Nearly spring

Your "favorite Elder" is doing just dandy! Weather is fine (I have a summer jacket on in -15C), skies are clear, and of course, the deer are loving our deer maze. In fact, so are we. More on that later.

I have pictures of the Osters so you can finally see them and put faces to these names.

Today was a great week to be a missionary in I-Falls...as a mission we are pushing for 30 proselyting hours each week, which really stretches us to make the most of all the time we have. It is especially hard for us because we have branch meetings to attend to and Institute, but we managed to achieve this goal this week. We taught 14 lessons and tracted for 16 hours, AND had a baptism! Hoorah! To help you see just how difficult it is to achieve 30 hours proselyted (lessons taught + hours finding), let me run you through my weekly schedule, because I don't think I have ever done that before. The life of a missionary in I-Falls:

Studies every morning at 8am-10am...
Monday--P-Day until 6pm, be in by 9pm, oftentimes in by 8:20 or so to make phone calls.
Tuesday--Full-day available. Out at 10am, in by 9pm.
Wednesday--District Meeting over the phone from 10:30-noon, Institute at 7pm
Thursday--Full-day
Friday--Weekly Planning from 10-2.
Saturday--Full-day
Sunday--Church in the Falls 9-noon, church in Fort Frances (yes, -es at and) 1:30-4.
All other possible working hours per week total something like 39 possible proselyting hours, travel times included. Thought you may like all this Dad....

Boden's baptism went very well, much of the branch came to support him. Oh, the baptism took place in I-Falls. Bro. Oster baptized Boden, which was a big deal! Elder Cutler confirmed Boden and gave him the Holy Ghost on Sunday. Bro. Oster shared a very tender testimony about the Priesthood just before he baptized Boden. Bro. Oster then described how he felt the power of the priesthood, and shared how important it was to do things by God's authority, not by man's. Oh the power of the priesthood! I can bear testimony of its power because I have used it many times now on my mission. But even before I used it, I had to build my faith in Christ and find out for myself that it was God's authority. Isn't it wonderful how our testimonies should rely on prayer--talking to God--not by things such as archeological evidences?! I think God very purposefully designed it that way--he wants us to communicate with Him and stop and listen for the answer. Prayer takes work! Sometimes people that I work with become frustrated because prayer does not always yield instant results like video games or TV. All this talk of prayer reminds me when I was searching for my testimony. I always heard people from the pulpit say "I know this Church is true..." Sure, I said "I know..." once or twice when I only believed, not having obtained a full knowledge. But I wanted to know for myself. It took a while! When I read Alma chapter 32 I see how I realized that I had a testimony. I knew the feelings I had were good, and I knew the "seed to be a good seed". It wasn't anything big like seeing an angel. Everything boils down to faith. That is why "without faith we are nothing". I had to be doing what God asked me to do, and following God's commandments to know they are His commandments. John 7:17--If any man shall do His will he shall know of the doctrine." If someone wants to know that a commandment is from God, they have to live it! You have to live the Law of Tithing to obtain its blessings, you must live the Word of Wisdom to know it is of God--and the first step to living a commandment is to have faith that it is a commandment. Isn't it great how everything ties together?

After rereading that last paragraph I kind of smiled and said, "yup, I am a missionary".

My scripture of the week is John 15:2, which is within a parable that Christ is giving, but basically says that Christ gives us challenges so that we bring forth more good fruit. I KNOW this scripture to be true because I have experienced it first-hand. My "down years" in mid-high school have helped propel me to become a better person, more confident in myself, more confident in my Savior, knowing who I am and where I came from. Truly we are shaped in the refiner's fire. Trials came to Job, and he emerged a stronger person.

Now on to lighter things...Mom, I held a snake this week! Creepy. It feels so weird, and it kept wanting to go up my sleeve...Oh, Elder Morris talked to an investigator 5 minutes prior to an appointment and they said they would be there. Nope, we got lunched. Such is missionary work, all I could do was laugh and truly how ridiculous that was. Ridiculous. Oh, thanks Mom and Dad for the mini Book of Mormon and the Mentos. Good stuff.

This week we should get transfer calls. I am pretty sure I will stay at least another 3 months, but I don't know about Elder Morris...he has been here for 6 months now. I don't want him to go! We are like peanut butter and jelly! If he lived in Redmond, it would be me, Nate, Brendin, Jolly, and Elder Morris, for sure.

To answer some of your questions, no the snow really isn't melting, but that is ok because we are sure enjoying it while we can. We sang "Home Can be a Heaven on Earth" for that wedding. No, I have not made an appointment for my back. It has been feeling a little better the past couple of weeks and I am trying some small things to improve it.

