Thursday, December 31, 2015

Weekly Update #21 resolutions, smellsolutions

He yo! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, I know I did! I'm very grateful for the opportunity to Skype my family. It was so good to hear from all the Filipinos again and it was the highlight of my Christmas.

Elder Liu got to have his very first Christmas in the States. And the first Christmas he received so many gifts. Every time we found a package at the door step, he thought it was for me. Thank you all for surprising him and helping him have the "best Christmas ever. Oh my gosh. Your family spoils me."


want to share my thankfulness with you all as well. Thank you for all your letters, gifts, thoughts, prayers, and good vibes. I really did feel the Christmas Spirit this year and I had so much of it that I
had to share it with others. Elder Liu and I spent some time just simply sharing the Spirit of Christ with everyone and now we have a couple of new solid investigators that have said yes to baptism. I'll
keep you updated!

With New Years coming up, I've been thinking a lot about the mistakes that I can so easily conquer next year and the goals I want to push myself to be a better missionary. 

Here are some:

- Focus on the use of Scriptures more during lessons.
- Build my personal testimony as much as I can.
- Finish the Book of Mormon twice and the New Testament once. Next year will be the Old Testament.
- Get fit. Seriously.
- Eat less Chinese food (when Elder Liu is gone, of course...)
- Stick with my goals throughout the year. Every couple of months, do a self evaluation of these goals.

Goal setting is important as a missionary because it helps you be as effective as you can with the short time that you have. These are a couple of cool quotes that I have found that have inspired me through this next year.

“Don’t worry much about trying to be better than someone else,” my father said. “Learn from others, yes. But don’t just try to be better than they are. You have no control over that. Instead try, and try very hard, to be the best that you can be. That, you have control over.” - John Wooden (greatest college basketball coach). 

 "The only thing you need to worry about is striving to be the best you can be. And how do you do that? You keep your eye on the goals that matter most in life, and you move towards them step by step." - Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (Quorum of the Twelve a few years back).

Happy new year! Don't have too much fun partying!

Have a great week.

Elder G

Sent from my iPad


We found the sign. Pretty proud of it. 





Crystal Fischer (recently got baptized by the sisters) took us out to eat Christmas Eve. This place is called Late Night Slice, right in Downtown. 

Elder Liu's first time using a selfie stick. 



Ran into Elder Mortenson (left) and Elder Humphries (right). Mortenson was in Canal Winchester with me and Humphries was one of the Missionaries on the plane ride to Columbus with me. 


Missionary Christmas Devotional






Brother and Sister Casey had us over for a Christmas Eve dinner and it was awesome! They stuffed us good!


Some of the presents Elder Liu and I got. 

These monkeys are actually slingshots. If you pull their legs like a rubberband they stretch and fly about 50 feet in the air. And they're fun to shoot at each other. Haha!



Grandma Sheryl sent us cookies in airtight packages, along with sprinkles and red and green icing. We did it yesterday and it was freaking awesome. Look at my works of pure beauty. 










Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Weekly update # 20 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I wonder if anyone still reads these things. Haha!

20 weeks into the mission and there's no other way of celebrating than by Christmas Festivities. Though I won't be home throughout this celebration, I'm grateful for the fact that I have a very loving
family and wonderful friends that bombard me with gifts. Elder Liu has shown his appreciation by screaming every time we come home whenever there is a package in front of the door. The amount of 'oh my gosh's' I've heard this week is too many. Haha! He's very thankful for you all.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. This time of the year is a perfect time for us to exemplify our Savior and all he has done for us. And that makes me think it's okay that I can give up a couple of
holidays to serving. Though it will be hard, it'll strengthen my testimony and set an example for the rest of my life.

Through my studies this morning, I found a cool scripture in the 37th chapter of Alma. It says:

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.

That's definitely true, because he puts a lot of faith in me, a 19 year old, to carry the work in this area. It also builds my confidence knowing that He has put so much trust in me and the other missionaries
around the world. Talk about pressure.

We currently have a lot of people that are willing to hear and learn about the Gospel but can't hold on to their commitments. It's hard to teach people that are okay with not changing and just want to educate themselves. But I'm thankful to have already had a baptism so early so that I don't get discouraged in these type of situations.


