January 27, 2013

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

Winston Churchill

Well hello family, friends, "and everyone else not sitting on a cushion"!!! Sister Ure and I have been quoting movies all week, so forgive me if I add a lot in this letter!

Some interesting things happened this week. It has snowed a whopping 6 inches in New Albany. It was so snowy yesterday that we only had sacrament meeting. They cancelled the rest of the meetings because they wanted to make sure that everyone got home safely. It was really nice because I was talking and there weren’t that many people ;) Just kidding... I was really sad with the bad weather... We had a lot of people lined up to come to church, but they were scared to drive in the snow and decided not to come. We were going to get them a ride, but we were more focused on getting Emily a ride to church because she was supposed to get confirmed yesterday. 

Breakfast at the Whitted's House 

So that now the cat is out of the bag, EMILY GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!! It was an amazing service. Because she is deaf, we did the entire service in sign language, and it worked out perfectly. She was literally glowing when she came out of the water. I have never seen her smile so big! On Sunday, she was scared to drive in the snow, so we made a bunch of phone calls to get her a ride to church. She looked beautiful! She was in the dress that we bought her, and when she got confirmed, she told Sister Ure and I that she has never been so happy. It has been such a great privilege to teach her because she is a choice daughter of the Lord. She will be a huge instrument in the Lord's hands! And we got to learn sign language! We hope that since we know so much that we won’t be transferred out of this area! :) 

Emily's baptism with Sister Benton who helped us sign to her.

A couple letters ago I mentioned that we had a family from Napal move to our ward from Salt Lake City. Well, only 2 of them speak English, and you can hardly understand a word that they are saying. Fortunately there was a lady in the Westerville ward that has a friend from Napal. She knows and speaks English very well and wanted us to meet her. When we walked into the house, there were a total of four of them there. They are Hindu, and they want to learn more about Christians and The Book of Mormon... Well you came to the right people! :) We are now teaching them which leads into the funny story of our week:

So we met with them on Friday. It is part of their culture to feed or give their guests something to drink. Well they made us black tea... Because it is against the Word of Wisdom we had to deny the offer. I can't tell you how bad we felt... I literally almost broke The Word of Wisdom because I felt so bad... But we didn’t, so all is well. Before we left, I felt that it was important that we went back the next morning to talk with them before the baptism. We went with Sis. Whitted, and we warned her that they will make us something to eat. 

Well they did.... and it was pasta... Sister Ure is gluten intolerant. I looked at Sister Ure and she was like "I’m just going to eat it." Sister Ure is literally in bed sick when she eats something with gluten, and I don’t want to be stuck at home. So I shoveled down my plate of pasta until there was just a little bit left. Sister Ure and I then secretly traded plates as if she ate hers and I still hadn’t eaten mine... Yes, I scarfed down 2 whole plates of pasta. On the way back to Sister Whitteds’ house, I was laying in the back seat so sick... Oh my! The things you do for your companion. It’s a good thing I love her!

They are SO Cold!

Yesterday we spent a lot of time with a part-member family. The wife is not a member but loves Sister Ure and I. She signed up to feed us yesterday and wanted us to come to her house and cook with her, so we did. We made so many things: caramel, applesauce, hobo stew, corn bread, and strawberry custard pie. While the things were cooking and cooling, she taught us how to knit. Yes grandma... I am knitting now! :) It was a lot of fun, and we had a wonderful gospel discussion at the end. She said that she wanted to invite us back over. We broke the ice... we more or less shattered the ice! We had the distinct impression that there was HUGE potential with her! :)

Just a typical snowy day in Columbus, Ohio.

Out of all the events that have happened this week, I can honestly say that I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that He is real and that He loves us all. I know that The Plan of Salvation is true and that we all can reach the highest kingdom of glory. All it depends on is our personal conversion to the gospel, and our own willingness to obey the Lord's commandments to our full capability. I hope with all the energy of my heart that we strive to live the gospel with exactness. Always strive to be like your Lord and Savior in every thought, word, and action. I know that as I have tried to incorporate that more into my life, I have seen a change (for the better) in myself, and there is more joy in what I am doing. I know The Book of Mormon is true, and I know that we can learn more of the Savior as we read it over and over. I love this gospel and I love my job! 

