Our Zone is Going to the Zoo !!!

Ashley Irwin

To

me

Feb 9 at 9:00 AM

Hey y'all!  How are you doing?
We are going to try something a little different today.  I am not going to give a whole weekly layout this week.  I have been trying to get journal entries done, so it can go in there.  Mom - If you haven't already sent the package, could you please print the weekly recaps from pilot mountain and put them in the package so I can catch up on journal writing in that way?  I can't access them on my iPad.  But it would really help a lot.  If not, no worries.

So what I've decided to do today is write either one spiritual experience or testimony builder from each day of the week.  (Warning: Some of them may sound like a lecture.  Don't take it that way, just simple advice from the your favorite NC sister)! ;)

Monday-
What I learned on Monday is that we don't have time to procrastinate.  Let me explain.  When we go to houses, knock on the door and get a response from the person saying that they are not interested, it saddens me.  One of the major lessons I have learned out here is, we don't have the time to say, "I can just do it later!"  We have to do all that we can NOW to repent, change, and strive each day to become more like our loving Father in Heaven.  These people that have no interest in hearing what we have to say are going to look back on it and think, "Boy, if only I had listened."  Do we want to live a life of "if only"?  NO!  I learned that we must do everything we can to come closer to Him in these, the last days.  That way, we will be able to stand in front of the Lord at judgement day, look our loving Savior in the eyes and say, "I have truly done my best."

Tuesday-
The Spiritual Experience that I had on Tuesday was how much missionary work really means to those we are teaching.  It had been a long day of finding less-actives with no positive responses. We decided to turn down a road near one of the houses we were going to.  We parked the car and started knocking.  We ran into a few houses who weren't interested, but then we came to a trailer that stood out to us.  Normally, I do not particularly enjoy knocking on trailers in the middle of nowhere, but I figured, why not?  So we knocked and a man came to the door.  He began to talk to us and said he hadn't attended church in over 10 years and was completely comfortable with that.  I was not taking no for an answer again that day.  So I said, "What do you look for in a church?  If you had to describe your perfect church, what would it consist of?"  He started joking with us and replied, "A shooting range in back."  Then he said what I had hoped the question would lead him to.  He said, "I don't know.  Probably a church with welcoming people who are not judgmental and try every day to help you overcome what you've done in the past and help you become a better person."  Bingo.  I told him that he had perfectly described our church.  Because, in reality, we try every day to do exactly that.  As members, is it not our job to help people in their repentance process?  Our job is to love them and help them, not judge them and hurt them.  After we talked to him a little bit more about repentance, he said at least he would try to overcome his work schedule to see if he could come to church.  But he really wanted to
check out the website.  If nothing else, we planted the seed and someone else will get the opportunity to harvest that seed.

Wednesday-
Caity - Pay attention.  Here is your story that you could use for your talk.  On Wednesday morning, before we left the apartment, we decided to take some advice from some other missionaries that we had talked to and pray specifically to Heavenly Father for what we wanted to happen that day.  We prayed for a new investigator and for a lesson that could really change someone.  (We also prayed for 2 other lessons, but that is irrelevant to the story).  Anyway, so off we went for the day. Well, we had planned to go down to Grover to see some potential investigators that we had met the week before.  When we parked our car and went up to the house, we found out that they were really sick, they had gotten two hours of sleep the night before, and weren't in the mood to talk.  So what did we do?  We decided to go knocking.  I said a little prayer in my heart to remind myself what we had prayed for that morning and to regain my faith that Heavenly Father would put us in the right place, at the right time.  So we walked down a few houses, and rounded the corner.  My companion started to go up the driveway of the first house on the left.  I kept walking straight, so she figured I didn't want to go to that house.  But in reality, I saw a man sitting on his porch that I really wanted to go talk to.  So I said, "No, we are going to talk to him."  When we got up his driveway, he said hello and asked what he could help us with.  I replied, "Oh nothing much.  It's more what we can do for you."  This whole time I was hoping and praying for the faith that it would take for this man to listen and receive our message.  We started talking, he told us where he worked, asked where we were from, etc.  his name is J.  What was amazing was, he said that Wednesday morning he woke up sick, called in and got the day off, but by lunch time, he felt so much
better.  And about an hour later, we showed up.  We told him what our purpose was as missionaries and told him that we would love to share the message with him.  He said that he has been through a lot in his
life, but he never denies the opportunity to hear about God.  So we were able to share the entire Restoration lesson with him while he was sitting on his porch.  He was very involved in the conversation and he got so excited.  When we finished the discussion, he looked at us and said, "Wow.  He really does listen to me."  Slightly confused, I asked what he meant.  He said that he has remarkable faith in Christ because he has made it through so many things in his life.  However, he has been praying for an enlightening experience from the Lord.  He told us that when he saw "two white girls walking around in his neighborhood, something was up."  He said he knew that we were an answer to his prayers and that God sent us to him at that time for a reason.  He said that he believed what we said and he had a desire to read from the Book of Mormon even though he doesn't read that well and hasn't even really read the bible before.  It is amazing what you can
accomplish with faith in the Lord and prayer.  We have an appointment to see him later this week and we are going to try and get him to come to church with us.  Hope that will help with your talk, Caity.  Good luck!  I love the topic you chose!

