Ashley Ltr: 2013-09-30

September 30, 2013

Hey y'all!!! :)

What an awesome letter from home. I thought about y'all all day yesterday and Amber you were in my prayers and a big part of my fast. Thanks for forwarding me your talk.

Geez it is so weird to me that it's just a couple of days away now... October felt forever away and now it's here.

This week has been pretty crazy, but it felt like we were running around like crazy and not accomplishing all that much you know? I really am trying to focus on the little successes we do have though which is a lot. 3 of our 5 progressing investigators have been out of town so we've been visiting a lot of less actives which I love doing! Less active work is where it's at!

We did have an incredible lesson with Patty last Monday though!! Holy smokes! I have a reaffirmed testimony of bringing members with us for lessons. We brought Elder and Sister Smith (they are church service missionaries) from the ward who are good friends with the Nisbets and Elder Smith knocked it out of the park! It was so great! He didn't really know what her concerns were but he just started bearing testimony about the Book of Mormon and also applying Moroni's promise in chapter 10:3-5 to anything not just the Book of Mormon, which seems like a duh but I'd never thought of it like that before and she was listening so intently the whole time. Then Sister Fox and I came in with talking about Elder Bednar's talk on receiving revelation and how there's 3 different kinds (it's in a Mormon message and it's a 3 part movie, y'all should definitely watch it! It's called Patterns of Light). We had told her that she's not going to get some earth shaking answer to her questions but I don't think she fully understood that but that lesson she was the one that told us that, she's like, "I have been expecting something big to just knock me over so I'd know, but I don't think how that's how it works..." FINALLY!!! She is so stinkin close! We're meeting with her tonight and hopefully something will have clicked.

We had a way cool lesson with this guy that came up to Sisters Fox and Roundy at the library (I was in Bristol at the time on exchange) he was like what do the badges mean? So they briefly explained and exchanged numbers not thinking much of it. The next day we get a call from him though and he's like hey I'd really like to learn more from you and about Jesus Christ. So we saw him Friday with the Elders (turns out he's in their area dang it...) but we met outside in this gazebo thing sitting on the floor in a circle and taught him the Restoration, holy cow talk about a spirit bomb! It was so powerful he had never heard of our church before or the Book of Mormon but he was listening so intently to everything we said and accepted the invitation to be baptized!! It was so cool all 5 of us were teaching in unison and bouncing off of each other, Kingsport missionary unity at its finest! :)

I went on 2 exchanges this week, man talk about exhausting. I hate being out of my area so often but it's been really cool to get to work with the other sisters and to see more of the mission. One of the exchanges was just this last weekend and I got to help with a move oh boy... You talk about nasty, this place was NASTY!! I don't understand how people can stand to live in crap like that, mom you would have been mortified haha I actually laughed to myself a couple of times at how you would have reacted while I was cleaning. :) This lady has a dog that she hadn't potty trained and there was literally crap everywhere and caked in the floor. Ugh... Other than that though we had really good exchanges and it was fun to catch up with Sister Cady, I served with her at the very beginning of my mission and haven't seen her much since. We've both grown and changed a lot since then... :)

It's kinda crazy, transfers are next week! I'll find out Saturday if I'm staying or leaving. I kinda think I'm going to be transferred out... :( I really would love to just finish my mission here in Kingsport but whatever needs to happen will happen and I'm okay with it.

We still haven't had much contact with Sydney... We have tried and tried I even risked my life putting a note on her door, they have a cranky old dog that bites but I was praying so hard that I could just put the note on her door and go. It came up to me and let me pet in and put the note on the door and walk away and literally as soon as I got off the porch it went psycho, I was definitely being watch over that day!! She did get a job though! Hopefully now that she has that she might start prioritizing things in her life. Please continue to keep her in y'alls prayers.

Thought for the week...

"If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are a sincere friend." -Abraham Lincoln

If we want to help people change for the better they've got to know that we love and care about them, especially in missionary work.

Well I better wrap it up, know how much I love and appreciate y'all. And Amber good luck!! I'll be thinking about you! xoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

p.s. Yes I got to watch the broadcast! It was incredible I especially liked the last lady, Sister Reeves I think... Way good! And to see the sister missionary choir heck ya!! I'm way stoked for General Conference!

p.s.s. I can't remember if I asked last week or not but I am in need of another journal if you could send me one it'd be much appreciated! Love y'all!!

