August 25, 2014

The day after transfers, Wednesday, we had a P day. So apparently Sister Etherington and I are known as the slowest companionship in all of Nauvoo. It's because we have to read ingredients, people! Sister Etherington is a mostly vegan person so we try to eat healthy... I struggle with that, fo sho. Anyway, that evening we went to a senior couple's house for dinner and this couple happened to be the photographers of the mission. So, naturally, they took us down to Old Nauvoo and got pictures of us. Try balancing on a fire hydrant in a pencil skirt. It's hard.

So, as a missionary, I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But as of Thursday I also preach The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christenson. We got permission to read that book and holy cow, friends! I wish I could give a copy to everyone I know and love, but I can't, so you have to buy it for yourself. It makes member missionary work so much more understandable and achievable. In Nauvoo, we work a lot with members (that's of course how we get like 90% of our referrals) and it's completely changed the way I work with members. So you should get it.

There's this couple that we're teaching, Patti and Shannon, who we love dearly. They are hilarious. They came up in time to see the pageants and are now back home in Texas. Well, long story short, we told their local elders about them so they decide to drop in on them Saturday night. Patti and Shannon go into match-maker mode. We got an email from them telling us to call them ASAP so we do, and they go, "Girls! We met your future husbands!" We tried to explain the rules of being a missionary and to not get their hopes up, but they wouldn't hear it. Hahahaha!

We get our outbound calls in about a week! And tomorrow is our 14 month mark! Time flies when you're having fun... and being a missionary.

Pictures!

1- Us in pioneer dresses on the back of Sister Gibbons' golf cart

Weekly planning. Sister Etherington was trying to get a binder off her bed (red comforter) when it slipped and fell into our popcorn. This is about halfway through cleanup.

Sista E set a self-timer during a phone lesson. Perks of being a VC sister.

Me going to work! Stepping out of the elevator. I actually don't know why Sister Etherington took this picture, but it's a nice view of the Visitor's Center. "Everything the light touches is ours, Simba."

August 20, 2014

So I have one month and three days until I leave for my next outbound and the last three months of my mission! Holy cow! We find out where we are going two weeks beforehand, so probably September 9th. Last year President Gilliland had all the sisters over to his house and made it a big production, but then again, that was President Gilliland. President Gibbons is a much more low-key guy, so we'll see how it goes. I had a dream that I was called to the St. Louis, Missouri mission, and one of the first-summer sisters, Sister Russell, was called to the Houston mission. St. Louis would be chill with me but before I got my call to Nauvoo I was almost certain I was going to New York South because of another dream I had. So, moral of the story, don't put any stock into my dreams.

Last week, two deaf recent converts came up from Mississippi- Sister Richardson went to the Little Rock mission (which covered their area) and taught one of them. I interpreted for them for two days. It was way fun! I even got to go to the temple to interpret for them. :) 

Sunday, we had interviews with President Gibbons, but Sister Etherington and I were assigned to site-hop to cover the homes while the sisters were in their interviews. We got driven around in a golf cart. So much fun.

Sunday night, all us sisters were divided between all the senior's district meetings. They only have district meeting once a month and usually we, as a companionship, are assigned to be in one of them. This time was different because President is trying to get the mission moving in a better direction as far as inviting and following-up goes. So I was assigned one district and was given an hour and a half to do whatever I wanted to help the seniors understand inviting and following-up better. Talk about intimidating. But! I noticed this about myself- once I get on a roll talking about missionary things, I can't stop. I can't tell you how many times in the last five minutes of that district meeting I said "Oh! One more thing. This is really important." All of it was! :) I love missionary work. 

Monday we had interviews where I asked President Gibbons all about being a preventative medicine doctor (which is what he is. I think he's a big deal in the preventative medicine world because he and a few other guys started it back in the 70s). It's been sounding pretty good lately. Don't worry, friends, I don't know if my 2nd grade dreams of being a vet are out the window yet, I'm just investigating it. :) 

Yesterday we had transfers! Six of our sisters are going home! So sad. Six are going home, six are second-summer sisters, and six are first-summer. After a lot of prayer, Sister Etherington and I are staying together! Three transfers, man! Score! All the sisters came up from Carthage so all of us are in Nauvoo until the end now. We split into two houses, the Hatch and the Cambrie. Sisters Allred and Mills are still together, and they moved upstairs with us and are in the room next to ours, and then Sister Maile(!) and Sister Poulsen are in my old room on my main floor. So just six of us in the house as opposed to 13. :) Sister Etherington and I were assigned to be house leaders, which is a nice title for "Sisters Who Are Responsible For Remembering To Take The Trash Out And Nagging People To Be On Time". 

