Εβδομάδα 27: ¨BLACK MAN TIME" ;)

HEYYY!!!

So this one is gonna be a long one since I don't have time to condense it all down so it's basically like my journal entry for each day. And since every day is INCREDIBLE and AMAZING and FULL OF MIRACLES... well, it's quite a read. 

And then of course pics are worth a 1,000 words so those are coming ;)

So for anyone looking for a quick down low of what's up over here in Larnaca, Cyprus here's it is:

•We now have 4 baptismal dates for next month, our companionship is on FIRE! 

•Martin, a SOLID investigator, is a literal preacher and actually helped to translate and teach 2 more potential investigators even tho he hadn't spoken French for years! The Spirit has been reminding him with our voices to pray and read the scriptures each night haha! 

•Transfer calls happened... didn't expect one. Sis Kruger is getting transferred to Nicosia and I'm staying in Larnaca. Our hearts were kinda torn out when we got this call. Both the Zone leaders and us STLs are being split up this next transfer, it's kinda crazy. But the Lord has something big planned and we gotta trust him. There will be 6 sisters in Cyprus instead of 4 now! 

•took an adventure to ΤΡ'ΟΟΔΟΣ for pday! Up in the mountains is like an entirely different country and climate! And it is STUNNING! Don't worry Daddio I soaked it all in for ya! Reminded me of all the hikes and camping I did with my family. Love the FRESH AIR! and bearable humidity! 

Sister Kruger and I have been talking about how we love be missionaries for the fact of purely serving, being a listening ear, and bringing the Spirit. WE LOVE OUR MISSION WE LOVE EACH OTHER WE LOVE THE GOSPEL AND EVERY PERSON WE GET TO SHARE IT WITH. so much pure joy in our life right now that we are just radiating! We have the answers to so many life questions as missionaries and get to lead our friends to the resources of truth so they can find out for themselves. When we invite the Spirit, it won't just help them understand,  but it will literally HEAL them.

Missions CHANGE you and your perspective on everything! I would have never thought I would find so much joy in sitting in a room with someone I barely met and listening to then pour out their life problems, or feel so devastated when one of our friends isn't praying or reading the BoM, or feel so overjoyed when an investigator is receiving answers to their prayers, or be so excited when we see our friends come to church and becoming friends with members. Just everything about life right now just feels so unreal each soul is precious in the sight of God, HE KNOWS US. it's a miraculous experience, the good and the bad. This is the mission. Living as Christ did. This is the best life. 

ΣΑΣ ΑΓΑΠΆΩ! ΝΑ ΈΧΕΤΕ ΜΙΑ ΚΑΛΉ ΕΒΔΟΜΆΔΑ ΜΕ ΠΟΛΛΆ ΘΑΎΜΑΤΑ! ΕΊΜΑΙ ΕΥΓΝΏΜΟΝ ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΈΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΑΓΆΠΗ ΣΑΣ!

ΤΑ ΛΈΜΕ!

Αγάπη, 

Αδελφή Γκεϊλ :)

•••

(And if your interested in the dailies or wanna read about some crazy miracles or need a spiritual boast then go for it haha....but here are the photos first!!

PICS!

1-8 ADVENTURE IN ΤΡ'ΟΟΔΟΣ!!

9-11 Λάρνακα branch picnic

12-13 the two families we teach!

14-18 music night in Λευκωσία

TUESDAY 8.13.19 Zone conference prep in the making! Ah we are SO EXCITED! We are going to teach on, 'keeping the end in view.' And relate the whole thing to a marathon. I love working with Sister Kruger, we just bounce ideas of of each other insanely well!

Then as we were about to leave the chapel, Martin walks in, so we stay and have a great lesson with him. He has a lot of questions which is the best. We're trying to help him learn to answer his own questions. We told him about CPR (Church attendance, Prayer, Reading scriptures) which he loved it! He also told us if he doesn't read the BoM, pray daily, and attend church every week he'll buy us juice! 

At the end we asked him to pray, so we knelt down and he asked if he could sing. We told him to go for it and after we knelt down he started to sing 'Hallelujah' over and over! Sister Kruger and I had to just about see up our mouths to stop from laughing!! We peaked our eyes open for a sec and were just trying our hardest to contain ourselves. When he had concluded his heartfelt praises to God through song, he said a powerful prayer and invoked the power of the Spirit upon me and Sister Kruger! 

