Monday morning, we went to the train station to get the keys and SIM card from the Elders. Then, we said our goodbyes to them and they headed out on their train. Ahhh!! It was so sad to say goodbye. It seriously felt like I was saying goodbye to 2 of my brothers.
Saying goodbye to the Elders on Monday
And then, Sister Aramaki and I were left alone as the ONLY 2 missionaries in the entire city of Wrocław!! Ahhh crazy!! We're a "Sister City" for the last 2 weeks of this transfer. Anyway, for pday we were able to watch "17 Miracles" which was fun. And of course, we talked to our families!! And that night, we had a fun English class with games afterwards. For the games, it was just Sister Aramaki, me, Solomiya, and Wilbert. A small group, but it was so fun and seriously... it felt like I was just hanging out with my friends and having a game night!! It was so good to feel that again, even just for a little bit.
Tuesday we had to be at the chapel pretty much all day since the Family History Center was open and we didn't have Elders to split it with anymore. So we did all of our studies, Facebook work, and weekly planning.. yay!! We also were able to have a great meeting with Wiktoria! We had a long talk about life, read the Book of Mormon, and then had a great discussion about that. I'm so glad we were able to meet with Wiktoria again!! :) Later, we helped the senior couple missionaries to bring all the food into the chapel kitchen for zone conference tomorrow. Whoo! It was so fun to see Elder and Sister Williams again!! :)
Wednesday we had Zone Conference here in Wrocław. It's always good to see a ton of other missionaries. There were 5 out of the 8 missionaries from our MTC group who were there. It was me, Sisters Berrett, Lueck, and Eberting, and Elder Olschewski. We were only missing Sister Emett, Sister Webber, and Elder Cheal. So that's fun!
Zone Conference with most of my MTC group!!
Poor Elder Olschewski being the only Elder haha.
Anyway, the Zone Conference was completely dedicated to social media and how we can use that more in our missionary work. It was way cool! There is seriously so much that we can be doing with Facebook. So.. they want us all posting every single day, so if y'all see me posting a ton and think I've gone crazy, that's why haha. I've never been much of a social media person and even when I use it, I've never really posted that much, so this will be a new thing for me to be posting every day. Oh, and now all missionaries will be asked to work on Facebook for an hour every day. Okay, probably the coolest thing though is that our mission was selected to test this pilot program for the church. We are one out of six missions who were asked to do this. (Italy Rome, Belgium Netherlands, England Leeds, Portugal Lisbon, France Paris, and Poland Warsaw) Basically, these 2 Elders who served in the Spain Madrid Mission came up with this program or invented this machine that takes algorithms and your geographical location and info like that... and then, it will send out a ton of friend requests from your account. Then, once these people accept, our job is to reach out to them and start talking with them. When you get transferred, all of the friend requests and friends that were made by "the machine" are automatically removed and the process restarts in your new area. Super smart right? Well, it gets even better. In the Spain Madrid Mission, from their baptisms last year, about 10% of them came from using this tool. How cool is that?! And now our mission gets to be a part of this pilot program for the whole church. It's awesome! Anyway, that's what will be happening there.
Also, that night, we taught our self-reliance course with the Legnica Elders (Jenkins and Frank), Doni, Isabel, and Wilbert. Elder Jenkins asked Wilbert if he was a member, and Wilbert said that he was an investigator!! He considers himself that! So that's cool! Oh and Wilbert said to Doni something about how they both should go on missions together. WHAT?! Then, when, as part of the course, everyone committed to reading the Book of Mormon every day, Wilbert said he would do it. He said, "Sure! Why not?!" So cool! Seriously, this kid is so ready! It's seems just as though the invitation has never been extended, but he's so ready to accept!
Thursday we had a bunch of meetings. Our main one ended up being SUPER long. But holy smokes it was good. We met with this guy named Mehdi who is from Morocco. And in the course of a few hours with us, he went from being anti-religious, but with beliefs similar to Islam beliefs, to beginning to believe that Jesus Christ was more than just a prophet and even saying things like, "if I convert." Whoa... so many things happened in that meeting, I wouldn't even be able to tell you all of them. But the spirit was so strong throughout the whole thing. It was beautiful. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end, we showed him a short video which depicts Joseph's account of the First Vision. (It's the newer, shorter 6 minute version.) After we finished watching it, he openly admitted to us that he got emotional while watching it. He was in so much shock and disbelief that he could get emotional like that! He went on to tell us how he NEVER gets emotional. Like seriously.. never. So when he felt that while watching the video, he was almost overwhelmed. And he immediately opened up even more to us. He said he really wanted to know more and understand more about our church. He fully committed to read the Book of Mormon every day this week and to pray about it. Holy smokes, this guy is so prepared. Just through our conversation and the things he's told us. Wow! Oh and another cool thing, I guess he met Elder Chugg a while back, but nothing ever happened with that. Then, when he met the Elders this time some cool things happened. He had been walking along, just listening to his music when he felt like he needed to stop right where he was. So he did, and BAM! The missionaries were RIGHT there! Not only this, but they were in the EXACT same spot as when Mehdi had met Elder Chugg the first time. He said they were even positioned the same way. Whoa... seriously so cool! So, I'm looking forward to meeting with him again!! Later, we had a meeting with Doni and we started teaching him the lessons again. We asked him what differences he sees in his life now compared to what it was like before he got baptized. He said that life before was dark and negative. And now he said, "Life makes sense now." That is the COOLEST thing ever! And I love that he recognizes that because it is so true!! When we're on the right path and doing the right things, life makes sense! We feel meaning and have a purpose. Life makes sense now. Wow!
