Wow okay so it's been forever  and a half since I've updated my blog. Time is different as a missionary. The time between each P day feels like a day, not a week, so I assume that if I don't update it this week, no big deal, it's only been like three days, when in actuality it's been almost a month. Oops. (That is also the reason why it takes me forever to write back to letters. Even on P day we barely have free time.) Then on top of that, we have like no time on the computer so sometimes my updates are lame. Like this one. 

So! Short update on the life of Sister Munro. 

1- We have a baptism on February 1st! His name is Dusty. He is in a part-member family, in his 60s, and is somewhat mentally challenged, which is why I think missionaries haven't baptized him in the past. The bishop told us to go teach him and see what we think. We asked our mission president, President Ames, and he said that if Dusty can keep commitments, he can keep covenants. Dusty has kept every single one of his commitments so far, understands the gospel well, and is very excited to get baptized. February 1st is also his birthday. :) Last time we taught him, I asked him to explain to me the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He explained them accurately and I said "You got it!" He goes, "Oh my gosh! I got it! Don't let me give it to you." Like it was a virus. hahahaha. 

2- Transfers were this past Monday and I'm staying in Venus with Sister Gentry! I think I'll stay here the rest of my six months. I'm so stoked, I love this area. There are multitudes of trailers and even more missing teeth, but this is my kind of place. There is so much to be accomplished here!

3- I wrote that statement "there is so much to be accomplished here" and it reminded me of how much I've changed (for the better!) on my mission. Anyone who knew me before my mission knew I am super lazy. But that has been thoroughly cleansed from me and I've become a person in 7 months that I could only have become in 20 years without my mission. I think I will be a much better student when I get home. :)

4- Back to the topic of #2. Along with transfers, some of the missionaries I've become friends with have been transferred. Wow it is so sad! This is why I wasn't called to be a full-time proselyting missionary. The transient life isn't for me. Also with transfers, we found out that our district is being split. There were 5 companionships, so 10 missionaries, and now there will only be 6 missionaries in our district. Super small.

5- I've been on my mission 7 months. Someone explain to me how that happened.

6- Recently we've been trying a new method of finding people. If people are walking on the side of the road, we just stop, roll down the window, and talk to them. Creepy right? Wrong. People are so dang friendly in Texas (especially out in the sticks like Venus) that it's not even weird. We've found a couple really promising people that way! Believe it or not. 

7- Last week when we were leaving the library from emailing, we stopped in the bathroom and started talking to a woman. We just had casual chit chat and I said a little prayer that I would be able to turn it into a gospel conversation (this always works. always.) and BAM we taught a lesson, prayer and all, in the bathroom. The woman basically told us we were deceived, but whatever, it was a good lesson. :)

Alright this update became much longer that I expected it to be. Not a bad thing, right? Well if yall have written me a letter I promise to try and write back soon. :) I love my mission and I love this gospel. 

~ Ashley (undercover name: Sister Munro)

12/30/13

Merry Christmas!! 

Christmas eve morning, we went to the bishop of the 1st ward's house for breakfast; Christmas eve evening, we went to another member's house and had japanese pot-sticker things for dinner. Christmas day, we had an awesome district meeting. For the last half hour of district meeting, all the companionships got up and did a musical number. We did ours in conjunction with the elders- we sang Angels We Have Heard On High while Elder Vaoga beatboxed and Elder Jeffries rapped during the 'gloria' part. It was sick.

We went to a member's house to make our one phone calls. (Prison?) I got to skype! Is it bad that I teared up more when I saw my dog than when I saw my parents? Probably. If it helps, I cried when I said bye. :)

We had dinner at that member's house then went out caroling with the elders and did the same thing we did for district meeting. We were walking up to one house that was pretty ritzy-looking and I said 'hey these people are probably real classy, so let's do a classic Christmas song'. When they opened the door it was a party of 50 black people STOKED that they had carolers. They loved our version of Angels We Have Heard On High. Then they suggested we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. :)

Thank you everyone for all your thoughtful letters and gifts. This Christmas was so special. :)

