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