April 26, 2016

"And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do."

- 2 Nephi 31:12

We had a lot of rain again this week. It has gotten really cold here, and we love the change of climate! It's been great for us to work in, and we have really been enjoying the change. It seemed like everything this week clicked! We were able to get four more people to accept baptismal dates, and we're working with them towards that goal! In fact, two of those people who accepted baptism are relatives of the little girl who was baptized. They were very interested about all that happened in the baptism and wanted to know more, and now they both want to be baptized. One of them is her own sister, and the other is her cousin. 

This week has been rather good for us; thankfully we haven't gotten sick, and we have been able to enjoy all that is coming our way. We have found many people who are willing to listen, but as for progressing towards baptism, there are few at the moment. However, we are looking for those who are willing to do so now. We are searching for those who are ready to be baptized and are truly willing to follow Christ in the way that He has shown us. We have a lot of people who have told us recently, "I follow Christ, I love Him, I do anything and everything that He will tell me to do," and then we ask them if they are really willing to do something. Sometimes, we ask them if they would be baptized again if Christ himself asked them to do so, and many say no. It has been interesting to talk to many people who aren't really trying to follow Christ. They are happy where they are at in the moment and don't feel the need to progress in life. 

We have been so blessed to know the path that the Lord wishes for us to take, and I know that He has done so through a prophet. Just as He has done in olden times, He called a prophet to help us to follow him. How blessed are we to live in a day and age in which we have prophets! Moreover, how blessed are we to have a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to follow Him and to be happy in this life! 

Have a fantastic week all of you. I love you so very much!!

Elder Gale

April 19, 2016

We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

We had a moment this week where we thought about all we were doing and how to better our area, and as we did that, we came to the realization that we needed to get back to the basics, meaning, going back to how we were when we first came out here.

This week, we went on splits with the CCM missionaries, had some crazy rain and flooding which led to us having no water to drink, and we set people with dates! 

We had splits with the new CCM missionaries, and it was awesome to be with a brand new missionary from Provo, Utah, who only had like 5 weeks here in Chile. Working with him was what I imagine it must have been like when I did the same thing all that time ago. We contacted in the streets and the sprinkling rain. It was so much fun to show a new missionary what missionary work is really like! This young missionary has such great desires to learn and to be the very best missionary he can be, and he is a great kid. He will do great things in his mission. 

This weekend, we had a lot of rain, and I mean a lot. With all the rain, we had our water poisoned, and therefore, we didn’t have potable water for about three days and counting. We had a water cut citywide for two days which meant no showering or anything. Thankfully, someone who watched the news thought about us and told us about the cut, and so we were able to store up water to drink. It all went rather well for us. The water is now turned back on, but our mission president hasn’t approved it yet for us to drink straight from the tap without boiling it for the necessary time. We weren’t able to shower for a few days, and all that comes with a water cut.

We were able to teach several people, and they accepted a baptism date this week! This means more people making covenants with the Lord!!

Basically, with all the craziness that happened, this week was awesome. I so enjoy the mission, and I love all that happens here and all the people I get to meet. I love this gospel, and I love the knowledge that we have to know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us so much that He is able and willing to give us all He has AS we are obedient to His commandments. 

I love you all so much and hope you all enjoy your week! 

Elder Gale

April 12, 2016

"How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in his plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf

It seemed like everything just fell into place this week, and we were able to work and get results according to our efforts! 

Miracles this week:

1. A baptism!!!

2. Placing lots and lots of appointments! 

3. Exchanges with the Zone Leaders

As you can see from the picture below, we had a baptism! She is a little young woman of 11 years, who decided to be baptized. We began to teach her, and we are trying to teach the whole family now. As you can see in the photo, there are a lot of them! It has been great getting to know this young lady, see her grow in her conversion, and watch her help her mother come back to church. It has been great to know them. 

