Weekly Email # 99 - The Last One. Let's Kill It In Athens.

Hello!

Well, since last Thursday, things have changed! I guess thats what happens when you get five week shafted, but here's some info for you! I will be in my 3rd area in the Columbus South Stake and it is called Athens! Technically, we are in a smaller town nearby named The Plains (Yep, that's the name.) and its quite the alteration of Reynoldsburg. I'm back in hick town! Haha red neck Ohioans are some fun people to talk to. Its at the bottom right corner of Ohio and borders West Virginia!

We taught a lesson to an older man named Don who is the husband of his member wife. He's been taught by missionaries for a while now and recently told Elder Anderson, my new companion, that he knows he needs to be baptized! So we are going to continue working with him. We have others scattered around the hilly roads of southern Ohio that are coming along too!

Elder Anderson will be my final companion! He's from Logan, Utah and is one of the oldest in the mission, age wise and mission age wise. Haha he's been out 20 ish months and is a cool guy! He was actually my District Leader back when I was in Zanesville almost a year ago, so I know what this guy is like. I've never had a companion crack so many jokes in my life .hahaha its going to be a great 7 weeks!

Yesterday, we took an hour and a half drive back over to Reynoldsburg to perform a missionary fireside for the Stake! Its most likely going to be my last fireside and definitely President and Sister Daines last one! It was definitely a sad moment to stand next to President Daines while singing the hymn, "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again". It was a great program and it was fun to see some people from a Ward that I served five weeks in. I also got to see my old junior high coach back in Provo! All you Provo peeps absolutely should remember Coach Hendrickson from Dixon. It was so cool to see him, his daughter served a mission in Columbus and they were touring the mission at the exact same time I'd be at the fireside. Crazy!

Here is my new address for those that remember I'm still out in Ohio :)

36 Poston Rd Apt 49

The Plains, Ohio 45780

Love you all! Have a super dope week!

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. Saying Goodbye to Shaqualia, a soon to be future member of The Church! I'll never get used to goodbyes.

2. Elder Anderson and I enjoying p-day.

3. Elder Cooley surprising me at transfers by taking a selfie! Haha he's a stud, glad he gets to join the Plane Crew!

Weekly Email # 98 - That Teaching Pool Tho!

Greetings!

Only in the mission field does a nine day week between p-days feel SO MUCH LONGER than a
7 day week. Haha! But this has been a rather great week surprisingly!

My last weekly email was titled "A Week That Has Changed Me" and since going through this change we have seen quite the progression in our area! Like, people ACTUALLY keep their

appointments, and they're ACTUALLY reading the Book of Mormon AND
praying about it! Like wha???????

Its like, the missionary has to change if he wants his investigators to change as well! I guess it
only took 23 months to figure out 😉 Let me stop freaking out. How about I share some highlights?

Umm.... hello?

Are you still with me?

No?? Okay, well, let me continue my tangent 😬 You are in for a treat this week!!! 😇😇

Monday, after p-day ended, we had a lesson with an older gentleman named Richard at the
church. It was one of the hardest Restoration lessons I've ever taught. Haha! He went
on SO many tangents and we had to keep roping him into the conversation.
Basically at the end, he's only interested in learning is in good standing with God so he doesn't
think he needs to apply our teachings. Gotta love when that happens, right?

Tuesday and Wednesday were simple mixtures of 1-2 lessons and a lot of updating our
area book. This area's teaching pool is the biggest I have ever had as a missionary and its
almost impossible to manage due to how many records there are. So we spent a good chunk of time
visiting people that haven't been updated in a while.

Thursday - Exchanges with Elder Pantuso in his area, the actual Reynoldsburg area! We had an awesome lesson with an investigator of theirs that LOVES deep doctrine. So we made
sure to apply the simple teachings of the Gospel and he really seems to be genuinely interested
in learning more. The rest of the four-five appointments they had scheduled fell through so we were out and about.

Friday, we did a TON of service and weekly planning.