Love, 

Sister Gale

For anyone wanting to write Sis. Gale and isn't sure to get a hold of her, here is her address:

5191 Cambria Way 
Westerville, OHIO 43081

January 20, 2014

Sis. Whitted: Ward Mission Leader, BYU Hall of Famer,
and Olympic Volleyball Player!

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28

This week was crazy and super fun! We had so many appointments and were running to everything. Nothing new, but it has been so fun! 

We have been doing a lot of service in the mornings because of the snow. Mainly we have been going around and wiping off all the snow on the cars. It is supposed to snow again, so we are going around to all of our investigators' houses shoveling their walks. We are counting down the days; I have found that when I look forward to the snow, I am not as upset when it actually comes. Luckily, I have a lot of hand warmers, boots, and socks! It takes about 15 minutes to get dressed in the morning, but I can leave the house feeling warm!

Theresa's Baptism

Patti's Baptism

Speaking of getting dressed, all of Ohio thought that the cold was coming to an end (by all of Ohio, I mean myself). Well, we all thought wrong! Here we are again entering another week with the high on Wednesday to be 1 degree... Who has every heard of that temperature? I love it actually. The members usually give out more referrals, and they make us hot chocolate all the time. They really do take care of us! :)

Theresa with the missionaries and her son (who baptized her).

Patty got baptized this week! It was such a beautiful baptism. She had family drive from Missouri and Georgia to see her enter into this great covenant with our Savior. We are really excited to see what is in store for her as she progresses in the gospel!

Sister Gale in the freezing snow!

We had a wonderful zone meeting this last Wednesday. We did a lot of training, made new goals to reach, and also were given many techniques that we could use to help grow our number of investigators. Since our investigators that we have are now being baptized, we are working on building up our teaching pool again. We have a lot of people that we are teaching, but we are now working on extending dates more frequently. We have been thinking a lot, and we plan to extend to 5 people this week. Of course, we need to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, so we will see how that goes! 

Sister Gale with Sister Ure enjoying the lights at the zoo.

Sister Ure and I had a pretty memorable experience this week. This last Wednesday, our ward did some ministering visits. A ministering visit is where the mission president, stake president, an assistant, and other choice members pair up with priesthood holders from our ward, and they go out visiting those who have been thought over and prayed for. Well, we had the lucky chance of going out with Sis. Whitted and being a part of the ministry visits! We were given 3 families to visit. Of the three, only one was home, and that appointment was truly inspired. Apparently this individual had been praying to know if God is really there, and then the next day we showed up to talk with her. She was able to come to church yesterday, and she brought her son (who is not a member). We set up an appointment to meet with them this Thursday to go over the missionary discussions. We are so excited to see them come closer to their Savior again!

Sister Gale and Sister Ure changing their tire in dresses in the freezing cold all by themselves!

Funny story for this email: We were in the downtown part of Columbus one day and brought a recent convert with us to meet with people. We also had some potential investigators that we wanted to move to investigating or not interested. As we were driving in the snow, we got a flat tire. We were right in front of a less-active's house that just happened to not be there. It was about 12 degrees outside, and the Elders were in New Albany, not in Columbus. So we called Bro. Benton to come help us change our tire. I was a little cold and didn’t want to wait, so I just got out the necessary things that we needed to change the tire. (Dad, you would be so proud!!) We got the jack out, cranked up the car, and got the entire tire changed and finished right when Bro. Benton showed up. He inspected our work, approved it, and we went on our way. No one pulled over to help, so Sister Ure and I can say yes we changed a tire, in skirts, in 12 degree weather, while it was snowing. We felt pretty legit! :)

At Patti's baptism this last weekend.

