TEnDeR MeRcIEs

This week has definitely held many blessings! We have some investigators who are doing really well.

This week we taught Ch, who we met contacting. He has been reading The Book of Mormon and loves it! We taught him a full restoration lesson with some members. It was probably the most spiritual lesson I've experienced thus far! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes. Then chose the date himself before we even suggested one. Then, Sister S and I taught him the Word of Wisdom and he agreed immediately to live it, and even gave us his 2 packs of cigarettes and lighter :) It was a very powerful experience and a huge blessing from Heavenly Father. The member with us gave him a blessing as well. The next time we taught him, however, he had slipped up on smoking and felt so guilty about it that he didn't want to investigate anymore. We talked to him and promised him that Heavenly Father still loves us even when we aren't perfect. We recommitted him to attending church. He came and loved it! He recognized the Spirit there and the members were really supportive and friendly towards him.

I have been studying Jacob 5 and I have learned so much from it. I have also been studying Alma 7 and the pattern Alma uses to teach. It's very interesting. I love the Book of Mormon.

We also sung at a funeral this week. It was the first one I'd ever been to and was very spiritual, but also terrible. I've decided funerals aren't my thing :/

Also, on a lighter note, I got out to back the car (in the middle of a neighborhood) and looked down and there was a pygmy goat chewing on my skirt!! Then, it started headbutting me! The man who owned it said that it was just trying to play.... which is probably why people prefer dogs! Oh, it was hilarious. I assumed it was a dog, then, all of a sudden, it was eating my skirt! Bad day to wear a floral print, I guess. haha!! And the guy kept telling us to "play with it." I kept thinking, "What do I do?! How are you supposed to play with a GOAT?" It just kept ramming into us! Then he tried to give it to us. Haha.

A Pygmy Goat

We also taught C, who is still doing really well, and also E. And guess what? E paid his tithing on Sunday!!

This week has been very productive, and very exhausting. I definitely have seen many tender mercies in my life and in the lives of investigators. Thank you for praying for me this week. I feel like someone MUST be because there have been so many blessings including a stronger measure of the Spirit, investigators keeping commitments, a member randomly bringing us food (Sister H <3) and also taking us to Cracker Barrel and the spirit prompting me to get the meatloaf. (I was having a tough time deciding as you can imagine.) It was really yummy and you know meat loaf isn't my #1 choice. Yay, Holy Ghost!!

Sister Galloway, Sister S & another missionary at Zone Conference

We had a district P-day today in McKee. It was fun and also the reason why I am so late emailing today. We just barely got back into Corbin. We played ping pong, cards, had a snowball fight and ate. :)

I had to write my weekly email to President W. I tried to list all the reasons why Sister S and I should stay together in Corbin for another transfer in my email. haha! I hope I can stay.

Oh, and I have a challenge for the family. Make mormon.org profiles! Good missionary tool+easy+I can look up your testimonies when we have mormon.org time throughout the week. Yeah?! I

Tell the fam I love them! And that they should write me a letter :)

 Love,

-Sister G-way.

PS: You know you're in Corbin when:

-two guys your age are carrying 2 'coon tails in the middle of town.

-the 10 commandments are posted everywhere

-graffiti is ok, as long as it's religious.

-you pass "The Lord's Gym of Jackson County" on your way to district meeting.

Pickled Beets and Elder Perry

Hey Everyone!!

This week has flown by, much like every other week! So, this week has been cray-cray. Honestly, the last 2+ weeks have. Also, I got your package!! And, you should know, that  when it was delivered, it interrupted our tears during our weekly planning session. And then I got it and your letter and cried more. And so did Sister S. ha ha! We are so pathetic sometimes. It's funny; I think I hardly cried at all my first two transfers, but there are several days that Sister S. and I make it our goal not to cry that day! And, I love the CD! Especially the Arizona song. I asked Sis S if we could listen to it and she said "yes, as long as you don't cry." I didn't, but i was laughing so hard I almost did. I also love the song where they're talking about how they want to go back to Utah. bahaha!! {I sent Ashlyn a copy of the Gilbert Temple Youth Cultural Celebration music in her package. There are a couple of songs that are just comical! But most of them are very uplifting and motivating.}

Monday, we went to our Ward Mission Leader's house and had fun shooting slingshots, throwing knives, splitting wood and seeing his animals!

Tuesday, was kind of a rough day. We got dropped by some investigators we were really excited about and who had felt and recognized the spirit during our last lesson :(  They were the awesome Catholic couple we taught last week.  And they hung up on us. All of our other lessons also fell through, and it seemed like no one would talk to us. (Minus the drunk guy who wanted to marry us, but that's another story).

Me and Sister S

Wednesday we taught C, who is homeless and has a TON of great questions! He kind of fits into the category of the people in Alma 32. He has trouble believing in God, but wants to because he sees how much happiness and purpose it gives to people's lives. We talked a lot about the Atonement because that's a big thing he doesn't comprehend. We also taught him a few days later with a member and it also went really well! He's been attending this Pentecostal Church where they "speak in tongues," jump up and down, fall over and otherwise "feel the Holy Ghost". But it was really exciting because C came to church yesterday! He really liked church and I think was a little surprised that it was normal and quiet. And so did one of our other investigators, E. It was the first time E had been since 1994!
 

