Christmas in North Carolina

Dear friends and family,

I'm sorry only part of my email want through... So now most of that is lost forever. Oh well, I'll try to remember most of what I was saying. 

I hope this one works. I hope y'all had a great Christmas. My Christmas was great. It's different on a mission but still wonderful.

I love the Christmas! I love being a missionary! It is hard but it is worth it.  Sorry with the deleted email I lost a lot of time... I love you!

I am sorry it took so long for me to get all y'all on here. I had to have my dad mail me my list,

and than I forgot it last week.

Christmas was great! It is different on the mission but still very good. I got to Skype home which was great! I am so happy that I got to speak to some of my family. I am grateful to all those who sent my cards, letters, and packages.

Sorry, I am running low on time today. A friend recommended reading D&C 31. I loved 

reading it. 

I gave a talk on forgiveness in Church yesterday. My companion Sister Anderson is wonderful. I love her! We are working hard to find people to teach. I love it here. There are tall trees everywhere. It is very beautiful! I a worried about how my allergies might be, when spring comes. 

There a loads of sweet people hear. It is a college town that I'm in now and there are a lot of young family's. My ward is great! The members are very kind. We are often in homes of the members eating with them, getting to know them and trying to uplift them with messages of our Savior. 

My companion and I are living in a house right now. It is a members home of a senior missionary who are serving in Salt Lake right now. They are letting missionary's live in their house wile they are gone. There are house rules they have left for us and parts of the house we can use. It's pretty nice. 

The Elders were pulled out of the area when I got here. As of about 2 or so weeks ago we are sharing the Elders with the Singles Ward, our Zone leaders. We have Spanish Elders to send people who speak Spanish to as well over the Spanish Ward. I am working on getting better at thinking of good things to talk about in these letters. What type of things do y'all want to hear? I love being a missionary! I get to focus on Christ and feel the spirit longer and deeper than I have been able to before. It is not easy but it is definitely worth it. It takes some adjusting to. 

I have more time to read letters that I do to write them so don't be afraid to write. I love letters and usually print my emails. I have learned that Strong ascents, speaking fast and coming through the little speaker phone on our cellphone is very hard to understand. This email is acting strange so I hope it sends alright.

Sincerely, 

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Missionary Surprises

 Dear Family and Friends,

I am doing well. I got my contact list from my parents but forgot to bring it with me. So I'll have to add them to this email list next week. I am excited for Christmas! I'll be able to Skype home. I don't know how to use Skype so I hope it works.

We gave a church tour to one of our investigators that I thought went really well and he said he would come to church. But we didn't see him. I am hoping he just went to his friend's ward. He found out that a friend from work is a member. I was so sad when I didn't see him at Church it was just heart breaking. But he is great so I'm sure he'll come next week.

I got some Christmas packages in the mail. I'm trying not to open them tell Christmas. Well I opened one. I love getting letters. It makes my day when I get one. I can only write back ones a week to everyone so I might not always have time to write back right away but I will try to always write back.

I hope everyone is doing well and excited for Christmas. Tell me how it goes for you and your family. It snowed a little on Saturday but It didn't stick. Sister Anderson and I were excited to see the snow. We tried to take pictures but I don't think they turned out that great. We are doing well and getting along. She is amazing! We are planing to make round house's for Christmas breakfast. It's something She always does with her family. Two Family's have invited us over on Christmas and we are going to try to go to both. The one we are going to for Dinner will help us with skyping home. I'm excited to talk to family. I can only call one house hold though. I'm not very good at knowing what to write about. If y'all want to send me some suggestions that might help.

We do something called the Book of Mormon Challenge that is really neat. It's wear you get a new Book of Mormon, write your testimony at the front, go through the whole Book marking different things in different colors, (like missionary story's, references to the Savior, etc.) and when you are all done you write your testimony at the back. It's really neat. It will take me a wile though. I am giving a talk on the power of forgiveness on the 28. I hope it goes well. It still looks like fall here. It's very pretty here.