The second funny story for the email happened when we were eating dinner at the Atwood's last night (he is the 1st councilor in the bishopric), and we were talking about church. We had an interesting event take place today at church, and without going into details, Bro. Atwood was saying how they spoke as a bishopric to have key words when they needed to "help out" a situation. It was so funny to hear the different key words that they discussed. We also talked about how he was in charge of assigning the talks this whole year. I gave him some advice of doing it and somehow walked out of the house with an assignment to speak this next Sunday. Somewhere during this mission I am going to learn when and when not to open my mouth. Haha! I am excited to speak, but we have a busy week so finding time to plan it will be interesting. (It’s about the blessings we receive from knowing The Plan of Salvation... if anyone has ideas, my mom has my address). 

After the Baptism with the Whitted family

Anyways, that is it for this week. We have another baptism this Saturday that will be completely in sign language. Sister Ure and I are pretty fluent in sign language now. So I would consider myself partially biligual! ;) Totally kidding... I still have a lot of work to do, but I need to start learning more because we are teaching another deaf man! :)

Shoveling members's driveways and cleaning windows for service early in the morning at -20 degrees!

I am so thrilled to be a missionary during this time. Although there are many hardships and tough times in the mission, there are so many laughs and good times to balance it all out. I am so grateful for my Father in Heaven, and I am also grateful for The Book of Mormon. It truly is the word of God and IS another testament of Jesus Christ. "A man (or women) WILL get nearer to God" as they abide by its teaching and precepts. I know this is true, and I would urge everyone to read it! I love this gospel! I love my family and friends so much. I am grateful for all the support and love, and I also love my job!

Until next week,

Sister Gale

January 13, 2013

"For, brethern, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."

Galatians 5:13

I know that you just heard from me on Wednesday, but alas, it is another P-Day!!! 

So just a little update: I AM STILL IN NEW ALBANY after transfers!!!! I love it here so much, and I am so grateful to be here again. I had almost every member call me to know what the news was. Thankfully, I was able to say that they are stuck with me again! Hopefully they can put up with me for at least another 6 weeks. The bishop called and was like, "It was because I called the Mission President" (I am almost positive he didn't), but it was great to get the news that we are staying (meaning Sister Ure and I are staying together)!

Zoo Lights with the Benton family

Well, Sister Ure and I were able to find the solution to our sleeping problems. At night time we are so mentally exhausted, but our bodies aren’t physically exhausted because we are so used to working out and doing sports (prior to mission life) so we made a plan. We do our planning all throughout the day and then we wake up at 6am and run to the gym to work out for an hour... sometimes a little longer depending on how we are doing our hair ;) It has worked so well that when night time comes, I hardly ever have enough energy to read my couple chapters from The Book of Mormon. In fact, one night I fell asleep reading. Sister Ure took pictures to prove that one.

Splits to visit less-active members

Thursday night is snowed pretty bad on our way home, so on our way to the gym Friday morning, we got out our snow wiper thingy’s and went around to every car in our complex to wipe off their windshields. It was a lot of fun, and we only got caught twice. One guy thought we were stealing his car... I don’t blame him, we were dressed in all black with beanies on... He got a pretty good laugh once he figured out who we were and what we were REALLY doing.

Well last week, like I mentioned, we did a lot of service for the people in our ward, and that service paid off! We received 10 referrals this week from the ward members, and we were able to contact 4 of them. Out of the 4 we received 3 new investigators! I will say it has been a busy week! We are teaching them all pretty regularly, so that fills up a lot of time! AND we haven’t even contacted all of them yet, so it will be interesting to see what we have in store for ourselves.

