New Comp, Mexican Independence Day and More Hard Work!!

Saying goodbye to Elder Morales

Well another week come and gone! They go by pretty darn fast here. This week was a blazing hot one.... one week it rains and the other it burns…wish Mexico would make up its mind! ha-ha!

This week was the first one with Elder Draper! He is super cool! I love having an American comp! Its super fun, we understand stuff on the same level! Ha-ha! So that’s cool! He’s from Idaho so he understands pretty well the Utah way of life!  We get along super good! We've know each other since we started the mission; we were in the same zone together.

This week the work went super good! We have been working hard again and have seen several miracles this week. This week for changes and for the Mexican independence day it was a little difficult for the work. We had to go home early and so we just chilled in the house listening to music, we cleaned a little, and then watched a missionary movie, then went to bed, the  truth...BORING! I would have preferred working! Mexican Independence Day is kind of crazy, but weird, they don’t even care all that much, they barely even celebrate it!  They just stay up late drinking and throwing fireworks! That’s it... oh and FYI, I didn’t sleep very well that night.

Elder Draper and Me

Elder Draper and I have been working and we have found another baptism! This Saturday one of our investigators will get baptized at 6pm, his name is Alejandro Vazquez; keep him and his family in your prayers!

I learned this week about service…some elders didn’t have beds in their house, so we helped the elders with their beds and I felt super cool to help them out like that! Elder Draper came to the area with diarrhea so I got to help him out a little bit, and I felt happy to serve him. I learned that we need to truly love our neighbor, like unto ourselves, and more. If we don’t have charity we don’t have anything, we need to love more, and the rest will make sense, I have been trying harder to love the people here! It hard, but it’s coming along!

I can testify that the Lord knows what is best for us and if we trust in him 100 percent he will take care of us and lead us to the success we want in the life. I have learned to trust in him more and more with the passing time here in the mission! He knows best! I can also testify of the Book of Mormon, IT’S TRUE! Read it!

Tell the fam I say hey! And that I love them!

I love you all!  Keep up the good work.

Elder Galbraith

Being Silly

Changes, a Baptism and Greenies from Utah!

I want to let you all know that changes came, and I was not called this time, but Elder Morales was.... I will miss him, but he will be going to the exact same area where I was just barely in Oaxtepec in Cuautla! Haha crazy right??  I will be staying in Xico and I am still going to a Zone leader as well.  My next comp is actually an American! He is from Idaho! His name is Elder Draper and I know him from a long time ago in Ayotla! So we are already good buds! How cool right?? I am excited for these changes! 

We had another baptism this week! Believe it or not, they are Americans! From Mesa, Arizona, living in Valle de Chalco. They are all members, but the daughter never got baptized.  Now they are all members!! Jocelynn got baptized!  I feel pretty happy for them! 

Well I have learned that we can’t expect blessing from the Lord if we aren’t reading the scriptures. There are many people who pray for blessings or pray for answers, but don’t read the scriptures. We simply can’t expect blessings if we don’t fulfill our duty and our promise with the Lord. My life makes a lot more sense now that I have been reading the scriptures regularly. I have been able to feel the spirit so much stronger. It’s honestly a blessing to have the scriptures, a blessing that we take for granted sometimes. 

We had to go to the offices today and we found all the new missionaries there! Ha-ha! They all look so.... new! And green! Ha-ha I know that I looked that way when I got here.  I met 2 new Elders from Utah.  One of them is from Provo! He went to Timpview! I don’t remember his name though....I love how excited the new elders are!  They all bring new love and excitement to the work. 

This week I have been pondering much. I got bored with the routine a couple times. And in my studies I was reading in first Nephi, when Lehi was reading the brass plates about his linage and all that, and I learned very clearly from the spirit, they were willing to risk their lives for those plates, they had better be very important. Then it dawned on me, they had to have read those plates like 50 times, but it was the same thing over and over.  That is the beauty of the gospel.  It might seem to be the same thing, but I can testify that there is always something new and marvelous to find.  The spirit will teach us and show us those things, but we have to open to it.  I have tried harder to pay attention to the spirit and to ponder the words.  It has changed my perspective. 

I have also come to the shocking knowledge of my time as a missionary, which saddens me, it’s too fast! But I realized how little the time is.  Whether we are in a mission, or at home, at work, or wherever we are, we need to take advantage of our time there.  We will waste our time if we are constantly thinking that tomorrow will be better, no, right now is perfect and we need to make it that way.  We have been given much to appreciate it, not to wait until the next one.

I love you! 

I know that my Savior lives! 

Elder Galbraith

Elder Morales Got His Cast Off Today!

Waiting Room at Hospital

Well first off, sorry for writing home late! Today we had to go to Mexico City! The day came! Elder Morales got his cast off today! His arm is super skinny and stinky.... But we are free! We are done, what’s next? Therapy.... that will be fun!  I would like to stress that hospitals suck.  We went to a different hospital today and we ended up waiting forever again... not my favorite thing to do, wait in waiting rooms.  The good news is that Elder Morales is all healed up! We have seen the Lords blessing here, his arm is healed PERFECTLY, how cool is that??? 

Second, I can testify that our devices aren’t worth the time we waste using them.  My eyes were opened when I came on the mission and left my phone behind.  There is a beautiful work in front of us and we don’t need a pathetic screen to see it. Start a trend! Every meal everyone leave their phone is a basket. NO PHONES AT THE TABLE! 

Today as well we had our zone conference!  Elder Morales and I changed it up a bit.  We assigned some other Elders and the Sisters to give trainings.  We had 4 different stations and we had to change and rotate.  It was super fun and super spiritual! I loved it actually! We talked about several things, loving each other, service, being successful, getting up on time, lots of good stuff.

Public Transport in Mexico

The changes are coming again.... they are coming faster and faster every time.  I think the cycles are getting faster....I don’t know for sure, but it’s possible that today was my last zone conference as a zone leader.  Maybe I will be ZL another cycle, maybe not, who knows. Just pray that Gods will be done in my mission.  I would love to stay with Elder Morales another cycle!  The truth is that he is a champ and one of my favorite comps! I love him! 

Something else I learned this week, love. 

We got to love more. Although we think we got it, we usually don’t. And if we do it’s much easier to love our family members and our close ones, lots harder to love the neighbor, the old lady taking forever in the check our stand, and the crazy drivers!  What are the 2 first commandments? Love God with all we got, and second, love our neighbor like unto ourselves (sorry if it’s not perfect, English is my second language now)  Our heavenly father loves us soooo much, despite all of our imperfections he loves us, and our savior loves us so much he gave his life for us. Sometimes we wouldn’t give even a dollar for someone we barely know. 

I have learned that it’s hard to love the people sometimes.... they are STUBBORN. 

But I have worked a little harder to love them, to see things from their perspective, to try and discern how they feel. I am not perfect but I want to love more.  With love comes patience and wit patience comes a better life.  Let’s read Matthew 5:44-45, it’s a killer scripture!! 

Just so y'all know I have been craving pancakes. 

I am blessed to be a Son of God, I was blessed to be born in this gospel and I am blessed to be a missionary! 

I love you all so much! 

CHURCH IS TRUE!!! 

Elder Galbraith 

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