So Y'all know I do have a Facebook mission so I get on Facebook but I can't communicate with friends and family on that until after my mission. So that's not a good way to get a hold of me. I can post dignified pictures though so look for them. The kids at the family's home we ate at last night, greeted us with picture that they drew for us. They are so cute. I love my area! The people here are great. I'm in a college town so most people here aren't from here and there are a lot of young family's. It was just Sister Anderson and I in this area. The Elders had been pulled out when I came in. But now we are going to share Elders with the Single's ward. So those Elders will be helping us out some. It will be interesting sents they are our Zone leaders. Sorry, got to go.

Sincerely,
Sister Kimberly Galloway

Missionary Work - Slowly Progressing

 Dear Family and Friends,

 I hope all is well. I love getting mail, so please keep writing. I love it here in North Carolina. Chapel Hill is beautiful! There are lots of hills and Chapels just like the name. I am definitely in the Bible belt and I like it here. There are giant trees everywhere. There is a crazy amount of leafs on the ground. Everyone just pushes them into the street and someone comes around to clean it up. 

The work is going slow in this area. But we do have an amazing investigator right now. We found him while tracking. He has a deep love for God and Jesus but says he's not religious. Yet he was quoting the Bible right and left. I think I recognized them all so far. Almost everyone here is from somewhere else. He's from Africa. I feel like I an teaching around the world as I am just over this one ward, Chapel Hill 2 right now. It is a college town so there is a lot of diversity in the residents and a lot of young college family's. The people are great. Everyone has there Southern manners whether they listen to you or not. The ward loves to feed us. It is rare that we don't have a dinner appointment. we try our best not to let them feed us too much. 

I love getting to know the people, serving them and teaching them. I know there is no way that I could do this without the Holy Spirit of the Lord. Expeshelly when teaching people who are so much smarter than me. I know that I have something that they need. Our investigator says he was told in a dream that we were coming and that with the way we talk he knows he will believe us. We want him to know for him self not just believe us. I felt like we were teaching King Lamoni's father. He just has so many questions and then just soaks it all in. 

We do a lot of work with inactive and less active members. I am so impressed with this one Sister who walked in all by her self on my first Sunday here. She told us that she was inactive for about 5 years and is back. She just glows every time I see her. We are trying to support her as much as we can but we had nothing to do with her coming back. I am so proud of our ward for how they are embracing her. We tout Young Woman's yesterday. They usually have about 9 girls but only had 2 for most of our lesson. But those 2 are just as important as the 9 would be to teach. 

I am giving a talk in church in 2 weeks. I bore my testimony on fast Sunday, my first Sunday and was asked to give a 5 minutes talk the 2nd Sunday that I was at the Missionary Training Center. So people are hearing a lot from me in that way. The food here so far has been great for the most part. The Lord has differently helped me eat stuff I don't like without gagging or making faces. I am very grateful that he has blessed me to have a stronger tolerance. 

Sister Anderson is my trainer. She is great! She does her best to help me and support me. One of my Grandmothers died this week and she cried too. She's so sweet. We are working hard and loving it. I can put dignified Photos on Facebook so y'all can check there for pictures. 

Sincerely,
Sister Kimberly Galloway

My Home Away from Home

Dear Family and Friends,

Please send me your home address if you would like personal letters. I am a slow at typing so I can't send very many emails but I'll have a little more time for writing off line. I don't have everyone on this list yet. I'm waiting for my list that my dad is sending me.

I loved my time at the Missionary Training Center. My companion there was Sister Hesen. She is great and in the other ward in the same city as me now, so I still see her. I have been in North Carolina sense Monday. My first area is Chapel Hill 2. My trainer is Sister Andersen. She works so hard. I could tell that she loved me right when I first saw her. That's not something that happens for me very often. She's a little older. I am so grateful for her. She loves me and is very nice but still does what she can to teach me all of the rules. She also has 2 brothers and 3 sisters and 6 nephews and she has 3 nieces (I'll have 3 soon, funny, funny). Her trainer was Sister Smith. So Sister Anderson is like my mom and Sister Smith is like my Grandma here. I haven't meet Sister Smith yet.

