Life in Florida

Hi everyone! 

It feels like spring! Haha, it pretty much is always warm, but it does kinda feel more like spring. There are different plants blooming and such. Hibiscus is year round pretty much, but there's some other flowers that bloom now and they smell awesome!

Tiffiny is doing well! She's been getting involved with a lot of stuff in the YSA and she's been enjoying it. We've been working with some less actives and also always finding people to teach. We have some good lessons this week coming up! 

I'm getting excited for conference! Can't believe it's coming up so soon! It'll be here before we know it! I'm trying to finish reading all the conference talks from last conference nice before April. I have about 15 left! 

We had a zone conference last week and talked a lot about teaching repentance and also teaching with the scriptures. It was good! There's always more to learn and it always goes back to deepening our understanding of the basics of the gospel. :)

Me, Sister Anderson and Sister Na'a 

Sarasota Zone!

Cupcakes the young women made for us! So sweet of them!

Service!

Here are a few things that I liked from this last week. :)

Favorite Talks:

"Days Never to Be Forgotten" President Thomas S. Monson - October 1990 General Conference (Such a tender mercy - he talks about my great-great-great-grandfather Archibald Gardner and his conversion- it was a reminder to me that the Lord is aware of me and that there are so many who have gone before to show an example of faithfulness)

"When You Save a Girl, You Save Generations" Mary N. Cook - April 2013 General Conference

Blog Article on LDS.org "You're Not Messing Up God's Plan for You"

Favorite Scriptures:

2 Nephi 9 - the whole thing! V.20 "For he knoweth ALL things, and there is not anything save he knows it." V. 26 "For the Atonement satisfies the demands of his justice..." Just read it all! :)

Genesis 22:1-19 - Abraham was willing to give up EVERYTHING, even his precious son because God asked him to. Such an example to me of being willing to sacrifice everything out of love for God.

"How can you increase in your discipleship? I have an invitation for you that will help--it's an assignment, actually--if you choose to accept it. Commence tonight to consecrate a portion of your time each week to studying everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the Old Testament, for He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Study His laws as recorded in the New Testament, for He is its Christ. Study His doctrine as recorded in the Book of Mormon, for there is no book of scripture in which His mission and His ministry are more clearly revealed. And study His words as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, for He continues to teach His people in this dispensation. This may seem like a large assignment, but I encourage you to accept it. If you proceed to learn all you can about Jesus Christ, I promise you that your love for Him, and for God's laws, will grow beyond what you currently imagine. I promise you also that your ability to turn away from sin will increase. Your desire to keep the commandments will soar. You will find yourself better able to walk away from the entertainment and entanglements of those who mock the followers of Jesus Christ." President Nelson "Prophets, Leadership and Divine Law" January 2017 Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults 

If you haven't had a chance to watch, listen to or read that Devotional I'd encourage you to do it!

Love you all!! Have an awesome week and spread the love!

Sister Gessel

Take 2

Our zone service day was on Valentine's day!

Our district! (Elders Van Dyke, Menlove, Robertson, Henstra, Meacham, Garcia, me and Sister Alder, Elders Adams and Konecki)

Our whole zone! :) We painted 4 houses for Habitat for Humanity!

Got to see some of my sisters at the sisters training meeting! Love them!

This week in Florida...

Sister Alder and I having a Valentine's Day picnic at the park.

At the McCulloch's "Valentine's Treat Diner." So cute! They had a put a table out in the shed in their backyard and served us a treat!

Sister Gafa and Sister Cook and I! (Sister Gafa only has one more transfer after this!!! CRazy!)

Sister Alder and I got some sushi and thai panang curry today! So good!

The gospel is true! When we live it we can experience even more of God's love in our lives! Also, don't worry so much! Things will all work out. We were worried about some things going on this week and we weren't quite sure what to do about it, but when we got to the church yesterday we found out that things had worked themselves out and everything was going to be ok. Don't worry, Heavenly Father knows PERFECTLY well what's going on. Trust Him. Trust in the power of the spirit. He's looking out for you and for others. Keep praying, keep doing your best, ultimately things will work out. :)

Love ya!

