Welcome Home Elder Galbraith - March 1, 2017

Mom and Kate waiting for Ted at the Airport

Elder Galbraith when he first sees his family and friends for the first time in 2 years!

Ted and His Mom!

I Know That What I Have Been Preaching Is TRUE!!!

Well it’s gonna be a short one!  I will tell you all everything when I see you face to face! 

It’s been a killer week and an even better mission!  I love it so much here but I have to accept the fact that I am going home.  It will be weird but I know that it will all be alright!! Come what may and love it!  Thank you so much for all your advice.  It is true that I have kinda mixed emotions about coming home, but it’s part of the process so they have told me. 

I just want to testify that I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. I know that Jesus lives.  I have come to understand and know what the atonement means. I have come to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Thomas S. Monson is the current prophet called of God.  I know that what I have been preaching is true and that our Father in Heaven loves us. I know it and I will do everything to continue strengthening my testimony. I want you to know that. 

I love you tons! See you on Wednesday!! 

Elder Galbraith 

My Last Week as a Missionary for The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints!!

I am stoked that I could make it to the temple again last week! It was awesome! I was able to receive some seriously powerful revelation that I needed! I love the temple!  I can testify of the power of the temple! 

I have learned that challenges make us stronger.  I also know that everyone has troubles.  They have had some serious problems just like us too! We are not alone, Jesus Christ knows how we feel, and He will help us out!! He loves us!" 

I am glad that the family is doing so good.  That’s how I know that God answers prayers; he has taken such good care of you guys for me!  Keep on keeping on, cause who knows what He has got in store for ya! Keep working everyone, life gets better and better! 

We have been killing it here.  We had 8 investigators in the sacrament meeting last week and this week we had 11!!! How cool is that?!!  We have seen some awesome miracles!  A family that had to be married to be able to get baptized said that they didn’t want to get married, and then out of nowhere the other day they said that they were ready then to get married! So we are in the process of marrying them!! They get baptized this Saturday!  Another Miracle…some guy just barely moved from the center of Mexico to our ward, saying he got baptized but never got confirmed, and it’s been a while, so he has to get baptized again! He also gets baptized on Saturday!!!  Oh and we baptized Evelin on last Saturday!!  I don’t have the pics yet, but I am on it!! I can’t believe how many cool things are happening right now!!!  The church is true!!!! I know it!! 

So today we went with the zone Moroni, remember that zone? That’s my roots! And we went back to Tlayacapan! Also my roots, we climbed a hill with a big white cross on it. It was super cool!  We have been doing special activities with each individual zone.  It just so happens that in that same hill and that same cross, the famous Mormon band The Killers, filmed one of their music videos there!!! In my mission, in my old are of all places!!  Elder Matos was sooooo happy, that’s his favorite band. It was a really cool day!! 

 Well looks like this might be possibly the last letter I write to my mission president.....

President-

Well, I receive your hug, thank you very much!

We have worked hard with the Elders and Sisters of the mission, and it is giving us results.

We have tried hard to work in Cuautla and we are seeing an increase of the spirit here.  The mission has begun to baptize a little more, and on this coming Saturday we will see MANY baptisms! We baptized one of our investigators on Saturday, and it was really a very beautiful baptism!  I really liked it!!

I feel great right now.  I do not feel trunky or fried or anything.  I like the mission very much. Today we did an activity with the Moroni area.  We went with the whole area Tlayacapan, and we climbed the hill and we really liked it!

Thanks for all your support, and also Sister Zapata's! I love you very much!  Elder Galbraith

I want you all to know that I will leave it all here!  I will leave the mission with no regrets!!! I am going to give it everything.  The Lord is blessing me soooooooo much, I honestly don’t feel that distracted, it’s been a super amazing end to the mission! It’s been the single best decision I have made to this point in my life!  I love you so much! Thank you for everything!! 

Elder Galbraith 

Looking out over Mexico...the land I have come to LOVE!!

Visiting Old Coverts

I love the mission!

Your missionary is doing really good! Life is all good, birthday, mission still going good. I get my bar things off my teeth soon, I am healthy and going strong. I just feel like a little tired a lot more now. I am not totally sure why. So I need your prayers to help me be more active a little more awake! 

