I was Starszy Moody for Halloween!!/Halloween Party and Sassy Skeletons XD (10/28/19)

Cześć!!

Monday we were able to just relax again which was nice. Grocery shopping, emailing, skyping, etc. Nothing super exciting. But we did have a good English class and game night afterwards. I'm sorry that Mondays are so boring to read about right now. But it's really nice and relaxing for me haha!

Tuesday we didn't have a ton going on. We did our studies, weekly planning, and then we had a train to Kraków for exchanges. 

Me and Sister Aramaki on the train to Kraków, we put a "sticker" on the picture that said "Halloween" but it turned out to be backwards and upside down haha.

Me and Sister Aramaki on the way to Kraków. 

We had fun with some filters on the camera haha.

On the train, I watched a video by Al Fox Carraway today about feeling like God is sleeping through our "raging storms." It was way good! She is such an amazing speaker and so inspiring! Highly recommend listening to her. On the way to Kraków, I read the homecoming talk of a missionary who recently returned from my mission. It was really good and they had some really good thoughts. I want to share a few of them here:

-The toughness of the situation never let up. It was a constant. But, so was the striving love of my Savior.

-If we are the battery, the Light of Christ is the energy stored inside each of us to ignite others. As we learn about Christ, we know we want to become like he is. Even in Christ’s darkest trials, he turned outwards. This is his character.

-The Light of Christ will lift us up and give us purpose, with it we can’t lose hope.

-Our Father in Heaven knows us so incredibly well. He knows how to prepare us for what’s coming next and he places us where he does because He has a plan for us there.

-If any of you feel this way in whatever you are doing, if you are feeling tired, or defeated, or lost, or uncertain about your personal standing and worth before God, I give you a two word suggestion: ask Him. That was when I finally felt the words “You are enough. I love you.”

-This is the enabling and persevering influence of the Light of Christ that can and will take form as we look for it. It is the hope we need and can hold on to when we need it most.

Sorry for the lack of "adventure" today. But I hope those thoughts I shared are uplifting. I loved it, so I wanted to share. :)

Wednesday we had exchanges in Kraków! I was with Sister Lueck for the day! It was so great! We started out with our studies and then we had an impromptu lesson with Gabi over the phone. She is getting baptized on Saturday, but she had some last minute concerns come up (as they usually do right before someone makes such a good decision as baptism!). We were able to answer her questions, give advice, and help her feel at peace. The Spirit was so strong and I really felt it as I was bearing my testimony of Jesus Christ and of His and Heavenly Father's love for Gabi. I felt it as I promised Gabi that they would help her with anything. With questions, doubts, struggles, hard times, direction...anything! We were able to settle her concerns and she's still getting baptized on Saturday!! Yay!!! It was such a sweet and tender experience to share with her right before her baptism. Later in the day, we actually met up with her for lunch and then she came with us to help teach English. It was a new service opportunity of teaching English to these 4 boys, all 10 years old. (So it felt like being with my brother and his friends. It was really sweet.) We had them practice the alphabet and writing a word for each letter (4/4 times, "A" was Apple.) XD And we also had them draw a picture of their families and practice introducing themselves and their families. It was fun! Later in the evening, we went contacting and ended up having a really long conversation with this man about what we do as missionaries. He wasn't super interested in learning more about the Church, but we still had a good conversation. He kept telling us that we had to travel!! He told us we just needed to go to Vienna tomorrow and "I'm serious! Do it! Nobody will ever know! I won't tell!" We just kept telling him that's not why we're here and we definitely WON'T be going to Vienna!! XD Anyway, it was an interesting conversation besides that weird thing haha. But all in all, it was a good exchange and a fun day in Kraków!

Thursday was fun! First, we headed back on a train from Kraków to Wrocław. A few cool things happened today. First, we were waiting for our train for a while on Platform 4. After a while, I kinda had to go to the bathroom so we went to find one. But we also thought it was strange that our train wasn't at the platform yet. So we checked the Departures board and sure enough it had changed platforms, so we went to the correct platform (Platform 3) and got on the train! It was weird because there was no announcement or anything. So if I wouldn't have had to go to the bathroom, we would've missed our train! Miracle!! Blessings of being hydrated hahaha, never thought I'd say that! Later, we were at our apartment doing our studies and then Sister Aramaki started feeling kinda weird and antsy and just like we needed to leave RIGHT then. So, in the middle of Personal Study, we got up and left and headed towards City Center. We talked to this cute old lady for a while. We see her all the time and she's way sweet. Her name is Maria. Anyway, we talked to Maria for a while until she said she was going home now. Then, we just hopped on the first tram that came from our stop. 

Super pretty sunset at the tram stop.

Sister Aramaki said this "poke bowl" tasted like and reminded her of Japan. 

