12/19/11

HEYY!!! que onda mi familita?! estoy tan animado para hablar con uds esta semana!! orale chale calcetin bandita!!

this week was really super busy, we had a ton of stuff that went down!

tuesday was zone conferencia and it was so BOMB! the testimony meeting was so powerful, and i had the oportunidad to compartir mi testimonio! i felt the spirit so strong, and i was able to testify of the reality and the power of love. We have been super blessed to love everyone, and its really hard, but as my soa and i have talked, we have narrowed our success down to love. Its all about LOVE! AMOR! jesucristo es nuestro ejemplo perfecto! i sure do love my family and friends, and i am so glad that the salvador has given me the oportunidad to be a misionero! we watched the movie, 17 Miracles, it made me want to cry like 20 times, i hope i never see it again! bromas, solo hasta despues de la mision! it was super good, so sad, and the reality and sacrifice of those pioneros por nosotros, wow it is so increible!

On wednesday, we didnt have too much, just normal teaching and getting the people prepared for their bautismo! Jeamie was so prepared, and her baptism on saturday was amazing! she was confirmed yesterday, and we really felt like we had done something so good for that familia, the lord worked through us and we were able to accomplish what we had planned, and she will be strong! Also, this sunday we will have 3 more bautismos, Luis, john will be baptizing him! then fransisco borrero (the colombiano) i think im going to, not sure yet haha, then Maximo Saldana (the 52 year investigator) and mi soa will be baptizing him!! it will be so sweet!! we had a sweet christmas party on friday night, had a ton of people show up, and we were able to get in touch with some more new investigators, with some serious potencial!

On thursday, district meeting was awesome. it never goes as i plan it, but man the spirit sure does a lot better haah, we found scriptures that apply to each one of the 10 how to begin teaching points in PMG. great spirit was felt! then we moved, in the rain! it was awesome!! i love getting dirty!! we packed like hillbillies but thats all good we didnt have to go too far! the new apartamento isnt bad! new painted walls, heaters, and its so good! under john too!! awesome! oh, we started the papers for luis to go on a mision! they are going to make an exception for him because he will be 26 before he leaves but its ok, he is willing and will be ready to serve!

saturday, we met an old man in the street, his name was jim, and he said as he saw us he immediatemente felt something different, like what he called an ora of the love of christ as he saw us, great guy he really was so cool, so sincere, i love meeting people like that! its all about love!! he was given a card by mi soa and he let us grab the bus to get to our baptism, ill never forget that comment though, always helps me remember that there is power in our example!!

Yesterday we were able to have 11 investigators in church, i had to leave with elder zegarra, to give a blesssing to a member , and my comp got his jacket stolen out of the church, philly is so ghetto. 2 weeks ago, 4 guys came in with guns and were just walking around the halls, its so dangerous here!! nothing bad happened though, the police were called, but of course they never came. barbaro. Anyway, i hope you all have a great christmas! i got to bless the sacrament with john for his first time yesterday! it went great! he is so excited we live under him! anyway, im out of time, i love you all and Feliz navidad!!

Elder Gallego

12/12/11

hola bandita!! como estan?! espero todo vaya bien por alla y que se esten pasando un buen tiempo en Arizona!

pues, everything is good here, this week has been off the hook but we are super super swamped this next week! we will be moving so my new address is : 110 E. Roosevelt Blvd. Apt.#1 Philadelphia, PA 19120..we will be there on thursday! totally stoked! john is super excited for christmas, and so are we, it doesnt feel like christmas yet, because there is still no snow :( its just been raining a lot and its super cold, but hopefully we get something soon!!

i was able to have a sweet exchange with one of the elders in my district, elder lopez, man it was great to speak with a mexican, haha, they pronounce everything, it was hilarious he told me that my acento changes depending on the people im with, like dominicans, boricua, centroamerica, suramerica, it was hilarious, and i have now gotten to realize that he is right!! people always look at me with a confused look and a question like what is this gringo doing talking to me like he is dominican, it is hilarious!! We talked a lot on the reality of change, and how we have been called for eternity, not just two years, but eternity! it's  so important to be dedicated to the lord, he will help us accomplish what we want if we follow his will!

during the exchange, my comp and the other elder were able to extend an invitacion to alguien para que se bauticen! and she accepted! Jeamie Velasco will be baptized this saturday!! so we got a ton of things to do, i dont know how, with zone conference tomorrow, then district meeting and moving and correlacion, and libro de mormon clase on thursday, and so we really only have Friday to teach and half of saturday and sunday! so this week will be a little slow! but we are going to work as hard as we can!

Luis Roas, has told us that he wants to serve a mission! he is 25 but they are going to make an aception so that he can go! we are going over to his house today to help his start filling the papers out! he will be baptized on christmas day!! so awesome! also fransisco borrero the colombiano will be baptized on the 25th, maximo saldana the 25th and yuriana y jorgito the 25th as well! we are hoping that yuriana can get a photo id somehow to get married, if not we will have to wait :/

this week, we saw a rat the size of chico! my little doggie!! i kid you not this thing was a BEAST!! my soa saw it and just was like, "WOAH what the heck(didnt say that) is that!" yeah we're working on the swearing part haha, in his culture its normal, but were getting there :) poco a poco!! 

church yesterday was great, edgar hernandez, from wilmington, decided to show up! jaja total surprise i was so stoked to see him!! he brought his familia and we had a great time! they are doing great, only that they say the missionaries there arent doing a whole ton, so we talked about some things to tell them to do! its all about LA members!! i love it!! I was also able to finish el libro de mormon yesterday, and it is still true :) every letter in there is revelation, we just have to study it :) the great mysteries are all there!! i love learning and i love being a misionero! i love you all!! have fun, and make sure to read, pray, and go to church!!

Elder Gallego

12/5/11

holy cow i dont even know how to start or where, but things here are absoltely NUTS!!!

so this week, haha we doubled the standards of excellence in our numbers!! it was so cool to seriously be 100% packed!! we ended up teaching 47 lessons and we even had a zone conference, our p day, and sunday which were all short days!! the lord is literally just on fire with us here!! i know that through obedience, daily prayer, and reading the scriptures that the lord has prepared miliones de personas para nosotros aca en esta area!

so before i forget everything i want to say, i just want everyone to know that el libro de mormon es VERDADERO!! it seriously changes lives! john completed the meta that we gave him the day of his baptism to finish the libro de mormon before el dia 30 de noviembre! he did it!! it was so cool!! i was so getting excited for him about it!! he is seriously going to be a great misionero! we also are going to be making some good progress with a lot of other people for the preparacion del dia navidad when we will have at least 6 bautismos!! Fransisco borrero, fransisco chut sr, and fransisco chut jr are really close, just have to comit them to a date, and luis, he wants to serve a mission, so we are definetely set for that, and youre not going to believe this but we will be having another surprise bautismo with two others, i cant tell yet though i promised i wouldnt!! :) we are just seriously so filled with the love like elder farr explained. It is seriously all about LOVE!1 not romantic pasionante or anything loco like that, but real amor sincero del corazon!! i know that i have gained a lot of love for the people that i serve, and i have felt the love of them through the great support and help that they give us!

We had a great zone conferencia this week, president and his wife told us all about him, and man he is so hilarious! his wife waited for him on his mission and she didnt write him once! he only had a lilttle picture of her that he carried in his military book of mormon haha just such a crack up!! we had a great testimony meeting after, elder ammon dana and i and elder aaron allen represented MESA AZ YEAH! and bore our testimonies, it was a great spirit, ammon is doing so good, and just eats like a horse! they need him in spanish!! haha speaking of eating like a horse, i ate a ton last night!

SO i was also wanting to say that i love m savior, and all that he has done for me, he loves me and i bear testimony that he lives. he lives for us, he is waiting for us, and he is callling out our names. We need to go to him. There is no other way, no other person, no other name that can save us. i know that, without a doubt that the love he has for me is making me so happy, and i am so glad to be serving him. The example he set for us is what we need to follow. the world isnt worth the time, nor the money for the things that the celestial kingdom will give us, eternal happiness with the loved people in our lives. I know he lives, i know it... :)

Elder Gallego

11/28/11

ok so this week has been so filled with just craziness and a ton of work!! we have been able to start and see the blessings of missionary work throughout the whole district here, and it is really cool to see how the members are so involved in it all!! i am so excited to be here in philly for the holidays, the people here are so crazy!!

so this past week we had a ton go on...we were able to participate in a 6 stake service project of picking up trash at the temple site here in philly and it was good, i met a recent convert of the zone leaders, she is from brasil and she was speaking to me in portugues!! it was so cool, we were able to comunicarnos and it was super cool!! there is so much similarity in the language, its like a mix of french and spanish!! i like it a lot!!

Also this week we were able to really see the huge blessings of the book of mormon! no matter what the doubt is about the church, it all falls back on the book of mormon, and i know that in the end, of course it all has to do whith jesucristo and that he is the savior. I have grown to literally love that book. I read it everyday, and i know that it is so true! as we search and study the scriptures, we are able to understand the many misteries of god, and wow, it just makes life so interesting and it all makes sense! he has made everything that we have and to know that it all has order, and it all is literally based upon obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel and heavenly design and the veracity of inteligence, haha it just makes me laugh every time!! i love the gospel so much it never keeps me hanging waiting to learn something! i know that if we have this desire to learn, he will give us the capacity to understand!