We have been working on teaching repentance and baptizing converts while we are in the streets; we talk with lots of people, so why not talk to them about our purpose as missionaries to lead them to Christ through the waters of baptism? The results have been great! People are more receptive, and we can see who is willing to follow Christ and who isn't. The work is beginning to progress! 

As we were working on our purpose to invite in the streets, we went on exchanges, meaning we each went with a different elder and worked in their sector for a full day. It was really awesome to go and see how we can better apply the vision we have to bring all people to Christ through inviting them in the streets, and it has been a great success! The mission is great!

To close up about this week, we have been enjoying everything that has come our way while we have worked in the service of God. It’s going great! Love you all lots. I know the message which I bear is true, and I know that God exists and loves us!

Until next week.

Elder Gale

April 05, 2016

"Decide now to make General Conference a priority in your life. Decide to listen carefully and follow the teachings that are given." 

- Paul V. Johnson

We had a great time working in the sector this week! In fact, the climate has flip-flopped a full 180 degrees! It went from warm days to us having a giant thunderstorm! I’m so glad to have the rain because it cleans the air.

This week’s miracles:

1. We had General Conference!!

2. We had a great lesson with our recent convert who is going through a rough experience but still doing a great job keeping her faith alive!

3. There was a stranger who gave us cookies! 

4. We found a less-active member in a miraculous way.

Elder Gale with two of his companions. Both are named Elder Johnson.

General Conference has always been something that I loved! It is a great time to be together as a family and enjoy hearing the words of the modern-day prophets and apostles of the Lord. As fate would have it, here in Chile and during the mission, I can’t be with my family... it is sad to say and experience that. But this year, I thoroughly enjoyed General Conference. It was great to listen to it in a different language! I had to watch almost all of General Conference in Spanish. It wasn’t hard, but it was different. I’ve always watched it in English, and this was the first time I got to watch it in Spanish! It was great to feel the spirit and to know that the gospel is still true even in a different language! I was able to see, hear, and feel a lot of things that I have already been using and sharing with others who don’t know much about the church! It was definitely a great experience!

A city block in Chile.

Our recent convert is going through a rough moment as her spine is aging faster than she is. She is 48 years old, and her spine is the equivalent of a 90-year-old! She has some hernias and some badly rubbed down disks, and she just found out yesterday that she cannot get it operated on for a long time. That was hard for her and us to hear. She has a lot going on in her life seeing as how she already had a surgery and is having a lot of difficulties; but, even with all this, she knows that she is going to be okay. We talked with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ, how she had taken the steps of faith that our Heavenly Father requires of us to take, and how she has changed as a result of it. She is doing a lot better, and she was able to feel the spirit tell her that as she continues to do that which is right, she will be blessed. She knows it, for she has already been blessed. She can see all those blessings, and she knows that more are to come as she stays worthy of the Holy Ghost in her life.

A text message from Elder Gale's mission president's family.

We were walking in the street one night towards the home of a family we hadn’t seen in a few weeks, and as we were approaching the home, a woman from the other side of the street called out, "Hola! Tienen hambre? Quieren comida?" (Hello! Are you guys hungry? Do you want food?) Well, it was about 9pm, and we hadn’t had much food that day. So, jokingly, we said, "Yeah," and she called us over and gave us a bag of cookies! That was great! We were able to talk with her, and we tried to set an appointment to begin teaching her. She told us that she already has some brothers and sisters who are members and have served missions. "So", she said, "I’ve heard that you guys don’t have much to eat." Then she disappeared. She didn’t want to have us come by unfortunately, but she does have a big heart and is willing to share with some missionaries. 

We were searching this week for some members who hadn’t been coming to the chapel, and we stumbled upon a name of a member on our list who lived on a street that we haven’t been on in a long time. We went there and found this member. She came out of her house, looked at us, and asked, "How did you find me?" She hadn’t gone to the chapel near where she lived before, and when she moved here, she didn’t attend either. When we came to her home that day, it was the only day that she was going to be there for a few weeks. It was crazy how great of a miracle it was!

Elder Gale