Another Great Week in Kentucky!!

Hello Family & Friends!!

This has been a very long, very full week it seems! But in a good way :) It's amazing to me to see how clearly the Lord's hand is in each of our lives. Everyday I see small, specific tender mercies in my life that lets me know that Heavenly Father is aware of me.

Monday was packed!! We met some investigators who'd been out of town for the past few weeks for dinner. Afterwards, we went straight to FHE at the M family's house where we taught a lesson on missionary work. After that, we went to meet a couple whom a member from another ward referred to us. The Elders gave the wife a blessing and we set a baptism date with her! They seem to know quite a bit about the gospel and are very excited.

Tuesday: My birthday!! My District Leaders called and sang happy birthday to me. They would have brought waffles over, but I had an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders in Fairdale. I was with Sister L, who knows the Austin's!!  It was fun because the majority of the people they teach there are from Asia or the Middle East. Most of them speak very, very little English. It was definitely a different experience. The only bad part was that there were swarms of June Bugs & grasshoppers. Blech! You would've been proud of how I bravely tore through the bug-infested grass to contact this man. And as bugs flew at my head during our conversation, I occasionally ducked and silently squealed. However, I bravely continued on contacting him. #TakethatSatan 

That night we shared the Funfetti birthday cake we made with the STLs. The Zone Leaders came by (trying to be sneaky, but we watched them do the whole thing) and dropped off some cake and ice cream! So that was sweet of them :)

Funny---they signed it from the J-Dub Friends! 

I definitely felt loved on my birthday. I got birthday goodies from Grandma & Aunt Jo too! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I was SO excited about everything in the packages!  Mom, the red velvet cake you sent will have to wait. I had plenty of sweets that day. Maybe I'll bake it for my year mark! :) Can you believe that it's coming right up?! 

Wednesday: Wednesday was a loooong day because we had meetings all day! We had interviews and then coordination that night. President B is so crazy-it's going to be a blast to have him as our new mission president.

Thursday: We met an AWESOME new investigator! His name is R. He is also an independent movie producer. Since first meeting him, he's wanted to meet almost every night and is very fascinated by Joseph Smith.

Friday: We did weekly planning and then helped our recent convert with his talk. Then we taught R again.

Saturday: Also a good day! We met a woman named E, who is from Africa. She has a 1 year old daughter and doesn't speak very good English, but she speaks 2 other languages I've never heard of before! She was interested in our message. Hopefully, there's a Book of Mormon in at least one of the languages she speaks!! Oh, and this day was SUPER weird because a.) the mail came at like 2:00-which has NEVER happened--it's usually 5:30 and b.) PAIGE WROTE ME A LETTER--which is the first time in 11 months to get a letter from her in the mail.

Sunday: R came to church! And we set a baptismal date with him that night. We also taught J a lesson on faith. One thing that I love about being a missionary, is the privilege of having so much guidance from the Spirit. Sometimes we may not understand all the promptings we receive or we may be afraid to follow them, but doing what it tells us to anyway always brings happiness to our lives and especially to the lives of others.

I am so thankful Uncle G. is okay!!! {He was a passenger in a truck that rolled last week.} And I was so sad to hear about that family in Houston. :(  

So here's a quick story one of the recent converts in my ward told us. She's in her 20's and has a 5yr old son, but her fiance died a couple of years ago. She said that when she was about 14 she got herself into a bad situation and was raped :( She had an abortion and for many, many years wasn't at a good place with God. She didn't know why this had happened to her and she felt haunted by her decision to abort. After her fiance died, she finally went back to a Christian Church. She felt like she was at a good place with God in her life. She knew he had forgiven her, but still kind of buried her regret and guilt and sorrow. Last November, she started a new job. On her way to work each day, she drove past 4 large, low to the ground pro-life billboards. In December, she came in contact with a member of the church and soon after agreed to meet with missionaries. Finally, in March, she was baptized. The following Sunday, she was confirmed. The next day, as she drove to work, ALL FOUR of the billboards were changed!!! She had gone 5 months seeing them and then the day after her confirmation, they were ALL changed! She says she laughed and cried and then texted the Elders. Isn't that SO cool?! It's amazing how baptism truly is a COMPLETE remission of sins/guilt that can come in no other way. And it's a testimony to me that HF loved her enough to change all four of them the day after her confirmation, to let her know that she was forgiven from her sins. :)

Other things to note:
1. Sorry, I can't marry someone with the same name as my Dad. {Funny story that isn't blog appropriate--ask my mom!!} 

2. A 44 year-old has a crush on me. #notthefirsttime #10cowbride

3. I really love that people sign up to feed me. So when I get home, my plan is to send a meal calendar around the Single's Ward Elder's quorum. :)  {Ashlyn+Food=BLISS}

 It's so neat to see how aware God is of each of his children and how universal the Gospel is. I hope everyone had a GREAT week this week!! I love you all!!  

Happy Birthday to me! 

-Sister Ashlyn Galloway

Quote of the week; "I believe that is a good way to face the unpleasant things in our lives, not complaining but thanking the Lord for the trust He places in us when He gives us the opportunity to overcome difficulties."  Elder Richard G. Scott