Thanksgiving here was awesome! we had the turkey bowl and it went well, also played futbol and beisbol and it went really well!! i gained 8 pounds and ate a ton of pupusas and turkey and rice, its so diferente how they do it en la cultura hispana! haha ok so we were out with this member the other night, and im looking at him, and he has like 5 eyebrows like 5 inches long!! so i told him to just hold still, and bite on something...i went at those things!! it was so hilarious, he was like oh elder, i trim those, and so i said well, not anymore!! haah it was so funny, thry looked really painful, and i couldnt stand to look at them!!

well, i dont really have much more to say this week, was pretty busy like normal. we are doing great here, and appreciate all of the prayers, i really feel it! Thats crazy to hear that lexi is engaged, felicitaciones!! life...just changes :) i love it!! anyways, have a good week, and hechete galleta camarada!!

Elder Gallego

11/21/11

HEYYY!!! man! philly is just the greatest!! we arent getting trasfered tomorrow so that was a relief to saber, we are totally not done with what we started here, and the lord is just blessing us in like waves of people that are ready and willing to come closer to him!! we have a great day lined up for christmas!! 12 people are going to be baptised and what a blessing it is for me to be a part of it!

ELder Mailo and i are supper stoked to be staying! we will be here for thanksgiving, christmas, and new years!! that will be crazy!! im sure they will make us sta inside or something lame, but we are really looking forward to another change together! i have never had a comp for more than 2 transfers, so hopefully everything stays good, and we dont pull a matt gallego/nyal sewell Jamboree status experience from being around eachother too much :) hahaaha man i wont ever forget that! greatest month EVER!!! :D

anyways, im sure none of you understand that, just nyal and i and our families, but anyways, it was a great experience :) este....oyeah, so get this, we have been teaching johns family, and now anna, the one who got baptized 2 weeks ago, well we are going to teach her 2 kids today, they are 23 and 25 i think? adonai and zaira!! they are really super cool, way interesado and they will make great future misionarios!! they are so impressed with the change that fernan, the 15 year old son of anna, has made that they want to do the same! only problem is that they both work on sundays, so we need to find them a new job! pray for them please!! ALso luis rodas, johns cousin, he is rading and progressing wery well, just need to dejar cafe and tea and he will be good and set!! We are having a ton of success through finding with the members. it is so important that we do that, that is the only way i have found my entire mission!! knocking on doors doesnt do it!! so get out there and help those missionaries!! trust me, we love it!!

We learned about adversity yesterday, and i have a strong testimony of thisprinciple. It has shaped me into the person who i am today, and i am so grateful for adversity! we watched a movie on Gordon b hinckley today, man i miss him, it was about the life of him. He faced a lot of adversity, especialmente en la mision! but one day his dad, wrote him back and said olvidete de ti mismo y ponte a trabajar! forget yourself and go to work!! It is so true! i have found that when i try to think about what i need, my mission is not as fun. Its not fun, and i shouldnt be doing it! but as i have been able to consistently through prayer and study focus on what others need, i have noticed that the lord has helped me accomplish those goals for them, as well as mine! Without even noticing it, wesometimes forget how much he silently does for us, and i know that he does it out of love and charity! he is full of it, and if we want it, we have to go through him!! Moroni 7:43-48

I am so grateful to be a missionary! thanksgiving is on thursday, ill score a sweet AZ TD for all my people back home, and i want you ALL to know how much i love each one of you, and how grateful i am to be able to be a missionary! the blessings are numerous when we serve those around us, i love it. Its my passion, and my desire in life. I know that if weare able to put our lives in accordance with the lords will, this will be our desire and our pasion, to bring others here and to make sure that they have what they need in order to live happily pero por la eternidad! LOS QUIERO muchisimo!! coman bien, y en once meses, la bandita estara reunida!!

Elder Gallego

Investigator

Here is Elder Gallego and an investigator!  He looks great!

11/14/11

HEY camaradas!!! como estan? this week flew by super fast, but there is so much i want to say!!! i am so excited to be a missionary, i love serving the people here, i love them and i feel as if they are all my literal family, and i know that through the gospel of jesucristo we can be able to reieve the blessings that we need!!

SO we are going to be having a white christmas....but with baptisms!!! YEAH!! we have been continually finding prepared people willing and ready to be baptized and are solid too!! we have luis, who is johns cousin, Jaime Lerma, she is the daughter a member that cleans the mission home, so that will be cool! We also will be setting up the wedding hopefully of yuriana y jorge soon, they are making plans to go to the temple together to visit, and it will be a great step for jorge, who is trying to become active again! With yuriana, we will also be baptizing her son jorgito!! Also we found a couple other new ones, Fransisco the colombian, Fransisco martinez, and fransisco Perez. There are so many fransiscos in this world!! haha they are all getting prepared and will be ready for christmas day!! As for other things, we have been super busy with trying to see all these people, and will be moving in under john next week!! that will be so sweet!!! but man we are so busy i have no idea how we will do it!

My companion, he is just the bet, and i love him!! he confirmed ana y fernan ayer and it was so cool!! his spanish is increible, and he is almost fluent!! we fel like we will stay together for at least one more with everything that is going on here, but i guess we will find out!! transfers are on tuesday next week!! Also, the district is doing great, we focused on the importance of not having baptism as the goal for our investigators, but the temple! if we have the temple in our minds as our vision, we will make the goal to get there, and baptism is part of the plan!! so its just a little step in the great and perfect plan that heavenly father made for us!! Keep the temple in your minds! DOnt do anything that would deprive you of the oportunidad a entrar!! its so importante that we make ourselves worthy to recieve the wonderful blessings of the lord! I know that the covenants that we make there are real and worth it! I love you, thank you for your support, and keep hechandole galleta en la vida!!

Elder Gallego

11/7/11

Hola amigos y familia!!! man this week was so awesome!! so im gonna give just a good quick rundown! the lord is just opening up doors like no other here!! the baptism went great yesterday! THe mendoza family of 4 was baptized, and there was also a hija de un miembro that got baptized! it was way sweet!! the whole ward stayed for it!! so insane the kind of support that we are getting here with all of the members! Weve got 15 more people too by the end of the year that want t be baptized!! So crazy!!

This week, we had a lot of preparing and teaching to do to get ready, i went on an exchange with the zone leaders, well just elder allen and i. For those that know Aaron Allen, he is awesome!! i felt like i was at home again! he is from mesa, came out with me and all, but i hadnt really been able to get to know him! turns out we know a lot of the same people, the reis familia and the hallsteds! well cecilia hallsted and i told him how her husbands brother baptized my parents!! he was like "no way!!" it was so sick!! i swear, people from arizona just have some sort of vibe that is so different!! DAHH!! i cant explain it it just felt way at home to be on an exchange with him!! we met some really cool people, and we found una familia mexicana and i was able to teach them!! it was so cool!! i love spanish!!

Elder Mailo is doing awesome, got a bit frustrated this week at his spanish and punched a hole in the door like the size of my head but it was so cool!! haha, he is learning so fast and i just tried to help him out a little more. SOmetimes im a little harsh of how he sounds like a puerto rican with his accent, and how its really bad, but yeah...we're all good :) He is doing much better now!! his spanish has improved so much since that day! and our unity has as well, we just had one of those weeks last week where you just get frustrated at everything and everyone! Thats how it is though a week before a baptism!! It was a great learning and growing experience! I sure to love my companion and all that he has taught me!

The weather here is getting chilly, we all got hit with a cold, but we're getting over it now! should snow again this week! last saturday and sunday we got pounded by some snow/ice stuff, looked like a slushy and my companion wanted to eat it, but in phillly thats not so healthy!! We also had to fight off an attack of cockroaches in the other elders' apartment!! haha it was a gigantic invasion of them under their fridge!! so nasty! so we have to move apartments, and it looks like they are goin to take our apartment, and we will be in the apartment right under John, our recent convert! so that will be so sweet!! ill keep you posted on all that ham!

Well, i dont really know whatelse to say, but the church is so true! the book of mormon is the convincing evidence of this, and i know that if you read it everyday with prayer, it will change your heart as it has done to mine! i love it and i love being a missionary! its all about love!! if you love that person, youll want to help them, no matter what they have done in the past!! trust me, after time, it will all work out!! there is a great family here, the familia perez that is preparing to get baptized pronto and they are an example of love! Satan is trying to tear the family apart, and its our job to not let that happen! without the family, its a little more difficult to live! So be united and share that love! the mision, its all about love!! I love it and i love all of you! Gracias!

Elder Gallego

10/31/11

ohhh another bomb week in the mission!!! this one is gonna be a little short, running low on time, but MAN!! i love the gospel!!