Thursday-
This was another day of trial and error.  We were trying to track down a lot of potential investigators with no success.  But, no matter how hard the day, the Lord always gives you something that lifts you up.
We have a part member family that we have been working with lately.  We taught the non-member the plan of salvation and invited him to be baptized and he started slipping away because he felt pressured.  So what we did was say a prayer and tell Heavenly Father that we know the importance of him being baptized, but that we needed more trust with him first.  His name is C.  We went to dinner with them that night hoping that we would be able to get a lesson in with him afterwards.  But alas, it is on the Lord's time that we accomplish such tasks and we ran out of time.  However, on the way home, he wanted to tell us an experience he had the week prior.  He told us that when he was at work, his boss started making Mormon jokes and making us look and sound awful to the rest of his co-workers.  He had finally had enough and told his boss that everything he had said in the past half an hour was complete lies and he took it very personally because his wife was a member and he was trying hard to come to know for himself that it was true.  He even gave his boss the websites to go look up what he had said and know that he was spreading lies.  The conversation was left at that.  He
figured it was over with.  About three days later, he said that his boss came to work and called all of them over so that he could make a formal apology to C in front of everyone.  Isn't that amazing!?  He was so proud of himself!  He was standing up for himself, his loved ones, and his potential beliefs, and he isn't even baptized yet!  We were so proud.  We asked him about his Book of Mormon reading and he promised that he would take it with him to work so that he could read it on break.  These two things were literal tender mercies of the Lord.  We are trying our hardest to gain his trust before we move any further.

Friday-

We had district meeting this day.  It went really long over because we went to lunch, so we didn't get back until almost two.  So we decided to try to find some potential investigators before we had to go to dinner at four.  We made return appointments with a couple of them, but couldn't teach immediate lessons.  But the experience is actually that night at dinner.  The woman feeding us that night is struggling financially as so many people are right now.    Anyway, this meal was really humbling for me because I knew how much money she has, and despite that, she insisted that she feed us that night.  She said, "I have to look after my missionaries."  The meal took her a lot of time and more money than she has - we had spaghetti, rolls,
and green beans.  The fact that she took all that she had to feed us, was remarkable.  I have decided that no matter where you serve your mission, you always find people having hardships and you want to help these people.  Her sacrifice for us that night reminded me of the woman who gave all that she had to pay tithing to the Lord, and was blessed immensely because of it.  A true testimony builder for me.

Saturday-
This day we went to do service for a couple of hours, then we went to plan for the genealogy night.  Now, to clear things up: I am trying to get the WARD MEMBERS to plan this activity and get people excited with
the help from the missionaries!  We spent two hours just trying to think of things that could get everyone excited and picking a date to do the activity.  Mom - What I could use help with is maybe some ideas
of what we could do for a two hour activity to get people youth-adult excited about family history.  They were maybe thinking of doing a murder mystery type of thing, but with the plot and characters based
on different ward member's ancestors.  Fun idea, but hard to accomplish.  I think the most spiritual thing that happened this day though, was being able to reflect upon the dream that Grandpa Deinstadt had that really started our family's desire to do family history in the first place.  It made me choke up a little bit, and reminded me how family history work is really missionary work for our ancestors and brothers and sisters that have already passed on without the opportunity of hearing the gospel.  

Sunday-
We had a baptism this day for a child in the ward.  Because he is 8 years old, we don't count it as a baptism for us on our mission, but what was amazing is the things I learned.  Seeing the love that his family and ward members had for him was so amazing.  The ward may be really small, but it is filled with such immense love, that it is almost indescribable.  If you go check my Facebook page, it will have a picture of sister Buckner and I with their family.  The words she attached with it made my little heart swell.  She said that we have helped them come closer and build their testimonies.  (Or something similar to it).  We often forget as members and missionaries that we are not only here to share the message of the gospel with those of our brothers and sisters that have not yet received it, but we are to also strengthen the testimonies of the members in the church already.  We are here to bring ALL souls to Christ, not specific to any certain category.

