9/10/14

Hey errone!!!! So to explain this week... I will send pics first so
that you can get the idea of how it went so.... With any further a
do.... I present my new roommates!

Ok so my last email had descriptions of the pics but the email is
being tanto and deleting whatever I try to send sooooo I'll just put
the descriptions before everything else. Ok here are the details of
these photos:

1) Ok now heres the city of Stamford from the top of a parking garage

2) Nice isn't it? I love it! Ok now for the Adventures of Walter
Wheeler movie poster. Some people may think it's "lame" but it's ok,
we'll "walk" that insult off.... Hehe.

3) ok this photo is pretty dang good cuz I'm in it.... Haha jk
anyways, this morning my companion, Elder Hurst, made Elder Hofheins a
bowl of cereal. But one thing that Heinz doesn't like with his cereal
is... Milk.... Huh I know, that's depressing. Anyways, so Hurst gave
him the cereal and Heinz didn't want it, so the fatty I am, I took
turns eating from mine and Elder Hofheins cereal.... I'm still hungry
0_o!

4) yupp we are outside on a couch... Why? Cuz that's how Stamford rolls!!!

5) and I have to end this photo shoot with the first photo I stated
with... We are called H3G because there are 3 elders with last names
that start with "H" and then there's me... Solo "G". We look like
Ocean's Eleven haha

Ok so hold on for the big email because I have another photo... I know
I lied about the photo shoot ending haha. We actually are taking a lot
of photos today sooo yeah :) stay tuned.

9/3/14

Hola familia y amigos,

Wellllllll, it's that time.... The transfers!!!! Elder Bailey is now
with his last companion, Elder Gamble, and will be a Zone Leader in
Danburry. And I am with...... Drum roll....... Elder Hurst!!! He is my
new papa and from what I heard, he is the best singer in he
mission.... And I heard him... And he is!!!!!! Also, I am taking over
the Stamford area... So I'm training him in the area and he'll train
me mission-wise. Yeah I have a lot on my plate, but hey I can do it
with e lords help and with elder Hurst's help. I'll explain more about
him when I know more haha.

So this is going to be a really short email because how hectic is is
here, but I will be sending a lot of pics!!!! Also this Saturday, we
are going to the temple with the ward and yeah!!!! Also, we have
Joanna's baptism and I'm so excited!!!! Well sorry for the short email
but I have to go. Don't be afraid to email me though!!!! Love you
all!!! Para siempre Dios este con vos.

Love,
Elder Chandler Cruz Gallego

Ps.... Pics are coming!!!!!

This is next to the famous colorful fence!!! That's false doctrine....
Not really famous... No idea why I said that....

8/27/14

Hola mis familia y amigos!!!

So this week has been pretty good! I will start off with this statement.... I LOVE NEW YORK!!!!! Alright now that I said it, you all know now that I love New York. Ok now this past week I attended my first Zone Conference.... 3 times.... Yup I got the same things but still they were great every time. Our mission is growing really fast! Like to the point where I will be for sure training someone when I'm done with my 12 week program.... AHHHHHHHH! Scary! Also, our mission will be rereading the Book of Mormon together! Heck yeah! Also, everyone kept looking at my chin!!!! Because I had stitches on my chin, I could shave there, so I had stitches that looked like long facial hair and real facial hair that I couldn't shave... I had a goatee! A really ugly one haha. Everyone just kept staring at me..... I would always have to say, "Eyes up here. They are stitches." Yep, embarrassing. Ok now to missionary work!

Ok so no I did not run into anymore people thank goodness but I will say this... I will have plenty of time to "correctly" learn to ride a bike. Why? Because when the new missionaries come in (this period of time is called "transfers") my comp and I will be giving up our car and it will be given to the newest sisters... Somewhere idk haha. Pero, we will be sharing a car with the Norwalk missionaries for they will be moving in with us! Heck yeah, except for the fact that we (Stamford elders) will never drive that car for a while because the Norwalk missionaries need the car everyday to get from Stamford to Norwalk.... Yeah so yay for bikes.... *cough I HATE YOU BIKE *cough *cough. But I did get a new bike! Her name is Tapanga and is from Walmart haha. Dem Walmart bikes doe! 