So this week, we didnt end up having the baptisms due to a couple little problems, no big issues and everything will be good for this week!! We are really seeing great progress in the development of the testimonies of the investigators that we have. For the first time in my mission, our investigators are all reading!! crazy huh? and not just little verses, like 3 or 4 chapters a day!! It is so chido to see the change that solo reading the book de mormon every day makes in the life of someone. i know that is what has really made the foundation of my testimony. The book of mormon is the central focus of what we teach, and why, because it talks about christ, and teaches his doctrine! thats why its so amazing!! and the people here and realizing it!! i love when people keep commitments!!

we have found a couple new families, yeah families, one of 4 and the other of 3 and they are super excited to get to learn more and to progress towards baptism!! We also will be baptizing Jorgito, the son of yuriana, she is still working on getting married so keep praying for her, but jorgito came up to me yesterday and asked about baptism, what it was, and why we did it and told me he wanted to go do it in his bath tub!! hahaha i was just dying laughing, but i was able to explain it all in good terms, talked to yuriana about it and she said go for it, so we will be doing that the 20th of nov!! super super stoked!! hopefully it helps jorge, his dad, get active and begin to change!!

also, yesterday the theme was food storage...to make things simple, get prepared! haha as i have seen the leaders tell us over and over for the past 14 years, it never hit me like it did yesterday!! so get ready so that IF something happens, youre prepared. Because when the time to make a decision has arrived, the time to prepare has already passed!! I am so glad that i am a missionary, that i have my great companion, who is doing so well, and teaching me so much, and to be part of this great work! im with my cuate elder farr when he says get out there and give the missionaries referrals!! sure we want food, but we want more people to teach! knocking doors is completely ineffective. In the 6 months i have been here, i have knocked 5 doors, why because the members are legit!! so be that member who brings others to the truth!! DyC 18:10! i love you all thank you so much for everything and natalie ashcraft, i sent you a letter like 3 months ago, and my dad said that you never got it so i will write a new one!! thank you for the tie!!

Elder Gallego

10/24/11

Well, i made it!! haha i passed the year mark, its kinda scary thinking about it, but it has been a year, and now that time, and all of the things that i have learned are going to come into great handy for the next year!! i know that the time is going to fly by even faster, so i am just not going to think about it!!

this week was just incredible!! john is doing great, he was working all week so we werent able to see him until saturday, but we did and we went over to his aunts house to talk to his cousin and her son, ana and fernan, well i felt impressioned to ask them to be baptized christmas day, so i did, and as i looked at her face, she was really hesitant. Elder mailo then testified of the importance of baptism, and that without it we cant live with god. Ana understood that, and was just so worried that it was too early, well then i was prompted to ask her to be baptized on the 20th of november...pretty funny but i did it, she got a huge smile on her face, and started asking about why we set dates. Elde mailo then testified of the power of goal setting, and that if we have a desire in our heart to truly change and repent, then we will set a goal, and that goal will lead to plans, and eventually we will have made the decision, and the blessings are then ours!! so as she sat there pondering that, the room went all quiet, and the spirit seriously was so tangible...she paused, and with tears in her eyes told us that she wanted to be baptized this next week!!! she has only been to church 2 times, so i had to talk to the assistants,and the zone leaders to see what they said, and they gave us the ok to go for it!!

So Ana, her son Fernan, Her mother Irma, and irmas mother Margarita, all mendoza, are getting baptized this sunday!!!! MAN!!!! the look on our faces when she said that to us, i dont think ill ever forget it!! john just about choked on his pupusa that he was eating, haha and elder mailo, was like "uh soa (means companion in samoan) did she just say that she wants to be baptized this next sunday?" i just smiled a him, and he just let out a big ol samuano laugh that just put us all into laughter!! he will be baptizing fernan and ana, john will baptize irma, and i will baptize margarita!! we gotta hurry with margarita, she looks like she couldve been there when noah landed the ark...haha so wrinkly and her skin is just like air soft, totally reminds me of grandma meo :) haha, loving it out here thats for sure!! the work is just going crazy!!

also, i was able to go on exchanges with elder lopez. he is a convert, of like 3 years, and is 25 years old!! he is mexican, from veracruz, and man so humble so willing to learn!! increible!! we had a great time, it was nice to have a native companion again for a day, i miss speaking spanish 24/7 with elder de leon!! we set some good goals on learing ingles and trying to make it easier on himself to meet people and try to establish a good relation. he has so much faith, and i know that his efforts will be noticed! i also was able to go on an exchange with elder burnham!! it was his last one as a missionary, and he is getting picked up at 2 today!! he was such a blessing to my mission, and i sure do love him!! he will be truly missed for reals!! elder mailo was in our area for the first time alone, well without me, and he did jut great!! taught a ton and was able to get to some less actives!! he is such a bessing to me in my life!!

district meeting was focused on trying to recieve revelation through church attendance, and w put it into play this week!! had 15 investigators in church, and a ton of the less actives just popped out of their holes!! it was so great!! also, dad, i need a copy of my line of priesthood authority...i dont have one with me...so if you could hook me up with that...that would be HAM!! (thats the new philly word for cool!) haha

anyways, this week was great, the work keeps going, and i am so blessed to be part of this area, and this ward!! its getting cold ot now, and we are just geting all these people floating around on the streets into the chapel!! its a great time to be a missionary!! GIt R Dun!! Toodles!!

Elder Gallego

10/17/11

Hola!! haha, man i can believe i have almost been out a whole year in 3 days!! so scary!!! this year has seriously flown by for sure!! i cant believe it!! but i sure am greatful for all of the many blessings that i have recieved here, and the oportunidad to bless the vidas of the people here in philly!! so crazy how the lord works sometimes...

well to get this off my mind.....i have a HUGE surprise for all of you!! Well its not totally official yet, and our recent convert John Guzman  doesnt know that i know yet, but the bishop talked with him yesterday, and as i was told by john a while back, he was 25 years old....well, we figured out that he is 24 years old....and as i was confirming him yesterday, mission came to my mind, but then the spirit directed me to tell him that his testimony will be of great value to not only many members of his family, not only his friends, but many other people throughout the next couple of years and then after he is sealed and has a family. Really descriptive right?! well, here is the catch....JOHN IS GOING TO SERVE A MISSION!!!!!!!!!! DAHH!!!! i have never felt so much happiness and joy for someone!! seriously!! just completely put me to tears yesterday when the bishop told me that!! so, this next week we will be starting his papers, and he will recieve the aaronic priesthood, and then in a couple of months, after he baptizes 4 other members of his family in a couple of weeks, (yeah talk about miracles) he will get the higher priesthood, and will continue preparing to serve!! CRAZINESS!!!! ahh, i hope you all feel the joy i do. i am just so grateful for the lord, he is the best!!

so also this week, well some of the highlights:

-driveby shooting right outside the house we were in monday night!! wicked crazy!!

-Johns computer and both of his TVs decieded to just completely fry themselves for no apparent reason haha

-The confirmaciones went great! i confirmed john, steven, and alessandra, and elder mailo confirmed Karina. spirit was great and so intene!

-we had 16 investigators in church!!! 

-first district meeting went great!!! 

-8 more people to get baptized within the next 9 weeks, and we are seriously packed full!!

I know that the church blesses lives, i have been able to see it as a misionary, my own life, and the life of many people. The work is just crazy here, i cant put ito words how it is, just it is amazing and that the lord is blessing us!! I love you all and i hope that you go out and share what you know!!

Elder Gallego

10/11/11

alright well i definately dont have much time!! the library was too filled and we had to get permiso to come to a members house, to do our email! so i gotta get this out and then get to the dinner table! we are going to eat pupusas and man, they are so good!! its a tradicional food from el salvador!! ok enough of my blabbering..

so the baptisms went great!! finished off the transfer with 4, and we got 6 more coming up here soon, haha its just way to many things to do! and on top of that, i have been called to serve as District Leader, so that has just been totally mindswamping today, haha actually president forgot to call and tell me i would be the new district leader, the old one, elder burnham actually called me to delegate it over haha president was just chuckiling (imagine the george bush laugh) and he was like, "tell elder gallego he is the new district leader, and that im so sorry.." ahaha he kills me!! he is probably one of the funniest people i have met in my entire life, i cant even look at him without laughing, so he always just looks at me am=nd says, "What?!" i did nothing! so i just have to explain to him that its not that, i just have become such a goof ball here, the hispanic is taking over my personality and everything, so i kinda laugh a lot and am always smiling...i guess thats not too bad.. haha :) 

well, the rest of the week basically just flew, i had the opportunity to baptize john, great experience, and i was able to sit in on his interview, and it was so powerful, and i felt so good and it was so cool to see the change that john has made!! i was so overwhelmed by the great change that he has made! also, emmanuel, the father of alessandra quit smoking 2 weeks ago and was able to baptize the 3 others, his daughter and his niece and nephew. it was so special for him!! 

that was seriusly all that was going down this week, just a ton of finding and trying to fit in all of the people that we have to teach, on top of that, we got 10 new investigators this week, and had 15 in church!! so crazy what is gioing down!! im excited to see what this next transfer brings!! anyway! i love you all!!!!!