Ooh, short miracle for this week: Just before transfers, all 18 of us and President and his wife went to the temple together. I brought seven family names to have done to distribute between the sisters and when I arrived, I had lost all but one of mine and Sister Etherington's (she only had one). Lucky for me I still had the paper with all their information so I asked them to print them off again. The woman said they had just tried to do that for someone and it didn't work, but she would try. She scans it and goes "Oh... nope, doesn't look like it... Wait! Oh, it might work. Yep, it's going to work!" And it did! It was a miracle. :) 

Love you, friends!

Ashley

August 13, 2014

My mission is the most fun, rewarding, and exhausting experience of my short 20 year old life. No one told me that your body falls apart on a mission. IE- dark circles around the eyes, hair falling out, an increased ability to store fat cells, untamed cuticles, feet that cannot be restored to their pre-mission form, and there will never be enough hours in a night to get half the energy I need. But, my friends, I can truly testify that the Lord qualifies whom he calls because somehow I make it through every day! Missions are great, especially mine. Why, you may ask? Well here's an example:

Last Friday, we went with Nauvoo On The Road to the Illinois State Fair in Springfield! I have never seen a state fair that big. There was a life-sized, incredibly detailed cow and a woman leading it- made out of butter! And an Abraham Lincoln impersonator who hung around our area a lot (I said, "Abe, how do you feel about having a 25 foot tall statue of you right there?" "Well, little lady, there's something about engraven images... but I didn't engrave it so it's not my problem.") And I bought a ridiculously overpriced deep fried Snickers bar. So worth it. We really were doing missionary work, I promise. ;) We were let loose for about 30 minutes to roam the fair (which we didn't even cover 1/4 of it) in our pioneer dresses to see the things and talk to people. We came across this woman, a state worker, who struck up a conversation with us, and mid-conversation she goes, "I have Tourette's and it hasn't happened to me once while talking to you two. I just feel very calm and comfortable talking to you guys." We weren't allowed to proselyte at the State Fair so I didn't know the lines of bringing up the gospel but what she was feeling was the Spirit! It actually surprised me a little. Here we are, carrying flyers from other booths, in pioneer dresses, chatting it up about deep fried Snickers, and she's feeling the Spirit already!! It was quite amazing. 

So what we were doing at the State Fair was the same we do at any Nauvoo On The Road- we played pioneer games and tried to talk to people. I was playing this ring toss/catch game with a little girl and another sister and President Gibbons was there! I, kind of jokingly, invited him to come play- he did! He took a minute to get it down but when he did, well, I never saw a man in his 70s so excited about a kids' game. hahahaha.

I don't have a lot of time left so here's a quick summary:

The YPMs left this week so it's slowing down a bit- but that's good because we have more Teaching Center time! Speaking of Teaching Center, Sister Etherington and I got to do one-on-one personal trainings/interviews with each companionship about their calling, cards, etc. That was sweet. A family came into the Bakery the other day and I found out that their 3 year old son was deaf! We got to talk some about deaf culture and things afterward, so that was good. I'm starting to wear my hair up with headbands now. I love it. Pictures another time! (Don't I say that every time?)

Tah tah for now!

Ashley

August 6, 2014

Oh, it's been a good week.

Last Thursday, we were at the cast meeting just before pageant started and, as the meeting ended of course we started to get up to leave the stand. This kid, one of the family cast who is probably like 18, was walking off the choir seats and waving (very excitedly) at us at the same time when, all of a sudden, he plummets to the ground. He gets up very quickly and stumbles towards us with a wild look in his eye and his hands out and goes "Sisters. That was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me." We were just as startled as he was but we busted out laughing. Oh my gracious. We never got his name or anything but we laughed about it for days.