The BEST prayer I've heard haha!! 

Martin told us at the end that when we wanted to meet with him or some activity we need to tell him "black man time" not "white man time" because Africans are always an hour late! He said, "just tell me black man time 7 pm if you want me there at 8 and I'll understand what you mean!" Haha he cracks us up!

WEDNESDAY 8.14.19 Today in the morning during companionship study we got a call from Gergana. She was in a mess and upset. She just needed someone to talk to. She told us that she had nearly run out of food for her baby (She can't breastfeed for some reason) and also was almost out of diapers. We dropped everything and told her we would be there in a few minutes because she just needed someone to talk to. After asking the Grovers to use the car, we drove over to her house and took a pit stop on the way to buy more diapers for her. She was so happy to see us! And was astonished that we would buy diapers for her and bring her cookies (miraculously we had baked cookies the night before and could bring some round to them)! She just needed to rant, complain and cry her eyes out. So we sat there for a whole hour just listening to her and comforted her occasionally to the best of our ability. She was so grateful that we would listen to her. Luke is great but can't really understand her mood swings. I think she definitely has some post pregnancy depression. The sweetest thing is that she was feeling so alone and sad, feeling like she had no friends, and then remembered that I had said she could call us any time - good, bad, in need of help, wanting a friend, absolutely anything! So she called us! So cool that she trusted us enough to call us and ask for a listening ear.

After she had calmed down a bit, she told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon! And also had questions about life and the church. She really wants to learn more about the message of the gospel that we have. She has questions specifically to do with how she can know if God is there (because she feels like she's been a little forgotten) and also why do bad things happen to good people. We told her that next time we come round we will share more with her but right then we had to leave as we were already late for District Council lunch. Totally worth the lost lunch time! I love their sweet family and want to help them so much! She has had a CRAZY life! She really opened up to us and told us all about her life. When she was born her father didn't want girls (She had 3 older brothers) and so forced her mum to leave her in the trash can or he wouldn't let her back in the house! What a man, ugh. So Gergana was left in a trash can, in a plastic bag, as a new born baby! Her mum now found her in the trash can, and having just given birth herself but the baby died, she picked Gergana up and took her back to the hospital and got papers for her. Her 2nd mum had a horrible husband who was an alcoholic and had no idea (and still doesn't) that Gergana wasn't his actual baby because he was drunk and oblivious to everything. He had no idea that his wife had given birth, lost a child and found another one! These men! My heart aches for these poor women! I can't imagine being them. Tragic. Gergana grows up with this alcoholic father who beats his wife and kids, and finally they get divorced. Gergana's mum finds another man, but he cheats on her mum! Eventually Gergana leaves home and tries to find a better life. She has such a big heart and all her jobs were doing caring work - like looking after housebound people - all because she wants to protect people who are vulnerable. What a sweet heart! I love her! Her crazy life doesn't end there. After getting in a car crash she is in a coma for 6 months and nearly doesn't wake up. Her mom is so sick and has a lot of heart problems. Later on she found out that she wasn't her mum's biological daughter which broke her heart but she still cares for her 2nd family. Then she gets in contact with Luke and decides to move to Cyprus to be with him. And now her mom is rejecting her and her child because her husband is black. And she has absolutely no money to take care of her family, yet she wants so desperately to provide for them. It just breaks my heart to know all the pain she holds in her heart and yet still all the love. What an amazing and strong woman. They are really struggling for money though and since they have only been here in Cyprus a few months they can't get any help from the government. 

All I want to do is help her! And her cute family!! And bless her heart, she was so baffled that people like us exist! She kept asking us why we would do this? Why would we even care about her, a complete stranger? Why would we, two young girls, use our money to go and buy diapers for her baby? Why would we do this? We told her we loved her, that's why! We expressed our absolute love for the Savior and our Heavenly Father and desire to follow them and serve God's precious children! She was just so astonished! I LOVE doing good!! We invited her to read form Mosiah 24 in the Book of Mormon because we thought it would help her today. She marked it and will read it!