Elder Gallego

10/3/11

Hola familia!!! man!!! president monson just cracks me up so much!!! he reminds me of our mission president, as a matter of fact i told president schaefermeyer that the profetas enthusiasm reminds me so much of him, and president told me that that was the nicest thing anyone had ever told him!! haah just made me die laughing, but i was definately totally surprised to see the prophet so energetic!!

so i hope that everyone got the whole theme of conference!!! as i have always said, read pray and go to church!!!! that is what is going to bring us the blessings that we want, and will make us want to be perfect, and strive to help others to try to reach their full potencial as well!! 3 Nefi 12:48

This week, we were able to go the the priesthood restoration site at susquehana and it was a great experience!! it was so cool to seee the lugar where the first baptism of this despensation took place!! (some black guy right next to me just totally let a HUGE burp go!) haha anyways, the spirit felt there, will be something i will never forget! THe priesthood is restored, and i know that we have that power to bless the lives of those around us!!

I also wanted to say that we will be having the baptism of John Guzman, Alesandra Butler, Steven Butler, and Karina Butler on sunday! all are super excited especially john! He came to all but one of the sessions of conference, and gained his own personal testimony that the profeta and his apostoles are men of god, and that they have those keys to help move the work of the lord throughout the whole world. My comp and i are so excited!! He is progressing as well, and for this being his only transfer so far on the mission, his spanish is increible!! His english is...well its coming along :) i am so blessed to have this opportunity to train and to honestly be trained by him and the spirit, and fall back on the things that my trainer taught me! I sure do miss him!!

Well, we are still busy as ever, have too many people to teach and not enough time, and are being blessed by the lord in this great work! I am comin up on the year, feels really really wierd but ni modo, camara y hechete ganas!! :) Something to leave you with, it all starts with a vision, then the goal, and then the plans. Because when the time to make a decision has come, the time to make plans has already passed :) I know this work is real, i know that our father in heaven loves us and that he wants us to succeed! so do all you can to get out there and prove to him and to yourself, that you can do it!! I love you all!!!

Elder Gallego

9/26/11

alright!! this week was absolutely packed!!! we have been working so super hard out here, and we have been really really blessed by the lord here in the area!! It is so wierd to see how much time is flying by and how fast it is going!! As with this week, my companion and i have been really really spiritually uplifted by the strength of our relationship with one another!! I have been able to see him grow so much and him see me grow, that we are just basically brothers!!

as far as the people we have and are teaching, we have john guzman, who is progressing great and is really excited for his baptism coming up here on the 9th as well as maximo, karina, alesandra, and steven!! they are all so prepared and excited to enter into the covenant of baptism!! We are so super packed, so we have to get interviews in, zone conference at the priesthood restoration site on wednesday, and then GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! i am so stoked!! but we will have to be back in suits, and it has started to heat up here, so hopefully that changes!!!

Also, we have had some really cool experiences this week with meeting the people that the lord has prepared specifically for us!! It is so insane, and it has been really interesting to see how the lord works!! First off, we kept a man from killing himself saturday night because his sister had just been killed, and he was just losing it...so sad and so hard to see him, and talk to him but after about an hour of trying and trying, he calmed down, and then asked us where his sister was...it opened our door to the plan of salvation and we testified to him that she was in the spirit world, and that she isnt lost forever and that he would indeed see her again!! He was so happy, and he wants us to stop back by. What a great experience for the both of us, and i know that the lord made that way possible for us!! The gospel of Jesucristo is so true!!!!

well, got to git going, we got a football tournament today!!!!

Elder Gallego

9/20/11

ok, well this is going to have to be really short, i dont have much time, man this past week has just been so crazy i dont even know where to start!!! Seriously, we have never worked so hard, ever!! The lord is continually blessing my companion and i with the people that he has prepared to recieve the restored gospel!! we are just so swamped with people to teach, its worse than how it was when i was in wilmington!! So its crazy!

So this week, a lot happened. If you remember Carlos, the mexican that elder Freeman and i were teaching but then dropped off the face of the earth, well he almost died last week because he was drinking alcohol for 2 weeks without food or water at all, so we gave him a blessing, taught him, and he accepted to be baptized the 30th of oct!! What a great blessing and such a spiritual experience for us!! I am so glad that we have him back because my mexican accent comes alive!!! I miss mexican people so much, the dominicans and puerto ricans out here, man the spanish is so trashy and chopped up, and i just cant help but sound like them, so its nice for a little change every once in a while! :)

We were able to watch the groundbreaking of el Templo de Filadelfia and it was so amazing! Ive never watched one before, and we had john with us, and he was really touched by the spirit as was i and everyone who was watching and present! It should be finished in 2013 so i am comin back to philly!!! YEAH!!!! :) Church was amazing, we have a new senior couple serving in the ward with us as well, so we got 7 missionaries going at it here in Spring Garden Ward!! I am so excited!!! THe work is just going crazy!! also, we have been doing a lot of good finding through the activites!! We are playing futbol on friday nights, and we had like 15 people show up and it was so much fun!!! Its getting so intense, but we always pray and read a scripture, and there are a couple who we are teaching so it is paying off!! Also, the weather is already starting to get cold!! That means, BIG WINTER!!! YEAHH!!! i am so stoked!! My companion and i are going to freeze!! no car, and most of the buses wont be running, haha so excited!!

Yesterday, we went to the zoo, i havent been there in forever, but it was so cool!!! just thought that youd like to know! :) also, a couple puerto rican kids decided to punch a couple of missionaries here in our district, and like the philly people have always said, dont mess with the Jesus people!

well, it has been an eventful week, i cant believe i have been out 11 months today, but i am so glad that i am here! The lord is so amazing, and he always answers our prayers!! Always! Try to be like the lamanites that ammon and his brothers taught- Alma 23:6. thats what is all about! I llove you all and i am so grateful for all the support!! Like jose smith says, "shall we not go on in so great a cause?" live it , love it, and JUST DO It !! :)

Elder Gallego

9/12/11

HOLA!!

Man i dont know what is going on over here on the east coast with all this rain, but philly is flooding in so many places!! Im so confused too, because i guess there are 2 huracanes coming here again? Anyways, yeah, its really wet here, but the work is going great!! And to all those who now know, I AM GOING TO BE AN UNCLE!!!! i am so excited!!!! I hope they are twin boys so that i can teach them all sorts of fun stuff, and play sports with them!! :)

bueno, this week was so good! Our zone leaders sent out a challenge to all the missionaries in our zone that the companionship that has the best numbers with people contacted, other lessons taught, and new investigators ratios, we get to pick where they have to take us to eat dinner, anywhere in philly!! So we went at it and we really caught on fire this week!! My companion, Elder Mailo is progressing so much and i am so excited to be learning along side with him! We found some good new investigadores and we had 9 investigadores at church yesterday!! It was great!! We also had a lot of success with the less actives in our area, and getting them all excited about coming back to church! I love working with less actives!!

So that challenge that the zone leaders gave, really gave us the spark that we needed to just have the faith to talk to everyone!! My companion has been trying to work on his approach skills when contacting people in the street and just trying to not act so timid and stuff, and this week he made so much progress with all that he was focussing on! It really was a great experience for me as well, because it made me want to talk to more people as well and we met a lot of good potentials that we will be stopping back by this week!!

SO the groundbreaking of the philadelphia temple is this saturday!!! we are all so excited, and the city is just totally livid!!! Satan is really trying to overpower the members here, and they have been passing through a lot of trials, but the power of satan is nothing compared to the power of the being who created him!!! Always remember, no matter what the trial or the temptaion is, satan has no power over us, unless we give it to him! Read Alma 13:27-29!!! I love that scripture and testify that it is true!!

With all of this work that we have been doing here, hahah my pants are getting a little loose!! im down to about 155, and shrinking!! YAY!! BURN FAT!!! i dont have my little panzita anymore :( thats a belly by the way...and i am starting to skinny up!!! but im making sure that i dont go soft!! Nyal, i dont know how youre going to overcome going soft eating that type of food. P-90X!!! :D haha, but yeah, we have been working super hard here, and my companion eats like a horse!! I love samoans!! We have really started to develop a true love for the mission, and it reminds me of Alma and Amulek, and the sons of mosiah, all gone preaching the gospel for more than 14 years without seeing one another!! SO crazy, i truly do wish i could stay here for that long, but i know 2 years is what the lord has planned for me for now, so i will try my best!!

This week, we also saw a black guy, that was dressed up JUST like michael jackson before he went white, and man!! he did the dance, i cant remember what song it is now, but he did it perfect!! It was so insane!! I was laughing so hard, it was all right in the middle of the street too at some wedding!! He actually gets paid for it! It was so cool! ANyways, everything is going good!! We are getting some people prepared to be baptized, and recieve the blessings awaiting in store for them!! I love the mission, the gospel is so true!!