Sounds like y'all are having fun planning future trips for the year!  You'll have to let me know how they go,
Please please please send me pictures of the Payson Temple Dedication and program!  I can't believe I'm missing the cultural celebration!  So jealous!  But I know you guys will do great!  Haha  Yes, mom.  You can use my current Facebook profile picture.  I quite like it.  I am still able to use some of my photography
knowledge out here.  I didn't actually plan for the light in the background, that was an added bonus.  But feel free to use it for the plaque.  I don't know that it will get much better if I take it again.  We can only work with so much out here. ;)  I am having to rush again in writing today because our amazing Zone Leaders planned for the whole Zone to go to the Zoo today!!!  WooooooHooooooo!  It's a drive-thru zoo kind of thing, hard to explain.  But that is why I can't send pictures this week.  I'll send lots next week.  I am having to write on the iPad again!

Here are a few quotes I believe, that I constantly remember in order to be the missionary that
I want to be: I will give you two quotes by Elder Holland and Elder Ballard

Holland- "This is a life or death contest we're in here."
Ballard- "If you don't pay the price of success, you will pay the price of failure."

I am growing into the person I want to become, despite challenges like my ankle or pulling three muscles in my back like I did three days ago.  Satan works hard on missionaries, but I am becoming the daughter, sister, wife, and mother that, three years ago, I could've only dreamed of becoming.  Now, I was called to talk next Sunday and I got to pick the topic.  I picked family history.  So if you could send me quotes and outrageous stories along with the ideas I requested earlier, I would appreciate

I love you guys lots and lots!  I love being on my mission for the growth I see in myself and others!

I love you to the ends of the universe and back!  I'll talk to you guys soon!  Love you TONS!  Hugs and kisses from NC!!!

Ash

P.S.  I'M OFF TO THE ZOOOOOOOO!!!

Hey lovlies!

How ever are you doing on such a fine and beautiful day as this?  Oh wait... it's raining.  Again!  I don't think I have ever seen so much rain in my entire life!  It's ridiculous!  haha  But you know... life goes on.

I'll do a weekly recap real quick!

Monday-

We woke up, studied, emailed, then we went to go explore P&M Warehouse because that is where the Hunger Games was filmed for part of it.  We think we narrowed down exactly where they filmed it as seen in the pictures that I sent, but it was really fun!  Apart from it being about 30 degrees and windy of course!  Then we went shopping!  We first went to get groceries from Walmart, but then we decided to go over to Kmart and get some NC merchandise (i.e. A Hoodie and some sweatpants).  I absolutely adore them!  I bought them with the money that both sets of grandparents sent me for Christmas!  So thank you Grandparents!  I love them!  Then we headed home to eat lunch, play some games, and Sister B took a nap.  Then we had dinner cancel on us, so she picked us up some "Cook-Out" -- A southern delicacy -- and we headed off to see our Progressing Investigators B and L.  They are progressing sooooo well.  Last week, we were able to teach the Law of Chastity, the Word of Wisdom, and the Importance of the Book of Mormon.  So … they are headed quickly for baptism on the 21st.  If we can get everything taught before then, we can move it up.  :)  After their lesson, we traveled home.  They live a good distance from us, so it takes a while.  Then we planned and went to bed.

Tuesday-

We woke up, studied, and headed out to do some less-active finding that morning.  Two of the three of them weren't home, and one of them was just getting over that nasty flu down here, so she told us to come back another time.  Then the less-active we had a set appt. with blew us off, they didn't even bother letting us know even though we had to drive thirty minutes to get there!  Ugh!  But oh well.  We went knocking/finding around her area with very little success.  You won't believe the finding luck we had this week.  It was so sad.  We then planned for 7 streets.  Okay?  SEVEN!  A whole 3 people were home on those streets, so no luck there, but we did almost get attacked by demon dogs who tried to break through the house's front window just to attack us.  There were like 6 of them!  I don't think we had run so fast and so far in our whole missions!  haha  We also got recognized and asked how many sister-wives we have.  Seriously!?  haha  We then went to uptown to go street contacting and then went to go try to teach a couple of facebook lessons.  Then we got picked up for dinner and were able to teach a wonderful lesson on how the kids of the family could be missionaries now.  We taught them about how they can invite their friends and family to their brother's baptism for the 8th and they said they each wanted to invite like 3 friends and their families.  So hopefully we will get some new investigators as a result of that.  :)  Then we went home, planned, and went to sleep.

