Changes

25 May 2015

Laurel wrote little this week, but said she is very excited to have moved to Ocean View Ward in Anchorage and be companions and a sister trainer leader with Sister Watts, who came out with her on the mission, and whom she really likes.

Laurel with Sister Watts, thanks to Sister Rindlisbacher

Gratitude

18 May 2015

Hi Laurel's friends. I think she got behind this week and didn't write a group letter. Here's some of what she wrote home:

So I was reading mosiah 2-5 (so good) and it finally connected how inseperably linked gratitude and humility are.  I am realizing that gratitude is an actual PRACTICE that leads to this one-ness and "being". Gratitude in its perfect form is an exact understanding of what god has done for us, and therefore who he is.  once we understand that, like the people of king Benjamin, we have a realization of our role as "less than the dust of the earth" but at once we grasp how much god loves us because he gave us so much and that somehow makes all our frustrations with our nothingness alright.  All of this leads to the kind of humility that pushes us to repent and receive a remission of our sins, and when we understand how the lord has guided our past we understand that he will guide our future likewhys, as in "be still my soul".  Then we understand that when we keep the commandments, all things really do work together for our good and therefore we have no need for fear, and no fear means faith. faith means miracles.....

all this has astounded me because gratitude is SO DOABLE.  I had the spirit tell me strongly that of all the goals i could have in my life, working on and practicing gratitude as a mentality will bless my life more than anything else.  I never really loved gratitude, i thought of it more as a something to tack on a cute church handout or sneak into my prayers at night as a duty, but i am just beginning to realize that it actually has real power, that when used correctly and aggressively it is the catalyst to humility.  anyway. 

My Baby is growing up!!!

11 May 2015

Laurel's Mother's Day call

Today begins week 11 of 12 weeks of training.  How does that even happen??? yeah.  its really strange. week 11 is senior week, meaning Sister McGraw gets to take some of the responsibilities for planning, teaching, organizing.  She's doing great although its almost given her a heart attack every day. 

Charity's baptism was wonderful!  Very humble. there were some people in shorts (cause its in the 40's and 50's here) but hey.  if that's their version of sunday best, I'm not gonna argue. the spirit was strong and that's what I care most about.  charity's husband and neighbor both came and her neighbor agreed to have a lesson with us!  That spirit is a tricky thing.

Ma'lorie and Ciara are going to make me go grey all on their own.  Ma'lorie is moving out (to who knows where) and Ciara is moving in a felon who is her brother from another mother, as she puts it.  I got all this dang love in my heart for those two. No judgment on felons, though, I have met a lot of really great ones.  

Samantha didn't make it to church, which means we get to creatively contrive a way to have one more lesson and her baptismal interview, when she works all day every day up until her baptism, and doesn't have a car, and lives outside our boundaries. 

Katie is still chewing tobacco, but has desires for baptism still. We did her practice baptismal interview, and she didn't know what a living prophet meant, who joseph smith was, or what repentance was.... so... we opted to do a few more weeks of training first. 

Brandy is now to her normal, copable level of insanity, which means we can say about three sentences without her changing the subject, instead of 0.2, and so we can definitely deal with that.  I can't wait to see how the holy ghost adds clarity to her mind, because I know it will do wonders.  She really is incredibly brilliant.  once she channels it she'll amaze the world. I feel it.  And she is so dang sincere.  It almost broke her heart that she missed her baptismal date.  But it will happen.

We have miraculously gotten a few new investigators, too, which has been a dream come true.  We pretty much had to do nothing.  one came to the baptism, another came to church and said she wouldn't mind being baptized. The Lord is good.

And that's another week in Inlet View ward.  The Crazy, most miraculous and complicated area in this mission.  at least that I have ever worked in.  Its never boring!  That's one thing :)

I love you all :)

Sister Galli

refining moments

4 May 2015

A short list of refining moments:

• watching one of our investigators  go from "agitated, ADD, funny, quirky"  to "totally and literally insane"  it was pretty.... interesting.  She's being taken to the hospital or so they tell me.  She was going to be baptized on Friday, but its been quitesomething to watch the adversary work through her mental illness.  she stopped sleeping, she started  hallucinating during our lessons... its been a trip.
• being the mediators between our recent convert and her daughter, while they weep, wail, and gnash their teeth. and when the cops are called.  I don't suggest anyone living in an apartment throw a boiling pot of water at anyone else.  the neighbors don't like it.
• seeing a different investigator struggle to quit chewing tobacco, and struggle with her testimony through it. 
• discovering that my amazing companion had driving anxiety and learning to teach city driving and deep breathing at the same time
• hearing that another recent convert has officially drunk through all his money, lost his job and is now homeless.  We scan for him and occasionaly find him covered with vomit and swearing. 

and through all that.... its been one of the most amazing weeks of my life.  To every action there really is an equal and opposite reaction, and I have felt so strengthened, filled with love, have my little patience stretched, and most of all, experiencing GRACE.  strengthen, uplift, inspire, motivate..  God is so good, and I love him so dearly. I hope you can look for the grace in your refining moments, and see those moments for what they are: opportunities for you to reach into yourself and find Christ.

He loves you, I love you

Sister Galli