District Council was amazing and just what I needed! Sister Kruger and I acted as the investigator in a role play and asked Gergana's question, "why can I not feel God with me when I'm trying to do good?" As the Elders taught us, I really put myself in her shoes and felt what she felt (not impossible after hearing her whole life story!) At first they started to answer our question directly, but it didn't really help me feel that they were answering my question. But then they introduced the Book of Mormon, and, ironically, shared Mosiah 24 with us, THAT'S when I started to feel like I was receiving answers to my question. They testified of the Book of Mormon, and as they did so it clicked in my brain that what they were trying to do was give me the Book of Mormon because if I read it, it would help me feel God's presence in my life. The Book of Mormon has so much power!! It is literally the tool that we must use to teach people about Christ and His gospel! It is THE sickle! 

We had some really good discussions about the needs of our investigators and how we could help them with their questions and needs. Serving here, we meet many people on a daily, who have so many needs, and have crazy life stories that we can barely relate to. Sometimes it can be so hard to put ourselves in their shoes because we have no idea what it's like to run away from a war-torn country and seek for refuge here, or not know where your next meal will come from! But I KNOW that the Book of Mormon has the power to heal spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and even physically. I KNOW it holds the answers to every question of our souls. And I KNOW that the Spirit can touch their hearts and understand them, in a way that we can't, in order to address all their needs. The Book of Mormon holds so much power we don't even understand! I felt to testify of God's plan for each of us, and did! I KNOW God has a perfect plan for each of us. He has created a way for us to come back to Him eventually and receive eternal life, and if we keep this in mind and teach with this as the goal, then we can receive and give so much hope!! The plan of God is a plan of love and eternal salvation for each of His precious children! I KNOW that He is ALWAYS aware of us. 

Then we went to the store with Sister Grover and she bought food for them for at least a week. Bless her heart. She is an angel. We took it to Gergana's house. I will never forget the look on her face when she walked out of the door, saw our hands full of shopping bags, and realized what we had done for her. She just said, "Why? ...Why?...Why would you do this for me?" She cried and expressed her gratitude a million times! It felt SO amazing to be bringing almost a physical salvation for her. We bought baby formula for Victor as well so that they wouldn't run out. She had no words. And THEN...We walk into the room where Victor is sleeping peacefully and see the Book of Mormon open to the chapter we asked her to read. And she tells us how amazing it is and that she's loving it! And then she says, "Why is it making me cry? I'm just reading and crying for no reason! I read the Bible and didn't feel this way, but I'm reading this and I'm crying! Why?" We testified of the power of the Book of Mormon and how it would bless her life and bring her closer to God. She wants to learn about the church and the message that we have. 

She calls us family, and we do the same. She doesn't want to call us friends because she says "Friends hurt me. Friends turn back on me. Friends wouldn't use their own money to buy diapers for my little boy. But you did that! You are my family!" And yes we are! We are all one big family! I feel like I really am starting to understand what it means to 'desire the salvation of others'. I LOVE being a missionary! 

And I love Gergana and her beautiful family!

Fatima will be baptized on the 14th September! We had another really sweet lesson with her and the Arabic speaking Elders. It went well and she is super excited for baptism! She is such an angel and we're so excited for her!! 

I have NO words for today. It was so hard to write this all down! There is so much in my heart that I can hardly express even a 10th of on paper, but all I know is that I love God's children. I love being a missionary. I love God's plan. I love the Book of Mormon. And I know that this is Christ's church once again established on the earth today. No other church teaches eternal families. No other church has the priesthood authority that can bind in Heaven what is bound on earth. In no other church on earth cab the Book of Mormon be found, with all the fullness of the truth and the gospel of Jesus Christ that can be found therein. 

My heart, today, has felt more Christlike love than I thought was possible. I literally felt as if I was walking in Christ shoes, feeling how he feels for us. I feel like I am beginning to understand what it means to want the salvation of others. I LOVE MY MISSION!!! ♡

