Monday not a super ton happened haha. We did our normal preparation day things. I went by 3 post offices to look for this random cookbook, but there was an insane line for all of them just to get INSIDE. So, I did not do that today... Seriously, people were actually standing 6 feet apart!! Craziness... later, we got donuts from Stara Pączkarnia because... you have to!! XD
We got donuts/pączki!!
Then we emailed and I was able to call all y'all. Found out a TON of my friends are going home... Oh, also, I don't know if I said this, but the Polish missionaries in the MTC right now are being reassigned stateside. So... there goes my trainee. Yeah, I'm pretty bummed about it. But right now, the only thing I want is to stay in Poland!! With my friends going home left and right... I kinda feel like the last man standing. This is insanity!! But yeah, the nightly devotional was good! I always look forward to those.
Tuesday we had Zone Conference!! We did it through a Zoom Call (video call) with everyone in the Wrocław Zone. So that was definitely a first. It was really good though! We talked a lot about revelation and different ways to receive personal revelation.
Zone Conference through Zoom!
In preparation for zone conference, we had all reviewed President Nelson's conference talk "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives." It was really good to watch that again. This was a quote that really stuck out to me this time through:
"Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."
I think this is something we can all relate to in some way. With the need to have church at home now, we need to have the Holy Ghost with us to guide and direct us. We are taught that the Holy Ghost will guide us to know what to do. This includes guiding us in our gospel learning and study. We all need the Holy Ghost at this time. Especially for comfort in such uncertain times. We are promised to have the "comforter" (the Holy Ghost with us). This is God's reminder to us that He hasn't left us alone. The gift of the Holy Ghost is such a huge blessing!! I hope you all are learning more about that in your lives now.
Wednesday morning, we had our District Council like normal. We all talked about how our video call meetings are going and about ways to make it fun and break up the monotony of social distancing life haha. Oh! So the Szczecin Elders are meeting with Szymon in Szczecin!! He's the kid I met there who lived in England for a while, is super funny, loves tanks, and came to our English class for a while. He feels like a younger brother to me. The Szczecin Elders have met with him a few different times already through video call. And they're teaching him the Gospel!! I'm so happy! :)
Later, I did a musical number to record and post on Facebook. I've been wanting to use my violin more, but didn't know how I could do that. I knew I could play it, but I didn't really want to just have violin. But there's nobody here who could accompany me. Except... me??? Soooo... I played around with the piano, figured out how to record the song on the piano first. And then I could press play on the piano and.... voilà!! I accompanied myself on the piano while playing the violin for "A Child's Prayer"!!! I was pretty proud of myself for being so clever. Hahaha! XD I posted that on Facebook the next day, so hopefully you all saw it and enjoyed that. If not, feel free to go and check it out. :)
Later, we went and did our weekly planning at this little park by our house. It's this grassy area that's right along the river. So we took towels and laid them out. We were there right at sunset. So we were able to watch the sky change and watch the stars come out!! It was so fun!! We don't get to see the stars a whole lot because in the summer, it's way too late. And normally in winter it's too cold to be out. Well... it was still cold... but we still saw stars! So it was great!!
Us doing weekly planning under the stars. Also, soon after sunset haha.
Cathedral Island right after the sun went down.
Thursday we headed to the chapel for a change of scenery as we usually do. We happened to run into Iza on the way. She needed some help with some things, so she came with us to the chapel. Now.. there's a rule/law in Poland right now that if people are walking outside, they're only allowed to be in 2's. So, I had to walk ahead of the group so that we weren't "together" and so that we were doing our proper social distancing outside. Plus, the Police Station is right across the street from the Chapel... so the stakes are high! XD So crazy to me that this is real and something we actually have to do! Anyway, we were able to work on Facebook for a while and I posted my violin video, whoo! XD Then, we headed home and had a call with Zoe to practice English. And then, after that, we had a first lesson with a guy named Himanshu! He's someone I started messaging on Facebook a few days ago and he was interested! Yay! It actually wasn't too bad having the first meeting through video call. It went really well and the Spirit was still very strong. Himanshu said he definitely wants to meet again, read the Book of Mormon, and pray. He said, "I want to know if this really is true. It would be good to know. And I want to have this feeling you talked about! So I'm willing to read and pray." That was so cool to me! I'm so happy and grateful we could still meet him, even through technology. That night, we were part of Institute. It was my first time going to Institute and I never thought my first time going would be on my mission! It was really good.
Friday morning we had a meeting with Claudia over the phone. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and receiving answers from God. We talked about different ways that she would feel the Spirit and be able to recognize when she is receiving those answers. Claudia really wants to make sure she's 100% sure the Church is true before she gets baptized. When she gets baptized she wants to have the intent of staying for forever. She said she wants to be all in. She has this fear that she's going to join the church and then in a year just leave. I don't see that happening at all! But I think she's just a little nervous. She's doing so well though!
After that, President and Sister Chandler came to visit us for the day. We just spent time together relaxing, taking a break, and talking! We were able to do puzzles and games and have lunch together. I always love spending time with the Chandler's! :) Later, we were able to work a ton on Facebook. I was able to set up 2 meetings and have a bunch more in the works! :) Later in the evening, we had our mission devotional. Sister Jensen and I gave the spiritual thought for today. It went well! Except for the fact that right before we were supposed to share, our connection cut out and it totally looked like we were trying to run away from doing our part in the devotional hahaha. But we got back on and all was well! XD We talked about faith, experimenting on faith, and asking our own questions. It was great!
