W Domu/Misja Zakończona (6/3/20)

Cześć!!

Monday we were able to go to a castle for pday!! It's not open on Mondays, so we couldn't go inside, BUT! The outside was way pretty, so it was good to see that. And guess what?! It even had a MOAT around the castle!! A real castle with a real moat! I couldn't be more excited!! XD We wanted to feed the ducks at a lake nearby, but the moat was more exciting haha. We were feeding the few ducks and pretty soon, all these small fish start going after the bread. And not long after that, these huge fish start coming up from below too. They were kinda mean though. They would sneak up behind the ducks and then bite them on the rear end. It was hilarious to watch! XD After the castle, we went and walked along the lake for a while. It was beautiful. We also sat on the top of a 2 level pier and looked out on the lake and the castle. It was gorgeous! It was a great pday activity and we're lucky we caught a break in the rain!

Cool picture in front of the castle.

At the castle.

Looking out over the lake and the castle.

Tuesday was a crazy day! Are you comfortable? Because I've got ALL the details for you. To give you some background, let me go back to Sunday. So, Sunday, Elder Womack was acting kinda strange, the way he does when he knows something that we don't. He wouldn't spill though and just changed the subject whenever I brought it up. So, of course I knew he knew something. Fast forward to our Devotional that night, President told us how the border restrictions are being extended and there won't be any new missionaries coming in for a while. I stayed on the Zoom call after the Devotional to ask what that meant for those of us going home in June. That's when he said, "That is a great question Sister Carroll. There is a very high probability that you will be going home on Friday." Shock hit me and all I could get out was a delayed, "Oh.... um.. wow! Okay.." Of course, at that point nothing was certain yet, and so I couldn't tell anybody. I was also the only Sister going home who knew about our situation. And then on Monday, talking to my family, I couldn't tell them either. So when my Mom got excited and said they'd pick me up in 2 weeks, all I could do was be excited with them and say, "...Yeahh!!...." XD (sorry mom) And that brings us to Tuesday.

Tuesday morning we all went to Bożena's for the Elders to give her a blessing and to spend time with her for Mother's Day. (Mother's Day in Poland is May 26th.) Anyway, the blessing was really special and really helped Bożena. I always love to hear the Elders give blessings because the Spirit is so strong and the gift of tongues is flowing! In the middle of our time there, my phone started ringing: President Chandler... I already knew. I went to the other room as he delivered the news that I would be finishing my mission and returning home on Friday. It didn't feel real. My head was spinning and I barely heard anything else he said. Sister Jensen will be moving to Warsaw and Poznań will be closed to Sisters until we get more missionaries. Whoa... okay. So, of course before we left Bożena's, I had to tell her. I told her the news, and she started crying!! Now, Bożena is super tough and doesn't really let anyone see her emotions, so this meant a lot to me. We were able to get pictures and she made me promise to call every now and then. I promised her I would. And after a huge hug goodbye, we left. 

Us and Bożena.

After that, we headed to the chapel. Sister Jensen and I had planned to do our "culture night" with Kasia. For culture night, we get 3 hours each transfer to do something cultural, like visit a museum or something. (Because most museums and some places are closed on Mondays, so we can never visit them on pday.) We went to Fort VII with Kasia. This was a concentration camp during WWII. I knew I needed to visit one before I left Poland. It was a good place to visit and learn more about the history that is so rich in Poland. The concentration camp was quiet, peaceful, and solemn. It was good to remember. We had a good time with Kasia too. She LOVES history, so she was able to give us a lot of information, like a personal tour guide. She had never been to Fort VII either, so it was good for all of us to go. 

In the Concentration Camp.

Kasia and me at the Concentration Camp.

On the way back to the chapel, I dropped the bomb on her. She cried too, but we were able to give hugs and say goodbye. I'm going to miss these people so much!! 

Us and Kasia.

In the evening, we sat down with the Elders and gave them a rundown of ALL the people we're teaching. We gave them all the information, started group chats to introduce them, and everybody has been handed off. It was a fairly smooth transition, considering how sudden this all was. Later that night, I made a last-ditch attempt at contacting Claudia. And a miracle... SHE RESPONDED!! 10 days later and she responded. It was an answer to prayers and I was so so happy. She was so sad to hear that we were leaving. But we set up to go get ice cream together the next day! So, yeah, Tuesday was just a *little* bit crazy haha. And that's how I found out I'm coming home!