THURSDAY 8.15.19 ANOTHER INCREDIBLE DAY AFTER ANOTHER THEY JUST DONT EVER STOP HERE!! The miracles we see ever day are just insane and the Lord is absolutely doing His work through us! We had a branch picnic party this morning and 3 of our investigators there! Fatimah, David, and Francis. Cyprus has so many holidays, and today was another one of em. This one was celebrating something about Mary ascending... not sure exactly, but who knows, they believe so many wack things. Anyways, it was a good turnout and the Filipinos were there, the Watts family, elders investigators, our investigators, and the Grovers! A good mix of everyone :) We played card games together, had hamburgers, and SEEDLESS watermelon for once! Ahh the joy's of being American and being spoiled with seedless melons haha. Our African friends were speaking some weird language that sounded like English but also wasn't and only they could understand it. I asked them "what language are you guys speaking?!" And they go "Pigeon!". What the heck is PIGEON?!?! So I ask them where it is spoken and they say Cameroon and Nigeria. Wilfred said he'd teach us the next language class we had, and that it's pretty easy. Basically just really bad english. And then Frank, one of the Elders investigators from Cameroon goes, "no don't learn Pigeon it will just ruin your english!" Wilfred continued trying to teach us and we'd attempt to repeat what he said and then Frank just starts busting out laughing. We go, "what's so funny?! What'd he make us say?!" Frank responds, "no no no it's not what you are saying, its HOW your saying it, you can't speak Pigeon!" So clearly we only have the gift of tongues for Greek here lol. We played this game called "Rounders" that the Watts introduced and it's almost like a mix of Baseball, and kickball, but also not in most ways. Mostly just confusing honestly. Elder Kirkman and I were there just trying to figure out what the heck was going on because we thought it'd be close to one of the American games but, welp, at least we tried to play! It was fun though, our friends were all playing and all in all it was a good picnic. Sister Grover drove us back and we did some weekly planning afterwards! Holy smokes we are just flooding with new friends, investigators, and lessons on lessons on lessons. Every week it seems like we just have an ever more packed week than the last! It is so amazing. Our weekly goals have only gone up each week I've been here with Sister Kruger! We love seeing that the Lord trusts us with His children and just keeps sending em one after another! And we're READY!  

We we also trying to plan our day in Nicosia tomorrow and one of the men we taught last time there, Emmanuel, randomly messages me asking if I want to go out talk with him over a drink. Sister Kruger quickly responded to him and made sure he understood our purpose very CLEARLY and oh boy, Emmanuel is so not interested in God as much as he is wanting to meet with me. He told us, "Sister Kruger can excuse us... Rachel, I really respect your purpose why you are here and in no way have any intention of distracting you girls. I'm sorry if  it seemed like that. But a man gat to be a man. I thought it will be great to air out how I have felt from day 1 meeting sis Kaylee." Men are SOOO weird here!!! We are making sure the elders are join us in the lesson we will have at his place tomorrow FOR SURE! So onto our schedule for today, we called Martin and asked if he would be available for a lesson and he of course says, "for sure for sure I'll be there for sure!" And we made sure he understood exactly what time and even said "Martin remember black man time 5 o'clock, white man time 6!" hahaha, we all started laughing at that. Man we love Martin. 

So we go to the church to meet Martin, and he calls us to let us know he is still waiting for the bus and that he is trying to be at the church ASAP. We decide to do some finding in the meantime of waiting for Martin. So we walk around the streets close by the church. Our eyes are just peeled on the lookout for Africans haha, as they always are. They are honestly 9.5/10 times the best, most reliable finding target! And WE FOUND 2 OF EM! 2 soccer players that had come to try out for a team but then didn't make it, Felix and Angel! We see good potential in them and hopefully will get to be teaching them soon!

Martin ended up arriving at the church 10 minutes before Bible class so we rescheduled his lesson for afterwards. We talked to him for a bit and man he had so much to tell and share with us! 1st thing. We asked him if he had looked over Romans 1-6 at all in prep for the class tonight. And WOWOW is he a bible expert. He stared quoting those exact chapters like he had it open in front of him... but he didn't! 2nd thing. Asked him how reading the Book of Mormon was going AND he's been STUDYING IT! YESSS! Next question. Was he PRAYING about it like we have asked him to do in every lesson, especially the last lesson we had with him. He had the funniest story about this! He said, "I was laying in bed last night and was super tired and closing my eyes and not wanting to pray. But THEN I heard Sister Kruger's voice saying, "ARE YOU SURE??!", so then I turned over on my other side and I heard Sister Gale's voice saying, "ARE YOU SURE YOUR GONNA PRAY???!" And then I remembered that I didn't want to have to buy you guys juices so I had to pray!" HAHAHA WE WERE ALL DYINGGGGGG Xs10! The previous lesson we asked him if he was going to PRAY about the BOM and he answered, "Yes, yes I will do that", and then we made SURE he would and kept repeatedly asking him, "Are you SURE Martin? are you SURE you're gonna pray?!" So it looks like we're basically haunting him every night with our voices. But ya know, the voice of the Spirit doesn't literally have to be the Spirit, it can be the voice of other messengers of God. And it seems like our voices get to fill that position! The Lord has a funny way of getting Martin to pray...."By small and simple ways are great things brought to pass" right?! haha ;)

