Short one this week

This week's letter was REAL short... she said she didn't have much time. She didn't send it to everyone, either, so just me and my parents got it. (how special are we? haha) So here is some of what she had to say this week!

SUNDAY NIGHT WE HAD A MIRACLE! The Coolman family...we contacted them in my first week here and their 8 year old had just had surgery so it was a bad time (we left a DVD with them to watch). We have tried to go back and nobody was ever home...SO...Sunday night (first off I was supposed to play at the fireside but I wanted to go try to teach Claudette so I told them no). Well Claudette wasn't home. Neither was Angel. Neither were ANY of our backups...so after we tried to visit Shirley (she was sick, but home) we decided to go recontact Shirley's neighbors (the Coolmans). AND...they let us in (the mom was sitting there READING the BOM we left!). They were ABSOLUTELY PREPARED! She had been recently attending one of the LDS breakoff churches (but Cameron, the 8 year old) hated it because all the kids get to do is go upstairs to the "nursery" and play x box...they don't get to learn the bible...so he hated that church. Gabe (15) refused to go to church at all because he wanted to do his own thing religion wise. So yeah...we went in and taught them the 1st lesson. Gabe had TONS of questions (and one of them was GOLDEN) he asked me "is there ONE true church on the Earth today?" I said "YES" He asked which church is it? I told him "THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS" he didn't question my response, he didn't fight it...he just flat out ACCEPTED it! It was amazing. Then later his brother was asking why all the churches don't just combine to have one church and Gabe said "because there is already ONE TRUE CHURCH on the earth....this one these girls are from!" it was amazing! They honestly took EVERYTHING we said to heart. They are going to read the BOM (especially Gabe who was anti church before our visit) and pray AND BE BAPTIZED!!! :) I love it! I am so darn proud!


Applebees was amazing, fyi! :) (and I finally found a cute boy here in MO! He was a waiter there...). As you all know, I am prolly the PICKIEST eater EVER...but I AM BRANCHING OUT AND GETTING ADVENTUROUS here... I have no tried grapefruit (love it), grapes (they are ok), peaches (just ok), strawberries (still don't like), cantelope (disGUSTING), and I think thats about all that I have tried. So...be proud (and I have actually EATEN something that is questionable looking...most Polinesian food...!) Luckily we haven't had any dinner appointments at their HOUSES yet, it seems every time they are scheduled to feed us we are at the VC....lucky me :) No hurt feelings when I don't LOVE their grub.


TRANSFER CALLS ARE TONIGHT! Ah...! I am pretty sure that I am staying here...but I can't decide what I think my companion will do. I think I will be ok if she leaves, but I want her to stay! So we'll see...but I know she asked President VanKomen if she could go full pros...so I dunno how it'll all work out. We'll see :) Another sister here started calling me companion...so I am starting to wonder if she thinks she'll get transferred and to my ward?? I dunno! haha I guess i will know in a few hours! kinda scary though...I will be SO surprised if I leave...and very sad...not gonna lie.

I'm Taking Over....

So Shelby asked me to take over her blog for her while she was gone... and I have definately been SLACKING!!! So I am going to just post some tidbits of her letters and such on here, and then I'll post any pictures she sends me! ....Ashton!

Here goes:

I GOT TO GO TO THE MALL LAST WEEK! AHH...being in the real world again! haha smelling real world smells and watching people do real world things...it was GREAT! I loved gettin out of my little area and seeing what the city of Independence is really like! haha but ya know what, I realized that the real world isn't all that great, and I can wait another year and a half to get back to that life....especially the language that is found in the real world! haha ek...I heard the "f" word for the first time this week...like 6 times...WOW...I didnt realize how sheltered I have been for the past 2 months!

I get to see sister black pretty much every day for at least a few minutes. I love her and she is doing great! She loves her companion...she got lucky...they are about as much alike as her and I were. i found out that originally President Van Komen had ME assigned to train with her companion, and at the last minute he switched it (I understand why, too...I could get along with them both, but i think sister black would go crazy if she was companions with sister balois...) lol so yeah...its good and shes doing great!

Amanda Clays (our 13 year old) picked a baptismal date...kinda...more like a month...June. NOT WHAT I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HEAR...but at least it is a goal to work towards..I hope that we can encourage her to move it closer. Still no date for Lori. We gave her a pamphlet about how to quit smoking. hopefully that helps. Sister balois is getting VERY impatient with them! I feel bad for them because its almost like she is PUSHING them into the waters of baptism...and you can't do that! I don't know how to KINDLY tell her to back off! haha I don't want her to scare them off! They know they want to get baptized and they WILL...when they are ready! They are coming to church EVERY week and keeping our committments, so we can't really complain THAT much...can we? :S I dunno...maybe I'm just a greenie that doesnt know anything out here...but thats what I think. IT WILL HAPPEN, so let them work at their own pace? hm...
A man that we were trying to contact the other day stopped mid-sentance and said "anyone ever told you that you're kinda pretty?" hm...uh...thanks? haha (what does he mean by KINDA? lol) then he said "sure hope my son doesn't run into you" uh....??? WHAT!?! Why? haha because I am a mormon missionary and you're afraid i'll convert him with my stunningly good looks? :) haha just kidding...but was taken aback a little...i think he was trying to compliment me? oh well! i am missionary..not out here to impress ANYBODY..plus i already informed you all that there are NO attractive boys here in Missouri! hahaha trust me...i'd know if there were!

I HAD MY FIRST MIRACLE! We got a media referral for a lady requestion missionary visits. We were booked solid, and one of our appointments fell through started to go to our back up plan and my companion said "wait, lets do this media referral first" so we did and she was SO ready for us! She said that she never requested anybody...but she NEEDED US! it is so amazing! She said that we were an answer to her prayers and that she had been asking for some inspiration or something...and we said everything just right to reach her! Apparantely she doesn't normally let people in (she doesn't trust the world...she hides out in her house...i know I am making her sound a little crazy, but she HONESTLY IS TOTALLY NORMAL--you would never tell that she has had such a rough life) but something about us was different and we got invited in (i know, i know....WE know what was different about us that let her invite us in...the SPIRIT, duh!) but I talked to her on the phone last night to set up an appointment and she asked me a ton of questions (there have been a lot of people trying to get her to not meet with us...blah blah blah...you know, Satan's gotta get his 2 cents in!) and I clarified a lot of things for her and assured her that we could help her find the answers to all the questions she was asking me...and then she told me that it was ME who really sparked something in her (IT WAS ME WHO BROUGHT THAT SPIRIT TO TOUCH HER HEART AND LET HER LISTEN TO OUR MESSAGE) that made me feel SO good! :) I love being a missionary! Anyways, we haven't met with her again yet...but we are going to tomorrow night...I am so excited to see where this goes, but she is SO ready for everything. She has been brought down to the depths of Hell, and now it is our job to bring her back up (with the true gospel)! YAY!!

Well there are a few updates from her emails thus far... I don't know for sure how it will work from now on, because she pretty much sends her weekly emails to everyone, but i'll continue to post cool stories and such on here for her. AND PICTURES, of course! Here are the only two that she has sent me so far!
Just studying away! Looks like she's having the time of her life... I love getting the pics, I just wish she would send more! I'll get on her case about that one! haha More to come next week, I promise!!!