Wednesday was also a good day. We spent the morning packing up and cleaning everything. After getting that done, we headed to the chapel and ended up having a meeting with the Elders with a returning member named Dominik. I had never met him before. So, it was good to meet another member in Poznań. Then, Elder Zabriskie had made pie for us!! So, we all had that together. Later, we met up with Claudia!! Yup. You read that right. We were so excited!! Basically, we just went and got ice cream and talked about life. I was really grateful to be able to meet up with her one last time to at least say goodbye. After that, we went back to the chapel. Elder Zabriskie and I recorded one last song together. We played, "For the Beauty of the Earth." It's a really pretty arrangement! Then, we headed home for the night. We had my last nightly devotional and President Chandler had us share our final testimonies with the whole mission. That was really special.

In the Poznań Rynek.

Last time in the Poznań Rynek.

Getting ice cream with Claudia.

After packing my bags Wednesday night, here is the note I wrote home:

"I can't tell you how grateful I am right now for all the prayers. I've felt almost no stress as I've been packing. And it's been so strange because every other transfer has been nothing but stress and worry. But this time I felt nothing but peace and calmness. I packed and had space to spare (haven't checked the weight yet because we don't have a scale). But with that extra space, I can shift things around as needed to adjust the weight. And extra space in EACH suitcase which has never happened. It was surprisingly easy for me to get rid of a ton of clothes and some books and things. Which also is normally hard. And on top of that, it only took 2 hours to pack everything. It normally took me 1.5ish hours for 2 to 3 nights on other transfers. I even experienced receiving guidance as I was packing and going through things. Just little thoughts of what to keep and what to get rid of. I know to others this might not be a big deal, but to me it is. I have experienced nothing but tiny miracles and tender mercies through all this. I am so blessed. I've never had packing be a spiritual experience, but this time was for me. I just wanted you to know that. Thank you for the prayers! Love you!"

Thursday morning we woke up and got ready for the day. Then, the Womack's came to pick us and our stuff up. They took it to the train station while we took a tram and met them and the Elders there. We got some last pictures together and said our goodbyes. 

Saying goodbye to the Elders on the train platform.

All of us saying goodbye in Poznań.

Then, our train pulled out of Poznań Główny and we waved until we couldn't see them anymore. Sister Jensen and I made it to Warsaw. Then, I had to say goodbye to her and she went off with her new companion in Warsaw. She's going to be AWESOME!! Then, when the rest of our group got there, we went to the mission office and hung out there for a while. AND!! Get this!! The Office Elders right now are Elders Cheal and Olschewski, our MTC Elders. It was like an MTC Family Reunion!! We had so much fun sharing memories and funny inside jokes. 

Our MTC group social distancing at the train station XD.

Our MTC group at the Mission Office!! :)

Then, we headed to the Mission Home and had dinner with the Chandler family. After dinner, us Sisters went on a walk and went exploring a bit. It was really fun! 

Me "climbing" the gates to get to the palace!! It was closed, but thought it'd be a funny picture haha. (This was on our adventurous walk in Warsaw.)

Later, the Chandler's went on a family walk. I took the opportunity while they were gone to play on their grand piano!! It was so fun!! Sorry, Thursday was kind of a quick moving, lots of things happened sort of day.

Friday morning, we had our exit interviews with President Chandler. This was such a wonderful interview. I was so blessed to have such an incredible Mission President. We had a really good conversation, I got my temple recommend interview done by him (in Polish too!!), and he gave me a Priesthood blessing at the end. It was a very spiritual and uplifting experience. It was really, really special! 

Me with President and Sister Chandler.

A bit later, we all went out to lunch at Stół Polska, this Polish restaurant. Then, we stopped by the mission office to pick up our boarding passes and things. We were able to say goodbye to our MTC Elders too, which was nice. Then, we had our last devotional and shared our testimonies with each other. It was really special too. President Chandler talked about how there's a difference between those missionaries who go through a mission, and those missionaries who let the mission go through them. I loved that!

Lunch with the Chandler's at Stół Polska.

Departing Sisters with President and Sister Chandler.