Sister Gessel

Proverbs 3:5-6
Hi everyone!

This week in Florida has been great! There have been a lot of
adventures! We met some new people and were able to teach more about
the Book of Mormon! One of the best parts of the week was a
specialized sisters training! All of the sister training leaders led
discussions/presentations on various topics including physical and
spiritual confidence, better teaching skills, companionship unity,
etc. It was so great! The spirit was so strong throughout it! There is
such power in women who are united in the work of the Savior! The
sisters here are seriously amazing. They gave such great comments and
insights and have such powerful testimonies. I think we as women just
really need each other. If you haven't had a chance yet I'd invite you
to read "It Isn't a Sin to Be Weak" by Wendy Ulrich in the April 2015
Ensign. Really think about what it means and you can even talk about
it with someone. I think when we really understand that weaknesses
come from God and can lead us closer to Him our lives will change! He
can give us strength through the enabling power of His Atonement that
will help us become more holy.

If you know me you know I don't really love Valentine's Day, but
spending it out serving other people makes it a great day! We had a
zone service day and we were able to paint houses and help with other
things! It was great! We also were able to heart attack some of the
members and investigators. :) A lady from our ward surprised us by
inviting us over to home for a small treat. It was so kind!

This week has been full of delicious food as well as a lot of other
great things! We went to a Peruvian restaurant last Monday and tried
Peruvian chicken fried rice, fried yucca as well as some crunchy corn
with a delicious sauce!

:)

P.s. If you send something my apartment has changed! My address is 4170 Taggart Cay S #305 Sarasota, FL 34233. Hi all!

This week has been great! Sister Alder and I had a chance to go up to
Tampa for a specialized missionary training last Friday. It was
awesome! We spent some time contacting on USF campus (I got to go with
one of my favorite people ever - Sister Anderson!) and we had such a
great time and met a lot of wonderful people! Sharing the gospel is
the best thing! We also learned more about teaching, etc. and it was
just a great day filled with learning. As much as we think we know
about something there is always more to learn. I'm so grateful for the
other missionaries here and for the spirit that truly teaches us!

I hope you all have an amazing week! The church is true! Tiffiny is
going to the temple to do baptisms in the Orlando temple this Saturday
and we are so excited for her!

Love you all,

Sister Gessel

Favorite Talks this week
"What Think Ye of the Book of Mormon" Bruce R. McConkie - Oct 1983
General Conference
"The Blessings of Missionary Service" from the same conference

Fascinating Subject Line

Hi everyone!

Hope your week is going well! Things in Florida are good. :) I'm grateful for inspired an mission president and for change! We've been talking a lot about how we can improve and grow and what it really means to be consecrated. I've spent a little more time studying it and to me to consecrate means to "set apart." There's a quote from Preach My Gospel that I love.

 "President Spencer W. Kimball said: "The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance."

I'm grateful that each of us can set apart our lives to serve our Savior Jesus Christ! We are different and that's ok! I hope that we will set apart a little more of our day to spend in remembrance and study of the life of Our Savior! 

I love you all and I'm grateful for your examples! The gospel is true! The Book of Mormon is the word of God!

Sister Gessel

P.S. Rootstech looks amazing! I hope you all will check it out! Anyone remember Reading Rainbow? Gotta love LaVar Burton! Haha. 

https://www.lds.org/church/news/cant-attend-rootstech-family-history-conference-in-person-participate-online!?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_TU_31-1-2017_dFHD_fCNWS_xLIDyH-3_

Pictures

First day we met Tiffiny!!

Sister Alder's first day biking! :) It felt so good to ride again! Lots of tender mercies that day.

Mission Leadership Council in Tampa 

Sunset!