9/24/12

hey familia!!! q lo q?! my brain is so fried right now....we ate 4 times ayer and i seriously can barely even think!! this week went by so dang fast! it was cool and at the same time, like as misionero it is so annoying bc you feel there is not enough time to do anything!

so i had my very last zone conference this week! we learned a lot about the doctrine of christ and how the simple things we teach and do are always the ones that matter. we had some really great role plays for some investigatores and they worked out really nice!! i was able to bear testimony to the two zones that were there, and it really hit me on how much i have grown and how much the lord has blessed me with and the great love he has for me and i know that as i keep doing the things tha ti have learned as a misionero on my life, that will be the best thing for me and it will help me to grow and become like my savior, Jesucristo.

so between all the teaching 61 lessons this week, yeah way loco, and the fiestas and actividades por los miembros and all the great and amazing miracles the lord show us every day, there was one that really stood out to me, and it was yesterday. the sacrament is algo tan impotante en our vidas! i know that as we partake of the sacrament the cleaning power of it makes us pure and clean to be worthy and enter into the presence of out father in heaven. i am so excited for this day, when i can be in the presence of Him, my creator. I love this gosepl so much and i am so grateful for all the many blessings i reacieve for being a servant of him. the many blessing that are involved in this is the testimony that i have gained. many people think of blessing as just liek being rich or having many things, when really that has nothing to do with it, that is fortune. BLESSINGS are the true yet eternal simplicity in life that we will carry with us to the next :) it will be something that in thsis short periodo of 2 years that will have an eternal effect on my life. i know that the mision is nothing easy, but it takes work that will help to build you into who you NEED to be in the future. I have an AMAZING father, and he didnt serve a mision. But i do remember him telling me all the time that if he had the chance and he knew about the gospel at a younger age, he would have. I know that he will serve with my mom and i know that it will be an amazing experiencia, but i also know that as i am following the counsel of him, and my Father in Heaven, they will lead me to the same spot.

the goal for us is to be the kind of people that others want to follow...the best leaders in the world are those who follow. Look at the profeta, Tomas S. Monson...he was been a follower his whole life! and he still is! from an apostol at 35 to profeta like 50 years later, think about that sacrifice! but the lord put it in him just like he does to us that power and that drive to be a leader in the future. he build him up to start and then he just keep doing it from there. we are never done learning in this life. i know that i have obtain so much more info on my mision that i did my whole life before. i know that the savior live, and he love me like he love you. it is a ver personal relation that we all have to have with him! that is the key!! how? PRAYER!! :)

martha, yanela, yolanda, jose y ada are all great, getting ready to get baptise the 14 of octubre and it will be sucha great day! i know that as the spirit keeps guiding us, we will have so much success here! prepare for general conferencia! this is the most important one! why? i have no idea, i just feel that this is the one that will tell us, if we are ready, what and how to prepare for the second coming of our lord and savior Jesucristo :) i know this church is true and i know that it is the only way! Alma 5:19

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Elder Gallego

9/17/12

Holy hannah!!! this is the greatest thing i have ever put my mind to doing!! i am so grateful to be a misionero!! jaja we had some seriously HILARIOUS moments this week, i mean as a misionero the life you live is somthing sacred and you should always live up to that, and i have learned that just like elder wirthlin said i think like 5 years ago right before he died was that when bad things come, Just laugh :) so not to  be like always laughing or anything, but we gotta just smile it off and look at the bright side and move on. The moment we take steps back, satan has overpower us and we are falling into his hands!

Well, to cut to the story, friday night, we were with a familia and they said something that reminded me of Nacho Libre....so as i tried to do the "ignacio stretch" that he pulled off in his madd tight white pants, well my whole crotch of my not madd tight grey pants, BLEW OUT! jajajajaja probably one of the most hilarious, yet embarrasing moments of my life, it was definately a moment that nobody there will forget, but lesson learned---never try to do the "ignacio stretch" in dress pants....they will RIP! but the bright side is that they ripped right on the seam so there is a seester here in the branch that is like my personal tailor! jaja, this is not the first time i have done this...my butt is not shrinking jajaj so it is making things a little "tight"  :)

