Tłusty Czwartek and Transfer Hints?!?! (Już?!?!)/Our Dads have the same birthday?!?! (2/24/20)

Cześć!!

Monday was simple, but good. We did our grocery shopping in like.. 30 minutes (including travel!!) which is AWESOME!! I think that's the fastest I've ever done weekly shopping before haha. Thank goodness we live so close!! Seriously, in Poznań, things are so close and it's all so convenient!! I'm so lucky haha. 

We also visited this croissant museum. But it's like, a pastry type of croissant that originated here Poznań, so it's kind of famous here. It's called "St. Marcin's Croissant." (St. Martin's in English) The museum was called "Rogalowe Muzeum Poznania." They did a presentation on the history and also on how to make the croissants. The 2 guys doing the show were really animated. It was a lot of fun! 

Me and Sister Jensen at this croissant factory in the Rynek.

I got a certificate that's valid even in Idaho!! The guy told me. ;)

Later that evening, we had a really fun Family Home Evening with Marta, Andrej, Marcin, and Claudia. Claudia and Marcin became friends pretty quickly which was awesome!! It was a good time.

A thorough description of me according to Apples to Apples haha. (I won the quiet card by putting zucchini hahaha.)

Tuesday we went to Wrocław for Zone Conference! It hasn't been super long since I left, but it feels a lot longer. 

Zone Conference.

Our conference was all about Family History and how we can use it as a tool for our missionary work. It was really awesome! One thing I learned was that there are only 2 ways that people are promised that they will feel the Holy Ghost. One is by receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The only other way is by doing Family History work! I thought that was so interesting! Whether people have the Gift of the Holy Ghost or not, ANYONE can feel the Spirit while they do Family History work. What a cool promise that is! I think that's just another way for God to show us just how important and central families are in His plan for us. I found some Polish ancestry today too. I knew that I had ancestors from Prussia (when all the borders and things were different, and Germany was including parts of Poland and whatnot..). But what I didn't realize was exactly where they lived. Turns out, I have ancestors who lived in Legnica and also in another city close to Szczecin. I couldn't believe the only places my ancestors were from are also the only places I've served here in Poland. I've been serving in only the westernmost cities of Poland and it's exactly the same area my ancestors come from! Definitely not a coincidence. So yeah, conference was WAY cool. Do your Family History!! And it was also really fun to see everyone too! 

KFC run with the Womack's on the way home from Zone Conference!  

I finally met Sister Honn!! So that was super exciting! She's been in Kraków, but the apartment in Wrocław is finally ready, so they are finally moving there!! She'll be in Wrocław!! The same city I served in for 8 months and throughout all the time she was emailing me and getting ready for her mission. She said that from reading my emails, she had really wanted to serve in Wrocław. So it's way cool and exciting that she's actually there! :)

Wednesday was pretty uneventful, but we did our weekly planning and our studies. A super happy part of my day was working on Family History! I was able to start reading some stories I had never read about my family!! It was so much fun and I didn't want to stop at all. Later, we had our first English Connect class! Whoo!! So, I had to individually interview everyone to figure out which class they would be in. It was fun!! I'm so used to being on the other side of things, but it was really fun to be the one to conduct the interviews! And it was interesting to see the very obvious split between the 2 levels of English. Normally the Elders will teach with us, but they forgot about English haha and we just taught both today. I taught English Connect 1 and we just did the very beginning, introduction lesson. It went well! And I continue to get more and more excited about this program!

Tłusty Czwartek!! Fat Thursday!! Pączki Day!! Well, today was the long awaited famous and beloved Polish holiday!! And of course, we had a pączki eating competition between the two zones to see who could eat more pączki!! (Pączki are Polish donuts by the way.) And for the 2nd year in a row, my zone WON!! WHOOO!! For those who know me, I'm super competitive, so ANY competition is important!! XD I think the final score was North: 325.1 vs South: 330.5!!! So unlike the Civil War, my friends, the South was victorious!! XD I had 3 this year hahaha. But hey, it's a team effort and we had some great Elders who I cheered on all day. XD I think Elder Draschil destroyed everyone else. He ate 44 pączki. (He had eaten 12 by 8:30am haha) Insanity or extreme team dedication right there, so I'll let you decide. XD 

The line for pączki at Stara Pączkarnia 😱

Tłusty Czwartek!! (Us and our pączki!!)

