Εβδομάδα 40: OHHH! IM HALFWAY THERE OOOHHHHHH! LIVIN ON A PRAYER!

Well I hit my halfway mark this Wednesday! 9 WHOLE MONTHS already?! A year ago I never would  pictured myself where I am now... in Greece of all places, speaking GREEK?!?! and doing the thing that has given me the most joy I have ever felt in my life. I am grateful for all the little things in life that have led me to be where I am today and have helped me become the person I am today. I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father's hand has been in it all. There's nothing I would rather be doing more than sharing this beautiful gospel wearing Christ's name on my chest everyday.

My last pday in Athens was living and literally walking in Acts 18! Ancient Corinth! One of the elders made a joke that we should write a note and give it to someone there so we can say we've "written an epistle to the Corinthians" haha. Walking in all these bible places is such a cool experience and it gives us the motivation to continue doing what Paul devoted his life to when as our work in Greece gets hard.

I'm officially back to where it all started for me, Θεσσαλονίκη! A few things are different tho... this time I get to serve with Sister Vennerholm!! My favorite Swedish sister! Fun fact about her: she speaks 4 languages! She's been out for just over a year now and continues to be basically a perfect missionary. She is like a Swedish and blond version of Sister Kruger to sum it up, so basically she's already my best friend and I love her like a sister. On another note, Thess isn't as warm as it was in April...rip... and we don't have an operating heating system! So the hair dryer has been in full use here to warm us up haha. But on a plus side there's not that many cockroaches anymore! There weren't any weights here either so when we went to Athens for zone conference we brought back 45 lbs of metal weights in our carry-ons haha. The looks we got from the security people were so funny and they were laughing as they saw why the metal sensors were going off.

Thursday night we flew into Athens for zone conference on Friday! I've calculated it out and I've flown 19 times since I left home... holy smokes! Looks like I know where all our tithing money goes haha. But seriously, the Cyrpus and Greece missionaries are always on a flight somewhere. And I'll be flying at least another 5Xs this month alone.

Zone conference was spectacular and a huge spiritual boost as always. Sister Vennerholm and I got to give our STL training we've been prepping. We trained on having a foundation on Christ and how significant and necessary this is! This is our common ground that we have with most other religions and the gateway to relating to others. People need to know we have a SAVIOR. When we have a testimony built on Christ, our desire to serve and build His kingdom accelerates and we can have greater JOY and unity in all we do throughout our lives. 

I say this every time, but I have the greatest mission President. I love President Anderson and the personal relationship and love he has for each missionary. Covering 5 countries is a huge responsibility yet he willingly serves and magnifies his calling as he directs and receives revelation for our mission. I had a great interview with him. He still calls me his jyémei haha, and tells me that I was the answers to his prayers when he was praying to have a Chinese sister in this mission and that I remind him of his mission every time he sees me which is really special. I think the greatest part of that interview was when he remembered from our last interview that he promised he'd say the closing prayer in Mandarin if I'd still say the opening prayer in Greek. And he did!! Well, he made it 2/3rds of the way through and then switched to English but still!! I've got the coolest mission president ever, sorry to everyone else haha.

So life back in Thess. Well, I feel like I've never left! The members were so excited to see me again and I was so happy to see all of them! The numbers are still small and this past week there were only 18 members in church. There's a new family from Albania tho with 2 cute little girls that had me braid their hair during sacrament. I forgot how much I love it when little kids speak Greek haha, it's so cute! 

The work here has been a lot more busier than before which is so good! We are currently teaching a friend, Μπάμπης, who is hoping to get baptized soon! We still want to make sure he understands everything but his desire is sincere! He is such a great missionary too and has brought so many friends to his lessons! One of the friends he brought, Δημήτρης, is super cool and was in New York for school and such. We think he was introduced to the church there since he agrees to about everything we have talked about and even brought up that he wanted to be baptized next week. Sooo we'll be teaching him a lot this week and hopefully he continues to be the miracle new friend we had hoped for!

All in all I'm loving it back here in Thessaloníki with Sister Vennerholm and we have seen so many miracles already and it hasn't even been a week!

This weeks thought is from D&C 128:22!
"Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free."

When we fully appreciate the many blessings which are ours through the redemption made for us, there is nothing that the Lord could ask of us that we would not anxiously and  willingly do. I challenge each of you to take time to think about what you may need to sacrifice or do better to always remain on the Lord's team. And to take the time to remember why.

Love you all! Have the greatest week!

Lots of love!
Sister Gale

PICS!

1 Ancient Corinth was beautiful!

2-3 flying back to Athens

4-5 ZONE CONFERENCE ft your Greece STLs and my new Swedish companion!

6-10 ... some more bible famous pillars in Corinth