Siostra Carroll: A Kingdom of *self* isolation... (Yes, Mom. You're the queen.)/The ants go marching 3 by 3. Except they don't, cuz that's illegal... (But instead of marching, you can watch conference!!) ;) ;) (4/6/20)

Cześć!!

Funny (@local laws for people walking outside in groups...):

Sister Jensen: The ants go marching 3 by 3. Hurrah, Hurrah!

Sister Carroll: Except they don't, cuz that's illegal...

Monday was a very quiet day. I was able to email everyone and we spent some time at the chapel. I played piano for a really long time because there's not really anything else to do... but it was really fun! Then, I taught Sister Jensen how to play Ticket to Ride. It was the European map version. I'd never played that one before, but it was fun! Also, the instructions were all in German, but I could understand quite a bit of what it said! Needless to say, I won. By a lot. Finished 8 routes, had the longest continuous train, and finished with 139 points. I thought you'd be proud of that Dad. XD

TICKET TO RIDE!!! :)

Anyway, later, we were able to say hi to the Elders after Elder Zabriskie arrived. It was good to see him again! I haven't served with him for 8 months!! How crazy is that?! That night, we had devotional like normal which was good. All the departing missionaries were in the mission home!! Ahh! It was so crazy and surreal to see that!! I'm gonna miss them so much!!

Tuesday we were able to get our weekly planning done. Then, we made a recording of ourselves singing "Praise to the Man" in Polish. There's a missionary in the Europe area who is wanting to make a video of quarantined missionaries singing that song in their mission language. They asked for one companionship for each language. Sunday night, Sister Chandler had called and asked us if we would represent our mission and the Polish language in this. So, that was really cool! And I'm excited to see the final product. We went to the chapel and a bit later Iza and Marcin came by. I helped Iza set up a new email account today. Hopefully she remembers the password and things this time... Anyway, the day was a mix of Facebook work, studies, some food, messaging people on Facebook, puzzles, talking with the Elders as we worked, doing family history and yeah! Pretty basic day in our lives now haha. On the way home, we ran to catch the tram. We had waited for the light to change green for us to cross, but because of that, I had to SPRINT to catch this tram. It had closed its doors and started to pull away... but THEN!! IT STOPPED!! And the tram driver opened the doors and let us get on!! What?! That seriously NEVER happens!! Usually they're pretty ruthless and that tram would've been GONE! Wow, blessings of keeping the law and having a kind tram driver!! Also, in our nightly devo, there were some updates. I guess all parks and beaches in Poland are now closed. And walking outside, it can only be one person. And you have to be 6 feet apart from each other. Wow, crazy... And it sounds like it's a 5,000 złoty ($1,200) fine if either of these laws are broken... Yikes!! So you'll catch us walking with a measuring tape or 6-foot string in between us. XD

Wednesday morning, we had District Council. They asked me to share a recipe with them haha. So I shared Hoontenannys (German Pancakes, Yorkshire Pudding, Flying Pancakes, Dutch Babies... whatever you want to call them.) The Elders were pretty excited and wanted to make it for breakfast the next day haha. Also, Szymon is still being taught by the Szczecin Elders! It sounds like he's doing well, which makes me so happy! Wednesday was pretty similar to Tuesday. Hours of messaging people on Facebook. I was feeling kinda down afterward. And feeling like I was unproductive. (Even though I had literally been talking to people for hours!!) Then, at the nightly devotional, President Chandler pointed out something I really needed to hear. He said, "An hour on Facebook is more effective than 5 hours out on the street." And I know that's true! Just simply based on the number of people we talk to! He pointed out that we're having more conversations and interactions with people. Which can be more emotionally and mentally draining. So I realized, I was just feeling burned out and needed to take more breaks than I did. (I took zero.... haha oops.) It was a good lesson though! Because for me, it's always been hard to take breaks. I love to do a project all in one sitting. I hate splitting it up and spreading it out over time. But for messaging, it's a constantly ongoing thing (or project). And that can't be done all at once, but I was treating it as though it could. It's good because that forces me to learn how to stop, take breaks, save it to work on it later, etc. Man, the mission teaches you in every little area of your life. It's awesome! XD

Funny story from messaging though.. this guy was asking questions and going on and on. And then out of the blue, he sends this: "You know Carroll I am very good cook, would love to have a nice talk on dinner 😊 when you are free, what you think??" I ignored it and answered his other questions. Eventually it came back around to it and he said, "Have I earned a coffee or dinner yet?? 😊" Oh dear.... I'll respond.... eventually. XD

Thursday we were supposed to have 3 meetings!! But 2 of them had to be rescheduled.... But hey! I'll take rescheduled over canceled any day! So.. our days are starting to look very similar to each other... haha! I messaged a lot of people again. I had to deal with this guy asking me to dinner again. Oh, and not just dinner, but it progressed to marriage! And I'm not quite sure how we got to this point because... I never showed any signs of interest. XD Wow, who would have thought that I would receive my first marriage proposal while on my mission!! And through text!! XD That's like even worse than asking someone on a date through text. XD Anyway, it's become a main source of entertainment for the Elders and us here in Poznań. Soooo yup. That happened.