Well right before Bible class, two French dudes who turned up an hour late to our first lesson so we had already left, texted us to say they were trying to find the church! We had completely forgotten about them to tell the truth, but overjoyed to hear that they were coming. They got a little lost, but half way through they turned up, ready to learn with their French bibles on their phones. Martin, who we found out two days ago speaks French, kindly translated for them for the rest of bible class, and then afterwards they joined us for our lesson with Martin, and Sister Grover. Wow Martin can preach! 

We taught about the Sabbath day and following the prophet. As we talked about the Sabbath day we asked them all if they thought it was important to keep the Sabbath day holy, including coming to church. Jonathan told us he didn't think it was important and we can gather anywhere without a church. About to answer his concern, we were stopped by Martin who goes, "May I say something to him on this topic?" We agreed and he proceeds to pull out the scriptures and teach from Hebrews 10:25 about gathering together to worship God. He testified, all in French, about the importance of church. Perfect scripture and preaching! Much better than anything we had in mind! As we carried on and talked about the sacrament, Jonathan had another concern about the using of water and not wine, claiming that wine was not bad for the body and was not a sin, but only when you got drunk did it become a sin - a little ironic as when we found Jonathan and Chris, they were chainsmoking and downing bottle after bottle of beer, clearly drunk. Martin testified again and we were able to keep the lesson focused, invited them all boldly to put God FIRST in their lives and let Him show us the blessings that He has in store for the obedient. They will all come to church on Sunday. And Martin is determined to be on time! What a CRAZY lesson! 

Funny translation moment: Martin was translating into French what we had said and blurted the sentence out in English and not French! Haha he's great! It was a good laugh! 

As we ended the lesson we promised Jonathan and Chris Books of Mormon in French if they came to church on Sunday. Martin asked, "You have the Book of Mormon in French!?..How many languages do you have?!" We told him the Book of Mormon is in almost every language and that we have many languages here in Larnaca ready to give them to people that are ready for them. Astonished, he said, "You guys are really prepared. You know (turning to Sister Grover) when I found out that they learn Greek just for their missions I was shocked! If there's one thing I've learnt from you guys it is that 'If you want to do something, do it well.'" Martin can see that everything in our church is prepared and that we really care about it. He told us that everything we do is perfect and we have all the pieces of the puzzle. So amazing that he recognizes that! We can see him growing stronger and stronger in his faith every day! What a wonderful process to be seeing unfold right in front of our eyes as a result of the efforts we are putting in with the spirit by our side to teach and touch the hearts to the people that we visit and boldly invite to follow Christ. We LOVE being here, serving together and learning every day!! 

Martin had not translated into French for a long time, but it was super cool to see him get better and better as he did it. We know that the Lord will aid in the preaching of the gospel to EVERY nation in EVERY tongue! We know that just as we have the gift of tongues as we teach in Greek, Martin also had the gift of tongues as he translated this lesson! What a perfect plan God has! 

Every single morning we are just so excited and think, "I wonder what the lord has in store for us today?" because EVERY SINGLE NIGHT we come home saying and reflecting on another one of those "BEST DAYS EVER"! And for anyone whose ever told me, "you have companions that you work well with, and companions you are best friends with, or some that you will just have to endure"... well Sister Kruger is already an all in 1 minus the enduring one because I don't ever wanna either of us to have to leave! 

FRIDAY 8.16.19 Spent the day in Nicosia! We went to see me "lover" as sis K says it aka Emmanuel. As far as he knows, I'm engaged! And of course, his roommate, Rosemary. The elders kindly came with us to protect me from any love attacks lol.

It turned out to be great lesson and we taught them how to study in the scriptures, using the topical guide, to answer the questions they had. Especially emphasizing the Book of Mormon. Rosemary is still very enthusiastic about being baptized, but she needs to really understand what she's doing! Love her though!

