Email # 103 - Remember. Be The Best You Can.

Hey!

Things have been going well. An interesting observation I have made. Even with my time coming to an end soon, it seems like the missionaries that are around me are more trunky than me. Haha I'm going to definitely miss the missionary culture 😂🤣

These past events have been good! We found a few more people to teach. We also have been trying to put a good focus on our ward to be able to help them not only with missionary efforts but strengthening our own personal testimonies first. I have forgotten so many times that if I want someone to see the blessings of the Gospel, they need to do the SIMPLE things to experience joys of this work. It makes me evaluate myself. Speaking of evaluating myself...

MyPlan is going great too. Its a very simple 6 step program the church has put in place for missionaries. I was skeptical at first as to how much it would actually help me. But its prompted me to look back through my missionary experiences so that I can be ready for the rest of my life. The leaders of the church really do care about us, members and missionaries alike.

Senior couples have been a great blessing to me out here. This mission is packed full of senior couples, 9 of them if I remember correctly! The Thompsons, a senior couple in the nearby Lancaster Ward, have been especially awesome. They come to our district meeting with the Sisters and contribute greatly to our meeting and the work. And to make it even more of a bonus, Sister Thompson has helped mend my tearing apart missionary apparel, another act of kindness I am grateful for. That's proof right there that anyone can be a missionary.

Love you all! Thanks for your emails, they are always awesome and make me laugh all the freaking time. Haha have an awesome last week of July!

Elder Galbraith
The Great OCM
"I have discovered that life is not a series of great heroic acts. Life at its best is a matter of consistent goodness and decency, doing without fanfare that which needed to be done when it needed to be done. I have observed that it is not the geniuses that make the difference in this world. I have observed that the work of the world is done largely by men and women of ordinary talent who have worked in an extraordinary manner." - President Hinckley

Pics and Vid!


1, 2, and 3. After painting a deck, us chilling for a few minutes with the other Elders.

4. Us rocking out to EFY. Cuz why not?

Email # 102 - Measure Progress Differently

Hey!

It's been a fun past several days in Athens! Here's the deets!

We have been working with an older couple, the Packs. Specifically, Don the husband who is a non member. His wife has been a less active member most of her live. He's really cool and has been off and on investigating the church for over 25 YEARS! There's been times where's he's been super close to getting baptized and then other times where he doesn't want missionaries stopping by. Recently, these past couple weeks we have seen more progression from him, which is exciting! We're doing service for him with the other Elders later this week.

Other than him, we've been clearing out the area book and finding new people as well. The hicks of Athens are the majority of people that we talk to.

We also had interviews with President and Sister Stratford this week and they were amazing! Best interviews I've ever had, it was great! Sister Stratford wanted to get to know all the missionaries and their families, and as I was telling her about my love for sports, this is how the conversation went ->

Sister Stratford - "Wait. You like basketball. Are you a Jazz fan?"
Me - Yeah! I love the Jazz! My family goes to their games once every year or so."
Sister Stratford - "We are DIE HARD Jazz fans. Did you hear about Gordon Hayward going to Boston?? He's such a dirty bugger!!"
Me - "Hahaha I know right??"
Sister Stratford - "Haha I am still coming to grips with that. Like, how can you leave after being here so long???"

😂😂🤣🤣😭😭

I was laughing so hard! And my interview with President Stratford was even better. The mission is in good hands with them!

Should be a fun week this week! We got ZL exchanges and a bunch of service planned so that we can get some new investigators. It'll be great!

Talk to you all later! Thanks for your emails and everything else. I'm grateful for such great people in my life. Keep being awesome!

Elder G

Pics!

1. How we park in the Great OCM. Hahaha the senior couple even got involved! 😂😂

2. Basketball with these yahoo's! My most active p-day in a LONG time. Hahaha w/ Elder Cox, Elder Rausch, Me, Elder Anderson who didn't want to be in the pic. #Shame

Weekly Email # 101 - 4 More P-days

Hey!

This will be short. I know, I know, you're sorely disappointed. Just kidding, I'm sure most of you who will read these emails are Galbraith's or someone that's having a boring day or both. Haha sorry! We've had a great week! This week we'll be looking forward to exchanges, interviews, and missionary stuff of course! Thank you for the emails this week! I'm excited that my homecoming Talk will be August 13th and all your lovely faces! But now it's back to the grind, love you all! Here's some pics at least!

Pics!

1. #RedSoloCups #Happy4th🇺🇸

2. Cornhole. A great Ohio tradition.

3. Elder Cox video

4. Car pic with other Athens Elders!

5. #NoFilter #YellowSky?

6. Ohio Humidity sucks, but sunsets like these are bomb!

Weekly Email # 100 - One Hundred Weekly Emails!

Hello!

It's been a good week! We found a few new investigators this week, which is pretty exciting for the Athens area. We're excited to meet with these people this week and make this area better.

The past few days have been really busy! With us being in the south east part of Ohio, the trek up to Columbus takes about an hour and a half to two hours, and we have made that trip 3 TIMES! Haha at times, it feels like we've done more driving than missionary work, but hey I cant say anything bad about it because...

We got a new mission president this week! President and Sister Stratford did a "Meet the Mission" meeting this past Friday where the whole mission got to meet and greet the new leaders of missionary work here in Columbus. I'm excited for them. They are both super humble and awesome people and I am excited to get to know them for these last few weeks! Honestly, I am jealous of the missionaries that get to spend more of their time with them, they'll make a wonderful addition to this mission.

I started MyPlan this past week.... The church created this program for missionaries that are on their last transfer and let me tell you, the trunky wall hit me so hard when I clicked on a button that said, "Begin MyPlan". Haha but its okay, we all have individual challenges and concerns... 😉

Things have been going well though! All my complaining is done with pinch of humor and I am honestly grateful to be where I am at now. Looking back, I have learned a crap ton of things and I still am. Its always a great thing to be a missionary.

Well that's it for me! Here's some pics! Love you all! Have a great 4th of July! Don't have too much fun!

Elder Galbraith
The Great OCM
"Work is the miracle by which talent is brought to the surface and dreams become reality." - President Hinckley

Pics!

1 and 2. Being trained in the way of cutting hair.

3. Took a picture of these goons with an awesome convert of theirs!

4. Typical P-day pic. Plus the aftermath of Anderson cutting my hair.