Fun Facts

Fun fact: My shoes are waterproof up to about 3 and a half hours. 

Fun fact: Hail really starts to hurt after a couple hours especially when it is hailing so literally you can’t see 50 yards in front of you. 

Fun Fact: It was also really hot two days this week.

Ok so the last one wasn’t a real fun fact. But as you can tell there has been a bit of rain and coldness this week. But its been fun and interesting. It is very loud in my cyber because the hail hits these tin roofs and just makes one heck of a noise. 

So this week. Well I went on an intercambio tuesday to another pueblo called Carahue. It was super cool especially because the other elder is a gringo who is still in his training so it was really cool to see where he is, remember that time, and think holy cow when did I get old in the mission. Ok so not old but still. But it was kind of fun. Met some cool people

On wednesday we have almuerzo with our branch pres. He is a very nice guy. But he owns and works a little farm and his wife is a cook! But for some like indian thing so she only knows how to cook like kind of flavorless wheat stuff. But its still good. But our branch pres started ranting about how big farmers in the states don’t know how to farm and how we don’t believe in changing crops from field to field. And how GMO and anything other than straight classic farming is evil and of the devil. I put that to a quick end. Those 4 years of studying in Ag class came to use during a half hour lunch in Chile. Thank you Mr kern and Utter. It was super funny his wife was laughing because she doesn’t have anything against big farming methods. The only thing he has against it is that he only knows the stuff he has seen in the TV so only the evil stuff that democrats put up. Good times. 

So on the more spiritual side. This week I gave a talk on the sabbath day. It was super cool because I learn a lot when I give talks. But I really mostly talked on Elder Nelson´s talk this conference The sabbath day is a delight. I really loved how he put it when talking about what we should and shouldn’t do on sunday. In D&C 59:9-10 it talks about how we should go to the church and offer our sacraments. Then in Exodus 31 it says how let that be a sign to God. So what we do is a sign to God about our love and devotion to him. So instead of looking at a list of things we can and can’t do we should simply think Do I want this to be my message to God this week? And act accordingly. Super good talk. Love General conference! 

But other than that this week was pretty basic. And guess who is the new piano player for our branch? That’s right the kid whose parents never got him piano lessons as a kid! I have been teaching myself and while I can only play with one hand it is better than nothing. So I think its the definition of here goes nothing.

Mom: Yes after a week I am still getting along with my comp he is super funny. He is the like definition of sassy. I think I told y’all that though.

Our attendance was only 30 this week. But our counselor to the pres and our elders quorum pres didn’t show. Lots of drama there. One kid took the other kids toy and wont say sorry. 

Dad: Farming in chile is different. Here it’s mostly little stuff so an old guy with a hoe or a horse and `plow. Not joking. But some people have like little 2 series Deere stuff with a couple attachments. But nothing major. One guy has a combine. A big International deal. Pretty cool stuff. If it wasn’t behind a fence I would take a picture with it. 

I know Christ exists because through the spirit and scriptures he has revealed himself to me. I have not seen him face to face like Moses or Joseph but I know without a doubt he lives. To know Jesus we don’t have to see him. I BELIEVE in him because he is the center of all hope and love in the universe. Because he loves me to suffer and die for me and to resurrect himself so that someday I can do the same. Because he helps me understand why I am here and how I can do better. He is my hope.

Love y’all have a fantastic week!

Elder Galbreath

The hills are alive, with the sound of COLD

Well as you can probably guess I'm in my new sector! Cunco  is a pueblito here outside of the biggest city in my mission called Temuco. But Cunco is about an hour and a half outside by bus. Its in the mountains. So  it is beautiful but REALLY cold. I love my big coat and thermals now. Also hot hands. I had 2 and they are the nicest thing ever. But they don’t really exist down here thats an american thing. But my gloves are working well. But we have basically 2 towns that are ours. Melipeuco and Cunco. Cunco is bigger but bigger like Ritzvilleish. It actually reminds me a lot of Ritzville all we need are trains. So needless to say I love it. And Melipeuco would be like Marlin. Super small and about an hour from Cunco by bus. Even more into the mountains. Right at the base of a volcano called Llaima. Super pretty when its not cloudy and raining. But its super cool everything is super laid back here so I'm adjusting to that. All the people here are a lot nicer so contacting is easier. Unless they are in their house. But I lost my wave at everyone in cars thing since I got here but now I'm getting it back. But everyone knows the mormons so everyone we talk to is like yeah talked to you guys 3 weeks ago still no. We also have another tiny town called Icalma but we don’t go there hardly ever because there are 2 buses that go into Icalma, one that enters and one that leaves. So its risky. Also another hour from Melipeuco so thats about 2 and a half hours of bus just to get there. So imagine trying to get someone to go to church from there. But its just about as close to Argentina as you can get without talking with a shh! (Sorry south america joke).

