2/3/14

Hola familia!

 

Sorry, but this letter is going to be short. I've been too busy talking with you during this whole time about the big news! I'm SO excited for Chandler to go to NYNYN! ha The indecisive mission-as I call it. ;) Can't make up their minds...NYNYN. ha New York New York North Mission, here comes the best missionary you'll ever meet! You're going to do great, Chandler. Just keep up the good study habits and practice practice practice your Spanish! We're here to help! Boo ya! We're finally accepting our roots and joining the latin culture. I love it. :) We just need to work on teaching you-Mom, Dad, and Alyssa-some Spanish so you can keep up and join in the fun. ;) But can't teach you ALL, because then we can't have fun. ha I'm so excited, I know you're going to do great! I'm sad that I won't be able to see you, but things happen for a reason, although it's not fair that I'm the only one that has to worry about not seeing my brothers for 4 years each. Lame. I'll get over it. It's worth it to know where you are and what you are doing. So proud of you. :)

 

This week was a good week or good hardworking fun. We just worked hard and ended the week by burning a pair of pants! That's right. As of February 1st, I am officially 18 months into the field. O.O. Where has the time gone? It's crazy. I'm going to be sure to keep working hard so that I get all the work in for the Lord that I can. At the same time, however, I can't wait to use all that I have learned out here back home with member-missionary work. It's so important! Love what this mission has done for me, and I am so excited that Chandler will now have this amazing chance just like his 2 older brothers. :) 6 more months of good hard work, like always! :) You'll have to watch the videos of the pants burning when I get back...it's pretty epic. ha Needless to say, the pants were made of nonflammable material as well. It was ridiculous. Nothing gasoline couldn't fix, though! ;)

 

Please continue to keep Elvia, Claudia, Juan, Marina, Antonio, and Adrian in your prayers that they continue to progress and that they can make it to church this next Sunday. No one came to church this week, so we were sad for that, but Elvia is ready for her baptism and has decided that she wants to be baptized on her birthday/anniversary/Valentine's day. :) We're very excited for her and we are going to be working hard so that she feels ready and prepared. Thank you for the support and love out here, I sure hope the missionary work back home is continuing to hasten like it is out here. It's amazing!

 

Miraculous quick moment from this week. California is in a big drought right now...evidently one of the worst the state has recorded in history. Well, leaders from the Church sent out a message to Stake Presidents and other leaders to ask member to fast for rain since yesterday was Fast Sunday. Yesterday started out as a clear day with no warning of rain, and towards the night, a huge cluster of clouds rolled in. It rained harder than I think I've seen in my whole mission. California just doesn't rain like Arizona, but last night felt at home. It is such a blessing and comfort to know that God does hear our prayers and fasting does make a difference. It is still a little cloudy outside and I think it may rain again-although the forecast says sunny. ;) Love this gospel, and I love our Father in Heaven. I hope all is well with you and that you all get a little rain sent your way as well. Take care, and hope to hear from you soon. Love you!

 

-Elder Gallego

 

"One of the greatest blessings we can offer to the world is the power of a Christ-centered home where the gospel is taught, covenants are kept, and love abounds." Elder Richard G. Scott

1/27/14

Hola familia!

 

This week was full of...you guessed it...teaching! We did a lot of work this week as we continued to follow up on those elect that we found last week and search for other that have been prepared as well. It was a lot of fun and we were busy every single day. I love the days when we get home just so worn out and tired that we just pass out as we hit the pillow-after planning, of course. We were pooped pretty much every day this week! We had a lot of fun, and we are really cleaning out our area book and weeding out the wheat from the tares. We're doing good!

