, we headed to English class and filmed some while we were teaching that. Today was just WAY fun! I didn't realize I missed doing this sort of thing. So it was way good to get back into it. Side note: We also said goodbye to Elder Augenstein today!! He's going home on Monday!! But yeah, ahh Friday was the BEST!! :D :)

Dinner with the film crew.

Saturday was pretty normal. We had Sports Saturday and visited Babcia which was great! We also got 2 new investigators, which was awesome! We taught a lady named Dominika. She's very open and really wanted to read the Book of Mormon and learn more about the Church. She's even going to look on our church website, so that's awesome! The other new person is an older man named Jerzy. And... I think I have a frog haha. He came in, saw Sister Ludlow and asked, "Are you Sister Carroll?" She said, "No..??" He said, "Who are you? I have a meeting with Sister Carroll! Where is she??" And then he saw me and it was all good. We had a good meeting with him and he seems pretty interested. After our meeting, he told me he had a gift for me! XD He pulled out a gift bag and started filling it with random cosmetics that he bought for me. There were some face masks, face cream, lotion, and even toothpaste!! (Looks like I won't have to buy a new tube of toothpaste after all haha!) But yeah, it was pretty funny. And the Elders saw the whole thing. XD I love the random things that happen here. We later had a meeting with Lucyna and read a conference talk with her. We read "Good Shepherd, Lamb of God" by Elder Gerrit W. Gong. It was a wonderful talk and I loved talking with her about Jesus Christ and the hope He gives each of us in this life. Lessons with Lucyna are always good!

Sunday was the last day of the transfer!! That makes 2 transfers or 4 months or 18 weeks in Wrocław with Sister Ludlow. Wow!! That's a LOOOONG time. So today was a lot of goodbyes for Sister Ludlow. But not for me! Not yet.. I'm SO glad I get to stay here another transfer. I've still got a lot I want to do here, so it's definitely a blessing. In sacrament meeting, we performed our musical number, "Come, Thou Fount" and the Branch LOVED it! They hardly ever get musical numbers, so this was really special for them. :) After church, we visited Babcia for a bit. Then, we visited Kasia (the less active member with a beard). She gave us more "very nice cosmetics." She's so sweet, but it's so funny because all of the cosmetics are just these little sample size ones haha. It's so great. XD I think I've gotten more cosmetics in the past 2 days than I've ever bought in my whole life haha... XD After that, we did music finding in a park for the last time and found one interested lady! So that was a great way to end the transfer. The work keeps rollin on! :)

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

A cool dragonfly that I became friends with.

Me and Mira (the Branch President's daughter).

Me and Sis Ludlow having our last lunch together, today before she got on the train!!

Satan has new tactics for stopping the missionaries.../This week we literally got pooped on... (9/23/19)

Cześć!!

Well, as for the subject line, that was something Elder Thornton would say ALL the time in Szczecin. But this week it literally happened to us. XD

Satan has new tactics for stopping the missionaries... Including, but not limited to: birds pooping on us in the middle of lessons... XD

Monday was a crazy pday!! Okay, so we went to visit Moszna Zamek (The Moszna Castle!!). It was pretty far away, and being missionaries without a car, we had quite the adventure to get there and to get home. On the way there, we took a train from Wrocław to Opole, a bus from Opole to Krapkowice, and then another bus from Krapkowice to Moszna. 

A picture of me with a Llama in Opole :)

The ride out to Moszna was BEAUTIFUL!! Seriously, the Polish countryside is magical!! And it was seriously still so weird to me that I was on some random bus in the middle of nowhere (well, some amazing countryside) in Poland heading to a castle. I mean, when I was at home a year or so ago, I never would have thought I'd be where I was now!! But yeah, the castle was AMAZING!! Just GORGEOUS and everything you'd imagine a castle to be. We took some fun tours of the towers and got to see a few different parts of the castle. Apparently they've turned most of it into a hotel, so if any of y'all have ever wanted to stay the night in a castle.. then, polecam! (Polecam= I recommend it!!) We had fun exploring the grounds and everything. 