Sis. Ure and Sis. Gale all bundled up

We had a miracle this past week. There is a lady named Patty who took the missionary discussions in Nevada and then moved out here with her sister because she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. She moved into the Westerville ward originally and then, because of problems, moved into our ward. The missionaries in the Westerville ward already finished teaching her the lessons and had her on-date to be baptized. Because she moved into our ward she became our responsibility. We have been fellowshipping her and have been planning her baptism. Needless to say, we have Patty on-date for this Saturday! And then Emily is next Saturday! :) It has been great getting to know them and helping them enter into covenants with their Lord and Savior.  

Sis. Ure and Sis. Gale sitting in a member's old-fashioned car.

There isn't much else to add for these past couple days. It has been wonderful to be in the service of The Lord and to help Him with this glorious work in bringing His children back into the fold. I love finding new ways to teach people and talking to everyone has been such a blessing. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Joseph Smith restored The Gospel to the earth. I know this, and I know that we need to shout it to the world! Reading The Book of Mormon has been a tremendous blessing, and I know that it will continue to bless everyone's life as they search, ponder, and pray. Keep the faith, and decide now to bring your friends and family members back to the truth they once knew! 

Low Temperatures and low on gas

Thank you for all the letters and emails. I love hearing how everyone is doing, and I am so grateful for all the support. I love this work so very much, and I absolutely love my job!

Love, 

Sister Gale

January 08, 2013

"Sometimes you get disappointed. It makes you stronger."

David Rudisha

This letter is coming at you a little late because this week is transfers! We have our P-day on Wednesday instead of Monday so it kind of throws everything off. But anyways, this past week and a half has been CRAZY!!!

Sis. Gale and Sis. Ure in their fancy new PJ's 

Monday and Tuesday, Ohio reached its record low of -40 degrees, and our lovely mission still went out to serve. It was a life changing experience! Thankfully our time was spent either in a car or in a house. We did knock on a few doors and then decided that we were dying, so knocking doors was not an option for us. I will say that it is the weirdest feeling to have your nose hairs freeze!

We had Sister Mayberry come to New Albany for the exchange, and everything went great. We were able to help her out a lot, and she was able to help us and bring a good laugh to us. Everyone she came in contact with fell in love with her! It was a lot of fun to have her with us. We were able to get 6 referrals and teach 2 lessons, so I would count the day as a huge success!

Two twins that Sis. Gale and Sis. Ure are teaching.

We did a lot of service this past week for the members! I know that by doing that we have gained a lot of trust, and I know that it has helped Sister Ure and I grow closer as a companionship! We also held a youth Volleyball activity which went great! We had 28 youth there, and only 8 of them were members. In another 2 weeks we are going to do another one, and hopefully start teaching some of the friends. I know that we are teaching 2 of the friends this Saturday, so that is awesome! Sister Whitted helped out also, being an Olympic Volleyball Coach and all. She is pretty awesome and a great support to us as missionaries.

Sunday was amazing! I love fast and testimony meeting because the Spirit is always so strong. We had a member in our ward bring one of his friends, and she said, "It is impossible to deny that the Holy Ghost was present today." We asked if she would like to learn more about the church and also about the Book of Mormon, and she said yes. We are hopefully going to teach her sometime this week. I know that she is a busy woman, so getting in contact with her will be challenging. But we are game for it!

Sunday morning we had a brick hit us in the face... Emily, who is supposed to get baptized this weekend, cancelled everything. We were stressed and prayed right away. Thankfully, our relationship is so strong that we were able to meet with her Monday night and get her back on-date. But as a missionary, you gain this huge loving bond for those that you teach, and it is heart breaking to have them "break up" with you. We were almost in tears, but everything is fixed now! I hope that that never happens again... But then again, I do have 13 more months… haha.

Christmas gifts arrived just in time for Christmas!

Well, I am out of time, but I can testify that although there are challenges put in our path and then wind throws us off track, there is no one better than the Lord to turn to. He is the source of all life and knowledge. He can pull you through anything that is or was weighing you down. I know that I have turned to Him and asked for help, He has been there to help me. I know that prayer is true communication with our Father in Heaven! I know that this church is true and that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. I love reading it and bearing testimony of it everyday! I love my job!

