A Short One!

Hey Everyone!

This week has been great! Today has been great too! I even got to nap this morning instead of just sit around! I don't have much time but I'll share two experiences. 

On Friday we went to go teach someone that was YSA age the Spanish Elders had contacted and set an appointment with but his brother answered and said he wasn't home. That seemed to be the theme for Friday.... A lot of appointments but no one was home when they said they would be. As we walked back to our car the member we were with passed by a guy carrying some beer and the member asked if that was Buddy. We'd never met him but I felt pretty strongly that it was him. Elder Loutensock called out to him and he took the headphones out of his ears and said yeah! So we were able to teach him and he even came to church yesterday! We're going by again tonight so I'm looking forward to talking about what he thought. 

The Smith family has had some ups and downs but Bro Smith is so on board and really knows that this will be so good for his family. Sis Smith is still having a hard time changing such a big part of her life. They decided to go to their other church instead. Someone from church had an open house dessert party that they came to last night so we were able to talk to them about what happened. It sounds like they will be baptized on the 15th of February. God answered their prayers.

I am still loving HB and you all too! I hope you have a great week!

Love 

Elder Gallagher

Tuesday letter

Hey!

This week Elder Loutensock and I tried something a little different and actually found a lot of work from it. We took some time in the morning and called each of the active members in the HB YSA ward and asked if we could come and share a 10 minute message with them and just get to know them better. We want to take more of a variety of members out with us each week and we thought that would be a good way to do it. There were many that had moved away but even those who had moved were willing to give us names of people they thought we should visit. We have an appointment with one girl who moved who thought of one of her friends from high school. She's coming down for us to meet with him. All from a simple phone call. Something I've learned here is that there are so many members who are already trying to do missionary work we just have to be the ones who encourage and facilitate the work. 

There are a lot of struggling missionaries where I am right now. A few have pretty major health problems that prevent them from working very much. One Elder has thrown up everyday for over three months straight now. It is amazing how much he still want to work everyday and not go home. I would be miserable after two days. One has had back problems and probably has to go home for surgery. Missionary work is hard! I feel lucky for only having to deal with being tired and sometimes being discouraged. 

I went to Newport today and it was really nice. The temple there is beautiful. I'll attach some pictures. I hope you all have a great week. Please pray for my cousin who's boyfriend died this week and also my mom, who's skin condition is making things hard.

Love 

Elder Gallagher

 

Jan. 13th

Hello!

This week we passed the teaching of Julie off to the sisters in the ward which was hard but it'll probably be better. She's single and will probably connect better with them. I'll still keep you updated with her though.

The Smiths were sick yesterday so they didn't make it to church. They are such a great family who I've grown to love very much. They were planning on being baptized this Sunday but we may move it back a week to be more ready. Joining the church is such a huge transition that is hard especially for sister Smith. They know it's true and the people here are a great support for them as they make the transition. Pretty much everything about joining the church is uncomfortable. But I know that it's worth it. My friend Danny Rasmussen has a website called Normons.com. It's pretty funny and good!

One thing I've seen so much of is people in terrible life situations. Many are a result of poor choices that build up over the years and there are also many that are just built in to life. I talked to a girl a few weeks ago that attributed all of the problems of her life to the built it struggles and we tried to help her see that really God gives a path so we're not just putting struggles into our own lives. How grateful I am for a path to walk that leads back to my God and my family.

Love

Elder Gallagher

http://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/ye-have-done-it-unto-me?lang=eng&cid=HPFR011014343&im=true

What I wrote to my mission president

Dear President,

This week has been really great! Elder Loutensock and I are getting along really well. Although our zone found only two investigators we have plans to turn that around. The ward times changed making our schedule on Sunday very crazy. We have the family ward at 11 and the YSA at 1. We're trying to figure out the best way to cover both.

To improve the quantity of the new investigators I think the zone needs to have more focus on contacting 10 people a day. The Huntington Beach stereo-type is that there aren't that many people so I think our missionaries look less to contact. To improve the quality of the new investigators I think it may be wise to be accountable for the ratio of investigators/LA's who have/have not been asked for a referral.

Hopefully doing these things can help get the zone more fired up. I want people to be excited here and find success. I went on an exchange with Elder Haynes. He loved the revelation through prayer skills and has already been using a lot of them with Elder Torgerson. We talked about Elder Loffreda, who we are concerned about. Elder Loffreda had no proselyting time this week because he says his back is hurting. I wonder if we could possibly go on exchanges with him so Elder Guerra can go out and work.

In our teaching pool right now we have Julie and the Smith family. Julie is very willing and desires to be baptized but right now we are helping her quit smoking. She has a date for the 25th. The Smith family is doing great! They are keeping their commitments and are loving church and the focus on the family. I am so grateful to be able to teach a family! We talked to them about sharing the Gospel to their friends and they are not afraid and eager to invite! We'll see what happens with that.

Love,

Elder Gallagher

Hey! MY LETTER to you:

This week has been really great! Elder Loutensock and I are getting along really well. He is from Holyoke, Colorado. He has a great sense of humor and I'm excited for these next six weeks. He is a hard worker and is very experienced. He came out a transfer after me. Although our zone found only two investigators we have plans to turn that around. The ward times changed making our schedule on Sunday very crazy. We have the family ward at 11 and the YSA at 1. We're trying to figure out the best way to cover both.

In our teaching pool right now we have Julie and the Smith family. Julie is very willing and desires to be baptized but right now we are helping her quit smoking. She has a date for the 25th. The Smith family is doing great! They are keeping their commitments and are loving church and the focus on the family. I am so grateful to be able to teach a family! We talked to them about sharing the Gospel to their friends and they are not afraid and eager to invite! We'll see what happens with that.

So I forgot my camera again but I will bring it next week with some good pictures. I hope you have a great week and thank you for praying for me! I can definitely feel it.


Love,

Elder Gallagher