Departing Temple Trip {February 20, 2015}

Dear Brother and Sister Gale,

Attached is a picture of your missionary from our departing missionary temple trip. We have truly enjoyed serving with her.  Her testimony of the gospel has been evident in every aspect of her service.   We will miss her.

Thank you for supporting and loving your missionary.  We appreciate her service and dedication in the Idaho Pocatello Mission.

With love and appreciation,

President and Sister Brinkerhoff

Hogs, Kids, and Chicks {February 16, 2015}

Dear Chandlerites and whoever else read this,

 

Hey! So….I’m going to just get right into my photos.

We went to someone’s farm and saw a bunch of happy animals. LOTS OF PIGS.

​….some adorable little calves….pretty little guy.s…

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And geese and curly feathers,

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and scary chickens,

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and I drew myself as a student of hogworts for Sister King…I know. I’m a professional artist. 

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So today is my last P-day. That’s weird. But we’re going to have an AWESOME WEEK. I would tell you more, but I guess I’ll probably be emailing next week in the mission home? I don’t know. But I have to save some cool stuff…

 

My scripture I’d like to share is 1 Nephi 19:18…but I’m going to change it a little to have my name in it because that’s fun….

 

 

And I, Sister Gale, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer.

 

I guess that’s the entire point of writing these emails. I mean yeah the stories are good to tell and all but really I’d like you all to just come closer to Christ. That’s my purpose as a missionary anyways.

 

Well, I don’t have much else to say this week! See you soon!!!

 

Love,

Sister Gale

Good Mornin’! (TobyMac!) {Feb 9, 2015}

Hullo Wurld! 

 

Hhhhow are you?! I’m doing fine and dandy here in Arizona…I mean Idaho….There has been a CRAZY heat wave. Highs in the 50s. What the. We’re using AC in the car. 

 

Photos:

 

Chemical burn from whitening strips…ew

another one of the photo things my parents asked for…

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Me with a bone at the Teton Dam sight…ew

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annndd an envelope from Sister King….I would show you the drawings she sent but my camera died.

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This week we had Korean food (it was good. Not like Takamatsu back home, but for Driggs, Idaho? Not bad!)

 

We lost two investigators due to parents not wanting us to teach them anymore, but we gained one back due to parents wanting to come back to church! Wow!

 

I’m happy and doing well. My thought this week is more of a reminder to myself than anything…

You see. I know that my time is ticking, I know I will be home soon, but that doesn’t really matter. There’s a reason I have these last few weeks left on my mission. There’s someone I need to talk to for a life to be changed. Maybe I just need it. Maybe I’m the one that needs the last weeks. Or maybe someone needs me. I don’t know. All I know is I can’t slow down or give up just because I’m nearly there. 

 

Have a great week everyone! I love you!

 

Love,

Sister Gale

Hey Hey Heyyyyyyy {Feb 2, 2015}

Dear Mouse-Pads and Keyboards,

 

How’s it going? Good? Gooooood. 

 

This week was good n stuff. We had interviews with our Mission President. That’s always cool. He reinvited my companion and I to commit to meeting the Standard of Excellence before I go home, which means at least two baptisms. We know we can do it. It’s just going to be way hard. But that’s okay. Missionary work is not suppose to be easy. 

 

But really. These last few weeks are going to be a roller coaster. We had dinner with this RM girl and she said that she was pretty much bi-polar the last few weeks and the a couple weeks after getting home she got way depressed. Yayyyyy. Exciting! Can’t wait! (That’s sarcasm if you couldn’t tell)

 

Here’s a couple of photos….

Cow with the Tetons in the back again. The sun was hitting the Tetons all cool, but it didn’t capture it liked I hoped it would in the photo. Oh well.

​And a selfie, because I haven’t done that in a while. Long while. I think. I’m not sure. Don’t really remember what I write each week.

 

But my thought this week I wanted to do something about moving forward. Kind of for me, but also for everyone else. I don’t really have a scripture for this but I’m reminded of something one of my young women leaders said about the iron rod. She said she liked to envision it being a vertical rod instead of horizontal. Having it vertical reminds you that you have to keep moving up otherwise you will start to slip down. If you are not progressing then you are regressing. This is something I need to keep in mind for my last few weeks, but also just in life in general. After my mission I can’t just stop. I have to keep moving forward. My mission has been one of the best, most spiritual times of my life up to this point, but it can’t be the best, most spiritual part of my entire life. There are things to come that are going to be even more. 