After almost dying in the heat, we tried to find a member called Linda. We THOUGHT we had the right address and drove 20 mins to her supposed house. Well turned out we couldn't even find her house number on the road we tried, even though it was the right road name. Getting back in the car we double checked the address and realized we had gone the complete wrong way! After driving another 18 mins we finally arrived! She is a lovely Scottish woman who married a Cypriot and has 4 Cypriot children. She has lived here a LONG time! And saw the church start up in Cyprus. She has seen it right from the beginning and for a few years there was no church here. Her husband and children are not members of the church. It's sad to and hard to understand how you can settle for anything less than a temple marriage. She told us a lot about the members here though and was very pleased to see sisters! She says we are very needed everywhere today because no one let's 2 men into their houses nowadays.

SATURDAY 8.17.19 Transfer calls were last night. But we weren't expecting a call since we were convinced both of us were staying in Larnaca. So we were just enjoying the night after getting back from Nicosia and catching up in our journals. Funny thing, we've actually been team writing our journal entries together on our phones and then transferring them into our journals because it's a lot quicker and we live the same day and have the same views on everything haha. So might as well have the same journal entry! Sister Kruger and I could have literally been born in the the same pea pod haha, I love her! Well we were writing in our journals and then thought, hmm maybe we should just check to see if President Anderson had called us, still not expecting anything. We looked and we had a missed call from President 1 minute before. We both kinda looked at each other confused about why President was calling us because we only get transfer calls if something was changing. So we called him back and he goes, "well hello Sisters! As you probably know this is a transfer call!" So we just quietly wait for him to say something after that. After a long, silent pause he goes, "are you excited???" And we kinds laugh it off like sureeee president of courseeee we're excited?????!!! And in our heads were just thinking, "what do you want president?! we will talk to you any night but this transfer call night!" And then he responds a little reluctant, "..well I can't here any excitement ha. Ha. Ha..." and that's because WE WEREN'T!!! Like President WHY ARE YOU CALLING US WE ARE BOTH STAYING HERE!!! and we know,  HE KNOWS that he's about to break our hearts in the kindest way possible. We are just really glad this wasn't a video call or he probably could have read out faces right off the bat. Anyways he starts with Sister Kruger and tells us she will be transferring to Nicosia :((((( ughhhh my heart just got ripped out. And then tells us her new companion will be Sister Stulen. Sister Kruger's face when she heard that was PRICELESS. It was like a "shoot, I'm trying to be excited but I really can't be excited about this" face. And then he continues with me and tells me I will be staying in Larnaca and my new companion will be Sister Baird. President told us after that, "you have done so well together and it would have been nice to keep you two together but we need leadership in both places." Then that was it and we said goodnight. And that was the story of the saddest transfer call of our entire mission :((( I couldn't help but just start crying after we hung up the call with President. We were NOTTT expecting that whatsoever. It was a curve ball right to the FACE. I'm glad we bought a new pack of toilet paper yesterday morning cus I defiantly needed it as tissues. I haven't cried that much since I left my family :'( I can't even describe how my heart felt, neither of us want to believe that just happened but it did. Every single investigator we are teaching we found TOGETHER. This is OUR HOME! THESE are OUR PEOPLE! The last 6 weeks with Sister Kruger have been the greatest weeks of my entire mission. I love Sister Kruger like my sister and I'd do my mission 10Xs over if it was just so I could meet her. The only thing that was comforting us was that we'd at least still be in the same district. The Elders are so sweet. They called us to give us the rest of the zone transfers. Elder Nicolis kindly told us, "it's been really amazing to see the love between you two". And then he said he was really sorry but he had worse news for us and there was going to be 3 districts in Cyprus and not just 2 anymore, which means we aren't even gonna be in the same district :'( After the call Elder Kirkman, bless his heart he's so sweet, messages us saying, "I'm so sorry guys, I totally did not see that coming" with a lot of sad tear emojis. All we know is that Heavenly Father has something big planned this next transfer, and that's one of the reasons us STLs are split up and the Zone leaders as well. Also, a set of sisters was taken from Athens to be here so now there will be 6 sisters in Cyprus. At least sister Kruger and I will get to go on exchanges with the sister together and take a road trip to Limmosal when we go to Limmosal to do exchanges there! And HOPEFULLY, FINGERS EXTRA EXTRA EXTRAAA CROSSED, we'll get to serve together again before sister Kruger finishes her mission. Whoever we are both serving with at the time when we get that call to tell us we will be companions again, well, we feel really sorry for because we are both gonna freak out in excitement. We love serving with each other and feel like we have known each other forever! We are already best friends! I LOVE SISTER KRUGER! Earlier yesterday night, I had a feeling I should probably block Presidents number so we for sure woulda get a transfer call from him, so dangit! I guess THIS is what happens what ya don't follow the Spirit! Or maybe it was just a prompting for me to be ready for change, which wasn't expected at all. The only light at the end of the tunnel is that hopefully Sister Baird approves of Christmas music in middle of summer because I've been on a Christmas music fast for the past 6 weeks haha. One thing we do know is that every since we've been together, Larnaca has been on FIRE, even President Anderson has said that. So wherever we serve next together better be ready! In our beds last night we just talked and talked about how absolutely incredible the last 6 weeks have been. We have both been each others favorite companions and have been in our favorite area doing our favorite thing and absolutely LOVING our missions and all the people we teach! Sister Kruger kept saying over an over, "Sister Gale I don't want to go to Nicosia! I want to stay in Larnaca and stay with YOU and keep teaching everyone we have!" It is so weird that we are STLs together but in 2 different cities. I'm really trying to be happy and trust Heavenly Fathers plan,  but I guess all good things have to come to an end...or pause...no matter what we think. 