Holy snot, I was so tired.

Saturday was the BIG moment of the week. We had 4 appointments set up. The two in the
morning fell through. One was with a single mom named Shaquailia, who has two primary
aged kids. She called later apologizing that she missed our appointment  but she was still
planning on coming to church the next day! She confirmed her ride with the member as well!

Our afternoon lessons were BOMB! Straight Spirit felt the entire time! One was with a Bible
AND Book of Mormon referral named Angela. She's seen several signs from God recently in
her life to bring her life in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ. She was hesitant about us
coming over, but said in a prayer, "If you want these two strangers to enter my home and share a message that will change my life, than I will allow it." Crazy! She said yes to every commitment
and is excited to meet up with us again! Our other awesome lesson was with Annette.
She's continuing to pray for a baptismal date and committed to coming to church.

Dope sauce.

Sunday. I will try my best to give you my perspective amongst this crazy day. Let me take you back before this day even began!

A member of the Bishopric came up to me a couple Sundays prior and basically said,
"Hey, you're new in the Ward. Want to give a 10 minute talk on Fathers Day about How We Can Honor Our Fathers?" Sure, Bishopric member I've never talked to before! I thought the big bomb
had been dropped until we got a call later two hours later that day from the Elders Quorum President, asking if the "New Guy" (Me) could teach Chapter 11 of the President Hinckley manual on in the last hour of church Fathers Day? Sure, Brother President! Why not? 😬😓😭

So come Sunday, I am sitting on the podium, waiting to give my talk AND for our investigators
to show up. Well, Shaqualia and her two kids come walking in with their ride! And they get BOMBARDED by members! Haha! She was so shocked and surprised and I got a birds eye view of it! So Elder Humphries goes to sit with them and a couple minutes later, Annette comes strolling on through too! Elder Humphries got to man the fort of 4 investigators while I gave my talk!

Annette left right after Sacrament Meeting so we went with Shaqualia to Gospel Principles which was on fasting. (this is important for later on. Are you tired yet from reading about my crazy life??) She went to Relief Society after and I went to go prepare to for my facilitation of the Elders Quorum, which was SUPER nervous about. Well, good news!! They cut the lesson twenty minutes short since they would have a Ward Social for those last 20 minutes of church. So I only had to teach for 8 minutes. 🤜🤛👍

After church we had lunch and decided to go drop off our leftover pie we got from the Fathers Day Social to Shaqualia's. Well that's what we thought we were going to do until, she came outside and told us how much she and her kids LOVED church! We taught the Plan of Salvation and extended
the 29th of July as a baptismal date to her and she said yes before I could finish extending the commitment! WOW!

Well, to make sure this email doesn't take all the time in the world (1hr and a half later), Monday and Tuesday of this week were good days :) there you go. Hahahaha!

Love you all!

Thank you so much for your love and support!
Happy Belated Fathers Day to all those awesome Fathers out there! Especially including my earthly Father, who is like, the coolest person ever. There, I said it :) My dad didn't even force me to say that either! Big props!

Pics to come!!!

Currently waiting to see what my final mission transfer doctrine will be!

Um... So I just got five week shafted.. SO YEAH! Hahahahaha my short
stay in Reynoldsburg is coming to an end! I'll be at transfers tomorrow morning!
I'll send out my new address next Monday! Going to get my 7th area and 13th companion!
The assistants called several companionship's in the mission saying that they would be getting doubled out/ but my transfer is a simple; me leaving, Elder Humphries is staying. Since there are so many missionaries going home this transfer and next transfer, President Daines has had to close several areas down. People speculate its because not that many missionaries are coming out anymore.

Pics!

1. I'll see you in seven weeks, Chris Pratt

2. District Meeting with the ZL's!

3. Us with Annette this past sunday at church!

Elder Galbraith

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

Weekly Email # 97 - A Week That Has Changed Me

Hello!