Wednesday-

We woke up, studied, and headed straight for District Meeting.  We got there quite early, so we practiced a song that Sister B might be playing at that baptism on the 8th.  Then we walked in, still a few mins early, and the Gastonia Sisters were there.  Oh the things our district talks about.  You'll have to remind me to tell you some of the things Sister M comes up with some day.  But now is not the time... ahahaha  THE SUSPENSE!  ;)  So we had a wonderful DM on how to be more bold and loving!  Then we went to lunch at a place called Newt's.  SUCH GOOD BURGERS!  It's amazing and we have to go!  Then our appt. cancelled on us, so we went to go finding for a couple of hours.  Result -- One person was home on 3 streets and even then, he said he didn't know if he was interested.  But we will be going back soon!  Then we went to teach our recent convert about eternal marriage and general conference.  He has a bit of a problem in thinking that he will be able to marry one of the sister missionaries.  So we are trying to show him other options.  haha  Then we tried to go finding on his street.  Didn't work real well.  So we headed to the church to eat a packed dinner (my idea).  Then we had B and L come to the church for a lesson just before Scripture Study.  Did y'all know the manuals are HUGE for institute now!?  Seriously.  Then we went to send an email to ward council about how wonderful the Shelby ward is in helping the missionaries progress in the work and what they can do to continue assisting in the work.  Then we headed home, planned, and bed.

Thursday-

We woke up, studied, had 3 hours of weekly planning, lunch at home, then we went to go contact a media referral.  She was really sweet, but she doesn't live there permanently.  We are still hoping though, that we will be able to teach her on a regular basis.  She is expecting a baby in august and getting married next year.  Maybe we can teach them the gospel so that they can get married this year.  We'll see!  :)  Then we did 3 hours of finding.  We did have some success though!  We met a woman named R.  We taught her a solid Restoration Lesson and she said that she believes it could be true, but she would have to come to the church first to find out for herself.  We are planning on going back next week.  (She wouldn't come to church yesterday because it was Super Bowl Sunday).  Football is kind of a big thing down here.  haha  So I will let y'all know how that goes.  She is super sweet and we are hoping that she enjoys church so that she will be open to reading the Book of Mormon.  Then we pretty much headed to dinner that night and came home and worked on our "Member Map" which enables us to see which less-actives we can/can't see and where they live.  Then we planned and went to sleep.

Friday-

More finding!  All the finding!  We woke up, studied, and headed out to park our car at DQ because we were running sadly low on miles.  So we parked it there and went finding for about an hour and a half.  But silly me didn't put my hair up that day and the wind was blowing at 40 mph.  GEEZ!  Unfortunately, no success before lunch.  So we headed to the church to eat packed lunches (also my idea).  After lunch, we headed to go finding over by the Bishop's house.  We came across a neighborhood that we just had some members move out of, so we figured we would go finding there.  As Sister B calls it, we went "Castle Knocking".  This was one of very few seriously wealthy neighborhoods.  Everyone was either not home or super rude.  Some of the few things I am sick of hearing while knocking are: "Girls, I am a baptist."  DOOR SLAM!  "Girls, I am a Christian."  DOOR SLAM!  (Btw... SO ARE WE!  Hence the name JESUS CHRIST in the center of our nametags!)  "Girls, I am saved."  DOOR SLAM!  "Girls, I already know Jesus!"  DOOR SLAM!  Quite comical if I do say so myself.  But after 20 houses saying the same things... it gets a little old.  But we "Keep Moving Forward"! #waltdisneyquote  So after we did that for hours, we headed to Pizza Hut to get dinner and Walmart to get a cake!  (SUPER GOOD!)  After that, we met some members at B and L house to teach them a lesson on the Book of Mormon.  :)  After that, we headed home to plan a lesson for church on Sunday and attempt to plan for the Family History activity for the ward.  Then we planned and went to bed.

Saturday-

I TURNED 20 THIS DAY!!!!!!!!!!  And yes, it feels super weird.  I can't quite explain it.  But anyway... We woke up, studied, then we went scowering the town all morning to find the appropriate supplies for a stop smoking lesson we were going to teach a less-active.  (I say "going to teach" because after all of this, he cancelled on us an hour before).  :(  But anyway... we had to find cinnamon mouthwash, cinnamon toothepaste (the easiest), and white grapefruit juice.  You wouldn't believe how tough that is.  Did you know that only CVS carries cinnamon flavored mouthwash.  There's a little tid bit for you.  haha  So then we went to the Library to print some things off, and home for lunch.  After lunch and every appt. for that day fell through in the course of an hour, we decided to head to Habitat to do service for a few hours.  1.  We were low on miles.  2.  A family in our ward that we love manages it.  :)  So we priced things for about 3 hours.  Then we headed home to share a message of love and try to do some finding through facebook.  Then the Bishop and his wife picked us up for dinner at FATZ.  Again, super good.  We need to go.  Then we came home, did tons of planning for the week, planned for the next day, and went to bed.

Sunday-

We woke up, had personal study, went to church, had an amazing fast and testimony meeting.  We FINALLY got a teacher called to teach Gospel Principles because the missionaries were teaching it every week.  I told that to President Craven when he was here and it was more than quickly resolved.  THANK YOU PRESIDENT CRAVEN!  Then we went to teach Sharing Time in Primary.  Okay.  Y'all have no idea how small the congregation until you know that there are only 10 kids in junior/senior primaries combined.  Weird right?  But it was super fun.  We talked about events from the Savior's life and how he did everything he did for us because he loves us so much.  Then we went to go find some less-actives.  Again, no luck.  :(  But we went home to have dinner after a few hours of finding.  Then we headed to Sister P's for a ride to Charlotte for a mission home fireside given by President Craven with our recent converts.  That was an amazing meeting, then we traveled home, planned, and went to bed.

