Ashley Ltr: 2013-05-28

May 28, 2013

Hey family!

Hahahahaha I laughed out loud at Jace's little insert haha! That's awesome though bud! And you were totally right that's exactly what I was thinking.

Wow oh wow oh wow oh wow!! Amb!!! Geez louise! I'm so excited for you! And Kristen is going on a mission?! That's awesome! Good for her! Keep me updated on that one for sure!

So Court what's with this guy??? Are you ever going to write me woman?! This whole transfer I've only gotten I think 3 letters total.... :(

Speaking of transfers they are already next week! Holy smokes its gone by so fast! I really hope Sister Clove and I both stay here but I really don't know what'll happen because of what's happened the last 2 transfers with me only training for 6 weeks at a time... I'm kinda thinking we'll both stay but I don't know.

In answer to some of your questions... We don't usually call people to ask if we can come see them if they're less active because most people here won't answer their phones or they'll make up an excuse as to why you can't come. So we just skip the awkward phone call and show up! For the most part people are really nice about it and usually let us in. Most people do know why they joined the church but for one reason or another they just don't come. Mainly due to laziness or they get offended, wow people get offended so easy it's so annoying! A lot of people have issues with tithing too... We have one cell phone between the 2 of us.

Man oh man this week was stupendous!! We were BUSY the whole week which was awesome! We got a baptismal commitment!!! :) :) :) :) For Kayli Wakefield on June 15th! She is so excited and we were ecstatic! This could potentially be huge because Sister Wakefield is one of 11 kids and really only 2 are active right now. Most of them live in our ward boundaries but they're either less active or excommunicated but they're a tight knit family so they'll probably all be there for the baptism. When we went by last Thursday her brother who is active (but lives in middle Tennessee dang it...) was there and he just got ordained an Elder so he was like I can baptize and confirm Kayli! It was really a tender mercy that he was there for the lesson. Please keep their family in y'all's prayers. Yes Kayli has been to church a few times but it’s been a couple of years.

We also picked up a new investigator who is 100% golden! His name is Billy McDaniel (17), he is best friends with a kid in our ward and is practically a member of the family. I guess he comes from a really rough family background and the Wests have taken him in and made him part of the family. He just is eating up everything we tell him, he does his reading assignments and listens so intently while we teach, which is not an easy task because the West's have 4 boys, enough said. :) We're hoping to get him with a baptismal date this week!

Cheryl is doing great as well!! You know how she at first she was refusing to marry her boyfriend Walter well that is not the case anymore! MIRACLE!!! She told us on Sunday that she'd been talking to him and he said is this what you really want to do? (talking about joining the church) and she said yes it is! WOOHOOO!!! She should have a date this week too! The work is definitely moving forward here in Athens TN!!

Sister Smith (Annie) is doing fantastic! She is loving relearning everything, holy cow she is the sweetest lady ever! We went with her to see a less active sister who is in the hospital who she was really good friends with 30+ years ago, so it was neat to be a part of that reunion! I guess this sister that's in the hospital has been pretty hostile towards the church the last little while but she was very nice to us and really appreciated our visit. Another huge tender mercy. :)

Haha we also babysat baby ducks for her overnight. There is a girl in our ward who raises them and Sister Smith wanted some so we were the middle man and delivered them. I'll send some pictures next week.

The Lord definitely blessed us this last week! :) :)

Sister Clove and I did a training for district meeting on finding which went really well I think. We did the acronym find, F-faith. I-importance of members. N-no effort is wasted. D-draw near to God.

All of us missionaries also spoke in church on Sunday! I was asked to talk on relying on the spirit. We were so busy all week that it wasn't really until Saturday that we had time to write them and the library was closed! Soooo I really had to rely on the spirit and just work with what few materials I had. I think it went alright though :)

We also sang with all the youth in sacrament meeting which was so awesome!! We sang the EFY medley, and we sounded pretty dang good if I do say so myself! It was kind of a last second thing we'd been practicing on Wednesday nights with the youth that were there but we'd never done it with all the YM/YW haha but it really went great! The youth in this ward are incredible.

Well I think that covers the highlights of the week. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers. I love and miss y'all!!!! Xoxoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Laing Family Email: 2013-05-17

Dear Bedke Family,
  Our family had the pleasure of hosting Sisters Bedke and Clove for dinner this evening.  They are such sweet sisters and we had a delightful time.  They were even with us when we got the call from Bishop Pitcher that our son, Westin's mission call was made today.  We are looking forward to being missionary parents soon!  We will be watching the mail all week.
  Sister Bedke has such an amazing spirit. We are lucky to have her.  She and Sister Clove sang, "I Stand All Amazed" before they left.  The spirit in our home was very strong. 
   Thank you for sharing Sister Bedke with us in Athens, TN.  We are excited to have sisters in our ward!

Sincerely,
  The Laing Family  (Craig, Leneda and Westin)

PS...I've attached some pictures for you of the sisters.

Ashley Ltr: 2013-05-20

May 20, 2013

Hellooooo family!!!