Also, I didn't know what else to caption this picture as... XD

We were talking about how weird it was that Sister Aramaki felt like we needed to leave. I said something like, "Well, I guess we'll find out in a few minutes, or we'll never find out." And then, at the first tram stop, the door opens and this lady gets on, seeing us, and immediately says, "Missionaries!! I knew I'd run into you eventually! I've really wanted to see you and I knew that Heavenly Father would make it happen sooner or later!" And we just sat there totally in shock!! It was seriously the COOLEST thing!! It's a good thing Sister Aramaki is so sensitive to the Spirit because I was not feeling the need to leave at all! So it's good that we listened to her feelings. Anyway, this lady's name is Jami!! She just moved here on Sunday and she's a member of the church. She is from everywhere in the United States (military family) and had just come from living in the Netherlands for a few months and Korea for 4 years before that. Jami is going to be working here as an English teacher, so she is now part of our Branch!! So cool! Anyway, we went to her hotel room where she's staying for now and we spent the evening with her just talking and getting to know her. 

Us with Jami!!!

Then, we all went to Renoma for the English conversation practice. And there, we found the Elders. Elder Moody was talking to this British guy I had talked to once, and he was annoying him by using his "British accent." It was actually pretty funny to see that go down. After English, we all went out for dinner at this pizza place by the chapel. 

Dinner with Jami and the Elders.

It was such a fun night! Our days literally never go according to plan, but it's good! We plan our day and then we go forward with that plan until the Lord tells us it needs to change a bit. Today was such a cool experience with that!

Friday we had a lesson with Agnieszka where we watched the first Book of Mormon video and talked about it. She loved it! We also talked with her about All Saints Day and Halloween. So that was really fun! I just love Agnieszka so much! She is so kind and loving. She really does love the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ. Hopefully she will feel our love and want to come back to church with us. :) 

Agnieszka gave us pierniki!! (It's like gingerbread, but soft like a cake. I love it.)

Later, we were able to have District Council and talk about our missionary work here in Wrocław and with the Elders in Legnica. We were able to share ideas of what they could try doing with certain people they're working with. And that's one thing I love about missionary work. We really are just one big team and we're all working together towards the same goal. So, it's just so cool that we all can help each other with that. Then, Sister Aramaki and I went with Jami to help her check out an apartment, which was pretty fun. Then, that evening, Vova came to the chapel and we all made decorations for the Halloween party. It was a lot of fun! And Vova is actually super creative and artsy!! Kinda surprising, but it was really cool! We all had a good time getting that ready. And at home, we watched the next Book of Mormon video!!! Yay!! It was so cool to see how they made them all look older. Especially Nephi (he was only 17 when they filmed this!!) and how they made him look AND sound older. So cool!

Saturday was great! We were able to visit Babcia in the early afternoon and then we headed to the church to finish decorating for the party and teach our English class. Then, we had our Halloween Party and quite a few people came!! It was awesome!! We had some good food, conversation, games, and lots of fun! 

Some of our Halloween decorations (Vova is the mastermind behind this sassy skeleton haha!)

Guess who we were for Halloween?! Yup. Elder Moody and I switched name tags for the afternoon!

Me dressed up as Elder Moody the pumpkin Ravenclaw student (Elder Moody and I switched tags, I had worn black and orange for the Halloween party that day, and Jami had a Ravenclaw tie from Harry Potter that I borrowed for a quick second.)

Part of it, we did this big scavenger hunt, which I guess people here call that a "quest." (Which I think is cool and makes it sound super legit haha.) But yeah, us missionaries had planned out this entire scavenger hunt with the clues and everything. Basically how it worked is they were split into 2 teams and I would send them the clue using Facebook messenger. They had to go to that location and take a group selfie and send it to me. If it was right, I would send them the next clue. If not, they would have to keep looking. It worked out beautifully and was seriously... so awesome!! (Thank goodness for technology, right?!) After everyone got back from the scavenger hunt, we all played more games. It was an awesome Halloween party!! :)

Me and Sister Aramaki in the middle of the scavenger hunt I was running. :)

Also, Gabi got baptized!!! YEAH!! She is the girl from Brazil who lives in Kraków right now. I was able to teach her all 3 times I went on exchanges there and I feel so lucky to have been a part of that. :)

Sunday was great! So one thing about Sundays that are kinda fun... I get to play the piano in sacrament meeting because nobody else can. Anyway, the guy who picks the hymns doesn't pick them until the day of and so I never have more than 20 minutes to practice 4 songs. Most of which, I've never played in my life. XD And today, before church, he told me something like, "Oh, and by the way, nobody here has ever sung these ones before." So I had to play some songs for the first time with people who didn't know them. It was... awesome. XD Haha, but really, it all worked out! After church, we were able to go and do service at Magnolia Park again. We made a ton of food and were able to talk to a bunch of the people there. Then, in the evening, we had a Facebook meeting with the other Facebook missionaries and Agnieszka in Warsaw (who is over public relations). We went over the last month of what went well and what didn't, came up with some solutions to some problems, and we brainstormed ideas for content for the next year of posts, so that was fun! Being a Facebook missionary is pretty cool! I love having the opportunity to work as a missionary in this way! Also, I have been messaging a lady on Facebook messenger about one of our posts that she "liked" and she said she's really interested in the Book of Mormon. So that was exciting!

