Ashley Pics: 2013-04-22

Ashley Ltr: 2013-04-22

April 22, 2013

Hey y'all!!!

I'm so glad to hear Court is starting to do better! I've really been worried about her... Did the acupuncture hurt at all? I guess that doesn't really matter if it works huh? :) And Jace dang! I'm sorry being sick is seriously the pits, I hope that everyone starts getting healthy here sooner than later.

Well the big news for this week is transfers... I'm being transferred :( and training again. So that means I'll be either opening up a brand new area or white washing an area (which just means there isn't an established missionary there) either way basically starting from scratch... Needless to say I'm a little nervous. I was a lot nervous but yesterday after church we talked with our branch president, who is awesome! (Have I mentioned how much love and respect and have for all you bishops and branch presidents?!:) First off he was really sad to have me go (the whole branch is) which made me feel so loved, this branch has truly become like family to me and I'm going to miss them all so much! But he told me I'm excited for you to whitewash! You can completely do things your way, and you know how to do it, you just get it and you will make miracles happen. He thanked me for all my hard work and for making a difference in the branch. Wow! I really needed to hear that because honestly I'd been worrying a lot about it, but it seriously was just what I needed to hear and when I needed to hear it. So many people came and hugged me after church, and we got several meal appointments haha :) I took pictures with several members so I can show y'all about everyone I've told you about. Man I'm really going to miss it here... I hope y'all can come and get me at the end of my mission I would LOVE to introduce you to everyone!

I knew the transfer was coming but it still hurts, saying goodbye is the worst... :( I'm not sure where I'm going yet but I'll probably leave the Chattanooga area this time around. After 10 months... So for now send all mail to the mission office please.

I guess there's two big news for the week... Oralia AND Reynel have a baptism date! Nothing has really changed with their situation unfortunately but as we were planning for this week I just had this sense of urgency come over me for them to get baptized. So we met with her Saturday, we were 30 min late :/ because we were talking with some less actives and our team up had to leave at 5 so we skipped the small talk and jumped right in with talking about baptism. I shared with her 1 Nephi 17:49-51 (this has become one of my favorites!) which talks about Nephi when he's commanded to build a ship and it seems impossible but  God had commanded him to do it and we've been promised that God isn't going to tell us to do something unless there's a way to do it. Right now Oralia's situation seems impossible, but I asked her is baptism a commandment? She said yes. We then shared Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." We then committed her to be baptized on May 4th! She said yes! AND then Reynel jumps in and says yes too! That was unexpected, but it was so great! :) :) :) So I hope and pray that this miracle will happen, and when it does that I can be there. It makes me sick that I might not be...

Anyway, 3 BAPTISM COMMITMENTS FOR SIGNAL MOUNTAIN!!!!! I don't think that has ever happened! It's been almost 3 years since a convert baptism has happened! Now finally finally it's going to!

Melinda is doing great! She is excited to be baptized and loves everything she's learning. Yesterday we went over the Law of Chastity, WOW, and the commandments just in case there was a problem there we wanted to give her time before May 11th to work through it. The only thing was she drinks green tea but she said you know recently though every time I drink it it makes me sick to my stomach. Talk about being prepared beforehand! She's so golden! :) She's probably in her mid to late 40's and has two daughters. And she came to church yesterday!

We haven't been able to get a hold of Gideon this week but we do have an appointment with him tomorrow! Finally! We're hopefully going to commit him to baptism as well.

Larry though for now has cut all ties to the church... :( It's really sad. And we tried Tasha and her dad but they weren't home when we went by.

In answer to some of your questions.... In the MTC no we didn't go to people's homes they would come and be in a room then we would do a door approach from there, I think there were some investigators who played the roles but I think the majority were probably members.

Signal Mtn is in the Atlanta, GA temple district.

Sister Marker just e-mailed me sharing some of her experiences! I haven't finished it yet cuz we're on a time crunch but I look forward to reading it. From what I did read though basically everything she wrote I can totally and completely relate with.

Yes I got Brielle's announcement and Jess's!!! That is so exciting! They both were really cute!! :)

Dang I forgot the cord to attach pictures... Next week!

I'm excited for this new phase of my mission. I do know what I'm doing and I do know I can do it because I was told this is what I need to do and I know God wouldn't tell me to do something if I couldn't do it!

Thank you so much for all your love, support, and prayers. I love love love you all and miss you like crazy!! xoxoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

p.s. 3 more weeks til I get to talk to y'all!!!!!!!!!

