Yo Yo Yo

First things first, with the car. I was thinking about that every now and then, there is a wide range of cars here and we have a lot of free time to talk to other missionaries. Well, not a lot really but enough. Anywho, I was thinking that a littler car, still something cool, but smaller for mileage sake. Like a Honda CRX or something like that. Or even just a little civic or something, I do like two door cars, they have grown on me since mom got the mini. That isn't going to make Wyatt happy at all, so I would be all chill with a jeep like mom's, sans daisies. What’s wrong with my daisies? Cherokee or Wrangler doesn't matter too much to me, stick would be ideal though. Just something that gets at least decent gas mileage and that will last a little while, or be easy to fix. Jeep might be better for winter too actually, if I'm gonna be going to the college in it. But yeah. 

So, this week was very interesting. So, Tuesday we had the interviews for some people that were supposed to get baptized. One guy P was fine, loves the church, has an 18 year old son that already has the priesthood, and this guy has come every week for a year. Pictures should be in the bucket. However, the other people were three kids. No problem right? Wrong. They would be the only members of the family.  It’s hard to baptize kids and then have them go cold in two years because his mom decides he needs to go back to the catholic church. Cold means inactive, it's how they say it here, not slang or anything. Anywho, so Elder Moore (district leader, did the interview) and I decided we were not going to do the baptism that Saturday. One of the kids' mom is ready except she isn't married to the guy she is living with. Divorces are super hard to get here, and she was married to the guy she lived with before. He took off 13 years ago and hasn't been seen or heard from since.  Just for kicks and giggles, let's say he does show up again. They want to get a divorce so she can get remarried. They have to get the four witnesses from their original marriage, pay x amount of money, and go back to the same place they did the original marriage and do the divorce papers. Fun right? I am sure he will be baptized when he is older and be a great member. I feel bad for the kid but I don't want him to be baptized and just go inactive down the road, that's not chill. The other two kids have no members in their family, just two quiet kids that have been told they need to be baptised. And they do, but they need to do it under the right circumstances. Thank you so much for raising me in the church, it keeps things like this from happening. Also I am so stubborn I probably would have never listened to the missionaries in the first place. But anywho, Saturday rolls around. We go out there to the baptism, and P is getting ready, and his kid is gonna baptize him! Way cool, pics in the bucket. The three kids are also in the room about to get ready. Luckily they weren't ready yet. So we remind them what we talked about on Tuesday, and get that figured out. The zone leaders asked me about it the next day and when I told them what went down they said thank you so much. They said President would have crucified them. So I am glad I made the right decision according to other people too. 

While we are on the subject of Elder Galbreath being the bad guy, I did have to disappoint some members on Sunday in Mahazoarivo. They were positive that if a guy lived in another area that we could still teach him we just have to do it at the church. Then they said he could do baptism in our area and go to church in our area and everything. I told her that was against the laws of missionaries and although I was flattered that she wanted us to teach him so bad, that I would tell the missionaries in his area and they would be more than happy and do a wonderful job teaching him

Well, on the good news side of things, we teach this guy, his name is B. He is a recent convert, just received the aaronic priesthood actually. He is super cool, crazy accent. We taught him on Saturday and he told us after the lesson, he goes "I have a secret. I want to tell you but it's a secret. Ok? (ok) My church before, it was a protestant church, and they said not to eat pork. (That's a fairly common thing here actually, law of moses stuff) but one day I went to this hotely, right here. You walked past it. I went in and I said 'What's the loak?' and they pork. I said give me a plate. And I ate it. And it was gooooooood. Pork is delicious! You guys eat pork right? (yeah) It is gooooooood. But don't tell anyone." Super funny guy, great secret too. 

Little stuff, I saw a rainbow today, so we have at least another year until the second coming.  I finished the new testament a little while ago, so I am starting the old testament now. 

Also, got a little confidence boost the other day, another missionary, with no promptings, told me I was good at Malagasy and asked what group I was in. He seemed surprise when I told him we got here in August. So that's cool. Also I have to translate for my comp at all the district and zone meetings, because he is the only malagasy elder in Antsirabe. So that has been fun. 