So Tłusty Czwartek was a huge success!! And we had some awesome meetings!! We had our meeting with Claudia. I am always so excited for our meetings with her!! She's been reading the Book of Mormon, but has been finding it difficult to pray because it's been so long since she's done that. But she committed to do that this week! And she said the closing prayer for the lesson today, so that's a great start!! We talked about the first half of the Plan of Salvation. She loved it! She said everything makes sense to her. Then, at the end, she started asking questions about baptism and we talked about that. She loved that we are 8 years old when we get baptized and that it is our choice, not the choice of our parents. She also loved Moroni 8:11-12, where it talks about little children not needing baptism and that they are alive in Christ. She said it was beautiful! And I hadn't been planning on it, but then I felt like it was time to ask her about baptism! I asked something like, "When you find out for yourself that these things are true, will you be baptized by someone who holds the proper authority?" She said, "I think so. When I find out for myself? Yeah, I think I would definitely be baptized!" That made me so so happy!! And I'm so excited because now we have a goal that we're working towards with her. The next step is setting a specific date! Whoo!! She's seriously so awesome!! Oh! And she loved the promise that after baptism, she can have the gift of the Holy Ghost and feel the same way she feels at church all the time! It was a great lesson! 

Later, we had a meeting with Piotr about the same thing. We talked a lot about prayer though. He has been starting to pray directly to God, in the name of Jesus Christ. This is very new to him because he's Catholic, so he normally prays through Mary. I think he still does both ways, but it's progress. And it's really cool to see him making those small changes in his life! Later, we had an English lesson with Zoe. At the end, we read the story of Adam and Eve (her choice). And we talked about how God has a plan for us and we have to choose to do good things. Zoe said that she chooses to be kind at school even though a lot of kids are mean to her. She's such a sweet girl!! After, Tamara (Zoe's mom) asked us if we teach any religious classes for kids. We told her we do and that at church there is a class just for kids. It's the first time she's really asked about anything like that. So it was really cool! She must have felt the Spirit. We invited them to church as well and she seemed to really appreciate the invitation. They're sweet people and I'd love to see them at church!

Friday was interesting, but ended really good!! In the morning, we tried to go out to visit Karolina in Gniezno. But we took the WRONG TRAIN!! By 2 MINUTES!! This has literally never happened to me and I was SOOO mad at myself for not checking the sign on the train... *facepalm* But it may have been for a reason. Because we only made it 2 stops, not all the way to nowhere. And when we messaged Karolina to reschedule, she told us she didn't want to meet anymore in general and that she doesn't want to return to church. So, I'm glad we didn't go all the way out and then get canceled on!! But yeah, kinda sad. I guess she's going through a rough time and has had some bad experiences with other missionaries not really helping to answer her questions? I don't really know. But we'll keep loving her! 

Later, we had a meeting with Martyna! We did Family History with her and she told us some family stories. It was great! She committed to write down some family memories and fill out the "My Family" booklet with her Mom. Something crazy though... we discovered that Sister Jensen's Dad, Martyna's Dad, and my Dad were both born on November 30!! Our Dads have the same birthday!! What are the odds of that?!?! It was so cool! After that, President Chandler came for interviews. While he was interviewing the others, I designed a new English ulotki (flyer) since we're starting the English Connect program. So that was fun. Then, I had my interview with President Chandler and it was SO GOOD!! We just had the greatest, longest conversation. I love interviews with President!! He told me that he loves my weekly letters to him. He went off on that for a while, but then said, "Long story short, your letters... are AWESOME! Keep it up!" He really likes the detail haha. He loves it because it helps him feel connected to the people we're working with. He also talked about the end of my mission coming up. He gave me some BIG transfer hints that he told me to keep to myself haha. But I was REALLY excited about it!! :) After interviews, we all went out to dinner together. It was such a good evening! :)

Dinner with everyone and President (sorry it's WAYYY blurry).  

L-R: Siostra Carroll, Elder Long, Elder Draschil, President Chandler, Elder Womack, and Sister Womack.   

Saturday we were able to go and do service at the soup kitchen again! I love that place. It makes me happy! I want to try and find soup kitchens or something when I get home because making all the food and helping out is really awesome. You also meet some really cool, good people that way. 

