Alligator!

Hi everyone!

This week was great! We had an amazing Zone Conference with Elder Bradley D. Foster and Elder Joaquin Costa from the Seventy and their wives on Friday! It was the best! I learned so much and there were so many questions answered. 

As usual, I put this off till the last and I don't have much time. I just want you to know that I know there's a prophet on the earth today and that he has called men and women to lead and guide us. I know they are inspired by God. I know that we can know truth for ourselves by studying it out and praying about it. I know our Heavenly Father hears our prayers. I know that one day every one of us will stand in judgment and that we can help each other prepare for that day. I am so grateful for the mission experience. I'm grateful for the Lord. I know He lives and that He is coming back. I love you all! Never forget that He loves you!

I'm praying for you,

Sister GEssel

Pictures

Guava from Celia's yard!

We went to Catfish Country where they had all kind of sea food and especially fried sea food. Haha. I had crab cakes (so good!) and Sister Jensen tried the Alligator nuggets which is the 3rd picture. They were good! 

Sister Jensen, me and Sister Nasman!

Sister Nasman and Sister Slawson :) 

There are a million pictures this week, sorry about all the emails!

Lakeland zone

Our zone with President and Sister Cooper, Elder and Sister Foster, Elder and Sister Costa :) 

Sent from my iPhone

Alligator Part 3

Not only did we eat alligator this week, but we SAW an alligator! HAha, pretty neat!

Alligator Part 2

Pictures

Spanish moss is the coolest! I seriously love it! We went tracting near a cemetery full of spanish moss and it was great!

Sister Nasman and I on an exchange. :) 

The pond at the Sisters apartment.

Me, Sister Nasman, Sister Jensen and Sister Slawson

Sunglasses, Rain and Mango Popsicles

If there is anything you can count on if you're outside on a Florida summer day it's lots of sun,some rain (usually in the afternoon), lightning and thunder and a fair amount of dripping sweat. :) We met a lady who's name is Florida this week and she took us in from the rain for a moment (seriously the thunder is crazy!) and we prayed with her and she gave us the most amazing mango popsicles! She makes them herself from mango puree! Seriously you should probably all go buy some mangos today and try it. :) 

Church was amazing yesterday!! It felt so much like home! The ward here is small and yesterday they had a baby blessing and people came out of the woodwork! There were 50 more people than usual and it was awesome! We also had 4 other visitors we had invited and some people who hadn't been in a long time! Our neighbor in our apartment complex is a member but hasn't come for years. She moved from Utah about 7 months ago and we've been talking to her off and on and she made it yesterday with her boyfriend! There are also more spanish speakers coming to our ward, which has been really neat because one of our recent converts has been able to reach out to them and help them better than we can. 

The Lord is in this work. We as humans are far from perfect, but if we're striving to do our best in the end it will be ok. There's a video called "Strive" if the Mormon Messages for Youth section of Gospel Library and I would encourage you to watch it! We are never alone. :) Sister Zinck and I have been talking about the phrase "you can't convert beyond your own conversion." We've been working to identify areas that we each feel like we could strengthen our testimonies and we've made some plans to do so. If there's areas you feel weak in, try something this week to strengthen it! i know there are miracles when we try to reach a worthy goal. 

Love you all! You inspire me with your love and all you do! 

Sister Gessel

P.S. Who else is getting pumped for General Conference???

:)

Hi everyone!

I hope all is well! Things are going well here in Lake Wales. We were able to have a member go out with us most of the week and it was great! She's a young woman named Liz and she's preparing to go on a mission in a couple years! By the time it comes she's going to be so prepared! If you ever get a chance to go out with the missionaries I'd encourage you to take it! We need your help is this work! We're not perfect missionaries, but we are trying. :) 

We did some store contacting this past week and we ran into so many people we know! Tender mercy! There are always people who are ready to hear the gospel. :) I've really had a chance this week to focus on short, powerful statements/truths that bring the spirit. As we've been out finding people I've been able to share some of them and it has made a difference! Just something simple but true - I know God hears our prayers - I know the teachings of Jesus Christ can bring peace - Our Savior Jesus Christ died for our sins. I know all those things are true. 