So, the guy that carved my little face/glasses holder thing, (no idea what that is) his name is J. He is really diligent, but has a hard time leaving his church because he has lots of friends. So we taught him about prophets and the authority of God here on Earth and it was such a good lesson. I actually managed to use Malagasy well and have the spirit there at the same time. I was really happy with that but most of all just the fact that he felt the spirit so much. It was a really really good lesson. We will see if it goes anywhere. 

So, today we hiked a mountain. It was a lot of fun, we went really high and got really tired. I am kind of rushing the last part of this email because the power just died for an hour at the cyber so I am short on time. But we hiked all the way up to the top of the mountain, saw some solar panels that bp has up there (weird right?) and saw some rice, cows, a malagasy mountain frog. I'm not sure what pictures went up, (Darn only three went up, but I will take it) the upload got cut short so sorry. I'll send more next week. 

                                          The top is their goal!

                                                              MADE IT!!

                                                                   Froggy

                                           Companion photo time.

Thank you so much for the pictures! I am so happy for Sydnee, I told her that in the letter. It's weird that Rianne is married and Kyndra is almost married. 

I love you! Please forward this to mom, there is way too much story in here for me to write twice haha

Fruit loops or Apple Jacks?

Always gotta be fruit loops. Why are they called Apple Jacks if they don't taste like apples? 

When you transferred did you have trouble taking your stuff with you?  Did you have to leave anything behind or at the mission home?  Was your drum hard to pack?

Not too much problem, I didn't bring my drum. I didn't ever use it, and it just turned into a nightstand so I left it behind. I will buy a nice one before I go home to keep but that one was just a burden for two years. I have everything I really need here. 

Stripling warrior or 3 Nephites?

That one is hard. 3 Nephites would be dope, just teach the gospel for eternity and never worry about death. And they talk to angels and everything all the time. However, I'm not sure how I feel about the never dying thing. That would be kind of rough. Stripling warriors, serve under Captain Helaman (also the prophet), fight a dope battle, have that title for eternity, not dead in battle, but wounded. Also, not one of the three nephites. Hmm, the odds are pretty close but I think I would go with the 3 Nephites. That one was rough though. 

So how is the food going?

Going good, no problems. I think I am gaining weight again. Halleluia!!

Wow an hour bus to church.  Those are dedicated members.  

You misunderstood, the members live by the church, we don't, it's an hour bus ride for us. Maybe a fifteen minute walk for them haha 

How is the pest control going?  I am very proud of you working so hard to clean it up.  

Going strong, starting to notice a significant decrease in numbers. Every now and then we bait them with a plate of old food or a fruit core, wait an hour or so, then soak it with permethrin and all the roaches we can find. The other day we soaked a pumpkin core in permethrin and in the morning there were 26 dead cockroaches by the door of the kitchen. Success! Plus Elder Moore made pumpkin bread with the pumpkin and it was amazing. 

Did you remember your camera.  

Yep.

How did your bike riding go?

Went great, I am out of shape but I remembered that I actually enjoyed biking. So that is good. I fixed  up the bike so it is actually pretty nice to ride now, you just have to do a little convincing to get it to shift sometimes. Other than that no problems. 

I love you.

Elder Galbreath

New area news

About the same here in Mada, out in the bay area, realizing that these investigators need some work. There is supposed to be three baptisms this saturday but I don't know if it will happen. A lot of the investigators just haven't been taught the basics. You can't just pump these people through your routine lessons and dunk them. People don't work like that. It is so frustrating when this lady has been learning for a year and a half and she still doesn't know that God has a body.  That should be the first thing you teach. But anyway, I am just doing my best to teach them what they need to know. So we might be doing some reconstruction of the program for a little while.

That is way cool about Parker and Bryce! Then they will get home the same time and can speak portugese to each other around the house and stuff.  Way cool stuff. Sydnee is going on a mission, that is so crazy! I wrote her a letter, I hope she gets it before she leaves haha or her parents will have to forward it to her. 

