Frenzy with Furry Friends 🐭

Happy Monday, all!
I hope you all are well rested for this great Halloween evening.  We
will be spending it in our apartment studying the scriptures...with
candy! :D

The biggest fiasco we had this week was that in a single 24-hour
period, we've caught 4 mice and will most likely catch a few more
before too long.  They're doing a lot of work on our apartment complex
so that's probably where they came from.

Something that's really excited this week is that we put our tracting
miracle, Mireille, on baptismal date for December 17.  She could be
baptized a lot sooner, but she wants her husband who works in Cameroon
to be here to support her.

Our family of 5 still comes to church and church activities regularly.
(I wonder if they've fallen into the eternigator category yet?)
(Eternigator = eternal investigator).  We've been starting to meet
with them more often and yesterday we took them to the VC for a lesson
on temples.  We ALMOST got them to commit to a baptismal date.  They
just don't understand the importance of the priesthood fully.  We'll
get there.

We've seen miracles with these investigators this week so please keep
praying for them!

That's pretty much the extent of the news for this week.  This morning
we had a three-hour meeting about how we're going to handle Festival
of Lights--where on the temple grounds there are Christmas lights on
every tree (Like Temple Square) and the VC has nativities and trees,
etc.  I can't say too much, but the Church is coming out with some
pretty cool videos for this Christmas season :)

Until next week! (On Wednesday instead of Monday because we'll be
going to the Temple)

~Sister Galli

Car selfie

Eating ice cream with other sisters in their surrounding area

Sister Galli and Sister Watkins

Finally...an accurate door mat

Punk Rockin' 🤘🏼

Good Morning, Monday!
I hope all of you enjoyed Mole Day for me yesterday. #JustChemistryThings⚗

This week was transfers and......... Sister Watkins and I are together
another transfer!  So now she's my first companion to last longer than
6 weeks.  This also means I'll be in the Kentlands area for at least 6
months of my mission...that's a long time, but it hasn't felt that
long...

We lost 3 sisters on Wednesday and gained 6 new ones--that's a ton
when you consider that our VC was only ever intended to hold 24
sisters and we're now sitting at 29.  Our VC has had quite the
turn-over of sisters since summer started.

We've also seen a lot of miracles this week.  I personally contribute
them to our companionship being more obedient and also more
consecrated--It just goes to show that God helps you out when you help
yourself.

We had three killer lessons with our three most progressing sets of
investigators too.
We had a lesson with our Polish family of five and talked about the
importance of the Book of Mormon, and how by reading it, you can find
answers to the soul--like where did I come from, what's it like after
I die, and how do I have a stronger family.  (Selfish note: I really
want them to get baptized soon so I can be able to go to their
sealing, because they're going to join the church, it's just a matter
of when.)

We also had a lesson with a lady that Sister Watkins and Hermana
Klaass had put on baptismal date the week before (on exchanges).  The
only problem we're having with her is that she has three little kids
and no car so we can't really ask people to give her a ride nor does
she have somebody that could watch the kids while she comes to church.

We also had another lesson Friday night with Mireille--she's the one
that randomly turned up at church last week, and it was one of the
most picture-perfect lessons we've had.  We covered the entire
Restoration, gave her one copy of the Book of Mormon in English and
another in French, and she came to church yesterday too!  She is so
prepared to receive the Gospel.

Keep praying for me but more importantly, the investigators that we're
working with--they're all so close to joining the church!

I hope you all have a great rest of your week!  Also, can't wait to
see your costumes for Halloween!

~Sister Galli

Sister Watkins decided she wanted to do my hair on Saturday and I'm
still trying to decide if I like it...leaning towards yes.  It's
braided on the side that looks pinned back.

On Tuesday the 18th, these gals hit their 5 month mark

Eating Chinese take-out so they can stay in their pjs for most of the day

P-day adventure: mouse under the couch

Bait!

She doesn't have any mouse traps and didn't want to go to the store quite yet.
Not sure what she's going to do with it after she catches it.
This apartment is teaching her so many life skills, mainly survival.

Livin' on the Edge 🏞

This week was super exciting for the Utahns. Look what we found!

 IT'S A HILL! (tears of joy) We may have driven 45 minutes to the very northwestern edge of our mission to find it, but we came off victorious.

For all of you that are incredibly confused, Maryland is SUPER flat, so a hill like that is the closest thing I can get to a mountain. This (below) is the view from the 17th or 18th floor of some of the apartments. FLAT!

Why were we there? Our ward had a Halloween party and they all invited a ton of non-member friends so it was a super great activity in a lot of ways :) Here's what the rest of the property looks like. We were in a really nice barn.

So, random stuff aside, it was a great week. Nothing really big happened, but just a lot of tiny miracles--like making it on time to your 7:00 am Sunday meetings that are 15 miles away, and having random investigators show up to church and then accept an invitation to meet with us and come back to church next week. 

The struggle of this week, however, has once again been our apartment. This time we are having to deal with no heat.  The last few days of last week as well as the first few days of this week, we had no hot water either (they're changing up the utilities so there are growing pains). There was really no solution for the lack of hot water until it was fixed, but as for not having any heat, we did find that boiling water heats up the apartment really fast. So some mornings we just chilled by the stove like hobos.

