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

State shoot.

Ok so maybe that doesn’t actually exist down here but sounds legit. 

So this week was pretty good we just kinda went to town working getting stuff done. Found a new investigator this week but she couldn’t come to church this week. But hopefully next week. 

So this week we also offered service like 4 times. We painted a house, chopped wood, helped put drywall up in a guys house and completely took the outside of a house out. It was a pretty exciting. Chopping wood was...interesting. So this guy we found has a ton of wood outside of his house and asked us for help. So 4 missionaries show up at his house with 2 axes expecting to help chop a ton of wood. We showed up at 9, i didn’t do many exercises that morning so i could just go to town chopping that wood. Then we show up and they guy was still freaking sleeping we had to leave to go do other stuff. So we ended up only working for him for like half an hour. Then we went to our counselor in our stake presidency and helped him with his wood as well. So that was frustrating but we did work so that was fun.

Also new this week i gave a talk in church. First time i gave a talk in the ward i am in now. Every other ward you present yourself and stuff but here they don’t have us do that i don’t know why. But so no one in Chile can pronounce my name so its always fun listening to them announce my name. The final speaker will be elder...always a pause and then the attempt. So my joke is usually telling them how and a joke about being gringo. It works. Then i spoke about the importance of being examples as members to the world and always sharing the gospel and when it is necessary to use words. I love that quote from General Conference. And how being an example is great but we also have to share with our words and try and use the missionaries. Their are some really cool quotes from Miracle of Forgiveness i used and it was really cool. But the guy in front of me spoke forever so to not make sacrament go forever i only spoke for like 5 minutes. But good brief summaries of everything. But i learned a lot so that’s what’s important. 

Hey i love you guys have a great week!

Elder Galbreath

Baby it's cold outside

So whatever you got to do, write it in your planner and go walk around for 8 hours!

The cold front has officially hit and with it random spouts of hard rain mixed with days of lots of rain. Im cold a lot. But now I have a testimony of scarves. I love mine it is warm and I wear it a lot not gunna lie. They are dope. Also umbrellas, rain jackets, rain pants, over boots and gloves. Yay winter!

So just so yall know this week and the next couple weeks is the american cup. Like the world cup but basically for latin america. Super big deal down here. Never heard of it before hand but hey now its all about the copa americana. but it makes it super hard to work during the games. Like when Chile is playing we are told not to be in the street. 1st its dangerous if chile looses and no one will let us in. Its basically a bigger deal than christmas down here. Super big deal. So we get to watch the chile games though. Last time we went to a recent convert named J. He is super cool. also he is studying to be a vet! So he and I talk about that and he is a really nice guy to. So thats super fun. I’m glad for all the years i spent reffing soccer or else i would be completely lost watching this thing. But luckily i understand everything so its kind of fun. Not as good as the super bowl but I’ll take it! Haha

So something cool/interesting about my comp is he is super good at chess. He told me he participated in like competitions and did pretty good. He is ranked nationally or something like that. So he is really good and like math stuff which also means he can do rubiks cubes. He has one and taught me basically how. So after several hours last pday and much thought I CAN DO IT! Thats right I Elder Big and Fluffy Galbreath solved a rubiks cube and can do it constantly. Boom, drop the mike. Just something random and cool that I learned on the mission. 

So other funny story we were talking to this guy named R and he was trying to tell us about this restaurant place that spins. Like you go up in this elevator and you sit and you spin. But he didn’t know where it was he thought maybe Argentina. I started thinking and was like wait a minute. Thats my state. He spent like 15 minutes describing the Space  Needle without me realizing it. So fun story our state is awesome and famous. Even if it is for the west side. 

So last little story for the week, this sunday we were looking at our goals and realized we are lacking a lot of stuff to be able to complete them. Also I have told you guys that this sector is a little hard to enter into houses and teach. But sunday we knocked three doors and the third house let us in. We talked to her and her son who is 9 for a couple minutes when her phone rang. So she left for a minute when all of a sudden her daughter came down and sat on the couch. So we thought sweet 3 new investigators. Then came another kid. And another. Then she came back. We ended up teaching 5 people all of them are above the age of 8, all of them are interested in our message and they all promised to read the pamphlets and pray to look for an answer to see if they should be baptized. Miracles, they exist. 

That is pretty much my week. 

Answers

1: I have lost about 50 pounds at this point. I am looking for someone who can shrink my pants at the moment. 

2: My comp and I are working well together now found the balance and my spanish is getting alot better. I talk english almost never at this point. 

3: Am I staying dry? Most of the time kind of. 

Scripture or church article. Well I am reading general conference and everytime i love the talk about hearing the music not just dancing. Also don’t know if i told you their is an activity in PMG we are doing as a mission. Read the BoM marking every reference to Jesus (name, title, etc), every doctrine and principle, attributes of Christ, and everything that is a direct quote from Jesus (and jesus said, the lord said to me, etc) It is super cool to see how much of all of that there is. It is hard at times to discern what is doctrine at times so you really have to think about it. Super cool. There is a lot. 

Love yall be strong the Lord is on your side

Elder Galbreath

Transfers! (Cambios)

Cambios. So Elder Ehlen is officially out of here. He is in the office and will be chilling with his family wednesday. It was pretty weird seeing him pack and everything. I was able to do it without getting to trunky but still a little bit of me I think went home in his suitcase. But I’m doing good. This cambio a lot of really good missionaries like my "uncle" Elder Midgley is going too. Oh lots of cool dudes. But I am getting my first latin comp. He is from Argentina. I can’t spell his name sorry only heard it once and its different so. That’ll be interesting. So hopefully my spanish will shoot up. That’ll be dope. 

But this week was just kind of going and saying goodbye to people for elder Ehlen. 

But first TUESDAY. It was great we made the cake before district meeting it was super great. We made the analogy to the fruit of the tree of life which is the atonement. How after eating a little bit I wanted to share it like Lehi did so I cut it all up and gave it to my district and most of the zone. It was a super good lesson actually worked super well. Cause then we all just enjoyed the cake for like 5 minutes then compared how everyone is enjoying the cake because it truly was delicious. So worked great!

Thank ya’ll for the presents, the cookies are more than greatly appreciated I am super proud of myself they are not all gone yet! The tie is also super legit I love it. Not everyone appreciated it but I plan on wearing it with pride, often. But yeah. Also Garrett wins with the lightsabers. Hardcore. Best comp inventory ever. My comp broke the lightbulb not me. Just saying. NOT my fault. But thanks for the videos and everything those were super great. Garrett. Your weird. That is all. Love ya bro. 

Then that night we had a home evening with a family we are trying to activate and they made this huge pizza for us. Like literally bigger than my arms in a circle. Huge. And a cake and they sang and put my face in the cake. So they have a tradition here in Chile than you make your wishes, blow out the candles, and then take a bite of the cake. But then as the person takes a bite you shove their face in the cake, gets all over the face and stuff. Super funny actually I will be bringing that tradition back home. But I was dirty afterwards let that suffice. 

Wow graduation is coming up. Thats crazy. 

Also J did come to church it was awesome! Super excited about that. 

Yes I am keeping a journal. Not everyday but whenever there is something I want to remember or if I go more than a couple days. 

Love yall, pray for me

Elder Galbreath