I'm so happy to hear Jess' wedding went so well!!! Man I am so bummed that I couldn't be there... :( I thought about all of you all day though and I can't wait to see some pictures!! I haven't met Scott yet... But I did hear a lot about him when Jess would come over to our house. I called her right before we left for the MTC and she said "Ash I think I'm going to be married to this guy before you get home!" And now it's really happened! I'm so happy for her!!! :) :)

I know my hair is getting super long!! I really like it but this summer I'm not so sure I wanna keep it.... I DON'T KNOW!! We'll see.  

Before I forget, last Sunday a lady came to our ward who mentioned she and  her husband served a mission in Albania! Their names are LaVar and Fran Leonhardt, they were CES missionaries and served from 2005-2007, but they said they know grandma and grandpa! Small world! Even in Athens TN you can find ties to home :)

I did hear about Sister Monson... Sad day. Was she at this last conference session? I don't know if I remember seeing her or not??

I totally forgot y'all were going on trek!!! Where are you going again? How long will it be? I'm so jealous! I hope I get to go on trek again some day.

Congrats Court on the new calling!! Following in your big sis' footsteps! :) It's so weird to hear those girls names though as Laurels now....

When does school get out?

This week was alright. It was also one of those weeks where almost everything you have scheduled falls through everyday... Ugh. BUT we did have a couple of good successes!  

You know we've been given the assignment to see all the sisters in the ward, which really is a huge task because the ward boundaries are so big! So we have to call most people before we come so we won't be wasting miles anyway, we call up this couple and ask if we can come see them, they said yes, we have a really good conversation with them leave them with a spiritual thought, song, and a prayer then leave. So come to find out in ward council yesterday Bishop gets up and was like the sisters had a huge success this week with the Himmelbergers, they actually let them in! And called and told us what a great visit they had with us and the great spirit that was felt and how much they loved having us there! I guess this couple hasn't let anyone from the ward come in since they moved in about 3 years ago, it's mainly the husband but everyone was shocked that we got in! Anyway it was really cool! We didn't know any of this before hand but it was just a huge testimony builder to me of what happens when you follow the spirit and just do what He says, miracles will happen!

I love experiences like that and I've had several on my mission! I really feel like a big part of my serving a mission is to work with less actives.

I can't remember if I've mentioned the Wakefield family or not.. Sister Wakefield is a member (less active) has a 9 year old daughter, Kayli who we've started teaching. She is the sweetest little girl and has such a desire to learn! She wants to go to church and be baptized so bad! We had an awesome lesson with her about the Restoration, which is hard to teach to a little kid! You know you're a good teacher when you can teach something to a little kids understanding. We did alright but it was harder than I thought I'd be... Anyway she will hopefully be baptized soon if we can just get her mom back into church.

We didn't get a chance to meet with Cheryl this last week because she was sick but I'm hoping and praying something good happens this week with her!  

We've been working with another less active Sister Annie Smith who hasn't been to church in years and years, she really doesn't know anything about the church. But we've been re-teaching her the lessons. She told us the last time we were there that her preacher at the Baptist church she's been going to is leaving randomly. Which really upset her but she told us you know I was thinking about it though and I don't think it's a coincidence that you girls came into my life when you did, I think this might be an answer to my prayers of what I need to do with my life. It was so cool!! Seriously being a missionary is so great!  

Last I heard on Oralia and Reynel it's still about the same situation... :( I really hope something will happen there soon.

Well I think that covers the highlights of the week. I love and miss y'all like crazy!!! xoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-05-13

May 13, 2013

Helloooooo family!!!

It was so good to talk to you all yesterday!!! I think Brooke and Madi have grown up the most. Wow, I MISS YOU!!! But I seriously am loving life as a missionary! It's so much fun and I continue to learn so much everyday, like I said yesterday I really can't imagine my life without serving now. Thank you for encouraging me to go and supporting my 110% the whole way. Y'all really are the best!!! :) :)

Melinda's baptism was so great! And I am still so grateful that I got to be there and that they waited for us! As I was sitting there I just felt this overwhelming feeling of love and that this is what it's really all about. I can't wait for more baptisms to follow!

Amb I so happy for you!!! Holy cow and proud!! You seriously are going to be such an amazing missionary, and I'm thinking you'll totally go foreign! When do you think you'll have your papers done by??

Is Jace feeling any better? 

Haha mom I totally remember that! Good times, good times... :)

I feel like I told y'all most everything that happened this week already so I'm not really sure what else to say haha, lame sorry!

I got an e-mail from Grandma B (thank you Grandma)! But still no letters at least since my birthday (thank you again).

We're meeting with Cheryl tomorrow, hopefully her boyfriend will have made up his mind about marrying her or not. Keep them in your prayers especially.

Give Jess a huge hug for me please! And take lots of pictures! Ahh I can't believe it's already here and she's getting married!!! :) :)

Again I'm so glad I got to talk to everyone yesterday, seriously those phone calls mean the world to me and make me so incredibly happy! Sister Clove and I were talking on the way home and asked why were we so blessed with such amazing families? And privileged to be born into the gospel? There are so many people who don't have that and I'm sorry that I haven't fully appreciated you and all that I've been blessed with. I truly have been so incredibly blessed!

Please thank U. Eric and A. Marcie for the money for me!

I love, love, love you all!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

p.s.  I'm trying to send pictures but I don't know if it's going to work...