I love my family, they are the best. Truly I was so blessed to have a large ward family and great friends who supported me in my upbringing. Serving in a small branch really opens your eyes...and sorry Dad, that story with 4 people at church in France...4 is twice as many members as there were in the Fort yesterday. Love you!

Elder Galbraith

March already?

BODEN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!

Oh ya! Last Tuesday night we went over to the Osters and told Boden and his dad that Boden really is ready for baptism and invited him to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, March 5th. Wow I love that family! Remember that Boden is 9, and he is a fireball--maybe that is why I love that kid. He is so smart and even though his parents had not come to church in 11 years, they still read the scriptures with him and he is so smart. He knows Bible stories, Book of Mormon stories, pretty much any story I know he could probably finish. And he is getting baptized! Bro. Oster has changed quite a bit in the past month too. We teach him about once a week and have tried guiding him to rediscover his own testimony. He will be doing the baptism, by the way. Bro. Oster is great too! His countenance is different from even a month ago, and he has great insights during Priesthood and Sunday School. Sis. Oster gave a great talk in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and shared how important the Gospel is, how important Boden has been to her as a parent and to bring her back into the church. I just love that family! So much love and spirit are in that family. Have I ever mentioned that Boden does wrestling?!

Here are a few quotes from Bro. Oster and Boden to give you examples of what kind of personalities they have:

"How can people not believe in God? Teams of engineers use state of the art technology to create cars, yet these same new creations break-down the more they are used. Yet the best supercomputer in the world is a piece of fat between your ears. The harder we run our bodies the better they get. How is there not a Supreme Creator?"
--Bro. Oster, reminding me of something captivating that Bro. Litchfield would say

To give a little background for Boden's quote, is that there is no background. He was running at about 100 miles (kilometers anyone?) an hour and then he said: "My brother has ADHD, it's kind of like letting a raccoon loose in the house." Ya, I died laughing.

When talking to Bro. Oster I shared with him a few scriptures that were key to me finding my own testimony and me realizing that I did have faith in Christ. They are the comparison of faith relating to a seed as found in Alma 32, Ether 12:4, D&C 6:22-24, and D&C 82:10. Feel free to read and see my own spiritual train of thought. And then at the end of the last scripture, is when you do what the Lord wants from you and the Lord has to bless you for it. What a comfort, EH?

Here is something to ponder: most religions want us to be with God and Christ, but we see something even more; not only to be with Christ, but Christ wants us to become like Him. Religion is more than mere profession of the lips. As James in the New Testament states something like giving to the poor and needy is pure religion. GIVING. ACTING. Do you see a pattern in my emails? People, including Latter-Day Saints, need to ACT, not to be acted upon. So many people do not act!

Hey, guess what? I sang at a wedding this past week. Yup. a wedding, not just a reception. So, I'm a wedding singer now right? Right...Elder Morris and I were invited by Elder Cutler to a wedding that he was performing at the church. It was a way that we could get our faces out in the community. Sure did. That wedding was interesting, but I will not go into that.

So a little about investigators. Boden Oster is golden--love that family. You may remember me visiting or mentioning a Jeff and Desiree. They are interesting. They seem to agree with whatever we say, they read, they ask questions, but they never come to church. We ask, "will you come to church tomorrow?" "Oh ya, we'll be there for sure." Nope. Frustrating, because they are so great. Yes, they know where the building is, and what time the meeting is. They have said they will come for about the past 8 weeks, but not once. Hmmm. Someone that Elder Morris and I started teaching a week or so ago is a younger guy named David. David loves the concept of having a modern prophet and was eager to come to church and he even invited himself--UNHEARD OF. But he didn't make it. Maybe something came up, but we knocked on his door at about 8:30 (church at 9) and no answer. I want everyone to know that Sunday mornings are the most stressful time of the entire week by far. Oh, so stressful, especially when the branch is so small and I count how many people are there each week. I want the "chapel" to fill up! It would hold about 40 people. Oh, and Fort Francis had a record-smashing 5 members to church. Yes, it really happened. Being out here really helps me appreciate the upbringing I had in the atmosphere I had too. It is so much more difficult for younger kids here for a number of reasons.

I had to get a Minnesota license, and got it this week. It was a sad day having my Washington license clipped, but the Minnesota one looks pretty good too.

That's about all from my end. I am on about page 590 in Jesus the Christ and my corresponding reading in the Gospels. I will leave you with a good missionary scripture, Alma 17:11 which essentially says be patient in trials, be a good example, and the Lord will make us instruments in His hands (all involving works...).

Ok, and I have to put in a plug for Bro. Oster...he does not know I am doing this, but his home business is fixing computers and he has a website where he can clean-up computers just through the internet. If you ever need a computer cleaned up, give him some thought. His site is computerdr.org. Just food-for-thought sort of thing.

