New Year's Week

Hello!

This week has been a good one! Although Christmas already feels like it was a long time ago! 

Sunday night, we drove to Louisville and stayed the night with 2 other companionships. The next morning we drove to the church for the Mission Christmas party! It was so refreshing to be around so many other missionaries and to catch up with friends! There was a spiritual musical program, good food (of course!) and we sang some fun carols and other fun activities.

Tuesday night (Christmas Eve), we spent with the Bishop's family and Wednesday morning, we opened presents. Thanks everyone for all the mail this month!! Then we drove to district meeting...aka, district party. The B's (Sr. Missionary Couple) made homemade crepes. We played ping pong, Apples to Apples, and had a training. Some of the Elders ate crickets and tried convincing Sister E and I to. Obviously, they don't know us very well. :) After that, we drove over to the H Family and had a Christmas dinner and then Skyped!! Forty minutes felt like 5, but it was definitely the best Christmas present of all. 

This week we also taught P, who is one of our most progressing investigators. She is doing wonderfully and has a baptismal date for January! We were very blessed because her daughter's boyfriend has been somewhat antagonistic towards The Book of Mormon. We felt like we needed to stop by one night and B was there! We were able to teach and testify about The Book of Mormon to him. He was intrigued. He said that he would read it and that he'd seen the change that has come in P. She bore her testimony about it too!
 

I have no idea what the guidelines are for New Years. I'd guess no proselyting after 6 pm.  The RS pres. gave us some sparking cider yesterday, so I think we'll order pizza, have some cider, and go to bed. haha!! 

Sister Galloway and her district

This week's been a good one though. We actually got a LOT of work done, considering it was Christmas! We walked for like 3 hours around town yesterday because we are almost out of miles. I hurt so badly today. :)  We were able to find 3 new investigators in that time alone, which is awesome.

Oh. And a dog peed on me yesterday. Our investigator said "here, hold this leash really quick". Two seconds later, my foot was covered in pee -_____________- But, thankfully, the car was right there and I took my tights off, leaned my foot with the wet wipes you sent me awhile back (thanks mom!). 

We also met a Satanist. He was really nice and had a good spirit about him, actually.

You know you're in the south when:

-The ten commandments are posted everywhere.

-Your investigators are too busy with going to church activities to meet with you.

-You meet a man who has issues with the fact that the church isn't racist.

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Galloway

The fastest 40 minutes EVER....aka Skype Video Chat Dec.2013

We had been looking forward to skype-ing with Sister Galloway since she left in August. Finally, Christmas arrived and we were able to see her and talk to her! It was bitter- sweet because we loved hearing her voice, but the time passed so quickly and she announced that she had "10 minutes" left before we felt like we had been able to talk much. (She said she is working on being exactly obedient.)

Ashlyn mentioned these topics in our skype video chat:
*P is their most progressing and most likely investigator to be baptized.
*She liked the gifts we sent and was surprised (I don't know why!) she even got gifts this year! Her comp. loved her stocking which I whipped up super quick, btw.
*She said it was hard to wait to open the gifts, especially the ones from Grandma because she was under less social pressure (because it was from G'ma!) to keep them wrapped up until Dec. 25th!
*Funny and yet not funny story: Someone looked her nametag and said, "Oh, Sister. Like Sister Wives?" 
*She wanted to hear about what her sisters were doing at home.
*She said the GKLM Christmas Party was great. She was very much energized and refreshed by being with other missionaries. In fact, being with other missionaries is one of her favorite things about serving a mission because she said "It's kind of like what I imagine heaven to be like. Everyone is positive and the Spirit is strong. And when missionaries talk about each other, they always describe them in terms of their talents and abilities, not by physical appearance." She said she got to see many friends & wished she had more time to talk to Sister J and Sister P, both previous companions.
*Seeing Peanut was probably a low-point for her in the conversation. She's never been a fan, but we like to include him too! She then said she had a dog on her head the night before. (Ash always seems to get herself in pretty interesting situations, somehow!)
*She said she loved her area and hoped she gets to stay there a LONG time! (She's already been there 4 months, though).