Ok great news! Johana will be baptized September 6th :)! So excited for her! We recently talked to her (Elder Hunt and I... We were on a split, I'll explain later.) about profetas. She said that she always imagined the prophet to have "long robes and a staff"..... Uh... Ties are long and some prophets had canes... Soooo she was close! Hahaha. Also when it comes to Li Veliz, he has been hard to reach since he has been working so much, but we will get a hold of him this week as we religiously keep visiting his apartment haha. Also, Viviana Alvarez is doing well! We taught her the Plan of Salvation over Facebook call... I didn't know that we could call people through Facebook! What the heck! But anyways, those of you who understand the time it takes to teach the Plan of Salvation and the difficulty of not drawing it out, can feel that the struggle was real during that call. Pero, nosotros enviamos un dibujo del Plan de Salvación a través de Facebook y ella (Viviana) entendió mejor cuando le enviamos. Entonces, ella está bien!!!! 

Una otra cosa, nosotros tenemos un intercambio (split) con los elderes Hunt y Shurtleff. Los elderes Bailey y Shurtleff estuvieron juntos y Elder Hunt y yo estuvimos juntos. Ok elder hunt and I are really scary.... We act the same way! It's crazy! So him and I had a crazy time together. Elder Hunt is out district leader and he is from Georgia. He used to be a Portuguese speaking missionary but he was changed to Spanish speaking. Ok back to the split.... Elder Hunt and I were doing really well in teaching the lessons! I taught a lot more in Spanish then I had ever done before. The reason being... When Elder Bailey leaves.... I'm in charge of Stamford 0_o! So that's why Elder Hunt was with me. So that he can show and teach me how to be more confident in my Spanish. Yeah that was a fun day... Well actually, that was yesterday haha. 

Oh! Another awesome thing! We went tracking as a district but we were split into Spanish and English missionaries. I was with Elder Sorensen and we placed un Libro de Mormón! It was great! We were in a frenzy and we got three referrals for the Norwalk missionaries. I found that when I got out of my comfort zone and just started speaking, my mouth was filled with the words that I needed to saw in Spanish. That's the power of the Holy Ghost and the gift of tongues, thanks to Heavenly Father. 

Now there are a lot of things that I am thankful for that Heavenly Father has provided for me, and this leads right into my quick scripture study. My scripture study was in 1 Nephi chapter 2. In the beginning of this chapter, Lehi and his family leave Jerusalem and travel for 3 days and then they made camp. What did Lehi do when they finished setting up camp? Well, verse 7 says:

7. And it came to pass that he built an altar of stones, and made an offering unto the Lord, and gave thanks unto the Lord our God.

The only word that I can say about this situation... Is "Wow". If I had traveled for three days... I would be soooooo tired. I don't care how many miles I've ran for cross country... Walking for three days, carrying supplies, and, if I may include, that they weren't covering half as much of a distance as all of us would be able to in our cars. And even then, I still would be tired!!!!

Now this isn't even the most interesting part... The part I want to talk about is when Lehi and his family hit the "three day mark", he didn't set up camp and then rest.... Naw, he set up camp, built an altar, and gave thanks to our Heavenly Father. 

You may be thinking, "Well that's cool..." Or "Well that really isn't that hard..." May I also explain the work that goes into building an altar? Ok an altar is made up of mostly rock that is built in the shape of a square. The height of the altar is about to your thighs (or sometimes even to your head o_0!!!! ) and the width and length have to be big enough to support an animal. And that's another thing!!!! You have to hunt down an animal to sacrifice!!!!! Do you even know how long that would take?! Imagine: you have hiked three days... Do you want to start building an altar? To be honest, I would not. But Lehi did. 

