Trunk of Treat!

Here's a couple more pictures! 

We had a trunk or treat with the ward and it was lots of fun! Sister Gordon had the cutest mermaid costume with her pink wig! Haha, she even had a starfish toe ring. :) 

Also, we had a family history booth down by Lake Wailes on Saturday and while we were there we got to try this amazing creation! It was a sweet maple bacon macaroni and cheese waffle! Haha, it was so good!! Pretty sure it contained all the calories necessary for a week, but i enjoyed it. :) 

Halloween in Lake Wales

Hi all!

It's been an exciting couple of days here in Lake Wales! Lots of contacting! Lake Wales has an annual Pioneer Days celebration with a bunch of vendors, events, etc. Our ward had a family history booth and we got to talk to a lot of people about getting started. It was awesome! Just in case you didn't know, if you go to a full service family history center you can use Ancestry.com for FREE! It's awesome! I found pictures of my grandpa's yearbooks from high school and college! 

In other news - do you remember that amazing talk called "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence"? It's from October 2014 General Conference. We found out that Jorg Klebingat will be coming this upcoming Saturday! We're excited for that. It should be a great day. If you haven't read the talk recently I highly recommend it!

Also, I found out I'm transferring! I'm headed out to Sarasota! I will miss Lake Wales and all the amazing people and memories here! I'm excited for a new adventure, but I will never forget this place!

Love you all,

Sister Gessel

Study - 'Grace' in True to the Faith, Alma 36, 37, "It isn't a Sin to Be Weak" - April 2015 Engisn

Pictures - Fall decorations from my family and Ashlee! Muchas gracias! 

Sunset!

Exchange with the Citrus Ridge sisters - Sister Lance and Sister Barkdull!

Mission Leadership Council last Friday!

Fried Okra!

More pics

So I made some fried okra! So good!

Still so weird to wear pants! But it's good. 
Weird fog one morning

The kids at the "drive-in' movie night for the ward party - The kids loved it! Such a fun night. 

Almost Halloween!

We went briefly with Amber, Jasmine, James, Krista and Baby J to a Trunk or Treat the other night! They also came to our ward activity the same night! It was so great! Amber says she keeps getting pulled back to us. 

This is Marlene and her two little boys Trenton and Ryker! They all came to church yesterday! It was so great! They are moving to Arkansas next week, but we are hopeful they will be able to meet with missionaries there!

Sister Jensen, Sister Zinck, Sister Greenberg and I switching back. :) 

It's not every day you get to eat a flower. . .

Hi everyone! 

Florida is October is THE BEST! Seriously, the weather this week has been so perfect. 

This week has been pretty good. There's been some great new people we've been able to teach. Also a lot of the snowbirds from our ward are coming back! It's been fun to meet them. 

Also, I just love the book of Alma! I was reading this morning in Alma 32 about faith and I love verse 33. I don't think that verse has stood out to me before, but it did today. It says "And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good." Sometimes we've just got to TRY! We won't know how things are going to turn out before we do them. I'm a planner and a perfectionist. I tend to want to know how things are going to go beforehand. But life doesn't work that way. We can and should plan, but things don't always work out how we expect. But we do have to try! When we do things work out! Maybe not at first or how we expect, but it works out. Satisfaction comes in actually trying and not just thinking about it forever. Anyway, just some thoughts. The scriptures are great. 

The gospel is true and it's here in it's fulness today to bless our lives! 

Love you all! Keep the faith!

Sister Gessel

Talks- Emissaries to the Church - Elder Holland October 2016

Jesus: The Perfect Leader - August 1979 Ensign

Pics-

Sister Zinck and her traditional picture when we eat out. We went to Tijuana Flats! Still not Cafe Rio. Haha

MLC pic! 

Hermana Jensen and I! Love her!

We were knocking doors and there was a yard covered in these little yellow flowers. The lady answered and though she wasn't interested in hearing our message she told us all about her yard! She said that everything is either edible or native to Florida. So believe it or not you can eat those flowers. They were good!

In Other News...PANTS

Mini-exchange with Sister Lance and Liz came out with us!

All of us with Liz

Leaves!!!! WHAT?!?!?

Gage with his new baby sister Marilyn! (Sami, their mom was baptized last December)

Vincent discovered that he could flip the camera. haha

Reagan! she's so cute!

Me with Yolanda's sleeping dog!

 ALSO - CRAZINESS! We have to wear pants now when we are out proselyting! Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and our mission are the first to have to wear them in the US. Those darn zika-carrying mosquitos! So it's been an adventure to go shopping for pants!

Pictures!

Sister Gessel and Sister Zinck
Lake Wales

We ate at Catfish Country - I learned that cheese grits are delicious and black eyed peas are not. . . Haha. The stuffed crab was ok. 

Sister Zinck with her shrimp and scallops!

Cinnamon rolls for conference! Next year they will be homemade again. Haha

Between Saturday conference sessions we made soup with Keassy and Jovany! It was so good! It may not be chilly outside, but you can never pass up soup! :) 

Lakeland Zone Activity Day and General Conference!

Sister Gessel and Sister Zinck
Lake Wales

Hi all!

Don't you just love General Conference? The feeling I get as I listen is one that 

I just don't ever want to go away. I'm so grateful for President Monson and for the leaders of the church. I know that they speak the words that our Savior wants us to hear right now. I know we will be blessed for following them. 

I'm grateful for all the calls to repentance that I heard. I am far from perfect in my discipleship, but I'm grateful that there's always hope and we can always work on our faith. Also, there were so many talks on focusing on the simple doctrines of the gospel. I loved that. If we focus on the basics and keep ourselves grounded in the gospel we'll be ok. I know I want to know my Savior better. I know it's possible, especially as we focus on the basics - prayer, faith, reading the Book of Mormon, etc. 

I look forward to studying and re-studying the talks! We were able to watch the sessions with members, which was great! We watched some at the church and another with a member family. :) We even had an investigator named Pat come! It was great to see the recent members come and enjoy it also. 

I know if we take in what we heard and even just start working on one little thing to improve that we will be blessed. It will all be worth it! 

Love you mucho! 

Sister Gessel

P.S. What were you favorite talks or take away messages this conference? I'd love to hear. :)

Pics - 

This last Monday we had a Zone Activity Day where we got together with all the missionaries in our zone! We had an awesome 4 square tournament, some minute to win it type games and delicious Cafe Rio style food. It ended with an amazing district meeting and then a zone testimony meeting. :) 

4-square

Skittle sorting

Sisters Barkdull, Lance and Jensen!

Lakeland Zone!