March 24, 2014

"The most beautiful moments always seemed to accelerate and slip beyond one's grasp just when you want to hold onto them for as long as possible."

E. A. Bucchianeri

The new bedroom in Dublin. Take note of the beautiful, blue, handmade quilt one of the members from New Albany made for Sis. Gale.

Man, I can’t believe that we are already on another P-day! I know that I have said that a lot but when you put it into missionary perspective, it is transfers next week. That means it has already been almost 6 weeks... Now THAT is crazy!!!
 
Home Sweet Home

We have been having a great week! We were able to find a new investigator, Edgar. He is from the Ukraine, and he designs cars for Honda. He is super nice and is so prepared to learn. He is reading, came to church, and is soaking up the Spirit. We have introduced him to some wonderful ward families, and he just loves our lessons. When he prayed on Saturday, the Spirit was so strong, and you could tell that what was coming out of his mouth were sincere words. We have had the members teach a lot of the information to him, and I think that has helped the ward members get really involved!
 
One of the cute girls in Sis. Gale's new ward.

We are still teaching Cynthia. I failed to mention her in my letter last week, but we did take her off-date because we really wanted to make sure that she KNEW that this was true. This last Saturday, she put herself on-date for the 26th of April. I know that is far in advance, but I think with that much time, she will definitely KNOW that this is the true church! She has gone about 2 weeks now without drinking coffee, and has poured the wine down the drain!!! :)
 
Recent Missionary Training Day

Getting members out with her has been awesome as well. She knows that what we are teaching is great, and she asks questions; it has been good to bring members that have never gone out teaching before to her. (Does that make sense?) They always walk away feeling 100 times better, so I think that is also helping the ward develop their love for missionary work!
 
Yes, Sister Missionaries do go shopping!

We have been really busy this last week and will have another busy week this week. We already have scheduled splits with some wonderful members in the ward, and we are really excited about that. I think as the ward sees that we have too much going on and that we need to do splits, they will want to help us out even more. We have received so many referrals, and tonight we are eating with a member and her friend who isn’t a member. We have received 21 referrals in the last 4 weeks and still have more to come. It has been great, and our teaching pool is increasing dramatically. I love how the President, and the Assistants call and say how pleased the members are to have "hard working sister missionaries". Well, for opening an new area and training at the same time for the first time, I must be doing something right. 

I am so grateful for this gospel. I know that there is so much truth in this wonderful work. I know that any man CAN and WILL get closer to God as they abide by the principles and doctrines taught. I am grateful to be out here and witness the change, not only in the lives of those I teach, but also in my own life. I am grateful for all the support that you all give me and for your kind letters. It really helps me! :) Keep reading the Book of Mormon for it truly is another testament of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I love this work, and I love my job!

Love, 

Sister Gale 

March 17, 2013

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

Michael Altshuler

Man this week went by so fast! I can’t believe that we are already on another P-day. I feel like there is never enough time in the day to get everything done, and there is never enough time in the week to see everyone that you plan on seeing! With that said, I rather it be that way than not having anybody to see or anything going on! That would be horrible... 
 

Rockin' our St.Patrick's duds on St. Patty's Day in Dublin, Ohio

Well, I have so many great experiences and fun stories for this week so hold fast to your seats! :)

This week we met with many less-actives, and I got to know why a majority of them are less-active... most of them want their name taken off the records of the church. I explained to them that it isn’t that easy, and they may want to talk to the bishop before they just do that. It’s sad that there are some people, let alone members that have lost their testimony and have forgotten and have chosen to forget the sacred covenants they have made. I know that that will never happen to me, and I hope that we can help each of them remember what the Spirit feels like this week.
 

Sporting some awesome socks!

We had some amazing lessons with some of the younger generation- all around 16 years old. It is amazing to me how many people are looking for the truth at such a young age. One is Catholic, the second one is Muslim, and the third is a Catholic as well, but her mother was Mormon. Her name is Anna, and she is the most interested in learning about the Gospel. I hope that we can help her come unto Christ. I know that she wants to come back to church, but we need to get her Father's permission first!

Okay, onto the funny stories! So Sister McIntyre and I committed to doing more things that we could handle on Saturday, so we had another set of sisters come and help us out. Here in Dublin they celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a huge parade and other things, and there was a baptism going on at the same time. Sister McIntyre ended up going to the parade because it was a great time to contact people, and I went to the baptism because there were a lot of non-members coming. We were asked to bear our testimony and give a chapel tour at the end. They also asked us to fill the baptismal font. Well, little did we know that the hot water heater was broken, so when we first got the water going we put it at 90 degrees so that it was warm. As we were getting everything set up it was almost finished filling up. We went to go look at the temperature gauge, and it was down to 60 degrees. I went to fill the water, and it was FREEZING!!! Bro. Busken, whose son was being baptized, walked in at that time and looked at us, and I told him that the water was cold. He felt it and was like "Ya, too cold". What was my solution, you may ask? We went to the kitchen and began boiling water. 8 HUGE pots of water were being boiled, and we would just dump them into the font once they were warm. Now it didn’t warm it up too much, but it brought the temperature to about 85 degrees... So funny! I never thought that we would have to boil water and pour it into the baptismal font!
 