Ashley Ltr: 2013-04-15

April 15, 2013

Hey y'all!

Good I'm so glad the package got there! I seriously have been worrying about it! Haha yah y'all can read the journals and letters if you want. I was stupid though and didn't write down some of the addresses for some people. Like Emily's mission address, Abish's mission address, and there should be a letter in there from a friend from BYU-I Nicole Smith, I need to write her back but forgot to write it down. So if you could write those down that'd be great! 

I'll try and be better about sending pictures, I finally have the right cables now with my new camera so I should be able to figure it out!

I know it would be a pain but if there's anyway you could organize my letters by date newest to oldest and yah keep the envelopes. Even if you can just get started I can finish it when I get home. I'm thinking I'll do some kind of scrap book for all my pictures. 

I sent the curling stick back because I don't have time in the mornings to use it and I figured Court and Brooke would put it to good use for now.

Yes I got those conference talks! Thank you grandma!! I'm loving them so far! And thank you for the explanations behind why you love them, that really meant a lot. I really needed to hear that one about achieving your potential.

The hour and half we have now is just for e-mailing, we get an additional hour each week to do lds.org which is so nice, I LOVE those Mormon messages!! If you haven't watched any for awhile y'all totally should, they're so good!! Honestly I prefer letters as opposed to e-mails, it's a lot funner to get a letter in the mail. :)

So we had a pretty great week! Thursday we got a call from the Hixon south Elders saying they had a referral for us. Her name is Melinda and she had been going to church in the Hixon ward a few times with some friends but I guess the friends have been kinda hesitant to share anything more. The Elders found out she is in our area though and wanted us to meet her to see if we could get things rolling. So we went and met her on Friday and set a return appt for yesterday. When we got there she said she had invited her friends, the Cooks, to come which we were grateful for. We all had a great discussion about the gospel and we taught the Restoration. She seriously agreed with everything, everything!! She said this all just makes sense! She has had what she called "church-phobia" because her ex-husband is a preacher who was very abusive and she really didn't want to be a part of church if that's how people were, a bunch of Sunday Christians and back biters. But she said that this just feels right. So we committed her to baptized and....... SHE ACCEPTED!!! WOOHOOO!!! First lesson and she accepted, this is the first time I've ever extended a baptism commitment on the first lesson! She's set for May 11th! :) :) :) Ahh it was awesome!!

:)

Unfortunately nothings really changed with Oralia this week, we're thinking we need to change tactics with Reynel Sr and tell him really whats up and how important this really is, that he is literally damning his girlfriend. Being bold like Alma! I feel like we're to the point where we can do that, it's been 7 months and she is 100% committed to the gospel so if there's anything we can do to speed the process along for her sake, we'll do it!

We weren't able to see Gideon this week, he was really busy with school and work but we've been texting him some and he said that he's been reading! And something cool is that we found out that his dad has taken the lessons from missionaries before! Coincidence ? I think not! :) So hopefully we can set something up with him this week. We found him tracting.

No change with Larry.... :( We called but he didn't really want to talk about it much.

Tasha... We went by the other day but she wasn't home, her step mom was though and she said that her grandma is dying so they all went down to say their last good byes to her. It's sad but it really is good, she'll finally not be in pain I just don't know how it's going to affect Tasha and her family. We'll stop by some time this week and see how they're doing. Her step mom was really nice to us though and was very appreciative that we stopped by, we left a prayer with her and I think she felt something. There's definitely some potential there, and with Tasha's dad. :)

I'm sorry you haven't gotten much relief yet Court. What's the next options?? You still owe me a letter!

I'm so glad you had a good birthday mom! Love you! 

I've been meaning to ask how Gina is doing?

Well I think that about wraps up the week here in the south. Thank you for all you love and prayers! They mean the world and I feel them everyday!

Love and miss y'all!!! xoxoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-04-08

                                                                                                                                                                                        April 8, 2013

Hey y'all!

I haven't found shoes yet, all the good places to go are kinda far away so it might be awhile before I get some... Oh well for now I'll just rock the black and brown ones. Yah I'll just pin the grey skirt.

I knew the vitamins question would come up in this e-mail so I started taking them this week :) While I was in bed I think she just did some studying, I'm not really sure haha.

Answers to some of your questions...

On p-day we do our personal and companion study but we don't do training and we usually do our laundry during those study hours.

