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
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