I did have time to celebrate my b-day; my comps took care of that. They got me a cake, smashed it in my face too! Ha-ha! They bought some confetti canons and blasted me with them. So it was a pretty great birthday.  It’s still weird to say that I am 21.... I did get some pretty cool stuff for my birthday. Thank you for all your birthday wishes! I love you!!  Thank you for the cash, thoughts, letters, etc. it has been a pretty great birthday! Thank you so much.

This week we will return to the temple on Wednesday to take the other half of the mission there, so that should be cool! Honestly we have had a really great week for work. We have found and been working with some pretty great investigators, one of which we found at the beginning of last week and who came to church the following Sunday! Pretty great huh??? We had a ton of investigators in church too! We saw lots of miracles this week!  We will be baptizing this Saturday and the next one too! 

So it’s going pretty well. 

I am little by little coming to the knowledge that my time here is almost over.  I have accepted it. It’s time.  I am still giving it an effort but its time.  I am not totally sure when I will cry, in the airport maybe, when I see you guys maybe, who knows but I will cry, that I am sure of! Just be gentle when you tell stories about it!  Just know that I will need your help and support. I will need your shoulder to cry on even.  I never understood what you meant about not wanting to leave your mission until now.  I get it. I love this place. It’s my home away from home. 

The Temple last week was awesome! It was super spiritual and calm and helped me to forget everything I had going on upstairs. I had several questions to take to God and I feel like I got some pretty good answers! I honestly felt the spirit super intense, and I felt that He is pleased with the efforts I have given in my mission, but it still depends on how well I finish! 

Some of my favorite scriptures are Mosiah 23:21-22

 21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.

 22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.

I love these scriptures, and this story. It honestly warms my heart. 

I can’t really explain why the Lord gives us troubles and hardship, but I can say that He loves us, and like it has been said, the trials that hurt us and that try us are for our own good. 

They will shape and form us, they will strengthen us. 

We can see them, not as painful, rather as strengthening. Like the gym, it hurts to lift and it burns, almost to not be able to handle it anymore, but over an extended period of time, it begins to become easier and not as hard, and we get stronger. 

Another scripture that really helps to put all this in perspective is this: 

D & C 122: 7-8

   7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

 8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

God loves you so so much. But if we want to get better and progress it needs to be hard, easy doesn't teach anything. He loves you so much that he lets you go to the spiritual gym and get stronger, he gives you what you need in order to better know how to help someone else that will maybe be passing through the same problem. Something so special that the mission has taught me is that trials make me better.  I see them as opportunities to get better, faster, healthier, more faithful, have a better testimony, the list goes on.  That's breakfast! We eat challenge for breakfast and turn it into strength and faith! 

Heavenly father loves us, He sent us His son! That's all we could ever need, His Atonement will carry us!! 

I am very proud of my effort here in Mexico.  I have worked hard and I feel that if I keep it up over these next 2 weeks it will all have been worth it.  The tradition in the mission is to completely die in your last cycle, stop waking up and basically stop working and that's what some people do. I have not done that!  I still get up at 6.30, even earlier sometimes to go to the gym.  I still work, contact, invite, and all that.  My comp Elder Matos actually said that he wants to finish his mission like I am.  I just hope that I have made you, my family, and my Heavenly Father proud. 

I love the mission!

I know that the church is true, that is something I have come to know here! I know it’s true! I know Jesus Christ lives! 

I love you tons! 

Keep up the faith and the good work! 

Elder Galbraith

Week of Lasts, 21st B-Day, My Testimony!

Well thank you so much for the birthday wishes! Thank you for remembering! I love you all tons! You have all made this b-day amazing!! Sister Zapata brought me a cake for my birthday! She is seriously so great; it made me feel very happy!

Well…the mission is going to the temple again tomorrow!  We will take the first half of the mission tomorrow and the other half next week! I am stoked to be able to go to the temple so close to the end of my mission. 

So this week, was a week of lasts.  I had my last ever leadership meeting, my last Zone Conference, my last birthday, my last I don’t even know what else, but something else! Ha-ha! It was pretty rad. 

