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 

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

E.T. (No Phone Home….yet) {December 15, 2014}

Dear Elliot and….E.T…(I don’t know the little girl’s name),

 

So this week was quite eventful. QUITE. 

 

Sister Hancock is a DYNAMITE missionary. Really. She saw some people outside and was all like “let’s talk to them.” So we did. And we have a new person to teach now. Whattttt. It was great.

 

AND. We contacted one of our referrals. It’s for a 10 year old boy (cutest guy everrr). Fun story time. When we knocked on the door the kid said his mom was sleeping so we talked to him just a little and left him with a He is the Gift pass-along card. Then we got in the car. The kid starts running after us and told us his mom was a awake. Turns out the mom was not asleep. She just thought we were missionaries from another church. 

 

We also had Zone Conference this week. It was fantastic (as always). We had Elder Christensen of the seventy there which is fun. And we have a new version of White Christmas that is for our mission:

 

IPM WHITE CHRISTMAS

I’m dreaming of a White Christmas

Just like the ones in Idaho,

As we’re on our mission, may people listen

To hear all the truth we know.

I’m dreaming of a White Christmas

Where we are bold and we invite.

May you thrust in your sickle with might,

And may all your converts be in white!

Yup.

Sister Hancock and I sang in the talent show. That was fun and terrible (don’t worry mom and dad, I have a video of it…you can see it in like 3 months). Both of us were practically hyperventilating. We thought we were going to pass out. It was great.

But…Sister Hancock is no longer my companion. You see, we had to have an Emergency Transfer (aka E.T.)….yeah….we got in a fight and I got a black eye….

​

Just kidding, just kidding! But we did get transferred again haha. It’s just because of car stuff. No fights 🙂

I have Sister Latu now as my companion. She is from New Zealand, but she grew up in Tonga. She’s been out six months and she just came up from Ammon. She’s awesome 🙂

So I guess I ought to tell you about our Stake Youth Fireside we had yesterday that was a success. Sister Whalen and I were planning one like this in Ammon, but I left before we were able to have it. The basic outline was there were a few youth speakers that gave a 3-5 minute talk about a missionary experience they have had. The remaining time we had open for questions (similar to Zone Conference and when we met with Elder Bednar). We invited our District Leader and his companion to be there so there could be Elders and Sister for the youth to have a full range of answers. The Stake President closed and we had little referral cards that we printed up. We didn’t get too many referrals, but the youth, the Stake Presidency, and the parents that came all seem to be SO excited for missionary work. I LOVED it! We could have gone on for hours, but it was only an hour and a half. 

 

What else? hmmm….I don’t know…Here’s a food picture of some crock-pot soup I made while with Sister Hancock. It was SO good (we also made cabbage chicken wraps last week…going low carb here!).

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Weirdest Primary room ever (tiny, child pews)…

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Yup! 

 

Great week! 

 

This week my thought is from something I read this morning in an old Ensign. It’s from Doctrine and Covenants and I love it! 

 

Doctrine and Covenants 24:8

 

8 Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.

 

I know it’s pretty short, but it’s such a great verse! I love how it reminds us that life isn’t all cupcakes and glitter, but you will have hard times. But that’s okay! Because the Lord will always be there. It reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon (Alma 7:11-12) which talks about that Christ has suffered every pain and infirmity, and He did that so He may know how to succor us or help us. He is the best friend that knows perfectly what challenges you are going through and He knows how to help you. I know I’ve come to feel that more on my mission because I only have Him to help me at times. 

 

I love being a missionary! It’s the best. It really is. I get to meet my friends that I haven’t seen since the Pre-Mortal life and so it’s fun! 🙂

 

Have a great week everyone! I love you!

 

Love,

Sister Gale 

What the… {December 8, 2014}

Dear Numbers and Figures,

 

Well hello there again!! This week was interesting and a hoot, let me tell you. I have my friend, Sister Hancock again and it’s fantastic! Ahhhh she’s great and I love her.

 

Anyways. I got an eye dilated this week (only one though so I looked pretty silly).

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Crazy eyes!!! I promise I’m not THAT stressed haha….

 

And our Zone Leaders and District Leader put black lipstick on for us (because we met our goals as a District….I died laughing…)

Elder Huish, Robinson, and Guilisane.

