Week Number 5!

Ok family, this week was insane!! Miracles are happening every day in this branch, i really hope i dont get transferred...i have a feeling i am, but i really hope i dont!

Anyway, it is soo frio!!! It hasnt gotten above 28 degrees all week and it has been windy like no other too so the thermals have finally been used! :) THey really are good ones too i cant even feel the wind in my legs! But i can feel it on my face and its really annoying!! Oh i found out last night at la casa de Moroni que i have gained 10 pounds! haa i know its really bad. But its not fat! I have been working out in the mornings but it is coming from all of the food that these people feed us here! It is nuts! I ate 10 tamales last night at a J-Dubs house (Testigo de Jehovah) haha that is what we call Jehovahs witnesses in the field! It was really good though!! We shared a message of how important families are and especially family prayer. I am so grateful my parents raised me on my knees, and said prayers as a family. I really miss it here, but mi companero is mi familia aqui ahorita!! :)

I found out that Gallego is a lenguaje!! It comes from Galicia, the northernmost parte de España! Pretty cool huh?! Oh yeah ahah another thing that was pretty funny, tuesday night we were in a less actives casa, and there was an illegal that had just gotten there like a couple of hours ago hahaha i just started laughing so hard! It took her 4 days to get across the border, and then another 3 days to hitch a ride to DE. What a trip! I have really come to love the spanish culture. I feel as if it is a parte de mi that i have been missing todo mi vida! I found a way cool escritura en el libro de 2 Nefi 1:5. It talks about immigration and it is some pretty sweet doctrine about it. It is wayy cool :)

So On monday night we had una noche de hogar (FHE) con Moroni and it was a wayy good lesson. He served his mission in the Yucatan and he is such a good simple teacher! We taught el plan de salvaccion and was so spiritual. I am not sure if you have ever thought about this but did you know that this earth is a gift from Dios for us? He created the earth so that we could inhabit it and multiply and replenish it! 1 Nefi 17:36. I am so grateful for this earth. For the opportunidad that i have to be here and learn and grow. THat is our purpose here, is to try to become like Jesucristo y su padre Dios. We are never going to be perfect, and they know that, but they put us here, with the families that we have for a specific reason, which is to learn, grow, fulfill our purpose, and return to live with him. WHat is our purpose? THe plan of Salvaccion revolves around our purpose. Faith in the Lord Jesucristo, Repentance, Bautismo for the remission de sins, el don del Espiritu Santo, y Endure to the End! D y C 20:37 talks all about what our purpose is. And with out a family, i can testify that this wouldnt be possible. I am so grateful for my family, and the things that they have taught me and are still teaching me. What a great blessing families are in our lives. Take advantage to spend time with our family. I wish i wouldve spent more time with mine before i came out, but i have learned from that mistake, so i dont regret it. Learn from your mistakes, and always remember, Without Faith, nothing is possible. With Faith, nothing is impossible :)

So on Wednesday, we had a ton of appts set up but they all fell through and we just stayed in bc elder kerouac slipped and tore his calf muscle in his already hammered ankle :( I feel so bad for him. We gave him a blessing on Sunday, and he is already walking on it again :) It was a crazy experience!! But! I had an interview with President and he told me to get ready and learn all i can really fast because there are 20 spanish missionaries that are set to leave here in the next few months with only a couple new ones coming so i am kinda feeling like i will be training some time soon and i am trying to learn all i can as fast as i can!! I hope i dont get transferred just yet though my work here is not done!! :( You will know by next monday whether or not i got transferred though so keep your fingers crossed!