Lehi is someone that we can look to as an example or someone that we can compare two people that we all know really well.... Hmmm I wonder who they could be... Oh yeah, our parents. 

Our parents do so much for us; for example, they work to support us, they deal with our drama, they worry about us, they love us, they forgive us, so on and so forth. They are like Lehi, working for a long time and then they come home to, no not to build an altar (because if that happened I would be reeeeeeaaally confused) but to make dinner, take care of children, etc. I love my parents, and I know they work over time for us kids (yes I just called us "children" because sometimes we still act like them) and they love us so much and I really could not ask for a better Mommy and Daddy. But this is not all that we can learn about Lehi.

What we also can learn from him is that even through our own trials or labors, we should continue to give thanks to Heavenly Father. I have learned this on my mission and The Lord really blesses us, missionaries, out here in the field. And not just missionaries but all of us should continue to be grateful or start to through prayer.

I'm thankful to be not just a missionary, but a representative of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the Atonement and His love for us. I am so thankful to have a families that our Heavenly Father has provided for us. And I am thankful for this gospel because it has blessed our lives and it is a true gospel. I know that it has been restored on this earth and I know that through Joseph Smith, God has restored His church and I know these things to be true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Well thank you all for supporting me and I love each and everyone of you. Para siempre Dios este con voz!

Elder Gallego

8/20/14

Hola mis guapos amigos y familia!

Wow, this week has been a crazy week! There has been a lot that has
happened.... Well to make my letter that much more interesting.... I
shall share my experiences on  my bike..... Yeah get some popcorn.

Before I share with you all about my biking adventures, I just want to
remind you all of what I said last week.... Remember when I said that
I haven't crashed yet? I straight up jinxed myself. I mean I seriously
knew at that point when I said those words that I jinxed myself. So,
to keep you all from being withheld from the adventures that I had, I
shall begin my story:

Entonces, when mi compañero y yo fuimos biking back home to go teach a
lesson, we were going down a road called Stillwater Road. On this
road, there is a blind corner when you are on the sidewalk. So, I'm
following behind Elder Bailey (as a side note, Elder Bailey is a boss
at riding bikes... Like a straight up boss.) and then I see him all of
a sudden go into the road right as we are reaching the blind corner...
I slowed down to be cautious. And as I did that, I came around the
corner, still going a good speed, but I see a thug (yes a thug) just
pumping and going hard in the paint on his bike (too white to say that
phrase but I use it a lot here) and he wasn't looking where he was
going. So I yelled, "Look out!" But he didn't here me so I tried my
hardest to avoid him but he was in the way soooooooo..... I nailed
him. I don't mean like I barely hit him and then we walked away
happy.... Naw, I straight up NAILED him! As we collided, my helmet hit
his face, and our front tired were turned into Flintstone tires. Good
thing there was a gate because I was thrown back a little and I used
the gate to help me stay on the bike and I grabbed him so that he
wouldn't be hit by a car that passed by us! Anyways, I hit him and I
was like:

"I'm sorry!"
He was like, "Naw dawg is awl good." As he grabbed his mouth.
I said to him, "Hey smile, I want to see if your teeth are all good,"
He smiles and then, I say, "No you still look pretty!" That made him
chuckle hahah. But anyways, my faithful comp finally comes back and
sees the accident, and as we left the man, my comp just had to say
this... "I hope we don't run into you again!"