Laundry is going good, still haven't dyed anything the color its not supposed to be! I'd say I'm doing pretty good! :) Yah we get fed fairly regularly which is so nice because I don't eat all that well when we don't, it's not good I need to be better about eating an actual meal as opposed to just a pb&h. We just don't have a lot of time so I gotta make it quick, but I do make sure I have a veggie or fruit every meal. Still no real crazy food... I'm hoping for squirrel before I come home! We have an hour and a half now on the computer, they just changed it before we only had an hour.

This week was pretty great! We picked up what I think is going to be a pretty golden investigator, his name is Gideon. We taught him for the first time on Wednesday, we started off with a church tour just showing him around the building and ended in the chapel. We then taught the restoration of the gospel in the chapel, holy cow talk about spiritual high! The chapel is where it's at! The spirit was so strong. He asked a lot of good questions and said he felt like he could really relate to the prophet Joseph Smith and wanting to know the truth for himself. After our lesson he texted us and said thanks again for that. It was awesome! We're meeting with him tomorrow, I'm excited I think it's going to go really well. He's another one to add to the prayer list.

Oralia and Reynel came to the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning sessions at the church (they were our only investigators who came).

Which if she could only come to two those are definitely the two I would have picked! Pretty much every talk that was given had something I'd been praying about for her and I hope was something that touched her and gave her the courage to make some changes in her life. Elder Bednar's was right on the money, he talked about the law of chastity so simply and so straight forward, it was awesome! And then all the different talks about obedience and marriage. She really enjoyed it and said "You're coming Wednesday and we're talking about conference."

So hopefully something will be able to change there soon! You can always count on general conference to get the message across! I love it! :)

There's really no change with Larry right now... And we haven't seen Tasha for a couple of weeks. We might go by one more time just to check up on her but I don't know, I think her time will be eventually but not right now.

No I haven't really heard much about the new leadership councils... I have gone to a leadership council meeting so maybe they're already implementing it here. I'm not really sure to tell you the truth.

I absolutely loved conference! Seriously it's like Christmas x10 for missionaries it's so great! I really like President Uchtdorf's talk about light, I also liked Elder Hollands, they were all good really but those two were probably my favorite. We watched the first session at the Challen's home (they're like my adopted family away from home, I LOVE THEM!!), second was at the church, third church, and fourth was at the Ward's home. I definitely like watching conference from home more, it's a lot more comfy.

P-day was fun this week and last. Last week we went to the aquarium as a district which was cool! And then this week most of our zone got together and played ultimate frisbee, which I used to not like (because I sucked) but I've gotten a lot better and it's actually really fun! I think I'm going to join an intramural team when I get back to school.

Well I think that about wraps it up for the week. I'm sending a package home hopefully within the next couple of days just with some stuff that’s just taking up space in my suitcase really.

Thanks for the continued love, support, and prayers, it keeps me going! I love and miss y'all!

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-03-11

Hey ya'll!

Sounds like everything's going well back home! That's exciting about Keith and Brandon good for them! :) And Brooker congrats on the championship!! That's awesome babe!!! I'm excited to see you play. How did Weber's basketball team end up doing or is the season still going?

About the cookie lady yes we live above her bakery and she does all the baking and decorating there so yes we wake up to the smell of freshly baked cookie everyday, it's pretty fantastic. Her name is Sandy and her grand baby is doing much better! I guess she has to have another heart surgery in a couple months but she is definitely a miracle baby. We're really hoping to be able to start teaching her and hopefully her daughter soon.

So guess whose training this next transfer again? Yep, yours truly! I'm not to surprised honestly but I am going to miss Sister Colwell. It kinda stinks we were really starting to get good at teaching together and now I have to start from square one again, oh well I guess. I'm excited for this chance to train again and I'm not nearly as nervous as I was the first time around. All I ask is that I get a happy hard working sister. We're getting 8 new sisters and 2 visa waiters and I think 5 new Elders.

Update on Oralia and family... Miracles are definitely happening!! It's so exciting!! Rey (I'm going to start referring to the boy friend as Rey and the son as Reynel) did keep his appointment Friday and we were able to catch him on Wednesday as well! Friday though he was totally participating in the lesson, asking questions and gave us a referral! He wants us to start teaching his brother and his girl friend so we've met them once (they speak English!) and hopefully will be able to start teaching them soon. And come to find out Rey was the one who initiated going to church last Sunday I guess he woke up and was like I don't have to work today lets go to church as a family! :) Oralia was of course thrilled and was just beaming when she walked into church. So it's definitely going to happen and I think it just might be sooner than later! I'm excited I get to stick around for a little while longer and hopefully see it happen. Thank you so much for your continued fasting and prayers I know that that's what's really making the difference.