We also were able to make our short spiritual thought recordings and send them home. And I made a post on Facebook using one of the songs we sang in Chamber my senior year. It was fun to see that all the people from choir were seeing that post! :) Oh! Also, the "Praise to the Man" video in 19 languages from across Europe was posted! And that turned out to be pretty cool! And that night, we attended Institute through Zoom. Sorry, nothing terribly exciting over here. Except a marriage proposal I guess. XD

Friday we finally had a meeting!! Whoo!! For some reason, it's been even more of a struggle to get people to set up and meet with us. Even though they're in quarantine and doing absolutely nothing!! Ahhh... anyway, it was with Claudia! She's not the one that's difficult to set up with though. That was pent up frustration from others haha. XD Anyway, our lesson with her went well!! We talked about the 10 Commandments and keeping the Sabbath Day holy. We also asked how praying has been going. She said she feels good. She said she feels better and more hopeful every time she prays! She talked about feeling more joy. We also asked if she's noticed blessings coming as she's kept the commandments and other things we've taught. She said she has and listed a few such as better health, positivity, peace of mind, joy, and more. She also said she notices a difference in Sundays and the way she feels since coming to church. Just more positive changes she's noticed in her life. It makes me so happy! Also, she brought this up, and she asked about General Conference! She was WAY excited for conference. That was so exciting for me!! :)

Okay, and funny story from today... I might be going a bit crazy.. I totally thought we had a lesson planned with Piotr. We got all set up and ready to go and I went to text him to see if he was ready. And that's when I saw... that he had never responded to our text!! I had completely imagined or dreamed or SOMETHING!! that he had responded and we set up a meeting. I mean, I know we all want our dreams to come true. But I don't if it's gonna start causing problems like this!! 🤦🏼‍♀️😂 Anyway, the rest of the day was spent messaging people, organizing and catching up on things in the Area Book planner app, and having our nightly devo. After the devo, the AP's (Assistants to the President) called us. They were just talking and talking and I was so confused why they were calling, because normally it's about business. I kept mouthing to Sister Jensen, "Why are they calling?!" But then they said, "Oh, by the way, we're just calling to check and see how you're both doing!" So they did just want to chat. XD It was fun though! Also, Elder Edwards told me he had just found a "Starszy Kriser" missionary nametag in the apartment and asked if I wanted that. So, of course I said yes!! Haha, random stories... but that's my life for ya.

Also, I've been reading through the talks from last conference in October. I recently read talks from Elder Dallin H. Oaks and President Russell M. Nelson. Those might have been my 2 favorite talks from last conference. President Nelson's talk "Spiritual Treasures" was amazing!!

And here was a quote I loved from Spencer W. Kimball which Elder Oaks shared in his talk:

"The women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different … from the women of the world. … Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the Church in the last days."

What a cool statement!! And I believe this goes for men of the church as well. All those who are living righteously will be seen as distinct and different. And we can all be a strong force for good in the world! :)

Saturday we were able to have a lesson with Himanshu! He is awesome! He read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and also prayed a few times. We were able to teach him about the first half of the Plan of Salvation. He told us that he really likes learning more and he wants to keep meeting with us. He's really open to pretty much everything, but also said that if he finds a religion he believes in, he would join. But he wants to 100% follow whichever religion he joins. So he wants to be all in, which is awesome! We talked to him about General Conference as well. He remembered the Prophet's name! He said he saw the post I shared from President Nelson. Himanshu said that he really wants to watch conference and especially wants to listen to the Prophet of God! He was really excited for conference! So that was awesome! Most of the day we spent working on Facebook and contacting people about watching conference. Then, it was finally time to watch conference! We were able to watch all together at the chapel for the Saturday morning session (at 18:00 our time). And then, we headed home and were allowed to stay up to watch the Saturday afternoon session of conference live. So it was 22:00 to midnight for us. It was really good though! And a fun memory to stay up for conference on my mission. :)

Pizza with the gang before conference.

Me with a cinnamon roll (courtesy of Sister Womack) ready for conference until midnight!! Whoo!!

Sunday was day 2 of General Conference! We were allowed to sleep in until 8:00am which was nice. But I still woke up on my own at 6:22am. The internal clock is stronger I guess. XD During the day, I was able to message quite a few people and invite them to watch conference! We had some who did! Kasia, Claudia, Karolina, and Himanshu all watched conference! That's was really exciting!! Then, in the evening we were able to watch the last 2 sessions of conference. What a blessing it was to hear the Prophet of God speak to the world. And that new proclamation about the Restoration?! Wow, amazing!!

It was such a cool conference, especially in commemorating the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith's First Vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And there will be temples built in China and the Middle East!! (Shanghai and Dubai!!) 2 places that the church has not yet entered!! It's so exciting to see the hastening of the work and to be a part of it. I hope you all enjoyed conference!! It was a much needed break from everything else going on in the world. :)

Love and miss you all!!

Siostra Shaylin Carroll