Monday was pretty relaxed. I was able to talk to a ton of people. Also, I somehow convinced Sister Jensen to cut her hair! XD She had been talking about cutting it short for a while and so I just... pushed her over the edge. I always thought it would be fun to go with a companion to get her hair cut, and so I finally did! It was pretty chill and she's happy, so that was good. That evening, we had Family Night and played some games together. At the end, Elder Draschil played piano and sang for all of us. Wow, he is really good. His tone quality is way cool too. Like, he started singing and his voice sounded like recording studio acoustics. It was awesome! And then we all kind of had a mini concert/jam session. It so super fun! Then, Elder Long and I got talking and coming up with the idea that we should have a concert here!! It would be such a cool activity!! So, look forward to that in the near future!! :)
Tuesday we had District Council in the morning, which went well.
Skype District Council.
Then, we went home to do our studies and weekly planning. But as pretty much 99% of our days go... things didn't go exactly according to plan haha. Bożena called and needed our help getting some things from the Apteka (pharmacy). I kid you not, on Tuesday, I could not remember what Apteka meant in English haha. So that was a problem! XD Then, she wanted us to stay and talk for a while. So we spent as much time as we could with her before rushing off to the chapel so we could be there while the Elders had a meeting with a girl. Then, we were able to get in contact with the people we're teaching and set up quite a few meetings for this week! Whoo!!
Wednesday was pretty fun! We finished up weekly planning and our studies. Then, we headed over to the Deptak to do a Finding Activity with the Elders. I had a great conversation with this lady named Agnieszka! It was the coolest thing. She walked around the corner, and immediately something in me went, "You should talk to her." Not super forceful, but incredibly clear. So I talked to her! And she had actually met missionaries in Warsaw a few years ago and she has a Book of Mormon. She said that she had been thinking about it recently and that reading it is pretty high on her "to-do" list. We had a great conversation about how the Book of Mormon has answers to all of our questions. She thought it was very interesting and planned to read it as soon as she was able to. I had been trying to get her phone number throughout the conversation. She was hesitant at first, but the more we talked, the more comfortable she got. And on my 3rd try, after explaining how I'd hate to lose contact with her, she agreed to give me her phone number. So that's awesome! She's a really cool lady and I'm excited to see where that goes. Right after that, there was a guy playing the guitar on the street, so I told Elder Draschil that he should go ask to play it. And he did! This old guy was so funny! Super nice guy. His name is Waldemar and he now wants to do a concert with us. XD Basically, we were street performers for a bit. Elder Draschil playing guitar, and both he and I singing. At one point, Waldemar broke out his array of instruments including, (but not limited to) a maraca, a kazoo, and the spoons. He handed me a maraca and poof, suddenly I'm a professional maraca player street performer girl. Haha it was quite the adventure. But yeah, we ACTUALLY had people stop and listen and people even gave money!! WHAT?!! So, you could say our unplanned street performance was a complete success. XD It was way fun! Oh, Elder Long was our videographer through this whole thing. XD
Impromptu street performance with Waldemar!!
After that, we ran off to the church to work on Facebook and teach our English class! It went well! After class, we happened to be at the same tram stop as Zofia! I snuck up on her and scared her haha. (As I do with people I'm friends with.) We all laughed and then I was able to set up a meeting with her!! FINALLY!! We've been trying for SO LONG!! So that was a pretty exciting way to end the day!
Thursday we were able to have another meeting with Claudia!! Whoo!! This meeting was primarily on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But she had questions about a ton of other things, so we touched on a bit of everything today. The Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, the Book of Mormon videos, the Ten Commandments, temples... yeah, it was everywhere. But she has so many good questions!! It went really well. She's still reading the Book of Mormon and she has been praying every day!! Yes!! And she says she will start praying before she does her scripture study now too. Yay!! And she's still set for March 27th, which is awesome!! Basically, we're just chugging right along!
Later, we had English with Zoe and her Mom, Tamara was there. We had fun talking, laughing, playing word games, and reading and discussing a story. Zoe almost had all the letters for "coronavirus" and so then we all pitched in to finish the word. She thought it was so funny and got so giggly about it. She even wanted a picture all together with the word "coronavirus" spelled out. She said, "It's funny because anyone who sees the picture is going to think that we have coronavirus!!" Sidenote: No, no.. I do not have coronavirus. Y'all can calm down. XD
Us and Zoe with her "Coronavirus" sign *Note: We do NOT have coronavirus haha.