Keep our investigators, new ward members and missionaries here in your prayers please! Thank you for all you do to reach out and serve people. We were able to meet with a ward member this week and it amazed me to see all the little behind the scenes things we was doing for the ward and how much he wanted to help us! There are so many good people in this world. And often they're just doing there thing, not looking for any recognition or praise. They serve the Lord and love Him. 

In closing I was thinking of a scripture that one of our ward members likes to share - It's Moroni 8:3 "I am mindful of you always, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end." I'm praying for you and I know our Heavenly Father is looking out for you.

Love you all,

Sister Gessel

P.S. If you get a chance the Ensign this month is great! I loved the talk by President Eyring "The Hope of Eternal Family Love" and the article by Elder L. Whitney Clayton "Rooted in Christ." Our decisions make a difference. :) 

Pictures

Liz, Sister Zinck and I! :)

The beautiful sunrise this morning as we were exercising

A double rainbow last Friday!

Jimmy and the other young men and women playing some games for YW/YM combined activity.

Part 3

Sister Gessel and Sister Zinck
Lake Wales

Wed- Everyone at Metro Training!

Sat- We went on an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders - Miracles always happen on exchanges!

Sat- Jacob's baptism!!! He was baptized by his girlfriend's grandpa. :) Such a great night. 

Part 2

Mon- Yep, do you see the snake? Apparently the black ones are harmless, but it's still good to be on the watch.

Tues- The Elders and Sisters in the Lakeland Zone! We had a zone training meeting this week with Sister Cooper. 

Tues- Steak and Shake! They don't have one in our area, so we took advantage on our way home. The food is mediocre, but the Cookie Butter shake is amazing!! Seriously, I'm going to try to imitate it when I get home. :) 

Tues- Two recent converts- Margie and Larry - They're great. 

Wed- The sisters are Metro training! I got to see my old companion Sister Gafa!

A Very Unusual Week in the Life of Sister Gessel :)

Hi all!

I promised a short run down of this past week and it's been a very good one! It's been a little out of the ordinary because we had different meetings, as well as a day long training (called Metro), a day long exchange and also a baptism! It's been a very busy week!

Monday

Preparation day! We exercise and study like usual, but we also get our apartment clean and tidy! They we go email, wash the car, shop for groceries, etc. We also went to Bok Tower! It's a historic landmark and they plan music every half hour or so from the bell tower. It's really close to our apartment and we wanted to check it out. One of our investigators also gave us free passes because she works there!

In the evening we had a lesson with Pat. Keep her in your prayers! We also had a great lesson with Celia! Do you remember Yolanda? She was just baptized two months ago and she came to this lesson also. They are both Puerto Rican and they really hit it off! It's amazing to see the growth in Yolanda, even just after two months. 

Tuesday

Today we had Zone Training Meeting with the Lakeland Zone. We learned from our Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders and each other! The focus was on teaching repentance and what repentance really is. In preparation we read this great talk called "The Divine Gift of Repentance" by D. Todd Christofferson in October 2011 General Conference. If you get a chance, read it! Change is real. We don't have to be stuck where we're at. We can always change because of the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Wednesday

We had a day long training (Metro) this day! We woke up early (a little earlier than the usual early) because we drove all the way over to Tampa (about an hour and a half) to do some training with the Assistants and other Sister Training Leaders. We did some contacting role plays and then went on the USF campus for 2.5 hours or so and talked to as many people as we could about the gospel! There are always such neat experiences on campus. We also switched companions for a bit and I was with Sister Anderson! We met a girl from Thailand! We also ate lunch with a girl studying marine biology (I thought of you Kat :) haha). There was other training on being a better missionary in the afternoon. It was great! We drove back home to Lake Wales that night.