I have been working at a new level with my comps.  We are working in the area pretty well, contacting tons of people, visiting tons of people and preparing tons of people for baptism. This week I have been blessed with a new focus on the work and it hasn’t been that hard to focus on the work and not think about home! 

Today I went to say goodbye to some people in Valle de Chalco, it sucked. I honestly don’t like saying goodbye to the people that I have come to love so much.  But they all gave me food and I left there today, well…engorged! 

I said goodbye to Miguel Maqueda.  He has honestly been one of my favorite converts!! I love him sooo much! Also a Brother Beto, who is also awesome, has decided to move to Utah, to study English. So that’s pretty neat. 

I can and want to testify of the Atonement.  This week we have been learning tons about the atonement.  I have been praying to come to understand it more and trying to have a deeper testimony about it.  I have been trying to repent more sincerely, and let me tell you guys that I felt the spirit STRONG!  I don’t have like a specific experience yet, but I can say that I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us, and I know that if we truly and sincerely work hard to repent and change, He will bless and change us. 

I feel so much of the spirit while I think of and ponder the theme of the Atonement. 

I know it’s true. I love teaching it and I am seriously trying to live it! 

FYI… I heard about the Super Bowl…it is overrated, I am on a mission, and it doesn’t really matter, the Super Bowl! 

So I will be seeing y’all soon! 

Keep up the good work! And keep working hard to live the gospel!!  

Les amo mucho!! 

Elder Galbraith 

Power of Prayer...Service Works!!

Ok…first of all…I don't miss the snow.  To be honest I really don't.  From what I have heard it’s still quite chilly out there. It's going to be a ruff transition.... I haven’t driven in 2 years either, and I will go straight into driving in snow.... Sounds like you guys are all just covered in snow! Ha-ha. Well you just got to love it, that’s all we can do, there isn’t any other way.

I have been doing a ton of exercise lately.  We have been going to the gym pretty early in the morning! My arms are constantly sore, but I don't feel as tired anymore in the morning when I wake up!

This week we worked a different schedule.  We worked in Cuautla and did divisions with some elders out there. We had some more training with the leaders.  We had some meetings and the leaders changed some things, the mission schedule and a few other things. We decided to change the district meeting schedule as well, just to have something different in the mission.  We found some pretty great new investigators this week too!  We have changed several things here in the mission lately, and I know that this will help us to get different results!  

I just wanted to say that I have felt the power of your prayers! This week we made some plans to work a little harder, talk with more people and to work a little more in sync with each other.  I felt that I have been getting along better with my comps, we communicate more, and we have been praying more.  We even fasted together.  I was thinking the other day, like what made the change? What was the difference? Now I can say that it’s your prayers, that was the added power and umpf that we needed, I think the 4 of us all feel a little bit better together! 

I continue to do service for my comp.  I make his bed and have ironed his shirts too. I have started to see results!  He says thank you now and he has started to do the same for me. Makes my bed, irons my shirts, and we both have made an effort to clean our room and the house more often.  SERVICE WORKS!!! DO service more! It’s divine!

Thank you for all the prayers, the worries, the packages and money and all.  You are all best! I am also praying for each of you.  I know that Heavenly Father loves and protects you! Through thick and thin if we are with Him…He will be there for us, and you have seen those blessings! I have also seen them; I know that if we obey he will pay it back. It’s so true! 

I know that the church is true. This week I have been praying hard to feel the spirit and I have felt it. I have also been praying for the power to stay focused. 

I know that Jesus lives!! 

Elder Galbraith 

The 4 AP's

Where's Elder G?

Another Great Week!!!

Me and my 3 Comps!!

Well honestly this week has been pretty great! I forgot to mention that we added two assistants to our companionship so there are four of us!  We are training the new guys to take over in a few weeks!  We had another baptism! Finally, we were working hard for this one, the last missionary who just went home died here a little so we had to find new investigators. But one of them got baptized on Saturday!  His name is John.  No not Juan, John. He is a young boy, 10 years old. He was actually born in Las Vegas, he's a countryman! Ha-ha…how cool is that!  We have several families that we are preparing for baptism next month.  It’s going to be great! 

Being Silly!