We also had some more exciting news this week. Our branch missionaries Brother and Sister Caughman told us they have gotten back in touch with an old friend who was a member but was excommunicated 20+ years ago but he wants to get back into church! So we're starting to teach him this week and we'll hopefully be able to get his wife on board too. I guess she got offended with her husband being excommunicated or what he was going to have to do to change and so she still has very bitter feelings towards the church and priesthood leadership. The only downer to this guy is that we can't really count him as an investigator being baptized because things are a little different with excommunicated members, which kinda sucks but when we talked with President about it he's like but it'll count in your heart and in mine haha. :)

The work is moving forward!! :) :)

The zone training council I went to was pretty cool, it's neat to see all these 19-20 year old guys stepping up to the plate and taking charge of things. They really put a lot of time and effort into each training they have. I left feeling a little inadequate though... I see them having all this success and I start to get a little down on myself which I know I shouldn't do but sometimes it's hard. One day a baptism will happen I just gotta be patient and keep being diligent.

So I was thinking about birthday stuff and I really would like some bright spring/ summer clothes, Sister Colwell has made me painfully aware of the lack of color in my wardrobe haha and it needs to change so some fun patterned skirts or shirts would be great! 

Way to go Jacer for running for officer! Keep me updated on how that goes! Haha I liked that idea for a poster.

We went to a stake Relief Society activity on Saturday where Sister Irion was the speaker. We rode down with a bunch of ladies from the branch which was fun and I was able to see several ladies from the Dalton ward! Ahh it was so awesome! I miss those ladies so much! They all gave me huge hugs and told me how much they want me to come back. They said they heard that sisters are being put into Dalton soon (which is true!) and that one of the sisters has already put in a request to President Irion to have me come back :) That sure makes a girl feel good. I would LOVE to go back there again.

Sister Irion spoke on "Happily Ever After" and did the acronym HAPPY. H- hard work. A- appreciation. P- positive attitude. P- plan of Salvation. Y- you! If we want to be happy we need to choose to be happy and do those things listed when we do that we will be happy. We have the gospel that right there should make us smile! :)

Well I think that about wraps up the week. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers! 

I love ya'll!! 

xoxoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-03-25

Helloooooo family!

I'm glad you got the pictures and letters and that Sister Irion is posting pictures for y'all because that's obviously an area I've been slacking in... Sorry! I'll try to do better! Her name is pronounced lee-bing. 

Yah 2 half trained sisters will just finish helping each other train the other I guess is how they're doing it because it's still a 12 week  program. 

Thank you so much for the bits from those conference talks, you were right I really needed that. This has been kind of a hard week. Not much good happened and I also felt like it was dump all your problems on the sisters week, good grief! It seems like everyone we were able to talk to this week just dumped all their problems on us. I know for a fact I could never EVER be a psychiatrist or a counselor. There are to many people that have to many stupid problems it's sad. For example we wanted to try and see Tasha again and her mom was there, it was just so sad to see the holes that both of them have dug for themselves. I don't understand why people do drugs, drink, and sleep around. Thank you for raising me with morals and teaching me wrong from right, I've learned that a lot of people don't get that growing up and I'm so grateful that I did.

Also I just wanted to let y'all know how much I love all of you. A couple days ago we found out that one of the Elders in my districts dad passed away suddenly... It really hit me hard. We were headed down to meet them when President Irion called us and just wanted us to be aware. When I saw him I didn't know what to say and I couldn't even give him a hug! That was rough... But I was so I don't know if impressed is the right word but when we drove off he gave me a little smile and a thumbs up. Later his companion called us for something and I asked how Elder Watson was doing he said he actually wants to talk to you so he says I just wanted to thank you for your support and prayers it really means a lot and I need you to do me a favor and sing to Elder Garber for his birthday. Man...  This kids dad just passed away and he's thinking about his companion and trying to make his birthday better. Talk about great faith! He is a convert to the church.

Anyway it just really hit me how you never really know what's going to happen in life and that you really need to make the most of everyday. And you can never say I love you to many times.

Sorry this is kinda turning out to be a depressing letter. I really am fine it's just been a rough week.

There really hasn't been much of a change with Oralia and her situation... She is still as strong as ever and isn't going to give up but it's been rough on her. 

Larry is doing great though!! It's so exciting to teach someone who is excited about the gospel and truly wants to learn and keep commitments. He came to church yesterday just beaming. :) His wife was a member at one time but she got offended over something and I don't know if she asked to have her name removed or if she's just inactive.

