Ashley Ltr: 2013-01-22

Hey family!!

First off... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACER MAN!!!! I hope you have a great year bud! I love you!!! :) :)

I'm so glad to hear Court is doing better! How much longer does she have to sit out? How's the team doing this year?

Still no luck with boots and I just kept the bag ya'll sent. Smaller bag= less stuff to carry!

I'm glad Jace's  card was still in there and that they didn't take it man that makes me mad that you have to worry about sending things in the mail... I'm glad the check was still in the other one.

Brooke is snowboarding now?? That's awesome! Good for you babe! You'll have to show me a thing or two when I get back, I'd love to try it out sometime. Everyone out here is shocked every time I say I've only been skiing once in my whole life and I live in Utah.

The campouts have started for Jace! I've heard that those snow caves are really warm to sleep in but I don't know that I'd want to try it out when its 0 degrees outside. I'm glad he had fun. 

  

How was Get Air?? Did everyone make it out alive?

So far I've stayed healthy, but yah there has been a lot of sickness going around the mission and the area. I'm so grateful that Sister Mickelson and I both have stayed healthy, which really is a miracle because we've been around A LOT of sick people. Thank you for the motherly reminder of taking my vitamins, you're right (as usual) I do need to start doing that again. 

An update on the week... When we went and visited Oralia and Reynal we talked about baptism again. Oralia really does want to be baptized, she also said that she wants to marry Reynal Sr... So I don't know if she sees that as her only option or if things are maybe starting to get better. But we run into another problem with them getting married... They're both illegal and so if they wanted to get a marriage license they would have to lie about being born in America or start taking the steps to becoming legal which I've heard is a really long process. Man... It just gets more and more complicated, we think we're about to cross a bridge and then wham something else comes up. We have a lawyer in our branch though so I think we'll try talking to him and see what he suggests would be best. Sometimes I just wish that people would do things the right way the first time... It really saves a lot of heartache and trouble in the long run.

We had a crazy week with Tasha... We were going to drop her because she really wasn't progressing so we head over there and every time I would get started with telling her we couldn't come by anymore we would get interrupted by something (which usually never happens) that happened seriously 4 or 5 times. So I stopped and thought maybe this is a sign that we're not supposed to drop her just yet. Oh before all this happened we walk in and the first thing she says is "Look!" she was holding up a fake cigarette and said I haven't smoked all day! (we went around 4:30) which for her is a HUGE accomplishment! She's been smoking for the past like 15 or so years (and she's only 31) anyway so that was really exciting! And we hadn't really talked with her about it for a couple weeks so that was all on her own that she's making that decision to stop! (and the help of many prayers in her behalf! Prayer is amazing!)

So the next day we get a text from her saying her ex husband is going to sue her for not paying child support (which is a long and complicated story, that I don't want to get into) but long story short her ex is a loser and doesn't even really take care of her other son and also they aren't technically divorced so she shouldn't have to be paying child support in the first place right? So that's a big mess and then on Sunday after church we get another text from her saying please call me I don't know how much more I can take, there's been an accident with my grandma. So I hurry and call her and she is just sobbing on the phone, I guess her grandma (who is 92 and weighs maybe 80 lbs she's tiny!) fell off the porch and was bleeding pretty bad on her head and all over her arm. Tasha pulls up and there is an ambulance at her house so she asks her step mom whats going on and she just starts screaming at Tasha, I'm not sure what about but Tasha runs around back and sees her grandma laying there bleeding all over and her sister starts screaming at her and the EMT's (her family is kind of psycho... especially her sisters) so they rush her grandma to the hospital and when I called her she was in the car on her way there. So I tell her we'll meet her there and that I'll call the Elders to come and give her a blessing which she was so grateful for, honestly I don't think anyone's ever really cared for or about her before. So we hurry down to the hospital and the Elders meet us there, we had to wait before we could go in because she was in the ER so we're outside waiting for 15 min or so then her sister comes out yelling at Tasha again that they're rushing their grandma to another hospital because they found bleeding in her brain. We tell Tasha to call us as soon as she knows whats going on and we can come meet her there later. As we're pulling out of the parking lot we see Tasha standing there on the side of the road so we pull over and ask what was going on and I guess her sister literally shoved her out of her car in the middle of the road because she got mad about something and then left Tasha there. So we asked if she wanted us to wait with her until her ride got there but she said she'd be okay I think she wanted some time to be alone, so we left. I felt awful leaving her there but there really was nothing more we could do, I hate that feeling of being absolutely helpless for someone. Last I talked to her she said that her grandma is in the ICU, with not much change, I think we're going to try and go down there sometime today and see how she's doing. I hope all that makes sense, it makes me so sad that some families treat each other like that, you're supposed to have your family to lean on when times are hard not cause more problems and make you feel worse.