Being able to see beautiful Sister Galloway was the best Christmas present of the day!

Things we noticed about Sister Galloway:
*She has a beautiful glow about her.
*She was extremely happy and laughed a lot during our conversation.
*The very sweet, pure side of her personality was shining through her beautiful, blue eyes.

Happy sisters! 

 Saying goodbye was emotional for all of us. Five more months seems like a lifetime to wait to hear her voice again. Luckily, Sister Galloway's dad didn't want the call to end in tears, so he grabbed "creepy Santa" and Peanut and ended the call with all of us laughing at her reaction to them.

Ashlyn's Missionary Plaque on the TO2 Ward Missionary board. One of six as of this post.

{So, next time, I will take more pictures of her on Skype and record the conversation with my phone! Duh, didn't think of doing that because I was so excited just to talk to her! Thanks Laura A. for the ideas!!}

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...!

So first off, here is what we are doing...

Later this week, we are leaving to drive to the mission home. We will stay the night there (or in a nearby missionary apt) and all 200+ missionaries will be at the mission home for a "Christmas Conference" (aka Christmas party). :) Sis E says it's pretty much the best. The Elders will be having an ugly tie exchange and the Sisters were supposed to have an ugly accessory exchange, but due to the common complaint that "we don't have anything ugly," it has been changed to a scarf exchange! :) hahaha! Good thing I have like 17 of those!

 

Then we proselyte on Christmas Eve until 6 and after that are going over to the B's house, so that will be fun. Christmas day we have district meeting. Then we're going over to the H's at 2 for dinner and stuff. (That's the same family we ate Thanksgiving with). Sister E is going to Skype first and I'll Skype after! Yayyy!!! :D The first presidency has asked us to keep it 40 minutes or less. :) So excited. 

This week's been pretty crazy. Yesterday at church was interesting... We taught Gospel Principals. Here are a few things that happened:

-(during the prayer) "....so we don't have to stay in hell for all eternity..." (Brother M: enough said!)

 Here are a few other "quotable" from previous Sundays:

Speaker in sacrament meeting: "Is Mormonism a cult?"

Brother W: "Yes sir!!"

A comment in Gospel Principals: "Back when I was married to a devil worshiper..."

Last night, we also went out and tried to find some less actives. One house we were at had big huge scary dogs that I thought were going to devour me. They didn't, but they still were scary. We walked around the house trying to find the front door (super sketchy, in all honesty) and only found a back door that we knocked at. No one answered. An hour later, we realized our phone was missing. After retracing our steps and saying a lot of prayers, we found ourselves back at the dark, scary dog house in the country. Pretty quickly, this huge truck pulled up and this man was there and started questioning us because he pretty much thought we were trying to rob the house. We tried to explain the situation and he didn't really trust us, but let us look for the phone. So yeah... interesting and pretty embarrassing night!!!

(Ash never said what happened to the phone but just sent this picture.)

We also had interviews on Friday and training by the AP's. Elder H (a previous zone leader) and Elder T gave a really amazing training. They talked about obedience and discussed our responsibility as missionaries and the principal of accountability. We did some pretty fun role plays too. Meetings and role-playing are like my favorite thing. And role playing in meetings... the best!! ha ha! It's fun though, and I have been working very hard the past few days to be exactly obedient. I've learned (and am learning still) that there are no short cuts to missionary work. You have to be obedient all the time and follow the process set up by leaders. In my interview, President W said that the sole purpose of the 12 apostles and prophet is to build up the Kingdom of God on earth. So, when they ask us to do something, whether it's the mission schedule, For the Strength of Youth standards, food storage or whatever it may be, even if it's small, we need to follow that. Everything that they ask us to do, including those things, are to build up the Kingdom of God on earth.