This week has been nuts. Lots of moments full of ups and downs! But my testimony has for sure been strengthened this week! Let's get into the deets since I haven't done so in the past couple of weeks.

Several of the people that we found in the past several days had return appointments that we were pretty excited for! Well about i weird 80% of those return appointments fell through. Even though we are teaching a lot and continuously getting new investigators, we have a hard time getting the infamous "2nd lesson". They love talking with us, which is a nice change from my last area, but that return appointment is a killer.

We had a sweet lesson with a lady named Annette! She's an older black lady that is SO FUNNY! We bring Brother Mack with us to her home every Friday because they get along so well and he relates the Gospel to her in simple ways. Haha she's been investigating for several months now and is currently praying for a baptismal date! She's cutting down on the smoking and drinking and will be coming to church this coming Sunday!

We also had a temple trip this past week! The Temple truly is the house of the Lord.

This past Thursday, I got to exchange in good ol' CANAL WINCHESTER! Man, I haven't been here in 19 months!!! I miss it! Nothing is quite like going back to your very first area, it was super nostalgic. Former Elder Bunker and I had a party biking on those 50 mph two lane roads :)

Because of this five week transfer we are in right now, transfers will be next week, which means p-day will be NEXT WEDNESDAY! That means next transfer, I'll be getting transferred home..... what...... wow.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Pics

1. The Elder Reynolds selfies are back!

2. The Temple!

3. Chinese food

4. More food. This time, REALLY GOOD chocolate milk that Elder Williams showed me. Now, I'm addicted. So much for 6 months to sexy.

Weekly Email # 96 - The Lord Has A Calling For You To Fulfill

Heyo!

Things have been going well!

The good news is that we found two great families this past week! Neither of them came to church but both are on different levels of progression. They are super cool and we're excited to keep working with them. Tasha and her family, then Phillip and his family.

We have our last Zone Conference with President Daines this Wednesday and it includes a temple trip! Yes! Haven't been to the temple since last September, I am absolutely stoked!

Talk to you all later! Sorry for the lame email. Hope you all have a great week!

Pics

1. Book of Mormon Class!

Weekly Email # 95 - Memorial Weekend

Well, I did tell you that I would email more this week.. but.. I'll have to postpone a longer email another week. Haha

Some of the many memories this week that were made were continuing to work in what several members have told me is, "The most dangerous city in Columbus." Don't worry mom, I haven't gotten mugged or beaten up yet. The missionary reputation around here has actually kept us pretty safe, but its always interesting to see the gangs and the different groups come out towards the latter part of the day.

During church this Sunday, I got to meet President Stamas, who is the father of my soon to be cousin in law! (I'm not sure if that's correct terminology.... but lets go with it :) ) His daughter is marrying my cousin, Matt! Absolutely crazy! I introduced myself to him after Sacrament Meeting and it was one of the funniest exchanges ever! Haha he sounded excited to go down to Utah this weekend for the wedding! Don't worry Matt, I will be the best man in your heart!

We also got to teach Gospel Principles this week and loads of other lessons to several different people. Life is good! No one with a definite baptismal date yet, but the weeks look promising.

Again, sorry, wish this could be longer. I have LOADS more to tell you. Love you ALL! Have a great week!

Elder Galbraith
The Great OCM
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand." - Confucius


Pics!

1. The Zoo!!

2. Can you tell how bored I am?

3. Elder Humphries had his birthday last week! Chocolate Costco muffins for the win!

4. Funny District Pic

5. The new District! Elder Chavez, Elder Pantuso, Me, Elder Humphries, Sister Steinagel, Sister Burr

6. The end is the best! It was so crazy! They got up near the glass!

7. That couple, tho!

8. This is an older non member couple that we did service for this week! They were so nice and sincere, but did not have any interest in the Gospel. It was still a neat experience.

9. One of the many fish tanks in the zoo.

Weekly Email # 94 - Maybe Last Area/Maybe Last Comp/Maybe Losing My Marbles

Oh and the zoo! Haha the subject was way to long, so yeah.