All the Departing Sisters the morning we left Poland.

Mission Accomplished victory jump!! XD

Okay, then came the tricky stuff. We loaded up and went to the Warsaw Chopin Airport!! We had some problems with our bags, apparently there was a mess up and we were only allowed 1 checked bag instead of 2 like normal. Plus, the Chandler's weren't allowed inside the airport. So, we frantically had to find wifi and call them and they paid for 5 extra bags for us. Oh, and did I mention the lady told us that we had 10 minutes before they were closing it off. AHHH!! Sister Eberting RAN over with the receipts and they quickly loaded our bags. AND mine were overweight, but MIRACLE!! They didn't charge me anything for it!! Ahh!! (For the record, we weighed them at the mission home and mine were at or under the allowed weight. So I don't even know what happened..) Then, at border control, it took me a while to get through because I never got my residency card. (Legal work is ridiculously hard in Poland.) But the other Sisters were around the corner praying and I felt so calm. Weird, right? But honestly, it was all out of my hands. It's crazy, we had so many small trials just to get to the plane, but we just kept seeing miracle after miracle. It was a very stressful, yet incredible experience.

Getting on the flight from Warsaw to Chicago.

Then, being in the plane, we all started talking to the people next to us. (Looking back, at the beginning of my mission, I'd never do that, but now it's so normal to just start talking to anyone and everyone!) And then, oh man... this was probably the hardest thing ever... taking off and leaving Poland. I don't think I've ever cried so hard. I cried through the entire takeoff process. It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest and it stayed in Poland. I felt bad for the poor girl who had to sit next to me haha. But at least I wasn't the only one crying. Seriously though..... that was so hard... SO HARD to leave Poland. I love it so much. I'm going to miss it so much...

Friday night, we landed in Chicago, Illinois. In the United States of America. We were on American Soil for the first time since January 21, 2019. How crazy is that?! We spent the night in a hotel there.

All of our luggage in the hotel lobby in Chicago.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the airport. We had the smoothest check-in process ever, which was so nice! 

Heading to our gate in the Chicago airport.

Then, we had to say goodbye to Sister Lueck who was going straight to Las Vegas. The rest of us had a flight to Denver. We were sitting in the plane for a while and then the pilot comes on and says there's a mechanical problem. We all had to unload and they switched us to an entirely new plane an hour or so later. We were ready to go in that one. We sped off down the runway and were about to take off when suddenly... SCREECH!! The pilot SLAMMED on the brakes as hard as he could. We were all bracing against the seats in front of us. After things were under control, the pilot came on to tell us that a brake indicator had come on at the last second and so he had to abort the takeoff. I'm so grateful he didn't try to risk it. We had to completely unload that plane too and get on a new plane about 5 hours later. Needless to say, we were in the Chicago airport all day long. Thank goodness there were 4 of us all together still. 

How we felt about our crazy flight situation (sarcastic thumbs up haha).

We got on the 3rd plane and it actually took off! Yay! The entire plane cheered! (I'm pretty sure there were some new people on there who were really confused why we were all cheering for a plane taking off... but they had no idea what we had been through all day! Haha!)

In Denver, we had to say our goodbyes and quickly board our next flights. Soon, I was on my final flight to Boise. And of course, just to throw a few other things in there, there was a lot of turbulence on that last flight and my luggage arrived from a different flight than the one I was on. But I was going to Boise! To home. Home. Wow... I still can't believe it.

Through all the flights home, I just kept thinking that we were a living example of Murphy's Law that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. But along with that, we experienced so many miracles! As we went through all of these crazy trials and hard experiences going home, the other Sisters and I kept remembering the last prayer we had with our Mission President, President Chandler, before we left on our journey home. We normally pray for safety in our travels, but this time, it seemed very specific. He went through, mentioned, and prayed that all the airplanes, buses, cars, and other forms of transportation would function properly. He also prayed that all the drivers, mechanics, and pilots would be guided and that they would listen to the guidance they received. I have no doubt that our pilot was receiving guidance from the Spirit and I am so glad that he listened and that we arrived home safely. I truly know that God watches over us and protects His missionaries. We all felt so blessed. I was grateful to experience so many miracles at the end of my mission. What a blessing it was to have these experiences.