This week I really want to testify of the power of service, My comp has not been my easiest comp, but I have been remembering a story that my mom told be about her comp that always left hairs in the drain and she decided to serve her and in serving her learned to love her.  I have been trying to serve my comp this week.  I have been making his bed every day, and I have offered to iron his shirt everyday too. I haven’t seen like too many results from the service but I just barely started and I am confident that it will pay off.  He has started to say thank you a lot more and it just feels better. Please keep me in your prayers!  I know that this was a God inspired service project.  I can testify that service is indeed how God wants us to treat his children and by serving his children we become more like Him! 

Here's my letter to president:

Presidente 

Pues esta semana hemos estado trabajando mas en el área. Bautizamos el sábado pasado! Y tendremos mas en las semanas que vienen! 

Hemos tenido que hablar mucho para poder coordinar el trabajo en al área y asegurarnos que todos estamos en la misma página. Pero la verdad nos estamos esforzando por ver milagros and lograr muchos bautismos! 

Me siento muy bien en mi último ciclo presidente, pido solamente sus oraciones a fin de concentrarme mas Presidente, quiero ser fiel hasta el ultimo dia. 

Me siento muy contento. Amo a las misión, a las personas y a mi salvador. 

Les amo y aprecio mucho Presidente! 

TRANSLATION…

President Well this week we have been working more in the area. We baptized last Saturday! And we will have more in the coming weeks! We have had to talk a lot to coordinate the work in the area and make sure that we are all on the same page. But the truth is we are striving to see miracles and achieve many baptisms! I feel very good in my last cycle.  I ask only your prayers in order to concentrate more President.  I want to be faithful until the last day. I feel very happy. I love the mission, the people and my Savior.

I love you and I appreciate you President!  Love Elder Galbraith

I love you all tons!  

I know that the church is true, and that Christ lives! 

Keep up the good work! You guys are my heroes!!! 

Elder Galbraith 

Monday January 16, 2017 - Short...But Sweet!

Elder Camacho and Me

I am sorry for not writing you all the other day! Well its changes time again and due to that we have been very occupied! Monday we went to the CCM again and we picked up the new guys! There are several from Utah and several from other South American countries, they are pretty great kids and they seem to be very ready to work!  Tuesday we had the changes in Ameca.  It was good actually, and the mission has been getting better with the changes. We got done early! Afterwords we went with all the missionaries that had finished their missions, to the house of the mission president. We chilled, ate, played, and listened to testimonies. It was a pretty great day. 

Goodbyes with Elder Draper

We got home from there a little late but we headed back to the mission house and started preparing the bags and suitcases of those that are going home.  I did not sleep very well that night, and what I did sleep it was very little. Early today we were in the airport, we just barely got back. I said goodbye to some very good friends. Some of those few were Elder Draper, and Elder Camacho! I met Elder Camacho's family today! They invited me over to their house, so someday I will definitely go over to visit them! 

That was a hard goodbye! 

Well honestly I forgot about Martin Luther King Day.  That is just one of the many things that has slipped my mind lately! Haha. 

It’s a short one, but better than nothing and better late than never!! 

I love you all tons and I will talk to you soon!! 

Choices, Divisions to Huitzilzingo and Friends!

FYI, I am doing so good! I am happy, I am content and pleased. 

I am healthy, I eat my fruits and veggies, I do exercise, ;) life is great! 

My Grandma included the following in her weekly email…

Now a couple things about "Choices":  (1) May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Quote by Pres. Thomas S. Monson (2) as we contemplate the decisions we make every day: If we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice. Grammy has a point; those are some very true things she has said! I especially like that to choose Christ, Elder Parker once told me this, just do what Jesus would do. Those words have guided me my whole mission. Just sayin!

Rousy Ramirez amd Me!

So this week we did divisions with some Zone Leaders.  I went with an elder to Huitzilzingo, and I ran into Rousy Ramirez! She got so happy to see me and I got happy too! I love her! I also got to work with Elder Camacho (my former comp) again.  It was very refreshing to be able to work with someone I love so much again! We had our leadership conference.  Elder Reading and I had to train all the leaders about how to teach efficiently, and how to teach repentance to the investigators. We busted open some piñatas for an object lesson! It rocked! 