-Ashlyn

Llamas, pigs & dogs

Well, this week has been an interesting one. We spent a lot of time out in Williamsburg and Barbourville, which proved to be quite the adventure... Here are a few highlights:

 

So, there are way too many houses here that don't have house numbers. Or mailboxes. Or even phone numbers that don't work! We were out in Barbourville trying to find one and we ended up at this tiny turn off that led to the only houses in sight. We bravely passed the "No trespassing sign" (a standard here) and walked up the long steep drive way to the friendlier-looking house. As we were about to leave, the inevitable happened. A large, barking, scary dog ran out around the corner of the house. I thought I was going to die. I think it's only a matter of time before I get bit and/or shot at for tracting out in the country. Thankfully, the dog decided not to kill us so that was nice. But really, everyone here has a scary dog and a gun by the door. And a "No trespassing sign" of course. Although ironically once you start talking to most people, they act like they've known you their whole life and are super nice and helpful!

 

We've been teaching J, but it's been a little rough because he hasn't been rooted in The Book of Mormon. .....or the standard works. He's been obsessively reading the Apocrypha which has completely changed the spirit that he has about him. :/ But we will pray and work hard to help him! And L, his wife!

 

Christmas should be pretty good. We are having a Christmas  Party Conference at the mission home so that'll be neat! It's on the 23rd I think and we'll stay the night in Louisville the day before. Then we have a district meeting on Christmas (no idea why, but whatevs!) We also put up our little Christmas tree in our study room...the one I found with Sister J. :)

 

 

 

This week we also decided to go visit the RS president. She gave us directions to her house and told us that we'd know we were at the right place when we saw the black llama. Sure enough, we drove a mile or two out on a gravel road and saw the black llama. Apparently they're really territorial and keep coyotes away. And when they spit, it smells really bad...trust me. We got some names of people to go visit and spent about 5 minutes chasing her dog around the holler, trying to catch it. It was a funny day!

 

Later, we went to visit a less-active and asked how she'd been. She told us that she had helped her neighbor clean a pig at midnight last night. Of course, Sister Egbert and I pictured a pink, happy Wilbur splashing around in bubbles.... which is not what she meant. Apparently, he had hit a pig with his car, so naturally, he called his neighbor, and they cleaned it out and split it. She also told us about her experiences deer hunting and I learned more than I ever wanted to know about gutting a deer. So, needless to say, we have a dinner appointment Tuesday night. Poor Bambi!!

 

Ashlyn's imagination of how a pig gets clean!

 

 

This week I also have been thinking a lot about The Book of Mormon. It is SO important to stay rooted in it. Like it says in the first few pages, it really is the most correct book we have. I've found so much comfort in reading it since I've been out here. It brings such a special spirit. It truly testifies of Christ. In my experience so far, if people will start reading it, they really can't say anything bad about it. Of course there are rumors, but it testifies of Christ and has a special spirit about it because of it's truthfulness and divinity that even the most antagonistic of people really can't condemn it.

 

I know with my whole heart that Jesus Christ called Joseph Smith as a prophet of God, and that he translated The Book of Mormon. I absolutely know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was called to restore Christ's gospel in it's entirety with his power and authority. There is no doubt in my mind about that fact. It is truth and someday everyone will know that. I am so grateful that for some reason I have been blessed to have the fulness of Christ's gospel in my life. It is an invaluable gift. I know that because I was baptized, I have the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide me, comfort me, and help me discern truth. I can't imagine my life without these blessings.

 

Love,

Sister Ashlyn Galloway

Transfers & Thanksgiving

Hello!

Tuesday we drove up to Louisville for transfers and I got a new companion! Her name is Sister E and she is from  Nevada. She's been out almost a year and has a lot of strengths that I don't. I'm looking forward to everything I will learn from her. Getting a new companion has been a little strange, but life is full of changes. It was sad to see Sister J go. She helped me a lot and was a good friend to me. 

Me & Sister E.

Thanksgiving was great, although we ended up eating three -yes three- Thanksgiving dinners! It was quite the challenge, but I really can't complain about being fed :) For the first dinner, we went with C. and his family to Hillbilly's restaurant. Then we had dinner with the H family, which was a lot of fun. Even though I wasn't with my own family, it was nice to be in that family atmosphere. We had a really fun time and it was super delicious. Then a less-active called and told us that she was going to be eating alone and invited us over, so we had our third dinner with her!

