Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Ashley Ltr: 2013-09-04



Subject:  “Good dang!”

September 4, 2013
Helloooooooo family!!!!!

Holy smokes where to even begin?!?! It's going to kinda have to be a quick one this week sorry y'all, this has been a CRAZY week and the library closes in less than an hour. So here it goes...

First off..... Oralia Duplan from Signal Mtn GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It finally happened!! The first Saturday of the transfer all of us sisters get on a big conference call and share success stories and different things and the Signal Mtn sisters told Oralia's story! I just started bawling!! Words can't even describe how happy I am for her! I guess Reynel Sr got pulled over for speeding and because he didn't have a license he got thrown in jail for a few days then when he was suppopsed to go to court before he even got in the building immigration came and grabbed him. So now I guess he's somewhere down in Alabama just waiting to be deported. Oralia was understandably sad about that but she told the sisters the Lord works in mysterious ways! So she finally was able to get baptized on Saturday! Seriously I can't even begin to tell y'all how happy I am! Miracles are always happening whether they be big or small and His tender mercies are all over. I guess she's moving out of the Signal Mtn branch boundaries though to get away from everything and all the memories and she's starting over! :) :)  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

I have two great new companions! They are Sister Brianna Fox from Alpine, UT, she knows Emily Gottfredson! And Abigail Roundy from Provo, UT. Sister Fox has been out for about 7 months and Sister Roundy is fresh from the MTC! They both are really quiet so that's been different and kind of hard sometimes and I feel like it's almost like pulling teeth to get anything out of them but they both are super sweet and we all get along pretty well! This makes companions 9 and 10 for me! Sheesh! We're crammed in our apt pretty tightly but we're not there very often so it hasn't been to bad. It's made teaching an adjustment for sure but so far we've worked really well together and just do it like normal there's just a third person in there now.

Some really exciting news for the week.... Debbie Smith has a baptism date!!! Debbie is getting baptized on Sept 14th and she is all set to go! Oh my gosh I love that lady with my whole heart! We have had several solid lessons with her and she is just ready! We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and she was like seriously y'all are asking me to give up my cigarettes and coffee?! Haha and we said it's not us asking it's the Lord and by tonight she will be done! She went from smoking a pack a day to nothing in a week!! I can't remember if I told y'all her story or not... Remind me if I haven't for next week when I have some more time and I'll fill you in, it's a good one!

If that isn't awesome enough Gloria McDonald also has a baptism date!!! Her's is for Sept 28th she also is so ready! She's had a smoking problem too but she told us when we went by on Monday she was like I'm done tomorrow! Literally my mouth just fell open haha that serisouly came out of no where! She is wanting to make some major changes and she's ready to do it now!

I don't know why I get the privilage of meeting and working with all these incredible people but I will be forever grateful! Amb I'm so excited for you to serve!!! :) :)

Sydney is doing great!! She's in an interesting situation right now... She's currently living on her dad's porch in a tent... The guy she was living with's parents decided to stop paying for the apartment so she had to move out pretty quickly. Her dad isn't that nice of a person but I guess a tent is better than homeless. I just wish there was someway to help her. She's doing great with the church though, on Sunday this lady that was visting was talking to her, she was a convert too, and said joining the church was the best decision I ever made and Sydney said without hesitation, me too!! I can't really think of something better for a missionaries ears! :) We actually had a really good talk with her dad and step mom about the church so that was a definite step!

Dylan is doing great too!! He also has a baptism date for the 28th! The bad news is we found out he's not in our area... So we handed him over to the Elders which was kind of a bummer but as long as he's getting baptized it doesn't really matter. It was just fun to teach him. He's come to church the last 3 weeks in a row, yep he's the real deal.

Sister Harker is still doing great! She is bound and determined to get to the temple and I don't think anythings going to stop her now!

About stuff to bring for the mish... I definitely recommend having 2 big pieces of luggage! You collect a lot of stuff without even really realizing it so you'll need them for sure. All the medications, bug spray, sunscreen, stuff like that don't really worry about bringing if you need it you can get it here, you won't even use it most likely. Honestly I maybe wore my winter coat 5 times this last winter it just wasn't that bad, I would recommend a rain jacket and rain boots for sure! That is something I really wish I had sometimes! You just never know what kind of winter/summer you're going to have here. Bring the pea coats for sure though. Another suggestion is to shop at D.I man I wish I would have gone there! Places like that can be a gold mine and it's cheap! All I shop at now really out here is Goodwill. If I think of anymore tips I'll let you know.

I can't wait to hear about your Grand Teton adventure dad! It sounds awesome! Thanks for the picture!!

I love and miss y'all!!! xoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

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