Polish Soup!! (Kapuśniak)

After that, we had a lesson with Elias. He's a student here from the Congo. It was about the Plan of Salvation! He had so many questions and learned a lot of new things from the lesson. He really tries to understand all the things we teach him (which is a lot). So it's good that he's internalizing it! He also will be moving to Gdańsk soon, but he said he wants to meet with missionaries there!

Church on Sunday was awesome! Everything seemed tailored for Claudia! It was so cool! The District Relief Society Presidency was there. They all shared their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting and they were perfect! Then, in Relief Society for the lesson, we talked about Sister Reyna Aburto's most recent talk about depression and mental illness. It hit on a really personal level with Claudia. She's really open with people about her mental health situation. She has some struggles for sure. She shared her story and ended up crying, but just got showered by so much love!! I can see her connection growing with the members and that's AWESOME! It was so cool to see that bond grow so strongly, so quickly. Sunday was definitely special!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

There was a game at the stadium Sunday night!!

Valentine's Day and Enduring to the End/"Dobry wieczór! Czy chcesz ciasteczko?" (2/17/20)

Cześć!!

Monday was good! I had my first pday in Poznań. We're having a lot of firsts now haha. We were able to go and explore!! It was fun! We went to the Rynek and explored Old Town. It's so pretty!! We also went inside just about every Catholic church we came across. (Which, being in Poland, is quite a few! Haha!) It was a good time! We were also able to email and talk with family which is always really good. That evening, we had family night. We had a spiritual thought, ate brownies, and played Apples to Apples. It was fun to spend time with some of the Branch members here.

Tuesday we were able to have a meeting with Ola! She's an awesome girl!! She's been meeting with missionaries for about 5 months and originally met them while on vacation in England. She loves the Church!! She says she hasn't been baptized yet because she feels like she still has some questions or concerns. But she isn't exactly sure what those are. She reads the Book of Mormon regularly and prays every day. She feels like the answer God is giving her is to keep studying, searching, and learning. Which is perfect! We talked a lot about revelation and some ways that can work. I'm excited to keep working with her! She will be baptized for sure. Some people just need time and that's okay! :) But she does want answers and she's really driven to find them, which is awesome!! Later, we were able to go and check on a returning member named Iza. She's a sweet lady! She doesn't have much, but she's so happy and kind!! It was fun to visit her and spend a bit of time talking with her. Marcin was also there! He visits members like Bożena and Iza quite often and spends time with them. What a nice guy! Later, we were able to do our weekly planning and get that all done. That's always an adventure haha.

Wednesday we were able to go and start designing a new English Ulotki. After that, we were able to go and do another Finding Activity on the Deptak. I didn't have any *visible* success today. But Elder Long reminded me that I'm still giving people the chance and choice to listen. So that made me feel better!! Later, we taught a great English class and had an awesome religious discussion afterwards. We were at first talking about the worth of souls and how God cares about us. We read 3 Nephi 13:28-34 and talked about how God knows what we need and He loves us so we don't need to worry! I'm not sure how, but the conversation turned to baptism. And 2 people were really interested in that and how it works. Zofia especially was interested. It was such a cool discussion and the Spirit was very strong. Zofia really wants to meet, she's just so busy with work. But we're really trying to figure it out. She will be such a strong member of the Church someday.

Thursday was a pretty special day. It was my younger sister, Candace's, birthday! That's always a pretty special day for my family. I wrote about it a bit last year too. It's always a bit hard being away from my family for Candace's birthday. Especially not being there for my Mom... but this is the last time I had to be alone! And I was lucky enough to be able to find a cute little balloon shop. There was this cute, sweet old couple who ran it together (kind of reminded me of Carl and Ellie from "Up") and I got a pink balloon! I was able to do another balloon release from Poland. And it was really special. :) 

Candace's birthday again.  I did a balloon release!

Me on Candace's birthday.  I wore pink and my butterfly necklace for her.

