Εβδομάδα 52: καρδιά ζωντανή...***Mount Olympus adventure*** big whoooops haha

Our Mount Olympus adventures was SO. MUCH. FUN! We hiked up with Elder Blackhurst and Turner for a whole 5 hours and probably experienced all 4 seasons during that time haha. Man have I missed hiking! Sister Vennerholm had never been hiking before so she didn't know what to expect and was a little wiped a few miles in but we kept her going promising her the view would be worth it and boy it was. I am very grateful to have been raised to appreciate nature and the outdoors. Looking at the view, how could anyone not believe there is a God?! It is too breathtaking.

Tuesday came and went and so did Sister Vennerholm :( Sad day seeing her shipped off to Cyprus. I flew to Athens to meet up with Sister Kruger that night to finish up our STL training for Zone conference on Wednesday. Being split STLs is a little tricky putting together training but we made it work. I love zone conference, especially this last one. I've decided it's basically like we get a bonus mini general conference every 6 weeks but we have the opportunity of being the speakers. So the training we gave was centered around the theme, "A mighty change of heart", based on Alma 5:14. The Atonement and obedience to the gospel is how we receive this mighty change, it's a lifelong process here. We are not only becoming disciples of Christ but trying to make disciples out here. In Ezekiel 36:26 we are promised to be given a "heart of flesh" to replace our "stony heart". From the Greek translation we see find it is more a "heart of flesh" but a "καρδιά ζωντανή"... a LIVING heart. Something alive, something pumping, something that works! I want this promise for everyone including myself. I strive to be like the Lamanites that were converted to the Lord and "never did fall away" as we find in Alma 23:6. The sacred grove moments I've had, and we have all had, need to be recognized and recorded. Those are sacred and what will keep us anchored to our Savior as we remember them. As missionaries wen are so close to the Spirit and we have these sacred grove moments everyday without even realizing it sometimes. I'm definitely at fault for this and want to try to do better at recognizing the Lord's hand in my life because it has become just normal to me and His hand is in every aspect of the work we are doing. The fruits of this mighty change in heart of continuing discipleship are eternal salvation and exaltation. Last time I checked those are a pretty big deal and we should all have that as our ultimate goal.

Other things I loved from zone conference. Found out the patriarch that did a tour though the 5 countries in our mission gave 64 blessings in 23 days. That is incredible. All those people who have been waiting years and years to receive their blessings! And probably wouldn't have had another opportunity for another few years. I also love 2 Nephi 3:24. It describes exactly what we are doing at this exact moment. The gospel has bee  restored to it's full essays and continues to be restored through the choice seer, our beloved prophet Russell M Nelson. This is an ongoing restoration all in preparation for the Lord's 2nd coming. So thinking about Christ, he is known from a lot of names. The Anointing, our Savior, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Redeemer, etc. But to the Father he is the beloved Son. The Lamb of God. I love how symbolic the lamb is in its purity and innocence. The Savior was pure and perfect, sinless, yet voluntarily sacrificed himself for US.

The APs did a training on "an eye single to the glory of God" and dissected D&C 4 which we all have memorized by now since we recite it every day. Eliminating distractions and focusing on the work is the best thing we can do as missionaries. Everything else falls into place as we put the Lord FIRST! I like when they asked us to think about what qualifies us to be a missionary. In our interviews before our missions, we weren't asked, "are you a people's person? Do you enjoy going  into strangers homes? Are you willing to eat any food your given and pretend you like it?!" Etc..We were asked, "do you have a testimony of Jesus Christ, do you have a testimony of the Book of Mormon? Etc. Its our testimonies that qualify us! The desire we have to share with others that drives us to do what we do each day. Also found out that President and Sister Anderson were reassigned from the Baltic States mission, to the St. Petersburg, to the Adriatic South, which then later combined with the Greece Athens mission. It doesn't matter where we serve, we are called to the work! We are all involved in the gathering of Israel and the Lord is uniting His elect! We sang the EFY medley all together and is was POWERFUL. Especially when we sang, "we are NOW the Lord's missionaries" instead of "we will BE". Not gonna lie, I choked up a little signing that because I could feel the Spirit so strongly testifying to me how sacred of a calling we have to be missionaries.

Oh yeah so I have a new companion! Sister Ahlström! She's from Sweden and has been out for 15 months! She's super fun and we've had a fantab 1st week together. She told me she's never had a companion who talks as much as I do in general but also about normal human stuff which she loves haha. I guess anyone who knows me knows I'm a talker lol. Think that's mostly a good thing?? She also loves to bake which I do to too! Think I'm gonna being eating the best I have my entire mission this next transfer haha  Anyways, my new district is also pretty sweet. We now have an elder from Switzerland and another from Germany! Operation renovate the Thess sister's apartment went into full swing as soon as we got back. The elders all came over and helped us put together bunk beds and boy was it a party haha. How many missionaries does it take to install a bunk bed? Haha, I guess a whole 6! At one point Sister Ahlström and I stepped out to go back in to the elders carving their names on the wood panels. And not just small carvings. They each had their own panel. They coulda at least written their names in Greek! We also had to scrub out the black mold all over our apartment which was nasty. So now after much deep cleaning at least we have a much improved apartment!

Jhoe asked a question this week since he was wondering why Joseph Smith's name wasn't in the Bible. I told him he's talked about in the Bible but not named. And we know God still wants to speak to His people and told us he'd use prophets for that and that's where Joseph Smith came in. Also that the Book of Mormon covers ancient America and the Bible the other side of the world. Jhoe was nodding in agreement n said "also we wouldn't know about Nephi if we only had bible that's why we need book of Mormon!" Haha exactlyyy. I love his comments they are so great. I gotta start making a list of his quotes because they're just funny. We all could use a Jhoe kinda friend honestly. The bisaya elders taught him the plan of salvation om Saturday which was sweet, I'm grateful for God's perfect plan and for the knowledge he now has of eternal families!

It's been a crazy week and it'll be fun leading an area for the first time and showing Sister Ahlström the ropes of good ole Thessaloniki! Talk to y'all next week! Love you!

Love,

Sister Gale

PICS!

1-8 Mount Olympus adventurin'

9 smashed out the coolest zone training w Sister Kruger

10 Elder saved the day helping us put together our bunk beds