Thursday

We had a great lesson with a lady named Rebecca. We gave her a Book of Mormon the week before and she had read the chapters we gave her! She's still not sure about it, but she didn't get an answer that she needs to stop, just that she should keep learning and seeking for herself. We are meeting with her again soon! Also, today we went back to see a young Haitian girl named Monica! She wasn't there, but we met her mom Dieumila and had a short lesson with her. While we were there it started pouring rain! Of course we'd left our umbrella in the car.  Dieumila insisted that we stay until the rain was gone or that she'd give us her umbrella. She saw that the end of her driveway was inches deep in water and told us that she would drive us to our car even though it wasn't far away because she didn't want our shoes to get ruined. She was so kind! She said in the car "I may not have much, but I can give you a ride." It wasn't quite those words, but that was the essence of the message. There is still so much good in the world! We see rejection and misunderstanding everyday, but we also see so much goodness and faith!

Friday

We had an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders! I was with Sister Briggs and Sister Zinck went with Sister Whitlock! It is so fun to learn from another person about how they do missionary work. We did a lot of finding in new areas we haven't been to before. We also had a lesson with Jacob and he had his interview with the district leader! 

Saturday

Jacob's baptism! It was a great day! Things are always a little chaotic trying to coordinate everything right before, but it was a beautiful experience. Jacob has experienced a lot of trials and hardship in his life, but he's starting new! He's 17 and has one year left of high school. He's the boyfriend of a member and it's been a faith building experience for their whole family. He was so prepared for the gospel!

Sunday

Fast Sunday! A family that we've been teaching almost all came to church! The mom and youngest child wasn't able to come because they'd left the carseat somewhere, but Jay, James, and Krista were able to come to church! Also, another Haitian young man named Lucny came for the third time! He's a friend of Jimmy's. I love fasting! There is so much power that comes from it. 

Wow, that's a lot of stuff. I hope it gives you a little glimpse of missionary work and how things go. Miracles happen every day, but you've got to look for them. Look for the good. Try each day to change a little bit. Don't get stuck in a rut. When you recognize the need to change, take it! Don't let it slip by. I pray that I will be able to take advantage of this time and step up my game. 

Thank you all for your love and support. If you haven't studied your scriptures yet today, take a bit of time and do it! I promise you your day will be better. Even if you just sit and ponder one verse. :) 

Hope you have a great week! 

Love you all!

Sister Gessel

P.S. There's also a blog with my emails if someone hasn't been getting the emails and would like to know what's going on. i believe it's sistergesselflorida.blogspot.com :) 

Pictures

Washing the car on preparation day! Putting away groceries. Also we went to Bok Tower! They have carillon bells just like the tower on campus at BYU.

I just don't like coming up with subject lines... :)

Hi from good old Lake Wales! 

I love it here. We have nearly survived summer our first summer in Florida. Haha. I can honestly say I've never dripped this much sweat in one day before as we do here. :) Definitely keeps life exciting! Thank heavens for air conditioning. :) 

Have you read Enos (in the Book of Mormon) lately? If you haven't that's my challenge to you this week! Pray for understanding before you read or write down questions you have. There is so much to learn! I was reading it this morning and I love how it talks about our guilt being swept away and that through our faith we can spiritually be made whole! 

We have a baptism coming up on Saturday! Pray for Jacob this week! We've been working with a lot of solid people recently and we know there are more out there! Our ward has been really supportive and that makes the biggest difference! We were able to go serve a family last week that we've been teaching (we inherited them from the Winter Haven Elders) and they were able to come to church! Almost all of them anyway. They've still got a long way to go, but they've already come so far! The Lord really has been blessing and preparing them. Missionary work really is the best work. When you get to see people grow and change and see their potential. I don't think there's much better! We're not perfect, but the fact that the Lord trusts us as members and missionaries to do this work is amazing! I'm grateful that He gives us the chance. 

I hope and pray that you get a chance to share the gospel with someone this week. Big or little I know it will bless you this week!

Love you all! Hope your week is fantastic! Don't die in the heat!

Sister Gessel

Pics

The sister before me planted this little plant and it finally flowered! :) And a really attractive picture of me and Sister Zinck as we prep some Gatorade for the day! haha. Bishop ensures that we get all the electrolytes we need. Haha, he's so great! 

P.S. Coming next week! A week in the life of Sister Gessel! Haha, get excited.