A ton of pictures from Moszna Zamek!!!

A picture of me and some geese at the castle... Just call me Goose Girl hahaha!

Then, heading back home from Moszna was the tricky part. We had to walk 2 kilometers to an even smaller town, wait for a bus at one of two bus stops they had, and 2 buses did not even come. So I was a bit worried we would end up stranded in the middle of nowhere and have to sleep at some stranger's house!! I think Sister Ludlow was even more worried because she started trying to hitchhike!! XD Well, I learned two lessons that day: 1. Hitchhiking really does work!! 2. Blessings come soon after obedience.

The 3rd bus still hadn't come and after 2 missed already we were scared. Some guy actually pulled over and offered to take us to Opole!! I was tempted for only a second, but I ended up telling him it was against our rules to be alone in a car with a man. I thanked him anyway, but said we would keep waiting. I have to say, that took quite a bit of faith because... that could have been our ONLY way home that day. But I also believed that obedience brings blessings. About 20 minutes later, we saw a bus come around the bend and I cheered!! The relief that I felt when I saw that bus... ahhh!! I was so so grateful! And then, we were safely on our way from Dębina to Opole. And then, we caught our train from Opole to Wrocław and made it safely home! It was quite the adventure!! (Not to mention my phone was sitting at 4 or 5% battery while waiting for that bus..... that would have been way bad.) But we're good! And it was a super cool trip!!

Tuesday we headed to Katowice for Zone Conference. I always love Zone Conference, seeing all the other missionaries, and President and Sister Chandler!! This one was really cool! We talked about the Brother of Jared and some of his attributes. We talked about the pattern he followed to do the Lord's work. Specifically about his creativity in his idea for how they would have light in their boats on their journey to the promised land. We talked about creativity and then we brainstormed a ton of new finding ideas that we can try. There are so many ways to find people!! And if any of you have good finding ideas, please let me know! I would love to hear them and use them!!

Zone Conference (Sis Christensen, Me, Sis Lueck, Sis Berrett) with some photobombers (Elders Stewart and Olschewski).

Zone Conference (Sis Hadley, Sis Berrett, Sis Lueck, Sis Christensen, Me, Sis Ludlow).

After Zone Conference, we did a HUGE spontaneous finding activity with all the missionaries still there. (A bunch of us had to wait a few hours for our train) It was way fun! And so so cool to have so much missionary power there together!! I had a conversation with this old man, who seemed normal at first, but then.. haha yeah, he was definitely drunk. He for some reason was SO EXCITED that I knew Adolf Hitler was from Austria and not Germany! So excited that he cheered and then kissed my hand!! How... nice...??? Not... XD But, oh!! He was trying to set me up with his son! I guess he's a Professor in Warsaw and writes many good books. XD So there's that! Haha, fun stories we get as missionaries. After that, we had a fun train ride home just talking and enjoying our time together.

Finding Activity with everyone!

Beautiful sunset at the train station in Katowice.

Also... Görlitz is opening!! Zgorzelec is the Polish name for it. It's this town that lies right on the German/Polish border. I guess it was under the direction of Elder Uchtdorf. He wanted that city opened. I was so excited because ahhh that's such a cool city! The missionaries there actually go to church in Germany!! It'll only be Elders there for a while, but I'm hopeful that Sisters might open there eventually. At least for a week or so, so I could go visit... ;)

Wednesday we had a fun weekly planning session. We went and hung out at "Charlotte" again. I LOVE that place!! We had some good food. I had this chocolate mousse that was INCREDIBLE!! Seriously so so good. ANNDD!!! They play JAZZ!!! I was so happy!! Classics and stuff. Fly Me to the Moon, Wink and a Smile, Feeling Good, Fever, Mrs. Jones, Singing in the Rain.... ahhhh definitely gonna enjoy listening to those again when I get home!! After our weekly planning, we went to the chapel to grab some Book of Mormons and print off some sheet music. I offered to play something for Sister Ludlow's last Sunday in Wrocław because she has been dying to do a musical number and we don't have a piano player anymore. Luckily, Sally Deford came in clutch again and has a reasonably simple version of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." So I'll be working on that for the next week and a half. Pray for me! I'm gonna need it!! Then, we went and tried to visit a few people from our Area Book who we couldn't get ahold of on the phone. It was fun to try and track these people down!

