Siostra Carroll: Halloween, Dzień Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints Day), and Dia de los Muertos/God is in the details!! (11/4/19)

Cześć!!

Monday was really fun to talk to both Mom and Dad on the phone. It was so fun to be getting on the tram and be like, "Oh! My Dad's calling!!" Like... how cool is THAT?! Anyway, the day was relaxing, I was able to play piano for a while, which was fun, and also send all my emails. Whoo! We had a really fun English class and game night tonight. And that's about all that happened haha. Happy Monday!

Tuesday we had a pretty incredible experience. We had a meeting with Wiktoria. It started out with her explaining why she hadn't wanted to meet with us lately, but now she's coming forward and being completely honest. As she explained this to us, both Sister Aramaki and I had the very clear thought of a program we needed to do with her. Neither of us have done this program or taught it, but we knew that we needed to do this with Wiktoria. We did the introduction and talked about things together. Wiktoria is really wanting to do this program and thinks it will help. We definitely know it will. But wow. That meeting. Let me tell you... there was just such a strong outpouring of the Spirit. And I felt such a strong love for Wiktoria. I already loved her, but I know that Heavenly Father allowed me to feel just a little bit of His love for her. And wow, my heart just felt ready to burst!! It was incredible! Sister Aramaki said some things to Wiktoria that she said she really felt like Heavenly Father wanted Wiktoria to hear right now. Wiktoria told us that those were exact answers to many questions she's had in her head the past month.

I just feel so humbled, blessed, and grateful to have been allowed to be a part of an experience like this. I'm not perfect and I'm not a perfect teacher or missionary, and yet, God can still use me! And I feel so lucky to be an instrument in His hands and that I am still somehow able to help in His great plan and play a small, but still significant role in His work. God is real! He is so so real. And He is GOOD!! He knows His children individually and He is completely in the smallest details of our lives. Even some things that have happened with me and Sister Aramaki recently, we both see now that they were leading up to and preparing us for this particular meeting when we would need to help one of God's precious daughters! I have been blessed to see God in the details, not just in this, but in a few other very specific ways in just the past week alone! And more, that I probably haven't recognized yet! We don't always get to see the results of God being in the details, but with a few experiences this past week, I've been blessed to see it. I've been blessed to see the results and reasons why certain things happen. But even if we don't see the end result, that doesn't mean God isn't there. We have to remember that faith is trusting in something we cannot see, but having a sure hope that it's true and that it's there! If we look closely enough, we will see the hand of God guiding our lives. He is in the details. He knows and wants what is best for us. God is good. And I'm grateful to be fighting on His side and doing His work.

Wednesday we went to the beloved urząd (government office) to do Sister Aramaki's legal work! After that, we were able to call every single member on our list. We wanted to ask everyone for referrals. That took a while. But then we did some contacting on the way to the chapel. We worked on Facebook and I finished up my last 2 posts for the transfer. They don't go up for about a month, but I just have them all done and ready to go! That evening, we did a lot of research on this program for Wiktoria. Originally, she said she just wanted to do it with us. But Sister Aramaki and I keep feeling like we really need to do it with qualified people and get the important group meeting aspect. We'll see what Wiktoria thinks. But we really think this is a vital part of this program and what makes it a success!

Thursday was HALLOWEEN!! And we had some awesome fog all day, so it was extra spooky!! ;) Haha! We had a really good District Council. I was in charge of the Christlike Attribute section. I was able to talk about Charity and we read the document, "The Living Christ" together. It is just beautiful. I love it and I encourage all of you to read it. If you are wanting to study about Jesus Christ, come closer to Him, become more like Him, or just be uplifted for the day... this document is the perfect place to start. :) After District Council, we were able to go to the cemetery. Yeah, I know... a cemetery on Halloween?? Super spooky!! Haha, it was pretty awesome! People have been getting ready for All Saints Day and so they all go to the cemeteries, clean their family's graves, and put flowers and candles on them. There were a ton of people there (and even more on Friday!!) and the graves were super decorated. We were able to go around and help some older ladies clean their family's graves and help them find the graves. It was pretty cool. And honestly, I love the cemeteries here. They're beautiful! And they are just such peaceful places. Some people might think they're spooky or mournful. But to me, these sorts of places are just calm, serene, peaceful, and in a way, sacred. I love to be there. Later, we came home and... okay, I was told that Polish people don't really celebrate Halloween, but... about 20 kids came out of our apartment building all dressed up in Halloween costumes!! We said Happy Halloween in English and they said it back in English!! So that was cool! AND we even had 1 trick or treater!!