A Yummy Kind of Service!

Another story... We were challenged in our district meeting to find people to teach. One way was through our waiter or waitress. I have never done that before, and we were going out to eat this last Friday; so Sister McIntyre and I wanted to try it out before we actually did it with a member. We went to a popular place called Steaks'n'Shake. We had this young man come up, and we talked about how we were on missions for our church and that we were giving a chapel tour this Saturday. We invited him to come. Well, turns out he works at the zoo and wouldn’t be able to make it. We gave him a pass-a-long card and told him to give us a call when he got the chance, and we would give him a chapel tour. Well, yesterday we were on our way to pick up Cynthia and he calls us: his name is Sean. Here’s how the conversation went…

S: "Hey are you doing anything tonight?"
Me: "Ya, there is this great fireside going on in New Albany. You should totally come! It starts at 6pm, its going to be great!"
S: "That’s a far drive... maybe we can do something when you get back from that."
M: "Ya totally! We'll get back at about 8pm. We can show you around our church! If that is too late for you then we can do tomorrow!"
S: "Tomorrow I am going to be drinking!"
M: "Drinking?"
S: "Ya drinking, it’s St. Patrick’s day! Aren’t you going to drink?"
M: "Drinking? OH!!! You mean Wine... No we don’t drink."
S: "You don’t drink?"
M: "Well yes, we drink water and milk,… like the good stuff!"

 
Helping Make Some Really Cool gift Baskets

*** we had to go because clearly the conversation wasn’t going anywhere, but later that evening he was texting us and asked us to have a movie night... man, that was the funniest thing! I was like, "We’re on missions. We don’t watch TV, so we can stay focused on the work that we have been called to do. That’s why we keep asking you to come check out our church!" Man, being hit on over text message... I can’t believe it! It was so awkward (I see why missionaries are awkward when they get home), but yet so funny!***

I had some other funny stories to write about, but time is up. 

 
So Many Gift Baskets!

As I was teaching Seminary this week I had the greatest insight come to me... We are truly blessed to have a Savior that knows us... literally He understands everything that each of us is going through, and yet He still loves us so much. I am so grateful for the miracles that occur daily and weekly. I am so grateful for this gospel and especially for this wonderful opportunity that I have to go out everyday and tell Dublin of The Book of Mormon and that Christ did come to restore the Gospel, that Joseph Smith listened and did as the Lord commanded him. I love you all so much, and I am grateful for you! Keep strong to this gospel, and remember that this church does bring everlasting happiness! I love you, and I love my job!

Sister Gale 

March 10, 2014

Courage and willingness to just go for it, whether it is a conversation or a spontaneous trip or trying new things that are scary - it is a really attractive quality.

Alanis Morissette

"Daylight savings"... yes, we lost an hour of sleep this week. I am not too concerned about that, but what boggles my mind is that it was pitch black at 6pm and now it’s not dark until 8pm... I don’t understand. All of a sudden people want to talk, people are outside walking, and it's light outside! It’s like living in a whole new place. It threw me for a loop yesterday, and I am putting today to the test to see if it was just a Sunday thing. 

 
Sis. Ure and Sis. Gale reunited at a Zone Conference in New Albany! An Elder decided to photobomb the occasion.

I feel as though the weeks are going by so fast. Here we are in the library on another P-day writing home, and I don’t know where the week went. I went back to look in my journal to see where all the time passed, and honestly, the days are just zippin' by. Sister McIntyre and I just talked this morning about how much more we need to shorten our appointments because we aren't able to go see everyone in one day because the time is just disappearing. I read this analogy the other day that was done by Joseph Smith: He held out a shoe lace and said, “This is eternity." He tied a knot in the middle and said, "This is our earth life." On that knot he took a pencil and made a dot. "This signifies your mission." How true is that?! It is just a dot of time, and there is no time to waste!

 
Some of the Elders and Sisters from Sis. Gale's first area reunited.

We had a zone conference this past week in New Albany where I got to see everyone from my last area and feel at home again. It was great to get pictures with all those who have impacted my life and have helped me. Sis. Whitted and Sis. Bailey had their kids come, so it was great to see them and hang out with them for the short lunch break that we had. The zone conference itself was awesome! We had the mission doctor and his wife speak to us about stress and how to handle it. They said that it is important to not just keep going if the stress gets really bad, but to take a minute and think, breathe, and (if needed) to come see them. The mission president talked about sticking to tasks until they stick to you and some other things that were really helpful. There were 15 minutes classes that we did to help us with planning and setting goals, finding people to teach, and how to help those that are making the commitment to be baptized. It was very informative and very helpful! 