I want to share with you all some of the things discussed in the Fireside last night.  I have such a love an appreciation for President Craven.  You wouldn't even believe it.   

At the fireside, he discussed that we have 3 elements as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that make our church unique.  They are: 1. The Fullness of the Doctrine.  2.  Priesthood Power.  And 3. A unique testimony of Christ.  It is so amazing that we have been given the opportunity to have these things readily available to us.  Think about it.  Heavenly Father could've said, "Well, congratulations.  You made it to Earth.  Now figure it out."  But instead, he has given us the tools and the privilege to have everything we need right in front of us.  There is no guessing as to what we need to do in order to return to Him.  And I for one, am so thankful for the undying and unconditional love that He has for each and every one of us as his sons and daughters.  I would also like to share a brief testimony of the Book of Mormon and Prophets that I have gained while being on my mission thus far.  The Book of Mormon truly is the word of God.  There is no possible way that this book is false. And when we come to know the truth of it, we will discover things about ourselves, this church, and the Savior that we didn't even know were possible.  I encourage each of you as you are reading your scriptures to think of their history.  The trials and the testimonies of those that have written and translated this book all because of the love that they have for you and that your Heavenly Father has for you.  I also encourage all of you to read "Safety for the Soul" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.  Then come to find your own testimony of the Book of Mormon.  As I was reading this talk, among many others that I studied this week, I was reminded how lucky we are to have Prophets, Seers, and Revelators on the earth today to lead and guide us.  These men are the closest thing we have to council given straight from God!  (Apart from blessings and prayer of course!)  They love each of us uniquely and they care about each of us.  When Elder Christofferson was here he said something along the lines of, "You should hear President Monson pray for the members of the church.  We all pray for you, hope for you, and love you."  Please remember that these men put their lives on the line in order for you to have the council we need from our Father in Heaven.  I love each of you as well and encourage you to think about what I talked about today and how you can improve your testimonies and keep growing closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ every day.

Now, the weather here has been rainy, windy, and gloomy most of the week.  I guess this must be what spring is actually like in most places other than UT, where, we don't really have one.  haha

I am glad to hear that Genealogy is still going well and I really appreciate the stories you have been sending me.  Hopefully we will be able to use a lot of them in the ward activity.

Visiting Teaching is a HUGE focus in this ward.  The Bishop's wife and the RS Pres. spent about 100 hours on it this month.  INSANE!  haha

I did get the birthday package!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!  I think I died laughing at all of the cards!  Although I loved each of them, I think Beth's takes the cake! ;)  SOOOO GOOD!  haha  I also thank you for the shirts and socks.  Much needed.  Daddy - I loved the Despicable Me figurines!  What did you guys end up sending the Elders?  Did you take pictures?  I want to know!  :)  I think my favorite thing though, had to be the earrings.  I LOVE THEM!  Thank you!  It feels really weird to be 20.  I can't believe I am old enough now to finish my mission out with a bang and have the possibility of going home and getting married.  I'm too young for that!  haha

But I am going to wrap it up for now.  I love you guys sooooo much!  More than I could ever describe to you!  Let me know next week if you have any specific questions I could answer for you!  LOVES YOU!

Ash

P.S.  We only got 5 lessons taught this week.  :(

P.P.S.  THANK YOU FOR THE DRAWINGS!  

ASHLEY IS TURNING 20 THIS WEEK !  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!

 




















 

From the places she loves to the people she's painted - We Love Everything About Her!!  Happy Birthday Baby!

Letter Written Jan 26,2015

Hey everybody!  How are you doing?  I hope this week has treated you as well as this week has treated us.  We had an amazing week.

Yes, that's right.  I will be 20 this week and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it.  Good I guess?  It's just weird that I am 2 decades old now!  haha  I don't even know what to do with myself.  It's hard when you're on your mission because you can't say Happy Birthday to anyone over Facebook, and no one can say Happy Birthday to you.  So you want to hear something funny that Sister Buckner and I did?  You do.  We have a ward Facebook page here in Shelby, right?  So what we did was, we posted that we needed a member to try to pick up one of our investigators for church, then we added "Also... it's my birthday on the 31st and no one has signed up to feed us yet.  ;)"  About 20 mins later, the Bishop's wife commented and said that we are going to have a Birthday Dinner at her house that night!  So we are super excited (and feeling a little greedy and guilty)!  haha  ;)  Then we had a couple of ward members offer on Sunday to feed us, but we were already taken.  J

So in response to what I am doing for my birthday, we are going to "Find, Teach, and Baptize" all day, like President Craven says, then we are going to go have a party at the Bishop's house!  WOOOOHOOOOO

And while we are on the subject of Birthdays... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  I am so sorry I couldn't say it the day of... but so goes missionary work.  ;)  I am sending your birthday present in the mail today, along with a card and hopefully some candy.  It's not very big, but I think you'll love it. 