Cemetery in the daytime on Halloween.

Friday was All Saints Day! We were still able to have a meeting with Agnieszka though. It was pretty cool because going there that time felt like going home almost. Her husband, Adam, and son, Daniel, were both there too. It was a super cold day and of course the sun is setting pretty early now (around 4:30 every day). So, going in to a nice warm apartment/house with a full family there, just felt like coming home after playing outside in the cold. (It felt like when we lived in Oregon and I was back in elementary school again.) Anyway, it was pretty cool. We had a great lesson with Agnieszka. We were able to read some of the Book of Mormon, answer some of her questions, and just have a really good conversation about scriptures and other things. We also watched the episode of the Book of Mormon videos where Nephi goes and gets the Plates of Brass. She really enjoyed it! After meeting with her, we went to English class and then after that, we all went to the Osobowice Cemetery to celebrate All Saints Day!! (Dzień Wszystkich Świętych) It was dark and cold, but it made for the perfect feeling as we looked at all the candles and lanterns glowing in the cemetery. Everyone places candles, lanterns, and flowers on the graves of their family members for All Saints Day. It's a day for people to spend time with their family and remember their ancestors. It looked like it was straight out of the movie "Coco"!! It's basically the Polish equivalent of "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead). It felt very similar and I loved it!! It's hard to describe the view or feeling as you walk into the dark cemetery and just see the vast, sweeping array of candles, lanterns, and light amidst the graves. It's just... magical!! And you can't really feel that unless you're there and experiencing it. But wow... it was amazing!! Definitely a huge highlight for me. One of the Elders even said as we walked in, "Whoa... this is WAY better than Halloween!!" :)

The cemetery for All Saints Day things.

But seriously though... doesn't it look like it's from Coco?!

Me, Sis Aramaki, Elder Baer, Elder Moody, Vova, Doni, Wojciech.

Saturday we had a meeting with a lady named Joanna and her 12 year old son Kajetan (or Kaj). Okay, for starters, this kid is just the sweetest EVER! He is so spiritual and so mature and I was so impressed. He really wanted to make sure they both had a Book of Mormon. And he was even looking through it and reading it during our meeting!! So, Joanna kind of texted us out of the blue and we set up with her. Neither of us had met her before, but she kept saying how it's not an accident that we met. We were able to talk about the gospel and share President Nelson's conference talk with them. (A seemingly random thing we had felt prompted to do, but didn't know why.) It ended up opening up the conversation and she soon opened up to us about her life and their situation. They're living in a lot of fear right now because of Kaj's biological father. Joanna said she doesn't tell anyone, but she needed to talk. Our meeting ended up being 2 hours, but she really needed to talk. We're going to do our best to help them and make sure they're safe. We're really hoping they'll be okay and also realize that this Church is something they need to be a part of! On their way out of the chapel, they stopped and were looking at all the pictures of the Prophets. It was honestly a very sweet and tender moment to witness. They seemed to be looking at them with some admiration and even maybe having a sense of familiarity. Joanna said something to Kaj about... "They look like very wise men with good experience, don't they?" Kaj agreed. We will be in contact with them again, for sure!

One thing I've learned is that the mission really makes you grow up. And sometimes you have to handle "grown up" things.

But it's been so cool to see how God is in the details! I love being able to see evidence of that through experiences I'm having. :)

Sunday wasn't too eventful, but something kinda funny happened at church. After I finished playing the Sacrament hymn, President Kwaśnicki came over to me and asked me if I could play another one. So I quickly found another hymn and started playing. Didn't find this out until later, but... Turns out, the bread for the Sacrament was hard as a rock. I mean.. that stuff was SOLID!! So they literally couldn't break it apart. Luckily, President Kwaśnicki had this sweet bread/roll we could use. It all turned out okay, but it was definitely a different situation than we normally have haha! After that, we were able to go to our normal service and make food for homeless people!

Love and miss you all!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll