Ashley Ltr: 2012-12-17

Hey ya'll!!

Hahaha Amb I love you! I'm sitting in a very crowded library just laughing! So I'm not exactly sure how skype and stuff will work yet... We have a couple options with members we just haven't set anything in stone yet, hopefully I can let you know for sure in a couple of days. The branch is taking really good care of us we have like 3 different familes for Christmas eve and Christmas day :) Please make sure that the missionaries there have somewhere to go! The Chattanooga sisters branch hasn't invited them... So they'll probably just end up coming up to Signal Mtn with us, it's just sad that no one has even offered them an invitation so please make sure the missionaries there have something set up.

Yes I opened them all from grandma and grandpa haha... I read the letter wrong I thought it said I could open them all early woops haha but I've really been enjoying the chocolate and the cd :) I haven't gotten a letter from Grandma B in several weeks... Which address is she sending them to?

Yah it was a huge bummer to get split up and yes she got stuck with the problem companion... So we'll see how it goes. Sister Mickelson has been out for 17 months so she goes home at the beginning of February with Sister Gonzalez. And yes she has been in Signal before which is the main reason they brought her back, she was here for 6 months left for 3 weeks and now she's back. She was happy to come back though.

So an update on the week...

Our first lesson with Oralia and Reynal without Sister Gonzalez went really well! We had a member with us who translated and it went a lot smoother than expected! She is so perfect! She really is a dry Mormon. They came to church yesterday and just loved it! President Griffey (stake president)  came and spoke to the branch and at the end of his talk he says "I know some of you here today aren't members of the church yet. I want you to go home get on your knees and pray about getting baptized this Saturday and confirmed Sunday!" I guess I grabbed Sister Mickelson's hand haha and then I just burst into tears. That seriously was an answer to prayers, we knew that we've been needing to bring up baptism with them again but really just haven't known how to do it and then there it was! Man the spirit was so incredibly strong! So we went over to Oralia's after church and talked to her about what had been said, she told us that she's still praying about it she just doesn't get why she needs to be married or why sexual relationships before marriage are bad. So we read from the Family Proclamation and cleared that right up she then told us she wanted us to come over tomorrow and teach this to Ray. We of course said yes and had been planning for her then this morning we get a text saying that he won't be there... :( So I don't know what Oralia's going to end up doing, she knows what she needs to do I just hope she has the faith and strength to do it. And maybe what President Griffey said will end up happening, if they have the faith to make it happen. Please keep them in your prayers. Reynal is 12 and yes her boyfriend is his dad.

We were finally able to get in with Tasha yesterday also! She has been so sick but we got in and had a good lesson with her on goals and what she wants out of life. She then promised us that she will be at chuch Sunday, she's said that before though so please keep her in your prayers as well that she will be able to see how the gospel can help her in her life.

As of right now those are our only solid investigators, Bill basically dropped us. This week was kind of a training week I guess so we could get into the swing of things and I could get used to being in charge. Being the senior companion means that I have the final say on things, we plan things together but then I usually lead out with things which has been a big adjustment. I've really had to be the strong companion, Sister Mickelson copies everything I do (literally everything...) And she really doesn't have much self confidence, so I've been trying to boost that the best I can. I guess it'll be good practice though cuz in February we are getting 12 new sisters!! So pretty much all of us will be training!! Big changes will be happening the next couple of months!

Well I think that's the highlights of the week... It was kinda slow going but things are going to be better this week! Thank you everyone for all the love, support, and prayers it really means a lot. I love love love ya'll!!! xoxoxo

Love,

Sister Bedke

p.s.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!! I love you!! xoxoxo

p.s.s.  8 MORE DAYS!

Ashley Ltr: 2012-12-10

Helloooooo family!!

Yes I got grandma and grandpa's package! Thank you so much! And I may or may not have gotten a little greedy and opened the presents early... :) I also got a package from Camille Erickson! And I got the one from ya'll (the ensign too), thank you, thank you, thank you! It really doesn't feel like Christmas here... Last week it was in the 70's! It was awesome! But I do kinda miss the snow. The past couple of days though have been really rainy and foggy like way thick fog! It was kinda scary to drive in. So I'm kinda thinking that the sunny weather isn't going to around much anymore.

So this week has been a little crazy... You know how I mentioned in the last e-mail that Sister Gonzalez and I might have to be separated at the end of the transfer? Well it happened a lot sooner :( We got a call from President Irion on Thursday night saying that we had to be ET (emergency transferred) immediately. So we switched companions at the conference Saturday. Talk about a huge punch in the gut. Man it sucked so bad... There were a lot of tears shed. So Sister Gonzalez is now back in Chattanooga and Sister Mickelson is up here with me now, which will be fun, she's such a sweetheart. The other sister got transferred to where Sister Mickelson was. At least we're still in the same district which will be good but I really wish we were still serving together. We just clicked instantly and worked really well together. But I have prayed A LOT about it and I'm at peace with what had to happen. I know that this work isn't about me, it's about bringing souls to Christ. It's just sad to me that back biting and drama and people being down right mean happens still even on a mission.

So the conference Saturday was incredible!! Our entire mission got to be there and we all got to meet Elder Nelson (I was asked to say the closing prayer so I got to shake his hand twice :)) He spoke to us for over 2 hours and let us have a Q&A with him. He talked a lot about how much potential the Southern states have and that big things will happen soon, he also stressed the importance of coupling our work with the members once we all can do that miracles will happen. So that's something I'd like to encourage ya'll to do, pray for those missionary opportunities and then give them to the missionaries to teach! The spirit was so strong the entire time and he blessed our mission at the end. It amazes me how jam packed those men's schedules are, he left our mission right after and headed straight to Nashville. Those men are truly incredible and have such a power about them, I know that he is called of God and I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to get to hear him.

After he spoke we broke off into zones and our stake presidents spoke to us. Then President Irion and the assistants did a training as well. We then had lunch and a talent show afterwards, it was fun. I went and introduced myself to Elder and Sister Hinton, they were thrilled that we were kinda related and both gave me a big hug. I hope I explained how we are related right... One of the mission office couples came and picked us up in Chattanooga and took us to Knoxville then dropped us off.

Did you know that President and Sister McKee is Brielle's husband Matt's aunt and uncle? Yah that's really scary, we've all been praying for her. What's the latest is she doing any better?

We didn't have any investigators at church yesterday, we were supposed to have 3 but none came. Tasha's baptism date will have to be moved now because she hasn't come to church, UGH!! When I called her she said she wasn't feeling well and when I told her that we'd have to move her date she just was like "oh okay" so it kinda sounds like she doesn't really care and I kinda get the feeling that she's starting to use being sick as an excuse now not to come... She's not really doing anything with her live so when we meet with her next we're going to ask her if she has any goals in life and that the gospel can and will help you become a better and stronger person. I don't think she's ever really made any commitments in her life so hopefully we can work past that and get her baptized but right now it's not looking to good... :(

Oralia and Reynal are doing great though! It's going to be interesting teaching them now though... Oralia only speaks Spanish and Reynal has a hard time translating so we'll have to have Spanish speaker team ups from now on. But they're both willing to do it, Oralia has such amazing faith it's incredible. I just wish that her boy friend would stop being a loser and marry her or just let her go. I don't think she really loves him anymore, she's only still there because of Reynal and because she has no where to go right now. It's sad, please really keep them in your prayers.

We've got a few other potentials but no one else to serious right now, I really hope the work picks up soon. This branch really needs some kind of spark to get them excited about missionary work.

So we found out that we are getting 10 new sisters in February! I think 7 are leaving from now until the beginning of February so almost every sister out will be training within the next couple of months! Scary! But way exciting! Another thing Elder Nelson said was that they went from getting about 700 mission applications a week to 700 a day! They're probably going to be opening up a lot of new areas within the next couple of months. Also I found out that a kid from Oakley is coming here this transfer! I think his last name is Babbitt.

Yes we can Skype Christmas day so what time do ya'll want to plan on doing it? I'm so excited to talk to everyone! :)

Well I think that about wraps it up for the week. Thank you for all your continued love, support, and prayers they really do keep me going. I love love love you all!! xoxoxo

Love,

Sister Bedke

Ashley Ltr: 2012-12-04

Hey ya'll!

First off I'm so sorry this is a day late! Yesterday was crazy busy, I feel like these last few p days have been more busy than relaxed like they're supposed to. We had to do our shopping yesterday, which is off the mountain (there's pretty much nothing on the mountain except homes and churches) and the library here doesn't open until noon, stupid I know and we didn't want to go down and then back up so we were going to e-mail in Chattanooga but that ended up falling through because the other sisters took longer than expected and then we went to the aquarium for the day. Anyway that was a long and probably un-needed explanation as to why you didn't get an e-mail yesterday but here it is today!

Like I said we went to the aquarium yesterday which was a lot of fun! It is HUGE!! They have 1000's of different kinds of fish, sharks, penguins, jelly fish, sea horses, sting rays (I can now say I've petted a sting ray!) a butterfly room, turtles etc it was fun I'll send some pictures hopefully next week.

I'm so sorry to hear about grandma's brother. Please give her my love and a huge hug for me next time you see her!

About the car, Sister Gonzalez was driving (so again I'm the designated driver haha not sure what it is with my companions and cars) but no there wasn't a citation, the lady was really nice and understanding.

Yes Sister Heiner told me about what she was doing, how awesome is she?! Those pictures are so cute! Man I miss you guys... I got a little homesick when we watched to First Presidency Christmas devotional seeing all the lights. It was an awesome devo though, I just love listening to those men, they truly are called of God.

Sister Gonzalez has been out for about 16 months so she only has a transfer and a half left! She is definitely a breath of fresh air its been awesome! It might not last though... I won't go into to much detail, remind me at Christmas and I'll tell ya'll more but there is another set of sisters in our district who don't get along at all. The one sister is being trained and has a lot of problems, ones that she didn't tell President about and she has been a real jerk to her trainer. It's sad and frustrating that people like that come out with sour attitudes. Anyway President Irion has asked Sister Gonzalez and I to think and pray about transferring with them at the end of this transfer... Huge punch in the gut, but we have talked a lot about it and both feel like if the Lord needs us to help these sisters then we will, even though it will really really suck. :( But we both realize that this work isn't about us, it's about bringing souls to Christ and right now those other two aren't doing that. So it's not set in stone or anything but it's likely that it'll happen next transfer.

So finally a little bit about some of our investigators... We've got a few strong solid ones right now. First is Oralia and her son Reynal, they are Mexican and Oralia speaks only Spanish so that's been interesting for me but Sister Gonzalez will translate for me every once in awhile and will let me throw in my two cents. It's hard though!! I really hope I can pick up on at least a little bit of the language. The only thing that is holding them both back from getting baptized is that her and her boyfriend aren't married and living together... They have been together for like 14 years but for whatever reason he still refuses to marry her, it's sad and frustrating for us and her. He is her only source of income, she doesn't speak English and all her family is in Mexico, so it's a tough situation. She loves him but she also loves the gospel, sooner than later she's going to have to take a stand one way or the other. She really is an incredible lady though, she loves church and knows without a doubt that this church is true. Please keep them in your prayers.

Second we have Bill Campbell, right now he is taking lessons from both us and Jehovah's witnesses and so far hasn't made a commitment to either one yet, but he is on disability so he doesn't work and has a lot of time on his hands so he is reading the BOM and praying about it, we are meeting with today to see if he's prayed about Joseph Smith is a true prophet. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

Third is Tasha Long, she is a single mom who has been through a lot. Her family life isn't very good but she is doing her best to rise above what she's been raised in. She has a baptism date for the 22nd but so far she hasn't come to church so really that's the only thing that's holding her back, well and smoking but she's cut back a ton! It's been really awesome to watch how much better she feels about herself and to see some light starting to come into her eyes! 

Those are our main ones right now and we are absolutely determined to get Tasha baptized on that date. This area hasn't had a baptism in almost two years and the members really need that spark lit under them to see that there are people here.

I did know that Elder Nelson was Sister Irion's dad. He is coming to speak to our mission this Saturday! We are having a whole mission Christmas party and he will be there! I'm excited! :) How is Aunt Sarah doing by the way?

I love that I have Amber for Christmas the year I'm in Tennessee! Amb! What do you want?? Also Amb there won't be a letter this week... :( I'm so sorry!!! But next week prepare yourself for a good one! Also please tell Jess that one is coming for her soon as well.

Well I better wrap it up, thanks for all the continued love, support, and prayers!! I love and miss you all!!! xoxoxo

Love,

Sister Bedke :)