Yeah, fail! Hahah ok now the second story! So then two days later, we
borrowed a bike from the other elders in our district. Elder Bailey
took the BMX bike that they gave us to use and I used his bike to go
back to our house from soccer in the morning.... So a little side
note, Remember how I said Elder Bailey was a boss at riding bikes?
Yeah, I meant it! The Elder doesn't have rear brakes but he has really
good front brakes.... Yeah at this time, I totally forgot about
that.... Anyways, back to the story. So I'm biking in the parking lot
and a car decides to pull out so what did I do? That's right, I
squeezed that front brake. Now I wasn't going fast enough to go over
the handle bars, but I was going fast enough to have the locked front
tire to slide and me to lose my balance so that I drilled my chin on
the asphalt. Now I would like you all to imagine asphalt, or if you
want, go outside and look at it. Notice how it's all rough? Yeah now
imagine what it would do to flesh... Sorry bad visual but it happened.
I had to get ten stitches.... Yeah I had a second mouth.... I would
send the pic but it is really bad, so if you want to see it, ask and
ye shall receive.

Ok now to actual missionary work, soooooooo nothing to report why?
Because Elder Bailey and I have to go to a bunch of Zone
Conferences.... Yeah he is teaching everyone how to make inspired
posts.... You have seen some of them because of me. Hahah I know they
are great! We have more in store for you. And if you all can, please
share them. We do these posts to help spread the gospel so por favor,
share the post! Gracias!

We are working hard with Johana and she will be baptized soon! We
asked Li (the first person I taught) to be baptized and he said
yes!!!!! So excited for these people to accept this gospel.

Alright well I wish I could share more but my comp and I have been so
busy with conferences. But I will share more next week! I love you all
and I hope you are all being safe and are having a great mission,
school experience, wherever you are, have a great time! Para siempre
dios esté con voz!

Elder Gallego

nfo on photos:

1st photo: I found a mustache coffee mug.... Don't really need to
explain that ha

2nd: there is a house on the roof of a building!

3rd: this was our inspired post for fb!

4th: I saw the sign... We had a wheelchair.... I had to have a picture
of this! This is what Walter Wheeler would look like if he were a
person!

5th: we are playing legit table tennis!!!!!

8/16/14

Momma y Papa,

Wellllll.... I fell off my bike and split my chin... So I went to the
hospital that was near us and I had to get 10 stitches. Don't worry,
I'm ok. I'm all bandaged up and I'm safe. Sorry about the scare! I'll
show you my chin but promise not to be terrified... Remember it has
already been taken care of. No broken bones, dizziness, or anything. I
love you and I'll talk to you more on Wednesday :)
Hasta Luego!

Love,
Your son

8/13/14

Yup looks like I need to send this again since my email is really annoying hahaha so sorry! 

My Dear Family and Friends,

Wow a lot has happened this week! But I shall start on the day I sent out my last email. Ok so when I was emailing you all last week, I was on the train from Stamford to...... NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!!! We (including Elders Shurtleff, Hunt, Bailey, and I) went to the Manhattan temple :) It was seriously awesome! The train took us as far as it could to New York City and the place we were dropped off in, was the Bronx! Seriously.... I loved it. It was great. Anyways we then walked to the subway and on the way there, we got some SUBWAY sandwiches (idk why I emphasized it so much but I felt it needed to be... I'm so punny....) and I ate on half of it and I felt that I should just save the rest for later. So I did and we took the subway to Manhattan.... Coolest experience ever! My ADHD was going boinkers at this point, and I was staring at everything that was shiny and/or cool. Ok moving on, so on the way there, my comp and I decided to go

to get matching paisley ties! If you don't know this already.... I LOVE paisley ties.... Seriously they are the best ties..... ;) anyways, on the way there I gave my sandwich to a homeless woman and I gave her a calling card as well :) I felt good of course because well... Charity that's why. Anyways we went to the temple, and it is really soundproof! Ridiculously soundproof! And if you have never seen the Manhattan Temple.... I have already shown you them and that's why my email was all messed up!

Ok now this is a side note.... I had written a loooooong letter.... But half of it got deleted... Sooooo I will try my best to remember it.

Anyways, so my comp and I have been doing really well with obtaining referrals and teaching a lot of people. Also we have been biking a lot! Don't worry mom, I am being safe.... Well safe as I can be at least..... Anyways don't worry, I'm getting really good at riding my bike! 