We did have a pretty cool experience this week with Tasha's dad. We'd gone over to teach Tasha but she wasn't there so we went over to her dad's to ask if he knew where she was. He told us and then said I feel like you should know something, Tasha has got more problems than you think I guess she's got a drug problem and a drinking problem... I can't remember if I told you or not but she moved next door to her dad, she told us it was because her sister was moving in but her dad told us that her sister didn't move in and the reason she moved out is because they couldn't stand her much longer... It's just a big, sad, complicated mess. But this was the first time I've ever really talked to her dad, Al before, we talked with him a little about the church and were able to give him a Book of Mormon. We also left him with a prayer for his family which he really seemed to appreciate. You know how I've said that it hasn't ever really felt right to drop her the last several times? I think it might be because of her dad... It'll be interesting to see what'll end up happening. He seemed fairly interested. :)

That was a really cool story about Sister Schiffman, I love hearing stories like that! You never know what someone might say or do that could change someone else's life forever!

I hit my 9 month mark this last week... Holy smokes that is weird! I'm officially on the downhill. I want to make this last half of my mission the absolute best that I can! And work as hard as I can.

Sorry again that this letter isn't as exciting as the last few. This week will be better! Thank you for all the love and support. I love and miss y'all!!! xoxoxoxo 

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-04-01

Hellooooo family!!

 

I hope everythings going well for y'all! And that everyone had a happy easter! :)

 

Nate is engaged??!?! Holy crap! That's so exciting!!! I need pictures!! Congrats Nate I'm so happy for you!! :) :) :)

 

I'm happy to report an awesome birthday and easter! Thank you, thank you for the clothes! I LOVE THEM!! The gray skirt is a little big but it's all good. The morning started off with a couple different birthday texts and Sister Colwell called and sang to me. The Hamn's (the family we used to live with) had us over for Easter dinner and to celebrate my birthday. They had some family over so it was fun. And Sister Hamn made me a lamb shapped cake haha... It was kinda weird but it sure tasted good! She also gave me an orchid and Sister Liebing and I a big Easter basket :) People are so kind and generous! The Challen family who has basically taken all the missionaries in brought me cupcakes to church and several people wished me a happy birthday. After the Hamn' we went over to the Hamiltons for a second Easter dinner, there was several people from the branch there which was fun, I seriously am in love with this branch and the people here! They're all so great! 22... crazy!

 

It was kind of another rough week but for different reasons this time around, I've been sick, sick, sick... It hit me about Wednesday my throat started killing me then it just went downhill from there. I have had a terrible head cold that's left me feeling exhausted, coughing my lungs out, and a stuffy/runny nose. So I was in bed for a good chunk of the week which SUCKED!!  I'm convinced that being sick on the mission is one of the worst things ever. I think it's starting to head on its way out now today thank goodness but it's been a rough last few days.

 

I wish there was something new to report with Oralia and her family this week but there's not really except that we've gotten Reynel to participate in the lessons a little more which is good! Her stinkin boyfriend just refuses to do anything right now... :( I feel so bad for Oralia she's kinda at a loss of what to do now. She knows that she wants to continue with the church but its been hard for her. I admire her faith and patience, she really is an amazing example of perserverance and enduring to the end.

 

Things were going great with Larry until after church yesterday, he told us that his wife really doesn't want him to do this anymore... I don't think she thought it would last but it has and hopefully will but right now he's in a rough spot between the church and his wife. Man all these people with problems with their spouses!! I am more determined now more than ever to truly get to know the man I'm going to marry, I don't want these kind of problems!

 

Please keep both of those families in your prayers still, they really need them.

 

Nothing new to report with Tasha's dad yet we haven't been able to get ahold of him again but we're not going to give up!

 

We picked up a couple new investigators this week which we're kind of excited about hopefully there will be something new to report there this next week.

 

I'm glad to hear y'all had a good Easter and had fun with all the fam! :) I really missed our Easter traditions...

 

We had President's interviews this week, which was good. President basically told me that I'd most likely be training again next transfer... And probably somewhere new! I'm kinda stressing a little bit over it cuz I don't feel like Sister Liebing can handle this area yet but it's my job to make it so she can in the next 3 weeks! I need to have more confidence in her cuz right now I don't think she has the confidence in herself. She will it's just going to take some time.

 

Well I think that about wraps up my week. I love and miss y'all so much! xoxoxo

 

Sister Bedke :)