Picture Week 📷

Howdy all!
Not too much in the way of exciting news this week, but I do have a
fair amount of pictures from last p-day.
Tonight is call-outs which means I'll know this evening who my 9th
companion will be.  I can never hold onto them for very long, can I?
Haha, stay good and keep pressing on!

~Sister Galli

The zoo with the trio

Lunch at Shake Shack off Dupont Circle, my treat

Off to the mall 

I caught a firefly and put him in a jar. I'm now a true American. (Don't worry, I let him go shortly after)

No email this week 🙁

Last week, Sister Galli mentioned that they had been given permission to go into DC on this p-day for Sister Yang's birthday. Because of this, they left early and got home after their p-day time had ended, so no official email this week. However, I have received pictures via text message from two different people this week, so I thought would post them here:

This picture of Sister Galli and Sister Yang was sent to my by a family from Ephraim, UT
who were on a road trip and visiting DC
So funny to see Hannah as the 'tall' one at 5'4" :)

Sister Galli with Sister Karren
(she was my kids' elementary school principal who is serving a mission in DC now with her husband).
I get these selfies from Sis Karren every time she sees Hannah at a meeting, etc. and it is such treat!
Definitely one of the perks of having a friend who is serving in the same mission as your daughter.

These three pictures were taken at a meeting with a visiting general authority  (Elder Brent H Nielson).
I'm guessing the VC sisters are singing, but I'm not sure.

Service: It's Why We're Here

We got an interesting call this week from our roommates.

"Hey Sisters. Our car won't start. Can we catch a ride with you to Zone Conference?"

Um, sure. 

So they have been our passengers for the past 5 days while their car is being fixed.  

This has been a bit of a challenge as very little of our areas overlap (they're Spanish, we're English) and they have back-to-back appointments (because we're half convinced that they've committed every Hispanic in their area to be baptized).

However, a few melted jumper cables later, they have traded out their new 2017 Subaru Legacy for a...less nice car.

In life, we don't always get to choose some things--either because of others' agency or just because we live in an imperfect world--but every day we can choose our attitudes and perspectives. 

Sister Yang and I could have been incredibly upset and annoyed with our inconvenience (and it was an inconvenience) or we could have looked at this as an opportunity to serve our fellow missionaries.  And though we aren't baptizing, they are, and now that we've helped them be able to teach those people, we've helped their investigators come closer to baptism, too! We all have a part to play.

On an only semi-random note, since we are serving in the VC for full days now, we can sign up to feed all the sisters there (11-12 sisters) on one or two nights of the month and people have been really generous and also gotten very creative.  On Wednesday, we made fried rice. On Friday, the sister from Korea and her companions made Korean BBQ.   It's been fun to serve and be served in a delicious way :)

Service is in the air, people!  It adds meaning to our lives. So do it!

~Sister Galli

P.S. There will either be no email or a short email next week as we will be going into the city for Sister Yang's birthday! 🎉

What's the Point?

Howdy Howdy Y'all!

Over the past few weeks since this transfer began, I've been having a bit of a trial-some period--feeling really down with no real explanation of why.  It's been difficult to find joy in the work lately.

However, after fasting and praying about it yesterday, I received an answer to why I've been feeling this way--I didn't feel like I had a purpose, or at least I was unaware of my purpose in being sent to this new area with this new companion and going back to the VC. Long story short, through talking with some of the other VC sisters last night, I realized what my purpose is in being sent to this area. Knowing the 'what' and the 'why' has now given me the motivation to do my best to achieve what I have been sent here to do.

This must be how everyone must feel if they do not know the Plan of Salvation: the Plan that God has for each one of us.  To be sent to earth with no clue on how one should conduct their life or find any meaning from the day to day, it must be a challenge to have the desire to continue sometimes.
I feel so blessed to know what God expects of me in the long run (and now in the short run, too!).  I'd like to challenge each one of you to share God's plan for each of His children with somebody who is not as fortunate as we are.  And if you're questioning your purpose, be it big or small, ask God, and He will let you know.  He wants you to be happy and He wants you to have meaning in your life.

Love you all!
~Sister Galli

That awesome moment when your area resembles Book of Mormon geography

Made a sock cat for one of the sisters in the VC

Ah, it's always so beautiful!

We cleaned out the keyboards at the VC, and afterward I 'fixed' the keys ;)

Got Dippin' Dots from the mall