3/7/11

Hola mi bonita familia! Como estan gringos?! Ha todo esta bien aqui y estoy progresando bien! alyssa, necesito algo de ti, NECECITO UN SOBRINO!! Alyssa i want a nephew!! Elder Kerouac is going to have one when he gets home and now im jealous!

Anyways, this week was awesome! We taught a ton, and we found some new solid families! Like im talking miracles!! Holy moley it is just getting so crazy out here!! So i was sick most of this week, just with like some cold thing i dont really know what it was it just made me want to put a bullet in my head about 10 times because it felt like it was going to pop, but that didnt happen and now everything is fine! :) I got all better i think like sabado, yeah. I feel fine now and the weather is getting really nice! Kinda getting hot at times! I just got to make it to Abril and then we can take off our suit coats until octubre!! (general conference to general conference) It rained hard all day yesterday! It was so much fun, we went to go knock on the doors of some payasos that never come to church, like francisco sanchez (mucho trafico) and hitamar (he ignored us) and then it started to dump rain on us and we were leaving the house of hitamar and we were running to the car haha it was so funny! There is like no warning sprinkle of rain here, it just starts dumping, so we were soaking wet for chrch, but we ended up stopping by an investigator, David, and he and his 2 little ninas followed us to the church! Come to find out that David is related to like half the branch (like most of the members) and he already knows almost all of the active ones! So we have some good fellowshipping tools for him it is going to be great! We will be extending a baptismal date to him and his wife for the 24th de abril! As well as the sobrino de Mahonry-Jonny. We is like 10 or something so he just told us last night that he wants us to teach him and we will be ready to go soon!

Ok, that paragraph was really long, sorry. Jacob and Nicole are doing well with the smoking and drinking, theyve got it down to 1 cigarette a day for the both of them, and they have made the decision that 13 de marzo they will be done! Keep them in your prayers please!! We also found a new golden family, which was a referral of some guy whos door we knocked on, and they want to learn more! They are puerto rican and super nice! The perfect family, they have a 12 year old sone and a 10 year old daughter and they really want to raise them in the correct path, so we will be working closely with them! Theyre names are Alex and Leticia we dont know the names of their children yet, but the only problem we will be having with them is Alex works in Rhode Island! He is only here for the weekends every other week, and the rest of the week he is gone at work, so we are trying to find him a job here that pays about the same as he is making out there. He is a pro welder so we are going to try and see if we can get him to find a job at Edgars metal shop that he Moroni, Mahonry and juan all work at!

Last monday, we had a great noche de hogar with Mahonry and daicy, edgar and Karen, Moroni and Betty, Alfonso and Linda, and Yunyen and Jorge at Mahonry and Daicys house! It was so much fun! We had this sweet scripture chase/hymn chase that alfonso put together for his lesson, and we were all separated into 2 teams, man it was awesome! All the little ninos and ninas were involved too! Oh by the way, mexicans know how to have fun!! It is so much fun being around them, and learning a bout the different cultures that they have, Im trying to learn a new language as well! It is called Nahuatl. It is what they call "puro mexicao" it is an ancient language that they speak within their own pueblo in mexico! Its so sweet! Sounds similar to indians and that kinda dialect. I love it!!

So i have decided, that since i want to stay around the spanish language the rest of my life, that i am almost 100% positive that i want to buil custom Homes! Keep my pool business running of course, but i have been praying hard about it, and what i will do if i dont end up playing baseball. There are a lot of dominicans here, so this summer i will have the chance to play a lot with a bunch of the kids around the neighborhoods and stuff on p-days and what not! Im really excited for that!! Futbol is also going great! I didnt get kicked in the face this week, just in the leg really hard by Angel and it left a huge mark and a cool battle wound looking scratch! Haha something else that hispanics love to do, everytime we teach or meet someone new, we always get fed something, like during the day mainly fruit, and they always give us a water and either a pepsi or a coke! Haha they love those for some reason! Im not much of a fan of coke, but it does taste really good with mexican food! Also, they like to give us cereal, we have like 10 boxes of cereal in our apartamento and we wont need to buy any more for like a year! Once summer hits, ive been told that i will be fed like crazy and always have an endless supply of waters and coke! :) Im excited for summer! I love talking to people and just getting to know them! And i love teaching the plan of salvation for some reason it is just so much fun!!!

So i wanted to share a little booster upper that has really helped me through this past week-If you have troubles at home with children who stray, if you suffer financial reverses and emotional strain, that threaten your homes and your happiness, if you must face the loss of life or health, Peace be unto your soul. We will not be tempted beyond our ability to withstand. Our detours and dissapointments are the straight and narrow path to Him. This really helped me think of how much power i have to do what is right, and not even just as a missionary, but as a normal member of the church or a normal person. All youhave to do is help people recognize that power that they have, that ability that they have to do what is right, and to become the person that their Father in Heaven wants them to be. No matter what the circumstance is, Keep your Chin up. If you dont look it straight in the face, you wont overcome it. Your heavenly father knows you, and he knows the things that you cant handle. For those things, he has given us the way and the truth. It is the gospel of Jesucristo! The gospel answers all of our questions, and through prayer and trust in the lord, we will never be led off that path that leads to him! Things will work out. Keep trying, Be Believing, Be Happy, Dont get discouraged. Things will work out.

I have such a strong testimony of this principle, and i hope that you too can learn to put your trust in the lord, and go to him for every problem and trial that you have in your life. I have seen the miracles of the gospel in my own family, and now in the lives of the families that i am teaching. I had the oportunidad yesterday to confirm isaac and fanni members of the church, and what an amazing experience that was. To instantly see what happens when someone recieves the gift of the Holy Ghost. Do all that you can to keep that. Repent every day, and always strive to follow the example that christ set for us. I know that it will never lead you in the wrong direction!

Keep praying for me and keep praying for people to open their doors! It is so important for members to pray for missionary experiencias! The more your share the gospel, the more you will realize how much it means to you. Se cuida mi familia y amigos!

Elder Gallego