SO we have been teaching a family, well kinda, there is a guy named Florencio and a now an active member, Erika Rojas, who live together...this is very apparent in the hispanic culture, to not be married..kinda stinks. But we have been teaching Florencio and Erikas son, Issac, and we showed them that Restauracion video, remember when i said this last week, well the next day we go back over to teach and florencio had a doubt about Joseph Smith bc he had never heard about him before, and we had given him el libro de mormon, and he has been reading it, but he still had a doubt! Well we go back the next night, actually just me and 2 members bc we had splits for home teaching, and he tells us that he had a dream, and Jose Smith sat down with him and talked to him and told him that this church was true, that this is what he has been in need of his whole life, that God will bless him if he follows what he has been told in his heart, and in that dream, and he also confirmed to him that he was the chosen profeta of the Restauracion! THat is crazy!! What a powerful answer! When he explained this to us we were all just speechless. I then invited him to be baptized and he said yes! :) Oh man teary eyed and all i then bore my testimony about how he has recieved an answer and that now he needs to act accordingly. Moroni 10:4. Have real intent which means willing to act on the answer recieved. What a crazy answer. Oh man i am so happy for him he is so set on being baptized and i think his will be on the 20th of febrero as well.

We had zone training and intercambios (exchanges) as well this past week! I went with Elder Osorio who is a native, on saturday, and man we did some work!! Got 2 more baptismal dates, and taught a whole ton and i had a blast being able to be out and contacting because i havent had the opportunity to do much contacting and door knocking because of my companero and it has really been taking a toll on me! I was so sick of just sitting in the car and driving to each appt and not being able to walk around and find new people..its been tough. But saturday i went all out and i learned a lot. Especially about the spirit, and how it works, but most importantly, i learned a lot about how much i love this mission. I love it so much, mainly because of the spirit that is with me. As a missionary, i have realized how many times i ignored spiritual promptings back at home because i wasnt paying attencion to the promptings, whisperings, or thoughts that came into my head. It really is true, if you are not listening, and trying to be guided by the spirit, you wont. It is so difficult to hear them in times of chaos, or very crowded areas most people say, but the spirit works in different ways than that. THrough the thoughts that most of us have during the day, yeah thats the spirit. If you are following the commandments, and doing what you are supposed to, ever righteous thought that comes into your mind was directed by the influence of the Spirit. I know its hard to believe that, bc i used to just think that it was just my mind, but its not. Its the spirit!

I testify that the spirit is real, it knows us personally, and will reaveal itself to us in many different ways, but as it says in the scriptures, through our thoughts, feelings, and impressions, that same spirit will testify to us of everything. I know this is true, i know that the spirit has guided me to the people that i am teaching. I know that without it, i am nothing. My words dont mean anything to the people that i teach. Not one thing. It is the feelings that people get that cause them to change. Those feelings are from the spirit. I know that because of this we need to make sure that we are doing everything possible to have that with us. Study the scriptures, live and apply what you learn, never ignore a prompting from the spirit, and be all that you can be. If you have a dream, and if you want to do something, do what it takes.

To everyone that reads this, do what you KNOW is right. Read and pray daily. Study the principles that you have learned and look for ways to apply them to your life. I have really learned out here how much i didnt know about really anything before i came, but i had faith and a testimony and i had recieved an answer and i acted on it. I could have stayed home, worked played with my friends, and gone to school, but i knew that the Lord would bless me for being out here, and i knew that i had people to teach. I am so glad for the opportunity to share this mission with you all and i know that if we pray for miracles, we will see miracles. I love you all so much and want you to know how much the lord loves us all. Lets make him proud and do what it takes to become like him.

yo se que nuestro senor, jesucristo vive y que el quieres todos de nosotros a regresar a ti, y con su padre por la eternidad. Yo se el libro de mormon fue tradujo por el poder del senor, y que Jose Smith restauro este iglesia, este evangelio in la tierra para nosotros y por el poder de dios. Lea el libro de mormon cada dia y haga las cosas que necesitan hacer! Yo quiero todos y mi familia, mama y papa me ama mucho, y mis hermanos alec y chandler y mi hermana y cuinado alyssa y trevor y abuela pat, yo espera y yo quiera todos! :)

Para siempre Dios este con Vos!

Elder Mateo Gallego