Weekly Email # 4

Hello friends and familia!

No big deal just another week in Ohio. Here are some of the highlights.

So in our area, we share a car with another companionship in our District which means we get the car every other week. This week we will be biking and my legs already hurt just thinking about it. Just kidding. I'm an obedient missionary.

On the more serious side, we have an investigator named Matt. He is currently dating a member and has three kids, 8 if you count his girlfriends. He's come to church multiple times and he's keeping every commitment we give him. He even creates his own commitments (fist pump). He's looking to be very promising.

Yesterday was going to be a normal Sacrament meeting until halfway through the meeting, Bishop Conners (I like Bishop. A lot.) put me on the spot and told me to give the Benediction. Even though it was a simple prayer, I was scared out of my mind. After the meeting Bishop gave me a grin and I responded with a thumbs up as he got bombarded with members.

Throughout the course of this week I have listened to the song, Come Thou Font a few times and it's one of those musical numbers that can help you feel the Spirit. I challenge you guys to start listening to hymns and other types of songs such as these during the week. We tend to think they are only for Sunday, but it can be more than that. And who doesn't mind feeling the Spirit?

Sorry this one is short but this week is gonna be really busy. Love you all, may the Force (Spirit) be with you!

Elder G

Sent from my iPad

personal email to mom & dad

My new companions name is Elder Bunker. He has been in the mission for 10 months. He is from Cedar City, Utah and he's 5'8 (thank goodness). I am currently in a city called Canal Winchester. It is South East of Columbus, and approximately a 25 minute drive there. Canal (for short) is a lot like our neighborhood in Provo. But instead of a Ward being 5 blocks long, it's about an hour drive from one edge of the Ward to the other, with the church almost smack dab in the middle. 

There is a lot of nice people in the ward, and I stress the word ALOT, because it totally reminds me of home. Everyone is so unified and they feed us missionaries every single day, almost. Last week I spent $17 on groceries and I think I only used about $6 of it this WHOLE week it's crazy. The people are so loving.

We played basketball last p day and today we went for a walk through one of the trails and saw a buckeye tree.... Woooooo, so great. 

But yes I'm learning how to do laundry and soon I'll use an iron. That's exactly it. Hot and humid. I cringe whenever we put on our suit coats to go to church or Sunday meetings. ha!

When you or anyone sends packages or hand written mail, make sure they forward it to the current apartment I'm at. If you send it just to the mission office they just keep it there, and then on the rare occurrence your zone leader goes to the mission office, they can pick it up for you but that's it. Can you make sure everyone knows that?

I look at you and dads emails multiple times a week and I wish I could respond to you immediately after but I can only respond to emails on p days.

Weekly Email #3 - The Newest Buckeyes Fan

Hello everyone! I'm officially in Ohio as of Thursday and it's been a
blast so far! Once I got all my suitcases and my bike inside our
apartment, Elder Bunker (new companion!) and I immediately left and
went tracting in our area! It was fun and I got to meet everyone in
our ward yesterday and totally reminded me of my ward back at home.
They aren't as cool though 😉.

We were able to go on Ohio State University on Friday to go
proselytizing to the local college students there. It was great and I
handed out my first Book of Mormon! I am currently in the Canal,
Winchester Ward for next 12ish weeks and I'm hoping to get a chance to
preach on Campus in the next coming months!

My new companion is Elder Bunker and he is a great missionary! He's
been out for 10 months and he's from Cedar City. Very Spiritual guy
and he became a trainer two days before I arrived in the mission. And
most importantly, he's CLEAN. That means no messes I have to clean up!

Our apartment is fully functional after today as we got our washer
fixed yesterday and our sink mysteriously fixed itself. It's pretty
clean and I expected it to be a lot more dirtier and disgusting. I
haven't had to pull out the oxygen mask out just yet.

One really weird experience I had this week was going over to an
"investigators" house yesterday. Her name is Cindy and instead of us
teaching a lesson it was the other way around. She is Lutheran and she
believes that she saw an angel over my head when I started talking to
her and that angel is representing the love of my life. She analyzed
how I looked, talked, smiled, how I sat forward on her couch, the list
goes on. And her house smelled like a cigarette the size of
Mississippi (Ohio joke). Let's just say I got nothing from her and we
won't be coming back anytime soon.

One thing I love about this mission is the amount of love the
missionaries get here. I think I'm gonna like it here and I can feel
the Spirit so much when I talk to investigators. You guys are gonna
hear a lot of stories from me and they will never stop being
interesting, I guarantee it.

Love you all. Thank you all for the support and the emails and
packages you have sent my way. They definitely are not going unturned.
Talk to you soon!

Elder Galbraith

Sent from my iPad

Arrival Letter

Tonight we finally received word from Conner's mission president.