Well, I guess this is the end of my emails and my adventures in Poland! Thanks for sticking with me. (I know I write a lot.. sorry.. but I hope the pictures were good if you didn't want to read.) I just wanted to end by saying that I know that Jesus is the Christ. He lives. It is only by and through Him that we can be saved and return to live with God again. I'm so grateful for the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that through it, we can become clean, overcome our struggles, and become better people. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon and I know that it is true. There truly is a power that comes from it. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true and restored church of Jesus Christ. I know that God loves each and every one of His children. I was so blessed to feel a bit of that love He has for everyone as I taught them on my mission. I know that Jesus Christ is always there for us. He's waiting for us to turn to Him. We just need to ask and He'll be there. Most of all, I'm so grateful for the chance I had to serve a mission and to serve and love the Polish people. I'm so grateful I could serve God in this way.

Love and miss you all!! (Well... love you all and I still miss you, for those I haven't seen yet haha)

For the last time...

♡Siostra Shaylin Carroll

Jestem w domu!! :)

How to kill 3 stones with 1 bird.../Playing whack-a-mole... (5/25/20)

Cześć!!

Monday we were able to go and see some stuff for pday!! WHOO!! We went to these World War II bunkers and it was awesome! It's probably about 4 or 5 stories below the ground. And the tunnels are SO LONG!!! It was a really cool thing to see. Then, we went to see a giant Christus statue. Supposedly, it's the largest one in the world. So that was really awesome to go and visit that site. I was so grateful to get out and see more things in Poland. I was beginning to lose hope! So this was a huge blessing!

For pday we went and explored a WWII Bunker, which was WAY cool!!

It had super long tunnels about 4-5 stories underground. Crazy!!

We also went to see this statue of Christ. It's supposedly the largest one in the world. So that was pretty cool!!

Tuesday we had a full day of planning and meetings. We, of course, had our weekly planning session. Then, we had a big missionwide meeting. We had a training session on how to make vlogs. So, our mission has been chosen to do, yet another, technology missionary program. These vlogs will be short ads that they put on Facebook. You know, the ones that when you're scrolling they sometimes pop up in your feed? Yeah, that'll be us. Except here's the cool (and on the flipside, kinda scary) thing about Facebook, is that you can make it a very specific target audience. So anything from age, to location, to interests, to number of kids and age of kids, etc.... so Facebook knows all these things and uses it to advertise towards a particular group. Kinda scary... It'll be good for us though!! XD So, now we have to come up with vlog ideas and things. Yay! Haha it should be interesting.

Our District called to sing happy birthday to Sister Jensen! Aww! We have the BEST Elders!!

Wednesday we were able to work on Facebook and message people. I'm still messaging that one girl, Shumirai, and teaching her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So that's going well. We also had a meeting with Piotr today! We haven't been able to meet with him for a long time. We met and reviewed the Word of Wisdom, and talked about obedience and studying the scriptures. It went well. He's going to try to live the Word of Wisdom, which is good. He says it's hard because alcohol is just so much a part of the culture, especially for men. He tried to pull the "Jesus drank wine" card on me. Like, come on buddy, the people in the Bible kept the law of Moses, but we don't have that anymore. Different laws and specific instructions for different times. But it really comes down to the fact that he needs to have a testimony that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. And because he was a prophet, then the Word of Wisdom is from God. Besides that, it was good. We will be handing him off to the Elders to teach. He's great! It's just that, lately he feels like he's been getting a little froggy... and he seems to have no problem if the Elders teach him. So... congrats Elders!! You have a new investigator!! XD

Thursday morning we had District Council which went well. Right after that, we had a long meeting with Kasia. We were able to talk about service and missionary work. I felt like I should ask her if she thought her parents would be interested in learning about the gospel. She said she didn't know, but that she'd ask them and share the Book of Mormon with them. She also showed us this notebook she has. She writes down her favorite scriptures, verses from the Book of Mormon, thoughts and impressions from the meetings we have together, notes from General Conference, and more. She really studies the gospel and I think she is pretty in tune when she feels the Spirit. It was really cool to see that and that she would share that with us. She said it's really special to her. She's amazing!! 