anyyways! wow, were to start. i feel wierd to know that the time keeps running out, i always say it because it is always obvious, my comp never let me forget it! jaja payaso! so i was sent a package from my parents like 2 weeks ago and it didnt get to me by last monday, so as i was in the apartamento writing letters on monday, i said a prayer that no matter how that the package will get to me. i stared out the window for seriously like 30 minutes, and i saw NO mailman...well after that 30 min i decided to go and check the box....the package slip was in there!!! :D i was like "WAAAAAAA!!!" "ORALE!!" jaja, lesson is that Heavenly Father answers prayers for even the little things. :) i know that it was a miracle cuz there was no mailman that came, not one! so that was kinda cool :)

anyways, this week was filled with blessings. It was cool cuz we got to bless the home of our elder quorum presidente and it was a very nice and spiritual experience. those who have not yet blessed the homes they live in and would like one, just call a priesthood holder or if you already have the melquisedec preisthood, offer a prayer and bless it and all the elements (not individually) cuz that would be one LONG prayer, but bless your home so that the spirit of the Lord can be there, i testify it makes a diferencia :) Also, with the branch, there was two people sick that we gave blessings to, Hno. Cruz has a disease in his intestinos and la hija de Martha was sick and so we were able to give them both blessings yesterday! Also, my companion and i had been feeling a little down with the lack of progress on some of the investigadores that we have, and so we gave eachother blessings, and i tell you what, blessings are a great way to know what your heavenly father needs of you and thinks of you. The comfort that i felt was uforgettable! i love it and i know that as one part of it told me to Listen to the Spirit, i have focused on that even more and it has brought more of it to my life. i know that we are loving children of heavenly father and that he wants us to be ok. We have to put our trust in him to be able to progress as his children here on earth!

Yesterday, Gian was confirmed! he asked that i do it, and it felt as if it were just me and him in the sacrament meeting room. it was increible and Gian will be a great power to the branch and a big help so that the last one of the Beco familia- Onasi- who is in jail, can get baptized when he gets out...well soon after :) we have been pushing the stake program of Set a Date and they have set a date well, like a goal that Onasi get baptized on the 21 de octubre...so that will be super sweet!! Martha y Yanela are doing great, they are preparing for baptism the 30 of this month, and jose y ada y yolanda the 14 of octubre and the 21 of octubre...so life as a misionero is super busy right now! we have zone conferencia this week, my last one :/ that will be good tho to be able to learn more from my leaders! i love learning, my companion helps me in my trials, and i learn so much from him. He is prollly wone of the dorkiest guys i ever met, but one of the most humble people i meet too. we are working great together, and are going to go to the end! i know that as we put our faith in Jesucristo we will be lifted up. Dont give up. Ever. The blessings that await are right around the corner!! :) andale y echense galleta CAMARA! 

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Elder Gallego

9/10/12

well familia y amigos, the road ends in Allentown, PA! i am very excited to be able to finish where my trainer, elder kerouac, started his mision...it funny cuz he finished where i started mine...Wilmington! so we kinda just switched it up!! it will be a wonderful 6 weeks and i will also be staying with my companero, Elder Wright! he is so stoked to "kill" me...that is what the term of a misionero that is "dying" or leaving the mision....the mision is like a whole diferente world man! i love it and am going to live it all up and we will work as if it was our last day every day!

so it has been an emocional week, with having two couples sealed in the temple on saturday, seeing a couple of my ex-comps, elder reese and de leon and being able to have them spend two nights with us while they were at the temple was way cool! as you prolly see on Facebook, we were sleeping like all over the place! we had some crazy events! incluso i locked us out of the apartamento cuz i left my keys in there, and my comps keys were in his backpack and that was in the car, and we only have one set of car keys, the ones i left in there....jaja so we only have one little window...and it was occupied by the air condicioner so i gave it a swift push and it went through as planned, but all this mud and stuff came out and my comp and de leons comp picked me up and were slowly helping me get through this little window and all the sudden they just push me thru and it was hilarious as i hit my head on the ground and got all dirty and stuff...but it was a memorable experiencia! :D

so to give the rundown of the events this week, we got Martha committed to baptize the 30 of this month, as well as Yanela and Yolanda. Yolanda will be getting married this next week, Yanela is already in Jacob en el libro de mormon, and Martha is progresando like no other! we had a great lesson with Jeremy (the one we baptize like my first month here) and he bore testimony of the power of baptism and he told her how he didnt want to at first but knew it was what the lord needed him to accomplish so he put his faith in him and he is now a great strong convert! the spirit was so strong! we were able to help her put her faith in the lord, as well with Yanela! she is so awesome and is reading like crazy! she loves el libro de mormon!