Happy Halloween!! Happy All Saints Day!! Happy Dia de Los Muertos!!

Have a spooky Halloween and spend some time with your families on All Saints Day on November 1st!! :)

Love and miss you all!!

Shaylin

How the 3 of us looked when Sister Aramaki came into the room and we acted like we had a super serious topic to discuss with her. She laughed and took a picture of us haha.

There was kind of a weird vibe... like all week.... XD still good though/In case of emergency, call 112... (10/21/19)

Cześć!!

This was kind of a weird week. So bear with me...

Monday we had another super chill pday. I was able to make hootenanny's which was pretty exciting actually. And we also skyped!! And we also watched Ephraim's Rescue. I haven't seen that movie in a LONG time and so I forgot how tender it is and how much it makes me almost cry haha. It's so so good! But just so real! And I think it definitely does its job of making you grateful for the Pioneers and for all the things they went through and the sacrifices they made. It just hits you right in the heart!! Later though, we had English and FHE, so things lightened up a bit haha. For part of English, we played a story game where we all started a story and then passed it around and everyone added a sentence or 2 to the story. We read them all at the end and holy smokes, they were HILARIOUS!! We had so much fun with that! It was definitely a good way to end the night.

Me and Sister Aramaki!!

Tuesday was definitely an interesting day haha. We started out normal with our studies and weekly planning. Then, we decided to take a break, go for a walk, pass out ulotki, grab something from the store, and get some fresh air. And at the store, we "happened" to be there right when this lady needed help! She was using a walker and was struggling with her groceries, so we were able to help her put them on the cashier thing.. (not sure what it's called.. like the conveyer belt??) Anyway, and then we were able to help her pack them all up in her bags and send her on her way. It was so cool to see how directly Heavenly Father places us in the lives and paths of others, so that we can help them! Later, we headed to the chapel to work on Facebook and do language study, but we didn't end up getting either of those! See? Told you it was a weird day... The senior couples were coming that night to get some things ready for Zone Conference the next day. And the kitchen was a DISASTER! Actually, everything was pretty messy. Really sad... but the members don't really take care of it, so we usually end up cleaning the entire chapel all the time. And the kitchen was especially a mess because the Branch President... well, long story short, he lets this homeless guy keep his food in the fridge and this guy does NOT clean up after himself. So I ended up washing what felt like a hundred dishes. (probably not too far off though...) Sister Aramaki dried and put them away and cleaned off the counters. And Elder Baer cleaned out the fridge, threw away all the nasty, old, rotting food, and then really cleaned the fridge. We finished our panic cleaning right as the senior couple missionaries showed up!! Yay!! We did it!! Haha, and I am SO GLAD it's all clean now!! Then, we had a planning meeting with Vova, Isabel, and Doni for a big Halloween activity they're wanting to do. They are wanting something they can invite their friends and coworkers to and something we can bring our investigators to! It was really cool of them to think of that for helping us! And it should be way fun! So we had a good time planning that. And then, we went to "this store on the Rynek" (as Vova mysteriously called it... it was actually just Flying Tiger) and we checked out some Halloween decorations. Meanwhile, a ton of Elders are just randomly showing up as we're walking along and soon we've just got like this huge group of 8 missionaries and Young Single Adults walking around hahaha. Also, Sister Aramaki and I had a really fun time talking with Isabel about everything. I seriously love Isabel so so much! She is amazing!! But anyway, that was my weird, super random day haha.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference basically all day long. We have a huge zone now that the mission only has 2 zones.

Zone Conference.

L-R: Sister Berrett, Sis Lueck, Sis Aramaki, Sist Ludlow, Sis Hadley, Me, Sister Chandler.

It was so fun to see everyone and meet some new missionaries. The new Sister, Sister Jensen, apparently was companions with Karli Moss in the MTC!! That was such an exciting connection!! The Elders in her group are really cool too. Seriously, they had an awesome MTC group. Almost as awesome as mine! ;) Anyway, also, the Williams wanted to get a picture with all the missionaries who have served in Szczecin! So we did, and guess what?? I was the ONLY Sister!! Yep. Sounds about right.

Szczecin Family Picture!! I am the ONLY Sister in the entire mission who has served in Szczecin!! (besides Sister Williams of course) Kinda crazy!!

Anyway, Zone Conference was great. We talked a lot about goal setting and accountability and we also had a section on self-reliance and using that as a finding tool. Brother Mathias came and talked to us again and he is seriously such a cool guy. Later, after the hustle and bustle of Zone Conference, we did some contacting on the Rynek. Sister Aramaki and I met this super cute girl named Buse and she's from Turkey! As we walked towards her, she said hi to us before we had said anything. And she had a huge smile on her face. She is seriously so sweet! She lives in Bydgoszcz though, so we sent her information to the Sisters there. But it was a really fun contact to have!