 

The highlights of this week were our lessons with Claudia and Elvia and also a new family we found, Familia Lima. Claudia and Elvia are doing amazing! The lessons with them just keep getting better and better. Claudia completely opened up to us this week and explained that she, too, wants her whole family to be together in a Church, and she feels really good when she goes to this church with her family. She's always been super stiff when it comes to the topic of baptism, but we have been talking a lot with her mom lately about setting goals for baptism to help us show God what we are working for, so the last lesson with her, we talked to her about it, and she didn't cringe! In fact, she set a goal for the 2nd of March! :) We were beaming as we left that lesson, because not only that, but Elvia is doing great, too. They are both reading and praying, and they are completely open about their doubts and questions. They are progressing so well, and we're so happy for them. Claudia came to church again, but had to leave right after to take Elvia down to Tijuana to pick up her grandma who isn't doing too well. She enjoyed Sacrament Meeting, though, and enjoyed the talks. She just seems so different! It's great. :) On top of it all, we were talking to Hno Chavez about them at church yesterday, and he said that the night of our lesson, he came home, Elvia walked up to him, and told him that she is ready. That she wants to be baptized. She has never been that certain and straight forwrad with him before! It was great to hear, and she was telling him that she set the goal for the 16th of February, but that she thinks she wants to get baptized earlier. We will be seeing them tonight, so please keep them in your prayers that all goes well at the Family Home Evening we are going to have tonight so that they will continue to feel good about their decisions and enjoy it! :) Claudia also mentioned that she wants her family to get together once a week to meet together. That's when we told her about Family Home Evening and how all meetings in the Church are moved and set around Monday being set aside for Family Home Evening. She loved it and was amazed. :) They're doing so great!

 

Now as for the Lima family, they are great, too! We found them originally trying to follow up on a contact the English Sisters in our area had made and passed to us. However, we found out when we got there that Mario didn't indeed live there, but we found the Lima family! :) It was pretty amazing, because from the beginning, they have been very willing to listen. She invited us in right away and we sat down and talked to them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end, she said the prayer and then thanked us for coming, told us that it wasn't a coincidence that we were there, and told us that she hopes we convert them. haha It was so cool! The Spirit was super strong during the lesson, and they are truth seekers for sure. She wonders why there are so many churches, and she really likes knowing that there is another book to help us understand the Bible and a living prophet nowadays to lead us. We set a return appointment for the following week, but they weren't home and we couldn't find them the week after either, but we finally found them again this week, and this time, another man who lives there, Juan, joined us for the lesson. We reviewed the Restoration again because Juan was new to listening to us, and it was even greater than the previous time! He is a truth seeker, too! He had pretty much the same questions, and is so genuine in the way he talks and in sharing with us his desires. He has been prepared for sure with the rest of the family. The return appt fell through again because of a soccer practice and they weren't able to make it to church, but when we stopped by again, we met her Sister and her family as well, and they, too were very accepting and inviting. We have an appt with them soon, so please keep them in your prayers that they will have time to listen and be edified. We are very excited to meet with them again. We're excited to see who else lives there. ;)

 

All is well! It was a pretty basic week, but we can definitely see the blessings of the Lord in our lives. I'm never happier than when I am teaching. There truly is no greater call. I feel so honored to be a part of the Lord's work and teach these souls who are yearning to hear the truth. I love you all so much, and I hope that you, too, are taking time to help those around you by teaching them about the truths of this restored gospel. I know that at this time in the world, there are can be so much confusion about religion, but I know that because Heavenly Father loves us, he has given us ways to find out for ourselves. Everything we do is an invitation, and I sure hope we all take that opportunity to find out for ourselves, because no one on this earth knows us better than we do. For that reason we need to search for ourselves...try it for ourselves, and then look to the only one that knows us better than we do, and He will guide us to the truth. I testify of that with all my heart because I have experienced it myself, and I will never go back. :)

 

I love you all so much, and I hope you are doing well. I hope all those back home take a chance to go through the Gilbert Arizona Temple Open House! I have heard that it is a remarkable experience. I sure would love to be there for it, but I'll be waiting for the Phoenix Temple for all of that. ;) Love you, miss you, and hope to hear from you soon!

 

-Elder Gallego

1/21/14

Hola familia!

 

Sorry for not being able to send out a main one last week. It was a little too crazy with all that was going on, but it wasn't the craziest week, so no worries, you didn't miss much. Just a lot of running around, work in finding the elect, and being stressed out. But it was good! ha Love working out here. Have to keep working hard, the clock is ticking!