The young womans thing sounds like a lot of fun, I am glad you are enjoying your calling still. Just know that right when you get really good at it you will be released so be ready. 

I'm sorry you were so sick, I assume since you said that in the past tense you are better now? I have been fighting a cold for about a week now but I just tell my body not to be sick and then it isn't, until I get home at night and then I crash hard. 

The new bed sounds like it will be pretty nice, and a weekend breaking it in sounds excellent. My bed is not very supportive, but at least it isn't hard, and it makes it easier to get out of bed in the morning when you aren't too comfortable. 

1) Have you travelled to all of your area yet?

I thought we had, but nope. Sunday we went to church in Andranomanelatra, and the bus to get there took us an hour outside of town. So there is still a fair amount of exploring for us to do. 

2) Anything really cool in the area?  I saw something about the top 15 sites to see while travelling and the Bilbao(?) trees and the Stone forest(?) both of Madagascar made the list.  I remember the trees thing from when we were looking up stuff before you left but I don't know anything about the stone forest.

Um, there is lake Chichiva (spelled wrong probably) and Manandona mountain but neither of those are in our area. Antsirabe is basically one big area and we all just share it, except when it comes to work. P-day and service projects everyone is everywhere. It's super cool really. Baobab trees are mostly in the northwest I guess, there are a lot in Mahajanga and I guess in Toamasina too, but none here. I don't remember where the stone forest is, but it is super cool looking from what I have seen in pictures. I don't know that I will ever get to actually see any of them though. The sad part about being in a cool mission is that you are still on a mission so I don't get to do much sight-seeing. I'm sure you know what I mean. 

3) Are Geckos' all over done there or just in certain areas?  I think you said that the lemurs were only in national parks?

Regular geckos are everywhere. We have one living in our kitchen until I eradicate the cockroaches and then he is out of there. He eats them for now though. I just hope we don't kill him accidentally with the permethrin. But, sometimes there are casualties in wartime. He might be one. I'm willing. I have already dropped about 4 thou on containers for flour and sugar. I can only buy one or two at a time though because it is out in our area so I have to carry it around all day after I buy it. 

So how does mail and packages work now that you are not next to the mission home?  

Mail and packages still go to the office in Tana, they just get sent up here whenever there is someone coming up from there. There is a senior missionary couple, the Todd's, and they were down for the weekend so they should be bringing us supplies and whatever else was down there for us. Mail day! Yeah for couple missionaries!

Do you have phones to check in? 

Yeah, we have phones. All the areas have phones, we use them for whatever, all the missionary phones are free to call too so that is nice. 

Tell me about your new house.

My new house has two other missionaries in it, Elder Moore and Elder Baker. Elder Moore is dying in June and Elder Baker is a newborn. Yay! They are both really cool, Baker is probably not related to the Bakers in Washington although there is always a chance. It is white, so that is good. We have cockroaches though, so that sucks. I am leading the charge on eradication of those things. We clean the kitchen at least twice a day, all the flour, sugar, corn meal, and baking soda is in containers now, permethrin gets sprayed a lot, and they are starting to move to other areas of the house so that is good because it means they can't get by in just the kitchen any more. The shower handle breaks a lot, the hose part, but it's an easy fix. The house is plumbed backwards. Hot and cold water at all the sinks and shower are switched backwards. So that has been interesting to get used too. 

Tell me about a new investigator or less active you have met.  

Um, let's see. We teach this one guy, he looks exactly like a black version of a young Christopher Walken. I don't have any problems though with finding people. Serious investigators are hard to come by through tracting though, so I am pumping the members for referrals. It's been interesting taking over an area where the last six months of missionaries have been a malagasy, a new kid trained by a malagasy, and then said new kid and his malagasy trainee. I told Wyatt a lot about it but I am remaining positive in your emails haha so I won't go too into it. 

Is this a city or more rural than where you were.

Oh boy it is rural. There is so much ambany vohitra-ness here. That just means country side type thing. We walk an average of fifteen to twenty minutes between times. Very open here. 