Sister Aramaki and I talking to Buse on the Rynek.

Thursday we didn't do anything super out of the ordinary. We did our studies and actually got to work on Facebook for a while today. We've missed doing it a few days... oops. Anyway, after that, we went contacting (talking to people on the streets) for a bit. We actually had a few good conversations. Cool story though: we stopped this girl and immediately there was just something about her that we both could see and realized that this girl was the person we needed to talk to today. We always talk about how there is always at least one person we're supposed to meet and talk to that day. And today, it was this girl. She didn't have much time, but she seemed really open and was super nice too! Sister Aramaki gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it because it seemed like something really interesting. I later found out that Sister Aramaki, earlier that day, had randomly asked me what our phone number is. I told her and asked why and she just said she didn't know if she knew it. She didn't know why she asked either. Then, during language study she had the thought that "Oh, I could just write the phone number in a Book of Mormon. Oh! Why don't I just write my testimony too, that's a good thing." And so she did with no "real reasoning" behind it. But that was the copy she ended up giving to this girl. It was just so cool to recognize all these little promptings she had that led to doing something really good. We'll see what happens to this girl, but we know she needed that Book of Mormon!! Later, we were supposed to have a meeting with Wiktoria, but she kept saying she'd be later and later until she said she didn't feel like herself and couldn't meet. We're kinda worried about her, but we'll take care of her! And later that night, our film/short video about the missionaries in Poland was posted!! We were all so excited!! If you want to watch it, it's posted on my Facebook page. It's all in Polish, but it's basically just talking about who the missionaries are, why we're here in Poland, what we do here, and explains (and shows) that we are just normal people like they are!! It's really cool! So feel free to check that out if you want. It was so much fun to make. :)

Screenshot of our super legit missionary video that is up on Facebook! :D

Friday we were able to spend some time with Babcia and Wiktor which was fun! We also taught our English class, which went well. We also were able to show our new video to everyone at English! They loved it! So, I'm hoping that means it will be received well by all Polish people! Also, Lucyna added something during our discussion. She talked about the Book of Mormon videos and how much she loves them!! She said they are beautiful videos with wonderful music and it's a great way to show the stories of the Book of Mormon. She said she really recommended it to everyone because it's really good. Wow! We did NOT pay her to say that haha. And she's not even a member of the Church!! But I completely agree with her. The Book of Mormon videos are amazing!!

Saturday nothing really happened. We had another lesson with Lucyna and we're still struggling to figure out what she needs. But after the lesson, both Sister Aramaki and I had the thought that we should ask her about her family. So that's what we plan to do next time. Also, today we planned out the entire scavenger hunt for the Halloween Party we're going to have. We came up with locations and wrote all the clues. They even rhyme!! It was kinda stressful and felt like a school group project with the Elders haha. But it was still really fun!

Sunday we had some interesting and strange things happen. We went to Katowice for District Conference, and that's basically the equivalent of Stake Conference in the States. It's just a bunch of Branches together for one conference.

On the train to Katowice featuring Elder Baer.

It was really great to see and meet so many members!! I loved it! After the meeting though, a little 5 year old boy had gone missing. So of course, all the missionaries go out combing the streets of Katowice. The Police got involved and were able to contact all the tram drivers. They quickly located him. He had gotten on a tram and had ridden off somewhere. But they found him and he made it back safe!! Whew! The 2nd weird thing today was waiting for our tram home. This drunk guy was kinda watching us and both of us got a weird feeling and just silently pulled out our phones to act like we were "busy" so he wouldn't talk to us. He still came over to us and was talking. Eventually, he said (in Polish), "Wait... you're not Polish are you?" And then immediately after, in English, he says, "What's your name?!" Thank goodness our tram arrived RIGHT then. We quickly got on and were safe. Then, the 3rd (and thankfully final) strange thing happened. We were just walking home and I kept hearing some weird noises in the distance. We kept walking, but then it got louder. We both perked up and listened. And then... we heard screaming. So what do we do? We rush over to where the sound was coming from. Across the street there was this guy beating up a lady! They were obscured by trees, so we couldn't exactly see what was going on, but we could hear both of them yelling and she was screaming. We immediately called "112" (Poland's "911") and thankfully the dispatcher spoke English. We reported what was going on and all the details we could. And then, we rushed back to our apartment and got home safely. The whole time just praying that this lady would be alright and that the Police would be able to take care of things.

Anyway, crazy things happened on Sunday, but we're safe and things are good with us. We just hope everyone else is okay!!

But let me leave you with this scripture.

Ether 12:4-

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

I love how it gives us hope for a better world. Even if things aren't always okay right now, they will be in the end.

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Memorizing Polish Scriptures, Strive!, and Forgiveness/If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth it. (10/14/19)

Cześć!!

