Ashley Ltr: 2013-07-29

July 29, 2013

Hey family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MP3!!!! I love you so much and hope you have a great year!! :) :) :)

So good to hear from y'all it sounds like things are going great at home! When does school start back?  School here starts next week! It's so crazy that summer is practically over... These last few months of my mission are flying by and I don't really like it that much.

The little boys in the picture are Adam and Michael Daniels from the ward, SO DANG CUTE!!! I honestly think one of the hardest parts about being a missionary is the fact that we can't hold babies or little kids.

I've heard of Elder Dye, never met him though. That's so crazy that they already know who their replacements for the Center are! When is their mission over? I'm still not sure if I'll go home before or after Christmas...

No we didn't really do anything to celebrate Pioneer day which was weird... The Relief Society president here in the ward though Nancy Allen and her family were in Oakley for the celebration and she said her brother pointed out some family who was singing. She didn't get the chance to talk to them though... I think her brother’s name is Powers and his family is in Grandma's ward.

For Pioneer day I was SICK! Holy smokes it was not good. I hadn't been feeling good Tuesday night and we went and did service again Wednesday morning and I felt ok until we sat down for lunch and I guess I went sheet white, I didn't pass out thank goodness but it was a rough couple of days. Nauseous, achy, and exhausted... Sister Carter, the Bishops wife, took good care of me though Wednesday which was nice it felt like I was at home instead of being sick in my apartment. So many amazing people out here I love it! I'm feeling good now though! The Priesthood is definitely a real thing.

Our first exchange of the transfer went pretty well. I was with a sister though who is known throughout the mission for laziness and really just not that great of a person. Sad to say that most everything that was said is true... I went into it with an open mind but it was kind of a rough 24 hours. I literally did all the teaching in our different appointments she kinda just sat there. She's got a lot of physical and emotional problems that she just doesn't handle very well. But for some reason our investigator Kim Williams is literally OBSESSED with her! It's almost creepy how much she worships her and the ground she walks on haha! It's because they're both as Kim would put it, "voluptuous" girls. The lesson with Kim went really well though and she's got a target date of baptism for October 31st. She said it was around that time last year that all this started with her husband Bobby who got baptized in March. So hopefully it'll all work out and hopefully she'll get her answer before then.

Sydney's dad is continuing to give her grief about the church and poor Sydney is way confused... We're literally doing all we can to help her out but it's getting to the point where she really needs to know for herself because we can't be there all the time. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Gloria has a tentative baptism date for August 8th! She's got a few things she needs to overcome like smoking but I'm positive she'll get there, it might just take some time.

Pam is still about the same... She says all this great stuff but really isn't putting it into action and actions definitely speak louder than words. Her son Devonte seems pretty interested in learning though so maybe she'll have more of a desire as he joins in more.

We picked up 3 new investigators this week! One is from a less active/part member family David (Junior) Ennis, he seems really promising, we're meeting with him tonight. Shawn Frost another LA/PM family, he's going to be a challenge but a good one I think! And Jan Kimbler, she is a cousin of a member in our ward, she also seems really promising.

Things are definitely moving forward here in Kingsport! I really love it here! Sister Burningham and I are SO BUSY all time, it's awesome!!

We have mission leadership council again tomorrow and we have to do a short training on correcting disobedience with love... We'll see how that goes.

I think that about wraps up this week. Thanks for all the love and prayers. I love love love y'all!! xoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

p.s. Yes I got Brooke's letter sorry one should be coming shortly!

p.s.s. I haven't mentioned it because it really hasn't been that bad! Northern Tennessee is sooooo much cooler than Southern man do you remember this time last year??! I literally thought I was going to sweat to death it was SO HOT!! There's been a few hot days but also a lot of rain I guess this has been a pretty unusual summer. I'm not complaining though! :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-07-22

July 22, 2013

Hellooooo family!!

Glad to hear everything’s going great back home! I love hearing from you each week and knowing that y'all are being taken care of back home!

No there is a set of Elders in the Kingsport ward as well, Elder Woolums and Darrington, they are awesome! Big things are going to happen here in this ward this transfer! :) Dad did you ever figure out if you knew Elder Darrington's mom? I can't remember her name now but I sent it to you a couple of weeks ago.

This week was great! It started off a little scary because we had flash floods come through, they were more in downtown Kingsport where we're not but the Elders live there. They got caught in it and literally were biking in water up to their waists! There were several shops that were completely ruined in the basements and in the shop we helped clean there was over 10 feet of water in the basement! It was absolutely crazy! People who have lived here over 40 years said nothing like this has ever happened!  We spent most of Saturday helping carry stuff out, shoveling mud, and squeegeeing the floor in one shop. It was exhausting! But such a perfect missionary opportunity everyone that was there was so grateful and impressed with all the hard work we put in, we all wore those Mormon helping hands pins so people knew who we were. I forgot my cord or I'd send pictures we were a mess but we all left feeling pretty great about what we'd accomplished.