In my personal prayers last night I just cried. I was praying to Heavenly Father for comfort. To know that this really was His plan for the next transfer. I know that he has big things in store for Sister Baird and I, and I really do want to be as excited and enthusiastic about the work here just as much as I am with Sister Kruger. It's just really hard right now. But I felt like I could feel someone wrapping there arms around me, comforting me, and I was able to feel Heavenly Father's love for me and reassuring me that everything was going to be okay. I'm not worried that I won't absolutely love sister Baird, because I've only heard amazing things about her and she is so so sweet. But I don't think its possible for anyone to replace Sister Kruger, she holds a special place in my heart and always will. And its gonna be so exciting when she comes to America! She told me, "don't worry sister Gale I'm going my to come to America and we can raise our kids together and they're gonna be best friends just like we are!" I cannot wait for that time to come! My personal study this morning was an immediate answer to my prayers and worries from last night. It was like Heavenly Father's way of reassuring me that "I'm here, And I'll always be here, and I hear your prayers." I have been studying a chapter of the Book of Mormon each day and today I was in Alma 33 and it was perfect for what I needed. Wherever and whenever, Heavenly Father hears our cries, He hears our prayers. We can always read the scriptures to feel that and come closer to our Savior because through Christ we can be HEALED. And I absolutely felt that through my personal study today. 

Sister Grover was a sweetheart and knew we were having a hard time with transfers coming up and made us all pancakes this morning before correlation meeting. Our district is so close, I love them all so much! We broke the news to sister Grover that Nicosia and Larnaca would be separate districts next transfer and it took her a second to process that but when she did he face just dropped and she goes, "what?!?! Now who authorized that decision?!" And then gets defensive and points fingers at elder Nicolis asking if he made that decision, which he had nothing to do with. This next transfer is gonna be hard for us all :'( we had an INCREDIBLY AMAZING correlation meeting. We both have SO MANY INVESTIGATORS that are progressing so well! We all know each other and they are already included into the branch that we sometimes forget they aren't members... yet ;) since it's our last pday together as a district, sister Grover said we needed to have a a Party-day haha. So we're gonna go out and do something fun together, we're really excited! ah one of the hardest parts of being a missionary is having to leave the strangers that become your family and not know when. 