Monday was just a super chill day. We took things way slow. Probably the first time I've ever done that on a pday. So it was kinda weird at first, but it was nice. But in the afternoon, I took Sister Aramaki to go see the Rynek because we somehow went an entire week without going there. Now, Sister Aramaki isn't one for sightseeing or doing things like that, so I wasn't sure how she'd react. She just doesn't understand why people like it so much and what the appeal is. (Very similar to how I feel about shopping hahaha!!) Anyway, I took her there and at the last bit, I made her close her eyes and I pulled her out to a good spot in the middle of the Rynek and then I started filming her reaction. It was so cute!! She was just in awe with how beautiful it was. And I'm so glad I caught it on camera. 

The Wrocław Rynek.

A picture Sister Aramaki caught of me while skyping her Mom on pday :)

Later that evening, we taught our English class and had a really fun Family Home Evening/Game Night. At our English class, Anna came! (Max's wife) I love her so much and it was so fun to spend more time talking to her. When we got home, we had a Zone Conference call where they told us about MLC (mission leadership conference) and the things that President wants us to do and focus on. So that's kinda fun to talk to everyone. And realize that we're not alone in our struggles with the Area Book Planner app. Hahaha! We're all having problems with it, so we're working on that. But yeah, it was a nice relaxing pday!

Tuesday we all met up at the chapel in the morning to watch the Sunday Afternoon session of General Conference!! (I feel so lucky to have conference weekend overflow into the next week a bit! I love it!!) And of course, the last session was way, way good! I am so excited to see what this next special bicentennial conference is going to look like in April 2020. It's going to be an amazing experience, I'm sure, and I already can't wait for it to happen!! After that, we were able to work on Facebook and do our weekly planning. Weekly planning with Sister Aramaki is seriously so so good. We really talk about the people we're teaching and make solid plans. It just feels like we're doing exactly what they want us to do with weekly planning. I feel like our focus, as a companionship, is really on building up the church here in Poland. And that doesn't always mean getting a hundred people baptized. It means taking care of the members and making sure they are solid and  being watched over. If we don't have a solid foundation with the members, we're not going to have anything to build up the church on with new people. All aspects of this are so important! Anyway, there's my thought about that. Sister Aramaki and I have a lot of good talks about the people and about missionary work. And its it's just so good. I love working with her! That evening, we had a conference call with President Chandler and the other Facebook missionaries to talk about the "public relations" side of things and the results we're having from our posts. It's really cool because doing Facebook missionary work, you can reach SOO many people just by doing one, single post. It's such a cool tool! Also, I think President is pushing for our mission to get approved to use Instagram. That would be pretty cool and we'd be able to reach a lot of the younger people that way! (And usually they are more open about things like this too.) But we'll see! Exciting things are definitely in the works!

Wednesday we had a really good District Council. For part of it, we talked about Conference and what we all learned from it. Then, we got on a long conversation about joy. It was so good! Joy doesn't always mean the elation of fun or temporary happiness. But joy is in Christ. And when we're on our missions, we are the most focused on Christ that we've ever been in our lives. Christ is joy and so the mission is full of joy. (Because it's full of Christ!) And our lives can be full of that same joy as well. As long as our focus is on Jesus Christ!

Wrocław Missionaries!!

A bit later, we did an English class finding activity. I was able to talk to this super cute family visiting from Israel!! I love being able to meet so many people from around the world! It's so cool! Even later, we had a lesson with Gosia and Anna. It's so hard because we think that Anna could actually be interested, but Gosia definitely is not. And Gosia just talks and talks and talks.... so we REALLY want to meet with only Anna, individually. It was an okay meeting, but it was hard because Gosia would just kinda bash on everything we were saying. Even when we were sharing with them what we knew to be true, she would just keep talking on immediately after that. So, I don't think we'll be teaching her anymore. In the evening, Sister Aramaki had such good conversations (as usual). I told her this too, but I've just noticed, Sister Aramaki is so sensitive to the Spirit. Both in recognizing it and acting on the impressions and prompting she receives. I really admire that and it's a beautiful gift she has! And it's definitely an area I really want to grow in as well. It's only been 2 weeks and I'm already learning so much from her!! I love being companions with Sister Aramaki!! She is amazing!

Wednesday night, as we were falling asleep, Sister Aramaki and I had a really long conversation. It was so good! And part of it, we had a good talk about forgiveness. And during that conversation, I had a few thoughts and insights come to me that were really helpful and I would like to share them. 1. Forgiveness is given freely, but trust has to be earned. 2. Just because you forgive someone doesn't mean you have to trust them. 3. When you forgive someone, that doesn't invalidate your feelings. Your pain and emotions and feelings were and are still real! ~ I think these are super important to realize because forgiveness is hard! And it's something I'm still fully learning how to do and learning how to have the Savior help me to forgive. But those 3 thoughts on forgiveness that I had are definitely helpful and I felt like I should share them. So, if you feel like that was written for you, then it probably was! :)