So this week was really great!  We met so many new people, got a couple of Miracle Stories, had the blessing of setting 2 solid baptismal dates, and had the opportunity to have President and Sister Craven come to Shelby to speak in Sacrament Meeting and teach Relief Society and Priesthood.

On Monday-

It was a weird day.  We woke up, studied, and went to the library to email.  But... being missionaries, you are not as aware of Holidays happening unless you have memorized the day.  We had no idea that it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  So we get to the library and Sister Buckner says, "YES!  NO ONE IS HERE!"  I looked at her strangely and said, "Yeah.  Unless it's closed!"  haha  Turns out it was, so we had to quickly come up with a backup plan.  We called the Bishop and asked if we could use their wifi to send emails.  It was working quite well until they had to go to a birthday lunch for the Bishop's dad, but we enjoyed the time we had there.  So we left, not even 1/3 of the way done with emails and headed for Chick-Fil-A for lunch because it has free wifi.  However, all of the many emails that we sent from there, didn't actually go through because the wifi was down.  We found that out at around 5.  So we had to go grocery shopping, clean the apartment spotlessly as fast as we could, and hurry to the church before p-day was over to get all of them sent.  We were running around with our heads cut off, I swear!  haha  But no worries!  All was sent and we started getting hungry.  So we decided to go to Applebee's.  Now, for anyone that knows what kind of food I like, I loathe Applebee's.  So it was really weird that I wanted to go there.  Anyway, we were seated after about 5 minutes and we started looking at the menu.  All of the sudden, Sister Buckner looked at me and said, "I think a less-active might work here."  I had absolutely no clue who it would have been and she couldn't remember her name.  We ordered our food and while we were waiting for it, the manager (the woman who seated us) came over and said quite bluntly, "Okay.  Are you here for me or are you here for the food?"  We must have looked a little shocked because she just stared at us, waiting for a reply.  I said, "No.  We were just hungry and decided to stop by here tonight."  All she said was "Okay" and she walked away.  A few minutes later, she came back and said, "I'm sorry that was so rude.  Members of the church have come here before trying to get me to feel bad and guilt trip me into coming back to church."  We explained that we had just felt like eating there that night.  She immediately softened her expression and her tone and said that we were welcome to come by their house any time.  We just can't ring the doorbell past 12 noon because her husband works weird hours and is usually asleep.  She gave us her number, (which she hadn't given out to more than 3 members of the ward, and asked us not to give it out, but that she would love to talk to us soon.

Isn't that a miracle?  The Lord does work in mysterious ways.

The rest of the night was spent trying to contact a referral, updating our finding map, and going to sleep.

Tuesday-

Tuesday was another really weird day.  We woke up, studied, and headed out to go volunteer at a retirement home in Shelby because we have a less-active that lives there.  We went in to visit her, and they were just getting her ready to take a shower and we were asked to come back.  We tried to visit some other people while we were there, but it turns out that at that time of the morning, they are either preparing people for showering or for lunch, so they aren't allowed to talk.  We tried instead, to contact someone that had asked us to come back later, a few neighborhoods over from our house.  Again, no success.  They said they were in the middle of a business transaction, and we needed to come back later.  So we headed home for lunch.  So we went to get Slushies and Corn Dogs while we called some less-actives to try to get in with them.  We had a lesson scheduled about an hour and a half later, so we went finding around that house.  We met a man named C.  We got to teach him the restoration on his porch and he accepted a challenge to read the Book of Mormon and have us come back to talk to him some more.  Another Miracle!   But our appt. that was scheduled in that area cancelled because they were sick.  By that time, we just decided to head to dinner that night with the M's.  She made homemade chili and brownies.  Simply delicious.  Then we had to head home to be picked up for another dinner with a Part Member Family that we are teaching.  We were able to eat with them, and teach the Plan of Salvation to the Member's Husband.  We invited him to be baptized and he said he would think about it.  Then we found out that he felt really pressured.  So we are going to lay off for a little bit and just teach powerfully and simply and he can let us know when he is ready.  Then the member took us home and we planned and went to bed.

Wednesday-

We woke up, studied, then K (a returned missionary from the NCCM that lives in Shelby) picked us up to take us and the Elders to Gastonia for District Meeting.  I was giving the training that Morning on Consecration.  I had no idea what that word even meant until I gave the training.  Apparently, no one else in my district did either, because I asked for a definition and no one raised their hands.  Consecration means to dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose.  I really liked that definition because it reminded me what our focus is as missionaries.  We have a divine calling that the Lord has entrusted us with, and only we are the ones who can accomplish it with His heavenly help.