Okay, 2 other highlights of Thursday. We taught an individual English class with this super cute 9 year old named Zoe. She lived in England until she was 8 1/2.  I think her Mom just wants to help her keep her English skills up. Now, I very quickly found out that Zoe loves wolves. I asked her what her favorite dessert or treat was and she asked.. "Does it have to be food? Because my favorite treat is when my Mum lets me play my wolf game on my phone!" She was adorable!! And it was pretty special to be able to talk with her, someone who felt like they could be my younger sister, on Candace's birthday. It definitely was a tender mercy!! Also, we had the best lesson ever today!! We met with Claudia and holy smokes, she is AWESOME!! She's already read to 1 Nephi 11 all on her own. She asks the greatest questions! One of her first questions was "If this is all true, how can I know it? How can I find out?" Wow... Needless to say, the lesson went very well. There were a lot of new things for her, but you could just see the lightbulb go off! She said things like, "Oh! That makes sense!" and "Wow! I really like that!" She told us that she is planning to read the entire Book of Mormon. And she hasn't prayed in forever, but she said she would definitely try to pray about these things and find out if they're true. She also really wants to come to church and is excited about that. AND she told us that she's off of school for 2 weeks. She said, "So I'm free and we can meet more if you would like!" I'm really excited about her! She is incredible!! I am SO GLAD that I followed through on the prompting I had to stop her on the Deptak. Wow. :)

Szczęśliwego Dnia Walentynki!! 

Friday was a pretty good day. We had a lesson with a girl named Kasia! She is so nice! We had a great lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was really simple and straightforward, but I think she learned a lot and really like it. She especially liked the scripture we shared at the end, 2 Nephi 31:20: "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

She said it was beautiful and summed everything up really well. I love that scripture! What a great promise that we are given! I think that gives such hope to all of us. And I love sharing that verse with others. Kasia's really great! She prays on her own and has a strong (and growing) relationship with God. It's really cool to see her faith! 

Later, we had a meeting with Martyna. Martyna has been taught by the missionaries for over a year and she is AMAZING!! She wants to get baptized, but her Mom is making her wait until she turns 16. It used to be 18, but it got moved down from there, so we have hope! And Martyna is serious about it. She really wants to be baptized. She comes to church, reads the Book of Mormon every day, and prays every day. She's basically an "unofficial member"! We let her pick the topic today and we just read some things and had a conversation about it. (What's really cool is, before the lesson, I had had the thought that we needed to talk about temples and families.) Then, in the meeting, she said, "Since it's Valentine's Day... maybe we could talk about family and marriage or something like that?" It was so cool to see how that prompting was verified/validated (not sure what word to use there) by Martyna! That is definitely what she needed! We had a great lesson about eternal families and shared a video about the temple with her to watch at home. It was a good meeting! 

After that, we made cookies with the Elders and Elias (another investigator) and delivered them to Branch members! It was a lot of fun! But I think the jet lag is a little late in hitting Elder Draschil! He was just looking for a place to sit down. So he crossed the street, sat down on this little fence, and greeted people as they passed. He would say, "Dobry wieczór! Czy chcesz ciasteczko?" ("Good evening, do you want a cookie?") And Elder Long and I were just DYING?! Here's this 20 year old kid, just chilling on the side of the path, with a tin foil covered plate, and offering cookies to strangers. Can you imagine?! XD Haha, it was a pretty good Valentine's Day. XD

Saturday was fun! We met up with the Elders and we all went to Bożena's in the morning. We had a good time talking with her and even brought her a Valentine card that I had made back in Szczecin haha. So we all signed it. She really liked it! Then, we helped her with her grocery shopping. After that, we were supposed to have a meeting with Piotr, but he ended up having a doctor's appointment.... so yeah, we didn't meet haha. 

Then, we went to Zupa (service/soup kitchen). There were a ton of people our age who were there! Some Polish, one from Zimbabwe, 2 from France, and a few from Spain! It was awesome! I was on the Polish half of the table though haha. But the lady I was sitting next to was asking me a ton of questions about the Church! So that was awesome! And later, I was able to talk with a bunch of the young people. One of the guys from Spain told me he thought I was Polish and was so impressed that I could speak. Haha it was pretty funny. Oh! The group of us even played "Heads Up" together!! And we all walked to the tram together. It seriously felt like I had a little friend group again! It was so fun!! All the expats stick together haha.