Thursday was pretty cool. We worked on a presentation with the Elders. Przemek (a guy who comes to our English class) has asked us to come and do a presentation on ourselves, America, and even about our church.. and come visit some classes at this school where he teaches! It should be really cool! Oh my goodness it was crazy though. He had and outline for us to follow and a lot of that included things from High School!! So thank goodness for Facebook and that other people actually post on it way more than I do haha. I was able to get a lot of pictures that way. Things from school dances, to football games, to graduation, to choirs, to lacrosse...  I was able to get everything! But it was super weird because it brought a ton of memories back and reminded me of what my "pre-mission life" was like. And I haven't actually REALLY thought about that in a while. So it was pretty fun! Later, we went and did English conversation practice at Renoma! I talked to Ella, a girl who I've talked to before. She's way into yoga and meditation and that sort of "spirituality." But we were even able to talk about God's plan for us and what happens after we die!! She is brilliant. She even talked about how we have to have sad things in order to feel happy. So we talked about how all things have to have an opposite! And SHE even said that there is no way we can progress and improve without trials and hard times in life. Seriously.. such a cool conversation!!

Friday we had a meeting with Agnieszka and it went really well!! We talked about General Conference and watched the talk about the "Come, Follow Me" program. Agnieszka now wants to do the program and asked for a booklet. She also wanted a Liahona magazine with last conference's talks in it. AND she wants a CTR (Choose the Right) ring so she has an easy and normal way to talk to her friends about the gospel. This was her idea, not ours! She wants it so that her friends will ask her what it means and she can tell them about it and about the gospel without them immediately not wanting to listen. She is so smart! Oh, fun thing, in Polish the CTR rings are actually "WS" rings. And that stands for "Wybierz Sprawiedliwość" or "choose righteousness." Anyway, it was an awesome lesson! Then we went and visited Babcia for a while and even sang some Polish Christmas carols with her which was super fun!! Haha she's just like me, she likes to celebrate Christmas ASAP!! XD Later, we were able to work on Facebook and teach English class. And for the religious discussion, Sister Aramaki and I, (just spur of the moment and no rehearsal), we sang "Come Unto Jesus" (of course, in Polish). It's something I've never done for religious discussion before, but it was really cool and pretty fun! And most importantly, it really brought the Spirit and people seemed to enjoy it. I'm really glad we were able to share that with them and help them feel the Holy Ghost!

Saturday we had President Chandler come for interviews! We went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. The Elders half jokingly suggested it, and then President was totally down! So, we went there for lunch! After that, I had my interview with President and it went well! Part of it, he asked me if I have a goal right now, which I actually did. Basically just to be studying and marking up my scriptures in Polish and improve my Polish. Here's the cool thing: I have been kind of praying to know how I can improve my Polish because.. it's really hard to learn, especially when you're teaching yourself! He invited me to read the scriptures only in Polish and to memorize a scripture in Polish every day. I think President's invitation to me is an answer to my prayers. I really have been wanting to speak and understand Polish better. Especially with Grammar and syntax and everything. And by reading scriptures in Polish and memorizing scriptures in Polish, I think that will help me with this goal. President thinks so too. I think he was inspired and I'm grateful for that. Another cool thing we talked about was the word: "Strive". He asked me if I feel like I'm a good missionary, and you know, sometimes it is hard to see it in myself. So I just said something like, "I think so. I'm really trying to be." And that's when he told me that the key word is: STRIVE. He said, "As long as you are striving to do what is right and to be a good missionary, then the Lord will take that and He will make up the difference." And that was something really comforting and something that I really needed to hear! And I think that applies to us in life as well! As long as we are striving to do our best, that's all our loving Heavenly Father asks of us.

Sunday we had a great sacrament meeting! The members are so so wonderful here and I just love them so much!! Anyway, they were all really excited to meet Sister Aramaki! It was just a really good Sunday. And after church, we went and did service at this kitchen where they make food for homeless people. I had been there one time about 4 months ago, but sadly hadn't been since. I've been DYING to go there again and Sister Aramaki wanted to go too. The people who go there are so cool and super nice! I love doing service projects like these because the people there are super chill and usually love talking about anything. They always ask about our church and why we're here. And at the same time, we get to show them we're normal people and grow good relationships with them!! It's awesome!! That was definitely a Sunday highlight.

So, I had a thought one morning this week. I was just thinking about the mission and life and all the trials we have here. And of course, I know there's always a bigger reason and purpose behind it. But the thought came to me, "If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth it." And that is so true! I mean, trials are never easy and we never wish for them to happen. But after they're over, we see that we receive so many more blessings and insights. And we learn and grow so much. We come out stronger, better, and more refined than we were before. So, of course it's going to be hard. And life is going to be hard. But if it was easy, it wouldn't be worth it.

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Book of Mormon contacting with Sister Aramaki.

A super cool picture I took in the park we contacted in: I LOVE the way the sun looks in the Fall. The lighting is SO COOL!!

Come again... on my birthday!!/Mam dwadzieścia lat?! (I'm 20 years old?!) CONFERENCE WEEKEND!! New Companion! (10/7/19)

Cześć!!