Her grandma is her everything though she raised her, so I don't know how she'll react if she ends up dying. It's sad and frustrating that she finally starts to take steps forward and then wham the adversary hits her so hard. I just really hope and pray that she makes this horrible situation turn her towards Heavenly Father, this really could be a make it or break it point for her. I hope she makes it. Please keep her in your prayers.

I told ya'll about Jean last week who I was so excited about. Well we go over there and she tells us that I want to be fair and let you know that I don't want to continue studying... Punch in the face. A little later she asked do you wanna know why and I said yes! Her main reason is that she doesn't feel like she needs to be re-baptized so I briefly re-explained priesthood authority and she said that she'll keep praying about it. Then I asked her before you make up your mind will you please just come to church one time? She said that she would, so hopefully she'll be coming this Sunday. I also asked if she would want to hear the rest of the lessons just for her own information and she said yes so hopefully and prayerfully something will happen there soon. She is absolutely perfect and so sweet, she would be an awesome addition to the branch.

This weekend I get to have a real Southern experience and eat squirrel! Haha! I'm kind of excited I'll let you know how it goes!

Well I think that about wraps up my week. Thank you for your continued love and prayers they mean more than you'll ever know.

Love and miss ya'll!!!

Love,

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-01-14

Hey family!!

Sounds like eveything is going great! I hope Court gets feeling better soon, not starting off the year to great health wise, I'm pretty sure she knows how to fix it though ;) A little hint... pick up a pen and paper!

No I haven't found boots yet. But I need to soon, you're right it's really rainy here, it's been in the 60's though! Its crazy the middle of January and I'm out tracting in short sleeves! I guess this is really unusual though. Out here rain brings fog and it is bad! Driving in it is kinda scary, somedays you can only see a few feet in frot of you.

Zone conference was great! Pres Irion talked about becoming more of a Preach my Gospel mission, Sister Irion talked about the difference between a testimony and being converted to the gospel, the assistants talked about leadership (which was my favorite part, I've struggled some with having to be the leader but I'm getting a lot better, and starting to rely on the Savior a lot more.), and then the zone leaders talked about teaching more like the Savior. It was an awesome conference, they always are and they always touch on what I need to hear.

Oralia is still about the same... I think she knows what she needs to do to she just hasn't taken the needed leap of faith yet. We're not giving up on her though. We're going to hopefully help her get a job so she can become more independent and self reliant. She's doing great with the English classes and so is her sister in law, it's been fun. Sister Gonzalez and I started them going but one of our branch missionaries is teaching them. She does a fantastic job and really enjoys it.

We  had a pretty great week. We got ahold of an old investigator, Jean, who I think I've told ya'll about before. And she wants us to come back. We also found a family to start teaching soon hopefully! We had a great visit with them last night and they want us to come back. We also found another lady who had a lot of great questions and wants to read the Book of Mormon, the only downer was she didn't set a return appt but we left her with our number and I really think she call. Fingers crossed!

Church yesterday was great! We had branch council that morning and it was a complete 180 turn around! Almost the whole thing was centered around missionary work when before it was for maybe 2 minutes. The branch is starting to turn around and make missionary work more of a priority, it's awesome!! Oralia and Reynal also came to church again, they're so great! I look forward to the day when I can actually talk to her.

I'm so jealous ya'll have snow!! We have none! People were mowing there lawns this week! I don't think there's any in the near future either... :( I kinda miss it.

Trek sounds like it's going to be great! Where are ya'll going? I'm excited to hear more about it.

Congrats Brooker on 3rd place! That's awesome!! I'm excited to see you in action when I get home. :)

We get fed by the branch usually a couple times a week but it just varies from week to week. This week though we have an appt every night!! I think we have one for 10 days in a row! That never happens! I put on the calendar this week John 14 maybe (I can't remember the exact reference...) But I put, Jesus saith unto the unto the Signal Mtn branch, "If ye love me feed me sheep." We got results. :)

 Well I think that about wraps up the week. I love and miss ya'll!!! xoxoxo

Sister Bedke :)

Ashley Ltr: 2013-01-07

Hey fam!

