The One With the Mosquito Bites

Me in Brother Champagne's hat!!

This has been one of the most up and down weeks so far. Not because of how high or low or got, but because of how frequently everything shifted back and forth. So many days started awful, got good during the day, then were awful again it wasn't even funny. Just as frequent were the great start to a day, then awful most of the day, then good in the evening. It's hard to keep up with everything that's happening and it's very draining. Balance is impossible to maintain. But onto the week.

Monday night we had dinner with the Champagne family. Brother
Champagne picked us up in full army gear. I took a picture wearing his
hat. It was great. After dinner we role played with their family. It's
something we have been doing with our dinner appointments. Our goal is to get people more comfortable with talking about it. We all know the
points of the restoration of the gospel, but we hardly ever speak
them. It's a really unique experience teaching the gospel for the
first time as I'm sure every missionary will agree with. But it's
really helpful.

Tuesday I went on exchange with Elder Valgardsen. He came here to
Albermarle and Elder Burkhart went to Albemarle. (That's supposed to
be funny) We had a really great day. We went to Wendy's for dinner and
then saw Sister Champagne at Snobiz afterwords for some fancy shaved
ice/ice cream concoction called a gelatti. It was tasty. Tuesday night
I also finished volume one of the Elder Galvin Mission Chronicles, or
in other words, I finished my journal.

Wednesday marked a reunion I wasn't expecting. While in Kanapolis for
our District Meeting I met Brother C from the Lenoir Ward! He
was at the church tuning the piano. The even crazier part was after
district meeting we were at the church in Albemarle syncing our area
books and he walked into he relief society room there! He was going
around and tuning a bunch of the pianos in the area. He was going to
say hi to everyone for me.

Thursday night we had some interesting experiences with the
mosquitoes. We were out visiting a less active member of the ward and
normally when we visit her we sit outside in her backyard. So we
sat outside and talked to her for only about 10 minutes because the
mosquitoes were so bad. They're normally pretty awful but this was
worse than normal. Elder Burkart got about fifty bites on one arm. I
was using this technique to be constantly brushing my hands over my
arm so none of the mosquitoes were able to bite me. It worked out
pretty well. I did get a few on my face though but nothing too bad.

Friday we planned am meeting with the other elders in the area. We
were going to talk about the fireside that were planning on doing for
our ward at the end of September. It ended up taking over an hour and
a half to start because they were teaching a Facebook lesson. The
Facebook listen clearly went on for a whole lot longer than they were
intending but we're glad that it went well. Elder Burkart and I were
basically stuck at the church waiting for the meeting to start because
we kept on getting five more minutes, five more minutes, we ended up
going to Orange Julius at one point. Delicious.

So this weekend marked episode two of poor Elder Burkharts stomach
problems. He's been having really bad stomach pains after he ate for
the past three days. It can be really hard to feel the spirit when
your stomach is making more noise that you're unable to hear yourself speak. 

We ended up calling our mission doctor and he sent us to the Walmart pharmacy.
Hooray for probiotics and Tums!

We had a miracle field Sunday. We were so blessed to see J
come to church. I've been teaching him for about the last week and a
half and he came to church this Sunday. It was amazing! He really
enjoyed it and we're teaching him at our bishops house tonight. He's
coming over for dinner and we are teaching him afterwards.

This week was pretty good I hope yours was as well.

At the top of a mountain with my district and a ward member  on P-Day

Elders Valgardsen, Burkhart and myselSend me pictures, read your scripturLove,

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The One Where We Get "Illegal Hand Sanitizer" ;)

This was a really good week until Saturday but more on that later. 

We had a great Pday last week. We went to the same trampoline park we went to a couple of months ago. 

Tuesday night we taught a lady in our Ward and her son who is eight and we are preparing for baptism. She works as an overnight cleaner at a doctors office and they rotate the hand sanitizer there so frequently that they throw out so much. So what happens Is she takes the hand sanitizer they would throw it into the dumpster and keeps it for herself. She has so much of it overstock at her house that she decided to give it to us. We're not sure what we're gonna do with it but at least your hands will be clean! It's even really good hand sanitizer that the surgeons use. It's in the upside down foam canister it's amazing.

So on Saturday we have to set up for the others baptism. We filled the font for them and it was pretty interesting. We opened up the doors and there was two huge brown recluse spiders in the front. The one of the most poisonous spiders down here in the south and one bite would probably kill me. Luckily Elder Burkart is a champ, and he used to corn broom to kill the both of them. That was after we tried flushing down the font but they decided to walk on water. That's why I named one of them Peter. 

