Happy Mother's Day!

This is from our zone activity last Monday.

So many tender mercies from all he missionaries here by the mission office!

Me and Hermana Whitlock

Us and the YSA sisters after a service project

This past week has been fantastic! We've seen so many miracles in our area and online! The work is moving forward! No unhallowed hand shall stop the work. The scripture we're memorizing this week is Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Through faith there can be so many miracles.

Penny and her grandson Tommy came to church yesterday! Tommy and his wife Kristen were baptized last October. Tommy is mostly blind due to an incident last summer and he's spent a few weeks in New York training with a guide dog! Now he's got a beautiful black lab named Partner. :) Penny is doing well and we will be seeing her tonight!

As I've been working online I have been amazed at how many amazing resources there are available on LDS.org! There are SO many! From military.lds.org to scripturestories.lds.org, families.lds.org, LDS.org/topics (this is our favorite find of the week! So cool! It has a ton of topics and then includes a description, scriptures, conferences talks, videos, etc. all on the subject! Basically the best resource ever if you're researching or writing a talk!), mentalhealth.lds.org, discover.mormon.org, jesuschrist.mormon.org, mormonandgay.lds.org, history.lds.org. The list goes on and on! If you haven't checked some of them out please take a minute and do!

Anyway, thank you all for all you do! Keep up the good work and don't forget you're loved!

Sister Gessel

Hello everyone,

I have been reflecting back on the many women who have touched my life
and shaped me into who I am today. I am so grateful for their love and
Christlike service. So many of them have no idea how much they
influenced me simply by being there, by caring and by listening. I'm
so grateful for my mom! And my grandma! And my sisters! Thank you all
for who you are!

As you know we get to call our families on Mother's day! It was great
to see the faces and hear the voices of those I love! I love you!

Trio!

HI everyone! We had an unexpected surprise this week! Sister Na'a who has been serving out in Lake Hamilton (near Lake Wales!!!) was our third companion for a few days this week! She needed to be off her leg for a bit, so she was able to come with us. It has been great! We had another unexpected surprise, we went to the church on Saturday and we had no Internet...as you can imagine it's a little difficult to be an online Missionary with no Internet. Haha, but we made things work and we got to spend more time getting to know our members here. 

I just want to tell you a little about the things I've learned this week and they include things I've learned from 2 incredible people. One of them is Sister Na'a! She is also 27 years old, she is from Tonga and she's a triplet (3 girls)! She has 8 siblings, 4 brothers and 4 sisters; the triplets are the youngest. She has 15 nieces and nephews and all of her siblings are married. She served the first 5 months of her mission In Tonga, waiting to get a visa. As we've had a chance to talk I've also learned that both of her parents have died. Her mother died of cancer a year or two ago and it was part of the reason she decided to serve a mission. She bore her testimony to me of how much the plan of salvation means to her and the hope that it brings. She said that on her mission her testimony and knowledge of that plan has grown. She knows that she will be with them again. We had a lesson with Penny this weekend and she was able to share that testimony with her. Penny's husband died, as well as a daughter and grandson and she said sometimes she's wondered why she is still here, but she said she knows that God has a plan for her. As sister Na'a was able to share her experiences with Penny the spirit was so strong! God has a plan for us! It is more wonderful than we can imagine! 

This is Sister Na'a's tongan name tag. :) 

Sister Na'a saw her first alligator! This is in the pond that's right next to our apartment! He was swimming around like crazy! So cool. :) 

We got to watch the fireside with Elder Clark last night!! I love the Clark's so much! It was so inspiring and filled with truth!

We put together a mother's day thing for Sister Cooper. 

The other person who inspired me this week is Sister Williams, she's the relief society president for our ward here. She is amazing. She is legally blind, and can only see a few feet in front of her. She had a heart attack this past Wednesday as well as surgery right after. You would think that she would stay home and recover for a few weeks, but no! She was there at ward council and stayed for all three hours of church! She even shared her testimony in sacrament meeting. She is so firmly rooted in the gospel and she knows what is important to her. She doesn't let her limitations stop her. 

I'm sorry I don't have time to write back individually this week! We have zone activity day today and we don't have time. But know that I love you all! Happy Mothers day! 

"...Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:9-10

Love ya, 

Sister Gessel

"But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually..."

Hermana Whitlock had never eaten Indian food! So we went and got chicken tikki masala, garlic naan and mango lassis! So good!!! The mango lassi was just like drinking a mango! We met this beautiful woman named Satia also! She was our server and her 2 kids and husband were there too. Argh, I want to go to India so badly! Someday!

So many miracles this week! God is good!

I'm sorry for not having a lot of time this week, but just know you are loved! By me and by our Heavenly Father! He knows you, turn to Him! His plan is 10x better than ours. We just have to take a step in the dark and our path will be illuminated. His light will always dispel the darkness of doubt or discouragement. :)

Love you,

Sister Gessel

2 Nephi 28
Hi everyone!

This week has been great! Hermana Whitlock and I have been working on
memorizing and knowing scriptures better and the one in the subject is
our scripture for the week! It's from Moroni 7:13. Last week was Romas
1:16. :) I'm really good at memorizing and then promptly
forgetting...so we're going to work on retaining too. :)

Teaching Penny and helping her progress has been the most amazing part
of the week. :) She came to church yesterday! It was such a great
Sunday to come! I love missionary work! I wish I could describe to you
what it's like in words!

We've been getting to know the members and this is one their cards! So funny!