Sunday was awesome!! Claudia came to church and she LOVED it!! She told me, "There's such a positive and happy energy here! I just feel so good here. I feel happy and like I'm at home!!" She said she would definitely be coming back and hopes to see us throughout the week. SHE asked us when we can meet this next week. Holy smokes, she's awesome! She said that before this, she wasn't super religious, but after meeting us, she started getting more into it and liking it. We talked about the day we met each other. Claudia said, "I'm so glad we met each other on the Deptak!! I'm so lucky!!" Then, I felt like I should share with her my experience of how I came to talk to her. How I saw her and immediately felt like I needed to talk to her. I had been looking for someone who felt sad and the Holy Ghost 100% prompted me to talk with her. She had been on her way home and was deep in thought about things. She said that after talking with me, she felt so cheered up and happy and had completely forgotten about her problems she had been thinking about. Wow. Seriously so cool! I've heard those stories before, but had never had it happen to me. And I'm so grateful for that! But seriously, I love Claudia so much!! My spirit just feels so light, happy, joyful, and even giddy around her!! I love her so much!! And our Spirits totally know each other!! 

Martyna (L- in black), Me, and Claudia (R- in white).

Anyway, we had a few other meetings too. One with Ania, self-reliance with Konstantin, and a Skype call with Karolina (Marcin's sister, who is a returning member). And that night we had a nice Sunday dinner at the Womack's. I'm seriously so grateful for Sunday dinner with my "family" here in Poznań! But wow, what a great way to end a great week!

So I've been thinking a lot about enduring to the end lately. I'm coming up on the last 4 months of my mission, which is INSANE to me!  Throughout my life, I've seen that people have many different approaches in finishing something. Whether it be school projects, a game, a class or program, or an actual race.. people finish differently. Some quit, some will slow down and jog or even walk to the finish, and others will pick up speed and sprint through the end. Most of the time, I find myself in this last category. (Not always, I'm definitely not perfect!! But most of the time.) I like to finish strong. In some things, I quite literally sprint through the finish. I'm definitely not a quitter. And as my time on a mission is slipping away, I can't help but feel a sense of urgency to do everything that God has planned for me to do here in Poland. As with other things in my life, I'm picking up speed and I plan to not just run TO the finish, but to sprint THROUGH the finish. And then keep on running after that in the other areas of my life and with whatever God needs me to do.

Love and miss you all!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

"Okay... no." Haha "okno" is actually a Polish word that means "window." But my first thought was "ok no" because it was split up. I thought it was pretty funny!

Me in the Rynek!

Me sitting on the edge of a fountain in old town/the Rynek. Wow, guys Poland is like fairytale land. I can't believe I live here!!

More of the Rynek (feat. Sis. Jensen! Haha got her!)

Me with a lamp post on a cobblestone road... Is this Europe or what? (Also, side note... I LOVE cool lampposts haha, so Europe is great.) XD

Me and Sister Jensen with a treat (pączek).

Poznań Apartment (2/12/20)

Bye bye Wrocław, Hej hej Poznań!!/Poznań jest piękny!! :) (2/10/20)

Cześć!!

Okay, for starters.. I am now in Poznań, Poland! :) It's so pretty here!! My companion is Sister Jensen. She is 19, but will be 20 in May. So we both graduated in 2018 and are basically the same age. Her Dad is in the air force, so their family moves around a lot. They are originally from Idaho, but have lived all over the place. Right now they are living in Mississippi, but will be moving to Washington DC soon. Sister Jensen is in her 3rd transfer in the field. So she just finished her training last transfer with Sister Eberting. She is super sweet! And every morning she asks me if she can cook me eggs! She is so kind and thoughtful and I'm so blessed to be with her. She also really cares about the people here in Poznań. She's a great missionary!

Monday was TRANSFER DAY!! And wow was it a CRAZY day. I had 2 trains today. First, we went from Wrocław to Warsaw. In Warsaw, we met up with the Poznań Sisters and switched companions. I had to say goodbye to Sister Aramaki. 😭😭😭 I love her so much!! And I will miss her a ton!! 

Peacin' out of Wrocław like... (Haha, Sister Aramaki and I decided to take a typical "Elder picture." We feel like they do this a lot.) XD

Then, I headed back to Poznań with my new companion, Sister Jensen. We got to Poznań and went straight to the chapel (luggage in tow and all). We joined in the games for Family Night! And I met some of the members! Yay! Then, we went back to the apartment and had a phone call from a man named Mariusz. I guess they had a meeting set up with him for tonight. So I had my first meeting in Poznań over the phone. Kinda crazy! It was short, but good. And we'll call him again this week. Then, I was able to unpack everything and some of the stress of transfers were relieved haha. Unpacking always helps you feel a little more settled in a place. At first, I never think so. But then the more I unpack and get organized, the better I feel. So, yeah! Survived transfers and I'm now in Poznań! My 3rd city or area!! :)

A random church in who-knows-where on the way from Warsaw to Poznań.