Also, funny story: So, Elder Zabriskie's first name is Chase. Kasia saw him on Facebook and was trying to figure out how to say his name and ended up saying "cheese." She speaks a bit of English and was really confused why someone would name their kid "Cheese." So, we made a joke about it saying how his name is "ser" (the Polish word for cheese). He even made it official by signing Kasia's notebook as "Starszy Ser Zabriskie." Beautiful. XD Kasia also gave me the sweetest note. (Because she doesn't know when we'll see each other in person again.) Seriously, it was beautiful. And on the back side she had little drawings, unique things about Poland, Polish song recommendations... it was all so thoughtful!! I love her!! 

After a meeting with Kasia + Starszy Ser Zabriskie!! XD

Later in the day, we had a phone call with Zoe to practice English. We were able to talk about music and play games and tell jokes. It was fun because I could tell all the jokes that everyone in the U.S. has heard a million times, and they were all new to Zoe!! XD We definitely had a fun time together.

Oh! And at Institute that night, Mehdi from Wrocław was at the meeting!! I was so excited to see him there! And oh my goodness, seeing him there, he just LOOKED different. He had more light. I haven't often experienced seeing that in someone else... just SEEING the change. He's doing really well. It was such a blessing to be able to see that. To see and feel that difference. Oh, and he said something really cool. He talked about how there were all these people telling him that he shouldn't learn about the Church of Jesus Christ. But he said that just made him realize that there is something in this Church that he really needs to learn about. It's too cool y'all... too cool!

Friday morning we were able to have a meeting with Ola! We were able to talk about God's love for her, temples, eternal families, God's plan for us, temptations and trials, and more. She's so great and it was a really good meeting with her. The Spirit was there and it was a sweet experience. It was very special to be able to feel some of Heavenly Father's love for her as she expressed some challenges she's going through. What a blessing it is to feel that for the people we teach! Later in the day, we were able to message a lot of people, contact some referrals, and set up some meetings. Elder Zabriskie and I filmed another musical number!! Whoo!! (I almost wrote music video haha oops!!) We did a duet of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." I think this one is my favorite so far. It's really a beautiful arrangement!! I'm so lucky and grateful to be able to do musical things on my mission!! 

A screenshot of the musical number Elder Zabriskie and I did. I realized there are videos on Facebook, but I could use it as a picture here too haha. :)

That night we had a Facebook "watch party" that the official Church page (in Poland) put on. It was the movie "Meet the Mormons." We had a few people who watched it which was exciting! Kasia watched it and really liked it. She said she has more questions for us and wanted to meet on Monday! (So today I guess haha) So, that will be awesome!

Saturday morning, we were able to go and visit Bożena! It was really good to visit her. We had a good time talking, laughing, listening to her stories, and just being together. I love Bożena!! A bit later, at the chapel, we had a meeting with Martyna. Her mom said she still had to wait until she's an adult to be baptized. Sad... It's so weird because her mom doesn't have anything against the Church, so it doesn't make sense. But maybe this is Martyna's test; to wait. Well, we had a good meeting with her. We studied Elder Anderson's recent talk together and discussed that. We also enjoyed talking after the lesson. Martyna is so fun! Such a sweet girl too. 

Later in the evening, we had a meeting over the phone with a referral we had received. His name is Wiesław. He's a middle-aged man who had requested a copy of the Book of Mormon. We were able to talk more and he really wants to read it. He also wanted to watch the movie about Joseph Smith. And he requested church magazines too so he can start preaching the gospel. He also was really excited about Church, the gospel library app, all the resources we have, the Prophet, and more. He was telling me how the Bible alone is not enough for him. He needs more. Wow! He also said a prayer at the end of our lesson and it was perfect; in the exact way that we pray. I'm so excited to meet more with him!

Sunday was good! We had church over Zoom again and there were 4 people we're teaching who joined the call; Aleksandra, Kasia, Piotr, and Wiesław. Afterwards, Wiesław was messaging me and BEGGING for more church materials: magazines, books, scriptures, and even the "Come, Follow Me" book. He said he needs more spiritual food. He also said that he really wants to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ. Well, that can definitely be arranged!! The rest of the day went well too with our District Devotional and our call-in reports with our District Leader, Elder Frank. Those calls are always fun! Except for the part where he and Elder Sorenson joke about how I'm "going home in like 3 days" and then they give me the "how far away is that plane?" joke and the "how long have you been packed?" joke. Nice. XD In case I forgot I was going home soon, I have my Elders to remind me. XD

Also, during church, I kept having to mute other people's microphones so that it wouldn't be switching screens anytime there was a sound on their end. But then, after a bit of time, they would turn the microphone back on. It was just a couple people, but it happened SO MUCH!! Elder Zabriskie said, "Hey it's like playing whack-a-mole! You hit one down and another one pops right back up." Haha, well... he's not wrong!