 

Anyway, this week was a good week! We continue to work hard, and my companion here is a champ. He learns so fast, and I literally forget most of the time that I am training him. He came pre-trained for sure! We are having a lot of fun working hard and finding those elect in this area. I've been here for almost a year now...I MUST be missing someone. ;)

 

Our main investigators right now are Elvia and Claudia. Elvia is the wife of our Elders Quorum President, Hno Chavez. It's pretty interesting, because, as a part-member family, a lot of the things they say or do remind me a lot of Roberto and his family. :) They are doing really great, in all! Elvia is preparing for baptism right now. She has been praying as to when she should be baptized. Last week, we had a really powerful lesson with her as we sat down and talked to her about expectations. We have been working with her for a little, but she has been on and off with appointments. We can tell she is so ready, but we want to be sure she knows as well. At the end of the lesson, after a great talk about our goals in life, a strong testimony beared by her husband and her close friend, Hna Yolanda Sanchez, she accepted the invitation to pray. It was a total dejavu back to what happened with Roberto. We knelt down and she gave the strongest prayer I have heard her ever give. She, too, was praying like God was there in the room with us, and at the end of the prayer, she also began to cry. The Spirit was felt so strong, and she shared with us that she needs to be baptized. We told her that we know and that she needs to set a date to show God when she wants to be ready by. She told us she would pray about it. With the question in mind, she also went with us to a baptism the following day. The baptism experience was also amazing!

 

The night before, we also got in contact through Facebook with their daughter, Claudia. I had taught her a few times before, but she wasn't really all that interested in hearing. Recently, however, with all the time we spend at their house, we have tried inviting her into the lessons little by little in any ways we can seem to connect with her. Not to lure her in, but rather so the Spirit can catch her attention. :) So, since she is REALLY good at the piano (she's taking lessons from a really good Korean lade :)) we have sat down and listen to her play, brought her a hymnbook, and since my companion is also really good at the piano, he has played for us, too! She sure loves music, and so do we! So it works. However, I have never felt so much guilt for giving up on piano. :/ I really wish I stuck with it! Oh well. Maybe someday. After all our attempts, she has now joined in in listening with her mom. :) She has SO many good questions, and they are really good support for one another. Now, back to the baptism.

 

Elvia had never been to a baptism before, and she wanted to see what it is like before she committed to it. Claudia saw her dad get baptized a few years ago, and was confused about why we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. After an explanation from the final few verses of the book of Matthew in the Bible, she wanted to come with her mom and dad, as well, to see a baptism. It was great to see them all together for the first time. :) Elvia's main drive since the beginning is that she wants her family to be together in a church. It is happening little by little. They have both been so impressed by their husband's/dad's committment to the church, and he sure has been a great example to them in helping them learn and grow. It's great to see! Before we went into the baptism, we had a prayer together that they would receive a response to their questions. Because they showed up a little late, we entered in the middle of a a talk, but it was amazing. The very first thing we heard as we set down was something along the lines of, "God will always answer our questions. It may not be the way that we imagined it to be, but he will answer them. He always does. He answers us through the Holy Ghost, and only we ourselves can feel it." The Spirit was so strong, and they loved it! They are still praying about baptism, but we had another great lesson today and we are really excited to set their goal with them. Hopefully they end up doing it together! :) We love them and we are so excited to see them together! Speaking of which...they all went to Stake Conference together this week, too. :) It was great! They felt so good to be together in the same church. We're so happy for them.

 

It was also quite the surprise to see Ammon Hallsted at Stake Conference! Right in the middle of it, he shows up walking down the aisle and sits right behind me. I was so confused! It was great, though! Apparently, he met Austin Facer (ex Elder Facer-my old companion) in the Disneyland College Internship, and Austin told him about the spanish Stake Conference. Austin sat near me, so when he showed up, he said hi to him, and then we were surprised to see eachother. Austin's mind was blown (and mine, too) to find out that we knew eachother and that we've known eachother for a long time! PLUS, on top of that, Elder Thorne was there, too, and Ammon was his teacher in the MTC. What. A. Small. World. It was great to see them all!

 

Well, this week I really focused on my foundation. Of course, with the great emails you sent me this week, it reminded me of how important it is to have a sure foundation. Helaman 5:12 continues to be one of my favorites. :) We all need to have that foundation in Christ so that we can be lead down the correct path. I love you all so much, and I hope you have your goals and foundations set, and I look forward to hearing back soon. Love you and miss you! Take care!

 

-Elder Gallego

 

"It's not about perfect. It's about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that is when transformation happens. That's when change occurs."