Tuesday was the LONGEST day of my life haha. Not that is was bad, it was just so so very long haha. I guess that's what happens when it's a new transfer, and you're in a new city, and with a new companion. Just trying to get my bearings and figure everything out. Haha seriously, the day felt like it lasted for SO SO LONG!! Basically, we did our studies. We were supposed to have a meeting with a returning/less active member here. Her name is Grażyna. But she wasn't answering her phone when we went to visit her... so that didn't happen. But we went contacting for a while instead and I was able to see a bit more of Poznań! Whoo! We went to this really cool park. I haven't seen that much green grass in Poland in a LONG time haha. They don't have too much of that here. So far, Poznań reminds me a lot of Szczecin. I don't exactly know why, but it does. So it kinda feels like I'm back in Szczecin at the beginning of my mission again... hahaha.... And in the evening, we did our weekly planning!! Whoo! And that was my first day in Poznań! (Almost wrote Wrocław there... haha, 8 months is a LONG time.) :)

Wednesday was another "getting oriented" kind of day. It's kind of funny.. Sister Godfrey "died" here. (Ended her mission here.) And I keep finding her things everywhere. It's kind of funny, because usually I see random stuff in apartments and I have no idea where it came from. But now, I'm like, "Oh yup, that's Sister Godfrey's clock." Or something like that. It's pretty funny! Anyway, today we spent some time getting in contact with a ton of people to set up meetings for this week. That was quite the adventure, but it went well! We were also able to go and get my tram card (public transportation card). So that's good! After that, we went to the chapel for language study and to get ready for English. Then, this guy named George knocked on the door and we had a solid 30 minute conversation with him about the most random things. He LOVES to talk. Wow. Oh, he had originally asked us about English classes. And he was talking to us in English.. the guy is practically fluent!! But hey, anyone can come to the classes, so he'll be there! After that, we had our English class. It's the beginners class, which is really fun. Wow, I don't know if I've ever had this much participation in any English class I've taught. They all did so well and it was hard to get them to stop talking. Even during religious discussion! It was an actual DISCUSSION!! It was so so awesome! Also, there's a girl named Zofia who comes to English. And oh my goodness, she is totally going to be a member of the church someday!!

Thursday morning, we headed to the chapel for District Council. Our District is Poznań and Szczecin, so we skyped. It was so weird being on the other side of the call and not in Szczecin haha. In Szczecin, there's Elder and Sister Miskins, Elder Mitchell (our District Leader), and Elder Sorenson. In Poznań, we've got Elder and Sister Womack, Elder Long (this is his last transfer), and Elder Draschil (being trained, this is his first transfer!). Kind of fun thing... In July, I met Yulia Draschil in Wrocław. The day before I met her, her son Jefferson had gotten his mission call to Poland. We all signed a Polish Book of Mormon for him. Fast forward to now, I've just barely been transferred here to Poznań and I end up in the same city where Elder Draschil is being trained!! I couldn't believe it! So that was a really fun connection. After District Council, we had a meeting with the Poznań missionaries to talk about the work here, schedules, different people we work with, etc. So that was good! Later, we taught English class and Marta and Andrej came to that. At the very end, Marcin came running in. To sum it up, our conversation went like this: 

Marcin: I'm running from the police.

Me: Did you steal something?

Marcin: Just the hearts of women!

*me thinking and hoping he's talking about Zofia...*

Me: Do you have a girlfriend yet?

Marcin: Not yet.

Me: Do you have anyone in mind? *still thinking of Zofia*

Marcin: You!! *obviously not thinking of Zofia*

Everyone: Ohhhh!!

Don't worry, he was kidding! But it was a pretty funny evening. After English, we were supposed to have a phone meeting with a man named Mariusz. But then he told us to give him a month to read everything and think about it and THEN we can talk. So that didn't exactly go as planned... he said we could still call every week though. So we will do that.

