The Journey Begins

Sister Galloway

Packing/Organizing  for the next 18 months!

Ashlyn was set apart as missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ on Friday, August 16th by President B. Choules, Bishop J. McCook and her dad at our home. It was a beautiful & peaceful evening. Ashlyn was counseled to do many things as well as blessed with many things. From that point on, she was to act like a missionary. She wore a skirt for the days following. We also had to make sure that a close family member was with her or close by at all times. That was hard to remember for us! At one point during our drive to UT, we were all going to take a restroom break. Ashlyn said she didn't want/need to and we all proceeded to leave, but then luckily, her dad remembered that we couldn't leave her alone!  Once we arrived in Orem at Ashlyn's Grandma's house, there were a lot of family members there and making sure she had a companion was not an issue anymore. We spent the next few days in Orem. We had a family reunion with the Hart side of the family on Saturday & Sunday. All of Ashlyn's cousins (except 2 of them) were there. One of the activities at the family reunion was to write notes to Sister Galloway and Sister Austin (a cousin serving in Jamaica). The notes were put in an envelope and given to Ashlyn to read once she got into the MTC.  Ashlyn also gave her farewell talk about "Standing in Holy Places" to the family that day. On Monday, we went to Temple Square and took the Church Office Building Tour and ate at the Lion House. On Tuesday, we drove to Manti with Aunt Janet and Uncle Steve and did a session in the beautiful Manti Temple--our last time with her in the temple. Paige and Hailey (her little sisters) did baptisms for the dead as well that day. Ashlyn had woken up with itchy, painful eyes on Tuesday morning. Being concerned, we quickly found an optometrist in Orem and made her an appointment. We raced back from Manti & took her in. She was diagnosed with an eye infection & told not to wear contacts for a week and was given 2 prescriptions of eye drops. We were very blessed to get this taken care of hours before she left! Ashlyn's last meal, was at J.Dawg's in Provo. And then she spent the rest of the night marking her new scriptures, finishing up some laundry, re-packing her suitcases and playing the card game "Golf" with family.

Saying Goodbye to Aunt Jae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working at the table with her Maryland cousin