Thank you to Mike and Kim for their letters this week as well! I appreciated Kim's odds and ends about our ancestors and their lives in the early days of the church. Neat. Love to you all, especially my family.

Elder Galbraith

Crazy weather

Your favorite Elder is still puttering along, doing well. Since the last email I went up to Winnipeg and back and got mail and all that. Sincere thanks to all who sent letters! I am grateful to have much support from my family and friends.

This past week it got above freezing and the roads got filthy. Oh, when we were in Winnipeg we stopped at this mall on the south side of town (sorry Auntie Susan, I forgot the name! It had a Walmart in it if that helps) and the parking lot was filthy. If I am wearing jeans I don't care much about mud, but I do care when I am wearing a suit! Ugh, but it does mean that spring time is inching closer. To my surprise, I am not yet sick of the snow, but it is always a relief when it does get above freezing because the forest (we call it Narnia) outside my apartment really comes alive with birds and all sorts of activity. Talking about weather, there was one night when Elder Morris and I were tracting and the wind was gale force! It was probably about -10C, but that wind just splits me in half. It makes more a man of me I suppose.

(Several weeks ago I posted a picture of TJ lying in a snow tunnel. This video is of him trying to collapse that tunnel. He still seems to have plenty of energy!)



So, more on Boden Oster and his family. Wow I love that family. There is such a sense of love in that family that is totally absent in so-called "normal" families. Wow, it reminds me of something Mike told me in a letter once, that on my mission I really can see how I want to raise my kids and what kind of atmosphere I want in my home. One thing I appreciate from being here in I-Falls is that I have been so blessed in my own upbringing and just how fortunate I was to have parents who love me, support me, and provided a home where I could learn and grow in a wholesome atmosphere. How we take these things for granted! I really have seen broken families on my mission, and being in a small town...it just provides me with a unique--and much needed--perspective on life. So thank you to my parents for all the track meets, golf matches and soccer and baseball games they came to.

Anyway, back to the Osters. We talked about prophets with Boden and he asked if we have a prophet today. I said something we did, and he gave a "YES!" with a fist pump. At first I thought it was funny, but as I thought about it, we sure take having a prophet for granted. What a blessing it is to have a living prophet today! If God spoke to prophets throughout time, why would he not speak to a prophet today? Does God not love us the same? Of course he loves us, and he has called a prophet today, and we should show our gratitude for that blessing. On a lighter note, Bro. Oster came to me worried, and said that Boden had asked if he could be the prophet! He was worried as to how he should answer that question. I just laughed because I remember being about 8 or 9 and wanting to be the prophet someday, and told Bro. Oster to tell Boden that he just had to keep living the Gospel and who knows what the Lord has in store for him.

As a missionary, I like to study how we are to show our faith through. Works are outward expressions of our inner faith. "Faith without works is dead" kind of thing. Something mentioned in Priesthood by the visiting District President really impressed me. He said that the difference between us and Satan's followers is works. There were those who were possessed by devils in the New Testament who professed Jesus to be the Christ, but Christ silenced them for a number of reasons which I will not touch on here. The point is they, possessed with devils, professed Jesus to be the Christ, yet they did no works to show their profession of "faith". Satan is trying nowadays to numb us to the level of "just believing", without works, without service, without true faith. Truly "faith without works is dead, being alone".

I read an interesting scripture this past week. John 15:19, it’s a good one. Amidst all the persecution that the church takes, and that missionaries take, I like this verse. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you". I am most of the way through Jesus the Christ and the Gospels (p.550 in Jesus the Christ and in Matt. 22, Mark 12, Luke 19) and the more I read, the more the people let pride get in the way of their worshiping Christ. The Pharisees knew that Christ performed miracles (raising of Lazarus really set them off) and yet they were only concerned that their fame and popularity were at stake. Fools! No wonder Christ's harshest rebukes were to hypocrites. Sheesh.

Switching gears...I keep forgetting to describe my back for Mike. So yes, my back has bothered me, its more of an on/off kind of thing. My lower back is totally fine, it’s my upper back that hurts, and I think it is the muscles pulling on the spine that makes it hurt. It hurts after long periods of sitting or long periods of standing. So studies, church especially, make it uncomfortable, and I may pull my shoulders back a ways once or twice a day to crack the upper back. Doesn't really help though. The reflexologist in Saskatoon told me that the bowing in my legs contributes to the pain and had an explanation for that. Mike says that likely is not the case. I trust my brother.

I can see how some things in my patriarchal blessing are coming through...

You know, I have had Richard Gonzalez's name in my mind for a couple of weeks. How is he doing? I hope he is still doing well because he is a good man and is strong in the faith.