 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Gale 

Something About My Life as a Missionary in the IPM {Jan 26, 2015}

Dear Characters in my story,

 

Hey! How’s it going! 

 

Here’s the photo I took last week but didn’t feel like posting:

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Isn’t she cute? 🙂 

 

Also, a frosted tree:

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Also, my District Leader hanging out of our car (don’t worry, we weren’t moving): 

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This week was pretty much the same as any other week. I made a mistake though.. I was washing my clothes and since I’m not a mom I forgot to check my pockets to take my little chapstick out…..well….the clothes were white…and so I had pink stain ALL over my clothes. Sad day. But then I thought about the atonement….

 

Isaiah 1:18

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

 

After hours of bleach and various whitening products I finally got almost all the stains out. The only stains are on the inside. I feel like having them on the inside gives me a reminder of the silly mistake I made, but the clothes were made clean after a lot of work. That is how it is for us. We can be made clean of our sins, but we will still remember them so we won’t make the same mistake again. 

 

That’s pretty much everything. I love you all! See you in less than a month (CRAZY).

 

Love,

Sister Gale

Literally Nothing to Talk About {Jan 19, 2015}

Dear Pepto Bismal and Milk of Magnesium,

 

So I’m really just like. Eh (not in a bad way), I just don’t really know what to talk about anymore haha. 

But yesterday was awesome 🙂 We didn’t know where to go, so we prayed and Sister Latu said to go to this one house. When we knocked on the door a little girl answered it and was SO excited to see us. She said “I know who you are! You are church people!”

So now we have three new investigators. YEEAHHHH!!!

I found one of my new favorite scriptures this week in Alma 16: 15-17…

 15 And thus did Alma and Amulek go forth, and also many more who had been chosen for the work, to preach the word throughout all the land. And the establishment of the church became general throughout the land, in all the region round about, among all the people of the Nephites.

 

 16 And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming—

 

 17 That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord their God. 

 

Okay okay, so really I just like it because it’s pretty much talking about Sugar City. It’s 98% LDS here. And there are many others called with the missionaries to preach the word. WOW! I love it! But the Lord is still preparing the people, even if there aren’t that many. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Gale

Forever is Composed of Now’s {Jan 12, 2015}

Dear Littlefoot and….Petrie,

 

So this week was a week of service. We painted and helped at a food bank. But let me tell you about the food bank. It was creepy! It was at an old Girls’ Reform school thing. Had solitary confinement and everything. 

 

Also, we’ve had a lot of deer. Well. Deer jerky and roast. I liked the jerky, but the roast was meh. 

 

Also, I’ve discovered my “bubble” is terrible now. It freaks me out when a dude stands near me. I’m like whoa. I’m a Sister. 

 

Anyways, to the photos!

 

A cool panoramic of the top of a hill (someone’s house)

 

Beautiful mountain thing….dirt road adventures

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SHEEP.

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Sunset over the snow (it looks like waves)​

Bullet holes……? Is this the Goonies?

And the price photo of the week….it was SO foggy yesterday. BEAUTIFUL!

​And for my thought this week…

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haha…now for real…

 

Something that my District Leader (he and I go home the same time) said this week…

 

“Sometimes it’s hard to trust the Lord’s timing because it’s not always what we want, but when He reveals His timing to us we should rejoice that He is opening new doors to us. Now is the time to go through them.”
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Elder A. Simmons 2015

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

 

Oh! And I’m staying in Sugar with Sister Latu for my last transfer! Death by Sugar….hahah

 

Love,

Sister Gale

Breezes Sweet as April in Seville {Jan 5, 2015}

Dear Christopher Columbus and Marco Pollo,

 

Another week in the IPM has come and gone, and so has another year. What the. 