After District Meeting, we headed home to drop off the Elders and K offered to take us out to lunch.  We went to a place called FATZ.  It's a MUST if anyone ever comes to Shelby.  Let alone the fried green tomatoes that the south is famous for, they had the most amazing chicken wrap ever!

Anyways... after lunch, we went to teach a lesson to some members at their car shop.  That went really well.  We showed the Mormon Message "Good Things to Come" and seeing her face and how hopeful it made her, made me instantly start bawling because I could truly look at her with the love of Christ in my eyes.  Something that we all truly need to strive for!  It will change your lives.

Then we went to see a less active in Shelby who actually moved a few months ago and didn't tell anybody.  (Always a joy!)  So we headed to Subway for dinner and went to the church to plan our lesson for our Golden investigators B and L.  We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ that night and they committed to be baptized on the 21st of February.  The only thing they said was, "As long as you promise to dunk me fast!"  We all had a good laugh about that one.  They are amazing.  They just keep learning, growing, and making friendships in the ward.  After their lesson, we went to the Scripture Study class, had the Stake President (who is in our ward) teach about temples, went to write an email to the ward council afterwards, and went home to plan and to sleep.

Thursday-

We woke up, studied, had weekly planning for 3 hours, ate lunch, and tried to go see a less active and our investigator T

After we had no success contacting either one of them, we headed to a new member's house to finish up his new member lessons.  We talked about service and how General Conference is going to be coming up soon in the next few months.  We encouraged him to read all of the talks from last conference again in preparation.  And I would like to invite all of you reading this to do that as well.  Then write me and tell me how it is going!  Okay?  We also finally convinced him to watch Mary Poppins.  He had never seen it, and we said it would bless his life eternally!  ;)  haha  That's me!  Spreading the Gospel cheer and the Disney wonder to all I come in contact with!  ;)  Lol He loved the movie though.

Then we went to teach one of our bible referrals.  It went really well and she said that she wanted to attend church on Sunday and that she would talk to her boyfriend about going.   Then we went to serve some members at their store for a few hours and he offered to teach us how to make big, fluffy bows that night.  It was really fun and it came out really well.  The member offered to text a picture of me to someone, so I sent it to Bethany if anyone wants that.  After we left, we went to go find a Part Member Family that we were eating with.  The directionally handicapped one strikes again!(ME)  We couldn't find it after like 20 minutes.  So we pulled over, called the elders (because the member of the family is one of their recent converts), and asked how to find it.  We drove back and forth for about 4 miles until we found out that where we had pulled over to call was actually across the street from their house.  My luck right?  We had a wonderful meal and discussion about prayer with the new member and his wife.  I shared Alma 37:36-37 and we talked about how prayer can help us in our lives.  Then we headed home, to plan and go to bed.

Friday-

We woke up, studied, looked out the window and noticed that the only day of the month that we decided to go without the car (to save miles) was the only day that it decided to rain buckets!

So we headed out.  We got about 1/3 of a mile down the road and a member had driven by, so they pulled over and offered to drive us closer!  BLESSINGS!  After about an hour of trying to contact some investigators and less actives with no success, we went to IHOP for lunch.  I am learning quickly that Sister Buckner really likes that place!  I am getting kind of sick of it because it isn't as good as Utah's is.  Anyway, we finished there and walked about 2 miles to get to Washington St. to try to contact those that we didn't get the chance to a couple of days before.  No success.  And we were cold.  And we were wet.  And it was about 20 degrees.  haha  So we walked over to a less-actives house that the bishop wanted us to see.  On the way there, we found the exact spot where the Hunger Games was filmed!  Unintentional of course!  ;)  So we are going back later today to take pictures!  We taught a wonderful lesson about the importance of the Book of Mormon and showed her the Mormon Message about the Bishop in England that was converted through the Book of Mormon, but I can't remember what it's called.  But go look it up!  IT'S SO GOOD!  Then we headed to a former investigators house!  It was a great lesson where we turned the discussion from him not being interested, to him accepting the Book of Mormon and talking about basic beliefs only by sharing our testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel!  It was amazing!  Testimonies save lives ladies and gentleman!

Then a member saw us an offered to take us home to dry off before our member dinner that night.  BLESSINGS!

We dried off, got picked up for dinner, ate, and we were able to share a powerful lesson about prayer with this member who has not stayed active in the church her whole life.  She shared that she wanted both of her kids to receive the discussions and be baptized because they are fairly active again.  The thing is, her son is 99% deaf.  So we encouraged her to talk to pres. Craven on Sunday.  He instructed her to call one of the senior missionary couples because they can sign, and he will be able to be baptized!  ISN'T THAT AMAZING HOW THE LORD PUTS IN OUR PATHS THOSE WE NEED RIGHT WHEN WE NEED THEM?!

