I am here!!

Nice missionary name tag! 

Well, I'm officially in Kentucky finally! It is so green and different from the west, but super pretty. We stayed the night at the mission home and had transfers the next day. I'm serving in Corbin, Ketucky which is just a few miles from the Tennessee border. It's a small town and definitely in the Bible Belt. It's different than what I'm used to. Everyone here is super nice and very religious. My trainer/companion's name is Sister J. from Utah. 

Mission president's wife,  Sister J, Sister Galloway & Mission President

   

     Most people I have met  have a church that they already attend and are pretty active in it. But everyone here has a lot of faith in Christ, which is really inspiring and they all have some remarkable story about when they gained a testimony of Him or when they've felt him in their life. Many times we'll ask to pray with people and they're usually more than willing to, even if they're not interested. Everyone is very much into revelations and the rapture. So we've had some tough questions. Life is very different here and already I have seen some sad situations.

      Last night we were out tracting and we decided to go back to an apartment that we'd skipped randomly. We asked the man who answered the door to pray with us and he readily agreed. As we talked with him, he said he'd studied a lot of different religions, and had always meant to order The Book of Mormon from the TV commercials. He was pretty surprised and very grateful when we offered him one. I wish everyone would have that reaction towards it because it is such a sacred book. He also had tears in his eyes and said that he had literally just finished praying when we knocked. He said that we had no idea what this meant to him. It was an incredible experience and I look forward to teaching him.  

      Sister J introduced a lot of the town people to me and I think she knows everyone! One day we were driving down the road and she was pointing out people. Our conversation was like this:

Sister J: "That's J. He doesn't like me."

Me: "Why's that?"

Sister J: "Well you see, I told him that Jesus said to love everyone. He wasn't such a fan of that."

Or one guy we talked to:

"What happened to your eye sir?"

"It got shot out twelve years ago."

You know that inner voice that narrates your thoughts? Sometimes it turns "Southern" in my head.  

The 25 new Kentucky Louisville missionaries that arrived from the MTC last week & their Mission President & wife.

     I've had a wonderful week in Corbin so far, though! It's very different from home. I've also learned a lot of new Southern words & grammar this week. I love all the people here and am learning so much about the Gospel and the Spirit.

--Sister Galloway