 

It was a pretty cold week….it got down to negative 24 one night while we were out (who even knows how low it was while we were sleeping…) but this week there is suppose to be a heat wave. Highs in the 40s. Gotta start pulling out my summer clothes! Jkjk 

 

We went to Driggs for New Years. That was a fun drive! We were closer to the Tetons so that was fun. We ate bear meat. Yes. Bear meat. Bear burgers to be exact. It was…interesting. “A little gamey” and chewy, but I didn’t mind it.

 

We’re getting transfer calls this week. These will be my last transfer calls. Whattttt. 

 

Yeah. So here are my photos of the week…

 

Sister Latu with a HUGE crazy icicle. WOW.

Icicles o.O

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Dad has been asking for a photo like this….not sure if this is what he wanted…?

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The Tetons! Prettttty 🙂

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Weekly selfie…….eh.

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Prettiest door. Random. Don’t care.

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Well that’s everything. 

 

My spiritual thought this week is from President Gordon B Hinckley

 

“I would hope, I would pray, that each of us … would resolve to seek those who need help … and lift them in the spirit of love into the embrace of the Church, where strong hands and loving hearts will warm them, comfort them, sustain them, and put them on the way of happy and productive lives.”

 

I feel this is one of my goals on my mission is to leave a legacy love in the areas I’ve served in, and that’s a challenge I leave y’all! Love and help others. I love you all!

 

Have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Gale

Sister Latu Prayed for Snow {Dec 29, 2014}

Dear Dragons and other Dragons….

 

I’m just going to get right to it this week with the photos 🙂

 

 

I left the room (with my companion) for 5 minutes…..NEVER leave your camera in a room of Elders….seriously. What the. Dorks. Dorkdorkdorkkkksssss. I can’t even.

 

 

Sister Latu prayed for snow for Christmas…”ask and ye shall receive”!! Goodness. It was CHRISTMAS Day. We got a White Christmas the day of. WOW! Always trust Polly prayers.

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Sister Latu being Sister Latu 🙂

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CRAZY icicles. Idaho people like “those are normal…..?” No. No they are not people. Those would ones that would impale you…(I’m not talking about Oolaf right now)

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and my usual selfie. The props (in–n-out hat and cotton) would be courtesy of my dear mother. They were Christmas presents.

That’s pretty much our week. We watched How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2 on Christmas Eve. Can I just say RUDEEEE to H2TYD 2??!?!?! Ahhhhgggg. “A little fire can’t kill me” APPARENTLY IT CAN. Dumb. The Elders were even tearing up. I was just yelling at the TV a little (I really was. No joke, yo). Oh well………..

 

And for my thought this week I’m going to use one of my favorites about the Atonement and forgiveness….

 

Isaiah 1:18

 

 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

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I was thinking about this scripture a lot this week because of the snow. Is that cheesy? Maybe. But I love seeing symbols that remind us about our Savior and that is one of them! Snow is oxyclean white and so is there is any sign of impurity then you will see it, but because of Christ that spot can be taken away and we can be perfected by Him.

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Gale

Feliz Navidad! {December 22, 2014}

Dear People of the World,

 

Hey! Merry Christmas everyone! I’m not going to write much because I’m calling my family this week…(sorry to the rest of y’all…kinda….)

 

I have a picture of me with a lizard on my shoulder, but I forgot the cord to get it on the computer (it didn’t go on the SD card for some reason…)

 

But I have some other photos!

 

I don’t know what these people were getting in the mail…but…it looks interesting……?

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CHEAP gas! We even saw a place that had it for $2.24. What the heavens? Is this the 90s? Whatever.

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and the usual selfie because why not.

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We had a good week. We re-set two baptism dates and we’re calling our families this week. Uhhh, I don’t have much to say other than that though….sorry. I mean I do. But I don’t really have the time today to talk about it haha…

 

Today though I’d like to talk a little about miracles. I was reading in this month’s Ensign and it said something in one of the articles about how when we pray we allow ourselves to receive miracles. I then remembered something I read in the Bible Dictionary one time…

 

“…they are simply works, or the natural results of the Messiah’s presence among men; they are wonders, marvels, because of the effect produced on those who saw them.”

 

So do you see what I was thinking? Prayer invites miracles which is evidence that Christ is walking with us. What a promise! If you pray, you will see the evidence of Christ in your life and He will bless you.

 

I love you all! Merry Christmas!

 

Love,

Sister Gale