Eβδομάδα 54: να είσαι καλά
All I gotta say about our pday Meteora trip is it was breathtaking and that feeling that your on top of the world couldn't have been more literal. God's creations are beautiful. I couldn't help but remember the primary song "My Heavenly Father Loves me" and the simple lyrics I sang as a little primary girl. We are loved by a divine being that does all things for our benefit and our happiness!
Alma 30:44 "...The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."
In case y'all didn't already know from any past stories of talking with the Greek people, they can be pretty challenging. For example, Tuesday morning. We decide to do some street contacting early in the am and said good morning to this old lady carrying a bag of groceries and ask her if we could help her. And when she replied "no thanks", we said okay and changed our question to see if she knew anyone who needed some service. She takes one look at our name tags, mumbles something under her breath, and starts walking away angrily as she's now yelling at us that the Greek Orthodox church is the only true church, yadda yadda, and so on. We hadn't even said who we are, the name of the church, or anythinggg. We just asked if we could do SERVICE aka HELP people! I don't get how people can get so angry when it's only 10 in the morning. Well the street contacting didn't get any better after that. Next came these 3 guys at their shop. All they were interested in doing was again convince us Greek Orthodoxy is the only true religion and everyone else is a heresy. At one point they had asked if we had even been to their church before, so we told them, "yes we actually have". In which they got all cocky and confident and ask us, "well what did you think then huh". So I simply tell them, "It confirmed to me your church isn't true, I'll tell ya that much." Then a whole new convo started about why we think we have the truth. We explained to them about a living prophet and they started laughing like it was a joke we could actually have a living prophet. Also that if a church is true, it should exist throughout the world, not just for the Greeks. They told us we were wasting our time and money trying to change the hearts of any Greek Orthodox people. Then they tried telling me I didn't know anything about what was true and I didn't even know what I believed. That fired me up and I finally stepped in and asked if they were finished talking so I could speak. I bore my testimony to them and told them they could never take away the knowledge and truth that I KNOW to be true. They would never be able to change my mind no matter what they say. I told them we aren't here to argue with them but to simply invite them to be better people with the things we had to share that we promised them would only better their lives and bless them more than everything. They quieted down after that and one of them actually accepted a Restoration pamphlet and said he'd read it. When ya wanna have a conversation with a Greek you have to treat em like a Greek and that's holding your ground and not letting them think they can walk over you. That's a huge thing I've learned because if you don't, you never get a word in. So I suppose my bold, stubborn personality is doing me some good.
Youssef had some hard news for us. He informed us that he told his brother back in Morocco that he was going to get baptized and was told if he did, he wouldn't be able to come home and his family would disown him. My heart is real heavy for him because he is so solid and his intentions and desires are so pure. If he could, he could be blessing the sacrament right now. And he wants more than anything to have a tag on his chest and be doing exactly what we're doing. We asked him what he was thinking and he told us, "I am going to choose happiness and Jesus Christ." His strength, testimony, and faith amazes me. Whatever happens, and whatever he chooses to do, I have so much respect for him. And I have peace knowing for a surety he has received a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and truths found in its pages.
In the nearly 7 months of me serving in Thessaloniki now, we finally took the 2 1/2 hour trip past Καβάλα to visit and meet a returning member, Anita. The senior couple joined us and it was perfect because she's from England and speaks English. She married a Greek man which brought her here to Greece. Since she's been here, for at least 14 years, she hasn't attended church. One reason being the distance and the second being her husband isn't supportive of her religious beliefs. So that's sad. We had a really good visit and she loved having us over and invited to come back soon. She even requested we bring a picture of Christ that she can have in her home so we will definitely remember to do that. I am glad we were able to have a positive impression on her and help her remember she is important not only to us, but to her Heavenly Father.
Not gonna lie but the devil does have a lot of power over us. A lot. But the thing is, that power and deception is nothing compared to the loving guidance of our Savior, Jesus Christ. On my mission I've been privileged to feel both more intensely than ever before. And I say 'privileged' even in context of the adversary, because it's given me more opportunities to be bold about how I want to live my life, and what I want to be sometime far far far away, but reachable because of the Savior. It is really frustrating though how the Lord doesn't work how we want Him to though. And that's probably good since He knows a little frustrated attention directed towards Him is better than none at all. If we want to return to our Father in Heaven, we can't expect to get there by doing anything noteworthy halfheartedly. We must internalize the ultimate sacrifice that He brought to pass, so that we could find Him the way we wanted to, and be spoken to through the language of the Holy Spirit that we understand. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, not to condemn any man or woman, but to save all. And to give us our own opportunities to make our own desires become His desires through our willingness. I can't comprehend any more beautiful plan than this.