Funny, funny boys. 

 

Photo from the transfer place with Elders Soren and Cortez (I’m wearing ridiculous gloves for the purpose of snowballs)…

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and it was SO foggy yesterday. I loved it. SO cool. We wanted to take more photos but we had to be missionaries and do a street contact at the park. It was so cool. Neither of us really have done that before…

 

This photo is of a couple of boys in the stake. They were out getting Fast Offerings and I thought it’d be a cool photo. I didn’t get it exactly how I wanted it because there was a man in the way, but that’s okay. It’s still neat.

That’s my photos for the week. Haaaah. Anyways. We had A LOT of fun this week. Between locking the keys in the stake offices and our member getting about 50 million packages while she was gone (and not even small packages. No. Like. 50 inch TVs and things of that sort). 

 

Anyways. That’s pretty much all I have to say…

 

This week’s thought is another Christmas thought…It’s from 2 Nephi 19:6 

 

 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

 

We shared this a lot last year and I still love it. I love the names it gives for Christ, but my favorite is probably The Prince of Peace because that is who He is! He is joy and peace and love. Because of His birth, we can have joy. ahhhhh I love Him and I love the Christmas season because people are thinking about Him more. 

 

So remember Him this season, but always remember Him! I love you all! Have a great week!!

 

Love,

Sister Gale

Short Pday… {November 24, 2014}

Dear Ice and Slush,

 

So. My pday is only one hour today so…I’m probably going to talk more about last week next week. Haha…sorry….

 

But I have some photos (not a whole lot)

 

Tractor…(It’s a John Deere 8850 in case you didn’t know)

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LOTS of hats (“Caps for sale! 50 cents a cap!”)

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And a mirror selfie…the rose cape thing-ie was $4 and I LOVE IT. It’s sassy.

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This week…

-we met with K’leigh and had a great lesson going over the baptism interview questions. 

 

-found a new investigator (Halee)

 

-cleaned John Deere again

 

-wore blue lipstick (our investigators kept their commitment to read, so we kept our promise to wear the lipstick)

 

-had some funny hail-snow stuff…it looked like dippin dots and it felt like floam…I don’t get it…but it wasn’t fun driving in

 

I love you all and invite you to have a prayer this week of just giving thanks. Our Heavenly Father wants to you know what you are thankful for. So count your blessings! It’s for you benefit, trust me.

 

Talk to you soon!

 

Love,

Sister R. Gale

SNOW! Yessss. {November 17, 2014}

Dear Flurries and Drifts,

 

Hello my loves!! Oh it is a BEAUTIFUL Monday morning. The sun is shining, the snow is glittering, and I get to talk to y’all! Yeah! 

 

This last week we finally got snow. And it SNOWED. I mean it is like up to my ankles. It’s fun. I still have yet to build a snowman or make a snow angel, but the winter has just started! Look forward to a snowman with my tag on it. I’ll probably use a potato for it’s nose and stuff. haha.

​(snowflakes…duh!)

 

We got to help in the John Deere store this week. We swept, mopped, and cleaned the windows. And we got some little goodies. It was fun and the family we went with is SO funny. We are wanting to teach the girls. We left them with a contact that if they would read one chapter from the Book of Mormon, we’ll wear blue lipstick the next time we come over. We got a text from their mom saying that we will indeed be wearing blue lipstick this week. Yes! Keeping commitments!

Here’s one of the little goodies we got. It’s just a little John Deere lawn mower keychain. The wheels move. It’s so COOL. And look at it being all up in the snow with the snowflakes. 

Again, speaking of snow. I was driving in it for the first time in my life. It’s not really as bad as people say. I started to slide a little in an intersection down, but don’t worry. I got out of it real fast. I’m a pro snow driver. I just drive REALLY slow. And I mean slow slow slowwww. That makes me a pro, right? Right. Cool.

 

At some points we couldn’t see the car in front of us, but this is a clearer storm. We could see a good distance haha.

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Selfie. Because that’s what I do….

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Alright…what else to talk about?

