Siostra Carroll: I'm teaching all men... from the middle east... and it's AWESOME!!/Small World Full of Big Connections (1/13/20)

Cześć!!

Tuesday was pretty chill. It was fun to talk to those I got the chance to. @Mom, Dad, Hailey, and Zach kinda haha. After pday ended, we went to Skytower to be there for English conversation practice. I haven't been there since September. So it was kind of weird and a little hard going back. Just some hard days happened when I was going there, so it was almost like getting thrown back into that. But it's good because I'm making new memories now. I talked with a lady named Luiza. She's really nice and was way interested in coming to our English class. And she was so excited to tell a few people about it who she works with. So, sweet! Hopefully we'll have some new people coming to English! Later, we worked on Facebook and were able to message a ton of people from posts we had done. It was awesome! I seriously love working on Facebook because we get to talk to so many more people and people who are actually interested. It's the best tool ever!!

Wednesday morning, I got a message from a lady named Marta. She is the one I met a while back at Skytower, who was so excited to talk to me about musicals and things that no one else she knew was interested in. Anyway, she messaged me to interview me for the newspaper! She works for the newspaper now, which is WAY cool. And she wanted to interview me about the English conversations that happen at Renoma and Skytower. So, yet again... I will be in the news while on my mission. XD So that's pretty cool! Later, we worked on messaging people we had met through Facebook. One guy I messaged wants to meet with us. And the other guy wants to meet with us, attend our self-reliance course, AND come to church on Sunday!! That was WAY exciting! Then, we had a meeting with Asan. We talked about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was good! Lessons with him are always good and just super relaxed. He just listens to what we teach, asks questions that he has, and then during the week he reads the Book of Mormon and prays to receive answers. Things are going smoothly with him and he's making good progress. Later, we were supposed to have a meeting with Doni and Anna at 16:00, then Doni asked to switch the time to 17:00. Then he let us know he would be late and be there at 17:30. Anna got there at 16:50, so she was definitely on time. And we just talked with her and helped her practice English until Doni finally showed up at 17:50. 50 minutes late!!! We still had a lesson with him though and we just started self-reliance later. And the lesson still went well! We talked about meekness, humility, and kindness. We watched a talk that Elder Bednar gave called, "Meek and Lowly of Heart." It was really good! I love this quote he says in it:

"The Christlike quality of meekness often is misunderstood in our contemporary world. Meekness is strong, not weak; active, not passive; courageous, not timid; restrained, not excessive; modest, not self-aggrandizing; and gracious, not brash. A meek person is not easily provoked, pretentious, or overbearing and readily acknowledges the accomplishments of others."

Thursday we studied, planned, and contacted on the way to the chapel. Then, we had District Council through Skype with the Elders in Legnica and Zgorzelec. I was assigned to teach a section about something from "Preach My Gospel." I chose chapter 11, which talks about extending invitations. We had a good discussion about it. We talked a lot about how when people keep commitments like reading the Book of Mormon and praying, that is repentance! Because repentance is just coming closer to Jesus Christ. By doing the things we invite them to do, people are coming closer to Jesus Christ, and in turn, they are repenting. So, naturally it's really important for us as missionaries to be inviting these people to do things and to act because our entire job is to help people to come closer to Jesus Christ. Later, we were able to do a lot of work on Facebook and set up some more meetings. After that, we headed to Renoma for English Conversations. I was able to talk with Marta for the first round. It was so good to see her again and we had fun catching up. :) She also kept thanking me because she said without me her article never would have gotten done. XD I think she could have done it, but I'm glad I was able to help!! :) She asked me if I had seen any musicals lately. Ha! I wish!! So then I explained our missionary rules about that haha. We spent more time talking about that, which was so fun! :)

Group picture at Renoma for the newspaper.

After Renoma, we headed home for the night. Oh, but quick funny story: Just to clarify, I have NOT seen Frozen 2 because it was released while I've been on my mission. BUT my sister, Hailey, played small parts of the music while we were skyping one time. And yes I still remember it. XD (Y'all haven't forgotten that I'm a Disney nerd, right? Haha!) ANYWAY, as we were walking across Plac Wolności to Renoma, I hear this mystical melody being sung and I'm looking around trying to figure out where it's coming from. It sounded vaguely familiar... then, these two young, teenage boys run up the stairs from the underground parking garage and sing, "INTO THE UNKNOWN!!!" And that's when I knew it was from Frozen 2. It was pretty funny and I laughed. (While my comp was totally confused with what just happened.) This is what happens when you're totally out of the loop on new music and movies! Struggles of a missionary hahaha! :)

