Hey!

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty good! We have found a lot of new investigators which has been really great since we have lessons. So are you ready for the big storm that's coming in? From the sounds of Dad's email it's coming in right now. Good luck! I'm praying for you all a lot and I really miss you. This week went by a lot faster than last week because I had more going on. In one of the training's an AP gave he said that if you're feeling down you should invite people to be baptized! I guess that means that if we're down we need to really focus on what matters and work hard. I'm thinking a lot about Rach's friend passing away in a car accident. I'm really sorry that life is full of sorrow and sometimes heartache. I know that whatever we go through in life, if we do the things that God has commanded us to do, we will have joy in the end. When we go through tough times in life we need to stick together. I love you all so much. How's Sandy doing? I bet she's barking a lot at the storm! How's six year old Chloe! I miss my siblings a whole lot. Noah I miss playing games with you and talking about life with you. I hope that I can still give you advice from here. I wish I had longer to write than I do. 

Dad asked if people talk about Mitt Romney: SOO many people talk about Mitt Romney! Oh and I got my absentee ballot by the way! It feels like I'm voting for a high school class president again haha except the names on the ballot are Obama and Romney. Anyways, when we knock on people's doors a lot of them just say, "oh don't worry I'm already voting for your guy Mitt!" I think it's really funny and kind of scary that people may think that I'm walking around trying to get people to vote for Mitt haha. We have to tell at least one person a day that we don't have a stand on politics. A lot of people I've talked to have actually really been excited to vote for Mitt. I think that's pretty interesting since I'm in a pretty liberal state. I'm excited to see what happens.

A man that Elder Sudbury and I found got baptized yesterday in the Spanish ward woo! It stinks that I couldn't teach him and baptize him but it really is amazing to see make such great decisions in life!

I'm still on bike and I actually really like it. Has it gotten a lot colder yet? It's been "cold" in the morning and the evening but right now it's really warm. I wonder if it's going to slow down time because I think it's summer all of the time. I really like my apartment that I'm staying in. I'm almost certain that I'll be in the same area for my third transfer. Elder Sudbury is going home on the 13th and President probably won't make two other elders go into an area that we're in. So ill get a new companion on the 13th! Speaking of the 13th! The 12th is close to that and that's Noah's birthday! Noah what do you want for your birthday!? I can get you a Long beach shirt! Let me know in an email next week so I can get it and send it. Rach's is on the 25th of november! So get something for her! Haha shout out.

The picture is kind of stupid but It's of me and Elder Sudbury is in the back! To get a good idea of the people we find and teach look up "Carry me home" by Gloworm on youtube. Talked to that guy last week. It's a 90's hit song apparently. Another interesting characteristic of the area I'm in is the constant smell of weed. It's really interesting because I guess it's kind of legal here. There are stores but sometimes the cops are there and it just seems strange.

I still have time to write so I'll keep writing but here is most of my letter

Love you all,

Elder Silas Gallagher... I still haven't figured out how to sign my family emails.

(he had more time to write):

How is Eden doing? Does she like her play? How is the Ward? Thanks for the great emails about life. I know sometimes it seems like we're all really busy. What's most important is our personal relationship with God. He really can help us with anything that we need in life and I've found that out in my life. Everyone needs to go through their own conversion and spiritual experiences. Don't feel bad if you're not sure if something isn't true. Just go out and find out for yourself and ask God. My prayers have become a lot more meaningful since my mission. I was never very great at creating habits that had to do with praying or reading my scriptures but now those might be the two most uplifting things I do. I don't really know whether it's because I'm a missionary or what but studying and learning has gotten so much more great. I'm really excited to keep that a part of my life.

This is what my letter to president Bubert looks like:

"This week we have found a lot of investigators. The favorite times of my mission are always in the middle of very powerful lessons. I can't deny the presence of the Spirit touching the hearts of the investigators we teach. I am just looking for a way that may influence people to keep their commitments. We have powerful lessons and the investigators commit to doing something but then I feel like their lives get in the way. I may try and emphasize the power of commitment with them. I am excited to experience the process of a person's full conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "

That seems to be the theme of my mission so far in this area. I'm looking for ways to get people to do things that will help them haha. Thank you all so much for your support. It feels like I really can't do it without all of your thoughts, emails, letters and prayers. I feel like I always sound beat up or depressed but I really am having such a great time. I'm being safe and I'm working hard!

