I didn't start the fire.

I did not burn my shirt no sorry for the bad news. I like my shirts. 

So this week was pretty great, and very short. So thursday we had a district attack where all of my district went to the sector of the sisters in my district to help them find news and do contacts, kind of help them out. They are 2 sisters working in a sector that at one point had 6 missionaries. So they are having a hard time working in all of it. So that was fun my comp and I found a less active and his girlfriend that she isn’t a member so we taught them and she showed some interest in the message and he looks like he wants to reactivate so hopefully that will grow into something for them. Then thursday we stayed the night in Temuco because the following day we had zone interviews with President. But good news, the guys in Temuco got a couch so I didn’t have to sleep on the floor but on a couch! Well more like a loveseat but from my knees to my neck was on a type of padding! And it was next to the woodstove so I was warm. The past times we have slept over I have been on floor duty because they only have one extra mattress and my comp isn’t a real roughing it type guy, so thank you wilderness survival merit badge. Friday we had our interviews with President and Hermana Bluth which means......COOKIES! Hermana Bluth always makes like amazing homemade brownie cookie stuff that makes my tastebuds cry everytime. So I counted that as my 1 year present. Then we made the long trek back to Cunco to arrive in....yep rain! So that was a day. We worked about 3 hours that day then it was time to go back to bed. Then saturday we woke up and......traveled back to Temuco!!! Yayy.....😨 this weekend was our stake conference so the first session was at 130 so we came back. I hate buses its official. But the conference was super good we had a member of the 70 there Elder Giovanni or something like that from Argentina. He gave some really good talks about how most of us are sinners because of omission. Well thats like a really short resume of that talk. Then how we need our ward counsels, then the importance of the sabbath day, how everything we do on sunday is a sign to God of our love. So we always have to think of it that way. Super good stuff. Im excited for General Conference even though it will be in pure spanish for me. But it will be good.

So yeah hit my year mark. Kinda got sad because i haven’t seen myself progress as much as I thought. I always imagined I would be some super missionary at this point super mature and stuff but I look at it and I still laugh at the fart jokes my comp never stops telling, and I am not even close to the greatest missionary in Cunco let alone in the world. But something Elder Celestino told me was that no matter what I am always diligent. So that helped me realize that really God only gives some people certain abilities and our job is to use those the best we can. So all that we can do is keep going, keep trying and never tire of doing good works. So thats what i am doing. 

I have a camera i pulled out 30 thousand pesos which is like 60 bucks or something like that. I got the package from Gare. I love my mission no other way to describe it. But I do get down at times. I want to progress so much more than I am. Frustrating at times. 

Dad, Chile literally is just a giant quirk. Best way to describe it. 

Love ya

Thanks for all your support this past year, this next one is gunna be great!

Elder Galbreath

Una semana loca

So this week was pretty cray-cray.

This week we did divisions (look i learned a word in english!) with all of our zone. Previously referred to as a gran-intercambio. I worked with a gringo(!) from Utah called Elder Whiting. Nice enough guy he really likes to go motobiking so i told him about how y’all bought the RZR so he got interested and we talked about that and guns. Something cool I learned from a talk by Brad Wilcox if you show a little interest in something they have a lot of interest in you can pretty much make friends with anyone. Cool piece of advice. That’s something i struggled with a lot before the mission i feel like and am trying to make up for it now. All about how to win people to your side. Making connections with everyone. I’ve always been impressed all three of you are pretty good about that and i have always lacked that. But working on it now. 

Saturday there was a baptism of a kid in our ward called Ignacio but we call him Nachito. So our pila is super ancient and is literally a fiberglass tub that fills with faucet. Takes about 6 hours to fill. So we went at 6 in the morning to fill it returned to the house got dressed, studied and had his baptism. He is a weird kid so it was funny. After his baptism he said in affect "Wow I've never been this clean!" We all chuckled at that, because its pretty true. Gave a talk about baptism. I always get mad at the editors of the bible especially when I read the Joseph Smith translation and the Pearl of Great Price. Especially is Moses where it literally explains how the first sin was for adam and Jesus suffered for that. But yeah. Gracias a Dios for the Book of Mormon. I love Prophets.

So Sunday was super interesting actually. So our branch president always gets there at like almost 11 when we should start at 1030. So we talked to his 1st counselor and we started at 1030, without president but we started. We also didn’t have bread for the sacrament, it was raining and my comp can’t run because he has bad knee problems. So we did the only thing we could. A sister passed us a bag of cookies, we blessed and broke them. Boom sacrament with cookies. But it worked. Then he came up to me and asked me to teach the sunday school doctrine of the gospel class. 1 this was my 4th time ever going to this type of class i always went to mission prep or young mens, and 2 teach that class with about 3 minutes warning. But we talked about how God doesn’t make exceptions of people. Shoutout right now to Sister Payne for teaching me those scripture masteries, and to Gare Bear for bringing home that disk of songs so i could listen to them while cutting the grass. No shoutouts to mom and dad for making me cut said grass as i still hate that job. But i used 1 Samuel 16:7 and the manual for like 10 minutes then just went off on what the spirit told me. Worked super well filled the time without being super repetitive. I love the spirit. Really helps you out like all the time. Then for priesthood my comp had to teach without warning either and he totally pulled if off too. Totally gave him a fist bump after. It was cool. 