And during our District Devotional, we watched Elder Uchtdorf's talk called "The Love of God." It's a beautiful talk. I loved it. I wanted to share a quote from it here:

"God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely."

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

**BONUS: Funnies from this week:

"I killed 3 stones with 1 bird!!"

-Elder Frank

*no, he didn't mean to say that. But we all like it better.* XD

*a joke I made up hahaha*

Q: What did the Canadian spy say when the cops asked him where he was from?

A: Canadian: I'm from the U.S. eh?

Scavenger Hunts and Butterflies 🦋/18 months and still going strong... (5/18/20)

Cześć!!

Monday morning, I had a brilliant idea of something we could do for pday, even though things are still closed. So... I got Elder Womack to create a picture scavenger hunt for us and the Elders to do. It was gonna be EPIC!! But... PLOT TWIST!! It was wayyyyy rainy and windy and cold, so that added an interesting challenge to the scavenger hunt. It was still epic though. I learned quickly that asking to take pictures with random people or their pets is a very American thing. But here in Poland, you ask them for a simple picture and suddenly they're questioning all your motives and intentions, doing background checks and even questioning their own position in the universe. Yup. Sorry meter maid, it's just on the list, can I just get a picture with you and I'll be on my way?? XD Haha, yeah we had a good time with that!

We did a scavenger hunt on Monday for pday!! Us with the meter maid!  (We asked her first, don't worry!)  

 A giant puddle on our scavenger hunt. 

A picture of me with this random guy's dog.

Some grapefruit.

Us eating ice cream, and yes, all this was done in the wind and rain. XD

Tuesday we got a lot done with weekly planning, I did my next section of the "My Plan" program, we set up a lot of meetings for the week, and of course we messaged people on Facebook. I'm teaching this awesome girl through Facebook messenger (she doesn't have enough internet for video calls), whose name is Shumirai. She is so faithful! She's been reading the Book of Mormon for a while now. I'm slowly teaching her about the Restoration. It was really cool when I talked to her about prophets and how we have a prophet even today. She said that it's hard to know who a true prophet is and who isn't. I talked with her about prayer and how we can ask God questions. She said, "Wow I didn't know we could do that!" (Ah! I love teaching people these simple truths!!) I shared Moroni's promise with her and asked her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She said, "I will pray and I believe God will answer." Such faith.. wow!! 

Later, we had a meeting with Kasia! We talked with her about Eternal Marriage and about families. She read the entire proclamation, "The Family" (which I sent her last time) and she LOVED it! She also told us how she had a rough day on Monday and she just prayed and read her scriptures to feel better. She said she loves to read the Book of Mormon because it brings her so much peace! She said she finds answers, goodness, joy, and happiness in it. She also writes down some of her favorite verses from it in her journal. We asked her to pray about the Book of Mormon again and ask God if it's true. She said she knows that it's definitely a good book, but she would pray to find out if it's true. Kasia is awesome!

Wednesday morning, Elder Womack had a meeting with Claudia. She had thought and prayed A LOT over the past 5 days. She finally made the decision to commit and live a life completely following the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Claudia really feels like this is the path she needs to take. And this is the right decision. We couldn't be more proud of and happy for her. We were soooo excited for her to get baptized later in the week! :) Claudia spent the day with us at the chapel and it was really good to have her there while we worked. She loves being there with us and we love having her there. :) 

A bit later, we had a meeting with Aleksandra, which also was really good! We talked about the 2nd half of the Plan of Salvation. She talked more about her prayer and scripture study. She said this is something she wants to continue in because it makes her so happy. She can see that this church makes its members better people and that this is a better life!! She was also looking back on her life and seeing all the things that have happened, the people she's met, and the way things have lined up for her to be at this point. She says she feels so lucky! Aleksandra told us about how when she sent in her self-referral, she felt SO HAPPY and was actually jumping up and down when she clicked the button!! I love how she really enjoys learning about the gospel and just LOVES everything about it! She even plays the hymns on her viola. My goodness, she's the best!!

