May 26, 2014

"Believe you can, and you're half way there."

Theodore Roosevelt

Erin's on Her Hump Day!

Well, the time has hit, and I am officially over the hill... in regards to my mission timing. That’s right, I hit my hump day, and instead of a mid-life crisis, I experienced a mid-mission crisis. Didn’t know there was such a thing until I experienced it. I think there were happy tears shed and also very sad tears because I still have no idea where the time went. Also, that same day I have finally decided to face the fact that I am lactose intolerant... Yes, it’s true. I have cleaned out the fridge of all dairy products and have substituted almond milk (vanilla flavoring of course) for my delicious 2% milk. I know that things are happening for a reason, but there was definite reason to shed a tear or two... or three...sniff, sniff...

Anyways, this week has been crazy! There is a dead time in Dublin from 10am-5pm where nobody is home because they are all working, paying for those expensive houses. So we were told to fill the time with service, preparing for lessons, and also completing any paperwork that we have. Well... companionship study = preparing for lessons, paperwork = do it while driving, and service = well, we are working on branching out on that. We are finding new things to do daily. The reason I share this is because it has been so hard to find investigators. A lot of our teaching pool has continued to push us to come back once it's summer. It’s so hard because we have 7 days to wait until "summer" but really, everyone is done with school. It’s difficult when your focus is pure missionary work and their focus is the worldly things. I know how hard it can be, but come one, God is important people!

Sis. Gale and Sis. McIntyre at Murfield Park

Our P-day yesterday was amazing! Our ward held a huge breakfast (I couldn’t eat most of it), and then we played ultimate Frisbee with all the youth. Afterwards, we went to the Memorial Golf Tournament with a family in our ward; he is actually the ward mission leader. Then we went to the church where a surprise birthday was being held for one of our zone leaders; then we went home, changed, and went to dinner with Cynthia because both us and Cnthia did not want to spend this wonderful holiday alone. It was such a great day! We did go tracting the rest of the day, but we didn’t have any success. We are hoping to come up with, once again, new ideas for finding people. I know they are out there!

Heading to Murfield Park with the Mangum family.

I want to make a huge shout out to my brother who is now a newly endowed member of the church! It is so great to see his smiling face! I also want to say that I am so proud of all his accomplishments! He also graduated from high school which unfortunately makes me officially old. Jake also graduated from middle school! He is awesome and looked great in his purple tie ;)

I also would like to ask for prayer to be said for a dear friend of mine who recently found out that her son has been diagnosed with lung cancer. I know that as we put our faith in Heavenly Father that His will will be done and that comfort can be given to those of this family. 

I am so grateful for the gospel and for all those who are supporting me. I know this work is great, and I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of our needs and wants. As we turn to Him and allow Him to help us, we will be comforted and feel the love that He has for each of us personally. I know this gospel is true, and I know the Book of Mormon IS and will forever be the word of God, The Book of Life. I love you all again, and I truly hope we take the time to remember those who "risk a lot to save a lot." I love this work again, and I do love my job!

Love, 

Sister Gale 

Okay, so this is the Mangum family who we went to the Memorial golf
tournament with. They are awesome! These are their cute girls also so it is awesome to hang out with them. We are going to go back to the tournament later this week because it will be a great time to proselyte to people. So the reason why we are standing on a bridge and the reason I am pointing in the distance is because of something funny Sister McIntyre and I did. This place that we are walking at is in Murfield park. You cant walk on the paths any time of the year except for this tournament. 



Well.... Sister McIntyre and I were driving around one day and looking at huge houses, and we came across Jack Nichoalson's (famous golfer) house; we just continued driving on. The road got more and more narrow, and we were so confused. We came up to a fence, and our side mirrors barely missed the poles. We were freaking out, and then we got to the bridge, that we are standing on.... Right then we realized that we were driving on the golf course! We prayed hard that we would get across the bridge safely, and we did. We continued to drive for about 15 minutes until we finally were able to get onto a real road. The funny part of this story is that people aren't even allowed to walk on those paths until the tournament comes into town, and then you have to pay a TON of money to get in... Well, we just drove it and got our own scenic view for free. Oh, and people would get arrested for something like that! Miracle? I think so! Haha

