We are ALL Family!

 Dear Friends and family,

This has been a wonderful week!!! Long full of hard work, miracles and mixed emotions. We had exchanges this week. I stayed in Raleigh with Sister Smith, and Sister Mayfield went to their area. We found 3 new investigators by meeting a Church referral. Her husband and sister in law were there to when we went for a lesson with our referral. It was very exciting! They don't know much English, so please pray that the Spirit will help them, and us to be able to understand and learn. We had a great Easter activity with the primary that we were able to help with. "The Because He Lives" video was released, we are happily inviting everyone to watch it. It's our big Easter thing. The Women's session of General Conference was incredible, and it was so focused on the Family! We are all part of God's family! I love it! We had an amazing Fast and testimony meeting. One of our members has been going through a really hard time with her nonmember friends, considering the fact that she has been attending our  Church, but she has decided that she is proud to be a member. She is so strong! Sister Mayfeild goes home in a week and a half. That is both sad and exciting... She is an amazing companion and friend!

Sincerely,
 Sister Kimberly Galloway

Mission Miracles Keeps Us Going

Dear friends and family,

I hope y'all are doing well. I love being out here. Being a missionary is hard physically, mentally and spiritually. It is so worth it though! I am growing and learning a lot. I have met and learned to love many people. We are working on dedicating more time to finding people. It's easy to get caught up, with everyone who we would like to visit and teach, and forget to plan out to make the time to find more people. But we know how important it is so we are making it a priority. 

We had an amazing Stake Conference! Elder Gibbons and our Mission President and his Wife came and spoke. We met Elder Gibbon when he came in to the adult session. He came over to us as we were close to the door, shook our hands and talked to us for a minute. The talks were incredible and just what I and this area needed to hear. 

We sang at a baptism for a set of twins in one of our wards. It was a beautiful baptism! I am grateful to be on a mission and to be here in Raleigh and meet the people I come in contact with, and to have the spirit with me so much stronger. I am glad that spring is here. The tree's are blooming with blossoms and flowers and people are planting flowers. There is plant life everywhere here so it's exciting to see the changes. 

It's amazing as a missionary to see changes in people's lives and see them feel the spirit again. One of our less actives has been feeling very depressed and has been cutting her self. She hadn't been able to feel the spirit in a while and things with her family are really hard. We had a lesson with her about the importance of scripture study. I love Jacob 2:8 "And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul." Sometime in the next few days her daughter who had listened in on the lesson asked her if they could read the scriptures together. They listened to them from the Church website lds.org and she felt the spirit again for the first time in a long time. We cried for joy when she told us about it. It's moments like that, that keep us going. We do all we can and then turn it over to the Lord and we see miracles.

Sincerely,

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Spiritually Strong

Dear Friends and Family,

It's been a long but a great week. We had a lot of lessons this week. I love being able to help people. I have seen people truly change as they come closer to Christ. It's amazing to witness! I am grateful for my companion, Sister Mayfield. She is amazing!!! We get along really well and have fun. She is going home in a few weeks and I will miss her a lot. But I know her family will be so happy to get her back. One of the members we were teaching died this week. I didn't really know her but Sister Mayfield did.  She had cancer. She was asleep and on a lot of medication that kept her out the only time I saw her alive. The viewing was beautiful!

Sincerely,

Sister Kimberly Galloway

Tender Mercies

Dear beloved family and friends,

I love the Raleigh 1 and 2 wards. We are doing great! We have investigators, and spend a lot of time with less active members. We've been too busy to tract lately, but the Lord is still blessing us to find more investigators! We were driving to go visit someone the other day, and we saw a man sitting on the side of the road, and Sister Mayfield looks at me and says, "We need to go speak to that man." We turned around and parked on the other side of the street, and walked over to him. We just started talking to him, and he was very open with us and told us about how he's been struggling, but has been turning his life around and coming unto Jesus. We introduced him to the Book of Mormon, and we are going to teach him again tonight. 

One of our new investigators had a friend over, for her 2nd lesson, and it is great how the Lord is blessing us. It is a great and stretching experience to be over 2 wards. We do have Elders in both wards, but we are the only Sister Missionaries in the 2 wards. We focus on different people than the Elders and we can help in ways they can't. It's ideal to have both Elders and Sisters in a ward. My companion Sister Mayfield is amazing!!! She's a lot of fun to be around. 6 hours of Church plus meetings is really kind of long, but absolutely wonderful. I love it!!!

Sincerely,

Sister Kimberly Galloway

A Terrific Transfer

Dear Family and Friends,

I love you all! I am now in Raleigh NC over the 1st and 2nd wards. My new companion is Sister Mayfield. She is fabulas! We were in the same district my first transfer or my first 6 weeks out. Our companions and us went bowling together. So we already new each other. She's great!!!

[check photo album #2 on the left of this page, to see photos]

Sincerely,

Sister Kimberly Galloway