Friday we had a meeting in the morning with Agnieszka. First, she had me translate a letter that Daniel wrote for Ethan. It was so fun! They planned on sending the letter that day along with some other fun surprises that I won't spoil for Ethan. It was seriously so sweet of them though!! Then, we had a good lesson with Agnieszka. We talked more about the temple with her. We watched the videos they have on the "Come Unto Christ" website. She had lots of good questions which we were able to answer for her. We're still trying to get her to come back to church, but these are baby steps. And progress is progress. It was a good meeting. Later, we had a meeting in Renoma with a man named Hemn (it's kinda pronounced like "Haymen" just less of the "eh" and more straight to the "n"). And Hemn is from Iraq!! I actually found him through a Facebook post I had posted a bit ago and I had messaged him because he "liked" the post. Holy smokes, this guy is awesome! Basically he told us that he grew up Muslim, but doesn't believe it at all. He turned to Christianity, but then fell away in high school. There was a point in his life where he had an experience where literally saying the name of Jesus Christ saved him. He said that in this situation, he tried saying other names like Buddha or Allah, but the only name that worked and saved him was the name of Jesus Christ. Hemn said, "There is power in just his name." And so he definitely knows that God and Jesus Christ are real! Such a cool thing. He had lots of good questions. And at the beginning, he started off with, "Okay, so a little background on me..." and just volunteered the information to us. Then, he said, "Okay, you're the teachers. I'm just here to learn." (So cool!) We originally had planned to do just a quick intro, but seeing how prepared and ready this man is... we immediately taught him the first lesson about the Restoration!! It went really well and he just took everything in and continued asking good questions. At the end, he committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to find out from God if it is true. He said that he knows there is one true church and one "right way" out there. And he knows that he hasn't found it yet, but that "this could be it!" So he is definitely going to pray to find an answer. He has already received answers in that way, so for him, he knows and it's very natural for him to receive answers through praying to God. That was definitely an exciting meeting! I think it's so interesting though... we're called to serve in Poland on our missions and yet, I'm teaching more foreigners than Polish people. But my mission call doesn't say to just teach Polish people! We are supposed to teach "those who will receive us." Which is what we do! And it's so interesting the different places people we're teaching are from. Morocco, India, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iraq..... all these places! Because of that, these are people I would meet in no other way. For example, Iraq: we don't have missionaries there, so there is literally no way I would have met Hemn. I know that God has things set up perfectly. It was all designed so that I would get called to Poland, be a missionary in Poland, and meet all the foreigners who "happen to be here" too. Part of the reason God sent me to Poland, is because he knew there were these people I would meet by coming here. So whether it be Poles or Indians or whatever, I know that I was supposed to meet them on my mission. And I'm so grateful that God has a plan for that. A plan for them and a plan for me. And I'm grateful I'm able to see bits and pieces of how that plan comes together and starts to make sense. It is seriously one of the coolest things ever!! :)

Saturday morning we went and visited Babcia. We spent time talking, singing, telling stories, learning about history, and just spending time together. (We had just watched "The Mailbox" the night before. For those who haven't seen it, it's this short film about this old lady who is basically neglected by her family. They never call or visit or write or anything. And I'm pretty sure they made the film to guilt trip people hahaha.) So basically that was on our mind as we visited Babcia because her only daughter lives in New York. So we are literally all she has and she is always overjoyed that we come to see her. It should be a requirement for whichever missionaries serve in Wrocław, they need to watch "The Mailbox" so they keep visiting Babcia. XD Haha, but yeah, I love her and I'm so glad I get to spend time with her.

Me, Babcia, Sister Aramaki (Babcia had her hair down for the first time EVER!!)

Later, we worked on Facebook, set up some meetings, messaged quite a few people. Facebook works so well for finding new interested people to teach!! Then, we had a meeting with Asan. We taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation. As usual, he asked great questions and just absorbed what we were teaching. He's making great progress, having success, and you can really see his faith through his actions. He does what we invite him to do and as a result he is coming closer to Christ. I couldn't ask for a smoother teaching situation. It's awesome! Later, we had a meeting with Lucyna. We watched the video of Elder Bednar and Elder Rasband doing a tour of the Rome Temple. It was great and she loved seeing it!

Sunday, Asan came to church. He was a bit late, but made it in right after the Sacrament. But he still came! It's progress!! After church, we were talking with some members and then a familiar face popped their head into the room. It was Michael Gray! We were just about to head out the door to go to service, so we invited him along with us. He gladly accepted our invitation. Since he doesn't have a tram card, he took and Uber and met us at the mall. On the way over, his driver, Kamil, was playing classical music and talking about how he likes that sort of thing. Michael ended up talking to Kamil about religion and Kamil was interested! Michael introduced us and we were able to exchange phone numbers. Kamil wants to learn more and come to church! Wow! So so cool. No such thing as coincidences. :) We went to the soup kitchen and had a good time talking with all the people there. I love that place. It makes me so happy. :)

Service on Sunday for Zupa na Wolności.

Okay, and more connections that Michael and I discovered today! He mentioned something about living in Washington D.C. and I remembered that we had stayed in his house back on our big roadtrip across America in 2015. They were out of town, but let us use their house. And then, we made the connection that I know the Whiting family. (They were in the same family cast as us for Nauvoo Pageant in 2018.) Turns out, he not only knows them, but is related to them! Michael's wife Rachel is sisters with Stephanie Whiting!! We could not believe all the connections. Michael got way excited about them and started telling everyone about all the connections we had. Seriously so cool!! The world is so small, people!! Something cool that Michael said to everyone as he explained these connections was, "It's so obvious that this is part of a divine design. There is someone above us who is orchestrating all this." And I couldn't agree more.

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll