Work, Study, Pray!!

A member drew a picture of me, I think he nailed it. 

Well this week was pretty standard…we worked, studied and prayed lots.  We got rained on almost every day!  I have been carrying my umbrella around all the time, but I left it in a member’s house on Tuesday and I couldn’t go back until Friday. Ha-ha so those 3 days were some fun ones, WET, but fun! 

I can’t believe it, the 6 weeks Elder Morales had to wear his cast are almost over, he’s getting off on Saturday! Quick right???  Ha-ha he is so ready to get it off! 

I am super pumped, this weekend Elder Morales had to do several baptismal interviews, which means we are going to see a bunch of baptisms here in the zone! 

The work is picking up here in Helaman! 

As for the scripture study, I too understand the frustration of not studying.  It is not an excuse, but sometimes we have to help other elders, or go to do some stuff with president, or stuff like that, and it takes time away from our studies. We talked about it Elder Morales and we have decided we need to be more careful with our time, we need to study more often, the Lord has given us this sacred time specifically to prepare ourselves to preach.  I can feel the spirit so strong sometimes in my studies, and I have learned some seriously personal stuff there too. 

Elder Morales tying his shoes for the first
 time since the break

So this week my comp and I discussed what were some of the things we haven’t been doing well and we realized that we had slacked on being obedient in a couple aspects.  I can promise that strict obedience to the covenants we have made with the Lord is the only sacrifices he asks of us, which isn’t really that much of one. I have learned that our agency is more when we obey, when we disobey we are subject to the consequences of sin, to obey is the only real freedom. I read part of Brigham Young’s manual and that’s what I could learn from it.  Pretty cool right? Let’s be obedient. 

I love you all, I am doing so great! Life here as a servant of the Lord is the best. I testify that the church is true, that Jesus Christ lives, and that he has called a true living prophet in these days named Thomas S Monson. 

Life is great! 

I love you!

Elder Galbraith

I learned a lot this week!!!

Well well well, Another Monday has come, 

The time is too fast here, speaking of which I would like to start off with a request.... I am aware of the time I now have in the mission, and you are all too. You can start the countdown if you want, but I ask that you not mention it to me. I just don’t need to be distracted by the countdown. 

The week was a good one; we gave a good lickin this week. 

We have been trying new tactics to do street contacts, like contacting in front of the church inviting the people to come on in for a tour!  Or we have decided to change the vocab that we use and not say the same thing all day. We have doubled our efforts in the references; we have given her a good effort. We have seen a couple special changes here the Zone, oh and did I ever tell y'all that our zone is named Helaman? It’s the best zone ever!  Ha-ha there are some champs here in the zone, some of my best buds here in Xico are the Elders Mejia and Can, and they are seriously some of the coolest guys ever. 

We had divisions with them this week; the work is awesome with them in the ward here. 

We are planning several activities to try and find new investigators.  We are working with the ward and the ward needs some motivation so we are working hard! 

We went to the temple this week, once with the mission and once with the zone and the stake. 

We coordinated an activity with the Stake Pres.  We rented a bus and took 43 investigators to the Visitors Center at the temple. It was an awesome experience.  The spirit was intense. 

I have learned a lot this week, I will have to summarize…

This week I learned a lot about giving advice, being patient, being humble and listening. 

Listening to the spirit, to your comp, to your friends, and having patience to be able to listen to them all.   As missionaries we have been taught to listen before we think, listen to the people, comp, and most important the spirit.  I can testify that the spirit will help us out with all that worries us, if we can only just pay attention,  we won’t be need to worry. 

I also learned this: if we sign a contract, we are legally bound to obey. And we do, we pay, we do, and we follow to a T.  When we are baptized we sign a contract with our Heavenly Father. 

But I see so many people that don’t obey. Since when is it okay to disregard a piece of paper, an eternal contract with God? Our work is not more important than the Sabbath Day.  Our cars or toys are not more important than paying tithing, and our personal likes are not more important than our repentance.  I can testify of the blessings we will receive for if we choose to obey. 

The gospel is true, and we have chosen to follow Jesus Christ but there is no way to follow him halfway, we go 100% or not at all. 

I learned a lot this week!!! 

I love being a missionary; I never get tired of it. 

It’s like reading the BOM, we read the same words but learn different stuff.  It’s the same with the mission, same routine, but we learn new stuff every day.

I know the church is true! 

Love,

Elder Galbraith 

Throwback Elder Costeño and I

Happy Monday!! I love you and God LOVES you!!!

Well he done…Abel got baptized!  We forgot to take pictures before the baptism, so here are the after pics! Just to shake it up a little bit! Haha!  It was a good experience! 

He wanted the bishop to baptize him this time, so Elder Morales and I didn’t have to wet this time!  But he had to do it 3 times... third times a charm they say! In Spanish you say la tercera la vencida!  It was a good baptism! The spirit was indeed there! 

The diarrhea is gone. It left me for good on Wednesday. So that’s good. 

Yeah that wasn’t fun.  The cool thing is that every time I have gotten sick in the mish I have gotten sick on P-day, so I haven’t had to lose a day of work. 

I have decided that work is good.  We need to keep ourselves busy and be anxiously engaged in a good cause. An idle mind is the workshop of the devil. 

Moses 1:13

I am a child of God.