Friday was great! First, we had quite the process of getting me registered in the city. We had to go to the urząd. I think Poznań might be one of the strictest urząds in Poland haha. Wrocław barely checked me for anything. And Poznań, it seems, checked me for everything. Even after I had already finished things, a lady called me back and asked to see my passport again. She wanted to see my stamp and make sure I was legal here. Kinda crazy haha. I can see why Poznań was the place where missionaries got deported... but anyway.. I conquered my 3rd, and hopefully final, urząd!! Whoo!! 

I conquered yet another urząd! Whoo!!

After that, we had a meeting with a man named Piotr. It was really good! We taught the Restoration and after every section, he said he agreed with what we had taught. So far he agrees with everything! There was a really special feeling when he read about Joseph Smith's First Vision and his experience of praying to know truth. He also has been trying to read the Book of Mormon every day, despite being way busy with work and things. He says he can already tell that this is a special book, that it's good, that it's from God, and he believes that it's true. He said he will pray about it too. Wow, Piotr is a way cool guy! After that, we went with the Elders and did a Book of Mormon Finding Activity on the Deptak! It was really successful. Though, I did have to go through a ton of "no's" and wasn't having ANY conversations at first. But I just kept going and eventually was able to place 3 copies of the Book of Mormon and exchange 2 phone numbers!! The 3 girls I talked to were all really interested in the Book of Mormon and how it contains answers to all our questions. They all really wanted to read. Magda and Claudia specifically, were really curious about what we believe and even said they would want to meet. It was AWESOME!! I seriously was just so happy after that Finding Activity!! It feels good to get back at it again for sure.

Saturday morning, we were able to meet up with the Elders and clean the chapel together. After all that was done, Sister Jensen and I went to visit Bożena. She's an older lady who is a member of the Church here in Poznań. She's awesome!! It was fun to spend some time talking with her and getting to know her. I'm happy I get to spend time with her until the end of my mission. It's kind of funny though, as you're going to her apartment, it's a little scary looking. (Just super old and dirty and rickety stairs and whatnot...) But then you get into her apartment and it's just a nice little apartment. Haha I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit worried as we were heading in there. XD  Anyway, after that, we headed to do service at this soup kitchen. And that was awesome! Making soup and sandwiches with everyone there was great! There are so many kind, fun, and happy people who go there. I'm excited to do that every week too. After that, we were supposed to have a meeting with a girl named Kasia, but she got sick and couldn't come. So we went home and finished our studies instead.

Sunday was my first time at church here in Poznań. I was able to meet the members and such. We had 3 investigators in church!! Whoa! And 2 returning (less active) members! Holy smokes... Poznań is great for people coming to church I guess. It was awesome!! I played the piano haha. We'll see if I end up playing it for the rest of my mission! XD Also, a lady named Agata came to church all on her own! I guess she hasn't been in almost a year and then she just showed up all on her own! And plans to keep coming!! It was so awesome!! :) 

Me on a street on the way to church. It's a typical Polish street for ya. Oh! And I'm wearing the skirt Babcia gave me!! 

After church, we had a meeting with Ania, who is a returning member. We were mainly just checking up on her and seeing how she was doing. She's way sweet! 

Me and Sister Jensen eating ice cream after church. :) (it was in the freezer already, don't worry we didn't buy it on a Sunday!!)

Later, we had Sunday dinner with the Womack's at their apartment. We had breakfast burritos (which I've been craving for like.. forever!!) and had a good time visiting. It was so fun to have a Sunday dinner again! :) Oh, also, really cool thing... the Womack's live RIGHT next to the big, huge soccer stadium here! It's so AWESOME!! They said it gets so loud on game nights haha. 

The view from the Womack's apartment. 

This blurry one is of the Soccer Stadium there!! It's super cool! (Sorry it's blurry oops...)

Anyway, it's been a good first week here in Poznań! And figuring everything out and stuff. Honestly, I think I'm way better now at moving to new places and getting adjusted quickly. It's a good life skill the mission teaches haha. But yeah! Poznań is seriously so pretty and such a nice city! I love it here!

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll

P.S. Claudia texted us to ask us to meet this week!! She is really curious. She also really wants to come to church! She was actually going to come to church, but overslept. Wow! AND she's already in the middle of 1 Nephi!! Holy smokes! This girl is AWESOME!!

A cool night time street view (feat. the bright full moon).