We are working hard. I get very excited when people are willing to listen to us. The members feed us well. A little too well if we aren't careful. My ward had a Christmas party on Saturday which was so great. My Ward is great!

I know that this is where I need to be. I know that this is the only true Church on the Earth. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ, his Atonement, repentance, baptism, reserving the gift of the Holy Ghost and endearing to the end that we can return to our Heavenly Father. If you know of someone who would like to get my group email, have them email me.

Sincerely,
Sister Kimberly Galloway

Letter From Mission President

Dear Brother and Sister Galloway:

We are very pleased to welcome your daughter, Sister Kimberly Galloway, to the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. As we spent time with her in the Mission Home and in orientation meetings, we felt her spirit and her heart. She is read to do the Lord's work here. She has been assigned to the Durham Zone of the mission, serving in Chapel Hill Second Ward in North Carolina. Her companion is Sister Amanda Louis Anderson from Bountiful, UT. 

We encourage you to write positive, uplifting e-mail and letters to your missionary every week. These letters give her the support and strenth she will need in this challenging, but rewarding, work. Please send mail directly to her apartment address. She will keep you updated as to her current address. All mail will be forwarded to her if by chance she misses it during a transfer. The mission office can always be used as a backup address. This address is as follows:

Sister Kimberly Galloway
North Carolina Raleigh Mission
6508 Falls of Neuse #100
Raleigh NC 27615-6845

Your missionary's preparation day is Monday. This is the day when she can read and write emails. Time to write emails is often limited. Her priorities are to write to you and to write her weekly letter to me. She will use the same myldsmail.net address used in the MTC.

Please keep the mission office updated with a change of mailing address as well as email address as we continue to correspond with you. The email address that you are receiving this email from is not my personal email. If you need to communicate directly with me on a personal or private matter, please contact the office at this email address or at (919) 876-2091 and let them know you need to communicate with me. They will make sure that I get your message.

One final note: We recognize that occasionally family members and friends of your missionary will be in North Carolina for different reasons. The Church has asked that they do not visit her nor request permission to visit her; this is disruptive and, oftentimes, hard on the missionary.

Sister Bernhisel and I know that this is the work of the Lord. We love the missionaries and are grateful to be able to work with your daughter. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

With our love,

Marc A. Bernhisel

Marc A. Bernhisel, President
North Carolina Raleigh Mission

First P-Day

Nov 24, 2014

Dear Mommy,

I love you so much. I hope you are doing well without me. I love the MTC. My district is awesome. Although we are one of the, or the loudest districts here, we are learning a lot and become good friends. My first companion is Sister Hensen. She is in a hurry a lot. She has a big heart, and loves to talk. She is very kind.

How is it being an empty-nester again? How are your chickens? We are very busy here. We got to go to the temple this morning, which was great. I love the sisters and elders in my district. We are all so different, but we have been getting along great. We are always laughing and having a great time. Don't worry, the elders aren't that distracting, since they are pretty much all younger. The sisters say that my laugh is contagious. We have a lot of fun. Today is my first P-day. I leave the MTC on Dec 1. Pray for me. I need the Lord's help every day.

Time goes by really fast and really SLOW here. I love being a missionary. i get to study the gospel so much. I love my missionary badges and being with other missionaries. It's hard wearing church clothes all the time. We got to wear other clothes for part of our P-day. The other sisters and I were excited to put jeans on.

I know that I am where I need to be. Be strong. I love you.

Love,

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Being Productive

Nov 24, 2014

Dear Dad,

I love you! I love the MTC.

Please address all written mail "Sister Kimberly Galloway." My departure DATE is Dec 1.

"Helpful Information for Parents"

1. Missionary service begins today (Nov 19). Please do not arrange or request visits with your missionary, particularly unanticipated meetings at the temple.

