Εβδομάδα 31: mini TYPHOON, the LOVE rock, and lots of Filipinos!

Hey Everyone! :)

It's been a wild past 7 days since we were hardly in our area at all. We were in Paphos and Limossal a bunch!

We had a fun zone pday over in Paphos. On the way there we made a pitstop at Aphrodites Rock! There's crazy myth that if you swim around it 3Xs with your lover, naked, then you'll be married forever. So wack, it's crazy some people would actually believe that but hey, it's pretty hilarious! We hiked through the Anakas Gorge which was really pretty before we went over see the Edro III shipwreck! Paphos is picture picture and a definite tourist hotspot. We also found orchards of banana trees! It's really cool to be in all these historical bible places and trace Paul steps!

Sister Kruger and I went on exchanges with the Limmosal sisters and I got to be with sister Edwards, my MTC companion! It was really fun to be able to actually speak Greek together and see how each of us has changed and become better missionaries since our MTC days. It still feels weird being an STL since I am nowhere near a perfect missionary and still feel like I'm new at this whole thing but then again, I'm almost halfway done. Sister Edward's showed me around her areas and we did lots of service at a charity shop, which we literally ran. It was really cool tho since I met a lady from Mandaue City, Cebu, close to where one of my best friends is serving! 

We were getting some groceries and I talked to this cute Filipino lady named Mariana from Manila. I love how I can just bring up that my cousin James is over there and naturally they ask if I have family in the Philippines haha. And then we get to the missionary topic, so perfect. She's seen the temple there and has wondered what it was and knows that "a lot of white boys get sent there to talk about the Book of Mormon and they speak Tagalog and Cebuano really good" haha ;) It's really cool how so many people really do know about the church and the little things they pick up. 

We went over to Gergana's and had a wonderful, spirit filled lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think everything is starting to piece together in her mind even more than before. She told us that she always feels this warm, loving feeling when ever we visit and she doesn't know what it is. She described it as as a "gold warmth" glowing around each one of us missionaries. I love how she recognizes the Spirit we bring with us! She especially enjoyed attending church and the family she felt in the branch. Gergana is super excited for her baptism on the 28th! She couldn't stop talking about how great of a day it will be, I really hope her husband will feel ready to be baptized at the same time! 

David and Francis came to church looking sharp with their new white shirts and ties from the Grovers! They were just beaming, I love them! They both received the Holy Ghost during sacrament as well. Officially members of the church! They were both suppose to receive the Priesthood after Sunday school and Francis did but I suppose David must have forgot since when I went downstairs Elder Nicolis said, "so..uhhh, ya wanna give David a call because he left church without receiving the priesthood" haha, we needed to remind him. We forget that our new converts don't know as much as we think they do. We had an amazing lesson with Llhyne on temples and the priesthood. She is so ready for her baptism on the 29th! 

We had a good branch council after church and as it got wrapped up and we were discussing other missionary matters with the elders and elder Grover when a straight TYPHOON came. HOLY SMOKES. The streets were flooded within minutes and sister Baird and I go out for 10 seconds and walk back in like we just took a shower! The elders thought we were crazy and we just wanted some more sweet mission memories. They told us to not go back outside when they went in the other room to do tithing but.... ha of course we were gonna go back out. There were a tree by the sidewalk that we took shelter under thinking we wouldn't get too wet but then a car drove by and it was as if we were hit by a wave, we were SWIMMING in it! We both couldn't breath for a sec and then once we realized what the heck just happened we couldn't stop laughing haha. So we basically just got baptized on dry land, pretty dang sweet. We walked back in knowing the elders were going to shake their heads at us, which they kinda did in between laughing at us. And then Elder Nicolis went and got us some baptismal towels to dry ourselves off. Sister Grover picked us all up and we had to take a complicated detour to get back home without drowning the car in the flooded streets, it was pretty fun. 

All the Cyprus sister drove over Sunday night to a finding activity with the elders while Sister Kruger and I smashed out a brand new stl training for sister conference in an hour! We re-did everything since we felt inspired to train more on unity that receiving revelation after our exchanges. The spirit works in cool ways. 

A funny quote from the legendary sister Campbell as she's talking about our mission, "gathering scattered Israel?!?! More like babysitting scattered Israel!" And then sister Kruger goes, "missionary work described in one word... BABYSITTING!" Sometimes it feels like we fit the role of babysitter more than missionaries here haha. Our mission is so different and unique from everyone's else's. Without the missionaries, the branches here would fall apart. It really is amazing to be able to play a role in strengthening the members here because they truly are so amazing and wonderful. Their testimonies are powerful and are such an example to me.

All is going great, missions are a blessing, and we've got another exciting week ahead! In a few hours we'll be flying over to Greece and then Albania tomorrow morning! 

Thanks for all the messages and emails, ΣΑΣ ΑΓΑΠΏ!

Έχετε μια καλή εβδομάδα με πολλά πλάκα! 

Love, 

Sister Gale

PICS!

1-10 PAPHOS Exploring!

11-12 Aphrodite's Rock aka the Love rock

13-15 mini Typhoon that brought some flooding 

16 another day in Paphos!