Catch y'all next week! :)
Love,
Sister Kaylee Gale
PICS!
1-9 Meteora pday
10-12 Kavala trip
Alma 30:44 "...The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."
In case y'all didn't already know from any past stories of talking with the Greek people, they can be pretty challenging. For example, Tuesday morning. We decide to do some street contacting early in the am and said good morning to this old lady carrying a bag of groceries and ask her if we could help her. And when she replied "no thanks", we said okay and changed our question to see if she knew anyone who needed some service. She takes one look at our name tags, mumbles something under her breath, and starts walking away angrily as she's now yelling at us that the Greek Orthodox church is the only true church, yadda yadda, and so on. We hadn't even said who we are, the name of the church, or anythinggg. We just asked if we could do SERVICE aka HELP people! I don't get how people can get so angry when it's only 10 in the morning. Well the street contacting didn't get any better after that. Next came these 3 guys at their shop. All they were interested in doing was again convince us Greek Orthodoxy is the only true religion and everyone else is a heresy. At one point they had asked if we had even been to their church before, so we told them, "yes we actually have". In which they got all cocky and confident and ask us, "well what did you think then huh". So I simply tell them, "It confirmed to me your church isn't true, I'll tell ya that much." Then a whole new convo started about why we think we have the truth. We explained to them about a living prophet and they started laughing like it was a joke we could actually have a living prophet. Also that if a church is true, it should exist throughout the world, not just for the Greeks. They told us we were wasting our time and money trying to change the hearts of any Greek Orthodox people. Then they tried telling me I didn't know anything about what was true and I didn't even know what I believed. That fired me up and I finally stepped in and asked if they were finished talking so I could speak. I bore my testimony to them and told them they could never take away the knowledge and truth that I KNOW to be true. They would never be able to change my mind no matter what they say. I told them we aren't here to argue with them but to simply invite them to be better people with the things we had to share that we promised them would only better their lives and bless them more than everything. They quieted down after that and one of them actually accepted a Restoration pamphlet and said he'd read it. When ya wanna have a conversation with a Greek you have to treat em like a Greek and that's holding your ground and not letting them think they can walk over you. That's a huge thing I've learned because if you don't, you never get a word in. So I suppose my bold, stubborn personality is doing me some good.
Youssef had some hard news for us. He informed us that he told his brother back in Morocco that he was going to get baptized and was told if he did, he wouldn't be able to come home and his family would disown him. My heart is real heavy for him because he is so solid and his intentions and desires are so pure. If he could, he could be blessing the sacrament right now. And he wants more than anything to have a tag on his chest and be doing exactly what we're doing. We asked him what he was thinking and he told us, "I am going to choose happiness and Jesus Christ." His strength, testimony, and faith amazes me. Whatever happens, and whatever he chooses to do, I have so much respect for him. And I have peace knowing for a surety he has received a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and truths found in its pages.
In the nearly 7 months of me serving in Thessaloniki now, we finally took the 2 1/2 hour trip past Καβάλα to visit and meet a returning member, Anita. The senior couple joined us and it was perfect because she's from England and speaks English. She married a Greek man which brought her here to Greece. Since she's been here, for at least 14 years, she hasn't attended church. One reason being the distance and the second being her husband isn't supportive of her religious beliefs. So that's sad. We had a really good visit and she loved having us over and invited to come back soon. She even requested we bring a picture of Christ that she can have in her home so we will definitely remember to do that. I am glad we were able to have a positive impression on her and help her remember she is important not only to us, but to her Heavenly Father.
Not gonna lie but the devil does have a lot of power over us. A lot. But the thing is, that power and deception is nothing compared to the loving guidance of our Savior, Jesus Christ. On my mission I've been privileged to feel both more intensely than ever before. And I say 'privileged' even in context of the adversary, because it's given me more opportunities to be bold about how I want to live my life, and what I want to be sometime far far far away, but reachable because of the Savior. It is really frustrating though how the Lord doesn't work how we want Him to though. And that's probably good since He knows a little frustrated attention directed towards Him is better than none at all. If we want to return to our Father in Heaven, we can't expect to get there by doing anything noteworthy halfheartedly. We must internalize the ultimate sacrifice that He brought to pass, so that we could find Him the way we wanted to, and be spoken to through the language of the Holy Spirit that we understand. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, not to condemn any man or woman, but to save all. And to give us our own opportunities to make our own desires become His desires through our willingness. I can't comprehend any more beautiful plan than this.
Catch y'all next week! :)
Love,
Sister Kaylee Gale
PICS!
1-9 Meteora pday
10-12 Kavala trip
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