November 17, 2014

"Happiness is only real when shared."

- Jon Krakauer

As Sister Hansen and I were walking around talking to people before sacrament meeting yesterday, we were told over and over again to watch out for the snow. "It’s supposed to snow 5 inches tonight!" Well, we didn’t believe anyone, and when we woke up this morning, we had the wonderful privilege of having a WHITE backyard!!!! It ended up snowing 6 inches, and everyone is shocked that we have this much snow so early in the year. I am too because I don’t really know what to think or do about it all. Luckily I am not the one driving at the moment!

This week was incredible. We were able to have zone conference and learn a lot from our mission president. We talked a lot about families and also the Plan of Salvation. Sister Hansen and I walked away with many goals and things that we want to work on; one being getting more acquainted with Preach My Gospel. It is amazing to see the difference in mission presidents, and even though we have been out awhile, we still need to adhere to the things that our new mission president wants us to do. We have been working extra hard on all the changes and things have been going great!

We also had a miracle happen to us. We were in the Relief Society room practicing a song that Sister Hansen was going to be playing for 2 elders in our zone. While we were there, a member walked in the room and told us that a man named Dusty called the church building. Apparently, he wanted to meet with the missionaries. Sister Hansen and her previous companion had tracted into him the day of General Conference, and he didn’t keep his return appointment so they never went back. We were able to get his phone number, and we called to set up an appointment with him. In talking to him, he wanted to come check-out the church building. On Saturday we were able to give him and his daughters a chapel tour. Well, they didn’t end up coming to church, but it was great to be able to witness this man’s enthusiasm to come see the church and check it out. If anything, he was able to see what we do, who we are, and we were able to explain to him how we worship. I would still count it as a blessing!

Something that Sister Hansen and I have needed to work on better is teaching with the pamphlet. That is the direction that a lot of missions are changing to, and we have had a hard time with it. Lucky for us, we have had a missionary return home, and they had this going on in their mission for awhile so she sat down and helped us more with it earlier this week so we would become better at it. We are so grateful for her time because our mission president has asked us to train the missionaries on it when we are on exchanges. Sister Hansen and I were dreading it because we didn’t know how we were going to teach something that we ourselves were 1) NOT good at and 2) did NOT like. After a couple of hours and a lot of prayers, we were able to get a good handle on it and know that this is what we were supposed to do.

We were also able to hold another exchange this week that didn’t go as well as we hoped but we were able to see where we are needed and how we can help other sisters in our stewardship! We were able to have a wonderful teaching appointment with one of our member’s neighbors. Apparently, she is looking for religion and how to develop a stronger belief in God but has not been able to find a church that accepts her life style- she is lesbian. We told her that as missionaries we answer people’s questions and help them develop a stronger testimony of their Savior. She said that that was something that she wanted to do and develop in her life, so we met with her and helped her with some things. We are going to meeting with her again this Thursday and hopefully begin teaching the Restoration of the Gospel! :)

OH!!! During Zone Conference we were challenged to dedicate 3 hours a week to Family History and fill out a booklet that the mission would be providing for us. WELL, Sister Hansen and I already had one at the apartment. We got started right away, and we found out that WE ARE RELATED!!!! It may be very distant but still, it’s awesome! We are going to start implementing finding by introducing family history, so I am working on getting that all figured out again and then implementing it into those that we are teaching.

All-in-all, this week has been great. We have another exchange coming up this week and already a full week planned. We are leaving out of the mission tonight to go visit a recent convert who is suffering from cancer and is basically on his death bed. He only had the church as family, so we were given permission to leave the mission to go and minister to him and help him keep the faith. It is sad, but he is remaining strong and should be getting his patriarchal blessing soon.

I know that that is not the best note to leave on, but I am so grateful for the opportunity that we have been given to help people in all circumstances of life. I know that I can do anything through the Lord who strengthens me because I am weak. I was telling my mom how it is has snowed here so much yet I am warmer than I would anticipate, and I know that that is a blessing of the Lord. I am grateful for Him, and I know that He can do all things. He has blessed us so much, and I am so grateful for the blessing of having the restored gospel in my life. We were talking about how great it is to be missionaries and that is the reason... there is truth on the earth. WE HAVE REASON TO REJOICE!!!!! I love you all so much, and I hope that you remember to give thanks to the One who deserves it all! I love this work so much, and I love my job!

-         Sister Gale