July 29, 2014

"A well-ordered life is like climbing a tower; the view halfway up is better than the view from the base, and it steadily becomes finer as the horizon expands."

- William Lyon Phelps

I can’t believe how fast the time goes. I feel like I can’t catch up with the months... 

Yesterday, I got my planner ready for the next transfer; that was interesting. I always record some birthdays, events, or fast Sundays that are coming up in preparation for when I’m planning, and I wrote, "Year mark day"... WAIT WHAT?! August 21st is my year mark... I can’t believe that I have been away from home that long and that I have been in a different state for that long. CRAZY!!!

Sis. McIntyre and Sis. Gale showed up for service one day without noticing that they were wearing the same color shirts and same color shorts not the mention that both shirts were OSU shirts!

This week was very eventful to say the least. We got to help move people, contacted a referral, had dinner with an investigator and her family, had exchanges, painted, and we ended our day yesterday with Toronado sirens going off! I tell you, everyday is such a wonderful adventure!

The Mullins Family in our ward moved out this week... that was very sad! We drive past their house frequently and have to remind ourselves that they are gone for good... Luckily they moved out West, so I can go visit them when I want to after I get home! :) We also went to go visit a lady who we were referred to via media referral. We were so excited because she was referred by "relatives," so we figured that it had to be someone that talked to her about sending missionaries over. It seemed really promising! When we got up to the door she opened it and claimed that she doesn’t know anybody from the Ukraine... except we swear she is from the Ukraine... We might try back in another month or something. We may have just caught her on a bad night.

The Mullins Family

We also had dinner with one of our investigators and her family. It was so delicious! They asked us to have the lesson right before dinner. So we did, but it did not go as well as I had planned. I was thinking that we would watch the 20 minutes of the Restoration video and bring the spirit into their home... Totally didn’t think that they would be cooking food and preparing food all while we were going to be watching the video. Our investigator listened intently, but the mother and other daughter were too busy cooking... Dang it. Before we left we shared another spiritual message off of Mormon messages called "Lessons I Learned as a Boy" by Gordon B. Hinckley. It was so great, and I encourage all of you to watch it as well! :) You may even remember the talk that he gave.

OH! We painted! That was a funny story: Sister McIntyre and I had been out teaching all day, and then we went to a member’s house to go and paint. They had plastic laid down to cover the carpet. Our feet kept sticking to the plastic, so it was quite a show seeing us walk around to help them finish their basement. It was a lot of fun!

And then to finish our wonderful Sabbath day yesterday... we had tornado warnings going off for a long time. It was so intense. We were unsure about what to do. We were talking to a lady in our ward because her husband is a doctor. We have this saying: "It’s the doctor’s orders." Well, yesterday we received the "doctor's orders" that we needed to come to their house and stay in their basement because a tornado rotation thingy was heading our direction. It was so scary because we didn’t know what to do. After staying in the basement the rotation changed courses and headed another direction, so we were safe. But it was so crazy... Sister McIntyre and I were like, "We have never heard of this happening in all of our years of watching the news." It was so intense. But we were able to have a great rest of the evening.

I am so grateful for my time out here and for all the things that I am learning. Sister McIntyre and my theme song for this week is, "Mountains to Climb." I love it because of the chorus says: "Give me mountains to climb because it making me stronger than I’ve ever been before." It goes on and on, so I just decided to develop this mindset of, "Throw it at me because I know that it’s going to make me stronger." I know that that’s how it is for each and every one of us. We can take on anything in the world, and as long are we rely on our Savior, we will become stronger and make it through the tough times. I love this gospel so much, and I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned because I see a little glimpse of who my Father in Heaven is trying to help me become.

I hope you all have a great week and that you enjoy the weather... I’ve heard that it’s been a little hot lately, so stay cool! :)

I love this work so much, and I love my job!!!

-- Sister Gale