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 :)