Love you!

Hi

Hey everyone!

I'm doing really well, everyone. I'm learning so much every week. I finished the New Testament minus Revelation and it was really great. I just started reading the Old Testament and I'm in the middle of the story of Joseph. That's my favorite story in the Old Testament so far. There are some really interesting stories in that book haha. Joseph is my favorite because the people around him were blessed because of how great he was. I want to be able to bless the people around me by being obedient and hard-working. Dad and Mom have really been good examples to us. Thanks!

We have around 20 potentials that we've been trying to meet with. Most of our appointments fall through honestly. The other day we had an appointment, a church tour and another appointment and everyone bailed haha. It stinks that people aren't honest with us all of the time. I'm not down about it because I can't control that. I've been working very very hard to know the scriptures better and knowing the doctrine in the lessons.

So please tell Grandma that I just got her letter this week. It got lost in another elders papers so please tell her that I'm writing her back as soon as possible! There are three weeks left for this transfer! Time is an interesting thing because sometimes it feels so quick and then so slow. 

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY CHLOE! I hope she's loving being six! Not much happened this week. We had "tune up" on tuesday. It's a meeting for the missionaries at their first two transfers. He's a really nice guy and I like him. The meeting itself was really great too. We had trainings from the AP's and the president about asking people to be baptized.

Me and Elder Sudbury at the Los Angeles Temple

 

The view from my apartment

My faith in Jesus Christ has grown so much. I've always believed in Christ and known that He is important but studying and pondering about what he did personally for me has been life changing. I think a lot of what held me back from studying this hard and thinking about God was my mind set. I thought that I was a pretty busy person before my mission but now I really see that what I was doing didn't really matter. I want you to really look at what fills your day and take the things that don't matter out. The purpose of life is to become a better person and to do that by loving God and keeping his commandments. Make sure that where you live is where you are closest with God. We dedicated someone's home the other day and if you haven't done that you should. Pray and ask that the spirit can reside where you live. I really miss all of you!

I'm so thankful for all of your support. I love letters! If there are any questions you have about the gospel ask me and I'll look!

Love you all!

Elder Gallagher

Hey!

Hello there,

This week has been pretty good. We've been knocking a lot of doors which is not the most fun of finding ideas but it tends to work out. It doesn't work in the sense that the people we knock into want to learn but it works because it puts us in the right place at the right time to meet someone on the street.

I finished the Book of Mormon for the 90 day challenge President Bubert gave us. It's been about 50 something days so I read it a little fast. Each time I read it I get more and more out of it! Thank you Mom and Dad for getting me such nice scriptures. One of my favorite parts of the end of the Book of Mormon is Moroni 7. There's a lot of meat in there. If I remember right it talks so much about faith, hope and charity. I hope that everyone who reads this spends some time today to read from the Book of Mormon. I'm also still reading in The New Testament. I'm in Peter right now so I just finished James. I likes James because it talks about good works. Yesterday we were talking to a guy and some random person came walking up to us telling us that it's not about works guys! I find it funny that people think that we think that we're trying to work our way into heaven. There's nothing we could do to live again. Only by Jesus Christ's selfless act will we live again. They don't understand that we show our faith by our works and that by following God's commandments we can receive a greater glory. Anyways, I'm just rambling. But I've been really loving my hour of personal study each day. I'll be done with the Bible in no time! haha.

I got your letters the other day and they were great! Everyone drew me something which was nice and I have them up on my desk. Noah how did your contest go? I'm not supposed to read anything other than a few church books but maybe you could send me the first chapter in pieces if you want.

I'm happy to hear from Eden! I'm sad that I can't see her in her play though!