Dear Families,

We are grateful for our newest missionaries!  We love them already! They arrived exhausted but full of faith and enthusiasm.  They are now settled into their new areas with their companions going forth to preach the gospel!  

Monday, preparation day, will be their first opportunity to email home.  

You can follow us on our Facebook Page “The Great Ohio Columbus Mission – President Daines”.   We update it as often as possible and hope that you enjoy occasional insights.  

Warm Regards,

President & Sister Daines

Week 2 - MTC

I'm back!  Thank goodness for P-days, I don't know what I would do without them! lets get started!

This week was jam packed full of stress, doctrine, testimonies, devotionals, investigator lessons, and more!  I taught 13 lessons this week in the MTC and it's only gonna grow larger as I head out to the field this Wednesday!  I have to leave the MTC at 3:30 am and then catch my flight at 7:30. am  Then I have 5 hours til I arrive in Detroit then from there, it's an hour flight to Columbus.  Once I get to Columbus I'll have some training meetings to go to so that means I won't actually be proselyting til Thursday but I am so pumped to leave to Ohio!  The MTC has been the greatest experience FOR my life and now that it is coming to an end, I'm excited for new and better things.  

My experience of the week was a devotional we watched President Bednar teach yesterday.  It is a recording of a talk he gave at the MTC a few years ago, and in this talk he talked about a frequently asked question that people give him.  It was, "How do we know if it is the Holy Ghost talking to me or if it's me thinking?"

He put it plain and simple.  "Quit worrying about it.  Every good thing comes from God.  Be a good boy or Be a good girl. Keep the Commandments, Keep your Covenants, and work in Faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."  He went on to give a few personal examples and inspired me to write in my journal about it and tell it you guys.  God works things out the way He wants them to work out.  There is a reason why people say God works in mysterious ways.

We also got to listen to the Nashville Tribute Band.  They are a group of former missionaries who sing songs about the Gospel in a country-type way.  At first I didn't think this would be a great experience, but I was wrong for judging before listening.  I can honestly say I don't like country music. In fact I have an EXTREME dislike for it.  But the Nashville Tribute Band brings the Spirit with them, and the Holy Ghost doesn't care if like country music or not.  The songs and testimonies they bore last night touched my heart, and I challenge you to look them up and they'll do the same to you.  My favorite song by them is called, "Stronger".  

Also, I wanted to say thank you to everyone that sends me packages and mail from home.  It means THE WORLD to me that people care enough to send candies and treats and heartfelt letters to people they aren't going to see for two whole years.  Charity is the Pure love of Christ and your examples have blessed me so much.

Sorry this is a shorter email, but since I am packing to leave for Ohio this Wednesday, I simply don't have time.  Love you all!  God loves you all too, so so much! Have a good week!

For Cooper- Hey little man! Hope everything is awesome at home! Beat some noobs at Halo for me!  I miss having you around, you could be my tiny companion.  Make sure mom doesn't destroy my room.  And most importantly, I hope one day you will want to go on a mission as well!  There are people waiting for you to bless them! Love ya!

For Chase- Chasey! Hi! Say hi to Yoshi for me! You're awesome bud! Miss you, don't go to Disneyland without me, okay?

For Colby- Hey brotha! Hope you and the family are doing good.  Since I'm gone, you have to be the man of the house whenever dad isn't around, can you handle that responsibility?  Everything you are doing now in young men's, priesthood meetings, scout camps, daily chores, the list goes on and on.  Those things are preparing you for a mission and I hope you have the desire to go on one,one day.  Take care of mom for me, she is the single most important person in your life right now so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I wish I was able to get closer with her while I was still there. Instead I was procrastinating homework and other stuff. She will always be there for you.

For Momma- Love you mom.  Its embarrassing that it took a life changing experience for me to appreciate how good I had it back home.  I miss your home cooking, your corny jokes that you directed to dad, both behind his back and in his face.  I miss the simplicity of life back at home, I miss my brothers, I miss the dogs (surprisingly), I miss all the little details about home. But I know I am doing this for the right reason.  Not a day goes by that I don't think about you guys. When you get a chance look up "My Brother Hyrum".  Its a Mormon Message and it reminded me of Chase and I know you will love the message it brings.  I miss you more than anyone else.  And just knowing that I will get to see my mom's face in two years is what makes me get up every morning.  I've had some struggles in the MTC with my companion and my own personal conversion, but the people at home push me to be the best I can be. I love you Mom.

P.S.  I got a calling card for when I go to the airport Wednesday morning.  So expect me to call some time then.  Our scheduled flight is supposed to leave around 8:30 am I think, so it'll be before then.  You better answer! Love ya!