I saw 4 brand new Explorers...mixed feelings on them, I think I like them, but how do they slot into Ford's product line? It seems like they compete with the Edge and Flex, and maybe are just out to ring up $ through the use of a well-known nameplate.

This is a good time to remind everyone that Pres. Monson was a mission president in Canada, truly this is the promised land, right?

Ha, Emily Nies is asking about me, that’s great! Tell her I miss her in Primary too.

Wrapping up, yes, I was going to ask about my memory card because in a few weeks I would like to send this one off, but first would need my other one back. When you send a memory card back my way, I wonder if you could also include my other flag jacket I left back home. After all, it is the Canadian one, and I am in the Canada Winnipeg Mission. I am sending some pictures of some fun that Elder Morris and I had in the snow during a lunch hour. Do you put pictures and videos on the blog too? Anyway, I love you all, Godspeed.

Elder Galbraith

Happy Valentine's Day

First of all I want to thank the Tryons for their part in the last email. They are a great family, a wonderful example of members living the gospel and of member missionary work. And of course, they send me letters each week, what can beat that? Sincere thanks to Sis. Tryon and the self-proclaimed "Tryonite tribe".

I did get things in the mail from Michael and family, and from Auntie Sharon. Thanks so much, I loved Halle's heart she drew me, and I enjoyed Maddie's story, and Auntie Sharon's gift has already gone to good use. Thanks family, I sure love you all. Oh, on a similar note, I want to wish Kim and Kade a Happy Anniversary on the 18th.

It’s been another good week up here in the Falls. Sure warmer! The snow has started melting and I am warm, I can smell the fresh air again (below freezing so long seems to quench smells--for me at least). It’s all good up here. Funny story though--a week or so ago I had a dream where I yanked my watch band and broke it. I woke up in the morning thinking that would be a terrible thing to--- OH COME ON! My watch band was broken. My dreams are ridiculous! Mike, remember when I dreamed that I swallowed my retainer and I couldn't find it for days? Doggone dreams. So I went to a jeweler in town and they fixed it and I should be picking it up today.

Did I tell you that I got a Minnesota license? It was a sad moment when they clipped my Washington license; at least I get to keep it. If I were to get a Manitoba or Saskatchewan license, they would take my former license. So they will get my Minnesota one instead of my Washington one!

This week I have really been focusing on improving weaknesses of mine. To be honest, I get irritated every time that I know I can be bolder in invitations and whatnot. So, kudos to Callens, I am improving my "boldness" again and wow, it’s great. I feel like such a better missionary when I am bolder in every aspect. This week we invited a man to live the Word of Wisdom and I made sure that he knew I was confident in him, and I had to be really bold with this guy, Gerald. I felt great leaving that appointment. Now, with that said, I am bold, but not gruff with people. Do you know what I mean? Bold, yet loving...being bold for their betterment. Does that make sense?

So this week we taught 14 lessons, so not too bad at all. A week ago we thought that we would be in Winnipeg this past week and did not have any appointments scheduled all of Tuesday or Wednesday, and consequently we only had 1 lesson taught by Tuesday. Finishing off with 14 was really good then! The formerly inactive family, the Osters (the ones who live in Fort Frances with the 9 year old Boden), are doing SO well! They have come to church the past 3 weeks and we are teaching Boden and Bro. Oster and they are both doing very well. We should be setting a baptismal date with Boden in the next week or 2. Him being baptized will have a dramatic effect on the ward dynamics, and I am sure that at least 1 or 2 other baptisms will result when Boden is baptized. Things are so different in small branches! Sheesh. Back to the Osters...Bro. Oster is trying to find his testimony again, and wants further witnesses. I am going to share with him a great scripture. It’s in the Doctrine and Covenants, either in section 6 or 9 (leaning towards 6--I know where on the page it is, ok? ha) and the Lord says "...if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night you cried unto me in your heart...Did I not speak peace unto your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?" That scripture really hit home with me because I frequently desire further spiritual witnesses, and what I really need to do is to remember how I felt that night, and know that, as Alma says, "the seed is good". The gospel is such a blessing in our lives, and I took it for granted so long. Being in such small towns, I really can see how having the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses individuals and families. And the best part of the gospel? It’s all true!

One last thing: in Priesthood in the Falls we discussed sacrifices. What a blessing sacrifices are! They are outward expressions of our inner commitment to follow God. Want to know your level of faith? What are you willing to sacrifice? I saw a church movie about the story of John Tanner, an early Latter-day Saint. He gave everything he had! A brief movie of him and his story is included on that same DVD with the movie of Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. The DVD is officially called the "Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Visual Resource DVD. Get it. No questions asked, and do not waste time getting it! I hear it’s cheap, and its spirit is priceless.

Well, I love my family. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

Elder Galbraith, over and out.