Ashley Pics: 2013-03-21

Ashley and Sister Liebing.  Ashley's new trainee.

Ashley Ltr: 2013-03-18

March 18, 2013

Hellooooo family!!

So I found out I've been spelling y'all wrong all this time... FAIL! Haha but now I've been set straight and hopefully be able to get it right from now on.

Thanks for the letter! Glad to hear everything's going well at home! :) Yes I got their letters and I'm sending letters back today. You've got the address right.

Yep I'm staying in Signal Mountain for at least 6 more weeks after that though I don't know. President said at our last training session to just get comfortable to being in here because you will be probably be training for the rest of your mission... Which is fine it's just kinda hard to have to start completely over every 6 weeks. I really am enjoying it though. The branch was really happy that I was staying, this will be my 4th transfer here. I've spent the first half of my mission in the same stake but I love it!

Can you believe it'll be 9 months on Wednesday?!? Holy crap. I will officially be on the downhill which is so weird. I just can't get over how much I've learned and grown in such a short period of time. Serving a mission really is the hardest but best thing I've done  in my life so far.

My new companions name is Sister Anne Liebing from Spanish Fork, UT. She is a sweet girl just not very confident or sure of herself. She kept saying I can't do this, I can't do this. So I told her our family rule about the "c" word and told her she's not allowed to say that ever again. Thank you for teaching me to have a can do attitude dad, I really appreciate it. :) She really does have a lot of potential she just doesn't realize it yet. One thing I do love about her though is she takes constructive criticism very well and knows her weaknesses and is striving to better herself. She just needs a little TLC.

Sister Colwell got transferred up to Greeneville, TN which is towards the very top of the mission about 4 hours away. She got put with another half trained sister, I know she'll be okay. I just don't think if she thinks she will yet. She was really sad about leaving. I miss her too, we were really starting to teach well together.

So update on Oralia and Rey... Rey is being dumb again and as of right now refusing to marry Oralia. UGH!!! I'm running out of ideas of what to do. He is such a roller coaster, one minute he's all for it and likes what he hears about the church then the next he doesn't. I really think it has to do with the amount of alcohol he has in him at the time... Poor Oralia I think is starting to get slightly discouraged. She is so amazing though and despite everything she has got one the most strong testimonies of the gospel. I just don't know why things aren't working out for her right now. She also told us that they might be moving at the end of the school year... :( She really doesn't want to, she said she's finally starting to put down some roots and make a lot of friends and she doesn't want to start over again. I don't blame her. Please continue to keep them in your prayers, she really could use a lot of them.

On a more positive note, Larry is doing great!! It is so exciting to actually have someone (besides Oralia) be excited about the gospel! He wants to be a part of the church again so bad and is willing and ready to do whatever he needs to to get back. I can't remember how much I told you about him but he was excommunicated about 25 years ago but within the last couple months has almost died a couple times. He told us that while he was in the hospital though he felt God's love for him so strong and after he received a priesthood blessing he knew that he needed to make some changes in his life. We've met with him twice already and he came to church yesterday. Unfortunately his wife is still very bitter towards the church and doesn't want anything to do with it still, we're hoping and praying though that her heart will be softened and she will start to have the desire to come back soon. The Caughman's have been so great with helping them out though. Brother Caughman is a convert of just about 10 years and Larry and his wife played a big role in him coming into the church for a lot of years so it's cool to see it come around full circle. Larry started his interview process with the branch president yesterday so we'll see how long the process takes. The only downer is that when he gets baptized it won't count as a mission baptism because he was already a member... :( BUT that's not what matters. What matters is that he's changing his life, and I'm just happy that I get to play a small part in that. :)

Unfortunately that's about all we've got right now... We've taught several new people but only one time after that first time they don't want to learn anymore, it's frustrating. We're really trying to make a push for more member missionary work, that's where the magic happens is when they are giving us people to teach.

Side note it just started POURING!!! Holy cow like sheets and sheets of rain! And it's always on p-day...

Sorry you didn't make officer Jacer, you'll get 'em next year. How severe is Aunt Sarah's chemo? How much longer does she have to keep doing treatments? Has she lost her hair?

This was last week but I can't remember if I told y'all about the CES fireside by Elder Bednar, it is amazing. He posed the question to a young couple who just found out that the husband has cancer, do you have the faith not to be healed? After all is said and done if it's not the Lord's will for you to get better will you still put your trust and faith in the Lord? That really hit me hard. If I don't have a baptism my whole mission do I still have the faith to keep going and know that the church is still true? It's a different way of looking a things. I'd like y'all to watch it when you get a chance.