This week we also taught J. He is a little bummed because he is almost done with The Book of Mormon! We promised that we would give him the Doctrine and Covenants soon, so he is very excited to have that. We also talked to him about baptism this week and he came to church which was really exciting. He has been somewhat of an "Alma the younger" type of person. He described meeting us the first time and said "I had the devil in my heart, but I saw Jesus in their eyes". K also came to church and we fasted with her to help her live the Word of Wisdom.

This week I have also gained a testimony of Christ's individual love for us. We were driving home one night and saw a woman on the corner. Sister E and I both had the impression that we needed to talk to her, so we parked the car and walked towards her. (Being a missionary is kind of like being a professional stalker...it's fun!!) She started walking away, but we felt strongly that we needed to talk to her, so we followed. I realized that she looked like someone I had met once in town. I called out that name and she turned around. Come to find out, it was her. Long story short, she was at a point where she desperately needed to be rescued by Jesus Christ. We shared a prayer with her and a scripture, but she still chose to walk away. It was heartbreaking to see, but I know that Heavenly Father has such a deep, individual love for each of his children and is far more involved in our lives than we tend to think.

Gahh.. "Catching Fire" sounds like such a great movie. When I get home we'll have to have another movie marathon, like we did with LOTR!

A snowy day with my new companion who is great at talking to people!

Today we're just doing usual p-day stuff. Plus we're going to the church so I can practice "Angels We Have Heard on High."  I have to play it for when the RS sings the Sunday before Christmas---surprise! :p I miss piano and wish I had more time to practice. I really enjoyed that this summer. It was nice to have long days to be able to learn so many new hymns. I play for RS on Sundays. Sometimes I have to just sightread the top hand, though.

I am so grateful that I have the Gospel in my life, with all of the specific blessings that it brings to me. There is so much pain, confusion and heartbreak that is avoided by simple obedience to Heavenly Father. As Latter-Day Saints, we have a lot more rules and seeming "restrictions" compared to others, but these things truly make us more free and make us happier when we abide by them.  

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Galloway

Thanksgiving Week

Hello to my family & friends!

 

This week has been a good one as usual! We had stake conference Sunday, which was really uplifting. President W spoke of how we need to "cast our nets on the other side" when it  comes to missionary work. Because we have been told by a Prophet of God to do so, we know that we will be successful, even if earlier attempts to get a friend interested in the church weren't. He had all the converts in the stake raise their hand, and at least half of the congregation raised their hands. He then told them to keep raising their hands if they would have thought, a month before meeting the missionaries, that they were good canidates for becoming a Mormon. Almost every hand dropped. It was such a testimony to me how important it is to share the Gospel with everyone, whether or not we judge them as "good" candidates.

 

 

 

We also taught K. this week, who has a baptismal date for December 21st. We taught the Word of Wisdom to her and it went pretty well! We also taught two new investigators and saw J. a few times as well. He is still reading and loving The Book of Mormon. Sometimes I wish I could record what he says about it because he really thinks about it, and it is more than just words on a page. I love how much he gets into it. He brought up a concern this week about organized religion and it being man made instead of from God. We read 3 Nephi 27 with him and gave him a pamphlet on "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" and invited him to look for the pattern of faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end in his scripture study. One thing that I really like about J., is that he loves figuring things out himself through his studying and reading. And he really likes pamphlets. I don't know what we're going to do when we finally run out of new ones to give him! haha. 

 

 

Fall color!

 

 

 

Yes, we have Thanksgiving plans, two dinners in fact! :) We are eating with the H Family on Thursday and are eating with K and D on Wednesday. They are having Thanksgiving a day early because they are both divorced and don't have thier kids on Thursday. 

 

Happy, happy Ashlyn---she got mail from the Robison boys!