Ok I have a great experience that I would love to share. So my compañero and I have been working with an investigator named Johana. Here's a little bio about her: her husband (Jullian) is a member and they have two adorable kids. She has been working with the missionaries for a looooong time. She was asked to be baptized and she said yes, but then later on she didn't want to be anymore. That's when the missionaries lost contact with her. Then right before I came into the mission field, Elder Bailey (my papa) and his old companion, Elder Gamble, got in contact with her again. They learned that she only thought the Bible was true. They asked her if she ever prayed about it and she said no. So again and again they kept asking if she had prayed about it and she still hadn't. Then when I came into the mission field, we did the same thing.... And yet she still wouldn't... So when the events with Julian happened ( read the last letter haha ) she started to really follow our guidance and she prayed about the Libro de Mormón yesterday. She also wanted God to show her a sign if she needed to be baptized. She wanted the sign to be that we (the missionaries) come over to her house. Let me tell you this.... We did not have any spiritual confirmation that we needed to go to her house... Because we were already planning on it :) she just didn't know we were coming haha. And when we arrived she invited us in and shared what I just shared with all of you. And then she said ( in Spanish but I'm going to translate it ), "I want to be baptized as soon as possible." Soooooo we were really caught off guard but we expressed our excitement for her :) she will be baptized next Saturday :)

Speaking of baptisms, here's an update on Viviana :) so she left to go back to Argentina last week and she will not be returning til diciembre. My comp and I prayed so much for her to focus on her commitment and that her family (who are all catholic) would be supportive of her desire to be baptized. So we waited for her to reply on Facebook about how she was doing, and she replied:

"Everything is great. I shared with my parents that I wanted to be baptized. They respected that and they want to know more about it. Can you please tell me where the nearest LDS church is in Argentina and can you give the missionaries here my info?" 

We were so happy to hear this! God had answered our prayers and I was so grateful. Tonight we will be teaching her through Facebook.... It's different I know but it will be great and Im excited for it! 

Now some of you may think that I'm really sad that my comp and I will not be able to baptize her.... Here is my response:

So when an investigator says that they want to be baptized, sure it is one of the greatest things to hear. The reason being because they have decided to accept the gospel. I don't care about the numbers of baptisms that I have. What I do care about, is how many people that my comp and I teach. Why is that? It is because now we have planted the seed. 

To the missionaries reading this:

In our missions, we may experience a trial of no baptisms... But then when you go home, you may have low numbers in baptisms.

I want to say this now... There is no such thing as low numbers in baptisms. 

Every soul is great in the eyes of God. You are not judged for not getting a lot of baptisms. Do not think that you are a terrible missionary. I'm not saying that you shouldn't strive to help them be baptized, what I'm saying is that even if you don't have a single baptism... You have planted the seed for other missionaries to go to the "field [that] is white and [will be] ready to harvest" by the time they get into the mission field. 

28. Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. (Alma 32)

What is the "word"? It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We should not focus on the numbers, only on planting the seed in their hearts so that it can grow so that they can truly be converted in the gospel. Once we do that, it's up to them to figure out what they should do. I know that this gospel is true and that it has and will bless the lives of all that accept it. It has blessed my family and I know that because we accepted it, and us boys in the house have blessed the lives of many in our own missions. And not just us, but other missionaries are sharing the remarkable message to everyone that will listen. Had we not accepted it.... Idk where we would be. But we accepted it and I am forever grateful to have this knowledge. And the knowledge is that the Book of Mormon is true and it is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is not meant to replace the Bible, but to go hand in hand. And I know these things are true because I have prayed about them and I know it in my heart that they are true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Para siempre Dios este con voz.

Elder Gallego

8/6/14

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Wow, it has been a great week! I mean it has literally been a GREAT WEEK! Ok I need to cover some things I forgot to share from last week were these things....