The evening was spent at a dinner appointment with the Elders and the Grovers at a Rumi and Mario's house. They are members from Romania and are very lovely. We had some good laughs while talking about English and American accents! Language is a funny thing! I asked elder Nicolis if he knew what a "culdasac" was and he repeats it all confused which we all just crack up at because he puts an Italian spin on it trying to see if it registers in his Italian brain, which it doesn't, and he proceeds to google translate it into Italian and then goes, "oh it's a blind road, you can just say that!" And elder Kirkman I I look at each other like no hahaha you can't, no one says that! When before we left, Rumi asked us what a Greek saying meant in English and was shocked to hear that there was a really big difference between a present tense and future tense verb, meaning the same thing. Yup, that's Greek for you. Confusing but also really cool! ALSO turns out sister Kruger has completely ruined the English alphabet by putting ZED at the end! Like the entire song is all normal till ya hit the last note! It's like when your playing a really pretty piano piece and someone hits the bottom note in the middle of it! WHAT THE HECK IS ZED AND WHY DO NO AMERICANS KNOW WHAT THAT IS?!?! All night we were comparing English to american English and wowowooww do we not speak the same language AT ALL. it's a whole new world in England! Some words I learned: nappies=diapers ladybird=ladybug parcel=package lorry=truck nickers=underwear. We were up way too late laughing out heads off, I don't remember the last time I've laughed so hard my stomach hurt so bad! 

SUNDAY 8.18.19 We love SUNDAYS!! When we called Martin, we asked if we had woken him up and he said "no no I've been up for a while since I'm gonna be early to church today!" Wow he is great and really sticking to his commitments! And he actually did come 20 minutes early!! The elders called us and asked us if we would walk with Kamal, one of their investigators, to church, so we did. On the bike ride over we passed a freshly run over cat... rip. You could see its guts, brain, and all the above  poor kitty :'( church was incredible. Sister kruger and Elder Kirkman both gave a final testimony, it made me really sad, I love them both so much. We honestly have such a great district I wish we could stay together for longer! Fatimah came and of course didn't understand anything, but just enjoying the spirit. During Sunday school I couldn't find the arabic scriptures so I had her just read through the plan of salvation pamphlet like that was what our lesson was on even though it was Romans 7 haha. so she'll be ready for her next lesson with the Cali elders lol. 10 mins before Sunday school ended Priya walked in with her husband pushing a stroller with her 10 DAY OLD BABY GIRL! we had to take a double take because we could not believe our eyes! She told us she'd be on a 40 day 100% complete bed rest after having her baby! I guess her mom gave her special permission to go to church haha. Crazy cultures. We taught Llhyne for the 1st time today! She has come to church for the past 5 weeks, ever since I got to Larnaca! we both assumed she was a member because she always came and sat and fit in with the rest of the Filipinos. But we assumed wrong! I wish we would have started teaching her sooner because she is READY! AND IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZED ON SEPT 14TH!! at the end of the lesson she goes, "so when's the next lesson?!" Can't wait to start teaching her but I really wish I could with Sister Kruger. My heart just breaks every time I think about her leaving :'( we had a RC lunch at the Grovers with  Wilfred and Paul, they're fantastic, love our Africans! We had a quick visit with Gergana, Luke, and baby Victor so sis K could say bye. That was a sad visit. Gergana cried saying bye but she was really happy that we would be able to touch the lives of others like we've touched hers. She said she will always remember sis K, sister Grover, and I and the love we showed her. We all piled in the van to go up to Nicosia for the music night, which was a great turnout! Sister K and I got to play our duet together again, I love playing with her. I love the Spirit music brings in general. So many of the less actives and friends we visited and invited to come to the music night actually came!! So many Filipinos!! We took lots of pics haha, they love their pics just like we do! On the ride home we were talking with the elders about how chill our mission is. Like President Anderson trusts us so much! We have such amazing missionaries and that's why haha. But yeah, our mission is pretty chillll, love it! And then elder Nicolis was on the phone saying bye to someone and said, "I'll send you my hugs?!" HUHHHHH?!?! After he hung up we asked, "your gonna send them your HUGS?!?!??!" HAHHAHAHA. he asked, "wait you don't say that" and we're all just like NOOOOPE!! Hahaha, oh these Italians, we love em! 

I LOVE THE FAMILY WE HAVE! My heart just hurts to see Sister Kruger leave! This is really the hardest transfer of my mission. So much heartbreak...I know its God's plan and I trust Him with my life. Pain and heartbreak are all part of the process. I wouldn't know pain if hadn't felt the indescribable joy that I've felt while serving here with Sister Kruger! It's nice to know that we have really been giving our whole heart to the Lord and our family here. If we hadn't, it wouldn't be so hard for things to change. So much love.