And today we went to Melipeuco to help a family varnish their stairs, ate lunch with them and just passed the time. Super fun day. I love pueblitos just so its still clear. Super content where i am. 

About the groundbreaking: HECK YES! oh we are all super pumped for it. It’s by invitation only and unfortunately they didn’t put all the missionaries here in Concepcion Sur on said list. But we will be watching by broadcast when it happens. TEMPLES! I love gods house. Its so beautiful. 

Well, love y'all

Elder Galbreath

P.S. 

About my camera, funny you should mention that.....so i have been trying to find it before i said anything. I cant say i was robbed but it was in my bag when i put the bag on the shelf above my chair but after it wasn’t. So i have been looking all over and either it ran away or yeah it got jacked. Along with all my photos of Boca Sur. I have mine of Las Americas but Boca is all gone. Except what i put up on photobucket. So i talked to a couple members and someone is selling a camera here that supposedly is pretty good or i can wait for one or learn to draw. 

Sorry

Wow

Mom in an offroad vehicle not driving like an old lady in front of you when your late. Hard to believe. But looks super fun. Not gunna lie. That’ll be great for next years state shoot to be able to transport station to station. Also I’ll be looking up hunting spots in Oregon and be checking that out.

So this week was definitely 7 days. Did not feel like 7 days but it was. Its amazing how fast days and time passes here in the mission. This week I just kinda worked and got really wet. So August here in the mountains is fetchin crazy. It will be super nice and sunny and almost touching hot when it will turn on  a dime and drench you wetter than a fat guy after a marathon. It’s so crazy. And of course if you wondering yes it does always happen when we are in the middle of nowhere not even slightly close to our house. So I think it was saturday we were walking out to a like newer part of Cunco that’s not a new city just a part thats like separated from everything else. Almost like May Valley kind of thing. It’s there and kind of part of Moses. But its about a 15-25 minute walk to that part when it changed super fast to ugly hard rain and we were caught without umbrellas, or really rain gear but luckily I pretty much always wear my big coat that is rain proof so I was good and my comp had his rain coat, well my other rain coat, so our bodies didn’t get soaked but we did. Like my socks got wet so that soaked into my shoes so it was like walking in a pool. It was great. To end the day avoiding the puddles literally didn’t make a difference so we just stopped trying. But it was kind of cool my comp and I both realized that yes it sucked and neither of us want to try it again, but that neither of us were really upset or wanted to just stop. Because we both knew that we just needed to keep going and keep trying because that’s why we are here and we are preaching the key to happiness so how can you not be happy. That is I think the greatest thing I have seen. Even when everything hasn’t been going great, my comp and I don’t get along or we just contact all day, I can’t really remember a time when I have been just miserable and don’t want to go on. Because that’s the gospel. 

This sunday I blessed the sacrament in spanish. Makes the 2nd time I have done that in my life. But I had been reading the prayers a lot so that was good. The Spirit! God’s pretty smart. But Mom I know what you mean sacrament meeting in a FOREIGN branch (bu duhm bum) is hard at first. Haha oh missionary jokes.

So this week was pretty much that. Oh and I am teaching a member how to play the piano. I have never realized how hard it is to teach music especially when they have no background in music. So this week it was how to read music and what notes are. But hopefully with the spirit when I leave Cunco will have a pianist. Super excited for that. 

Love yall,

Elder Galbreath

MOM, 

My sleeping bag is an invaluable object and I use it and love it. It is always warm enough. And it is way less space than the blankets they give us to use. And way smaller to pack. In other words yes it’s worth it. The liners are great to because they help with the heat and we are told always to sleep with sheets so they work great. I use the wax on my shoes every now and then. The problem is the water soaks my pants which soaks my socks which goes into the shoe. But the shoes are still great.

To increase attendance there are only two things we can do. Bring new people in and bring old people back. So we are doing those both. Its hard though because our Branch President doesn’t like us working with inactives which is kind of my thing but we are working on it. Also we are trying to find new places to contact like little groups of houses that are in the path to another city. But on foot its hard. 

Love ya mama.

Dad,

The country I’m in. The people here are different but its really hard to describe Chile. But I have met some of the best nicest hardest working people in the church. So its a big difference. But I have noticed a lot that the people who work hard are the people with the best testimonies. I’ve never met a lazy missionary who is also very spiritual. But Chile is cool its very diverse because of how long it is. We have like every type of land, desert, forest, mountain, always cold, or always hot. 

The calling that has the most effect on me.....Stake missionary :-P well other than my deacons quorum president calling that I had I never really had a lot of callings but I was always active. I am really grateful for my president of deacons, teachers, and priests Brother Thomas he has been a really big influence on me. And my Bishops. I didn’t realize how hard it was to be a bishop until you have a couple that don’t do it well. But our bishops were awesome so I’m glad for that. 

Love you paps.

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