DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY

Hey friends!!

Today marks the start of whatt is likely my last week with Hermana Derr and in Santa Rosa. We get the transfer doc on Saturday and I am just praying I go to one of the neighboring zones so that I can come back for Amelia and Celia and Oscar's baptisms later this month. Me and Hermana Derr have put together quite the list of transfer predictions though. President gave us permission to do the whole thing so it should be an interesting transfer haha.

Manuel, Benjamin and Amelia, and Celia and Oscar are all doing AMAZING. We have had some great lessons this week and they are all progressing so well! It makes me so happy to be able to teach them and work with them and seriously just feel so much of Gods love for them and help them realize what special chilidren of God they are. 

We had zone conference this past week and that was fun! We got some really good new perspectives on practices, online proselyting, and how to use the scriptures. A LOT of our mission is new right now. I believe President said that 40% of the mission has been in the mission for 5 months or less. Which means they either came into the field with me in october, in november, or this past transfer in december. So they have put a lot of emphasis on teaching skills so that was cool to learn more about. My district had to teach so me and Hermana Derr were assigned the part in Preach my Gospel about helping people resolve their concerns. You know those thermometers they use in primary where they have like a red/white ribbon that they pull to adjust what the temperature reading is? Well preach my gospel describes peoples conerns as an iceberg, where usually you can only see the top little part and you have to work to uncover it. So as we were trying to get creative, we decided to make a similar contraption. So we made a thermometer-like thing where we had an iceberg and the water level could lower as we did things to help people resolve their concerns. It looked a litle ridiculous but most people just stand up and talk and it is easy to get distracted so hopefully it was a little more entertaining.

I have been thinking a lot about happiness lately and me, hermana derr, and our roommate sister bagget have had some really good conversations about it and I just wanted to share a little with you. I really love the quote by Thomas S Monson that says "of this be sure: you do not find the happy life, you make it." i have come to realize how true that is! And I think that is one of the great tests of this life, learning to make ourselves happy where we are. Life is always going to give us challenges and hard times and things that stretch us but that is because God wants us to grow. The grass is never greener on the other side because the other side just has different challenges than this side. I dont know how familiar you are with the song "As Long As You Love Me" by Justin Bieber but in the rap part, one of the lines is "the grass aint always greener on the other side, its green where you water it." so water your grass my friends!! Learn to love exactly where you are and life will be a whole lot better! :)

I hope you have a WONDERFUL last week of January! Now I am off to go see some large trees aka the redwoods!

love,
Hermana Galli
3840 Martina Ave. #103
Santa Rosa, CA 95407

scripture of the week: Mosiah 4:11-12 

                         11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

                                                12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.