It sounds like things are going great at home! That's kinda scary about Court though... I'm glad she's starting to do better. They say it was sports induced asthma but I think it's because she's feeling so guilty about only writing her sister once in almost 7 months and her body just couldn't take it anymore, pretty sure that's the real cause.

No I haven't gotten rain boots yet I really need to though! I just don't really know where to get any... Any suggestions? No I haven't slammed yet either! I was going to bring them to district meeting so everyone could experience the slam but I forgot and this week we have zone conference. But next week it's gonna happen.

Mom I love the new look on the piano!! It looks beautiful! Nicely done. :)

So Shauna is cutting hair now?! That's awesome! Does she wanna fly out here and cut mine? I could really use one and all the hair cutting places here are closed on Monday! I just have so much stinking hair! I don't want to really cut it yet I like it long, just a trim and thinned, probably bangs too.

That's so exciting Jace about the Priesthood class, I'm so proud of you buddy!

Well its been kind of another slow week... We're working hard and not really seeing any results right now. Honestly it's getting a little discouraging, most of the branch has it in their minds that there is no one on the mountain who is willing to listen so why really try. We just need to find a golden investigator and then I feel like the work will just take off, we just need that spark to be lit.

Tasha didn't come to church again, I'm thinking we might drop her soon. She's just not progressing at all :( It's sad because this gospel can help her so much and I think she realizes that to an extent she just needs to take the initiative to work for it. She's been so sick, I'm kinda worried about her, and she won't go to the doctor!

Thank you so much for teaching me the value of hard work and that if I want something out of life to work for it and not give up until I've achieved it. So many people just haven't been taught that and it's sad. Ya'll are the best! :)

Oralia and Reynal did come to church though! Poor Oralia is in a tough spot and she's starting to get discouraged with her boyfriend. She really is to the point where she needs to take that leap of faith and do something. She knows that she needs to change but she has nobody and no money. It's really sad and we're really not sure what to do anymore. Please keep her in your prayers she really needs them.

I did have a cool experience with her though yesterday. We have a Spanish gospel principles class so I went with her to that and while I was sitting there I felt like I was a new investigator. Sitting there listening to a foreign language not fully understanding what was being said but occasionally I would hear a word or phrase I recognized (there's a quote by Pres. Packer in Preach my Gospel that says the gospel isn't something completely foreign to those who have never heard it because we knew it before this life, he said if the spirit is there and these people really want to know the gospel will have a familiar ring to them). The spirit was definitely there in the class and I could feel it even though I really didn't understand what all was being said. It was really cool and reaffirmed to me that it's my job as a missionary and as the Saviors mouth piece that I do my part to invite the spirit to every lesson so these people can feel it.

So I had my first bash I guess you could call it haha. I really tried not to but this guy was ridiculous! One of the guys we met last week is a devout Jehovah's Witness and he invited us back and I made the mistake of asking him a question at the very beginning and that led to him trying to indoctrinate us. I was able to get my two cents in every once in awhile but that's about it.

We started our English classes this last week, there are two people learning right now, Oralia and her sister in law Adelina. One of our branch missionaries, Sister Caughman, has been teaching them we go when we can to help out. It has been exciting to actually understand Oralia! She's doing great!

Well I think that about wraps up the week. Thank you for the continued love and prayers they really make all the difference.

I love and miss ya'll!!

Sister Bedke :)

P.S.    We were at a members home last night for dinner and she was telling me about a website for missionary moms that I thought you might be interested in... it's http://emailgroups.ourldsfamily.com then your request Tennessee Knoxville mission. Then I think they might send you something just to verify that you really do have a missionary out because it's a private site.

Okay one last thing... Dad do you know a Ned Iverson from the church office building? He's my branch president's dad and he said he's worked there for years.

K I think that's everything now.

Love ya'll!!! xoxo

Ashley Ltr: 2013-01-02

Hellooooo family!!

It's 2013?? Man that is crazy!! I'm excited for this New Year though, it's going to be a good one!