Ashley Ltr: 2013-09-23

September 23, 2013

Helloooooo family!!

Sounds like things are going great back home! Sorry for kinda the downer letter last week...Hopefully there won't be any more of those!! We had a pretty good week, kinda slow but good!

I heard from some members back in Chatsworth this week! It was so fun to hear from them, Mama and Papa Black :) Love them! They sent me some pictures of Keyaundra and her mission, she's doing great!

We had another baptism this week! Do you remember Dylan Roberts I told y'all about a few weeks ago, we had to pass him over to the Elders but he got baptized Saturday!!! They asked me to speak on the holy ghost, which I think went alright. He is so legit! The spirit was so strong there, and his mom and I think step dad were there to watch. Planting those seeds.

We're still doing a lot of less active finding which is always fun haha. We had a pretty cool experience with one sister Alicia Hendrickson, we were on our way home and I really felt like we needed to go see her, I'd never met her before but her name kept coming to mind so we head over, turns out she had broken her foot that morning and really needed a visit. We met her boyfriend and her brother who aren't members but have some serious potential. She texted us later that night and said thank you so much for coming I really needed that and Dee (the bf) is very impressed with you and hasn't stopped talking about y'all since you left! It was really cool! I'll keep y'all updated on that one!

We picked up a GOLDEN investigator this week! Her name is Debbie Short (I'm thinkin' Debbie is a pretty good name) she has been meeting with the missionaries for a while now and going to church for about 2 years. She said she'd be baptized by now it's just smoking that’s holding her back... Have a I mentioned how much I HATE smoking?! It just ruins people’s lives, it's so sad. Her husband is a LA member who is starting to come back, he told her he really wanted to get back into church and that he wanted her to come with him. She said she'd give it a shot but that was it, now she doesn’t miss a Sunday!! She loves it all, especially Relief Society! She kept talking about the temple and how badly she wants to go there! We just gotta help her get off those stupid things then she'll be baptized! They have 5 kids too! 2 don't live there but there's a 14 year old girl, Kalli, and a 10 year old boy, Eric, that I think have a lot of potential! How awesome would that be?!?! A whole family! Keep them in your prayers please.

Debbie Smith is doing great! Man I love that lady a lot. She's volunteering for stuff and just glows while she's at church.

We haven't been able to see Gloria for a couple of weeks now due to family problems, she was supposed to get baptized this Saturday but I don't think it's going to happen... She still wants to get baptized eventually but she said right now she doesn't see how she's going to get to church because of work.

Sarah has also been really slammed with work, so we haven't been able to see her (sometimes I forget other people have lives haha) but she called us the other day and said she was missing us and wants us to come next week. So that's a positive! :)

We're meeting with Patty tonight, pray hard that this lesson goes well! She is SO CLOSE!!

We haven't been able to see Sydney at all, I've tried calling, texting, we went by and she wasn't home. I refuse to give up her. Just please keep her in your prayers too.

We got some sad news from the senior couple, Elder and Sister Nielson, who are in our district and serving in Rogersville, they went home about two weeks ago for Elder Nielson to go get some tests done and we just found out last night that he has leukemia... They have been like the grandma and grandpa of the Rogersville branch and have taken such good care of us and them. I think Sister Nielson is going to come out and pick up there stuff next week, it breaks my heart to see them go. I hope they're able to get everything taken care of and get him feeling better. That's another name to add to y'alls prayers. They just live over in Huntsville so hopefully I can see them when I get home.

Amb!!!! You're going on a mission!!!!!!!! Holy smokes how are you feeling?!? A letter should be coming your way soon.

That's way cool, you got to meet Sister Dalton! What an incredible lady.

Well I think that about wraps about the week here... Thank you for all the love and prayers! I love love love y'all!! xoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

p.s. I could use another new journal if you get a chance to send one my way I'd really appreciate it!

 ...

Later the same day in a 2^nd email…

p.s.s. I didn't even wish y'all HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! Geez fail on my part... I hope y'all had a great day!

Ashley Pics: 2013-09-16

Ashley and Debbie Smith's Baptism

Ashley, Debbie Smith, Sisters Fox and Roundy

Debbie Smith and Elder Darrington from Declo

Ashley and Tarantula

Ashley and Tarantula (this one is for Courtney)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-09-16

Subject:  One more person has entered God’s Kingdom!!