1 Nephi 8:2 - ... Behold I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision.
#TreeofLife


The weather for the next 9 days... I didn't know I was serving in Seattle.





I can't forget my roots





I love you guys and I miss you all so much!


I pray that you all have a Christmas to remember!

Elder G

Sent from my iPad

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Weekly Update # 19 - Where's the snow?

Yep. No snow :(

Hey everyone! There are a lot of ways to bring the Christmas Spirit and I actually have a poem from a member in my last Ward. Sis. Scoggins is almost 85 years old and she would feed us dinner
occasionally. Before we left her house she handed us a copy of the poem she created. Here it is!

'Twas the day before Christmas
All over the town
Most folks were frantically running around!

Black Friday was over but more must be bought,
And many good townsfolk were feeling distraught!
No time for stories, no time for sleep,
The kids were hard at it with Facebook and tweets;

Consulting their phones, their notebooks and Apps;
Oblivious to all the confusion and flaps
Their selfies were rapidly filling the air,
Hoping that someone would notice them there.

Wishing that Santa on his digital sleigh
Was driving his digital reindeer their way;
Bringing Xboxs, some games and some toys,
To good little girls and good little boys.

When outside the house rose this glorious sound!
They looked up from their phones and turned all around!
A small group of people were singing with joy,
Of a Savior, Redeemer, a new baby boy.

He was born of a virgin in a place far away.
The lessons he taught are as vibrant today,
As they were when first given, so let us all pray
That his message goes viral through all cyberspace
Let us put down our toys and partake of His grace!

To live as He lived and serve with all might
His Plan for Salvation, to teach what is right
JESUS came here to save us from sin
His offer: eternal existence with Him

And our Father in Heaven, partake of His might
So, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

It's an awesome poem! I love it just as much as I love Isaiah 9:6.

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.

I know our Redeemer lives, and through His glorious majesty, we can
all live with our Heavenly Father again. Continue to have a wonderful
Christmas Spirit, and do whatever you can do bring that Spirit into
your home! Love you all! Have a blessed day!

Elder G

Sent from my iPad

Hey, I will be STAYING IN MARBLE CLIFF!

I'm so excited. I'm so spoiled. I've been in two great areas for a
fourth of the mission. Crazy to think this experience is going by so
fast. Just think, I'll be home soon playing Halo all weekend long
again :)  just kidding..... Sorta..

Love you guys.



When the package came it was bigger than the tree! Thanks mom :)

Our "Christmas wall"

Friday, December 11, 2015

Weekly Email # 18 - Countdown to Christmas!!


Happy Holidays!

Weird fact of the day. Utah has been colder than Ohio. Every time I look at the weather and compare it to Utah, I can't believe you guys have been going through worse than I've been! The locals here though are telling me to trust them that it will get WAY worse. I'm excited.

One recurring thing that I have noticed while I have been doing missionary work is how people are converted when they take the missionary lessons. And for people to become truly converted, they go
through complete repentance. The more people are willing to repent, the more willing they are to be baptized.

I was reflecting on my notes and I found this really cool scripture in Moroni 7 : 48.

48  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the
energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath
bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ;
that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this
hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

Pretty Dope, huh? The longer I stay out here, the more appreciation I have for the Scriptures. It's one of the motivating factors I have to wake up every morning. Haha still working on that waking up thing.. I was good at that for a little bit.. Don't worry, I got it :)

I need some help everyone. I need an exercise program fit for a missionary. And I also need some cool smoothie recipes if you guys know any. You can consider it my Christmas gift :)

I hope you all are having an awesome holiday season! It's hard being away from home but at this point, I consider Columbus my second home. I'm grateful for all your prayers, gifts and thoughts for me, I notice them as much as I am capable. I hope that these emails have been at least helpful to you all and entertaining. Haha!

Oh and we have Transfers THURSDAY 17TH, so that means I won't have 
p-day until Wednesday, the 16th. Just a heads up!


Have a great week!