ELder Gallego

9.6.11

Youre not even going to believe, but i am training a 6 foot, 235 pound samoan!!! His name is elder Mailo!!! He is so cool!! it has been such a good week, and definately a learning experience for the both of us!! I am teaching him how to speak english and spanish, so its a bit hard at times, but he is really picking it up so fast!! We are working well together, and i am really letting him teach and testify and feel like he has about 6 months in the mission to boost his confidence right now!! He is doing great, his spanish is great, and his english is also getting much better! I am just picking up his New Zealand accent on english because he learned a little there before he came out! I also have ANOTHER companion who is the first missionary ever in his family!! SO cool!! He is 24, and made a promise with god that he wont fight people out here, or ever again, so that he can fully dedicate himself to the lord. So i have a body guard incase i need one :)
 
We have had a blast here this week, the rain is at it again today, and apparently will be all week, so i hope that we can find some success! Yesterday was great, we were playing some football yesterday at the park with some english elders and the other spanish elders, and i found out that my knee is great, and i have no pain today!! Very excited about that!! We played flag football, because the white handbook says no contact sports, but man that didnt keep me from eating it like 30 times!! haha, the grass was a little wet, and i didnt have cleats, ok..well i cut my elbow a bit, right next to the sar, but its totally ok, went flying after scoring a touchdown haha, and cut it on something, but its clean, not infected, and really bruised!! Looks really cool, and will be another scar to my collection!! :)
 
THis sunday was so great, my companion and i bore our testimonies, and it was so cool to see him go up there, and have the courage to speak some spanish his first sunday!! He is so cool, and just so natural! Learns so dang fast, and he is really teaching me a lot!! It felt good to get up and bear my testimony as well, i really felt a sincere love for the people and the members with whom we work with in this area. They dont really do their visits, well they dont do them at all, but they are always willing to help us, and i know that the members involvement with the missionaries is very important. So make a commitment to get out and do the visits!! We have a sad case with noe, a recent convert, feels like nobody in the ward except his best friend elvys, really cares about him, and has slipped into drinking, so that was a bit of a set back for us. Really hurts to hear when someone feels alone in the church. So be that person to go and get to know someone. It will really help!
 
I know that god lives, jesucristo is his son, and they love us both so much and they want us to do our best. We can and will become perfect through the atonement of jesucristo! I know it for a fact! THe book of mormon is the word of god. Read it, live it, love it!!
 
Elder Gallego

8.29.11

What a lame hurricane!! ok well, i guess it hit other parts of the mission and the other states pretty good, but seriously they acted like it was the end of the world over here!! The people in philly are all just nuts!! haha it was definately a lot of water, and ton of wind, but when i heard and saw on the newspaper the size of that hurricane, i just said, Uhhh....what am i going to do?!! haah, but i am still alive! It was cool to think that i was actually in a hurricane though!! We also had an earthquake this week, of which i didnt feel, but man mother nature is just angry on these parts of the U.S.! heck, i heard hurricane, and the first thing i thought of was Hurricane Katrina, and oh no. But im glad that it didnt do too much damage..with all of the rain that we got (6inches) it gave philly a very much needed cleaning!! haha but the sidewalks are already filled with trash again!! it was clean for a day!!
 
Man tyler you are training too?!!! Thats so cool!! Camara carnal y hechele ganas! Asegurese que le ensene todo bien, y que el entienda que la obra misional es increible y el mejor!! Que chido que nosotros tendremos hijos! le conocere este miercoles! asi que, trabaje duro y haga todo lo que este nueva programa nos ensena hacer, porque es bien importante!
 
Anywho, back to english, well, this week was cool! Elder De Leon and i didnt have the baptisms, church was cancelled on sunday, so yeah...we will be having them in 2 weeks when Jon gets baptized!! We are hoping to have about 7 new converts this transfer, so that will be a great experience for my son, who will have such a great start to his mision!! I am so excited to see and be able to learn from a new misisonary!! They have so much faith, and so much optimism, and i am just so glad and excited that he gets to start off in Philly!! I will definately work as hard as i can! Its really cool, because with this new 12 week training program, we have an extra hour of companionship study/training, so we will have a lot of good spiritual learning time!! And i am super excited to see what i have been able to learn as a missionary so far on my mission! Its a big responsibility training, but i know that the lord has prepared me!! I hope i get the Samoan that is coming! :) i was talking to president about it, ammon dana will be coming too, but he is english so i wont be able to train him! :( but i will be able to see him!! Im super excited about that!!
 
Well, there isnt much more to let you all know, this week has just been super hectic as you can imagine. Something absolutely hilarious that happened...hahah well remember how a bird pooped on me last week? HAAH well elder de leon and i were teaching and he got totally just destroyed with bird poop under this tree that we were sitting on! Probably one of the funniest things i have ever seen in my life, and the investigator was laughing he was laughing, i was almost crying, man. Good times!! also, some kids decided to throw water on us, and as i turned around, i realized that the guy was like 19 and running like a little girl!!!! We just started laughing, i was a little ticked, but it wasnt worth it at all. Just another moment that i realize how much the gospel means to me, and how i have to be an example at all times!!
 
I am super excited and super content with the mission right now! I know that the gospel is true! I have come to love and cherish the book of mormon and i know that it is the only way that we can experience true conversion! We have to read it to gain a testimony of the church, or else it is nothing! The prophet joseph smith saith that i man would come closer to god faster and better by reading this book that by any other book on the face of the planet. I know and testify of that to be true. In it, and in the gospel of our savior jesucristo, we can find all of the answers to our questions!! Keep doing the simple things, and apply the scripture Alma 7:11-16 to your lives! I know the atonement to be real! It works and we have to use it in order to recieve exaltation!

Elder Gallego

8/22/11

Holy hannah!!! haha i still cant stop laughing at all that has happened this week!! Well, i got a call on saturday night, and president asked me to train!!! Man i am so excited for the opportunity to see a brand new missionary!! I always get all geeked up when i think, or talk about my trainer, and my experience as a new missionary!! I know that the lord has put a lot of confidence in me, and i know that with him, i will be able to have great success with my new companion!!

So this week was just nuts. A lot of things happened, and man did i learn a ton! First of all, we found 5 new investigators to teach this week, exactly what we needed, and i go along with tylers testimony of specific prayers and how they bring specific blessings!! I know that to be true and have seen it so much in my mission! We have really been working with a lot of the less actives, and trying to get them to understand how important it is for us to do what we need to now in order to live with our father in heaven! I know that the plan of salvacion is only posible through the cleansing power of the atonement of jesucristo!

Talking about cleaning, man!! It rained, and i mean rained every day here, got soaked EVERY DAY!! it was so awesome, the people here look at us like we are crazy walking around in the rain haha, i havent had time to buy an umbrella, and i honestly dont care! im doing the work of the lord!! Nothing will stop us!! I also found out how horrible i am at teaching in english this week, ahaha man!! it totally just comes in my head in spanish, and i have to translate all of it in a couple of seconds, it is just so hard, so anyone have any tips? haha

This week, i also got pooped on, yes a stinkin bird laid one right on my left hand, i just thought that it was a raindrop that had dropped from the power line, and it was, just a bird poop!!!! haha my comp was laughing so hard at me, and it was not funny at all!! I had to go wipe it on someones grass, and it was just totally hilarious. Man, reminded me of when nyal got pooped on at school, ahaha but he got it all over his head!!! :) love ya nyal! ;)

We have been making great progression with our investigators, hoping to have 3 baptized this sunday!! Pray hard!! I know that maximo and karmen will get baptized, and she is waiting for him to ask her, but he says that she needs to change some little things that bother him, so we basically just told him that you wont really recieve a witness until after the trial of your faith, and so we will see what happens there. I bore powerful testimony to him of the change that ocurred in my family, and how you just have to put all your trust in the lord, and he will bless you!! it will hopefully work out!!

Ok so highlight of the week, Elder Rasband, the president of the presidents of the seventies, came to our stake to speak to us, and we had an opportunity to meet him and talk for a bit, man he is such an amazing testimony of jesucristo!! he speaks a little bit of spanish, haha it was fun talkking to him. He really focused on the prophets focus of rescuing the members. It is so importtante that the members help the missionaries in this. Every baptism and re-activation of a member or investigator that i have had in my mision have all come from the help of the members!! You guys are what help us be great missionaries!! SO always be willing to look for those who need help.

During the stake conference yesterday, I got to translate!!!! yeah!! Man i made a few errors, but holy cow i know that the lord was with me there, it would have been much easier if i had a copy of their talks, but that didnt happens. SO i had to go off of what i has hearing and i realized that we talk really fast in english!! It was really difficult for me to listen with my left ear and try to translate from english to spanish in a matter of miliseconds!!! But it was so much fun!!! They said that i did really well!! I am going to work on it more frequently now, because i know that it a good tool to know how to do in life!! Elder Rasband and the stake leaders really focused on the importance of the temple!! The groundbreaking is the 13th of september, and we might be able to go!! i am so excited!! so we will see!!

Anyways, that was my crazy week, i know the church is true, and that seriously, if you want blessings, just follow the commandments!! Its not hard to obey the commandments! Just need to have a greater desire to do good rather than do evil! I love you all!!!

Elder Gallego

8/15/11

ok family and friends!! It has been such a good inspiring week here out in the mission field!! Elder cook left us, that was sad because he is our pai and man!! he was such a good elder! We got to meet his family, and it was just so happy!! That family is just awesome, and it was so fun to see elder cook so happy! He said he bawled his eyes out!!