May 19, 2014

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Eating lunch with Sis. Bailey

Some of you may have heard, but if not, I am still in Dublin, Ohio after transfers which means that Sister McIntyre and I are staying together! She will be the first companion that I have stayed together with for longer than 2 transfers! :) Isn't she lucky? ;)

Sis. Gale and Sis. Bailey on a hike at the BBQ

So on Wednesday, we had a big BBQ with another district and went on a 3 mile hike. It wasn’t up any mountains (because there are NO mountains here), but we went through a lot of trees and down a trail. I took care of Sister Bailey's kids that came out. We had so much fun! I forget how much energy children have... I think we ran half of the trail!

We did a lot of tracting this week; unfortunately, we didn’t receive any potentials from it or anything. Our zone leaders called us on Thursday and talked to us about how our finding has been going, and we honestly said that we needed help because there is something that we are obviously doing wrong. Well, he assured us that we weren’t the only ones and that they were going around to each area for a day and were going to help them find new investigators to build up the teaching pools. I think that is happening this Thursday, so we shall see.

All the friends at the BBQ waiting to see if Sis. Gale got transferred.

Funny story of the week... We were tracting, and I had a paper cut that was bleeding super bad! I had this wonderful idea that we would knock on a house, ask for a Band-Aid, and then they would let us in. While they went and got one, we would talk about what we were doing outside. We knocked on the door, and the woman that answered said yes and then closed the door while we were still on the porch. She opened it, handed me the Band-Aid, and then closed the door again. I looked at Sister McIntyre and said "Well, that did not go at all how I pictured it in my head!" So we turned around and started walking down the driveway. As we were walking we came up to this biker gang. We stopped to talk to them and found out that there were 3 Methodists, 2 Catholics, and 1 Baptist. We began talking to them about what we were doing and why we were here in Ohio. 

All of the sister missionaries at the zoo

They were just laughing and asking us questions, and then out of the blue one asked, "Well, can we knock doors with you?" I looked at Sister McIntyre and said "Totally!!" We explained what a typical door approach is and let them choose the house. Well apparently they knew everyone in the neighborhood, so it turned out great! :) We knocked on the first door. No one was home, so we knocked on the second door; they were so impressed with these men! We got a return appointment from it. As we were walking down the driveway, one of them said, "We should go to our mothers!!!" 

The "Biker Gang"... it's a blurry picture, but they took it really fast!

... I may have forgot to mention that they were 6th graders!... so they got on their bikes and said "Let’s go hot tamales... wait?! What do you call yourselves?!" We said "The sister missionaries" to which one responded, "Alright sister missionaries, get in your car and follow us!" So what did we do? We got in our car and followed 6 sixth graders to their mothers’ house. One of the Catholics walked in and yelled, "Mom come here! You would be so proud of us. We've been talkin’ to people about Christ!" Their mothers came to the door, asked questions and all the boys responded. Oh my gosh, it was the funniest thing I have ever done! What is the best is that these boys went around with us for 30 minutes!!! I was dying!!! :) Our zone leaders thought that it was so funny that they asked us to send a voicemail out to the whole zone, so the entire zone got to hear our hilarious story! :) 

Enjoying the manatees!

So 2 more funny stories! We were teaching Lydia Mullins, who is a girl that is beginning to turn 8. Through the course of our conversation I was able to discover that her father's favorite missionary companion was Jake Durrant who is in my home ward! Small world!

All of the 7-year-olds who are getting ready to turn 8. Sis. Gale helped teach them the Plan of Salvation with chalk drawings.

But wait there's more... Jay Homewood- he recently returned from the Ohio Columbus Mission- is back in Ohio selling pest control, and I ran into him at church yesterday! It was so crazy! We went on a date before I left for my mission to get the low-down of Columbus, and now 9 months later I run into him again. Time truly does fly by!

