Saturday, September 24, 2016

Learning More Day By Day 9/19/16

Well, we will first start with the funny fun stuff. First off we went to a Catholic Mass on Saturday. One of the women here that we have been supporting and helping her as her husband past away of cancer in the past couple of weeks was in charge of the music at the mass. So she invited and begged us to come. We talked the Elders into coming with us, actually it didn't take much! So we went and felt a little awkward but hey you learn some thing new every day. 

The other fun adventure was that this morning we drove out to Montauk to go for a hike. However when we got there it was raining so hard! It was raining cats and dogs. So we decided to get out and play in it. I have to say it was the best time ever! We just played on the playground and got wet from head to toe. All six of us didn't have hardly a single dry spot on us. It was so much fun!!!!






As for my spiritual experience this week. During our studies for training we were studying more on prayer. We learned to pray with more sincerity and humility. To pray as if we are really talking to our Father. I have to say that has made all the difference in my life and especially my life as a missionary. I can feel my conversation with him growing. I still need to remind myself every night to talk as if I am talking to Him. I encourage each of you that if you don't know you have a Heavenly Father or you haven't said a meaningful prayer there is no time like the present. Tonight, right now even, talk to Him. He wants to know what you are going through and He wants to help you. Reach out and allow Him to help. I love you and have a great week!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Sprained Ankle and a Bunch of Miracles 9/12/16





Well this week was interesting but awesome all at the same time. As you may have been able to tell from the title of my weekly email I sprained my ankle! Last week on Thursday we did service for a member and helped you do some cleaning before her son comes home from his mission tomorrow! Anyways once we got home and I was changing I looked down and my ankle was two sizes too big. Ok maybe only one size to big. Anwyas I called the mission nurse and she told me I sprained. So we spent Thursday evening at the church doing any contacting through Facebook and doing some more planning for the week. In the end we had a miracle. We got a hold of one of our investigators who is super closed to being baptized and found more information on how to help her progress towards baptism. In the end it was a great blessing that we had to stay in to ice my sprained ankle.



This week as well we moved our Relief Society President into her new house. Man it felt great to do some good hard working labor. It was a little sad that none of the men would let us Sisters help with any of the big stuff so there were times we just jumped in and helped. I may be a women but I have a lot more strength then you think I do. The other fun part was their new house has a tree house. So of course the missionaries, aka the elders, the Martinos, and ourselves, along with our branch president were the first ones to the house. It was funny because as soon as we were out of the car and one person saw the tree house we were all running. We got up there and took some pictures. One of the Elders said it was like being in National Treasures. The tree house was suspended by two wire cords from the trees so when you walked around the whole tree house moved. So we had to be careful not to all stand on one side of the tree house. Later when our Relief Society President got there she told everyone not to go on the tree house. Oops. Oh well. We had fun!



Our last fun adventure would have to be yesterday. We were getting tired of taking our car everywhere and wanted to do something different. So I had the thought to walk. Our down town isn't too far from our apartment so we walked. We walked through town talking to anyone and everyone on the street. Then we headed down a side road that goes past the church and back into a neighborhood. So we started walking to a less actives house. We knocked doors and talked to people along the way. The night sky was beautiful and we had fun doing something slightly different for a change. Plus we got some good exercise in. In total we walked about four miles yesterday in the afternoon alone. I am grateful we took a more scenic route.

Funny but miracle story. We were out knocking doors and we talked to this Hispanic, who is so prepared to hear the gospel. She said she has been looking for God for a little while now and she is excited to hear what we have to say. The funny part is we were getting ready to leave and her son was holding his little sister. He pointed at her nose and said boogers. His mom looked at him and told him "They are here to preach the word of God not for funnies." It was so cute and great! Hopefully this week we will see her more and start making progress with her! I am so excited! Then later on in the week we found another person who we talked to who has so much potential.

As well this week we had a zone conference which was really good. Hermana Johnston, and I sung a song with two other sister missionaries, Hermana Spencer from the CCM and her trainee Hermana Spackman! It was super fun! The important part was what I learned at the conference. The main focus was becoming better personally. I by no means am perfect but I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the process of repentance I some day can stand before my God guiltless. I hope that we each can strive to find ways to become better people and to use the atonement to it's fullest! I love this gospel with all my heart and I know my Savior lives! I love y'all and I hope y'all have a fantastic week!

Con Amor
Hermana Ashford

Trying to survive the storm while the crazies come out! 9/5/16





This week was a little crazy. We had to prepare for a storm in case it came. I believe because of the storm a lot of the crazy people came out. We have some fun interactions with some different people, for instance we meet a feminist and two atheists. The feminist told us we had to vote for Hilary because she is a women. As well tried to tell us our church abuses women at lest they did in the 1800s. Hermana Johnston and I just walked away laughing saying it was another story to go down in the books. Other than that it was a pretty normal week. I think the hardest part of the week was the fact that the Martino's were in Utah for the entire week because they had training for their next assignment. It was hard having all of our member presents without them. The fun part was this morning we had a Labor Day breakfast with our branch. We had to do talents and perform for the group. The missionaries did a skit to frozen do you want to build a snowman and loving is an open door. We all believe we publicly humiliated ourselves in front of the branch. I am pretty proud however the elders do not feel the same way. This week as well we had trainer trainee meeting which was a ton of fun to see some old friends and enjoy the time together. I think over all it was a memorable week.

So my spiritual experience for the week comes from church. Yesterday we were taking the sacrament and we didn't have enough water for everyone. So they pulled out more cups and water and blessed the water again. To me it showed me the importance of the sacrament and how everyone needs the bread and the water. I realized that this is a saving ordnance to help us return to live with our loving Heavenly Father again. It reminded me of when my grandpa was sick and dying in the hospital. That Sunday we had decided not to go to church because we wanted to just stay with family and wait for him to die. So they got the sacrament brought to us. I know now more than ever how important the sacrament is. We take this bread and water to remember the Savior and his sacrifice for us. The things he did to help us progress to live with our Heavenly Father again.

I love y'all and have a great week!

Love
Hermana Ashford