Not too much more to report this week. We'll know tonight if either of us are being transferred, but I highly doubt it. We get 6 new sisters at the VC this week, making it so that out of the 29 sisters at the VC, I am ranked at number 11 for mission-oldest. #MissionTurnover. Crazy to be in charge when I have no idea what I'm doing *nervous laughter*

Love you all so much,

~Sister Galli

Empty Subject Lines...

I almost feel bad sending this email out to all of you solely because
so little actually happened this week, especially compared to last.
BUT, I have plants that need to be watered and pets taken care of at
home, and my mom has told me she may forget about them if I don't
write and send pictures.  😉 So here I am.

Tuesday was Specialized Training part 2! (Code for Sister Watkins and
all the other trainees got their iPads).  It's so nice not having to
share, not only on p-days, but when we daily and weekly plan as well.
We can be doing two things at once.  I'm still trying to decide why
this mission has it so people don't get their iPads until a month or
more of being in the field.  I guess I should just be happy we have
them at all.  At this training, we play a game at the very end where
all the companionships team up, and they can only use one arm each and
one copy of the Book of Mormon.  Then the APs give us all a scenario
and a concern that an investigator could have and we need to use a
scripture to answer the question.  The first person from each of the 4
concerns they have move onto the next round.  Sister Watkins and I
blew through that first and also the second rounds.  The third is
where there are only two companionships.  On a board is the First
Vision divided up by phrase in random order and you and your companion
need to get them in order by alternate shooting them with Nerf guns.
It's really fun.  Obviously we won that too.  (Sister Minguito may or
may not have been helping us out by whispering where the next phrase
was behind us...lol).  It was a fun time.

On Wednesday, we had a member of The Seventy come, his name was Elder
Bennett and he actually spoke at the MTC while I was there too.  We
got to the designated chapel after driving for 90 minutes through
crazy traffic.  He talked about how change is good and that we all
need to be consecrated missionaries--he may or may not have talked for
40 minutes to an hour solely on how important it is to wake up at 6:30
sharp.  But man oh man that guy can talk.  He talked from 9 am to 1:30
pm without a single break or even a sip of water.  Then after a short
lunch, he resumed talking for another 2 hours.  He taught a lot of
things that I wrote down that really impacted the way I look at my
mission.  Plus, he demonstrated a few ways to teach better and also
how to find more people to teach.

Friday we were at the VC for 9 and a half hours so we could cover some
of the sisters that couldn't come in until later.   I'm really happy I
get to spend half of my day in an area as well.  I think being in a
building all day every day would kill me.

But that's pretty much the extent of my week.  The work goes on and
the days are getting shorter.

Love you and wish you all the best
~Sister Galli

Sister Galli and Sister Watkins online at the Visitor's Center.
They respond to people who request more information about the church.

I received this picture (on Wednesday) via text message from a random stranger who was visiting DC from Riverton, UT.

I received this picture via text yesterday while sitting in sacrament meeting. This person was visiting DC from Sandy, UT.

Before specialized training

After specialized training :)

City Day! 🏙

With help from Sister Minguito, Sister Watkins and I were able to go
with her and her companion to the National Mall! So excited!
Our day started quite early because we wanted to make sure we took
full advantage of this rare opportunity.  So we woke up at 4:45 to get
on the Metro by 5:45 and then be in DC by 6:30 to watch the sun rise
over the Washington at 7.  So pretty.  The colors were stunning and
the weather was actually a lot nicer than forecasted.  I lie, the
weather was perfect.  We then hiked over to a Starbucks for breakfast
and a little emailing.  We went to the Museum of Natural History right
when it opened at 10 and stayed there for a couple hours.  I could
spend a lifetime in there I think.  There's so much to see.
Afterwards, we swung by the botanical gardens.  Something really cool
that they have there is they have multiple habitats all connected, only
separated by glass automatic doors, but they have engineered the
climate of each to mimic the environment that the plants usually grow.
So we walked from Jungle to Desert in one glass door and the
difference was like Maryland to Utah. Nice dry heat.
We then sat on Capitol Hill for a few minutes to rest.  They're
already prepping the Capitol to look nice for the inauguration in
January.
We then wandered around the mall for an hour or so but then decided we
probably ought to head home as we were all exhausted.
We were lucky able to check off all the things Sister Minguito still
has on her list before she heads back to Spain in a few weeks.  But my
goodness, we walked so flipping much.  I'm so so thankful to have a
car and the VC.
We stopped by Shake Shack on our way home.  Those burgers are so good.
They're a little over priced for their size, but the taste and texture
make up for it.
But that was just today.  The rest of the week was good too! We were
finally able to meet with the Wozniaks over dinner at their home.
Their Polish nature makes them very blunt and honest, which might be
hard for some people to work with, but I honestly work best with that.
That way there's no miscommunication.
General conference was pretty good this weekend! Quite a few talks
were about missionary work which will make it easier for members to
watch to help us out more :)
I don't really have much more to say, plus there's little time as
we're getting home just a few minutes before p-day ends.
I hope you all have a great rest of your week!
~Sister Galli

Sister Galli and Sister Minguito

Sister Watkins and Sister Barr

Washington Monument at sunrise

Sister Galli and Sister Watkins
(I'm guessing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial)

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

Starbucks for breakfast

'High School Musical' jump at the Washington Monument

The United States Capitol

Eating at The Shake Shack on the way home