Jay Homewood from Arizona

Speaking of Sunday, this Sunday was Stake conference and we had the wonderful privilege of having Elder Dunnigan (an area 70) come to our stake and speak with us. I can’t tell or express how much knowledge I gained in the 2 days that he was here. Since there is so much I want to focus and close my letter on these 3 things: 1) every person put in our path is a referral from Heavenly Father, 2) the Apostles, Prophet, and the Lord have asked us to invite people to hear from the missionaries... so that leads to point number 3) missionaries are to assist the members in missionary work. Missionaries cannot do this alone. We are in a battle with the adversary, and we must let our friends know who is going to win and have them join us. We must show this by our example and through words. Every friend that you have that is not a member has been placed in your life for a reason. If you truly love them, then share the gospel with them. I promise you, that whether they accept it or reject it, you have fulfilled your great covenant of taking upon you the name of Christ and inviting all to come unto Him. I know that this is the truth. I know that there are many among us who are searching but "know not where to find it." Help your brothers and sisters in Christ. He promises that He will be on our right hand as we dutifully keep the commandments. I love this work so much, and I love my job! 

The sister missionaries in Sis. Gale's zone. They all  stuck together to see everything in the zoo!

Love,
Sister Gale

April 27, 2014

"Do you remember the feeling you had when you were baptized--that sweet, clean feeling of a pure soul, having been forgiven, washed clean through the merits of the Savior? If we partake of the sacrament worthily, we can feel that way regularly, for we renew that covenant, which includes his forgiveness."

-- John H. Groberg

Every week I try to come up with a clever subject line, but it never works the way I want it to so I default to the original! Haha It was a great week though! This morning we only needed a few items from the grocery store, so we decided to go right before email. Well we had a wonderful member come up to us and ask if he could buy our groceries. It was so sweet of him!!! I love his little 2 year old! Every time we come to visit them or talk with to them about the work (he is a ward missionary), their little boy goes "missionies" super loud. It is the cutest thing!!!

At the Sister's Sweet Shop digging chocolates!

Sadly, this week we didn't have anyone come to church... It was heart breaking because we had 6 people lined up to come. Well, we took Elder M. Russell Ballard's advice and followed up with them. We had them promise to come next week! Fast and testimony meeting is a definite attention grabber! :) 

Cynthia's Baptism was soooo great! There was a great turnout, and Bro. Lundberg (who paid for our groceries) made the program look great! We had a wonderful lady make all the refreshments, and so many people came up and called her Sis. Schroeder. She just loved that!!

Yesterday, we team taught a bunch of kids that are getting ready to turn 8 with the Elders. It was so fun! We played some games that tied in with the restoration (thank you mom for that book). The parents loved it and set it up for us to do the same thing next Sunday. I would say that was a success!

Kiana Glassburn... Sis. Gale and her companion spoke at her baptism!

CYNTHIA GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!!!! Man, I tell you... we asked her how she felt, and she said, "Like I am in heaven." We reassured her that she will feel those same feelings when she goes through the temple for her family, herself, and others. She can't wait for it! So, things are finished. We are working on getting her membership record so that we can get her to the temple by May 9 so that she can baptize her mother on Mother's Day weekend! Always something fun to do! :)

The person on Sis. Gale's left is Sis. Wernli... everyone gets the two of them mixed up. Sis. Wernli's mother is on Sis. Gale's right. They are the best!!

Well, that's about it for this week. We are always trying to reactivate people...So far we have 3 families that are consistently coming back to church! I love it, and I love this work. 

Getting Kiana to smile with her teeth showing... it was a success!

I had the wonderful opportunity of telling the Lawrence family why I am out here on a mission. I love the happiness that this gospel brings in my life. There are so many people that are lost and that are searching, and if I were them, I would hope that someone who knew the truth would tell me. I hope to be that person that helps others who are searching and looking. I hope to be that person that brings rays of sunlight and joy into others' lives. I hope to be that person that when others look at me or talk about me they see and know that I AM a disciple of Jesus Christ. I love the fact that I know that families can and will be together forever! It's not 'til death do we part'; it's for all eternity. I love this gospel so much. Again, I am grateful for all of you and for all that you do for me! I love this work, and I love my job!!!

Love, 

Sister Gale