Love, 

Sister Gale

December 30, 2013

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Acts 2:38

THERESA GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!!!! Okay, so I have to start this story at the beginning of the letter because I am so excited for her! We met her son on Christmas Eve to go over the details of the baptism: who was talking, what to wear, how the confirmation was going to work out, and who she wanted in the circle... all that fun stuff. We didn’t want to stay long, but Scott (her son) asked us to stay while he gave her a Christmas gift. It was the triple combination; she got that on Tuesday, and by Saturday (her baptism day), she was already done with the Pearl of Great Price and was in section 28 of Doctrine and Covenants. She is just soaking up the information and loves everything about it! We called her on her baptism day and sang her a song which goes: 

Happy, happy Baptism
From both of us to you!
We wish it was our baptism,
So we could be clean too! Hey!

Matching Scarves from the Whitted Family

She got a good kick out of that! Her baptism was amazing! We had all the prayers and talks done by the older single sisters in the ward because they have befriended her. The spirit was amazing! After she was baptized, we were all in the bathroom, and she was crying. Then she just said, "I'm clean." It was so softly spoken that it was sweet, and I couldn’t help but hug her even with her soaking clothes still on. Then, when she received the Holy Ghost on Sunday, she was in tears and the whole ward just welcomed her in. It was great to see everyone support her and love her. :) Theresa is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! :)

Erin's New Scarf!

This Sunday was crazy! It was the last Sunday of the year, and we were asked to talk about missionary work. Our mission president and his wife came and spoke during sacrament, during the second hour I taught gospel principles, and during the third hour, the ward mission leader taught the adults while we (the full-time missionaries) taught the youth. I would go into details but that would take too long. So I will just say that it was a great Sunday! I got to talk a lot and help bring others closer to Christ which is the best thing in the world!

Baking Christmas treats with the Whitted family

I do want to say thank you to everyone that sent me a package and a letter for Christmas. It was so thoughtful and brought much joy to my life to see how much everyone cares about me and is thinking of me. I know that all the winter clothes will be put to good use! :) On Christmas, we went and visited a lot of families and shared a little Christmas message with them. There were a few investigators that we went to see. By sharing that message with them, we got return appointments with them. Cha-ching!

Matching ties for the Elders

We have also been teaching Emily. We ran into some difficulties with that. We might have to push back her baptism, but I am not 100% sure about that. She loves the message, and on Theresa's... I mean Sis. James's baptism day, she brought a friend who also wants to start learning about the gospel. I love it when that happens! It’s a chain reaction! :)

After Theresa's awesome baptism, and Sis. Hyer was able to come back to see it!

I got an amazing call earlier this week. There are 3 sets of missionaries in the Mt. Vernon area: the zone leaders, sister training leaders and then another amazing set of sisters. For exchanges, the sister training leaders always bring the other set of sisters into their area... but they never get out of their ward. So for a change, I am hosting a 24 hour exchange! How fun does that sound?! The sister training leaders got permission from Sister Nilsen, so I feel honored that they trust me enough to do that! :)

Celebrating the New Year with the Whitted's

I can’t think of anything else this week (especially anything that beats Sis. James getting baptized), but I know that it has strengthened my testimony tremendously! I wish each of you had the chance to meet this amazing daughter of God. Her testimony and her conversion truly testify to me that this gospel changes lives! There are so many people that are in need of truth and are waiting for it. It is our job to go out and help find those lost sheep. I know that our joy is great when we bring just one soul into the fold, but just think of how much greater our joy will be when others are brought into the fold?! I love this gospel! I know the church is true! I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and I know the President Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet on the earth today. It is my hope and prayer that if anyone is lacking this knowledge and faith that you would get on your knees and do as Moroni promises in Moroni 10:3-5. God will give you the knowledge and let you know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book is true! I know it! I live it! And I sure do love it!

I love this work, and I love my job! 

Love,

Sister Gale