Anyway, at the end of the class, I followed up with Tamara about teaching Zoe a religious class, but in English. Tamara enthusiastically agreed! She said she's really been wanting Zoe to have a religious class, but that coming from Mom it was too boring. So, we will probably start doing that with her. Also, Tamara is there the whole time and she listens, so we could basically be teaching both of them. This is gonna be good!!
Friday we had 3 meetings which was pretty exciting. First we met with Claudia. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and a few other things. She is willing to give up a few small things. Her faith never ceases to amaze me! She's incredible and so prepared!! It's so cool to see how much she truly desires the Gospel to be in her life. We also talked about Priesthood blessings and how those can help us. We let her know that she could get one whenever she would like. So, she actually decided to ask Elder Womack right then and there if she could get a blessing. He was at the chapel too, so he was able to do the blessing right then. It was a wonderful experience for all of us. I always love being there for so many "firsts" of these people. During Priesthood blessings, there is always such a strong presence of the Spirit that accompanies and with Claudia that was no different. It was a beautiful experience. The blessing was very much for her. Straight from Heavenly Father to her! Elder Womack blessed her with things that seemed to fit her situation perfectly, but he had no idea about these things. It was a really incredible thing to witness.
Later that day, we had a meeting with Piotr in a cafe where they happened to play 2 songs from Les Misérables in a row. One of which happened to be my favorite.. "One Day More." Needless to say... I was slightly dying! Haha the music wasn't that loud, but you know how when you know a song really well, it seems like it's amplified for you. Yeah. That was a struggle. ANYWAY! We still had a great lesson! We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about the Holy Ghost too and read a scripture on the fruits of the Spirit. Piotr expressed that whenever he meets with us or reads the Book of Mormon, he feels those things. It's so cool to see that he is recognizing the Holy Ghost in his life. We're still working on helping him see that there is a definite separation between the Catholic church and the Church of Jesus Christ in regards to some doctrine and whatnot. He seems to almost combine the two, but we're working on helping him understand more!
After that, we met with Martyna and went over a few things like the 10 Commandments and the Priesthood. It was a good meeting! She definitely still wants to be baptized. So we asked her to check with her Mom again and see if her answer still stands. (That she has to wait until she's older.) But Martyna is so faithful! She's a sweet young girl. That night, the Womack's took us out to dinner. It was fun to spend some time with them!
Also, on Friday, more about my family's and Candace's story was shared in an article in Meridian Magazine, which is an LDS online Magazine. I was really touched to see how many people shared it furthur, commented about it, and just how many lives Candace has touched and is continuing to touch. What a blessing it is for me to be part of that family!!
Saturday was pretty basic. We taught the English conversation class today. It was my first time doing the Saturday class, which was fun. We had Konstantin, Wiktor (a member in the Branch here), and Jędryk. It was a fun class! Then, we went and helped out at service. The French girl and Spanish girl were there. And I feel so bad that I don't remember their names haha. But I remember Joseph's name! He's super cool. And that's basically all the eventful things that happened on Saturday.
Sister Jensen's drawing of us writing stories at English on Saturday.
Sunday was fun! I was busy during sacrament meeting! I played the piano and I translated. First, Polish to English and then English to Polish. My brain hurts haha. Then, during Relief Society, Candace's story came up. I was blessed with the opportunity to share my feelings and testimony about that and about the Plan of Salvation. It was really cool and natural. And it touched Claudia for sure. It's amazing how step by step, everything seems so tailored and suited for Claudia. It's amazing.
Claudia is now officially part of the Relief Society circle. We were all so excited!
After church, we had lunch with some people from the Branch. We had fun talking, visiting, and having mini jam sessions!! Also, it was International Women's Day! So, all the women were given flowers and chocolate!! Also, Piotr even stopped by to bring us all flowers!! Wow! Seriously, this holiday is such a big deal over here!
Flowers and chocolate for International Women's Day!
Elders with our tulips on Women's Day.
After that, we were all able to go and do a musical finding activity. It was so much fun! Singing and playing and performing on the street! It's so fun! And such a service bringing people music on a sunny Sunday afternoon, uplifting them, and helping them feel the Spirit! :) It was awesome!
The whole music finding activity crew! Feat. Michael from Lublin.
Also, Claudia was even wanting to talk to people and hand out copies of the Book of Mormon to people!! She's amazing!! Then, at home I messaged a ton of people on Facebook. And people just gave me referrals through that! It was awesome!!
Love and miss you all!!
Siostra Shaylin Carroll
Rainy nighttime street (it's aesthetic, right? I mean, at least the light reflecting from the wet cobblestone is haha.)
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