It was so awesome getting to talk to ya'll! Wow I miss you! But I really only cried when we said good bye so I just went into the bathroom to pull myself together and then I was good. Which is such a blessing, it was nice to be in someones home so I was distracted afterwards. I was feeling a little guilty for going over on time and we had President interviews this last week so I told him and he was like that is totally fine don't even worry about it, sometimes it's really nice being a sister haha we get all these exceptions. I like everything I got except for maybe the bag I'm still deciding on that one I just don't know when I'd get a chance to exchange it the closest place to here is like 40 min away. I LOVE the CD's !! Especially the Vocal Point one!!!! Wow wow wow it's awesome!! I've shared it with several people and they're all like dang I want a copy of that! So good picks mom! No we didn't end up going caroling, we just stayed at the Hamilton's and talked with them which was fun they are such an awesome family!

Yah I know the Elder from Shelley, Elder Crofts. He got transferred to Dalton right after I left but we hung out with them on p day a couple of times.

Holiday's as missionaries are hard. I'm really glad I only have to do it once. No one is home or doesn't want to talk to you because they have family over or they just say come back after the New Year. Which is understandable, it's just been a long last couple of weeks, but we should be back in business now.

Yesterday we had a lot of success tracting though which was exciting!! We found 4 new investigators all within the same strip of apartments which was great! Now if they'll all keep their appointments it will be even greater!

I spoke in church on Sunday on missionary work and I pulled a lot from Elder Ballard's talk "Be Anxiously Engaged" from this last conference, I think it went pretty well, I just hope that this new year will help light a spark in the branch here. The hardest part is that there is a lot of money up here and people are very set in their ways, also I think it's because there hasn't been any baptisms up here in over 2 years that the branch thinks that there is no one up here. We're really hoping to change that soon!

Oralia and Reynal came to church (they're so great!) but Tasha didn't she has some serious health problems BUT we went over the other day and had an incredible lesson with her about the Atonement, she broke down and just cried telling us how she felt like she had to be strong all the time and she wasn't sure how much more she could take, the spirit was so strong and I knew they weren't my own words when I told her to turn everything over to the Savior, let Him know how you're feeling. Honestly I don't remember all that was said but it was a very powerful lesson. I just hope and pray she will take the things she felt that day and run with them.

I haven't really kept in touch much with anyone from Chatsworth... I just found out that they pulled missionaries out of there completely :( so I guess the Dalton East elders will cover both areas. It sucks though... But maybe that's what Chatsworth needs is a little break and then maybe in a few months when we get all these new missionaries they can send them in again and baptize them all.

New Year’s Eve was our p day. The Chattanooga sisters had volunteered us all to help one of their investigators move, what was only supposed to be like an hour or so project turned into most of our p day which was kinda frustrating but we got her all moved. It was an interesting experience complete with driving with a queen size mattress on top of our little car across a busy two way street (with no straps), a bum digging through the trash and coming and looking through the car to see if we had anything good, setting off the security alarm at this ladies new place (luckily the police weren't called), having to go clean up after this lady because she was just going to leave all her left over crap at her storage unit, and having to cram 4 of us in our car with all this ladies other crap that was going to her place haha there was a lot more that went into it but I'm sure we were a sight! It was one of those days I really wish I had my camera!

Then that night we went over to the Hamilton's again and had food and talked, it was fun! Then I set an alarm at 11:59 and woke up just long enough to say Happy New Year then I was out again. Pretty sure that's the first year in a loooooong time that I haven't stayed up partying until 3 or so in the morning! I hope ya'll had fun! Did the regular gang come over?

I can't believe dad is parting with his beloved slippers of 30 years... Man did ya'll have a moment of silence or something? I'm impressed dad. Should I continue the trend and see if I can keep mine for 30 years?

I'm jealous ya'll have snow! I really do miss it, it's just cold here. That coat has been keeping me warm though! My next buy needs to be some better boots, the ones I got are great for warmth but rain... nope. My feet got completely soaked a couple times now.

Well I think that about wraps up the week. Thank you for all your love and prayers!! I love and miss ya'll!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sister Bedke

p.s. Hahaha Brooke I love you!! And I'm still expecting a picture of Court and Brooke in the footies.

p.s.s. AMBER I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM YOU IN LIKE 3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS NOT OKAY. OR JESS!! YEP STILL NOT OKAY. WRITE ME WOMAN!!! :)

p.s.s.s. I got the letters from the ward! They were so great! I can't remember who said it but one of them said hope you have a Merry Christmas with all the hillbillies haha!!

p.s.s.s.s. I could use another bottle of pure works sometime in the near future por favor! :)

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!