Monday was a great day! We spent the morning getting Sister Ludlow packed and I cleaned the entire apartment. Later, we dropped her off at the train station and said goodbye. Then, I was babysat by Elder Baer and Elder Moody for 4ish hours until my new companion got in. We had fun just hanging out and talking. Haha honestly, it was cool to be hanging out with just guys again. That's what I would do all the time at home, so it felt normal!!

Those trio days.... (I mean 4.27 hours) haha that one time I was in a trio with Elder Moody and Elder Baer.

Anyway, after that and English class, we walked to the train station and picked up my new companion, Sister Aramaki!! She and I are really really similar in a lot of things and already get along very well. We are both so excited to serve together!! And honestly, this transfer is going to be so so great! I am so happy, so excited, and so grateful to serve with her! :)

**From Group Email:

On Monday, I got my new companion, Sister Aramaki!! She was in the MTC group right before me, so I actually met her in the MTC. Little did we know that about 1 year later.... we would be companions!! She is AMAZING!! And I love her so so much!! I'm so grateful to have her as a companion. We've been having such a good time together. And wow... we have so many similarities. Not only in things we do and what we like, but in the way we think and work. It's really cool and it's so great!!

Me and Sister Aramaki!

Tuesday was my 20th birthday!! Holy smokes I'm 20... and that's WAYYY weird. Anyway, thank you all for the many sweet birthday wishes, messages, emails, pictures, etc. It was so so good to be remembered and feel that love. It really made my day, so thank you! :) Tuesday was pretty crazy too with it being my birthday AND the beginning of a new transfer. We just had a lot to do! We planned our week and I shared a ton of information on people with Sister Aramaki. The first weekly planning of the transfer always takes forever because of that haha. But it's good! Later, we went to the chapel to work on Facebook. Sister Aramaki is a Facebook missionary. Basically that means that she, and whoever her companion is, they work on Facebook for an hour every day. They work on the Church's main page (for Poland) and contact people who might be interested and things like that. So, this transfer, I will be one of the Facebook missionaries, which is pretty cool!! Anyway, when we got to the chapel, we found a surprise!! On the whiteboard, there was a note left from the Elders that said, "Happy 20th Birthday Sister Carl!!!" (Yes, they know how to spell "Carroll." It's just a funny inside joke that they sometimes purposely say it wrong haha.) AND they left some surprise gifts for me. They know I love eating healthy so they gave me cauliflower and peaches!! XD It was AWESOME!! (Oh, and they left an Oreo ice cream bar in the fridge. Yes, the fridge not the freezer... but it was still good haha!) We seriously have the best, most thoughtful Elders here! Elder Baer and Elder Moody are the BEST!!

We have the best Elders!! They left me a surprise at the chapel for my birthday!

That night when we got home, I cut up an apple, put it in a cup, lit a candle and put it in the center and called it a birthday cake haha! It was super fun! Ahh, mission birthdays are definitely different from ANYTHING else, but they're still good. Thanks everyone!!

Me with my birthday "cake" and candle!! It was actually an apple. And yes, I realize I look like a pioneer woman in this nightgown, but hey, it's super comfortable. So, no regrets there. XD

Wednesday was a fun day where we did all of our laundry EVER!! Basically every year, right around German Unification Day (October 3), the entire mission washes ALL the bedding. Sheets, pillowcases, blankets, duvets, duvet covers, mattress covers, etc. We stuffed all of that into Biedronka grocery bags and made our trek to a nice Pralnia (laundromat). We filled 2 washing machines that hold 14 kilograms... probably stuffed it to the max and could've had more. (The Elders had to use 5 machines!! It held smaller loads, but still!! It was a LOT of laundry!!) And that basically took a really long time. Then, we got Sister Aramaki's tram card all taken care of. And then, we worked on Facebook for a while. I created my first post!! It's just for announcing General Conference. (We each have posts assigned to us and we've got deadlines and stuff. Kinda feels like a mini job haha. It's fun!) So if any of you are following the Church's Facebook page for Poland, you might see some things posted by me these next 2 months. So that's pretty fun and exciting!! (By the way, the Facebook page is called: Kościół Jezusa Chrystusa Świętych w Dniach Ostatnich - Polska) Basically, we've just had a lot of things on our "to do" list for the beginning of the transfer, so nothing super exciting has happened yet. But we'll get there!!