Hey ya'll! Today, we went to the Columbus Zoo with the Johnston family and it was super fun! The zoo is a big deal around here, since you can only go once or twice, and I was fortunate enough to get transferred to an area with a family that wanted to take us there!

Oh wait, I got transferred, huh? Yep! Reynoldsburg, Ohio is now my 6th and maybe last area! We are technically known as the Bexley/Whitehall Elders and we serve in one of the ghettos of Columbus! I've loved my time so far in the ghettos so I am excited to maybe end the mission here!

After spending almost a year and a half in the East Stake, I am back down in the South Stake. Man, talk about FOREVER AGO! The good ol' Canal days! I am with my 12th companion and his name is Elder Humphries, who is from Enterprise, Utah! (Somewhere down south :) ) This is a full time car area and I am the designated driver! Driving a 2014 Red Corolla 🤤🤤. Technically, its an "older" missionary car, but I love it! The Corolla's are my favorite cars in the mission and the area that we cover has a lot of one way streets and more crazy Columbus drivers! Haha and the area is CHOCK FULL of people to teach! I am super pumped for these next few weeks!

Wish I could tell you more details, but most of our p-day has been deleted away because of the Columbus Zoo. I will send plenty of pics next week, but I'll leave you with a couple! Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Galbraith
The Great OCM
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand." - Confucius


Pics!

1. Saying goodbye to Jeff, a great investigator of ours! One of the many great friends I've made out here!

2 and 3. The Smiths. Man, what a wonderful family. I am so grateful to have spent 7 months with them!

4. The new comp!

Weekly Email # 93 - Post Mother's Day Trunkiness / Take The Initiative and Muster Up Courage

Long time, no see!

It's been a LONG but surprisingly great week! I won't do a day by day analysis, but I'll key you in to a few of the lopsided things going on.

The beginning of the week started with us dropping quite a few people due to their non-progressing status. I was hesitant to do it, but this ended up helping us focus on finding more new investigators for the nine day week that was ahead of us.

We had a couple lessons each with the solid investigators we are working with. Jeff is doing well, we just have been struggling with getting him to church still. Patrick and Kari both texted us telling us that they would both be at church! We also tried finding more people through contacting at the Hoover Dam again and biking to different parts of our area that haven't been worked in a while!

I also went on exchanges with Elder Thompson in his area, which included 16 miles of biking! For lunch we also went to a Taco 🌮 Truck! First one in the mission that I have gone to and it was delicious! I had corn on a stick and REAL tacos! Haha it was prime! Don't worry, this email will include several pics.

Patrick came to church again! Kari didn't because she wasn't feeling well again, but Patrick said he enjoyed the services! But afterwards, he pulled us aside and told us that neither he or Kari plan on converting. We just simply smiled and in my mind, I said, we'll see 😉😘

And now the news comes. I found out that after being in the New Albany Ward for 7 months with three different companions, I am getting transferred tomorrow! We'll see where I go tomorrow morning! I love this Ward. Any missionary is privileged to serve in this great Ward. I made a lot of great friends here, both members and non members. Thank you for the wonderful example and love you showed me here. Onto bigger and better things!

Love you all! Time to bombard you with pics! Talk to you on Monday! Gotta get packing!

Elder Galbraith
The Great OCM
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand." - Confucius

Pics!

1 and 2 The District! Elder Thompson, Sister Nielson, Sister McClellan, Elder Ruesch, Elder Jeppson, Elder Evans, Elder Clement (in that cloudy suit :) ), Elder Watson, Elder Jones (former comp), Me

3. I feel like Nacho Libre

4. CORN ON A STICK!

5. Us and the Spooners at Graeter's!! Mmmmmm.

6. Biking like crazy!

7. More Biking!

8. Saying goodbye to one of the best Ward Mission Leaders and Ward Mission Mom's! Thank you Peterson's! I will miss you guys!

And a vid. Can't forget about the vid.