Not too many interesting stories really. Just teaching people the good old gospel, as brought to you by Jesus Christ himself. 

You left my truck at Lad and people recognized it? They must have been irrigators people wondering why I was at Lad. I didn't know anyone at Lad haha 

I don't know what else is going on really, not much new. Still cleaning hard and often to get rid of roaches. No big fat hissing roaches though, just boring cockroaches, the same as the ones in America as far as I can tell. 

Well mom, I went to our other branch, we work two here, and it was an experience. It was an hour outside of town, on a crowded bus. Then when we got there all the people are like so happy to see us and welcomed us in and asked who I was and told me I was good at Malagasy and everything. Then when sacrament meeting was about to start I went to sit down and there were no more seats. So I sat outside the door, in the hallway, with about 20 other people that came a little late. It was pretty cool. No piano for hymns, just straight a cappella african music. It was pretty cool. One of the deacons didn't have shoes, I was like man, I am definitely in Madagascar. It was pretty cool really. There is supposed to be three people baptized this coming Saturday but due to the same concerns I voiced earlier I don't know how they will do on the interview. So there might not be. We will see though, I told Elder Moore not to pass them if he thinks they aren't ready. I will not baptize someone that isn't ready. Bad things happen when people do that. So they might have to wait a little bit. 

I think that's all I got for this week. I love you! Sorry no pictures, I forgot my camera at home today.  I love you so much, I hope the rest of the month goes well for you! 

Well, I think that's all. Oh, except I started compiling a list of all the smily and winky faces, ;) :) in the bible. So that's fun. 

Love you

Elder Galbreath

In the Bay area

Alright, have I got a story or two for you. 

No, I haven't. 

Just kidding I do. 

Alright, questions first. 

1) Are you in a house of 4 elders again or is it just you and your companion?

Four elders, me and my comp with Elder Moore and his kid, Elder Baker. As far as he knows, no relation to the Bakers in Moses.

2) Native companions always take a little adjusting to.  Are things going okay so far?

Oh yeah. He is super cool. So far we get along great, I learn Malagasy and about the area and we work on his teaching skills, I am trying to be less offensive than I have in the past. So that is fun. Elder Moore helps me out a lot too while we are at home with senior missionary stuff. 

3) First week in a new ward/branch.  How was it?

Pretty good. Bore my testimony and everyone says I am already way good at Malagasy, so that's definitely good. The members are way nice, and way different from the people in Tana. It's a recognizable difference between here and there. 

4) Is the food everything you heard it was?

It is very good, I haven't really gotten the full experience yet, but what I have had is delicious. It's pretty dang good. I am going to Shez Billy's tonight, which is supposedly the best place to eat in Madagascar for a reasonable price. 

Alright so I will tell you about the cool stories and you can share with mom and everyone. Alright so the first things first, we had to pack five guys and their stuff onto a little Toyota four door pickup, and we ended up tying three big bags to the roof. Then the four hour trip to Antsirabe on windy mountain roads. That was fun. But we made it here safely, and we rolled in around seven at night. Then my companion was on splits doing some teaching so I waited for him to get home. Then, he rolled in on his pouse pouse (like a rickshaw, but pulled by a malagasy instead of an asian) and I got to meet my new comp. He is super short.  I am trying to get up pictures but this computer is being weird so I don't know. It's super frustrating trying to send pictures home here. But he is way cool. So we went out to work the next day, and he talks like a Malagasy, which makes sense. However, it's not the best for teaching. Malagasies tend to talk very softly and quickly. He doesn't ask any questions while we teach either. We walk a lot here, not too much biking in our area because there is a huge rice paddy that goes through the middle of our area so we cross it a lot. No bikes on that. But I guess on Tuesdays we go by bike. So that will be good. Still a little nervous about biking but I think I will be fine. And it will mean I'm not walking all the time so I will take what I can get. So we were walking through the rice paddy the other day, no one calling me vazah, and following my short black companion speaking only malagasy all day, and I realized something. I am in freaking Madagascar, speaking a language most people don't know exists. I am freaking cool, and there is no way out of this place. I think I'm turning Malagasy. 