 

Oh! Elder Martino for the Mission Tour I guess haha. That was FANTASTIC. Oh man. It built up during the entire thing. It helped me feel like being like BAM! Let’s do this! Not much more to say for that hah…

 

My District Leader had some Personal Priesthood Interviews (PPIs) with us this week (don’t worry, the door was open and our companions could see us…President just wanted them to do it). Anyways, in the interview my District Leader, Elder Robinson from Queens Creek (aka “Quins Crick”), said I was “different.” I gave him a weird look for that. So he explained. He said that he can tell that I just do what I do pretty much. That I’m myself and genuine. I appreciated the compliment. I’m happy to be different. haha

 

Yesterday we had a dinner with a family that has a three year old daughter with Down Syndrome. She was SO stinkin’ CUTE! It was killing me. I wanted to hold her so bad! But I didn’t. White handbook tells me not to let children sit on my lap. Oh well. Still really cute girl. 

 

For my thought this week I’ll be talking about way back when the Lord commanded the saints to move to Ohio. In Doctrine and Covenants 38 it says…

 

 32 Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high;

….

 37 And they that have farms that cannot be sold, let them be left or rented as seemeth them good.

So what did the Lord ask them to do? Leave things for something that is better. WAY better. “Leave in New York.” What are some “farms” that we have that we are not willing to leave for the kingdoms that are prepared for us? If there are things holding us back, leave them in New York! You can’t be in Ohio and New York at the same time, no matter how hard you try. I know as a missionary there are things we have to leave in New York…but we’re doing it for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. Because we love them!

I love you all and hope you have a great week. I challenge y’all to find something that’s keeping you from Ohio, and leave it. Break up with the world. “It’s not me….it’s you! You’re gross.”

Okay.

okay.

Anyways.

Love you!

Love,

Sister Gale

Is It Winter Yet? {November 10, 2014}

Hello Olaf and Sven! 

It’s starting to get chilly here in Idaho, but it’s not all that cold yet. I think this week it’s suppose to get cold. I don’t know. But anyways…I sound like an Idaho person…talking about weather and all…what the…

 

Yeah!

 

So it was a good week. We set a baptism date (!!!) with a girl named K’leigh (you might see her name spelled like “Kaylee” or “Kailey” or “Cailey”). She’s awesome. She told us her mom and sister were baptized recently so she wants to be baptized here in a couple of months. So we asked her about January, but she said “How about December?” UH. YEAH. So her date is for December 13th. Please pray for her. Thanksss!!!!!

 

What else?

 

Oh. Well. We have a TON of appointments this coming week. I think Sister Brough said we have eleven appointment! YEAH! We have so many appointments that we weren’t sure what to do yesterday because we pretty much have an appointment with almost everyone we’re teaching. That’s crazy! Ahhhh….blessings….

 

We had some Mexican food this week. And it was SO. GOOD. It was some random place right outside of Sugar. It was called….Taqueria or something? I don’t know. All I know is I want to go back. I got some chicken and rice plate (I asked the lady what her favorite dishes were, and this was one of them). It had mushrooms and it kind of reminded me of curry. YUM. I miss Mexican food. haha….Y’all back home need to have some today for me…

 

So funny story…well..it’s not much of a story…but! One appointment we had this week was with a girl that is a recent convert. She’s about 12 years old and LOVES Monster High. She started to show us her dolls and let me tell y’all. They’re actually pretty cool. Sister Brough and I are half tempted to get one, but then we’re like nahhhhhh. We want food. Sometimes I wonder if I’m actually 21. Probably not. I look like I’m 15 apparently. Oh well!

 

Photo Time!!

 

So this is a little blurry, but it’s a photo I took from our area of the Rexburg Temple. It’s pretty cool that we can see it all the time in our area.

 

And an elk that’s chillin’ on an elk farm…They’re kind of creepy sounding…

So I colored my hair again (by request of the Mission President’s wife). Here is a before…

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Anndd after…It’s just darker and less red…I actually used Dollar Store hair dye…it’s not half bad! I mean it didn’t cover completely but I think I needed to leave it in longer than I did. Oh well. Good enough for me!

 

And the moon was lighting the clouds cool last night…

 

This week my spiritual thought is a little Disney. I love Disney. It’s great. Back in the Sister King-Era we were listening to some Disney stuff and Walt Disney’s voice came on. Both of us gasped and I said, “It’s like listening to the prophet!” 