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Also, we were blessed to be with Martin and his wife Yaquelin on tuesday night! so they have friends, Jose y Ada, that are super super close and believe in what the church teaches is good and they were super interested, well martin just walk in and is like "jose y ada, we are here to tell you that this is the way and we want you to be baptized so that we can see you get sealed in a year" en espanol of course....and we just sat there like waaaaat!!! that was mad tight!!!! Martin is so strong and it is cool cuz he is not afraid to share the gospel. his wife yaquelin is the same way! their daughter, Leny, got sealed on saturday and it was a great event. i was not able to go cuz i wasnt involved in the reteaching process of her husband Toribio, he got baptized a year ago, and so i wanted to go but couldnt :/ it was hard but they came out totally changed!! it was amazing!! Anyways, back to jose y ada, we didnt even teach hardly anything and i invited them to be baptize the 14 of octubre and they both said SI!!!!!   we were like amazed! all this inviting people to get baptize happen in a day! it was so crazy!! we also had a familia home evening with martin and his familia and we centered it on their son, Onasi, who is in jail right now but who will get out the 30 this month....we are going to get him converted before i get out of here!! it will be so AWESOME! Onasi is the only one left :) Gian did not get confirmed yesterday cuz he went to NJ to see his mom, she just came from Santo Domingo...so that was like not planned but he will be getting confirmed this coming sunday! :)

with all this going on, we also had a great Zone Training and we were taught about the importance of the spirit in teaching and how to use it in our every day life. i think it is so importante to say that without the spirit, why would we want to keep going? there is no motivation! that is what everyone needs, the gift of the holy ghost so that the feel the motivacion (love) from Heavenly father to do what is right. we are doing very well as a zone and there are many people getting prepared to recieve baptism and ge confirmed. Baptism without confirmacion is nothing! that is really what cleans us, the gift of the holy ghost is the baptism by fire the lord streses so much on. we have to remember why we got baptize and the commitment we left that day. it is so importante! the sacrament is why we need to go to church, and the classes help us learn more about what we told Heavenly father we would do at baptism....endure to the END! i know that this is why we are here. to be tested, and the lord do it so he can see how much we really love him. mosiah 23:20-24. i feel so much love for all the people that i know, you are the reason i keep going! God has so much love for us, and we want it right? so we have to go GET IT! he is the source, this mesage is the way, and the spirit is the guide :) Vivir, Amar, Reir :) (live, love, laugh) there is no better way :) it is found in the mensaje de la restauracion! i know this the time to act, so lets do it!

the rest of the week was a blur, one thing did stick to me tho.....the love we have for everyone has to be first centered on ourself. if we cant love ourself, how can we love anything else? i know that Heavenly Father has an infinite love for each of us,.....and he wants us to feel it, realize that we are loved, love ourself, and share that SAME love and charity with others :) we gonna go git em this week :)

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Elder Gallego

9/4/12

wow! so i got to be super fast this week! it was super crazy and things went super bien!

i going to kind of just list some things off so that i get my mind cleared, we dont have much time to write and i am truggling to write in english again cuz this week hardley speak like any! but i just want to start by saying that i have felt the prayers and love of all of you this week. as i am focusing on the mision and my companion and i had a baptism it helped me realize that there are so many people like Gian Carbonell who my companero baptized on suday that need this message. all of the love that you have for me and for your families, share it with the WORLD! if you get the chance, read the talk of Elder Richard G Scott from April general conferencia about how to obtain revelacion and inspiracion in your own life. that talk impacted me so much and i learn so many things that i wish i could explain but i dont have time. we have to help a couple who is going to be sealed on saturday and they are having trouble getting along and they want blessings so we got to head in like 10 min. but that talk help me realilze that the lord will reveal to us through so many ways that we always think is just our feeling and things like that but elder scott talk about how the scriptures are the key to recieving lasting revelacion! i know this to be true and i am having so much fun time studing and learning constantly that i cant see life the same way without the scriptures! the key is to obtain a testimony so strong that if you see that you dont have your libro de mormon or that someone you know is not reading that you help them, and love them so that you can let them lean on your testimony del libro de mormon while they try to get their own. i did it for way too long, and it is so much easier to know that this is the true church when you believe in the only and true gospel that it teaches :)