Thursday morning we headed to the chapel to meet with Kasia! She had her graduation/official ending of high school, so she decided to come see us in person! It was so good to see her and spend some time talking with her. Who knows if it was the last time in person or not. Either way, I got a hug!!

Us and Kasia!! IN PERSON!!

We spent the day working on Facebook, messaging people, creating posts, studying, and practicing music. We also had a meeting with Zoe to help her with English! Yay! She said she has been praying every day, which is awesome! She said this week she would pray to feel happy so that she knows God loves her. We were able to play some games to practice English together. We also read a story about forgiveness and we talked about that for a while. It was a simple, but good day. It was also my 18 month mark!! Hard to believe that I've been gone that long... holy smokes, folks... jest naprawdę szalony!!!

I hit 18 months! Yay!!

More cool 18 month pictures in the SUN!!

Friday we had a pretty busy day! First, we had a meeting with a returning member named, Karolina. We've been in pretty regular contact with her through Facebook. She can be pretty up and down, but she finally agreed to have a meeting with us. We were able to do a video call and just talk for a while. This was the first time I've ever seen her, so it was pretty exciting! We had a really great conversation with her. 

After that, we went with Sister Womack to check out the lake again. We found an even better spot for Claudia's baptism. Just really private and peaceful. And oh my goodness, the lake was just BEAUTIFUL!! It felt like I walked into summer... with the forest so lush, and green, and ALIVE!! And then the lake with the sunshine reflecting off of its slow ripples. Just beautiful. It was good to be in nature again. 

That evening we had 2 more meetings. First, we had a meeting with Martyna. We read Elder Uchtdorf's talk "Your Great Adventure." She really liked it. We were able to talk about it too. We ended up talking about the Holy Ghost and Baptism. And wound up asking Martyna if she would ask her Mom if she could be baptized. She said she would!! Now we're just praying that her mom's heart will be softened. Martyna has been waiting over a year now! She is so faithful!! Such an amazing girl. 

Right after that, we had a meeting with Ola. We talked about 3 Nephi 17-19 together for a while. And then, we also ended up talking about Baptism. She said that lately she hasn't really been feeling the Holy Ghost as much. The thought came to me that there is only so far we can progress and grow without the gift of the Holy Ghost. I shared that with her. We talked about how she needs to make a goal of a specific date to be baptized, and move forward with that goal to show her faith and THEN she will feel the confirmation of the Spirit telling her this is right. She thought really deeply about this and agreed to pray about a specific date. This is a good step for her! :) I'm so grateful to be working with so many amazing people here!

Saturday was kinda rough to be honest. 😅 I mean, all things considered, it wasn't too bad. But having a canceled baptism is never fun. And on top of that, both of our lessons for the day canceled on us. (The Elders told us we needed to get "flake shakes." Haha I guess that's a thing.) We were still able to work on Facebook and message people. Also, Elder Zabriskie and I made another musical number recording. This time it was "Nearer, My God, to Thee." So that was definitely a highlight. I've really enjoyed working on these musical numbers and trying to share my talents (in the ways I can) while I'm still a missionary in Poland!!

Well.. I guess this is the real Elder Zabriskie! It just reminded me of all the goofy things my brothers do when playing the piano (You're not alone Zach!) XD

Sunday we had good church meetings. We had 3 investigators there, which was great! We talked a lot about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was perfect because that's exactly what I've been saying to all our investigators this week! It was good for them to get it another time from a different source. Afterward, we were able to partake of the Sacrament. I know I say this probably every week, but it seriously is a huge blessing. There are some Sisters in the mission who don't have Elders in their cities to do it with them every week! I'm very grateful for the priesthood and for worthy priesthood holders!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

*BONUS!! Funny quote from this week:*

(and it's true!!) XD

"Ukrainian is like when you take Polish and run it through the cyrillic alphabet!"

-Elder Draschil

Sister Jensen wanted a picture of me to use for a Facebook post. Yes, it was raining.

Found butterflies!! (Our family's symbol for my little sister, Candace!) :)