 

  We also had an investigator tell us some similarly personal things this week. It was an incredible experience for me to be able to bear my testimony of the Atonement and of it's power to heal despite the fact that I haven't faced the tiniest part of what she has had to. There are wounds that run so deep that nothing but the Atonement can heal them. I remember a teacher at the MTC telling us that anything less than using the atonement, was like putting a band aid on a severed arm. Because the Atonement truly and completely heals, it enables us to do the difficult things that we have to do in life. 

 

 

 Anyway, this week has been pretty good! I still am pretty anxious to get to talk to you all at Christmas because it's a little sad to not be home this time of year. But it will be ok.

 

 

 Sister J. (Jacques as we call her!) is getting transfered! We don't know where to, but we'll find out Tuesday at Transfer Meeting. We're both betting on Indiana. She has been a great companion and I will miss her.

 

Ashlyn & Sister J

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I finally put the sewing machine to use this week! I sewed a skirt. I'm wearing it in the picture of out district I sent you. yaaaayayayaya!.  I helped Sis J sew one. It looks way good!

 

The Foothills District  (Ash sporting her new skirt.)

 

 

 

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

-Sister Galloway

busY, Busy, bUsy!

This week has been pretty great! Tuesday we had Zone Conference which was super uplifting. The stake president spoke and reiterated the importance of teaching the Atonement. He said that every other part of the gospel is less important. President W. taught us from Alma 5, about how to reach out to less actives. 

 

This looks like more fun than service!

 

 

The rest of the week was full of lessons. We taught J a lot this week. It's so amazing to see what a change has come over him since we met him the first time. He is better able to recognize the spirit, and it has really softened him. It's kind of hard to teach him because he has so many different thoughts running though his head, so we have been giving him the pamphlets and then discussing them with him later. He is very excited to learn all there is to know. 

 

A big bonfire with the H family

 

 

We also taught the wife of a member this week, and set a baptismal date with her! She is SO ready for baptism, and her husband is very excited. So, as long as she can keep the WOW she will be baptized the 21st of December! :) We also taught M., and challenged him to pray about baptism! I really had to rely on the Spirit during that lesson, because I was so tired! But the Lord really made up for my shortcomings and low-functioning mental state and taught M. what he needed. We also taught D and N. We ended up discussing the sabbath and why it was changed. We didn't feel like we were totally able to resolve D's concern, but I guess we did better than we had thought, because out of the blue he showed up to church on Sunday!  

 

 

Making s'mores with the Elders after we did service.

 

This past Friday, we also went and taught a religion class at a college in W-burg. It was pretty small, but it was a great experience! Dr. B. pretty much grilled us, but it was great to see him and the students all really thinking about it and asking questions. As we were going to leave, he told me "Well, I hope you have a great life and marry a Melchizedek Priesthood holder!" hahaha. I think he was proud of how much he knew about Mormons! And he definitely knew a lot.

 

So just for fun, here is what my morning schedule is like: 

6:20--1st alarm goes off

6:30--2nd alarm goes off. (We usually tell each other our dreams as we roll out of bed. Today, Sister J said, "I dreamed we were confined in a room together." ha ha! Imagine that!)

 

Then we have companion prayer, personal prayer, make beds & exercise. 

After that, we get ready for the day.

8:00--personal study   & companion study after that. 

 

Then we leave for the day. And each day is different--even after having weekly & daily planning. 

 

Ash's dad prayed for Sister Galloway & Jacques one night---which is not my companion's  name--- so we lovingly call her Sister Jacques now! :)

 

 

 Sometimes I get sad when I let my personal weaknesses get in the way. This weekend, I accidentally left the phone in the library and it closes at 2 on Saturday so we spent the whole weekend without a phone, which is bad because there are people who need to get a hold of us, plans we have to confirm, etc. Also this Sunday, right when we got to the church, I realized that I had forgotten my name tag.  So we had to drive all the way back home and back to the church.

 

 

 

Last night it was raining and it was fun to hear the rain on the roof. (That was the from the tornadoes that went through the mid-west last weekend.)

 

Thank you all for your prayers, letters and emails! I love hearing from everyone and can feel the strength that comes from The Lord.

Love,

Sister Ashlyn Galloway