Saturday morning we had a branch activity, farming trees. What we did is hiked for about a half hour and then climbed this mountain basically and on the side of the mountain were little baby trees they planted like four or five years ago. So we weeded around them and tilled up the soil. Long, hot, dirty work but it was fun because I got to know a few of the members better. And I got sunburned pretty bad. I am gonna buy a hat for those kinds of day today. 

Then later that day we went and taught this less active family. Their dad's name is Everest. So is the older son, and the younger son. Yeah, all three of their names are the same. It's not like a family name thing either, they just legitimately all have the same name.

Well I think that's all about that, I am gonna tell Mom about the perks of a native comp. Love you so much!

Now my letter!

First of all, thank you so much for the pictures of everyone! Love seeing my cousins again. Second of all, no I did not know Cari is pregnant again. Holy cow, this kid isn't going to know me. The baby will only be 9 or 10 months old when he gets home.  He will be known. Holy moly. Such big families! 

I did get John and Cari's valentine package, thank you very much to them. What is their new address? Lots of down time in the new house because the city dies at eight. I actually have been writing in my journal again and writing a few letters. I am going to write them back too, I promise. 

Because you were so subtle and this cyber actually let me send pictures home there are a few on photobucket for you. Enjoy. It never hurts to be too subtle!

So, I am going to tell you what it is like to work with a Malagasy. It's pretty swell. He is way good at Malagasy, not very good at English at all. But, that's ok. We are working on teaching more effectively, so that the people have to pay attention and actually get something out of the lesson, because his trainer was only three months in country and was trained by a malagasy so he didn't get much training. So that is interesting. It's quite a new experience speaking malagasy all the time too, I am really getting better at conversational malagasy. Also, and this may be the best part, when we go to a members house and they feed us, I give him the skin and the fat chunks off my meat because he loves it and it makes me throw up. So that is a great arrangement. It works well. Also I have to take the lead a lot more in lessons, because he is still really new on the mission. 

You're lesson on Tuesday sounds like the new curriculum is from straight out of PMG. Excellent stuff right there. 

Alright, well mom I love you very much. Lunch time! 

Thanks for Connors email, it's good to hear how he is doing. 

Love,

Elder Galbreath

Also, Wyatt told me the truck broke again. Do me a favor and get rid of that thing before I get home. haha 

                                                             Beautiful Madagascar!

                      Little malagasy kids. Don't believe national geographic, this is what most of them look like.

                                   New companion riding in a Pouse pouse.

Oh boy!!

Well, first things first I am getting transferred. I am going to go to Antsirabe, the coldest province. My area will be Mahazoarivo, which means "receive a thousand" so hopefully that's the number of investigators or baptisms or people at church or something. Or Malagasy words I will learn, because my comp is Elder Rakotoniaina. He's Malagasy, and doesn't speak much English. I guess it gets super cold there in the winter, like frost on the windows and everything. But I guess the food is really good there so that's a bonus. My english is only going to go downhill from here all Malagasy next week. During the day anyway.  I will also be riding bikes. So, pray for me. I think I can handle it. It will be interesting.  Please pray for him, he has not ridden since he was hit.

So, just one real good story from this week.  Actually two for you. First story. Safidy, the kid that I taught every lesson, picked me to do his baptism. Super cool. We got all his baptism information and everything ready, did a practice baptism interview and he is super ready. So his baptism is in two weeks because of a big primary activity this Saturday. So, yesterday after our time I told him I was probably leaving this transfer so I wouldn't be able to do his baptism if I left. The kid starts crying. I felt so bad. I felt the love man, I felt the love. I almost started crying. It was a bad deal, but I gave him some skittles and pop rocks and he was alright after that. So Elder Seifert will be doing his baptism. 

Story number two. We ran into this guy while we were tracting that said he didn't believe in the ten commandments. We were just like, while that's in the bible, do you believe in the bible? He said no. But, he goes to church. His church is called "Mpandrava ny didy folo" which means "destroyers of the ten commandments" So apostate! He said the bible is only for the jews, not for Americans or French or Malagasies or anyone else. Just the Jews. So that was interesting. Then he told us he wanted to fight ideas so we should come back. We will not be going back.

