Almost December

Apparently our computer malfunctioned this morning, and our e-mail to Elder Galbraith did not go out.

Either you are in trouble or something bad has happened because you have not emailed me yet. So I guess I will just give what I have and you will have to grin and bear it.

I have been staying busy, for sure. This past week I had a renewed excitement in tracting. Not that it was bad, but I guess I have became slightly unfocused while tracting. My head has not been in the game! Now I have begun thinking of finding time (tracting) as a privilege. Not only is it an opportunity to find more people to bring to the Restored Gospel, but it is a mental test. People at doors can be so frustrating...just listen! I think--no, I know--that when I am back home I will definitely give people at doors a chance for their "shpeel"....Tracting can be enjoyable though. Its a chance to tell people what I know and bear testimony of Christ, His Atonement, and how the Book of Mormon and Bible work together.

Back home I focused on the Book of Mormon for my studies--which is not a bad thing at all. But I do admit that I did not, and have not, studied the Bible as much as I should. I am reading through Jesus the Christ and the Bible concurrently and...boy, it is amazing! I am working on becoming a Biblical scholar, of some sort. I am marking up my scriptures with all sorts of notes from Preach My Gospel and Jesus the Christ and my insights and I want to be able to just open it up somewhere and see all sorts of notes. I have gone through Matt. 12, Mark 4, Luke 11 (?) and John 5 (or so). I can't remember the last 2 right off the bat, but I really feel that I know that portion of the Bible really well. I feel I know what Christ said, what it means, and why he said it. Christ's harshest rebukes were directed against hypocrites, so pretty much the Pharisees back then. But there DEFINITELY are hypocrites today. What would Christ say to them? Maybe more importantly, what would he say to each of us about our lives? The Bible absolutely supports the Book of Mormon, and vice versa. How do I know? Because I have read them! <---------The most frustrating thing I have run into is that people do not read the Bible or Book of Mormon! AH! How have they, or we, come to know the Bible is the word of God? Because we have prayed about it! I hope no-one gets the feeling that I am mad or ranting, I am just so passionate about people searching and finding things out for themselves before they presuppose something. That is another reason I am going through the Bible, so I can give a strong testimony that I have read both the Bible and Book of Mormon and know that they work together.

Sometime in the future I will be sending home a Quran (I am getting one from the Muslims I taught in their mosque). I told them that I would read it, and I plan to do it sometime after my mission. But, just wanted to let you know why I am sending home that. There will also be their book on philosophy (which is thicker than Jesus the Christ), and another small book. I will have a lot of reading to do, that's for sure! I know that I will spend more time reading books when I get home, which is something I did not do a lot of. I have to read if I want to become that walking-encyclopedia that Dan Romero was! So...I guess right now I am really working on the spiritual things.

I was talking to a man this week and he got me thinking about philosophy as something to do in college. I definitely would have to study it out more, for sure, but I do like critical thinking, and I do like talking, listening to others...maybe it will work. Psh, I have a lot of time to think about what to do (I will keep telling myself that).

I want the world to know that I AM NO LONGER A PICKY EATER. Yes, this is a BIG deal. So this is pretty much to my parents and Natalie who think that I am (ha): A member took a number of missionaries to a sushi place in town called New Island Sushi...and I ate everything that was in front of me, and it was not that bad at all. In fact, I ate the most of anyone, and would go there again. It's just the chopsticks...those are so tough!!! Let's see...I wrote all of the things down that I ate because I was so proud of myself...I ate salmon belly and eggs, Philadelphia rolls, spring rolls, chicken (psh, at a sushi place?), curry pork, sakura (spelling? and I do not know what it is, I am just sounding it out, ha), raw squid, octopus and surf clam. I told myself I was going to eat the craziest thing on the menu, and the last 3 were pretty crazy to me. The squid really did not have that much taste, nor the clam, but the octopus was pretty good. So, ya, I am definitely expanding my taste buds and yes---this is a big deal. I think it's kind of funny how determined I am to show people I am not a picky eater, and am laughing as I write this. Elder Fackrell could not stand any of the sea food and mainly stuck to the chicken. Another missionary, when asked how good everything was, kept saying, "well, its edible". Another missionary and myself downed quite a bit (no worries, it was all-you-can-eat).

I do not know if I told you that an investigator of mine, Linda Jurgens, was baptized on Nov. 19th and I was able to be in the font (in white!) to help. She was confirmed the 21st. I have another lady that I am working with that is 86 and is a handful. She is so stubborn, but is so fun to work with because she is just like Grandma Jeannette, full of energy. I will keep you posted on that. Now when people tell me they are "too old to change", I do not accept that for a second and tell them that I am teaching an 86 year old, but whatever, next house....Agency. So frustrating sometimes. Ha.

My companion and I are doing better. We had a really quality companion inventory and I am optomistic that all will be alright. I am praying for the gift of charity this transfer and had a great experience. I was so frustrated one night, so just done with him, and I went to bed that night just full of contention, but prayed for the gift of charity and when I woke up that next morning, I was so calm. I knew why I was mad the prior night, but everything seemed to melt away. No, it DID melt away. I consciously thought, "I cannot think of anything negative to say or think". That, right there, was a miracle, and I know that was the gift of charity given to me. I was so calm! I felt like I restarted with my companion on a clean slate. It reaffirmed the power of prayer. Its real.

So ya, that is pretty much my week, and I hope to hear about yours. Still love you Mom and Dad, and hope that all is well.

Love you so much,

Elder Galbraith