also, as we were able to go to the site where the preisthood was restored, Susquehanna, it was such a better experience this time around. we had a testimony meeting on the banks of the river, and the spirit was so very strong! i know that the savior lives and that the preisthood we do posses it! it is here on the earth and it is to carry out the miracles of god in the world. it is sucha blessing to me to know that the lord has entrust me with the authority that he has, and that as i continue to live righteously i will be able to be as he is, Perfect. it makes me even happier to know that everyone of you can do the same things! it is true. i know it is. As i continue to see the hand of God in my life, i realize that everything is the way it is so that we han be who he wants us to be. if life is hard, he wants us to be stronger. if its easy, trials will come. if it is perfect, then one day we too will be perfect. but to see that right now life to me is perfect, i am not yet perfect. because life to me IN this MOMENT is perfect because this is what God wants me to be doing. I love to think that as we do what he asks, he is obligated to bless us. the simple things are what count. as we offer our love, service, and testimony to those in sacrifice for the worldly things, we will see the hand of God working so many miracles! i love you all, the gospel is the only way and this is the work of the lord :) Never Give Up. 

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Elder Gallego

8/27/12

No MANCHES!! this time is passing by so dang fast! the weeks seem like a blurr!! holy hannah!! bueno pues, this week many many things came to pass!

finally i was able to do exchange with the elders in Reading, PA. i havent been able to do any this transfer cuz they have been sick or had appts at the doctores o algo asi. So i was happy to be able to leave my comp in the area and let him go to work! he is a horse man! while i was able to have exchange with elder schneider and elder allen wednesday-friday, things went really well! we were able to figure out why the area and the members are not working with the misioneros with the lack of trust and the constant cancelling on appts, the lack of work that use to be there, and just the elders had a little bit down on their faith. So we talked and did many things and they finished this week with baptism dates and were able to really enjoy the great exchanges that we had. I love learning from the other elders. Just a hint of advice- young misioneros, dont be afraid to teach your leaders. We love it more than you can possible believe!! (nacho voice) "It isss de BESSS!! :) things are awesome here!! even tho a stinky Chihuaua PEED ALL OVER ME! that was not cool....but it was funny haah! (note to self- NEVER let an excited dog stand up and dont EVER scratch his back when he has his front two legs up on you....your leg will get SOAKED!) :)

so yesterday, i dont know if any of you remember when i first got here i said that we was going to fill the iglesia by the end of Summer......jaja the VERY last sunday, yesterday, before the kids get to school again, and we FILLED THE IGLESIA!!! ORALE!!!!!! there were 116 people that came :) the coolest thing i seen since we got 220 to the ward in Philly, and the day we had 156 in Wilmington!! there is no better feeling as a misionero to 1-baptize 2-fill the church! it makes us so giggly inside!! presidente payba spoke with tears and was trying to hold it all back but he just couldnt, and neither could i. the lord bless us according to our faith in him! we HAVE to put our faith to accion! ya pronto, this area will be a ward if we keep on moving on. also, we gave the priesthood aaronic to Martin! Juans ride didnt get hi so he could not make it yesterday, but he will get it next week. Martin is doing awesome!! Gian, will be getting baptize this week by my companero! we are goin to do the others in the coming weeks!! too much of a hassle and not enough time!

so something i realize, is that king benjamin del libro de mormon is INCREIBLE! his discourse in Mosiah 2-6 is just awesome! it apply all to us! we have to apply what he teaches, a man who went his whole life in the service of the lord, working with his own hands and side by side with us. i think of it like him being the lord with us. he works side by side with us, and even when we stop, he still works. the lord always progresses. dont ever forget that. just because he is perfect doesnt mean he doesnt learn from us. King benjamin learn so much from his people, they love him so much and we willing to do all the possible to make sure their names were written in the books (baptism) they are awesome examples to us and i know that as we put out hands to work, and as we just think about What more can we do other than, Are we done yet. we will be so much more successful! i know that the profeta Tomas S. Monson is the profeta of our days, and of the lord. there is no other way. Jesucristo is our light and we have to follow what the profetas say so that we can get to him. Just like King Benjamin, we have to believe in Cristo, and we then have to act :) it is ALL  ABOUT LOVE!

L- Life of-

O- Obediencia

V- Virtue

E- Example

= LOVE!!! :) a life of obediencia, virtue and example will bring us LOVE! you all have it, just have to find it :) 

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Elder Gallego