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