We have a ton going on out here, 3 people that are preparing to get baptized in 2 weeks, and 5 others for september and october!! The work is going crazy here! We are really trying to focus on getting some more new people to teach, preferrably a family!! That would just be awesome!! We are focusing on doing that finding through the members though because it is so much better when there is already a friend there to fellowship and help. I have really been able to see that it my mission, as all of my converts were referrals from members, and it is juts such a blessing to to do that!! We had one day this week, i think it was wednesday and we gave 4 blessings!! It was such a powerful experience for my companion and i. One, she was 54 and in a coma. All of the sudde. She had perfect health, and then her blood sugar rose, and now she is in a coma. It was so painful for me to look at her, knowing that this life is so important! nobody in this world has their life bought. We never know when we will go, and it brought to me such a strong feeling of the surety and knowledge of the pure plan of salvacion that our heavenly father has for us. it is perfect, and if we are obedient and do the things here that he asks us to do, we will return to live with him again.!!

I was able to finish reading Jesus the Christ, and i definately have gained a greater knowledge of my savior, his sacrifice that he made for me, and the great love that he has for me. What a perfect person, that loved us so much that he gave his own life for me personally. I cant express in words how important it is to me to know that i am one of his sons, and that i have been born into a family that will help me grow and become what he wants. It makes me think, that the only true way to make sure that someone knows you love them, is to show it! Just like he did!!

This week, i met a guy from spain, my country!! He was so stoked to see that my name was gallego!! The language spoken in galicia!! Super crazy!! they have such a wierd accent! But i have now met someone from all spanish speaking countries in the world!! SO cool!! The world has so much to offer, but i tell you what, the gospel of jesucristo is neverending happiness! The things of the world only have hapiness up to a point, they dont last for eternity!! So do what is right, and follow his path!!! It will bring the greatest blessings of your life! I love you all!! Vamono to!!

Elder Gallego

8/8/11

Hey familia!! que lo que hay?! man!! I just love thi area!!! We had to say goodbye to elder cook last night, man he is going to be a best friend for life thats for sure!! I dont think ive ever laughed so hard with 2 guys in my entire life!! 3 weeks with him was awesome!!! I hope you all meet him!! So now its just la bandita (elder de leon and i) here!! We are still giddy and happy as ever, teaching and doing what we should!! I love it!! Well i got something planned for this letter so i hope you all like it!!!
 
10 things to do!!
 
First, obedience. This is the first law of heaven. As soon as we as people understand this principle, God will stop asking his servants to remind us of it! When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, at that moment, God will endow us with power. Not every one of my companions has had a huge desire to be obedient while we were together. I myself often willfully rebelled against the laws of God and man in my teenage years. These are the most importante years that you are now going through. I know through the power of the spirit of god that the only happiness is in obedience.
 
Second, Honesty. It is better to be trusted than to be loved.
 
Third, Gratitude. Thankfullness is saying it. Gratitude is living it.
 
Fourth, Faith. We cannot repent, nor can any other miracle be wrought, except by faith in christ.
 
Fifth, Hope. Things will work out.
 
Sixth, Charity. We will do nothing that will help us recieve salvation without charity.
 
Seventh, Humility. A man determined to float on his own strength, is doomed to sink.
 
Eighth, Diligence. The greatest secret of work, is Work!
 
Ninth, Virtue. The spirit will not dwell in a temple which is not being treated like Gods.
 
Tenth, Animo. A spanish word. It means to have excitement! A fire within! Only christ can light that fire!!
 
I know that many of us may think that we are just doing ok, but why wait to do better!! Its ok to be different, in a good way!! Its ok to say that we are members of the only true church on the face of the earth. Its ok that people laugh at us, and say things. In the end, we know who will be sitting on the right hand of God! Be one of those. WIthout these traits, we cant get there. I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your prayers and support on my behalf, and all of your love!! I love oyu all!!! Siga FUERTE!!
 
ANIMO!!!!!
 
Elder Gallego

8/1/11

MAn!! this week passed by so fast!! I cant believe that it is already agosto!!!! That is so crazy!! So many good things happened this week, and it was such a spiritual feast!!!

SO we had a lot of success this week with staying in contact with all of our investigators, and how important it is to retain the recent converts of the church!! they are often the best source for helping to bring more unto the truthfulness of the gospel of jesucristo!! I know that as i have seen the examlple of the members fellowshipping my family, it has really been such a blessing in my life! Because of the decision that my parents made to bring this blessing into our family, i am now able to enjoy it and share it with others from my work here out on the mission!!

This weeks lesson was on Fasting and prayer and how they have to go together in order to have a successful and meaningful fast! I was able to teach the lesson, and it actually went very well!! i shared a couple of my own personal experiences of how the ward fast blessed the life of my family to become members, and my dads life when he was going through cancer. It is such a blessing to know that the fasting and praying really does help. The only way to get a true testimony of fasting and prayer is to actually do it!! Its just like faith, with out works, its dead! in other words, if you want to get a testimony of the gospel, you have to pray about it. It wont just come to you overnight. You have to put your faith into accion! And then once you get the answer that its true, you have to be obedient and follow the path of cristo and do the things that he did!! DyC 130:20-21-every blessing we recieve is because we were obedient!

We had a couple of really funny moments this week, well jose martinez, while we were teaching him about the word of wisdom, i guess he has a pill that he has to take, and it makes him tired, well haha he just straight up zonked out in the middle of the lesson!! I couldnt help but laugh!!! it was so hilarious!! Then he wakes back up and just tries to not smile and laugh but he couldnt hold it back either!! Haha he is progressing well, same with all of the others that are getting prepared for baptism! We had 10 investigators in church yesterday, and it was seriously awesome!!

well, this area is awesome, its getting hard to think in english because we speak so much spanish here, so its really cool!! I love you all and hope you always remember that you have a choice! 2 Nefi 9:5,9 either you fall subject to the control of the devil of the control of Jesus. Thats all there is to it. Follow the commandments, and youll be good, if you dont, well, read the promise it says in verse 9! Obedience!! Thats all there is to it!

Elder Gallego

7/26/11

Que transita por sus venas familia y amigos?!!!!!!!! ok back to english, so this week has been so crazy!!! We have found so many people who are prepared to hear the gospel!! It is so incredible!!  so the new address is

1315 W. Alleghany Ave. 2nd Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19132

That is where we will be hunkered downfor a while!! I wont be moving from this area for probably 6 months!! I willl be training after elder de leon and i are comps for hopefully at least 2 transfers the minimum!! So it is really going to be sweet! I am getting to know the area bit by bit and i am doing well with the knee, just really sore because we have no car, but it has been getting the strength back!! I am so busy and so just PUMPED that i dont even think about it!!!!

SO, we have been eating great, elder de leon has been teaching elder cook and i how to cook. Hahah elder cook learing how to COOK.....we make fun of him all the time :) i love my comps we laugh like non stop, and the members just love us here!! Apparently so does everyone else!! We have about 7 people already...yeah talk about preparacion from the lord, that will be getting ready to recieve the saving ordinance of baptism!!!! It is so awesome!!!! I love finding prepared people!! So we have Jose Martinez, who is probably the funnies dominican i have ever met, the guy makes himself die laughing, and it reminds me a lot of how i die laughing at myself too...haha anyway, we have Yuriana, Nancy, Maximo y Carmen, Feliciano, Iris, and 3 kids of a less active that willl be all getting baptized within the next transfer!!! We are hoping to have maximo and carmen in the water before elder cook leaves in two weeks!!!! So we will see!! Make sure to pray!!!

This week just seems so fast already, its so nice to be back into the mode of "busy" on the mission!! For a while there,it was slow and the Hardest period of my life, but i am now recieving the blessings all over again, and just like i always have said, Doing the 3 simple things brings the greatest happiness!!!! I sure am happy here, and am enjoying of the blessing of bringing others to the knowledge of the Truth!!!! It has really been super hott here, broke some records!!! It has cooled down a bit, haha but i did have a really funny thing that happend this week.. i have been sleeping on the ground hahah they arent going to give me a bed because elder cook leaves in 2 weeks so i am sleeping like a baby!!! And im serious!! Couch cusions are awesome!!!!

Tomorrow i get the opportunity to teach the libro de mormon clase and i am so excited!!! Im going to do it on Faith, and how the libro de mormon testifies of christ!!! It is all about faith!! ALso, the teacher for the sunday school class asked who wanted to learn more spanish, so i of course told her i did!! So she then told me that i had to teach the class next week because she would be gone...REAL FUNNY!! made me just smile really big, and they were all laughing at me. It seems like im just the one to be made fun of!!! Elder Gallego is just a bit JOKE!! :) thats fine with me, i sure do love this area and the mission!!! The church is true, the book of mormon is the key to finding happiness in this life, and the savior lives. Thats all there is to it.  Se cuidan!

Elder Gallego

7/18/11

ok so some big serious sweet news!! I am in north philly now, the erie area, which is the MOST ghetto, and i am with elder cook, and the native i wanted from oaxaca, mexico, elder de leon heras!!!!! I am super excited and i am so pumped for a new comp! I learned so much from elder freeman, but i wouldnt recommend doing it again! I did my job, and he left happy and he really changed a lot! Taught me a lot about patience, charity, and love. I am so glad to have a new comp, area, and fresh start!!!

So i think the coolest thing is that we speak only ESPANOL!!!! it is so much fun!!!! also, we are in a walking area, finally!!! i hated having a car!! it makes it so that you cant be outside sweating all the time!!!! i love it! We use the SEPTA, and the train that runs underground here, so its way more exciting, and its right where ALL the hispanics are!! LOve it!!!