Thursday was pretty good. We went to a soup kitchen in the morning. We had called in August and they told us to come back in September, so we did. But apparently we have to call first and be put on the schedule or something, if we want to volunteer there. It's hard though because their page on Facebook doesn't have that information and they didn't ever answer my message I sent to them... soo... I guess we'll call and set up to come volunteer there haha. After that, we decided to try and visit another former investigator from the Area Book who lives out in that same area. They weren't home, but we left a note. Then, we went home and did our studies and right after that Sister Ludlow had a dentist appointment! She had a cavity filled at the end of last transfer and they told her to come back in 2 months, so we did. Apparently there are more problems because they told her that she might need to get a root canal!! So THAT'S not good... But while she was in her appointment, I watched President Nelson's BYU Devotional! It was so good! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching it. I absolutely LOVE how he boldly proclaims truth. Especially when he testifies of God's laws on marriage. I just love it. And I love the Prophet. I know he is the true Prophet of God. We are so blessed to have him on the earth to guide us through this critical time!

Later, we visited Agnieszka again (less active member). She didn't end up coming to church on September 1st because I think she's pretty scared to come. I mean, I probably would be too! 8-10 years... it would be pretty scary to come for the first time after that long! But we taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ today. When we asked her about Christ's life and what she remembers.. she could only remember that He died on the cross for us. She realized in that moment how much she has forgotten by not coming to church. She looked pretty sad. She then expressed how she's upset that she says she's a member of the church and she's baptized and thought she knew everything... but then when we ask her about Jesus Christ, she couldn't say anything about who He is. Then, I tried to encourage her and say that by us going through the lessons with her again and coming to church and studying on her own, she CAN know again who Jesus Christ is. And I made sure she knew that we would sit together at church, how nice everyone is, and how excited and happy everyone will be if she comes... she said she will really try to come. And I'm hoping that this time, that her desire to repent and change doesn't get squished by feelings of fear! I'm excited to see her progressing though.

Friday we had a meeting with a former investigator named Ula. She was VERY talkative and reminded me a lot of Ewa (the older lady we taught in Szczecin). She still seems pretty interested though, which is awesome! She said she'll read from the Book of Mormon and she also really wants to come to church on Sunday! We were then supposed to have a meeting with Wiktoria, but she last minute couldn't come. BUT she said she would try to come to church! Which is a pretty big turnaround. So that's good! (She is very up and down with the church..  ALL the time. Sometimes she wants nothing to do with it and sometimes she wants everything to do with it and will even call US to set up meetings. So you can never tell with her. But we just love her anyway.) Later, we went and did a Family History finding activity on the Rynek. And holy smokes we met SO MANY people!! It was AWESOME!! There was even this group of people who didn't speak Polish and immediately shut me down. But then I thought I'd try my luck with German and it worked! They were from Germany and they immediately turned around and their faces lit up! Pretty soon the small group was gathered around me and everyone was so focused on me. XD Turns out, they were actually here doing some family research! So that was way cool!! We had a fun conversation and soon they were off, but I loved talking with them in German/English.... mostly English though haha! Later, after English class, we went out to dinner with Max and Anna, (he is the Branch President's counselor). They are so fun! I love them so much. And they are such a sweet couple. We definitely enjoyed our evening with them. :)

Dinner with Max and Anna.