Elder G

Sent from my iPad




Take 1 = Blurry Picture

Take 2 = Looking wrong way



Take Three : Success.
These were on our way to Zone Training Meeting with Elder Cardon of the Seventy



Us and the Woolf's (yes, it's spelled correctly and pronounced like Wolf).
Bro. Woolf is our Ward mission leader and they're family is a gamer family.
They are OBSESSED with Yoshi.
 I showed them Chase's Yoshi costume picture and they Loved it. Haha









Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Weekly Email # 17 - HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope it was well spent and you all had a great time, I know I did! Even though I did feel out of place at times during the day, we were grateful to spend an amazing Thanksgiving at the Bakers on Thursday. The food was great, but the company was even better! They're an awesome family.

Then we had a second Thanksgiving dinner with the Snows on Saturday. I was stuffed from both of them. And then both families sent us home with leftovers, and those were just as good! Very grateful. I was very skeptical with this Ward because I came from Canal, but Marble Cliff might be even better. It's crazy how Heavenly Father blesses us in involuntary and abstract ways that we can't even think of.


REALLY QUICK. The Church unveiled its new Christmas theme this year. Simply go to Christmas.mormon.org or LDS.org and check out all that is going on, it's awesome! Starting tomorrow, they'll feature what they are calling, "12 Days of Social". They'll post a new video every day for the next twelve days about people like Lindsey Sterling, David Archuleta, Devin Graham and more!

Oh and watch the new Christmas video!!! It is on Gospel Library and pretty much anything Mormon. Haha It's so good and the First Presidency wants EVERYONE to spread it through social media and
through our own individual lives. And us missionaries will definitely be using it and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get sick of it by tomorrow but it's all good :)

Some of the many things I am grateful for include :

- A very cool companion! It's very hard for me to say anything bad about Elder Liu. He gets crap done, doesn't complain (most of the time haha), and he gets crap done. Oh yeah, I repeated that statement because he REALLY DOES GET CRAP DONE. And he laughs at my corny jokes
even when they shouldn't even be laughable. Which is awesome.

- The knowledge of having an eternal family. It's very comforting to know I won't be alone.

- Cheap food and Ward members willing to feed us. I don't know one missionary who wouldn't agree with me.

- A car. Holy moly. It gets cold here. That wind chill thing people talk about is real. Our mission car is a blessing!

- Food. Food is good.

- iPads. They're pretty freaking great.

- The Atonement. When you better understand the Atonement, the more appreciative you are of everything and everyone else. It helps you want to give back as much of your time and energy you can.

I could list so many more.

New area has a lot more potential in terms of potentials, new investigators, and baptisms.
It's just that struggle of either getting back in contact with them, or having them accept baptism. I'm not getting down though. It's a big decision to become a Mormon, but once you are able to see the goodness that comes from being one, people then become converted. I'm excited though! Hoping Liu and I spend at least one more transfer together here.We are getting crap done.


Cool experience of the day. We were walking in Downtown talking to people and we got around to this one homeless man. He was really nice and he said something that really stuck out to me. He said, "People think charity comes your pocket rather than your heart. It doesn't cost one penny to be polite."

Whoa. It made me think of our Savior, and the countless acts of kindness and love he administered to other people of all kinds of backgrounds. During this Holiday season, I challenge you to go out of
your way to help someone who is in need or is simply having a hard time. You never know how much YOU can help someone.

I watched a Homefront video the other day. Ya know. Those old 60 videos that Church made back in the 80's or something? They're freaking awesome. Anyways in that video, they had a quote that said,
"Love is actually spelled T-I-M-E." And then you see a little clip of a family from the 80's playing kickball outside. I thought that was like the coolest thing ever!

On a sad note, Ohio State Football lost last week.. And people weren't too happy about that because now they probably won't play for a championship. The reason I mention this is because I'm scared to go to downtown because of the result of that loss.. Haha there has been a lot of bad things going on there ever since then. I can't imagine what campus is like.

If you're looking for something to read or listen to, I HIGHLY recommend,
"Our Prophet : Thomas S Monson" by Elder William R Walker. It's a 40 minute devotional so it is longer than most talks, but it's awesome! It makes you appreciate President Monson a little more!

Love you all! Keep the Holiday Spirit.

Elder Galbraith

Sent from my iPad


Cool wall of art.
These are all over in this area, especially downtown.