My knee is still attatched!! haha i fell down the stairs this morning leaving my old apartamento, but its ok, just hurts alot!! But the pain is worth it!!!! i am so excited for a fresh new start!! it is such a blessing to be a missionary!!! I am now much stronger spiritually than i have ever been in my entire life!! it is just amazing!! Yesterday, in sacrament, Yura Flores, a 16 year old honduran girl gave a bomb talk on Apostasy, personally, and generalmente! I was amazed at how confidently she talked about what it really was, a personal state of apostasy! As missionaries, we always teach this stuff, but man, the members normally dont! She did though, and i realized how little it takes for us to begin to fall into an apostasy. Not reading, praying, going to church when we want, that all is just the beginning!! Satan is trying so hard to tear apart our lives, and we have to understand that he has no power over us and that we have to keep enduring to the end, if we want to recieve all of the blessings the lord has in store for us!

Also, a member of the stake high council, hermano hernandez, gave a great talk on forgiveness, man that hit me so hard. The most important thing that we have to learn about this life, is that we are not perfect, nor anybody else walking the face of this earth. So when people offend you, it may take time, but you will be responsible for it in the end if you dont forgive that person! Think of Jesucristo!! He forgives us always!!! as long as we make the sincere desire to complete the steps of repentance. That is so importante!!!! I really had some forgiving and asking of forgiveness to do with elder freeman, for my lack of patience at times, and everything, and we left on a good note.

I know without a doubt that the lord answers our prayers, families are ordained of god, and that the priesthood power is REAL! This church is restored, it is perfect, and we are called to labor in HIS vineyard for the last time! Jacob 5:70-75!!

Like Nike- JUst DO IT!!

Les quiero mucho!!!

7/11/11

well, this week was rough, the knee isnt looking too good, and i will be finding out what happens from the MRI that i had this morning!!   

 We have been really struggling to find people to teach the past 2 weeks, and this area will be most likely getting closed down because of the lack of hispanics. We are still going to the end though! Transfers are this week, and so i have no idea whats all going to be happening still...

I have learned a lot this week though, even when we dont have success, we have to keep our heads up. When trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the lord feels that you are prepared to grow more. I know that if we look at them in the face, we can overcome them. Many times a particular challenge helps prepare us for something vitally important. Growth cannot come by taking the easy way. We have to go through it with the knowledge and firm testimony that we can do it!!

I like to think of President Hinckleys advice, to stand a little taller, and raise the bar. Always be of good cheer, and always remember, to SMILE!! You look so much better that way!! I sure do love being out here, i have faith that everything will work out according to the lord will, and i know that i am in his hands ......i know that this gospel is true with all of my heart, and i know that through small and simple things, great things cam come to pass. I love you all!!!

Elder Gallego

7/5/11

Well, this week was totally nuts!!! some really crazy stuff happened this week, and man!! Being a missionary is just so awesome!!! It has really started to be such a great learning experience this transfer, and i have really come to love my companion!! Hes got 2 weeks left as of today, and we are doing so good! I am glad that i have had the oportunidad to serve with him!!

My birthday was awesome!! I ate an 18" long cheesesteak!!! total gutt bomg but man it was so good!!!! We had a blast, and i also got DQ!! Tradition!!!! it was awesome! I was on the exchange in philly again, so it was way fun!! I was also on an exchange with my district leaders companion, and we got rained on again!!! It was so worth it though!! THere were so many prepared people that we ran into and they really were excited to hear the message of the restored gospel! I a so grateful for the oportunidad that i have to share this wonderful message with others!! It really is so much fun!!!

Our ward had a ton of activities this past week! We had a great family home evening, where we played a game trying to recite the 13 articulos de fe and man!! The members here really do know them!! It is insane! Im making it a goal to memorize all of the 13 before i come home!! We also had a great class on the book of mormon like we have every week, and elder de leon heras talked about the things that we need to do in order to return to live with our heavenly father in his presence! The spirit was so strong, and i know that if we complete the 5 simple things, that we can complete the rest!! It just all takes a decision to have faith!!! we also watched legacy for our movie night, which was on my birthday, and Edgar and his family showed up and totally surprised me for my birthday!! It was so awesome!! I was so excited to see them, and they wanted to take me out to eat, but my comp didnt want to go, which was so rude, and so we just said we would do it another time. well, yesterday we had the ward picnic at a big park, and edgar, moroni, mahonry, and alfonso all showed up with their entire families!! La banda de wilmington!!! man it was so awesome!! I was playing volleyball when i heard somewone scream Venancio!! I looked and there everyone was!!!! THey are so awesome!

Also, crazy thing found this lady on the side of the street with this big huge gash in her forehead and she was going into shock, pregnant, and just blood everywhere! I was trying to calm her down and figure out what happened, but she was high on something so she wasnt responding! The ambulance came and got her, dont know what ever happended to her, but man it was so scary!!!! 

This place is really just barely going over here. I was told that this area will most likely be shut down, because of the lack of hispanic people, but we are still trying, working as hard as we can! We have still been working with sam torres, and he is progressig great, reading and praying and seeing the difference in his life!!! I know that when we read the book of mormon, we really have that spirit with us, specially in our times of trial. It is so important also to read the words of the living profets as well! Inknow that if we do this, the spirit of the lord with testify to us, the truthfulness of this church. What a great plan our heavenly father has for us!! I love you all, stay strong, always have faith, and always remember to be that example!!!

Elder Gallego 

6/27/11

well this one is going to be really fast and quick! I sure did have a much better week!! We are working with a lot of less actives, one in particular, sam torres, he is going through a divorce, and we are trying to get his sights on getting a new wife, and getting into the temple!! Best thing that you can do!!

we also have another person ready for baptism!! His name is john, and he will be the same day as Carlos, and hopefully giovanni!! 7 de agosto!! the work is slowly starting to progress her, i am really excited for this weekend! It will really be a busy one for sure!! I am going to turn 20 on friday, man i sure did enjoy the teenage years that is for sure!!! I hope that i really have fun in philly trying to eat 3 cheesesteaks, a large fry, and 2 drinks to set a new mission record!! :) that will be really fun!!!

also, i wanted to focus today mainly on some of the lessons that we can learn from joseph smith as he was in liberty jail. Listen. If you are ever in a spot where you think you are alone, or that the lord has abandoned you, you're wrong. He is always there for us. even in our hardest trials, he is right there by our side because he loves us, and he only wants us to go through the trials to grow and to learn. THe things that jose smith went through, that are discussed in dyc 121-123 it really goes to show, and is such a great testimony to me of how much we actually can learn in our hardest times!! just read all of that doctrine that he received in that very trying time of his life!

I know that the lord is always going to be there with us, we are never alone. Always look for him, and always be willing to receive his help! But dont just do it when you are having a hard time!! Do it all the time!!! i love you all, thank you for all the birthday wishes!!! Keep choosing the right!!! Philly and the mision are the best things that have ever happened to me!!!!

ELder Gallego

6/20/11

so this week has been filled with a ton of stuff, and i got 17 minutes to power through it all!! Get used to really short emails!!

-i had an exchange with the district leader this past week, and it really lifted my spirits up i really needed to laugh my head off with someone!! Also i talked to president, he gave me some good ideas of what to do, i am just having to have a better attitude with the whole thing!

-It poured rain on me and the district leader this week, when we were on the exchange!! I was soaked from head to toe it was so awesome!! People thought that we were crazy!!! Thats for sure!!

-who won the nba finals?

Dad Happy fathers day!!! Hope you had a good one and hope you are catching some good waves for me there in cali!!!!!

-We had a great turnout for our book of mormon class that we teach every week this past tuesday, also we have been finding a couple people here and there through some friends of the members! got another person, giovanni, who will be getting a baptismal date this week so im really excited!! I hope that it all goes well. He is battling depression so its a bit rough.

-this week i really got to use my priesthood! I was asked to give 4 blessings this week! I love being able to hold and carry the power to bless the lives of others. It really makes me happy!!!

-instead of making to do lists, why dont we start making "to Be" lists. I know that if we do that, whoever it was that said it in conference, we will be able to increase our personal progress as well as others, because then we will be able to help them when we ourselves are capable after the changes that we have made. I know that it is going to bless your lives! We have to do what james says, we need to be Doers of the word rather than hearers of the word! ANd always remember that faith without works is dead!!!

-Well, i want to let you know that this is the true church. The gospel truths have found a home in my heart, and i am so grateful to be going through the struggles of a mission! I really am learning how to rely on my father in heaven for the answers that i need. He is always there for us if we just go to him!! Never be afraid to change, especially if it is for him. He will always bless us. DOnt be afraid to ask for help!! It is there for us! I love you all, read pray and go to church!!

Philly is awesome, i've been out for 8 months now!! YEAHHH!!!! haha love you all!!

Elder Gallego

6/13/11

well, i got a whole 19 minutes to get all this out in an email, so lets see how i do!

First off, i have already met at least one person here from every spanish speaking country on the earth!!! Crazy huh?! It is a melting pot here that is for sure! Ive also met people from haiti, greece, republic of georgia, congo, africa portugal and all!!! It is so crazy!!! there are so many chinese people here, and india people!! It is really a crazy blend!!

