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