This weird thing and us.
Some guy saw we were marveling over this thing and he said he would take our picture.
After doing so, we came to find out that he was gay and he was excommunicated from the Church
Let's just say it got awkward.

The Baker family and us! We had Thanksgiving at their house and it was delicious!

This is a High School! What the heck?!?
Right smack dab in the middle of Downtown.


Fried Rice. We had enough for 3 meals. That bowl was huge.



Had to take more temple pics.







My second District. Left to Right. Sister Farmer, Sister Hill, Sister Hopkins (She came out with me), Sister Beebe, Me, Elder Eason (another one who came out with me), Elder Liu, Elder Anfinson (ANOTHER one who came out with me) and he's also District Leader.
This group is awesome! Sister Farmer goes home in 8 weeks, and everyone else is younger than 6 months... Haha it's a very weird group but they are all different, to say the least.









We got a found a Christmas tree in our closet. It truly is a Christmas
miracle. And it's like a foot tall. Awesome!




Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Weekly Email # 16 Thanksgiving Time!


Happy Holidays everyone! I think it finally hit me that it's getting colder and that means Christmas is just around the corner! But even before that, Thanksgiving!

Kind of a interesting story. On Saturday night, Elder Liu prayed during one of our studies that when we passed out our meal calendar on Sunday during church that someone would feed us for thanksgiving. When Sunday rolled around he made sure that we went to every quorum to hand
out our meal calendar. Haha he dragged me around for the most part. But for all that effort no one signed up for Thanksgiving.

And then this morning we got a call at 7:30 from an older lady in our Ward! She offered to feed us this Saturday a thanksgiving dinner because she will be out of town on Thursday. We graciously accepted and I think Liu jumped around for about 15 minutes in glee until he realized that his rice has been cooking for 7 minutes too long. Hahaha! I was laughing so hard. It's been a good P-Day so far :)

Speaking of Church on Sunday, guess what I did? Gave my first twenty minute talk, that's what! And might I say, I think it went pretty well. I didn't even use a computer to help me out! There was quite a
lot of people that told me how great of a talk it was. And also how humble I am!

I had my first Zone Conference this past weekend. Elder Cardon from the Seventy came and he gave an excellent couple of talks. Elder Cardon uses a variety of scriptures when he speaks and I'll share a
couple with you guys that I found very applicable to my life. He even used my mission scripture, D&C 42 : 6!

I was pretty proud.

D&C 88 : 84,85

84 Therefore, tarry ye, and labor diligently, that you may be
perfected in your ministry to go forth among the Gentiles for the last
time, as many as the mouth of the Lord shall name, to bind up the law
and seal up the testimony, and to prepare the saints for the hour of
judgment which is to come;

85 That their souls may escape the wrath of God, the desolation of
abomination which awaits the wicked, both in this world and in the
world to come. Verily, I say unto you, let those who are not the first
elders continue in the vineyard until the mouth of the Lord shall call
them, for their time is not yet come; their garments are not clean
from the blood of this generation.

2 Timothy 2:1-4

1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the
same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others
also.

3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this
life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

I don't think I have mentioned this before but the week before I got
to Ohio, Elder Cook from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to
speak to the mission. And EVERYONE was talking about it for weeks. Now
my friends from some other missions are getting the opportunity to
have Apostles over and I'm sitting here, listening to my Mission
President tell all of us, "that was a once in a lifetime opportunity."
:(

Did any of you who previously serve missions ever have a General
Authority come to your mission?

Love you all! Pictures to come!

P.S. - Just a reminder if you could send Elder Liu a Happy Thanksgiving email, I would very much appreciate it. He is my favorite companion by far and he truly tries to do his best 24/7. I think it would really help him to see people support him in his journey. Thank you! 


We burned Elder Liu's tie for his 6 month mark he hit a couple of weeks ago! Then there is Elder Anfinson, and Elder Eason, they both came out with me from the MTC. Cool dudes!





Brad and us. He is an investigator and is dating Sis. Staley from the pic below.  He's freaking great!



A less active family named Staleys! They are really nice and crazy.




Couple of pics of downtown Columbus. 




We got a found a Christmas tree in our closet. It truly is a Christmas
miracle. And it's like a foot tall. Awesome.




UNCLE RANDY Speaks Spanish?? Wow.