SO i am serving in a district, and we have a native, who is awesome, and i am also in the same district as elder cook!! He and i had a blast on thursday talking about AZ. I need a GPS. My comps broke, and i figured, well its my bday soon and ill need one anyway when he leaves in 5 weeks so yeah...hook me up please? :)

It is so crazy here, people are seriously out of their mind, i heard some guy walking past us singing how he was going to hang himself with an extension cord, they open the firehydrants in the middle of the city if they are hot, and play in it, there are metal detectors in every school, there is so much trash here, we could fill a landfill in AZ, and thats all in the middle of the road and all over the sidewalks, and we live above some crazy chinese discount store in a little shack!! it is so ghetto!!

But, now that ive got that out, i have really had a lot of fun. Its been a bit wierd adjusting to the area and my comp. He goes days without saying a word to me, it is really hard!! I mean, normally i can get someone to talk, but him, not working!! and when i give him some advice to go somewhere or do this or that, its as if he didnt even hear me. Ive never felt so lonely in my life!!!! So, i am really really praying that something gets him to crack!! Im not going to stop though!!

We did a ton of tracking on the streets it was really like my only release. I love sharing the gospel with random people!! its something that i have really grown to love here because we really werent out of the car a whole ton in wilmington! but man it is so different here!! I have been so amazed at how much this world is changing, and not for the good. Its so sad seeing people who are just totally lost, and they are looking for something to help them! We met a guy, Carlos, he is a friend of a less active coming back member named elvys and he has had a really hard time with alcohol and has lost his wife over it. Well i told him that the only way to get her back is to change, and that the book of mormon, repentance, faith and baptism are the only way to do it!! As well as recieving the gift of the holy ghost! He accepted a baptismal date for the 7th de agosto!! Totally made my week!

Then yesterday, a lady came up and said to me i have 3 kids who want to be baptized! I was like uhh ok i can help with that! :D it was amazing! We prayed in the empty baptismal font on thursday for district meeting to be blessed with prepared people to convert, and the miracles are already happening!! I love how fast our heavenly father answers our prayers if we put all of our faith in him!

It is so important to understand that no matter what we are going through, the gospel of jesucristo has an answer!! It is so key to everyone, and it is so important for us as members to help them understand that importance!! I know it is true. It is a part of me now and it will never change! I know that it is the only way to get back to him. We have to do what he askes, if we want what we want. He is offering eternal life!! Why not give it our all?

P.S. there are fireflies here!! And my new address is 4704 Longshore Ave. Apt. B Philadelphia, PA 19135- dont send packages here, send them to the mission office. Too ghetto here!! I love you all so much!!

Alma 32:28-30- read it, apply it, live it!!

Elder Gallego

6/6/11

well, i did get transfered, which really was hard, but i am now in North Philadelphia!! ANd man,i live in the ghetto!!! It is so cool though. SO i really dont have very much time at all, 15 minutes to write this email, so i am going to just get down to business and hopefully next week i will be able to have more time.

we had some good fun this last week with basketball, and finding more people to teach and really just grinding it out to the end!! I am really excited to get a new companino though! I havent had a comp study in 3 weeks because mine doesnt get up!! But i will move forward!!

So, leaving wilmington, ill never forget my first area. 6 months there changed my life, and now i am on a special assignment from the mission president to help my new companion, elder freeman, finish his mission! He has just this transfer to go, so i have been asked to help him become more excited, and just end his mission on a high note! He is a convert to the church, 3 years now, and he is awesome. I can already tell that it wont be really easy, but i know that through the charity of the lord, that i can help him and do what i need to do. We will be great together! I am really excited!

so i still have no idea what my new address is but i will be writing a letter home today, so hopefully you will get that soon. I have to get to know this area really well, because i will be taking it over in 6 weeks! We have a car, speaking of which is a brand new subaru imprezea, pretty sweet, but it is a walking area as well, and man there are so many people here!! Its a melting pot for sure! I am in the spring garden ward, which is on of only 2 hispanic wards in the mission!! I guess they get an average of 300 people a week! ANd none of them are mexican! :( so i will be learning some new spanish for sure!! I will always remember the mexican accent though :) there are a lot of people from south america and a ton of puerto ricans and dominicans!! SO i am really excited!!

Something i would just like to leave with is my burning testimony that this church is true. God lives and he lovess each and every one of us. There is no greater feeling than knowing that he always knows how to help us, and that through the atonement of his son jesucristo, we can be cleansed of our sins and become clean again. I know that i am here called by god, i know that only through the priesthood power and authority given from him to me, and all priesthood holders, that miracles happen, lives are changed, and testimonies are strengthened. It is so important to read the book of mormon, how true it really is. Through reading that book, we will come to know our heavenly father so much better, and through his love we can succeed all things. There is no doubt in my mind that this is where i am supposed to be. Even though it is hard to leave my family in wilmington, i am needed elsewhere, and i am so excited for this next 6 weeks with my new companion! Thank you all for your support and love! I will make sure i get more into my email next week when hopefully i have more time!!

Elder Gallego

5/31/11

Well, looks like i will be heading on my way out of Wilmington, DE. Well.....atleast thats what i think...hahah just got an email from president saying that he has a "special assignment" for me to complete!!! I am ready for the next chapter of my mission!! I cant wait to see what happens! We will be finding out on thursday night if we are getting transfered, and by the comment that president made, i imagine that i will be leaving seeing as how i have been here for 6 months now, but its possible to stay!! :)

This past week has been rough, but definately very rewarding!! I had the most successful day of my mision with my great district leader, Elder Spear! He leaves to go home on tuesday!! Cant believe he is already done! The hallsteds know them, so i am sure you will be getting to know him!! We taught 12 lessons on wednesday!! That is definately incredible!! I didnt realize we had taught that much until we were sitting down at the end of the day and planning for the next day and we were both mind-blown!! It was really cool, because my focus for that exchange was to find new people and we found 5 new people to teach!! One of them, is Rebecca Anzurez father, Jesus, and it was so incredible!! Missionaries have been trying so hard to teach him, but that is the problem!! I had a great trainer, who taught me how to get to know people, before you try to tell them that everything that they have believed in their whole life is wrong. I have been really putting myself in others' shoes while we teach and realizing how all of this sounds, and how crazy it is!!

Well, with jesus, we sat down, and got to know him! He told us his stories of how his parents passed away, and how he and all of his brothers crossed the border, and all this, im thinking to myself, man this guy is so awesome, then he decides to tell us that he has been really thinking lately and through the example that we have set at his house teaching rebecca (the last person i converted) which is his daughter, that he thinks it is time to get baptized!! I almost freaked!! The spirit bore witness right then and there of how this is the only true and living church on the face of this earth today. Jesus is going to be solid here in a couple of weeks,and we will be finding out what it is he wants! Also, we found a couple other families, and a honduran lady named Sunia Madrid. She and her husdband, they will be awesome!! we will see where that goes, she really is interested in how we believe and claim to have a living profeta on the earth today with the same power and authority that jesucristo had!! It was way cool!!

So it has been really hott here, like 99 yesterday and about 80% humidity!! I shaved my head!! :) yeah looks real good, and feels so awesome!! Some quick highlights so that i can get my brain cleared a little bit, we will be volunteering at a center where they teach english for free monday and wednesday in the mornings, we remodeled a house on friday, tore out all the carpet, taks, painted, everything!!! It was so awesome!! I am still sore!!!! Basketball was great on saturday, and yesterday. Played hardcore, almost dunked it!! (ill send home the video) but yeah, i got rim-stuffed hardcore when i tried that...its all good!! ELder Bingham threw out his back and has been having issues, so that is a pain, we found a sweet new family at church on sunday that just came from utah and wants to be baptized!!

Ok, so now that i can think a little better, we taught victor perez, the dominican this week about why the lamanities had a curse upon their skin, that blew his mind, and mine as well.. :) i love that...and he now understands who the native americans are and even who he is!! I wont get too into that, its really crazy!! A man named marcus came up to us on the street, asked for a book of mormon, and decided to read it!! He is with the english missionaries, and i am really excited to see where that goes!! District meeting this week was way cool, we all shared our testimonies with one another about the book of mormon and why it is so important in our lives, i felt the confirming power of the spirit so strong!! Fanni, she went to do baptisms for the dead at the temple on saturday, and she told us about the amazing experience and spirit that she felt, so that was awesome as well!!

This week i learned that we arent really finding people, we are just meeting people that the lord has already prepared!! It was so cool to know that!! And that obedience is like a pen. It only works the way we want it to if our hand is using it and guiding it in the direction that it needs to go. Like the spirit!!!!! Be obedient and you will have that spirit as your constant guide and companion!! As it says in 3 Nefi 9:14-19 cristo tells us to come to him, and in him we will find eternal life and joy and how he is the only way!! I know and bear testimony that that is the only way to it. We have to look for him, do what we need to do, and endure to the end to recieve the desired blessings. It all starts with a desire!!

I am so grateful for this opportunity that i have to be a missionary. I am excited to see what happens on monday for sure, hopefully i train!! I love you all, and im sorry that this email is just crazy as all ever, but my time is running out!! I love you all so much!

Elder Gallego