Dad being in LA will be pretty funny. My companion is going home in a month and he's starting to get really excited. You know that I'll be freaking out! I'm so thankful to be here and serving people and God everyday while I can. That's pretty funny that you guys called Sister Bubert the other day. I'll try and put one or two with this email. If not don't worry I'll send them home or to Rach or something. I'm not fat yet! I think it's all of the biking and running I do. Okay so I just looked for a usb to plug into this computer and it doesn't have one. I'm at a library in Cerritos. It's because the family history center is closed today and that's where we always go. I PROMISE you will have pictures next week. I do know how to do it I just tried to put too many last time. I'm doing really well and you all have nothing to worry about. I'm having a hardworking/ great time. I'd say that time has gone by relatively quickly and I've only had one companion. They say each transfer goes by faster and faster.

We're finding a lot of people when we go out but we're having a difficult time getting people to commit to anything, even another lesson. The people I meet and talk to have been fairly nice even if they are crazy. I really feel God's love for each person.

Everyone keep trying to be the best they can be!

Love,

Elder Gallagher

Just for fun

Where Silas lives!

Thank you, Google street view!

General Conference Week

Hey Family!

How is everyone doing? Did Eden audition for the play? How is Chloe's first year of school going? How is Noah? Mom? Dad? 

General Conference was really good! I obviously watched all the sessions and they were all really good. It's pretty cool that the missionary age is now 18 for guys and 19 for girls. People are saying that there will be a lot more missionaries now. My favorite talks were by Uchdorf and Holland. Uchdorf talked about living with no regrets and choosing happiness. That talk reminded me of Mom always saying that. Mom always told me that we were choosing to be annoyed at our siblings too. Holland's was really, really good. He basically talked about Jesus asking Peter if he loved Him. Go watch it! I think any Christian would love that talk. I was thinking that Mrs. Zurheide would really like it. Maybe Rach can tell her that or even show her the talk.

I thought it was pretty interesting because I thought that most talks were about either loving God and loving our neighbors. We listened to a talk called "They Saw Our Day" by Lance Richardson yesterday after conference and it was really interesting. You should look it up online. There's an audio file that you can listen to. Anyways, it's about ancient culture's way of life and their prophesies for the end of the world. Dad, can you listen to it and tell me what you think? It's an hour and 15ish minutes. Each of these tribes and cultures talk about the way we can live the best lives. They all talk about loving God and Charity and love for the people around us. Hearing those same things from our leaders was really interesting. If everyone really did that the world would be a much better place. 

Besides General Conference we really didn't teach that many people sadly. Diana actually moved to LA so we don't get to teach her and help her anymore. Snake is that crazy guy that we've been talking to but he really is a character. He's an old version of Jason Bourne. He's contracted by the government to go wherever and pretty much do whatever they ask him to do. He's been to Iraq, Mexico (to take out Cartel), Georgia, Pakistan. Haha he is a really nice man though. 

I'm proud to have made the decision to come on a mission. I know for an absolute fact that I am already changed for the better. I feel the spirit everyday as I read the scriptures looking for answers to my questions. I really like the people that I'm serving and meeting. The members like me so that's good! We're doing service for Scott and Kimi Neilson who are a cool couple in the ward. They think I'm really funny so it's always fun going over there and making them laugh. We're hanging drywall so my previous experience is coming in handy! Elder Sudbury was a construction worker so he knows what he's doing but I can help too which is great. 

This week we're really going to try and find people to teach! I'm still trying to figure out how to convey the importance of the message of the Restoration. I've talked to a lot of people who love the Bible and really do read it everyday but they won't even touch the Book Of Mormon. 

Okay I have to get off!

Love you,

Silas

Two Months Down?

Hey Family!

It certainly seems that I've been here all of my life and that I just got out here. It's really weird but what can i say. My first transfer is over and it has been a really good learning experience. I learned that this is hard! Right now we don't have any really solid investigators. It's hard not to think that it's your fault when you don't have success. It really is almost funny that everything that a missionary hopes for depends on other people. So Elder Sudbury and I stepped back and looked at what we could improve and we're really going to try and find a lot of people to teach. Another really interesting thing is experiencing people's apathy when it comes to learning and happiness. I've grown to really respect Jesus in a different way. He offered people the answer for literally everything and very little people followed him and the people he gave everything for crucified him. I can't believe the world we live in haha. I don't want to sound dismal but being a missionary certainly helps you feel what Christ felt a little more.