Oh! Also, quick fun story from the finding activity. So, there are these gypsies who go around "giving" people roses and then making then pay for it. A few of the girls came over to us to write on the whiteboard we had. They had been there before. One of them had a cracker and I jokingly asked if she had one for me. Then she pulled out a pack of them and held one out to me. Being wary of her, I asked if I would have to pay. She told me no, and then I made her pinky promise! XD She gave me the cracker and didn't make me pay. We even got some selfies together haha! It was fun. :)

On the Rynek with the sweet Gypsy girl :)

Saturday was pretty great! We had a good time at Sports Saturday and at Babcia's. And then, we found out that Elder Stewart is leaving on Monday (today)!! He's going to Warsaw to be the next Office Elder! (He's just one of the 2 missionaries who works in the Mission Office.) So, we were definitely a bit shocked by this news haha. I definitely did NOT see it coming. Anyway, in the afternoon, we had a meeting with a super cool lady named Kate (Kasia in Polish). She came to one of our English classes before, but we hadn't seen her in a while. Then, Sister Ludlow "happened" to have a ticket for the seat right next to Kate on the train to Katowice. She definitely is interested and wants to learn more! Yeah! So we'll be teaching her more. She's awesome. 

After that, we had our Culture Night. And let me just say.. I think I totally nailed it on the planning of this thing. Even on the mission, I still seem to be the designated party planner and host. ;) I have a love-hate relationship with that fact... Anyway, we took a boat tour on the Odra River in the middle of Wrocław. 

On the boat for culture night.

Our guide was an older guy named Jurek (Josh). He had the coolest boat and he played super great music while we went along the river. Some Hawaiian "vacationy" music and then some Italian "boat music" as I called it. (It made me think of the boats in the canals in Venice haha.) Anyway, we were on the river right at and during sunset. Seriously, the timing could not have been more perfect. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!

GORGEOUS SUNSET!!

I can't describe it well enough, but it was so much fun. It was straight up... magical! As we floated along the river, staring at the reflection of the sky in the water and as we were taking in the breathtaking view of the city's silhouette against the backdrop of the gentle sunset... I just thought of how many people would give so much just to experience that sort of thing. And I just felt so grateful to be where I was and experience everything I'm experiencing here. It was one of those moments that really just makes you feel alive and so grateful for this experience we call life. Of course it's not always as calm, gorgeous, and magical as that evening was, but it definitely makes you appreciate the moments that are like that.

Sunday we had the Estes family come to church!! For the first time ever since they've been in Poland!! :D Yes!! After church, we had a meeting with a guy named Antoine. He's actually from France, so that's cool! And the lesson went really well!! Antoine is so prepared and so genuine! He had great questions and said he will really take time to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He said he will come to church and he also really wants to meet again. He was just so grateful for everything and was SO NICE!! Honestly... he feels like another Doni!! And that makes me so excited!! HA! Quick funny story though: in the middle of our meeting, this crow just pooped right on Sister Ludlow and Antoine!! (Luckily just their clothes.) I was safe! (This time...) And I saw this older man sitting across from us on the edge of the fountain just kinda chuckling to himself. I started laughing too and we made eye contact and just started laughing together. Pretty soon, we were all going back and forth just laughing at the whole thing. It was pretty fun! XD

We also did our usual Sunday Music Finding where I play the violin in the park. Oh my goodness, so many kids were just wanting to listen!! There were these 2 absolutely ADORABLE kids who I let play the violin and the girl played with my necklace too as she just chatted on and on about things. They were seriously SO CUTE!! And also this guy holding his baby girl came close to have her listen to me play. She was probably around a year old, still pretty little, but she was so intrigued by the violin. The mom was so cute documenting everything with her camera. I love making these kids and families happy. I just love it.

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

What's in it, chicken wiggit??/Wrocław got wrecked... (9/16/19)

Cześć!!