Companion and I.  Elder Jones is his name and he is from Idaho Falls, Idaho. Fantastic guy.

Me and a good friend.  Elder Olson is gonna do fantastic in Sweden.

​From left to right:

Elder Freeman, Elder Stohlton, Elder Orlandi, Sister Harris, Sister Hopkins, 

Elder Jones, Elder Gardea, Me, Elder Hull, Elder Nixon and one of our two teachers, Brother Godfrey

This was our last class together as a district with Brother Godfrey.  Brother Godfrey is so amazing, he helped me study in the correct way and helped me come closer to my Heavenly Father.

​Us four were the ones in our District going to Columbus Ohio.

 From left to right:

Sister Harris, Sister Hopkins, Elder Jones & me.

Us at one of our Temple trips.

Another Temple pic

​First day in the MTC. First meal.
Me sitting next to Elder Gardea. 
He's one of the Elders in my district and he is going to Atlanta, Georgia.

Week 1 - MTC

Hello friends and family!  It is so good to finally have time to write and email you guys!  I miss you guys to death, but I know I'm doing the right thing by being here and I have been impacted so much by this Beloved Gospel. I want to tell you guys so much about everything that has happened so far, but we only get 60 minutes a week to email, so I figured I'll tell you as much as I can. Just don't get mad at me for my punctuation errors, these little Filipino fingers can only type so fast.

Where do I begin? Well the first and second day I got here, I had no idea what I was doing.  I can't tell you the amount of times I walked into the girls bathroom, the times I called an Elder or Sister the wrong name, the awkward moments I have had with the people around me, the list goes on and on. But the good news is I'm finally figuring things out, whether its being on time to the hundreds of activities I do in a single day or the endless amount of times I have prayed to God and asked for guidance, it is good to be in the right mindset.  The first day was the most difficult because of the fact that I got homesick so quickly.  And while I lay in bed that night, I came to the realization that I needed to pray.  So I got out of my bed and got on my knees and had the most sincere conversation that I have ever had with my Heavenly Father.  I leaned on Him for support and He brought me to my feet and told me to take in this experience as much as I could before it was simply too late. 

I have had a change of heart.  I am learning to love people, regardless of their faults and imperfections, you love them for who they are.  It is this Christ-like attitude that I think we can all attribute in our own personal lives and I challenge you to do it and reach out to someone.  Regardless of your opinion of them, change that into a loving Characteristic of Christ.

So with that being said, let me tell you a little bit about some of the Elders and Sisters that I have been around in the MTC.  My companion's name is Elder Jones and he is the complete opposite of me.  He is 6 foot 4, about 230 pounds, he is from Idaho Falls and talks about the Gospel as much as he talks about the next meal we are going to have.  He is an interesting guy and though we have our differences, we are getting used to each other as we participate together in Investigator Discussions, Book of Mormon classes and so much more.  (Don't worry, I'll send pictures so you can laugh at our physical differences)

Some of the other missionaries include: Elder Gardea, Elder Nixon, Elder Orlandi, Elder Stohlton, Sister Hopkins and Sister Harris.  All these missionaries are in my district and I see them almost as much as I see my companion.  They are a great group of Mormons and they push me to be at my best and I'm so thankful for that.

We have an apartment sized room with 3 bunk beds, 6 missionaries, a closet for each missionary, and enough room for a medium sized table and chairs. I got the bottom bunk (thank goodness) and am proud to say the cleanest missionary in our residence, which is definitely a surprise to my parents, I guarantee it. I haven't lost anything (yet) and I'm so excited to be depending on my own and growing up.  

We did a temple trip this morning and it was such a neat experience doing endowments in the Provo Temple for the first time.  I have some pictures that I'll send in separate emails for you to see. 

Overall, the MTC has been a tough, Spiritual, enlightening experience that has gone by very quickly so far.  I leave to Columbus, Ohio on August 19th and it is weird to think I only have 9 days left here before I become a proselyting missionary.  Just know I love you all.  I miss being at home and I miss the life that I am leaving behind.  But there is a reason for that.  It is to serve the Lord, my Heavenly Father and to bring others unto Christ and that's what will make this 2 years an absolutely life changing experience.

Elder Galbraith

P.S. Oh darn, they won't let me send pictures while I'm in the MTC because I don't have the right USB Cable so I'll send out pictures next week.  Oh and my P-day is today so next Monday expect another huge massive email from me.  And shout out to the Carter family (Their son, Josh, is in Argentina right now serving his mission) for sending me cookies! Even though they lasted for approximately 5 minutes, (Blame my roommates) they were absolutely fantastic so thank you!

You all have a great day! Love you all!

MTC Drop off

Setting apart as a NEW MISSIONARY