My comp is Elder Ordoñez. He is from Columbia and speaks about 4 words of english. So its pretty fun. But he is about as sassy as you can be. Its super funny he and I get along super well we are having fun here. He is a super nice guy and is easy to talk to, and relates to people really well partly because he is a convert of about 3 years. And he is almost done with his mission. You can do that math. But as he is the only member in his family its really cool to hear his story and stuff. His face reminds me a lot of Norm from Cheers. NORM!! Super funny he doesn’t understand having never seen it and to describe sounds kinda mean. (Bigger guy who sits at the corner of a bar and drinks all the time. But its really funny trust me. Sounds great huh?)

So this week we did very little work here in the sector because we had a lot of meetings in Temuco and one in Concepcion with Pres so we where in a bus a lot. Like a lot. I am so sick of traveling. Never liked it and after almost 2 days of pure bus travel I'm tired of it. Its not as bad as what I heard its only about 5 and a half-6 hours in bus from Temuco to Concepcion. but still lots. But the little bit we could do was good. Our branch is about 32 people in a room so it feels pretty empty because it feels like way less. I am going to count next week because I don’t actually think there were 32. But its super cool. Our branch president is a farmer and has good intentions. So its pretty fun. And well yeah thats Cunco. I’m super pumped to be here. 

And other than that that’s my week. More stories next week. So quick spiritual thing for you I was listening to a talk and he asked why do we believe in Christ? Most people respond because its basically history. It’s in the bible, we know he existed. But we need so much more than that. So I kinda want to hear from y’all, why do you believe in Christ. 

Internet-5 to Garrett for answering what his favorite scripture was. Mom, Dad, le toque. Love y’all

Elder Galbreath,

Mormon missionary popsicle

Yeah so its official i am getting out of the south mouth, out of Concepcion, and out of what could be considered temperate weather. I am going to a tiny pueblo in Temuco called Cunco. I’m pretty pumped I have been wanting a pueblito for a while I want to get out of the big city. But to get from here to Temuco is like almost 7-8 hours then another hour and a half to get to my sector. Its gunna be AWESOME. Just kidding I hate traveling but I will have plenty of time to read and study on the bus. Also my goal is to be able to teach someone on the bus down there. I got 8 hours to sit next to someone who can’t leave or tell me to go away. Closest thing I got to a planned appointment in my mission.  Booyah. I’m going to be with an Elder from Columbia called Elder Ordonyas. Wow don’t know how to write that name so that’s about how it sounds.  So it’ll be cool to change. Its a big change to. I’m really excited not gunna lie.

So this week was pretty awesome we finally had someone in the church this week. Fil, we had a hardcore sabbath day lesson and how we honor the day of rest. How do you say that in english seriously I’m confused. I'm just used to saying el dia de reposo. Its normal. But yeah. So at the end she was like yeah I’ll go to your church this sunday. And after she went to an evangelical church after she told us she was going to pray and ask what is right. So it should definitely work (if she prays correctly.) It really affected me how important it really is to go to church, not work, not go play soccer, but to really focus on the Lord. It’s so important. Super awesome that the Lord blessed us with a day to focus on him and pay back a small portion of what he gave us. 

So other than that this week was pretty normal. I did divisiones with a member/rm called Felipe. He is super cool I love working with him because 1 he works super well and knows how to teach, and 2 he is really smart so i love talking to him about the gospel and learning more. 

Q&A sessions

Mom

Yes i got transferred (i forgot that was the word in english)

Yes I found tennis shoes. They are pretty ugly and very orange but when your feet are roughly the size of a small life raft you take what you can get. I’ll send a picture next week. I also bought a Chile jacket thing that is really a souvenir buy but it was cool and a big discount. 

I would love some laffy taffy if you wanted to put those in there. If you must eat all the yellows so be it. Also i love my thermals and I will be in a land of freezing cold so maybe if you could put a pair in. My two are great but I wear them a lot. Top has to be white but bottom can be any color really.

¿What are your favorite scriptures and hymns?

So i love yall and i will be in contact with you this week that is coming. 

Elder Galbreath from the south mouth for the final time

God bless America

Hello my fellow gringos.  This week was pretty fun actually had lots of little stuff kinda happen, Nothing big or life changing but little stories. 