 
Sis. Gale with Gabi Whitted (Sis. Whitted's daughter) who came to help serve.

Also this week, we met with Cynthia who texted us on Tuesday saying that she didn’t want to get baptized. We were heart broken. We still went to visit her and answered some of her concerns and got her back on-date on Thursday. Satan is really working hard on her, and we are trying to help her recognize that it is Satan. She didn’t go to church yesterday because of some medication that she is on, but she did stay home and watch some Women's Conference sessions, and we talked about them afterwards. She is progressing! I don’t know if she will make the goal that we set, but I know that she will decide to come unto Christ here in the next month or two. 

 
Other members from Sis. Gale's old area who came to help serve.

Both of us and the Elders sang this last Sunday in church. We didn’t really have a choice because the Elders called and said, "Hey we're singing this next Sunday. It’s already in the program. We are practicing Saturday. Be there." No time for me to say, "You are on your own", but hey, it went well and brought the Spirit. But that is the last time that I am doing that. I felt so dumb during the practice because the person playing the piano was like, "You should harmonize on this part..." and I was like, "Ummm... I don’t know what that means. I just sing in the car, and that’s about as professional as I've ever gotten". I think they got a good laugh out of that, but it’s done and I can say I sang in sacrament! Haha!

I don’t know what else to report on... We have been doing a lot of finding and have some more finding to do this week. There are many perks to starting a new area and many downfalls. One of the downfalls is that your golf ball cracks from it being too cold and knocking on doors, or your knuckles crack from knocking on too many doors. But the perks are finding people who the Lord has prepared.  

I am so grateful for this great and marvelous work. I brag that my brother is starting to put in his papers for his mission because it is the BEST thing in the world! We get to talk to people all day, every day about the thing that we love most. We get to go to Kroger (Fry’s) tracting, and just talk to people at the grocery store. It is so fun and people are oftentimes super nice. I love being able to show people that The Book of Mormon is indeed another testament of Jesus Christ. It will lead and guide us. I know it because I have read it, prayed about it, and received my own witness of it! I love this work and I love my Job! AND I love you all too! 

Sister Gale

March 03, 2013

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we're curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

Walt Disney

 
Sis. Gale with Sister Miller

There are so many things to do when you get doubled-in and open a new area. We have to get a map, organize it, build up a teaching pool, get to know the neighbors, find out which people are active and not so active, figure out the ward mission plan, figure out who the ward mission leader is, meet with the bishop... etc. Of course this was week 2 of being in a new area (Dublin), but everyone here works so it is very hard to get in contact with certain individuals. We have had meals every night to get to know the members, and then we make it a point to visit 2 extra members a day. It definitely keeps us busy, which is exactly what we need.

 
All of the Sisters in Sis. Gale's new area at the Columbus Temple

There were so many great experiences this week such as working at the food pantry. There are some times of the day where you truly cannot contact anyone, so we do service. There haven’t been many members that have offered to allow us to do service, but there are many food pantries and clothing donation places that allow us to come and serve. At the food pantry, we were able to teach a lesson to one of the helpers, invite 2 others for a chapel tour, and set up some appointments... I would say that we are definitely going back! We also have been working on our map, which occupies a lot of time. BUT, if I do say so myself, it looks dang good! :) It’s big, and it is doing its purpose thus far!

We had a great experience this week with Cynthia, who was handed over to us from the Elders. They have put her on-date, and she took herself off-date. They were about to give up on her until we Sisters came into the area; then they figured that it might be better if sisters taught her. Well, we got to teach her 3 times this week. We brought members with us each time so that she could get to know the members more and feel comfortable coming to church--safety net #1. Then we met with her and made sure that we were bringing up each time the need to be baptized with the proper authority, and one way she could know that that was what she needed to do was by coming to church--safety net #2. We warned the member coming with us that she would use the excuse that she was lazy and would try and make it... so when she said that, our member quickly said "Well, I'll come pick you up at 830"--safety net #3. She agreed, and that finished that appointment. We made a 30 day plan for her with set appointments for the next 4 weeks. We also set times to go eat dinner at a members’ house so that she could feel comfortable with all of that--safety net #4. 

 
One of the beautiful homes in Sis. Gale's new area

Well I could keep going on, but I want to get to the exciting part! We gave her a chapel tour on Saturday, and we had everything set up perfectly! We were going to have the Spirit there so strongly and then we got to the church and saw 30+ cars there... What on earth could be going on? There was a basketball tournament going on AND an employment seminar taking place in the Relief Society room which is where the baptismal font is. We were trying to figure things out, so we decided to take her down into the font and then just show it to her that way. The whole thing went great! Little did we know that the Elders had a chapel tour at the same time, so we went around with them. We took her down into the font separate from the Elders and read 3 Nephi 11:21-26 (I think), and it was so peaceful. Then the Spirit hit her when we took her to the chapel where one of the Elders was playing the piano. We explained the sacrament; then we sat there and listened and soaked up the Spirit. It was great! 