Saturday morning, we watched a broadcast of Elder L. Tom Perry in Knoxville, Tennessee on "Hastening the Work." Elder Ronald A. Rasband was also there. It was super uplifting and I got a lot out of it. He was so upbeat and positive. He talked about how members need to use the missionaries and missionaries need to be sure to spend time working with less-actives. He stressed the importance of having specific names and numbers. He also told us that the Holy Ghost likes lists!

We also ate some interesting food that day... fried pickles, glazed & pickled beets, and hominy (which is what grits are made of. Basically, boiled popcorn!).

Sunday, we did some tracting after church and we met Korihor. Our conversation with him basically followed Alma 30 pretty closely, except that we didn't strike anyone dumb. He was "polite," but there  was just a subtle mockery in everything he said. He was a Sociology major, which he attributed his atheism to. I'm glad that I have parents who can be sociology majors (my mom) or grow up Baptist (my dad) and still find and hold to the truth. It was crazy though. Most people here are Christians and if not, then agnostic. He straight up rejected the idea of any prophets, Christ or God. It was one of the times that I felt a little spiritually hurt because it was so blatantly untrue and just wrong. I feel like we magically tract into Baptist preachers, Atheists, or J-dubs an inordinate amount. 

 

Frog Legs & Catfish!

 The world really is getting soooo very wicked. I've seen it so much on my mission so far. Satan, unfortuantely, is very real. He is working harder than ever and is actively attacking. But, the Lord is hastening his work! Yeah! :)

This week, the Elders and us are singing "Abide With Me" at a member's funeral on Wednesday. And the Elders are pall-bearers. They made it abundantly clear that carrying a dead body was far preferable to singing in front of a group of people. Ha! But I disagree!

I hope you all have a great week!!!
Love,

A very cultural week...in so many ways!

This week we taught some awesome lessons! We taught a Catholic couple the Restoration and the spirit was really strong! We've been trying to begin each lesson by talking about the Spirit and explaining what it is to our investigators. It has proved to be really successful. At the end of the lesson, the man talked about how he felt "warmth" in his body as we were talking, but then it left after he went out to smoke a cigarette.

 

We also taught a 19 year old who had a lot of really sincere questions about why there are so many churches. We also discussed what Christ's church would look like if He were on the earth today.

 

It was also interesting, because we were able to teach some different people from what we usually do. We tracted into a man who was from Japan and wasn't even Christian, which makes a total of 3 people that I've met that aren't Christian. It was his first time praying and I felt very privileged to be able to pray with him, even if he wasn't interested. We also talked to a guy from Italy and an Israeli. It was a very cultural week -at least compared to usually!

 

But anyway, today should be a good day. We're going to go to Brother J's house. (ward mission leader). I've never been there, but the Elders say it's a lot of fun, which I think will be a nice break.

 

We've had some good moments this week, though. We taught some new investigators. Speaking of which, update on a few: J- got suuuuuper wayyy too into the Apocrypha and we had to drop him for now at least. He'd be a great potential in a few months or later on. He has conflicting "testimonies" of both books).

 

On a funny note, we decided to go knocking on a few houses before an appointment. At the first door, the lady opened it and was really grumpy. She told us that she had seen us at her friend's house night before and that we had ruined her daughter's birthday party! Then the next door a lady with a ton of dogs and a mustache was really angry and offended at us. She very forcefully slammed her door after yelling at us. I think It would have stung, but there was something kind of comical about it. Maybe it was the fact that she had a mustache!

 

One nice thing about serving here is that people don't normally tell you those type of things. I've definitely met some who vehemently disagree, but they at least respect the fact that 1.) you are another human being and 2.) you love God. (A good thing to love in The Bible Belt!)

 

-Sister Galloway

Lots of knocking!!

Hello!

Today’s my 5 month “birthday” which is crazy because it seems like it’s only been a month! I feel like I’m just barely figuring everything out, but I guess it’s good that I’ve been able to have so many opportunities to learn and grow. 

This week we spent a lot of time finding, which is always an adventure! We did a lot of tracting and contacting. We met some wonderful people. One of the things I love about being a missionary is that you get to meet so many different people and hear about their lives and challenges. I love that the Gospel is so universal, that even though I haven’t been through half of what many people have, I can offer them something so precious.

Some other things happening in my missionary life:

-I bought boiled peanuts to eat...YUM!! Jealous??!!

-We have Zone conference tomorrow, so we got our oil changed today.

-It is really snowy today!

Yesterday, we went on a blitz with the Sister Training Leaders and it was really fun to work with them. We talked to a man who had had a heart attack recently and it completely changed his perspective on life. He was so downtrodden and discouraged. He wondered why there was so much evil and suffering in the world. It was a really spiritual experience and we read parts of Alma 32 to him and bore testimony to him.

Have a wonderful week!!

Sister Galloway

Quote of the week:

Us: “Hello ma’am! May we offer a prayer with you today?”

Lady: “We’re Christians. We don’t want to do that.”