Number one: so the first day I arrived to the mission field, we had two meetings for the missionaries in manhattan, and the missionaries in the upper part of New York and Connecticut. The reason for this is because the new missionaries that were going to be going to the city, we're going to be meet their new companions in manhattan. So anyways, after everyone had left with their companions, those that were left were 6 of us.... Entonces, so then at this first meeting, they decided to tell everyone else who our companions are. When they called my name and who I was going to be with, they all started to laugh! Hahaha I was so excited because now I knew he was going to be awesome! I couldn't wait!

So then we start the hour long drive to upper part of our mission. I talked to an Elder Sorensen who ran cross country like a boss! He was always 2 or 3 in races! Psychotic! He is a cool black dude and most black people are cool so it didn't surprise me :) anyways we get to the Stake center in Ossining, New York. So anyways I saw one of my friends from home! Elder Ficklin! He looks awesome and he is towering over me still haha. Anyways then the companionships began to be called. Then they called my name and I stood up and when I did that they said who I would be with. And I see this Elder walking up and that's when I met my "papa" (our first trainer for the mission) and we gave each other a bro hug hahah it was awesome!

Ok then after all of that I had huge packages from my family! My violin was sent to me because the mission president wanted me to have it! AHHHHH! And during all this excitement... I left my bag in the chapel.... And when I realized this.... We were already in Stamford... And hour from my area... Yeah boooo. But we went back and got it :)

Alright so, on that first week, a lot of people walked up to us and one woman came up and said that she went to our church and that she wasn't able to go because of work. Also that she wanted to be in contact with the missionaries again. So we gave her info to the sister missionaries. Also we met a man named Carlos. My comp felt that we needed to visit a less active family  so we went and they weren't there. So as we were writing our number on a pass along car, a man walked up to us and started talking to us :) we will be teaching him on Friday :)

Ok so some cool things about my companion! He loves to run so we run a lot! He ran cross country and he was a coach for the team as well. Awesome I know! Also he reminds me of Captain Hook.... Because he hates clocks haha. He is sooooo good at Spanish! So good! And he is really a great missionary.

Ok really cool event that happened with us on Sunday. So we had just arrived at our casa and we were going to do some training. And we had put in some pizza in the oven, when my comp said, "Elder, I have a really strong impression that we need to visit Johana." Johana is a nonmember whose husband is a member and she has been working with the missionaries for a long time.
So anyways, I said, "Alright let's go!"
So we did and we left the pizza out, which still had ten minutes to cook, but hey when the Holy Ghost prompts you to do something, you do it :) Anyways, we get to the house and we knocked... Usually, Jullian (the husband) is not really excited to see us but he opened the do so fast and invited us in with great excitement. As we went in we saw two other people there, Jullian's brother and his brother's wife. As we walked in... They left suddenly.... Well we felt bad. But that changed when Jullian said this....
"You guys are truly heaven sent. Those people that you saw leave, we're about to start an argument that has been so stressful for us to handle."
So we basically were sent to help this family not get in a fight. It was great. We also gave Jullian a blessing because he had lost his job and he needed it. So I gave him a blessing of comfort and counsel. It was an amazing experience.

Ok the last thing for this letter because I saved the best for last! So there is a family named the Baltazars and they are really strong in the church. Their son, Kenji, had just recently returned from Rochester, New York and they had a cousin come over from Argentina. Her name is Viviana :) the family invited us over to teach her the first lesson. After that first lesson, we asked her to read Moro 10:4-5 and to follow the counsel that Moroni gave to whoever reads the Libro de Mormón. Soooo, she did that and she received a spiritual confirmation that the Book of Mormon was true and so is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
So then we were invited back, and we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Baltazars helped us explain it to her and it went really well! So then I had a prompting to share with her that I am a convert and that's what I did. She was so surprised and she was so amazed. With tears in my eyes I shared with her the blessings that came to our family and how happy we were. And then I had a strong impression to ask a question... And it was this:
"¿Seguirá el ejemplo de Jesucristo al ser bautizada por alguien que posea la autoridad del sacerdocio de Dios?"
And she said... Yes!
It was an exciting moment for all of us. She is so ready to keep on learning.