Saturday morning, I'm pretty sure I talked to every missionary still serving in Thailand. XD I was trying to get in contact with the missionaries who received the referral for MiuMiu because I hadn't heard anything from them yet. I was eventually able to track them down. But I had to go through at least 9 different missionaries to get to the right Sisters serving in her area. I found them! They have all the info and are so excited to start talking with her!! Also, they are natives to Thailand. So MiuMiu will be taught by people from her own country!! How cool is that?!
Then, we headed to the chapel and were supposed to have a meeting with Claudia, but I guess things were chaotic at her house and she couldn't leave for the call. Then, all the missionaries deep-cleaned the chapel which was good. I even was able to put my organization skills to use and organized the bookshelf and made a game closet/cabinet, and things look nicer now!! In the middle of that, we found out that Elder Long will be leaving on Tuesday!! Crazy!! Just a week early, but they all have a way to get home!! So that's exciting! And Elder Zabriskie will be coming down to Poznań from Gdańsk. It will be fun to serve with him again! Not to mention having his piano playing skills here in Poznań! Whoo! Someone I can duet with who isn't me!! XD
Anyway, we also had 2 other lessons planned. We met with Martyna and talked for a while. Then, we read the Book of Mormon all together which was nice. She's doing well! Martyna is awesome! We don't have to worry about her a whole lot. :) Then, we had a first lesson with Hasan! He's a guy I met through Facebook! At first, he was just more comparing our religions. But then, the more we talked the more interested and sincere he became. It was really cool to see that switch happen as we talked with him. By the end, he was asking us how he can read the Book of Mormon and said that he definitely wanted to and would read it. He also said he would pray about it and we were able to teach him how to pray. He also asked when our next meeting would be and so we set up for next week. I know the Spirit definitely touched him during the lesson and he could feel it. It was a really cool experience! Especially because I'm sometimes worried that the Spirit won't be felt because we're not together physically. But then I'm gently reminded that the Spirit has no bounds. It will work through whatever means we use. And that was really cool to me.
By the way, we found out that the decision to send missionaries home (at least, in our mission in Poland) is now up to the mission president, parents, and the individual missionary. So basically, I'm 100% staying until June! Whoo!! I feel so so blessed! And I'm so grateful I get to stay on my mission here in Poland!! :)
Sunday we had a big testimony meeting through Zoom which went well. We also had our regular group calls for "Come, Follow Me." Everything went well with those. We had our call in reports with our District Leader, Elder Mitchell. We count up the number of "meaningful conversations" we have each week. For me, that does not include people who haven't responded or people who aren't interested. That being said, I had 26 meaningful conversation with people through Facebook messenger this week. Holy smokes! It's so cool to see how fast the work is through technology!!
Later, we were able to go to the Womack's to partake of the sacrament, break our fast, eat dinner, and have our District Devotional. It was also Elder Long's last evening in Poznań, so it was fun to spend some time all together and say goodbyes.
Sunday at the Womack's (I was in the middle of our call-in report with our District Leader).
Later in the evening, we had our nightly devotional. President Chandler decided that he wanted to start sharing "pearls of great price" from each of us. Just thoughts, insights, revelation, and experiences we have been having through this time as missionaries during COVID-19. Things that we wouldn't have experienced without being in the situation we're in now. This morning, thoughts flooded to my mind and I really felt like I needed to share them with President. I hadn't originally been planning on sharing anything. But then, he ended up using mine in the Devotional Sunday night. It was really cool! Maybe someone really needed to hear it. Anyway, here were my thoughts:
As we're teaching people strictly through the digital realm, I'm sometimes worried that the Spirit won't be felt because we're not together physically. But then I'm gently reminded that the Spirit has no bounds. It will work through whatever means we use. And that was really cool to me. But in thinking about that more, the Spirit really is boundless and we can't and shouldn't put that in a box of how, and in which ways, the Spirit can work. We're given these tools of technology and Facebook to do our missionary work. And as missionaries we teach by the Spirit. It doesn't matter if it's through a screen or in person, as long as we are sharing the Gospel and teaching by the Spirit, those we teach will feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. That's definitely something unique to this time of "coronavirus missionaries" is that we work solely through technology. I don't believe God would give us these tools and have us use them without the promise still intact of, "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." In this extremely technology driven era of missionary work, I feel that God is giving us more of His Spirit and not less. He pours His Spirit out on us as we find, communicate with, and teach these people. It's just another way He shows us that He is very much involved in the details of His work. What a blessing to be part of this work, especially at a time like this when we can see the Lord's hand so abundantly and so often.
Love and miss you all!!
Siostra Shaylin Carroll
Found a pigeon in its nest!! I've been wondering where in the world they actually lay their eggs because you never see them in their nests!!
Rynek!!
Cool cobblestone Rynek picture.
Little metal model version of the Rynek.
We won a daily competition with this picture in our masks haha.
What hours of Facebook work looks like... Haha just kidding, that was just towards the end. XD
These signs started popping up on all public transportation. Buses and trams. And they all had different numbers. (It's the maximum number of passengers allowed on.)
Our drive home from the Womack's! I love Polish streets!!
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