One more, We were helping Ampitatafika teach english at a school on friday and they fed us lunch afterwards. They had some sakay, which is just a really spicy thing that is sometimes sauce and sometimes like peppers but soaked in stuff. No matter what it is, a small piece, we are talking tip of a fork, is enough to heat up a whole plate of rice. Elder Mitchell looks at the plate of sakay and says "what would you give me to eat that?" I said ten thousand ariary. He immediately decided it was worth it. He stuck it in his mouth, a huge spoonful (like a soup serving spoon) and chewed it for five seconds and swallowed. He almost puked. It was hilarious. Then he chugged three liters of pump (read as unfiltered) water trying to make it go away. It didn't work. He ate a handful of tums and that helped but essentially he just put up with it. Nice right? 

1) Which of the 10 beatitudes would you apply to your life now to work on?

I would be lying if I said I could tell you what all of those are, but I think humble is one of them so I might just go with that. My pride gets in my way a lot, especially with companions. If bold was one I might pick that one too. I am pretty conservative in Malagasy. I don't get quite as witty, and I am trying to work on being more confident when I speak Malagasy. 

2) We, of course, are excited about transfer news. Does any of it affect you?

Oh boy did it. See above. 

3) Eggs- fried or scrambled?

Scrambled every time! I mix three eggs together with milk and seasoning salt and scramble those bad boys up, put it on some bread and call that a breakfast, because it is one. 

What do you guys sings for Hymns, Do you have a piano, Are all the hymns translated, do you have a go to hymn to sing?

We do have a piano, we sing quite a few in malagasy, but they use the french hymns alot because there are only 100 hymns in Malagasy . We sing how firm a foundation alot, and God be with you till we meet again, but in malagasy it says "let God be around you" so you can sing it whenever. 

What was the best thing you ate this week?

Hmm, I had some chicken and veggie sauce with rice a few days ago so that was pretty delicious. 

How is teaching going?

Teaching is going pretty good, I sometimes still get caught up in what I am trying to say, but most of the time I am good. 

I am glad the Daddy daughter dance went well, it sounds like a smashing success. 

Love the picture of Dad and bubba. It's great. Classic bubba pic. 

I heard a speaker talk about what have you given up for the Gospel, and told him I know he has given up so much right now. Giving stuff up. No kidding. Like English, heating and air, and having my feet on the bed while I sleep. Forget that, it never happens. Or reliable electricity/water. Both those are pretty choppy. Couldn't remember the word for that in English. Tapitapika. 

Love you, 

Elder Galbreath

P.S. Found the perfect scripture for you, Proverbs 20:29. You're beautiful.

                                          Thanks Elder Austin, I borrowed this photo from him!

Happy Birthday!

1) We have noticed that your emails are coming quite a bit later in the day and seem quite a bit shorter than in the past.  Are you just too busy?

We started emailing at the end of the day in our area instead of at the beginning of the day so that's why they are coming later, and we have been pretty busy. Elder McLaughlin liked really calm p-days and Elder Seifert likes to do a lot of stuff with a lot of people so I am just kind of going along with whatever. As for the length, everything is just kind of seeming routine lately. Also I have been telling all my cool stories to Wyatt but I don't think he reads my emails so I am gonna stop doing that. 

2) I saw pictures from Schwarma City on facebook the other day.  Have you been able to go back there?

No, we haven't gone back yet. It wasn't great, it's in a sketchy part of town so we don't go very often over there, and I kinda forgot how to get there. But, I will try to get back sometime. 

3) We are putting together the next envelope package.  We are making sure you get pepperoni sticks and arch supports.  Is there anything else you would like in there?  

 Haha Um, I don't know really, that should be good. I still have a ton of candy from v-day. Maybe a list of birthdays and whatnot of family people? Thank you so much.