We had a bit of a miracle with a man named J this week. He was someone that we had found about a month and a half ago but it kind of been in and out of contact over the weeks. We found him again last Sunday and he started wanting to learn more again. On Tuesday we went over not expecting to have any miraculous lesson but he ended up accepting a baptismal date. We taught him a couple times this week. Unfortunately on Saturday when we went over to teach and he told us that he was too old to change churches but he did say that he was going to come to church next week and he wanted to continue to meet with us. We're not sure how well this is going to turn out in the end but hopefully he will decide to continue with it.

This was also the week of everybody dropping us. All the good people that we found last week and people that we've been working with previous to that one by one began texting or calling us or not showing up two appointments. So many people told us that they weren't going to continue learning about the gospel it was pretty sad.

Even with all the down side to this week it was still pretty good. Had a great birthday this week and we had a great district lunch. We went out to this nice restaurant had a really tasty southern cooking!

Birthday Cupcakes from my Mission Mom

DQ treat on my B-Day from Artie!

Artie, Me and Elder Burkhart

My Cake from Artie and Sister Johnson

Elder Burkhart, Me and Sister Johnson

 Lots of people wished me happy birthday and I'm grateful to all of you who did. I even had two birthday parties this week one at a dinner that we had on Thursday night with Arthur Bailey and Sister Johnson. 

Send me Pictures, read your scriptures

Love you!

Elder Galvin

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The One Where We Hang Out With the President

This has been a pretty decent week. We're teaching a few more people so that's nice. We have been doing a lot of knocking on doors to try and build up our teaching pool because all of our other efforts aren't working.

Wednesday night we got a call from our mission president, President Alexander. He asked us what our plans for the next night were. We didn't have a whole lot planned but he said he wanted to come teaching with us.

We had dinner with a great family we are working with and he came afterwords to teach them with us. Then we went out with him and Brother C. We got to see and teach a couple of people. We met this one family that was
really nice. We got let into the house since they were a media referral from forever ago. The man who answered the door said we could come sit down while he went to get he lady we were trying to see. She was not interested but our mission president convinced her to listen to us. So we got to teach her. It was great. We also taught the kids of a less active family. It was a bit of an awkward situation but it turned out alright.

Friday night we were out with our High Priest Group Leader. We had an appointment set up but they weren't there when we tried to see them. Instead what happened was he took us to see his friend. He was like, hey I know someone who lives over here, let's go see him. We taught him the restoration and he accepted a return appointment with us. We
should be seeing him this Wednesday.

Sunday we gave talks in sacrament meeting. We were called at 9:45 the night before by our bishop to speak. I spoke on the Plan of Salvation. It went really well. I'll pridefully say that it was referenced twice throughout the day on Sunday and I was told by the high councillor that it was the best talk on that subject he has heard. ;) Clearly he has
never seen a general conference before but whatever. I basically just took the long lesson plan outline from preach my gospel and inserted a bunch of scriptures. I made a fun puzzle analogy too.

Today was really hectic and busy, that's why the email is so short. We had a zone activity at defy gravity which was a lot of fun.

Hope you have a great week!

Send me pictures, read your scriptures!

Elder Galvin

A Picture I took for my new Profile Picture on FB

The Police had the road shut down because they were chasing some guy in the woods!

Me and my Mission Pres!!

Selfie Time :)

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The one where I have a lot of late nights

This week was very average. Not a lot happened, which for most people
is great but for us it's basically the worst thing. We did go on two
exchanges this week. They were a lot of fun. But I'm getting ahead of
myself.

Monday night was good. We went over to a family in the wards house for dinner
and they served us a pork loin. Unfortunately, two very bad
circumstances came into play. One, Elder Burkhart is allergic to pork,
two, Elder Burkhart is unable to recognize if the meat he is eating is
pork. Long story short, he had to excuse himself from our reading of
the Book of Mormon and we left with a
bottle of Pepto Bismol.  So I had to punch it
home, 80+ mph on backroads, passing semi trucks like its my day job,
just so we could make it to the church in time. There was no way he
was having round two in the passenger seat. #jesustakethewheel

Tuesday was the first of the exchanges this week. Elder Kristensen,
came with me to our area. It was great. It poured rain which put a
damper on our plans but it all worked out in the end. He felt really
bad because he called one of our investigators intending to teach a
phone lesson and set up an appointment but ended up getting dropped
instead. Oh well. Our next exchange was Thursday. This time I went
with Elder Kristensen to his area. That was a lot of fun too. We
talked late into the night.

This Friday we had a zone meeting. The wonderful Sister Champagne
brought us donuts. They were delicious. We learned so much at our zone
meeting about being consecrated. Granted it is a bit of a confusing
topic. We got told last time we had zone meeting that we are supposed
to be using our personalities. This time they told us that we have to
give up anything that makes us unique if we want to be an effective
missionary. It's weird. There are a lot of contradictory things about
missionary work. So I just do what feels right.