September 16, 2013

Hey y'all!!!

Holy smokes what a week... It has been a roller coaster of emotions. We'll start with the good stuff first.... And before I forget yes we will be in a trio this whole transfer, I really don't know after that what'll happen.

Debbie got baptized!!!!! :) :) :) It really happened after working with her on and off for about 8 months she did it! It was a beautiful service, Brother Jim Nisbet from the ward, his wife is Patty that I've told y'all so much about, he gave a talk on baptism and the holy ghost and did such a great job! He's been a member for a long time now but was inactive until about 2 years ago, now he's a very strong active member. Sister Fox and Sister Roundy sang "I Believe in Christ" and I accompanied them on the piano, it turned out really pretty. Elder Darrington performed the baptism and confirmation, that was the first one he'd got to do his whole mission so he was really happy and did a great job! :) It really couldn't have gone better, except I wish Sister Burningham could have there. I've been missing her a lot this week especially. Debbie was just glowing though and said now we just got to get Phil, her husband, going and baptized! :)

That was definitely the biggest success of the week, the rest of the week was kinda rough. Almost no one was home this week so we were going, going, going and really not accomplishing much. We didn't get to see any other investigators this week because they were all out of town.

The hardest thing that happened though was a text I got from Sydney that literally almost broke my heart in half, it said something like this, "I've decided on my own that I'm not a Mormon and I will never be a Mormon. I do know there is a God now though and I thank you for that but don't try to push anything else on me. I still love you." I can't even begin to describe to you how hard that was for me, I felt like a parent probably feels when one of their children leaves the church. I had so many emotions come over me at once and I really didn't know how to handle it so after crying on my companions shoulder (thank goodness for Sister Fox, she helped me out a lot) I did really the only thing I could do which was pray, hard. I poured out my heart to Heavenly Father and told Him how I was feeling and that I knew I had to overcome the hole I was in somehow or I wouldn't be able to function so I begged for peace and to know what to do. Luckily all this happened Sunday morning so I had stake conference to go to to get a much needed answer. The whole conference was about missionary work, I didn't get a direct answer but I did get a sense of calm come over me that she was going to be okay and not to ever give up on her whether she comes back while I'm here or several years down the road I don't know but I was talking to Sister Fox about it afterwards and she told me the same thing, she said I don't know why but I just feel like everything's going to be okay. Which brought me a lot of comfort. There is definitely a reason we are companions right now she has helped me out a lot and is one of the most Christlike people I think I've ever met. :)

On Saturday we had one of the senior couples, Sister Casper pass away, she had been pretty sick but had always wanted to serve a mission with her husband. She finally convinced her doctors that she was well enough to go and got to serve for about 3 months before passing away. What an amazing lady, I'm so grateful that I got to know her a little bit.

Needless to say it's been kind of an emotional week, thank goodness for prayer, friends and priesthood blessings though. I don't know what I'd do without my knowledge of the gospel and the comfort that brings when we are in desperate need.

Sorry to just dump all that on y'all, I'd never been so homesick as I was yesterday. But I promise you I'm doing better today. It's going to be a better week, just gotta keep moving forward.

I did something very daring yesterday, I held a tarantula (sp??)!!!!!!! Oh my heck I was freaking out but I did it! Sister Fox, Elder Wollums and Elder Darrington all did it! Haha, the things you do on missions.

Stake conference was incredible and gave me a much needed spiritual boost, I think big things are in store for the Kingsport stake, everyone seemed pretty pumped!

That's so exciting about Malyssa!! She'll do a great job! And who is this Cameron kid that is always mentioned???

Well I think that about wraps up the week here. Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support. I hope you know how much I love each of you and I'm so grateful that you are my family and that I get to be with you FOREVER!! :)

Quote of the week....

"Faith and attitude can get you through anything!"

Love, love, love you all!!! xoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Pics: 2013-09-09

Ashley and All her trainees (Sisters Roundy, Clove, ?, Liebing)

Ashley, Sisters Burningham, Brown, Taylor, Hatch, Elders Schouten, Garber, Woolums, Darrington

Ashley and Sister Burningham at Lunch, Kingsport, TN

Sister Fox, Ashley, Sister Roundy at Natural Hill Tunnel in Virginia