UNCLE RANDY IS IN A MORMON MESSAGE??? When did this happen??



Elder G

Sent from my iPad

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Weekly Email # 15 - Starting Over Again

For the 15th time, hello everybody!

So there's been some changes..

I got transferred for the first time last Thursday. When I received the news that I'd be leaving and Elder Bunker would be staying in Canal Winchester, it hit me really hard. I didn't want to leave Canal. Haha! Like I've said a million times already, that ward is freaking spectacular! I'm sad to be gone, but at least I'm not too far away in my second area.

Ladies and Gentleman, I'm in the realms of a new arena. Yep. The famous metropolis known as Marble Cliff...... Yes, I too can hear the crickets in the background.

This area is a neighboring town of Canal Winchester, about 15'ish minutes away from it. Here are some of the Pros.

Pros
- Nice Ward! Not as nice as Canal, but the people are so friendly and loving, I can't possibly say anything bad about them. Yet.
- This is the only area, other than on campus, that missionaries get to serve in downtown! We went into Columbus yesterday after church and it was cool to be able to take all the sights in! I can't wait to go back soon!
- This is a FULL TIME CAR AREA!!!! YES!! No more biking down 60 mph roads in the down pouring rain for the next 5 weeks! The Lord truly answers our prayers. The church is true.
- We got Wifi from a neighbor so that means we don't have to McDonald's every morning to check our emails!
- We go to the Stake Center that is sitting side by side to the Temple! So the three meetings we have throughout the week means I get to see the temple that many times! I'm so glad!
-New Companion! Yes I'm sad to be leaving Elder Bunker but I'm excited for this new companionship!

My companions name is Elder Liu (pronounced Loo)! He is twenty six years old, the oldest missionary in the Columbus mission! He's from China (who could have guessed) and he's the same height as me! He became a member of the Church 4 years ago and decided to go on a mission. He's been out for 6 months and he's quite the stereotypical Chinese man. He makes me laugh and he's the hardest working missionary I've been around yet. These next 5 weeks will be good! He's basically the Chinese version of my dad. Hahaha!




Since he and his family are from China, it's hard for them to send him packages and letters due to the expense. He is the only person from his family that is a member from the church so they don't understand how to communicate with missionaries.

I was thinking you all could send him some emails this Thanksgiving. He doesn't know I'm doing this. It doesn't have to be a long email but I'm sure he will appreciate any remarks you give him. Like I mentioned before, it was hard for me to leave Canal, but he helped me feel comfortable and he's helped me out so much in the four days I've known him. He's a great example to me and I feel bad that while I'm emailing family and friends that he is not.

His email is  Jiannan.liu@myldsmail.net

Thank you all for your love. This has definitely been the hardest week of my mission so far due to everything that has been happening. I've been trying to get used to change and it's been getting better, as long as I continue to rely on the Lord. Oh and your emails and letters are great too :)

Colby,

Hey bro. One more thing. I have an assignment for you. Read the talk,
"The Question of a Mission" by Gordon B. Hinckley. It's an awesome
talk, I know you'll like it. For me it helps to listen to the talk
rather than read it.

Have a good week bud!

Elder G



Shout out to Aimee Boshard for the sweet new tie! I HAD to go and get
Taco Bell and celebrate. Let's hope I don't spill any Cool Ranch Taco
on it! Keep me in your prayers! Love you all!

Last day with Elder Bunker





Me and Elder Liu. After we are done with planning, every night he pulls out his 'victory cigars' to celebrate a hard working day. Don't worry, it's only a vanilla wafer roll. They are DELICIOUS!



GAY Street???



I'm gonna miss this crazy family. The saying is true that you create relationships
and memories with people that will last forever when you go on a mission.


Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Weekly Email # 14 - End of Transfer # 2

Hey all!

I want share with you a very powerful testimony from President Monson.
I forget which talk he gave this in but it is so great I had to share
it.

      "My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and
honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with
gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.

    As I close this morning, it is my prayer that in addition to all
else for which we are grateful, we may ever reflect our gratitude for
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His glorious gospel provides
answers to life’s greatest questions: Where did we come from? Why are
we here? Where do our spirits go when we die? That gospel brings to
those who live in darkness the light of divine truth.