Love you all!
Send me pictures, read your scriptures

Elder Galvin

Me and My Mission Mom Sister Champagne at our Zone Conference

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The one with the birthday party and the return of the cockroach

Hello everyone! 

Hope you had a great week! Sounds like there were a lot of big things happening at home that I'm glad to hear about!

This week was pretty alright.  We were able to teach a few more people than last week which was really good. We are trying to surround ourselves with members because we know that this connection is what makes the transition to accepting the gospel easier. Nobody wants to talk to a couple of strange kids in ties, they want to talk their friends. So we are trying to become friends with the members so that they will feel comfortable introducing their friends to us. 

We went to a birthday party this week! We texted a lady in the Ward to see if we could come over and she said it was her daughters birthday. We didn't want to crash the party but she said we could come over anyways. We went equipped with party hats and a 'Happy Birthday' banner. It was such a blast. 

Last night we had a sequel. Phantom Cockroach 2: the Reckoning! I went to get some water last night and when I got into the kitchen it was waiting for me. This time we decided to end it. After chasing it from under the fridge, inside the couch and a myriad of other places, we finally herded it outside. I was able to sleep easy that night. Let's be honest I never sleep well anymore. You would think that a missionary would sleep really well being completely exhausted all the time but for me it's otherwise. I'm beginning adopt my fathers sleep habits which is a sad thing. 

We went over to a members home on Monday night and played some volleyball with his non-member daughter. We are starting to teach her so that should be good. She was supposed to come to church but didn't which was pretty disappointing. 

We went on exchange this week. I went to the "other Albemarle" with Elder Valgardsen. It was a really good exchange. We were able to talk a lot about some things that will help me out as a missionary. We also got to teach some really great lessons. 

This Saturday morning we were at the library setting up blogs. It's not ready yet but it will be another thing that we can use to share the gospel with people. It will be like Facebook posts only a bit longer. Stay tuned for the URL!

Sorry this email is a bit lackluster. I'm just really tired and can't think super clearly. Hope everyone has a great week! 

Send me pictures, read your scriptures!

Love you,

Elder Galvin

The Party Hat!

The District

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The one with the car breaks down and we shoot rubber bands of toilet paper

This past week happened. 

Monday night was filled with some really great non missionary work things. We tried to see some people but no one was home expect for this one lady who was busy so said to come back the next night. To continue that story, we showed up and parked out on the road (she lives in an apartment complex). We saw her sitting out side of her house as we walked up. We walked around a building and she fell out of view. When her apartment came back into view she was no longer outside. And then she didn't answer us when we knocked on the door. 

We did get a text from my missionary mom, Sister Champagne, telling us to come by the shaved ice place where she works for a free treat. Which we did and it was wonderful. It was the first time that Elder Burkhart had met Sister Champagne so that was fun. Funny side story, this Sunday at church Sister Champagne totally put her hand on my shoulder and went into hug me not thinking. I just looked at her funny with my hand out. She then realized what she was doing and shook my hand instead. We had a laugh about it. 

Monday night also featured the most beautiful storm I have ever seen. We were heading out of the church when we could see these huge storm clouds just flashing with lightning. We sat and watched for like five minutes. After planning that night I sat outside in the rain with an umbrella watching the Lightning for almost an hour. It was insane. 

Tuesday was actually a really good day. It was the only really good day this week as far as missionary work goes. That morning we went over to A's house and taught his father's aid. Then we went with him across the street to the house of his neighbor. She recently moved in with her son.  She wants to get back into going to church so we were able to teach her. We also taught her again a few days later when we brought the relief society president over. We have a dinner planned with her, Artie, and two other women form out Ward this week. We hope that we can get her son into the church as well.

That night we were out with a member from out Ward and the GPS took us on a whole lot of roads that weren't really roads. It was quite the adventure. We were driving past people's deer stands in the middle of the forest and on peoples driveways and stuff. It's the problem with being on a reduced mile budget and having to drive everywhere using the shortest route. 

Wednesday we had interviews with our mission president which was good. It was nice to finally get to talk with him and get to know him a bit better. We were driving with a recently returned missionary in the Ward. As we were driving home the steering on the car was being really off. It kept on pulling one way and the other and the car was swaying a lot. As we were about fifteen minutes from home we were stopped at a stop light and we could smell this horrible burning smell. A couple of miles down the road the car started making this horrible noise and smoke was billowing out of it. Long story short, his dad and brother came to our rescue and we got driven back to the church. 

That night I had a really great little experience. It made me happy. The night before during planning I felt really impressed to go visit this one less active man who was on a Do Not Contact list. So that night we were in the area and we stopped by. He didn't come to the door right away and I was writing him a note. My companion was already standing by the car when he showed up at the door. He stepped outside and told us he was about to start dinner but asked if we could leave him with our number and he would call us. He never has called and I really doubt he will but I feel good about following a spiritual prompting. 