 
Hot water heater wasn't working to fill up the baptismal font so we improvised

Well leading to the great part of the story...

So the day before the Chapel tour, she expressed how she wasn’t going to give up coffee or her wine sampling thing she does with her friend "every other year"... The night of the chapel tour we got a 5 page text from her that said "That 'chapel' feeling is the most peace that I have felt in a very long time and something that I want to keep with me forever. I am excited to be baptized on March 22nd and will do everything that I can to prepare for that date, with your help..." There were other things said, but she committed for the date and at church she went around telling people about her date. HOW AMAZING IS THAT!?!?!

 
Sis. Gale took this picture in honor of her brother, Brandon, who is preparing to put his mission papers in soon!

I want to testify that this is the Lord's work. We had so many distractions during the chapel tour, but the Spirit pushed all of that aside. I know that many of Heavenly Father's children would not come to know this knowledge or even convert to the true gospel if it weren’t for the Savior's hand in this great and marvelous work! I love it so much! I know that if I am having a bad day, then I need to go out and share the gospel. It brings that much more happiness into my life and makes the day so much better! I am grateful for the wonderful opportunity that I have to go out and proclaim His word and His doctrine. I love The Book of Mormon! I am grateful for my family and my friends and for the support that each of you give me so that I could be out here and help those who have forgotten the truth. Thank you! I love my job!

Sister Gale

February 26, 2014

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” 

Andy Warhol

I don’t know if you all have heard the news, but I have been transferred. I was called to train, be doubled-in, and open a new area here in Dublin. The people here are very wealthy and are quite content with where they are in life. This has put baptisms at a low, but there is still work that can be done! The Elders in this area are great and so willing to work together to get this area up and moving. We have made plans to get things moving especially with the members of the ward. I found out that the retention has been slim, so we met with the Ward mission leader to implement some strategies that we used in New Albany. Also, the ward doesn’t have a mission plan, so I got the New Albany one. Hopefully with an outline we can put one together that will best fit this area. 

Sis. Gale and Sis. Ure with their new companions.

My new companion is Sister McIntyre. She is from Utah and super nice. We are still working on teaching together and getting the hang of things, so there will be more updates next week. 

We also had the opportunity to teach a lady named Cynthia. She is wonderful and has been investigating for some time. The Elders asked us to go teaching with them so that they could hand her over to us. We were able to put her on-date that night for March 8th. She didn’t come to church, so we went over there last night and talked to her about different things. We are going to implement some plans to help her out. I am really excited to see her progress and enter the waters of baptism, hopefully in the next few weeks. 

Sis. Ure is not very happy about Sis. Gale transferring.

There is a part-member family that lives right across the street from us. On our first night here, they offered to feed us dinner. We asked if we could teach them the Restoration because we hadn’t taught together yet as a companionship. They agreed, and the husband (who is the non-member) said that he would be asking a lot of questions. (I guess he is known for doing that). Well after we taught, he was left speechless--in a good way! The Spirit was so strong. Since then, he has been super nice to us and willing to help us. We are hoping to go there later this week to talk to them some more!

Saying goodbye to the McIntyre's

So to finish our exciting week, we woke up this morning to go running, and before we left, I figured I would start my laundry. Well the washer began to leak... Our apartment was flooding! I put towels in front of the stove and fridge to make sure that the water didn’t go under there, and we started filling buckets with water. We called the Elders because we didn’t know what to do. They came with some more mops and called one of the office elders to come and help out. The whole time we were cleaning, I was just imagining how funny it would be to just see all of us missionaries in a tiny kitchen trying to get the entire floor dry. Luckily we were able to keep it on the tile! We got everything fixed and got the laundry started. Well, it came time to put the clothes in the dryer, and our dryer was broken. So the office Elders got to come back with a new dryer to help us out. Oh, what a morning! I felt bad because we woke up the Elders... I started the wash at 5:45 this morning... they were shocked that we were willing to wake up that early haha. We are going to have to do something nice for them for sure!

Sis. Gale with Sis. Whitted and Sis. McIntyre right before leaving for Dublin.

Well it’s about time for me to go, but I just wanted to finish by saying that I know this work is so true! I am so grateful for the trust and responsibility that Christ and God have given me to "go out and tell the world of Jesus Christ, the Lord". The Book of Mormon is the truest book on the Earth today, and I am so grateful that I can open it every day and read and learn from it. I am grateful for this gospel and for the peace it brings to my life! There is true power in prayer and true joy in this journey! I love you all, and I love my job!

Sister Gale