We said goodbye to Beth yesterday... :( She is moving to Atlanta this week. Man I'm going to miss her A LOT! She is such an amazing lady and such a great example of continuing to move forward even when you have everything going against you. I hope and pray that Amber gets to meet and work with her and eventually her family. She made Sister Burningham and I rings that are way pretty! I'm so grateful that I got to meet her and have her influence my life for the better.

Sydney is still doing great! We went over a few days ago to talk with her about her dad and how she just needs to kill him with kindness and love. She said things have been going better these last few days and she's hopeful for the future. We went over there yesterday with the Elders to talk about setting goals with her and Parker the guy she's living with which went really well, I feel like we're their parents sometimes haha they just need some guidance and a good kick in the pants to get them going. While we were there her nasty flea infested cat literally attacked Elder Darrington! I think it's going crazy from all the itching it does every second of every day. I felt bad for him, he said he's got a few puncture wounds in his back. That cat is lucky to be alive haha.

Patty is doing well, she still isn't really budging towards baptism she says when she knows she'll know and then she'll get baptized... I think she's expecting some huge sign that is not going to happen. We're not really sure what else to do.

Pam is still about the same too, she says all these things and we have great lessons with her but that's about it. She won't keep commitments and sometimes doesn't answer our calls. UGH it's frustrating! We're just trying to help and so many people just won't let us!!

We didn't get to see Gloria this week because her daughter just had a baby so she's been in Kentucky. Hopefully something will happen again there sometime soon.

We picked up a new investigator Sarah Lowe this week! She is living with a LA who has a very strong active family back in NY and she is so impressed with how there family gets along and loves each other and she wants to know more and see how she can have that happiness in her life. Lots of potential there. You never know the influence you can have those around you.

They have what’s known as Funfest here in Kingsport and we went and saw the hot air balloon show on Saturday it was really cool! Again sorry no cord, I'll send pictures next week.

We'll start exchanges here again this weekend, I'm excited we set goals as a companionship of things we want to accomplish while on our exchanges to really make things happen and help these sisters as much as we can. On the sisters conference call we had President Irion said that in January there were only 16 sisters and now there are 66!! It's awesome!

Well I think that about wraps up the week. I love love love y'all!!! xoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Pics: 2013-07-15

Ashley & Sister Burningham - Exchanges with Bristol Sisters Stone & De Hoyos

Ashley, Sister Burningham, and Elder ??? - Donated Blood

Ashley's Flea Bites - The Joys of Missionary Work!

Ashley Ltr: 2013-07-15

July 15, 2013

Hey family!!

So good to hear from you!! That was really sweet what that lady said about Amber, and it's so true. She is going to destroy it out here, I'm way excited for her!!

Before I forget have you gone over and tried to see... dang it I can't remember his name but the guy that lives right behind us almost that is the brother of one of the guys from the Athens ward?

Yah I saw Cami Hargis' picture on our monthly news letter! I thought that was pretty cool, it'd be fun to get to see her.

I love that you keep in touch with some of the ladies out here! I think there are 6 missionaries from this ward, which is out of this world out here! I think that's why this ward is so on fire with missionary work.

Exciting news of the week!! I'M NOT BEING TRANSFERRED!!! Hallelujah! This is seriously the first time in I think 6 months that I haven't either been transferred or gotten a new companion. Sister Burningham and I were pretty excited! :) Our district isn't changing very much, we're getting a new district leader and the Rogersville sisters are co-training and getting a third companion.

And I found out that Sister Colwell, Sister Liebing, and Sister Clove are all training! If that doesn't make a trainer mama proud I don't know what does! :)

We had a pretty good week! We had zone conference on Tuesday and Sister Burningham and I did a training which was fun! Us, the zone leaders, and Elder Babbitt (the one from Oakley) did kind of a combined training on church, pray, read. We trained on prayer, we used the acronym PRAY and did P- perseverance R-revelation A-act Y-you. It turned out pretty well I think.

We saw Sydney a lot this week, she is just glowing with Spirit. It was awesome the other day she said, I'm a Mormon!! It was so great to hear! I know I say this each week but I love being a missionary!! Man being able to have the privilege of serving my brothers and sisters and help them be as happy as I am and letting them know how much the Savior loves them. Best. Thing. Ever. :) :)

Pam Mitchell is doing alright... She had a bad fall the last week which has put her in the hospital 3 times now, she hurts so bad she just sweats. But we've had a couple of awesome lessons with her, she wants this, she just needs to get on her feet a little more. I have no doubt in my mind though that she'll get there!