Friday we were able to help Agnieszka go grocery shopping! Her husband is out of town for about a month. And she has problems with her back which make it hard for her to walk, lift, and carry things. So we went with her to help her do everything! It was a lot of fun! Oh and she bought us a bunch of random treats and surprised us with it at the end! She's seriously the sweetest!! After that, we visited Babcia for a bit which was fun. And of course, she is literally just like our Grandma here and she spoils us so much with treats and everything. She's so cute and sweet! Later, we had a lesson with Wilbert. It went well! At the end, he got a bit worried because he thought we were going to ask him to be baptized. He's read all of "Preach My Gospel," so he knows what we teach and what it eventually leads to (baptism). So he was a bit wary at first. But then he realized that we just wanted him to find out for himself that all of this is true. And he did commit to do that. We were able to have a really open and honest conversation with him about everything. We asked if he truly desired to know if the things he reads in the Book of Mormon, other church books, and the things he hears the missionaries say... are true. And he said he really did want to know. So, we asked him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know the truth. He said he would. He also said that he's been reading the Book of Mormon every day since our self-reliance course where we committed them to do that as well. That made me so happy to hear! I think he's really searching. He told us he loves being around the missionaries and the members because he feels positivity and a "good vibe" when he's around them. I thought that was pretty cool too. He's a super nice guy and genuine. It'll be exciting to watch him grow.
Saturday we were able to spend some time visiting Agnieszka and Daniel. We learned a new game called "Makał." In some aspects, it's quite similar to "Uno," but then.. not haha! Soooo I won 5ish times and only lost 2 or 3 times. Not saying this to brag though! The first bit, I knew what like.. 2 of the cards did. So mostly it was luck. But at the end... of course it was skill!! ;) Haha, don't know why I went off on that tangent, but anyway!! It was so fun to spend time with them. Oh! And Agnieszka fed us split pea soup for lunch! (In Polish that's "grochówka.")
Me with Agnieszka and Daniel.
Later, we had a good English class, a fun meeting with Irek and Sister Malinowska, and a good meeting with Lucyna. Oh, and Max (counselor in the Branch presidency) called me Saturday night to ask me to give a talk the next day!! Haha, so that was fun!
Sunday was really good! I was able to give a talk on Eternal Families. (And yes, I still played the piano. So anyone who thought the "Carroll show" at church was over. Just come check it out, because we're in Poland now! Hahaha I'm only joking, don't worry!!) Anyway, it went well and everyone really seemed to appreciate the talk. I know the Branch President was especially grateful that I could give a talk last minute since members weren't actually able to come. He said to me, "You saved the meeting!!" I just laughed, thanked him, but just brushed it off haha. It's just kind of normal for missionaries here to do that sort of thing. We do a lot in the Branches here. Also, Mehdi came to church!! I was so excited!! So, cool thing... he told us he couldn't stay for the 2nd hour because he had plans. Well, we got a text from him a few hours later and he apologized for lying to us. He said that he didn't actually have plans. He said he was feeling the same feeling again and was trying to run away from it!! He said that it's definitely a good feeling, but he's just not used to it yet. But he liked church and asked when he could meet with us again! So that was awesome! :) Later, we were able to do more service at the soup kitchen and we even met a guy there who is from Japan!! That was pretty cool for Sister Aramaki since she's half-Japanese.
Anyway, that's pretty much it for this week. Have a great week off for Thanksgiving break! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Love and miss you all!!
Siostra Shaylin Carroll
P.S. I had an interesting dream the other night. I wanted to share part of it with y'all. I'll give the basics at the beginning, but mostly pay attention to the last bit.
Here it is:
"I was in this room and it started filling up with people I knew. I was giving lots and lots of hugs and I knew that my mission was done! But I realized that the timing wasn't right and I got so so sad and I didn't want to leave yet! I wasn't ready to leave Poland. But I just remember crying and crying because I didn't want to leave Poland yet.
In the dream, I asked my Mom why I felt that way. She said, 'Imagine your brain, thoughts, and emotions are like a pool of water and it's been going around, rotating in one direction for so long. (like where your focus is) And then, the mission ends and family comes and that direction (focus) immediately switches. It won't be a smooth process. And it won't be immediate. The water may be choppy at first too. But eventually the waters will smooth out and the water will flow smoothly in the opposite direction.'"
Anyway, I just thought of that last bit in the sense of any big change we have in life. The waters may be choppy, but they always smooth out in the end. Now, I don't know why I have these super deep dreams haha, but I thought some would find it interesting, so I wanted to share. :)
A bunch of the cards we got from the kids at the school
Me with Sister Elżbieta Kaźmierczak.
Me with Sister Iryna.
Christmas is COMING!!!
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