Ok so now that I have told you that... I would like to share with you all my personal study.


I was reading in Alma 20:29:

"And when Ammon did meet them he was exceedingly sorrowful, for behold they were naked, and their skins were worn exceedingly because of being bound with strong cords. And they also had suffered hunger, thirst, and all kinds of afflictions; nevertheless they were patient in all their sufferings."

So here are my thoughts:

So in this chapter we see that the sons of Mosiah were cast in prison while serving The Lord. They were not as successful as Ammon as you can see and they were cast into prison and suffered a lot "... For behold they were naked, and there skins were worn exceedingly.... [from] strong cords.... They also suffered hunger, thirst, and all kinds of afflictions..."

But even after all of that, "... Nevertheless they were patient in all their sufferings." Even as they were treated poorly, they still were "patient in all their sufferings".

Now this question is for all of us:
"Are we 'patient in all [of our] sufferings'?"

We have our own challenges that we are facing that the adversary is throwing at us. Spiritual hunger, the thirst for knowledge, and all other kinds of challenges that would (or are already) deprive us of learning and growing more in this gospel that we have received or have yet to receive/accept.

And as you think about the challenges that we are facing, have you asked yourself this:
"Am I being patient with Him?"

In Ether 12:6; it states:
"... Faith is things hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." 

After this verse it goes on in verses 7 and 8 talking about how Christ showed himself unto those who had faith in Him. And it says that He has given hope to those who have not seen him.

And in Ether 12:9; is says:
"Wherefore, ye may also have hope, and be partakers of the gift, if ye will but have faith."

The sons of Mosiah had faith that they would be delivered out of the hands of the Lamanites and they kept the faith and endured pain. This was a trial of their faith. We must keep the faith.

In Ether 12:27; it says:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Heavenly Father gives us trials in our lives not to makes us stumble and fall and stay on the ground.... But so that we stumble, fall, and then get back up and keep moving forward. Heavenly Father doesn't give us trials that we can't overcome; He gives them to us because He knows that we are strong enough to endure and get through them. And even if it is to much for us, God is wanting to help. God weeps when we weep because He loves us. He is making us stronger. He wants us to call to him for help. He loves everyone of us and I know he does.

We all have "Mountains to Climb", the only questions left are:
"Can I keep the faith? Can I get through my trials?"
And the answer is yes, we can through the help of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's atonement. Through this atonement, we can repent and be forgiven.

Always strive to be patient in your affliction and to never lose hope and/or faith. You will receive blessings and I know this is true in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all and sorry for the overload of this email... But so much happened! I love this gospel and I love everyone in this mission. Till next week!

Elder Gallego

Here's my fav photo also of my comp and I:

Oh and this one:

 Here's a pic of Viviana and us!:

7/30/14

Familia y amigos!

To start off my email, I shall say this..... WELCOME HOME ALEC!!!!!! Even though I am not there, I still will welcome you back home haha. Ok anyways.... This week has been amazing!

Anyways, guess where I am? I'm in Stamford, Connecticut and it is amazing here! It's really humid but it's awesome! We are a driving/biking mission here and I love to ride my bicycle ( if you sang along to that sentence in the voice of Queen.... You are what we like to call special and have a great memory. Also I sang it too so we are both cool then ;) )! My first day here my new companion (Elder Bailey who is from Preston, Idaho) and I had our first lesson with an investigator named Li Velez. He is a really good guy. He used to be involved with drugs and alcohol but then he was in a serious car accident and so he flipped his life around. He is willing to follow God because God gave him a second chance. And so we went and met with him. The craziest thing about this lesson was that I spoke fluent Spanish..... Crazy I know! My comp was so shocked as I was. Yeah the Holy Ghost is the key to success. We will be teaching him soon about the rest of the first lesson this Friday.