Thursday, we were able to send a Book of Mormon to someone who requested one, which was cool. Then, we invited people to General Conference (which we have been SO EXCITED for!!). Then, we had to be at the chapel for the Family History Center. We worked on Facebook and I had my first post go up on the Church's main page for Poland. So that was pretty exciting! (Oh and it even got shared by President Chandler! It doesn't show who posts them. It just says it's from the main church page, but it was still cool that President Chandler shared it. That makes me feel better haha.) Also, it's weird how by posting on an "official" page, it suddenly makes your posts look so professional! It's great! We also did our companion study there and watched a short video series by Elder D. Todd Christofferson called, "Daily Bread." It talks about the very real need we have to rely on Jesus Christ and how sometimes He truly is the ONLY place we can turn. I know I've felt that way many times throughout the past few months. It was HARD! But I'm grateful for the things I learned and that I now have a closer relationship with Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. I still am working to improve my relationship with them, as I think I will continue striving to do that for the rest of my life, but I know that I am closer than where I was. We also watched "A Piano's Purpose." And that was beautiful and inspiring... it also hit close to home just because my life has always had music and the piano has always been a centerpiece of my home growing up, so it made me think of that. I highly recommend both of these videos if you get the chance to watch them! After that, we had a great lesson with Wiktoria! We had asked her to prepare a lesson for us this time. And she did! Together we read 1 Nephi 8, the story about the Tree of Life. And then we had a really good discussion about it afterwards. It was so great!! We talked about how if we keep our focus on the "tree" or on Jesus Christ, it will be hard to pay attention to the people in the world who mock us or try to pull us away. So, as long as our focus is in the right place, we will be in the right place!

Oh, also on Thursday night, President Chandler called and asked if it was me on the phone. I told him that is was and he said, "We need to repent." And I was thinking, "Oh no... WHAT did I do?!" Then he told me that he and Sister Chandler totally forgot to call and wish me a happy birthday!! So they had their whole family there and they sang happy birthday to me in Polish and it was great! It was just so funny how it started. The Chandler's are the BEST!!

Friday morning, we had a meeting with Agnieszka and talked about General Conference coming up. She's excited to listen to that and then talk to us about it next time. (That was actually her idea, so that's pretty cool!!) After that, we had our first District Council of the transfer. I was assigned to do a segment on "Having the faith to find." It turned out to be pretty cool and we had a really good discussion about it.  We all agree that when we go out with faith and are prepared to receive people, Heavenly Father will use our efforts in whatever we decide to do to find people, and He will help them to cross our paths. It's pretty cool that we can be doing ANY sort of finding activity and the Lord can still use what we offer Him. It was good to think about. Later that night, we had English class and a really great religious discussion with everyone. We talked about how each of our lives have purpose, value, and potential. It was really cool! And then that night, of course we watched the new Book of Mormon video!! I love having new ones every Friday! :)

Saturday we went and visited Babcia for a while and had a good time talking with her! On our way to the chapel, we ran into Wiktor and it's a good thing too. Outside the chapel, on Plac Wolności, there was a HUGE crowd of people. Apparently there was a big LGBTQ March going on today and the starting place was right outside of our chapel. Seriously y'all... it was INSANE!! So many people and SO MANY police cars and police officers. Holy smokes... a ton of the cops had these big shields too! And man, I was just trying to go to church!! XD So, not only did we have fun talking to Wiktor for a while, but he was also kind of our body guard and escorted us to the chapel! Haha he's super chill and I love that kid. After doing our studies and working on Facebook for a while, we watched the Saturday Morning session of General Conference!! WHOO!! I am always soo pumped for General Conference. It was so cool though because we literally had the voices of the "world" (or worldly things) RIGHT OUTSIDE our chapel. Full of crowds, noise, and commotion... and then, we're inside watching General Conference and learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And of course, it was so perfect that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was the first speaker. And he spoke about cutting through all the crowds and commotion and keeping our focus on Jesus Christ. It couldn't have been more fitting!!

Sunday was a day full of General Conference!! And it was the BEST day EVER!! Because of the time difference, we have to wait till the next day to watch the Afternoon sessions. (It shows live at 10:00pm-12:00am our time.) So, on Sunday we watched..  get ready... the Saturday Afternoon Session, Women's Session, Music and the Spoken Word, and the Sunday Morning Session. It was such a good day! I haven't seen the Sunday Afternoon Session yet, but I've heard it was amazing so I'm super excited to watch that tomorrow morning! There were so many wonderful talks given. I loved both of Elder Oaks' talks; Sister Aburto; Elder Uchtdorf; our Prophet, President Nelson; and others. If you haven't watched it, or you missed a few parts, please go and watch it!! You will be blessed and will receive answers to questions you have. Maybe even to questions you didn't know you had! There is something for everyone in General Conference. I know that we can receive answers through it as well. I had a few questions going into this conference and there were a few talks that focused completely on those topics and I received answers! It will be the same for you as well. 

On top of receiving answers, there were so many cool adjustments. I love the focus on the Youth being leaders and learning to receive personal revelation at such a young age! It's amazing! Such a cool time to be alive and part of the rising generation!! I love being alive in the time when the world is perilous, but it is offset by having the fulness of the gospel on the earth! What a blessing and a privilege to be alive at a time like this!!

Hope you all had a wonderful conference weekend! Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

All the cosmetics I've gotten in the past little bit as gifts... XD

Had my first bubble waffle!

Saw these cars outside our apartment and they kinda reminded me of little toy matchbox cars. Don't know why, but I thought it was kinda cool and fun that they were all different colors and from different companies!

The Elders were really enjoying Conference... XD