Very cool experience this week- so we're on our way to visit a less active and we were going to be passing the house of an investigator that the elders had that we hadn't had the opportunity to visit yet. I felt prompted to go there, especially since, through a series of events earlier in the day, our schedule had been moved around and we had an additional unforeseen hour. We go to this investigator's house and knock on the door, and an older woman named Sheryl answers. She says she's just moved in and she doesn't know who we're asking for. She invites us in anyway and she tells us about how she's been struggling with depression, a divorce, a bad boyfriend, death of her mother, rough relationships with her daughters, and how she has found strength through Christ. I don't know how the conversation got where it did, but I felt prompted to say "Sheryl, the message we have to share will 1) be something you've never heard before and 2) will change your life". We explained the first 3/4 of both the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. She loved all of it. It made so much sense to her. She cried several times and her jaw dropped when we told her about the spirit world and the second chance her mother has to accept the gospel. She wants to come to church! She told us near the end of our visit that she couldn't explain what she was feeling- somewhere between inspiration and rejuvenation- and we told her that was the Spirit. She said, "I haven't felt this in a long time." Wow. Then, on Sunday, I told the elders that and one of them said he was about to update that investigator's record saying they had moved and whatever but just thought 'eh, I'll do it later'. And never got around to it. Because of that we found Sheryl!

Toodles til next week!

12/23/13

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I've never felt the true Christmas spirit as I have on my mission. Being a set-apart servant of Him whose birth we celebrate is very special. 

So last week, we had been asked by both wards to give a short little presentation or message in the primary classes on Christmas and missionary work. We had planned a cute little thing about giving Jesus a present for Christmas and then giving them all pass-along cards to give to their friends. We went in for our presentation in the first ward and they announced us as the "special guests" and, in the spirit of Christmas, they were going to give US gifts. They took a sheet off a huge box full of individually wrapped presents and said we were going to open them all in front of the kids and to ham it up. :) We got MOUNTAINS of food. We counted 8 boxes of cereal and at least four boxes of mac & cheese, 2 jars of spaghetti sauce, many many cans of fruit, dishwasher detergent, dryer sheets, and (this cracked the kids up) two packages of toilet paper. All of this times two because we're in two wards. So the kids probably thought those were pretty lame presents but holy cow that saves us so much money on P day! I'll attach a picture of our bounty. (That was a toilet paper pun.) They also did the same thing for the elders in each ward. (I attached a picture of the second ward elders as well, Elder Vaoga our district leader and Elder Jeffries. We cart them around a lot for meetings and such because they're on bikes.)

Yesterday was very humbling as I made a few scheduling mistakes and realized afresh how imperfect I am and how much I need to work on. This morning in my reading of the Book of Mormon, I read Ether 12:27- how true that scripture is. 

Sister Gentry and I are working with a less-active who has a unique situation. She believe whole-heartedly that the church is true, the Book of Mormon is true, she's gone through the temple, everything- but she says that she was driving by a church one day and God told her to go to that church, and she has ever since and doesn't plan on changing until God says so. Sister Gentry and I worked very hard to plan for her next lesson and I had just decided to love her more than I have and see where the Spirit took us. In that lesson, I was never frustrated with her (like I had been in the past) and I could plainly feel the promptings of the Spirit. We extended a commitment that we had not planned but we both felt prompted to do (which was her coming out on exchanges and teaching with us; she says she feels 'called to the ministry' and being a member missionary does that). As soon as the commitment was extended, I felt that our job had been done for that lesson- that's what needed to be accomplished for that visit. 

The next night, which was last night, Sister Gentry and I both felt very prompted to go to a certain investigator's house, but when we go there, no one answered the door. I was a little troubled as to why the Spirit would tell us to do something that didn't come to fruition. Then as we were walking back to our car, we again both felt prompted to go knock on the house next door where we met a man named Kenneth. He had a Book of Mormon that he had never read, had met elders before, and was curious about our religion. He loved the restoration. And he told us that he didn't live at that house- he happened to be visiting a friend that night. 

The Spirit is never wrong!