The slim sound like quite a bit of fun. I miss shooting quite a bit, can't wait to get back home and suck really bad and then start getting better again. The T key on this keyboard really sucks. 

Good call on the line upon line talk. I like to think that it is partially for our benefit we don't learn all at once, because think how fast your brain would explode if the first time you asked you understood everything about resurrection and the plan of salvation. Or going to the temple. Or even reading the book of mormon. Or the old testament. Holy Cow. I think the other part is for the building of our faith. If we got our answers right away every time how much faith would that take? I'll tell you, little to none. 

In other news, this cyber blows. Elder Seifert still has not been able to load his email. Transfers are next week so probably on p-day I will be able to tell you what's going down. There is a spot hopefully opening up in Mahajanga so that would be sweet! And maybe Ft. Dauphin, those are the two dream areas. Plus there is a new group of English speaking kids coming in, so that will be fun, Seifert might be training again. It's even ever-so-slightly possible that I might train. But then I would be here for upwards of three more months, so I am hoping that is not so. 

Anywho, S apparently changed his mind on who he wants to do his baptism so if I don't leave this transfer I will get to do that, so that is really cool. One upside to not leaving asap.

Also the mouse on this computer just went dead. So that's good. 

Alright Dad well I love you but I am gonna write mom her birthday email now. 

Mom, They just use the French word for happy birthday  so it doesn't exist in malagasy. Otherwise I would write it in malagasy.

So the news for the week is that Kyndra Herd is engaged to Riley Roylance.  

That is so weird. I'm glad that she has found a husband and they are happy together and all those other things.

Over 800 sisters went into the MTC last week!

800 girls is a lot. And you are right, they will be getting home not long after me. 

My language is coming along pretty well, I understand almost everything people say, and I can hold a decent conversation with most people I see. I am working on teaching now. Getting a form down so I can teach lessons clearly by myself, or at least lead them. It's pretty frustrating trying to recover from a botched beginning of a lesson, especially when it's you that botched it. 

It rains most days, but usually just at night. So that is nice, there have been a few nights where it starts raining really hard right as we get home so that has been close.

Sorry, this cyber is really slow so I have to call that good for today. I love you! Happy birthday again!

Love you,

Elder Galbreath

Hey there you!

I guess you learned on a lift in a very cold situation that a cool head prevails right? haha a lift would have been nice last week, ask Wyatt about my dresser moving experience. I don't really have too much to talk about this week, sorry this is going to be a lame email. 

Just a couple things I would like, maybe a year calendar, like one of those single sheet things, with all the family birthdays on it? That would be nice. Days tend to get away from me out here. I am gonna have to write down in my planner which day to tell mom happy birthday, I think next monday will be the closest to her birthday? I am not sure really. 

Also maybe some arch supports? We walk here and apparently my arches are abnormally high, so my feet hurt towards the end of the week most times. That would be nice, my shoes are a 46 european I am not sure what that is in amurka. Thanks Dad. 

So, I really don't have anything interesting. Oh, except this. So we teach this kid, 9 years old, mom is a member and Dad is long gone. Way cool kid, and I have taught him every single lesson. Every single one. I don't think he even knows Elder Seifert's name. So last lesson we were teaching him and getting him ready for his upcoming bap interview, and his mom asked who would do it. We told them they got to pick, so she looked at him and he says "this guy!" and grabs, you guessed it, Elder Seifert.

Next transfer new kids come in speaking english so that will be nice. 

Does Connor move every transfer? That seems weird, but it's not unheard of, so whatever. 

I am glad Adam is doing well, he is a good kid when he tries hard enough haha I kind of miss seeing him around. Actually I miss seeing anyone around. 

I got the valentines package today! Last week there was a huge storm that kept the ships away from Mada so that might be why you were a week early on asking. The Christmas cards were nice. Thanks. Loved Wyatts card too. I love the tie, whoppers are great. So good. Tell Sydnee I sent out a letter for her today, she should get it in a couple weeks. That package is very good really. Can't wait to try the bacon jerky. Looks very good. 

Um, yeah. That's pretty much all I got.