So this Tuesday we had a guy visit our chapel that is the guy that revises and does the changes to all the chapels in our region here in Chile. He was looking at everything seeing what we needed to change (bathrooms, baptismal fonts, etc..) when he stopped looked at us all and said "you know why we do all this? Its not because it’s more convenient for you guys. It’s because this is a chapel of the Lord. The First Presidency recently wrote us and told us that they want every chapel to be up to standard to be part of a temple or to be the chapel next to a temple doesn’t matter where it is. Because when they dedicate the temple here in Concepcion(!!!!!) who is going to be at the dedication? About 50 percent of Concepcion. And the other 50 will be viewing it from their home chapel. So for that moment it will be like the temple." It was super cool and really made me stop for a moment and think about how I treat and think about the chapel. It’s not important if it’s a house with a sign out front, a grand chapel that’s 2 stories tall with an actual basketball court, or a rented trailer, all of them are the chapels of the Lord and really should be better respected and cleaned. It was a super cool little talk he gave to us. 

So obviously the 4th of July was this week. So I am the only gringo here in my house and there is only one more in my district. So we did an intercambio friday so we could have saturday morning to sing the national anthem and say the pledge of allegiance. I made pancakes and we talked in english. It was truly amazing. I love america. It was kind of a fun little day. 

Then the night hit.

So as y'all know the finals for the american cup was this saturday. And Chile won. It was the first time in the 99 years of the cup that Chile has won. And so the streets went CRAZY. We were helping at an activity that was watching the game (read as I helped serve people food while everyone watched the game) and they all went nuts after the penalty kicks. My comp who is from Argentina was quite sad like he didn’t talk for the entire day and most of the next. I felt really bad for him he really put his soul into it. As for the game it was really cool not gonna lie. I’m glad I was a ref for so long so I understand the rules so I can follow it. If not it would be difficult. But we just went straight home it was dangerous to be outside afterwards. So many chilenos were drunk and driving around with flags honking the horns and stuff. 

Today we did a zone activity and we played games and made hamburgers and french fries. It was kind of fun. I’m assuming Garrett remembers zone activities take a lot of time from your pday but they are always some of the cooler pdays you have. Fun to talk to everybody when we aren’t there as a meeting. 

I’m doing good. I think this will be my last week here in Boca Sur transfers are next week and I have had 3 here. But we will see what the Lord wants to go down here. It will be cool.

So next monday I will be doing to a store I have heard about that is nearby that sells shoes for real sized people and will be buying athletic shoes as mine have giant holes in the bottom and I have been using a cut of tupperware lid to stop my socks from getting ruined. Just so y’all know. 

I love ya. hope for the best!

Elder Galbreath

Better late than never!

Sorry that I'm not writing monday it was a holiday on monday so all the shops were closed so that means our access to internet was also closed. Also because the semifinals of the american cup is being played today in Concepcion everything is crazy. 

But yeah so my week was pretty good this week, work work and more work, but thats kind of the grind here. It may be hot up there but down here it got cold in a hurry. Light jacket at like 1-4 but before and after that its sweater and jacket with a scarf time. Like a boss. But yeah just kind of moving on here.

So thursday we had a conference with like half of our mission with the Area Presidency his name is Elder Gonzalez it was really cool the dude is crazy smart he would like start talking about something, cite three scriptures from memory, half in english and half in spanish because he likes how it says parts in english, then keep going. He would answer questions like that and just go. It was super cool, but he talked about the book of mormon and how we need to apply it to peoples lives in order to get them to read it not just have them read the introduction or the promise in Moroni but apply an actual part of the Book of Mormon to their lives before we read them the promise. Its really cool . We have given out quite a few Books that way now and it has really worked. Pumped. 

We played soccer on these hardcore turf fields that are close to our house on monday. It was pretty cool only because it was turf. Still haven’t gotten hooked on soccer yet but I'm trying. I scored a goal though but other than that I was mostly just goalie/defender. Got a turf burn and it reminded me of playing real football though. So that felt good got some blood pumping at least. Then on monday after playing we painted our house. It was bad before lots of mold but now it looks good, we used this paint that like prevents mold from growing again and so we are all happy. I switched things up in our room to so my flag is on my side of the room not over the desk. Holds up better. And my comp hung up this little Argentina flag. Its small and pathetic in comparison to the Stars and Stripes. But such is life. No its actually kinda cool looking now because its new and we both have our flags up in our room. Diversity! 

We also had a movie night as a ward put on by the missionaries and we watched Meet the Mormons it was pretty cool. Because it still isn’t here in Chile lots of people came like we almost had 40 people. Which for an activity without food is pretty big. Then our ward had three other baptisms afterwards which was AWESOME. Really cool people. And yeah thats kind of the week. 

Sorry for the long wait with very little reward. But I'm doing great still. Working, pushing along. 

I am still looking for a tailor but I think I found a lady gonna bring a pair of pants to her tomorrow to see if she can do them and do a good job. 

Love y'all have a great week week and a happy 4th of July, This is the land of the free and the home of the Brave.. 

'Merica!

Elder Galbreath