I don’t think we fully understand that. WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD. 

He has placed us above all other creatures. 

He has given us his power and trusted us with his kingdom. 

We are created in his image.  It hit me the other day; I am the son of God. I don’t really know how to explain it much better than that; we shouldn’t ever feel bad about ourselves just knowing that!

Alma 7:20

God doesn’t mess up. We are where we need to be, with who we need to be with, at the exact moment that God wants us to be there. 

We are the way we are for a specific reason. 

Our Father in heaven loves us, so much. 

I think we can all reflect on that just a little bit more in the weeks to come.

I testify that Jesus Christ lives. 

To be a witness of that is something special, I was not there, I was unable to see him resurrect, however…it has been made known to me that He lives!  Due to the fact that I wasn’t there I asked someone who was, Heavenly Father. 

Guess what? He told me, HE LIVES. This is his true church and he loves us. 

The Book OF Mormon is true, and Joseph Smith was his seer and revelator in these days. 

The church is true. 

I know it. 

Elder Galbraith 

Oh yeah and they buzzed me pretty bad the other day..... go ahead, laugh about it! 

Zone Conference, Hard Work and Montezuma's Revenge!!

Well we had our zone conference today, Elder Morales and I taught the zone about the importance of goals.  We had to talk kind of direct to the zone today.  Some have been slacking off a little bit and we felt it was necessary to tell them how it is.  So it was kinda rad. 

This week we locked down another baptism, Brother Abel or in English Abel, the brother of Cain, funny huh?? Looks like he never really died. HAHA!  He passed his interview on Sunday and Saturday at 1pm he takes the plunge! I feel pumped! 

Oh and guess what? I have Montezuma’s Revenge.... so that’s fun stuff. 

Not what I expected but I keep going! Pray for me! 

We worked hard again this week, we out did some records we had previously set, 

like street contacts, we contacted over 200 this week.  We had a ton of success this week, it was awesome, and there wasn’t a single day that I didn’t come home tired. That’s how I know it was a good one. 

Elder Morales is doing good. He gets closer and closer every day to when they take his cast off.  He is counting the days, and he hates the cast! How does he get dressed you ask? Funny you might ask that, he tries all that he can, he can put on underwear and pants too obviously but shirts, shoes, ties, and his immobilizer are all ME, I am the dude that takes care of him.  I am learning how to take care of a little kid.... It’s a little different but I am happy to serve him! 

Here is my weekly letter to President...

President,

This week was a great week!

Elder Morales and I exceeded many of our goals! And you know what?? We have a baptism on Saturday at 1 pm.  Our investigator is a champion, is paralyzed on half of his body, and still goes to the chapel every Sunday! 

So the new rules…I felt I needed to ask whether they are inspired, so I decided to kneel down and ask. I got my answer. They are inspired through revelation.  There is no problem with me!

Today we informed the zone of the new rules and some were stunned! It was a little bit funny! But no one raised their hand when asked if anyone had questions!

I know that Christians are not many!

Now it's time to act!

We love you President and Sister!

Well, I just want to say that I love y’all, tons!
I am glad that you are still strong in the gospel; we must always stay that way! 

WIth Love! 

Elder Galbraith   

Well this week has been awesome!

Myself and an Elder at the church

Well this week has been awesome!  At the same time a little crazy though, the changes came...I get to stay with Elder Morales! For that reason I am absolutely stoked! I love Elder Morales!  He is the first comp I have had as Zone Leader for 2 cycles! I will be ZL for another cycle, 6 months as ZL. That’s a quarter of the mish!  Ha-ha!

Well remember the other Elder Morales? He finished his mission today. He called me last night to say goodbye and I almost cried.  I couldn’t say goodbye like I wanted. But whatever I will see him in another moment! 

I love my area, so I am super happy to stay here!  There weren’t hardly any changes in the zone, just a couple.  There will be a ton of elders training here in the zone, a ton of greenies! 

Bit My Tongue...OUCH!!!

Oh and guess what? I bit my tongue so hard that I cut it....

SO that sucks. It hurt so badly. But they tell me that it’s not so bad that I will need stitches, so that’s the tender mercy there. But it’s a painful sucker.  How cool huh? Mission Scars!  I love my life! 

Also…can I say that I miss them days of lacrosse. It doesn’t matter how much soccer I play here, it doesn’t fit the need, the boot doesn’t fit! 

I need me a manly sport! 

Soccer just doesn’t do it for me! 

Lax for life! 

This week, we had to take it a little slower because my comp has a busted arm.  But I have learned that sometimes we need to slow down to learn from the Lord.  I learned this week that I had been missing something, we had gotten so focused on some stuff that we failed to see the bigger picture!  We have to always and constantly turn to the Lord, we will not be doing anything good unless we do what he has told us to do!  I have learned that we always need to check with the Lord, he will never lead us astray.

Also, I am nothing special, the Lord has shown me the way and I decided to take it.  I like it better than the world, but it’s the Lord that has done this, and the teachings of the gospel. I’m so grateful I grew up in a Christ centered home.  I realize that it is something that almost doesn’t exist in the world, and I am so thankful that I could grow up in that type of environment!  I am happy because I have family in the gospel that love and serve the Lord! 

I love you all so much! 

Keep up the good work and may we always choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong! 

Elder Galbraith