We didn't get the chance to see Gloria or Patty Nisbet last week because they were both out of town, summer is a rough time sometimes. We found Gloria through a member from the other ward, Sister Mills, she is her mother-in-laws caretaker and absolutely loves her so she shared the gospel with her! The members out here are awesome!

Beth found a job down in Atlanta and they are moving next week... :( I'm really going to miss her but she told us that things just seem to be falling into place and I have no doubt she'll be baptized within the next couple of months. So I'm happy for her.

I heard a cool quote this week I wanted to share...

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature... May we be convinced that Jesus is the Christ, choose to follow Him, be changed for Him, captained by Him, consumed by Him, and born again." President Benson

I love that! The world would have you solve things with drugs or money but our Savior teaches us to love and serve other people so we can change ourselves. We do the changing with His help and only with His help.

I think that's about it for the week... Thanks for everything!! I love y'all!! xoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Elder Holland Quote for Mom

A lady in Ashley's Kingsport ward (who just sent their daughter out on a mission) had Ashley and Sister Burningham over for dinner and showed them this quote by Elder Holland.  When Ashley saw it she said, "You have to send that to my mom." 

We are grateful for good saints on both sides of the veil who watch over our missionaries.

Ashley Pics: 2013-07-08

Ashley, Sydney Ramey, Sister Burningham

Ashley, Sydney Ramey, Sister Burningham

 

Ashley Ltr: 2013-07-08

July 8, 2013

Helloooooo family!!!

Sounds like a great week! I loved the pictures from Nate's wedding! I'm so happy for him! Thanks for telling me about what Phebe said :) that makes me so happy! Yes I did get my VISA card thanks a million! And Sister Carter wanted to send that to you. :)

So the big news of the week..... SYDNEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It really happened! I seriously was so nervous that it would fall through like so many that have (oh ye of little faith yah yah I know...) haha but she really did it! Seriously it was so great! She was so incredibly prepared it was crazy to think that just 16 days after meeting her she'd be baptized! I think I told you about what she said but after going to a baptism a couple of weeks ago we're driving back and she turns to me and says, "You know, I think that's something I'd like to do!" So right then and there we set the date and she hasn't looked back since! And her dad came to the baptism which was huge! The sad part was that we found out later he really only came to support her but also to find fault with our church. He took her home afterwards and was totally bashing us the rest of the night. Sydney was understandably heart broken and confused but we went over last night and talked with her about everything and said just focus on how you've felt, the Holy Ghost can and will never lie to you. Trust in that and pray to know. She felt much better after we left I just hope and pray she stays strong! The ward is doing an absolute incredible job of taking her under their wing though. I LOVE THIS WARD!! :) :)

Yesterday at church we had 4 people come!! It was so great! Our investigator Gloria came and that was the first time in over 30 years that she'd been to a church period. Hopefully she'll have a baptism date soon. She's such an amazing lady. I just want this so much for everyone that I come in contact with! Man serving a mission really is the best thing ever!! Amb I'm so excited for you!! Beth, Kim Williams, and Sister Patty Nisbet came too!

It's been another crazy busy week! But so good, I love being busy all the time! Mission Leadership Council went great, long (4 1/2 hours to be specific with a 2 hour drive there and back...) but great. One of the sister training leaders (STL) had a nervous break down I guess though and had to go home.... way sad. But it was fun to see every body and feel the excitement going around the mission!

There are no STL's in the new Asheville zone yet so I don't know if they'll switch things up with the 8 of us or if they'll call 2 new ones... I really hope Sister Burningham and I don't get switched out, I'm kinda tired of switching companions every 6 weeks. Also we work so well together and are having a lot of success. But whatever happens happens I guess. Sister Burningham is a STL too so we're doing the same thing. Asheville is in North Carolina and is now like a 1/3 of our mission, it's huge! Very country! I would LOVE to serve there! Other than that though our boundaries didn't change.

We've gotten back into regular contact with Pam Mitchell and the other day we were over there and she told us that she had a dream about her and her son Devonte getting baptized, and there was an angel just smiling at them so proud. She teared up a bit and said I'm going to get there I just gotta take care of a few things first! It was really cool.

Things are definitely happening here in Kingsport it's exciting!!!

Thanks for everything family and friends! I love love love and miss you! xoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

p.s. That's way cool about Brooke's poem! I feel like I remember helping you write that... Me and Amb both we were on the couch downstairs watching the Office and in between commercials we'd help you out haha maybe that was another thing anyway that's way cool babe!! I'm so proud!!!