Ok this is a funny part, so every Thursday we will be doing service for a baptist church. They have a charity drive that they do where they make bags of food (like bread, "sweets", and etc.) and then they give them tithe homeless or the unfortunate. Sooooooo, the reason why this is going to be funny is because I experienced my first prayer.... Given by a black woman chanting.... Yeah it was hilarious but I had to bite my lip to not laugh. It went something like....
"These are YOUUUUUR people Jesus! We love ya and we know you rose the third day...." And so on and so forth. It was a good prayer about nothing pertaining to what we were doing (that's what my comp said haha). Man I was making people laugh so hard with my black woman voice haha. I love the black people here! They are so nice to us! White people be cray cray but yeah that was a given ;)

Ok now to my first Sunday here..... Let me tell you this, it was soooooooo loud. I was told that it wasn't always that loud but today was just a bad day. And, I couldn't understand squat! I had a head at the end of it all. Yeah but hey it was fun! They all are so confused with my last name. I same my name in really fast Spanish now so when they hear me say it they get all wide eyed and then go loco Spanish on me and I'm like, "lo siento! Yo soy gringo!" Hahaha it's hilarious. They don't call me venancio at all here! I love it! Ok now I have another experience.

Last night we visited a family where the whole family were members except for the grandpa. The grandma was a less active member and only went to church one time and hasn't gone since. Soooo, we went and visited them. So during this time I was having a hard time understanding them... Pero, yo empecé a aprender a ellos perfectamente. Yo aprendí que ellos no leyeron el Libro de Mormon... Mi compa compartió una experiencía cuando él leó el Libro. Y cuando mi compañero miró a mí para compartir mi testimonio... Yo pude hablar en español claramente. Yo compartí a ellos que la historía de conversión de mis padres y sus relatos a la momento. Yo compartí a ellos que mi padre dijo: "No quiero ser un Mormón!" Pero, cuando ellos leyeron y oraron, supieron que nuestra familia necesitaba ser bautizada. Y tambien, depues esta, les pedí leer en 3 Nefí capítulo 11 y Moroní 10:4-5 y despues, orar para saben el Libro es veraradero. They said that they would read it and do so yeah! We shall see what happens.

Ok so something that I learned from mi estudio de personal was in Alma. In this chapter, Alma is talking to the people of the church of God that have become wicked and that have become prideful. So Alma had to do some "clean up" and had to set them straight. So here is the verse:

Alma 5:57

57. And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things(....)

I think it's interesting how Alma says, "... And touch not their unclean things..." 

It's interesting to me because he (Alma) didn't even want the righteous people to touch anything that was unclean. This can be applied to our own lives as we live in a world with so much uncleanliness. We need to not even be affiliated with anything that is unclean or not in line with the standards that we have been asked to follow. 

Now why shouldn't we even be affiliated with the unclean things of this earth? Many will say to us:

"It's only a movie." or "It's just a song that has a good beat." or even, "I promise we won't go too far."

No. The answer should always and forever be no to be asked to participate or test unclean things. The reason being, Satan will tempt you to go "just a little further" ( a quote from John Bytheway). 

When you are far from the unclean things, you won't be tempted. I'm not saying that you'll be free from temptation, but I am saying that you will become more protected from the "knives" that the adversary throws at you. And your "protection" is the Armour of God. 

Always strive to keep the commandments and do as Alma said here: "...And touch not their unclean things..." And I know that when we do this, we will be blessed for our efforts in striving to keep God's commandments. 

I'm grateful to be part of this gospel and will forever be. I will strive to keep these commandments and will follow in the example of Jesucristo. I love you all and I can't wait to see you again, but for now.... Para siempre Dios este con voz. I love you all and I will see you later and by later I mean 2 yrs ha! Adios! 

Love, 

Elder Gallego