This Thursday we went on exchange with the zone leaders. We were able to call on a member we did service for as a last minute backup to drive us that night. We would have had to drive to Wadesboro (42 miles south of Albemarle) by ourselves. That is why you do service for active members! Because they will like you and you will repair the trust lost by other Elders! Plus they also take you to SnoBiz for shaved ice and another Sister Champagne visit. 

This Friday and Saturday aren't worth mentioning. We had some great days planned with some not so great results. Sunday was a lot of fun though. Elder Burkhart and I taught the Gospel Principles class. That went really well. 

Sunday night we went to Hmong Family Home Evening. It basically a party where a bunch of the Hmong members get together for food and they do a lesson and activity. The activity was a lot of fun. They took empty pop cans and tired it to a roll of toilet paper and you had to shoot and break the toilet paper using elastic bands. For the lesson we all got blindfolded and we had to wander around until we found the prophets voice. It was great. 

Hope you have a great week!

Send me pictures, read your scriptures

Elder Galvin 

At the Hmong FHE

The Broken Down Truck

Elder Lesueur and I (he's one of our ZL's)

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The One Where We Pray with a Drunk Man on his Toilet

This week has been hard and I'm glad it's over. I wish there were more things to talk about but it can be summed up very well in the statement, "we tried". It was filled with a more than usual amount of cancellations, empty houses, unanswered phone calls and disinterested people. I'm just getting very worn out and frustrated. There were a few bright spots that happened. 

We had an interesting experience on Wednesday morning. We arrived at the church for what we thought was district meeting. We got everything set up, and we're sitting around waiting for everyone to show up. When it got to be 10:00 and no one was there we called the other Elders and asked when they were going to be there. As it turns out they weren't coming because we didn't have district meeting that day. Somewhere along the line we neglected to get that information. We did have zone meeting that Friday which made up for it. Those are always fun. 

Friday night we had an impromptu dinner and service project with a member in our ward. He was having a garage sale and needed help moving a fish tank. So we went over his house in our normal missionary clothes thinking we'd be moving just a fish tank. We were wrong. A single fish tank turned into clearing out his entire neighbors house worth of stuff and moving it to her living room so he could drag it out the next morning. We didn't have any solid appointments that night so it was alright. The only problem was that it was about 100 degrees in her upstairs and we were getting absolutely filthy, plus I was wearing a pair of dry clean only pants. But it was fun anyways. We felt sort of bad for not being able to teach anyone that night but the fact we would have faced rejection, we were repairing a loss of trust with missionaries, and he bought us snow cones afterwords made it all better.

We had a very interesting experience this Saturday morning. We had an appointment with M that morning and we had a member lined up to take us down there. She lives in a town called Norwood which is about fifteen miles south of Albemarle. Our ride cancelled on us and we decided that because that was basically the one set appointment we had managed to get the entire week we had to bite the bullet and ride down there. Well turns out she wasn't home so we were pretty bummed. However, Elder Burkhart observed a street name that we had been looking for about a week before. We had a potential investigator that lived on this street but the sisters had typed in the wrong city so we had no idea how to find him. We figured this would be our best bet. So we drove down the road but the house number didn't exist. We saw this old man on a scooter on the side of the road and decided we would ask him if he knew the person we were looking for. As we started talking with him it was clear he was incredibly drunk. He was hard to understand but we figured out that he wanted us to follow him. So we drove down the street following this drunk old guy in his motorized scooter. The story gets better. 

So we arrive at his house and he takes us inside and sits us down on the couch where he starts talking with us. He says we were sent by God to go and see him that day. He then grabs our hands and starts praying with us. He finishes and starts talking to us again about who knows what. He kept on repeating the phrases "because I am who I am" and "my god is no joke". He also told us about a hundred times that he was an undertaker. Eventually he got up and wanted to show us something. We follow him into his washroom and he sits down on his toilet to show us his bibles. Direct quote here "I like to read my bible when I go poo poo". After the washroom experience we takes us back to the living room, we pray again, and he has a violent cuss filled outburst on the advertisement for a funeral home. We taught him and a less active member that was there the restoration, said have a nice day, and left. He wants us to come back again. Funny side note, he's actually the grandfather of M. 

Saturday we also met a lady who wanted us to teach her again the next day, only she wanted to bring along her pastor with her. We agreed especially since the church she went to is one of the biggest in Albemarle and that would be quite the congregation to convert. But her husband came out quite angrily the next day and told us they were already members of a church and to go away. Oh well, we tried. 

Here's to hoping next week isn't awful. 

Send me pictures, read your scriptures

Elder Galvin

We went to DQ last p-day for blizzards...YUM!

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