2. All missionary mail must come through the US mail our commercial delivery services. Hand delivered items will not be accepted. Do not send pizza, FAT FOOD, items needing refrigeration, or anything that is perishable.

3. Communicate with your missionary through a weekly letter. Telephone calls for missionaries can not be accepted.

4. Families and friends should not plan to visit departing missionaries art the airport. Farewells should be said at the home before the missionary departs for the MTC.

I had my first transfer today! It was a short one, to help us get more done.

I had a productive day. We went to the temple. I got a haircut (just a trim). Went with a sister to a Dr. appointment (which is why I only got half of my hour on the COMPUTER). They allow us two alterations for 50 cents each, so I did that, laundry, emails (I didn't get much time), letter writing, got a few things at the store, class, study, mock lesson, etc.

I got blisters on my first day. Moleskin helps a little. I got one of your Dear Elder letters in the mail a few days ago. I haven't been able to read all of my emails yet. I got permission to get on fast, tomorrow during a mealtime to print them to read later. So, I'll print my letters tomorrow. I love you. Bee strong. I know that I am doing the right thing being here. Read Moroni 7:13. I hope you are doing well. I love mail. Thank you so much for writing to me. Thank you for all your love and support. Thank you for trusting me with your missionary journal on my mission.

Did I tell you my companion, Sister Hensen, is the sister Austin and his wife told me tho look for? She is great. She is very thoughtful and loving. I love my district. I'm tired. It's late. I'll write again soon.

Love Always,

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Trust in God

Nov 19, 2014

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am almost through my first day at the MTC. I am loving it here! The spirit is so strong here! We have been very busy. There is no time to catch your breath. We just keep going. Which means the excitement level is still high. We had some practice teaching, but as a big class full of missionaries and only one investigator at a time, which is a little interesting, but done in an orderly way.

Austin and Lacey Woodfield asked me to look for Sister Hensen. And guess what! I found her! She is my MTC companion. It is very exciting.

I love you very much! I'm glad they gave us a few minutes to write you. Remember that you are both amazing, and that God loves you. I am where I need to be. Don't worry about me. Trust in God. Pray for me. I love you!

Love,

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Loving the MTC!

Dear Dad,

I love you so much! Thank you for your letters! It is so great to hear from you.

I love the MTC. We are crazy busy, and it is hard. But I am doing what I can. My companion is so sweet. Austin and Lacey Woodfield asked me to look for their friend who was going to my mission and to the MTC on the same day as me. Guess what? We found each other. She is my MTC companion, Sister Hensen. She is very sweet. She loves too talk.

Dec 1 is when I leave the MTC. I got my flight info today! It's coming up soon! I'll write more soon.

I love you!

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Be Strong

Dear Mom,

I love you! I miss you! I love the MTC! I just wrote you a letter, so you'll get that soon! I am learning so much and growing. I love my companion Sister Hensen. I love my district. They are a lot of fun. I think I will have to write more hand written letters than emails. Be strong. Be happy. I love you! This is where I need to be and I love it!

Love,

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Good Luck Sister Galloway!

Dear friends and family of Sister Kimberly Galloway,

 Sister Galloway reported to the Provo Missionary Training Center today at 1:00 p.m. In just a few short weeks. She will be serving in the Raleigh, North Carolina mission for a period of 18 months. We are so proud of you Kimberly! We know that you will be a wonderful missionary to the people of North Carolina!

My name is Shelby. Sister Galloway has given me an opportunity to keep track of her missionary emails and photos. This a big responsibility for me, because Sister Galloway trusts me enough to do so. As a friend, this means a lot to me. In fact, I already have a couple of photos that I will add. Be sure to look for the pictures tab on this blog...click on it, and it will go to another page to show you her pictures. Meanwhile, here are two pictures of our beautiful Sis. Galloway!

Stay tuned for future posts from Sister Kimberly Galloway! I am sure you are all just as excited to here from her as I am!