I really love that story about the Sons of Mosiah and their missionary adventures.  Especially the part how they were so evil as teens and they changed completely and dedicated 14 years of their lives to service.  It honestly touches my heart. Such a great story! I have also been reading in Alma 37. This week 2 verses in especial called my attention 6 and 7…

6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

Elder Camacho and Me!

So its talking about small and simple things, I love it. Small and simple things shall bring to pass the salvation of man! If we are exactly obedient and even in those small and simple things we will be enormously blessed! I know now that cutting corners is also bad, that being obedient but forgetting about the small stuff voids the miracles in our lives. 

I can also testify that we really do need to hear stuff like “endure to the end” a lot. We sometimes forget this principle. But it’s so true, enduring is not just waiting and suffering, rather endure is to push onward with a smile and a good attitude. The mission has really taught me that. I have learned that challenges make us stronger and I no longer see them as challenges, rather opportunity!  Opportunities to endure with a smile! 

I love how much the gospel has taught me. 

I know that the church is true, I know that Jesus lives! 

I love you!  

Elder Galbraith 

P.S. It sucks to have knocked my teeth out but I have been very blessed to have found this dentist.  He has helped me out tons! He’s a pretty great guy, speaks SUPER good English too!! 

HAPPY 2017!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY 2017!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well…we going to have to go ahead and be real quick! 

The end. 

Haha JK! Not THAT quick! 

Well this week was alright, still kind of rough for finding new investigators.  For New Year’s we lost a lot of work time. That’s my biggest struggle right now.  It’s kind of rough going from 100% work to like 50% work.  But I will keep up the good work! I have this burning desire to find and baptize and I know that with the Lord´s blessing it will happen! We have made some serious New Year resolutions and I feel very confident that they will happen!  I will make it come true!  The work here is suuuuper important to me. 

Well them pearly whites continue to be a huge blow to my pride. It hurts sometimes to see and feel them, just because it’s such a drastic change.  But other than that they are healing just fine.  It will take a little longer than one would like but that’s what I got to live with for now.  Don’t keep worrying, but yes keep praying for me.  I will make sure I am doing everything right so that they heal good! 

I just want to express I feel kind of sad that the time has to go by so quickly.  I love being a missionary so much. I love the people, the life, and the country so much. It honestly is so fantastic here in the mission.  It’s really hard to think about coming home sometimes. I really try not to! 

I have learned much and I hope that we can all understand this…It is much easier to be continually obedient than to have to get back on the path after a mess up. Obedience is the only way we can truly be free, sinning binds us to the confine of consequence. 

I can testify that Heavenly Father is with us.  He always is we just don’t notice it sometimes.  I can testify that He is there for us.  When we need Him, He will be there…but will we be there for Him when He needs of us?? Chilling question to ponder on, I want to always be able to say YES! 

 I love y’all so much! The church is true! 

Elder Galbraith 

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It made me super happy to talk to all you face to face on Christmas; it’s weird to think that it was my last call home. It’s hard to believe, i find it really hard to believe that the time has gone by so fast! 

I know that where I am right now is an assignment from God, I can't deny that. I know He wants me to be here. So I will do everything I can to make it work and to make sure that I reach my potential. I will work hard and I will pray lots. I feel good, I wake up feeling very happy in the morning, and I know I am where My Father wants me to be. I feel like I have a purpose here, I just got to find one after the mission too, I trust in God.  I choose to be happy in spite of all the difficulties in my life. 

Well my Christmas got a lot more interesting after our call! It basically went nuts, all Heck broke lose you could say. Some disobedient elders causing trouble, I didn’t sleep till like 2am.... 

So that was a cool Christmas! 

Elder Reading and I have been changing tons of stuff in the mission trying to find different results. We want to excite the mission and to bring up their spirits, and we have been praying lots for the Mission Mexico Chalco! 

I just want to say that although my testimony may not be the longest or the best, I feel the spirit when I bare it.  I feel really strongly that what I share is true, something I have earned being here in the mission!!  That is something so precious to me that I have come to know my Heavenly Father personally and my Savior too.  I have a testimony about the BOM! 

I love you all so much! 

I wish you all a Happy New Year!! 

Elder Galbraith