 

I know. Terrible. But he’s like the prophet of the Disney faith (I don’t know what I’m talking about anymore). 

 

Actually. I change my mind. This was going to take too much explaining. 

 

Um..

 

Well here’s a good one from Nephi! (1 Nephi 11:17)

 

 17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

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I love Nephi. He’s a great teacher. He starts with what he knows and goes from there. Nephi had a lot of trials. I mean goodness! His brothers tried to kill him! But he learns from his trials because he knows that Heavenly Father loves him. 

 

I’m going to copy something I found on LDS.org about this verse…

 

Early in the Book of Mormon, an angel asks Nephi a tough question,“Knowest

thou the condescension of God?” Nephi answers, “I know that heloveth his

 children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things”

(1 Nephi 11:16–17). 

 

Nephi’s answer is a perfect statement for us to remember in times of trial. We

don’t know the meaning of all things. We don’t have all the answers to explain 

all the tragedies in the world and in our own neighborhoods. However, we 

know, we are sure, that God loves His children. Something wonderful happens when we really know, without a doubt, that God loves us our questions completely change. Instead of asking, 

“Why did this happen to me?” or “Why doesn’t God care about me?” we say,

“Well, I know God loves me; I know that. So what can I learn from this

 experience?”

 

Sometimes we think our trials come because we did something wrong.That’s not always true. Adversity is simply part of earth life. From it we can grow and 

progress if we choose to. Yes, some trials come because of our own disobedience, but many trials are simply part of life.

The scriptures contain many examples of righteous people who suffered:

Abraham, Abinadi, Joseph of Egypt, Joseph Smith, and even Jesus Christ.The

 fact is, bad things happen to good people. Brother Truman G. Madsen once 

asked President Hugh B. Brown of the First Presidency (1883–1975)

why the Lord would put Abraham through the experience of being asked to

sacrifice his own son. Obviously God knew that Abraham would be willing to do anything God commanded, and if that was so, why did the Lord put him 

through such a test? President Brown answered, “Abraham needed to learn

something about Abraham” (Joseph Smith the Prophet[1989], 93).

God already knows what we’re made of, but perhaps He wants us to learn what we’re made of. I think we would all agree that we learn more from our tough 

times than from our easy times. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. We don’t know the meaning of all things, but we know God loves His children! 

And because He loves us, He will never desert us.

​Well. I know for myself that my Heavenly Father love me and each of you. He’s our Father! Don’t forget Him. 

 

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

 

Love,

Sister Gale

I Think…It Broke….? {October 27, 2014}

​Dear….Everyone,

 

​So it was kind of boring week. That happens. Not every week is filled with excitement. Oh well! But we had Stake Conference this weekend. Saturday went great, Sunday? Ehhh. Still great but very different. You see it was being sent over via satellite to our different buildings in the stake and….the satellite feed dint’ work. Woops! So the High Councilmen talked some and after about an hour they basically just told us all to go home…It was very different haha. 

 

I again didn’t take many photos. Ehh. I have a photo of a creepy apartment complex in Teton….

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And a weekly selfie…

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Hmmm…what else to talk about?? I forgot my planner back home so I don’t have my notes haha…oops…

 

But I do have an interesting thought this week from the first night of Stake Conference. It’s about growing good corn. You see, there was this man that grew AWESOME corn. Blue ribbon at state fair and all that jazz. So a reporter was asking how he was able to grow such amazing corn and he said he shared the seed corn with his neighbors. How could that be? How could he afford to share his seeds with his neighbors? Well, he told the reporter that because the wind blew, the pollen from his neighbors’ fields pollinated his crops. If they had inferior pollen then eventually the cross-pollination of the inferior corn would contaminate his crops and make them not as fantastic. 

 

Now taking it to the gospel.

 

Why do we share the gospel with our neighbors? Because we want to give them the chance to “Come and See” what we have. 

 

“The Church of Jesus Christ always has been and always will be a missionary church” (Elder Bednar). 

 

I know that if you want to feel lasting joy, share what you have! 

 

 

Have a great week everyone! I love you! 

 

Love,

Sister Gale