On the other hand I've also felt a lot of love for the people we talk to! It's really sad hearing some people's stories and them not accepting the Gospel. Yesterday we went to the departing fireside for the missionaries who go home tomorrow. It was really nice to see other missionaries achieve what I'll eventually achieve! They had really good testimonies and the people that were baptized because of them went and It was really cool. It was hard not going by Diana  every other day to see how she's doing. She asked us to give her some space so she could figure things out with her boyfriend. It's really scary how much I care for that family even when I barely know them. I hope they get baptized! Before I was a missionary I really didn't understand the big deal about getting baptized. But now, getting baptized is really the beginning of following God and changing your life for the better. It's the window to the celestial kingdom and it washes away any guilt you've every had. Even Jesus was baptized and he was perfect. I love 2 Nephi 31 because it talks about the importance of baptism and why a perfect person had to be baptized.

I love you all and I really love getting updates from everyone. The pumpkin pictures look great! I love seeing pictures!!! Well I have to go write my mission president a letter so I should go do that. Mom I think you asked me where I do laundry. There's a laundry mat right next to our apartments and we do that at 6:10 before we run. I really loved Chloe and Ella's pictures! I have them in my letter binder tell them thank you! If I don't answer a question anyone has asked me just remind me and forgive me! I'm sorry if I miss something important. I feel bad for not telling mom that I got her package last week! It was a great and needed surprise. Thanks Mom. I'll buy athletic socks out here Dad. 

Love you all!

Elder Silas Gallagher

ps I tried to attach pics last week and that's why you didn't get anything so I won't do that!

Last week's letter

This is last weeks letter it didnt send for some stupid reason! Maybe it was the photos i tried to attach

Hey everyone!

This week was kind of weird. I don't really remember everything that happened but for Sunday and Monday Elder Sudbury was sick so we didn't even leave the apartment. I spent a lot of time reading Jesus the Christ and reading old letters. I always update you on my reading so I hope someone enjoys knowing where I am haha. I finished Alma! Woo! It was really good. I like Alma 34 because it talks about the meaning of life which everyone wonders. Since Elder Sudbury was sick we watched a lot of lame seminary videos haha and Legacy and Mountain of the Lord. Mountain of the Lord was my favorite one. It was about how the Salt Lake Temple was built. Speaking of temples... I went to the LA temple today and it was really nice. I think I attached a photo! That's cool because I took that like 3 hours ago. We went with a member who is really cool and he taught us a lot of pretty cool stuff in the celestial room. 

The work was slow this week partly because our main investigator Diana is MIA and we meet the strangest people! Diana and her boyfriend got into a fight as we were sitting on the other couch. It was really crazy because they were yelling at each other because she wants to live the law of chastity and he's pretty apathetic about the whole thing. We haven't heard from her since because we got a hold of her through his phone. It'll work out though.

The craziest/most interesting person I've probably ever met is Snake. He is a Roman Catholic who loves Eucharistic miracles. He is a Vietnam Marine vet who was born in Russia. He is a black belt jujitsu and taught us some moves! He survived a 3000 ft fall out of a plane with a broken parachute and he is just the most interesting/crazy person ever. 

How is everyone? How is grandma doing? I miss her and Grammie a lot so make sure they know that. I actually went to a funeral for someone I knew here (long story) and I was thinking about how Grandpa's funeral probably was and I got sad for a minute. I hope Mom is doing alright. 

Anyways, hopefully the work will go better this week! Whoa I almost totally forgot! I gave a talk on Sunday on the restoration! It went pretty well! Elder Sudbury said he felt the spirit while I was talking and I spoke for a perfect ten minutes. I'm getting better at talking because I'm understanding things more and more.

Love you all and I'll be on Monday next week!