That next day, we were assigned to Nauvoo On The Road. It's when you, the comp, and a few senior couples go to surrounding areas (our was only 20 minutes away but sometimes it's up to an hour) to fairs or expos in your pioneer attire and show them the pioneer games or candle/brick/cookie making or whatever. we can't proselyte unless people ask questions but the real goal is to get people to come to Nauvoo itself and feel the spirit there. So this particular NOTR, we were at a 'Thresher Days' thing. It took me a long time to figure out, and I'm still not sure if I know what it is, but a thresher is a thing that they used to use to separate, for example, the corn ears from the stalks. It was a very fun fair thing- old machines and cars with people selling funnel cakes and quilts. I entered a raffle for a quilt, but, of course, I didn't win. I don't know what possessed me to do that but we got into a very good conversation with like 8 people at once. Midwesterners are so kind- we went in to enter the raffle and left having made friends with all 8 of those people, a cucumber, a huge zucchini, and two tatted bookmarks. Apparently tatting is a dying art of lace-making or something. It's beautiful! ALSO right next to our little area was a petting zoo. A PETTING ZOO. Complete with goats (three of whom were baby goats. So little), sheep (and their lambs), rabbits (one of them who we named Vivian got real tired of me holding her so I've got some nice memoirs from her on my wrist), three donkeys, two horses, some chickens (one laid an egg!), and these way cute pigs. Pig noses are so cool. They way they (the pigs not their noses) act reminds me so much of Tippy. 

On Sunday of course it was fast and testimony meeting. We were interpreting for two deaf men that day and one of them, named Michael, felt strongly that he should go up and bear his testimony. He asked if I would voice for him. Me?! Voice?! Aw geez I mean I've always done that for my parents when the plumber came around or something but never for a man I don't know at a sacrament meeting of 500 people! (Let me back up for a second. I took the sacrament and told Heavenly Father, 'look, I just feel like I'm coasting a bit. It's not bad, I just feel like my faith isn't growing or I'm just not progressing as much as I want.' And it was not even 10 minutes later that I was on the stand waiting for our turn and praying my heart out for help. Thanks, Heavenly Father!) But I did it! It was a very powerful experience. He talked about how his son is on a mission in Croatia and was transferred to Serbia and how his son has changed drastically, and that missionary work was so important.

On Monday we were at Pioneer Pastimes when some other sisters came running over from the Lyon Drug store. They said they had something very cool to show us. So we get there and (the Lyon Drug store has an incredible garden out back. Windsor Lyon was an herbalist doctor so that's why the garden is there, to represent that) they show us this plant called a sensitive plant. You touch it and it's leaves retract! What! We scoured the garden finding all the plants to touch. :)

Yesterday, we were in the Visitor's Center and we met this awesome family! They were very spiritually prepared to come here. Why come to Nauvoo and leave having not benefited from it, I don't know, but some people do. Anyway they asked for a tour of the VC so I took them over to the First Vision statue to begin with. As we were about to move on, the father stopped the whole family (this is actually two combined families, probably like 12 people total, mostly teenagers) and says with emotion in his voice, 'Kids, listen to what she's saying. It's true. Listen to your feelings, because that's how the Holy Ghost will tell you that what she is saying is true." It was very sweet. By the end of the tour, after I showed them the Christus, we had planned to part ways but they asked me to show them the Women's Garden. I rounded up Sister Etherington and we went out there. I love doing Women's Garden tours. I get to share my personal philosophies on life mixed with doctrine and scriptures. Literally every single tour is different. Many of them were in tears by the end. The dad again stopped the family and asked how many of them had learned something in the VC or Women's Garden tour- all of them raised their hand- and again reminded them of the feelings of the spirit. Later that day, all us sisters watch Sunset By the Mississippi (because it will end soon) and they found us and got a picture with us. :) This time they had a puppy with them, which was definitely a bonus.

All us sisters have been working on matching each sister with their spirit animal, alter ego (villain), and.... well I forget what the other is called, but it's the Disney person who you are closest to. My Disney person is the Tangled Rapunzel, and my spirit animal is Maximus the horse also from Tangled (not even because I like horses! it just fits). My alter ego has yet to be decided.

Love,

Ashley