    He taught us how to pray. He taught us how to live. He taught us
how to die. His life is a legacy of love. The sick He healed; the
downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved.

    Ultimately, He stood alone. Some Apostles doubted; one betrayed
Him. The Roman soldiers pierced His side. The angry mob took His life.
There yet rings from Golgotha’s hill His compassionate words: “Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

    Who was this “man of sorrows, … acquainted with grief”? Who is
this King of glory, this Lord of lords? He is our Master. He is our
Savior. He is the Son of God. He is the Author of Our Salvation. He
beckons, “Follow me.” He instructs, “Go, and do thou likewise.” He
pleads, “Keep my commandments.”

    Let us follow Him. Let us emulate His example. Let us obey His
words. By so doing, we give to Him the divine gift of gratitude."

-President Thomas S. Monson

As I've looked back on these last 14 weeks, I'm grateful for all the experiences I've had, both good and bad. Now onto some of the many highlights! Time to catch up!



Elder Uchtdorf said something that stuck out to me in one of his talks.

"Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experience. Often we can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed.
Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness."

When I read that it I realized how much it applied to me and my past life experiences.

Today, I find out if I'm getting transferred out of Canal Winchester.Personally, I want to stay. My companion is becoming a District Leader! That's crazy. He was hoping he would become junior companion haha but we both knew that wouldn't happen for a second. We are both thinking he will leave and I will stay here in Canal.

- UPDATE!!! 
 I will be getting transferred tomorrow. My companion is staying
here in Canal. I'm sad about leaving, but I'm excited to explore more
of Columbus! I've made a lot of friends here and I'm glad this was my
first area.


That reminds me, I'm officially done with training as of two days ago! I'm no longer a greenie! YES! I'm so pumped. No longer will missionaries look down on me as a newbie..

They'll just look down on me, that's all.   :)



We've been getting a few new investigators, it's just a matter of teaching them all the lessons and seeing that change of heart. I've been working really hard on using the scriptures more and building my testimony.

I need to start taking pictures of the unique places I go. One weird thing about Ohio is that people put Chili on top of spaghetti. Even though it's weird, I like it! 

I'll have to bring you and mom over here so we can explore everything. 




             Asian Chipotle....... Omgosh!

#MissionaryMomentOfTheDay





More pics with the Seagars! Can't get enough of them.




We got to go with Matt and Ashley Seagar for his first temple trip last Friday!
 Such an awesome experience and such an awesome couple.
 Shout out to them for dealing with 8 kids every day!


Us and the Seagar family! They are crazy, fun and energetic!
 Love them to death because they remind me of family back home.




This is Anita! She's been a member and hasn't gone to church in over 40 years. She's been through a lot and when we had our first lesson with her she was crying. It was a very spiritual experience. Good news though, she's been coming the last month and is taking the missionary lessons again! She's awesome!


As a mission, we are reading the Book of Mormon from cover to cover and we are supposed to be finished on Dec 22. This has been really great for me personally, because of my lack of scriptural knowledge. I stumbled on Alma 26 and there was a couple of really good scriptures that I love to death. Ammon has become one of my favorite heroes because he's so passionate and humble. 

Here are verses 11 and 12.

11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in
my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with
joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak;
therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for
in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles
we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name
forever.

Another cool thing that's been happening in the mission is a mission wide photo sharing thing. We can post pictures to our Columbus, Ohio mission group and other missionaries can see them. It's awesome to be able to see how my MTC buds are doing in different parts of Columbus.

This last weekend, one of our former investigators, Benjamin, got baptized by some Sister missionaries in a nearby ward! He is from Liberia and had moved into Canal Winchester with his family. We found him and ended up teaching him 3 lessons before we lost contact with him. Then just a couple weeks ago, the sisters surprisingly found him in their Ward because he had moved back a while ago! We were invited to his baptism and got to share a wonderful experience with him. It's crazy how the Lord finds a way for these lost children to come unto Christ.






My testimony is strengthened day by day. I hope you all try and do that for yourselves as well. This is a glorious time that we live in.

Thanks for your positivity and your encouragement. The work continues!

Have the time of your life!

Elder Galbraith

Sent from my iPad