Εβδομάδα 14: dried watermelon and promising investigators (;

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FRIENDS N FAM!

WHAT A WEEK! everyday I'm here I realize more and more how perfect this mission and these people here are for me. 

RECAP: 1 baptismal date set and 3 new investigators in church... aka more θαύματα (MIRACLES)!!
Sometimes I feel like its too good to be true, everyday has been SO great! 

Little side note: it's pretty funny how many people comment on my "perfect teeth and smile" and associate that with Americans haha, dentist and dental hygiene aren't really a thing here sadly.

Anywaysss...
We had our first lesson with Κωνσταντίνος on Wednesday...ANDDD we set a BAPTISM date for him! June 29th! He read the entire BoM in 3 months and basically taught the entire 1st lesson, pretty sure he already knows everything, it's CRAZYYY. But yeah, he's way awesome. He lives 4 hours away so we've only been able to keep in contact with him via phone calls, but looks like it was all worth it. He even said he was gonna go to Salt Lake City because that's where all the Mormons are lol 😂 So we're praying all keeps on track with him!

The 2 Kurdish guys from the "5 more minutes" story from week 12 came to church! And they live 2 HOURS AWAY! talk about dedicated. Every time we meet with them they have to take that 2 hour trip and we've already had 3 lessons. They are both GOLDEN and remind me of Grandpa Chan so much. They left their country to see if God and Christ were real and told us that they felt like we were angels when they found us. They have such a strong desire to find the truth and said they hope this is the true church because they don't wanna keep looking... you can only imagine what we were thinking when they said that haha 😏 We had a linger longer after church and they said they loved everything about what they've experienced and the members made them feel so welcome here. I hope it'll only be a matter of weeks before they're actually members themselves! 

COOLEST STORY! 
So we met a girl, Emmy, on the beach when the friend we were supposed to be meeting up with never showed up. We talked about a lot of things and then we got into the topic of church. She shared with us that 4 people very close to her had passed away within months of each other and that for a while she was angry with God because she didn't understand why she had to go through that. But then she had a dream. In her dream, the friend appeared to her, dressed in white, and was happy, laughing, smiling, and told her that she was okay and that they would see each other again. Emmy told us she had never felt a dream be so real in her life, and she has never been a believer of dreams being true until she had that one. But she didn't know what to think of it, only that she couldn't forget it and it continues to give her goosebumps thinking about it. We then talked about eternal families with her and testified of God's love for her and that we knew she would see her family and friends again one day 😇 We talked about the Book of Mormon and that God has a perfect plan for all of His children. After we had said all that and given her a BoM, she told us that as we were telling her all that, and sharing our testimonies, she felt that same goosebump feeling as she had in her dream. It was so familiar and she just wanted to cry because she was overwhelmed with so many good emotions. I know that finding Emmy was no accident and that we were led to her as we followed the promotions of the Spirit, because she was ready for our message. 

Thought of the week comes from the talk "As Many as I love, I Rebuke and Chasten", from Apr 2021 by D. Todd Christoffersen.
My favorite quote from this...
"Thank you for loving me enough to hurt me."
We need to be humble and patience to accept the Father's will to allow us to grow and become more obedient in everything we do. The turning point in our lives is when we stop avoiding correction and start seeking it. In sports, some of us may beat ourselves up or get frustrated when our coach correct us, or yells at us for doing something wrong. But that's only because he wants you to get better. The moment he stops giving you pointers, that's when you're in trouble, because that's when they've given up on you. Heavenly Father is like our ultimate coach, the coach that will never give up on us.

Feels like I just wrote one of these but time sure goes by quick when you're on the Lord's errand 😉
Thank you for all your love and support, love you guys!

Love,
Sister Gale ❤

PICS!
1. Streets of Greece
2. Made some friends while beach finding
3. Enjoying the pretty sunsets with Grasiella! A recent convert here
4. May have gashed out my knee a bit with my 1st bike accident... Όπα! *whoops*
5. Dried watermelon and literally anything you can think of at this place)
6. Delish American meal for district meeting









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