Alright Dad, I love you. Not much to say really. I met the guy with the best beard, and the most free looking dude I have ever seen. I got a picture with him, probably to be sent home next week. 

Anywho, I gotta go. I love you very much! 

Elder Galbreath

Well, well, well

Conner has been out 6 months now.

Sick! I am almost at six months in country. Crazy stuff. I used to think that by this time I would be way good at the whole missionary thing. I was wrong, although I know realize exactly how bad I was at it at the beginning. (I am willing to bet he is awesome since I know how hard on himself he is.)

Did you get your valentine package yet?

I have a valentine package coming? I haven't gotten it yet. 

Do you have a washer yet?

Yes! We have had it for a couple of weeks, sorry I thought I told you about it. It's all working good, clothes are clean and dry by machine now. 

Tell me about a lesson you taught this week.  

Hmm. Well we are teaching a younger guy, I think he is 19 but if not he is close, and he is super cool and diligent and all those great things. So we went over to his house, and it was raining super hard and we both forgot our jackets, so we were very wet. So we get there, and everyone else went to a party that lives there but he stayed home so he could learn. So sick. So we taught him about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. Anyway, so we taught that and then we asked if he had any problems with the word of wisdom and he said he used to drink coffee but he didn't think it was good for him so he stopped. He was right. So that was pretty fun. 

I have not asked in a few weeks so.....How are you?  

I'm good.  

Any dry days?  Raincoat working and have you decided to use the dry sac in your backpack yet?  

A few dry days, the rain coat works great and fits on over my backback so I don't even have to use the dry sac. Pretty great stuff.

What do you do on rainy p-days?

The same stuff as on regular p-days, but with rain coats on and we walk faster.  Very extreme. Today we went to a sweet restaurant called "Le Carnivore" which in english means "The Carnivore" It was soo good! Like a nice restaurant for America, as I remember it. I put pictures on photobucket. To give you an idea of how big it was, the steak was just a little smaller than my hand. That's the very bottom one. Also a guy from Kenya owns it, so he talked to us for a little while in English, which was cool. 

Then after lunch we went to a place that is super nice, that sells jewelry. They sell vango-vangos, little bracelets that Malagasys wear, that are pure silver, for 7000 ariary an ounce. A guy got one here for 60 dollars american and when he got home he got it appraised, and it was worth 500 dollars. That's a significant difference. Sizeable, some would say. And they have legit Breitling watches and a ton of other stuff. Very nice place. I will be going back later in my mission. 

I am pretty jealous about the concert, it makes me feel better that you were in the nosebleeds though. Haha And that I was literally on the other side of the globe. I miss music, like a bunch. But I am being good, no worries there. 

40 for the high

Um, brr? I put a sweater on at 70 out here. 

The primary kids here still talk about when Brother Galbreath was teaching primary and he would do all the stuff with them.

Yes! I miss those kids, I need to make time to write to my class one of these days. Maybe once I get sick again. That hasn't happened very often lately though, (that makes me happy to hear) I will try to get at least a few out. 

I just remembered that you asked last week if my mission president changed his mind about p-day clothes, and the answer is no. However, I am not being maditra (naughty) we just don't have to wear them when we go to the lemur park and do active stuff like that. 

Hmm, so not too much new has happened. Did Beyonce do the half time show at the Super Bowl? Someone told me she was but I also heard that Obama was Malagasy so my sources are not the best. 

I love you Dad, I think about you sometimes, so be good. Haha but seriously I sit and think about home every now and then on taxi be's, how you guys are doing, how I would meet up with you if a zombie apocalypse happened, stuff like that. I think I could hijack enough planes to make it to BBCC, so I would probably be ok. 

If you wanted to throw in some hot cinnamon candies in the next package you guys send out those are fun to give to kids, they are pretty sure their mouth is on fire. Then they drink water and that just makes it worse. Pretty funny really. 

Love you so much Dad! 

Love you mom!

Elder Galbref

                                                 Cute kids!

                                         Cute missionary and a cute kid!!

                           He knows how to breast out a duck, he should never go hungry!