Monday everybody seemed to get sick haha! Except me! I have yet to get sick on the mission!! (Knock on wood... trzymaj kciuki!!) Sister Ludlow was laying in bed for a while. So, I cleaned everything, did some emailing, made her some honey-lemon tea, and enjoyed a rare relaxing morning! Also, there was a super great storm this morning. I just LOVE that kind of weather. Super rainy, lots of thunder, lots of lightning... it was great!! Eventually, we went grocery shopping and headed to the chapel to send our group emails. Then all the Elders came. Elder Augenstein is a really good piano player. He's also way good at playing by ear and using chords for songs and stuff like that. So basically he just played a ton of Disney songs and Broadway music. He, Elder Stewart, Elder Theobald, and I had a super fun time singing!! Haha, we even sang "One Day More" from Les Misérables. Which.. of course I was automatically assigned to sing all the girls' parts. (Because Sister Ludlow was skyping. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't really know Les Mis. And she's sick, so yeah. It was my job haha.) But yeah, it was a party!! I really miss just having random jam sessions at home and spontaneous choir performances with friends in our living room. So it was fun to have a bit of that again! After that, we went to this library underneath the road and under the tram line. We all played some games! We played "Ticket to Ride" (which... I creamed!! You'd be proud, Dad.) And we played "Clue"!! It was kinda fun to play "Ticket to Ride", and place the trains, and then hear what sounds like a train going right over our heads. Haha, it was awesome! Then, we went and taught English and right after the Elders went home because Elder Stewart felt sick. So.. we were gonna stick it out for a while for game night. But nobody really seemed to understand how to play Uno, we couldn't think of anything else to play, and Sister Ludlow was feeling sick... and a few other reasons, so we decided to end early haha. Then we went home, found out Sister Ludlow is running a fever, and she went to bed. Aaannnnddd... that was our pday! Still pretty good for me. But overall it just felt like a pretty weird day haha.

Tuesday nothing too exciting happened. My companion was pretty sick all day, so we stayed home. We did our studies and weekly planning. She slept quite a bit. Throughout the day, I got a ton of random things done and I felt so accomplished by the end of the day. I called a bunch of people, worked on the Area Book, baked bread, organized our entire kitchen, and organized the bookshelf as well. Those were FAR past needing to be done, so I'm really glad I had the time to do that. Um... the one human interaction I had today was with our neighbor, Barbara!! I wanted to make bread... but we didn't have any yeast or flour. But Barbara came in clutch and went and bought some from the store and brought it to me! She is officially the BEST neighbor EVER!! And yeah! That pretty much sums up Tuesday!

I made bread!! And organized the bookshelf!! And other things!!  

Screenshot of a video I sent my mom. Thought it made a nice picture! (One of our sick days haha).

Wednesday, I woke up with a sore throat and a headache... oh no... We were still recovering from Tuesday a bit. We had District Council and then we did some tracting for a while. And then we came home and did a bunch of Area Book work because that deadline is coming up really soon! So, we had a bit more normal day than we had on Tuesday, but nothing super crazy happened.

Skype District Council (because everyone was getting sick...)  

Thursday... well... it hit. I got sick!! Whooo! XD So we spent the day at home and Sister Ludlow did an insane amount of Area Book work which was great! Also, the Elders called and Elder Stewart and Moody were still pretty sick. And it sounded like Elder Theobald was getting sick as well. So basically, we all got sick with the same thing this week. Pretty crazy. I was basically dead all day haha. But I realized that.. Today was my first time ever being sick away from home and without having my mom there. I never realized that. I mean sure, she left me home alone when I was sick, but she was still there at some point in the day and I could call her. It was kind of sad and lonely feeling to realize that she wouldn't be here this time. I didn't realize how much comfort it gave me, even just knowing she was there. It was fine, I just had to play doctor by myself haha. But it just made me even more grateful for her. So thanks Mom! I love you!

Friday I woke up feeling a lot better... but THAT lasted a whole 15.7 minutes!! I got ready for the day and then I was sneezing like CRAZY!! The big bad wolf doesn't have ANYTHING on how much I was huffin' and puffin' and sneezin' and wheezin'!!! Haha yeah, it was pretty bad. Sister Ludlow told me to lay down in the middle of companionship study and she would just call a bunch of people. So I did... and I slept for probably another 2-ish hours hahaha. Fun times. And then we still went out!! And in the evening, we had our English class. Elder Stewart, Elder Moody, and I all sat at the back of the room in "quarantine." Haha it was awesome. Then, after that, we had our Movie Night!! On Friday the 13th!! Yes.. Spooky, I KNOW!! But we just watched "Meet the Mormons" and halfway through, I went to the other room and laid down because I was SO TIRED! But we had a really good turnout and a lot of people came for the movie! It was awesome!

