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."

I 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

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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. 

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

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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

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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"

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

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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

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!