I met an Elder Babbitt at transfers on Wednesday from Oakley! He looked semi familiar, I don't know if he's in grandma's ward or not? Anyway he's a nice guy and it was cool to know someone! :)

Well I think that about wraps up my week... Thank you for the love, prayers, and support. It keeps me going. I love and miss you!! xoxoxoxo

Love,

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Pics: 2013-03-04

Baptism at Chatt Valley

Ashley Ltr: 2013-03-04

Helloooooo family!!

Yes mom that would be okay if you shared that experience, it was a pretty sacred and personal experience but I've been prompted to share it with a couple people since then. It really just ceases to amaze me how aware our Heavenly Father is of each and every one of us. :)

So I know you're all wondering what ended up happening on Saturday with Oralia and Reynel and unfortunately it's not good news... :( Reynel Sr. wasn't there when he said he would be and then he came later to come pick Oralia up and she asked him to come in for just 10 minutes but he wouldn't... It was so frustrating and discouraging this isn't very missionary or charity minded but I really just wanted to kick him in the face! 10 minutes that's all we asked! And for heavens sake you've been living with the woman for 15 years why not just make it official!? Some people's children... When we talked with Oralia about it she said she thinks he's realizing how big of a commitment the church really is and that some changes will definitely have to be made and that he's not up for those kind of life changing commitments right now, he likes his alcohol to much... She loves him though and wants to help him out. But she knows how serious of a sin she's living in right now and it's starting to get to her. So hopefully and prayerfully something will work out sooner than later.

BUT!!

Yesterday guess who came to church?!?! REYNEL SR!!! Holy smokes I think my eyes bugged out of my face! We had gotten a text from Oralia early that morning (in English! She's getting better slowly but surely!) that said please tell Cathy (the lady who gives her a ride) not to come because Reynel is taking us. Right there was huge that he was bringing her because several months back he stopped but then an even bigger bonus was that he actually came into the building and stayed for sacrament meeting and Sunday school!! Wow wow wow it was awesome! And we have an appt with him on Friday! Maybe they're supposed to get baptized as a family... I don't know yet but I do know that the Lord is in charge, it's kinda taken me awhile to figure that one out but I do know that His plan is perfect and so is His timing.

We found out this last week that Tasha is in jail... I guess she was supposed to be paying child support to her husband but she doesn't have a job and has no way of paying it so he knowing that took her to court and got her thrown in jail for at least a month. I feel so bad for her, it's just so sad to see how people's decisions affect them years down the road. That's why people need the gospel!!!!!

The new apartment is good, the cookie lady brought us sugar cookies the other day to welcome us to the building :) oh my lands they were soooooo good! And so cute! Come to find out she is the mother of a lady who is married to a member of the church, he's not active right now but the branch has been helping them out a lot lately because they just had a baby with major heart problems so they've had great contact with the church these past couple of months and we're hoping we can start teaching the cookie lady soon. She's such a nice lady and could really use this message.

I'm sorry to hear about Brooker, I hope she gets feeling better soon! 

I about died laughing about Jace and the maturation experience hahahaha! Gotta love those classes :) 

That is so awesome about the Lone Peak basketball team! Yah that's where Em went.

 It sounds like camp is going to be fun! Is Court going to be a YCL? Mom have Amber show you the pics I sent her of the scripture boxes, they're way cute and easy to make that could maybe be a fun craft to do.

You said grandma will have 5 new great-grandkids?? Whose the 5th? Val, Ryan, Jesse, Blake, and who? Is it Emily? I can't remember... That's so exciting though! :)

The work is continuing to move forward here! Slowly but surely. I just love this area there are so many good people and the branch is awesome! I really hope I stay for another couple transfers but I really don't know what's going to end up happening. I don't even know if Sister Colwell and I will end up staying together to finish out her training... Which would stink. There's just so many coming in and they need to be trained so I guess what might end up happening is that they'll start putting 2 half trained sisters together to finish up their training together. Which would be kinda stressful for them but there's really no other solution.

President Irion pulled me aside the other day and asked how training and everything was going, I said it was going great and that if needed I think Sister Colwell could definitely move on with another half trained sister. He thanked me for all my hard work and for my always positive attitude then said if we had 10 sisters like you we really wouldn't need any others. Which made me feel really good :) cuz there are someday's when I don't feel like I'm doing that much good out here so it's nice to be told it every once in awhile.

I'm going to a zone training conference tomorrow in Knoxville. Only a handful of us get to go and for whatever reason they want me to so I'm not really sure exactly what to expect but I think it'll be fun! 

Well I think that covers all the highlights of the week. I love and miss you all!! xoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

 

P. S. Birthday wise clothes is never a bad option... I can't really think of anything I need at the moment. I'll think about it and let ya know next week.