Saturday morning was the most PERFECT Fall morning EVER!! It was just beautiful!! See, I thought that Fall would feel different here in Europe, but it has the same vibe as in the U.S. and I LOVE it!! It literally felt like I was back home in Idaho. It was so great. Oh and Elder Baer said it even smelled like Fall too. (I still couldn't smell, so I just had to trust him. XD hahaha!) Then, we went and visited Babcia today. She gave us a Women's Magazine and a 2020 planner. It was super nice! Later, I was still feeling pretty out of it, so Sister Ludlow talked to some people in the park while I called more Area Book people and tried not to get anyone sick... We also visited Lucyna and had a good meeting with her. She also came to the movie night on Friday and was so happy!! Both on Friday and at our meeting, she was just so happy and I loved seeing her like that! After that, we went to dinner with Vova and Doni at this Thai restaurant. It's called "Woo Thai" and it was SO GOOD!! You'll have to tell Miumiu that she has great food in her country!! Also, Vova told us that they always treat Americans REALLY well, so he told us to speak English with them. So we did, and asked for a table (most were reserved), and the lady was like, "Yeah, we have one right over here." And she literally took us to a reserved table, took off the sign, and had us sit there. Not 1 minute later, she came back and told us they had a better table for us. So basically we got seated immediately and had the best table in the restaurant. Basically we were VIPs there haha. Kinda crazy. But it was a fun evening!!

Saturday was also my 10 month mark!! WHOOOO!!!!!!!

Sunday after church, we had a meeting with 2 ladies named Gosia and Anna. They were really interested in learning more, both want to read the Book of Mormon, and they want to come to church. So that will be awesome! The meeting went really well! It was nice to end the week with 2 new investigators after being sick for so long!! Later, we went to the park and did Music Contacting! We ran into Kuba which was fun. Then, found some other cool people. And THEN!! Some random guy was just standing by me on the bridge and he said he just wanted to sit and listen to me play, so I was like "Okay, no big deal," right?! But then, he kept getting closer and like.. started trying to show me how I should be playing the violin (even though he does NOT play at all!!). And he grabbed my hand to move it. Then, he came up behind me and tried to position the violin and the bow again. But he was like.. grabbing my arm and stuff. Anyway, it was similar to how in movies when they show a boy showing a girl how to play basketball (High School Musical), shoot a gun (Swiss Family Robinson), etc. Stuff like that.. that's the kind of position I was pinned in. And I was like "BRO NOOOO!!" And stepped away quickly and joined the conversation with my companion instead of playing the violin while he was there. Don't worry Mom, I'm fine. Nothing bad happened, but he was just creepy and I obviously didn't want him touching me. But hey, gotta love these stories huh?? The life of a missionary... XD

On the BRIGHT side though, right after that, there was this super nice couple and their ADORABLE 3 year old son who came on the bridge. The son, Mateusz, really wanted me to play the violin, so I did. And they all loved it! And he applauded me haha! He was so cute!! The couple spoke English and the Mom was actually from Uzbekistan. I had a good time talking to them! :)

So, this week was definitely different from any other week I've had as a missionary, but still good. Got a lot done that has really been needing to get done. And it wouldn't have happened without us getting sick, because I don't think Sister Ludlow sees those things as priorities. But hey, she got sick, so we had no choice HAHA! So they FINALLY got done and I'm a lot less stressed. :)

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

P.S. About the subject line, I said, "What a chicken nugget..." about some guy who flaked. But Sister Ludlow thought I said, "What's in it, chicken wiggit??" I just thought it was funny that's all.

Reppin' the local soccer team :)

Found a purple door while tracting!

The Pigeons of Poland (will not miss this at all haha).

Me as a little Gnome haha.

These random booths with activities for kids was all set up in the park. They had some cool stuff there!

The Warsaw Uprising sign is everywhere!

I'm all ready for winter!! XD (found a ton of random coats in our apartment).