We were then headed home to go teach B and L that night, but they got sick.  So we ended up updating our finding map, planning and going to bed.

Saturday-

So we woke up, studied, went to go find some less-actives through Facebook, had lunch, and decided to go find some former investigators.  First one, moved.  Second one, we pulled up and the people standing in the driveway said that the Former had actually passed away, but he used to live there.  The guy that actually lived there was uninterested when we introduced ourselves, but we interested his friend Ralph, and we are planning to go see him sometime this week.  Third one, not home.  So we decided to go finding down Yoda and Darth Maul drive.  Weird names, I know.  But we ended up finding like 5 new people!  It was amazing.  Too many stories to share with limited time unfortunately, but I will share one.  We were walking down Darth Maul and Sis. Buckner told me to pick a house.  I chose one, we knocked on the door, and the man was really excited to see us.  He introduced himself immediately, invited us in, introduced us to his wife, and we sat down.  They said that they are looking for friends their age, a church to go to, and they have briefly talked to the missionaries before.  I couldn't believe it!  They were the most prepared people ever!  We have an appointment set to go back to see them with the Bishop and Sister S this Saturday.  So we are really excited.

We then headed to dinner with the C's.  We had a wonderful meal and had a lesson about the 10 commandments.  We went over the hand signals that missionaries teach kids so they can remember them.  It was really fun.  Then we went to teach a less active who the bishop actually baptized like 25 years ago.  So bishop is coming back with us this Saturday as well!  Then we went to go to try to see T again, but he wasn't home.  So we sang a couple of songs for his mom and niece, went home, planned, and went to bed.

Sunday-

We woke up, went to ward council, had an amazing sacrament meeting with President and Sister Craven as the speakers, went to Gospel Principles which went WAY too deep into temples.  So now we are going to have to teach a simple lesson on temples for our investigators to undo the damage.  haha  We then had Priesthood and Relief Society taught by the Craven's.  We had interviews after church which went really well.  Yes, I passed.  Then we had a couple of hours to go finding, which wasn't very successful, but quite entertaining.  A man looked at us and asked, "Do you know Jesus like I know Jesus?"  We kind of giggled and said, "Yes.  We know we do."  He asked what church we go to.  We read our nametags to him and he said, "Well... I don't think you do, but I hope you learn someday."  He shut the door and we just started laughing.  haha  Then we went to go to MM's for dinner.  She made BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and choco cake for dessert.  After eating and visiting with everyone, we went to go send our numbers email, (WE GOT 15 LESSONS!)  That's the highest I've ever gone!  And we went home to plan and go to bed.

Hopefully some of the stories this week have made you laugh and have uplifted you about the miracles of missionary work.

I am so happy I get the blessing to be a missionary and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Thank you for the information about family history.  You'll be interested to know that we are actually setting up a ward activity with the family history consultants and the bishop to get everyone excited about family history.  So if you could send me some of the most fun, random, and exciting stories we have from our family sometime this week, I would greatly appreciate it!

I am glad that my sisters are doing so well!  GOOD JOB ON DECA BETH!  I am soooo excited!  Very fitting category to be competing in as well!  ;)  You took first?!  That's amazing!  Cait... keep bing you?  haha  And Em.. I hope you feel better soon!

Remember that I love you guys more than you can ever imagine.  I am going to try to get hand-written letters done this week.  And I am going to try to get emails written out for cousins and grandparents if possible.  But there is such limited time.  So i'll let you know what I can get done!  I know this is a super long email.  But I just had to update you all on my amazing week!  I would love to hear the genealogy stories soon if you have time, mom.  If there is anything I can do for you guys, let me know!

LOVE YOU TONS!

Ashley

Our Mom's Have Known Each Other For Years ...

and We Just Met Each Other For The First Time in North Carolina !!!

Hey you guys!  How are you?  I miss you tons and tons!

To my sisters - Start practicing journal writing now!!!  It will really help! Anyway... Here it is!

Monday-

We woke up, studied, went to email, then we got Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  Then we had to get our grocery shopping done, so we drove across the street to Wal-Mart.  But how could we ever do grocery shopping in a boring manner?!  We decided to do English accents the entire time we were shopping.  (And even though I'm out of practice, with my vast knowledge on English literature, it wasn't that far off!)  Plus, the looks we got from EVERYONE in the store were priceless!!!!  The only time we switched from English to American, is when we had to ask where something was and when we ran into a less-active... Haha.  After Wal-Mart, we went over to K-Mart to see what NC merchandise they had there.  They were kind of low on stock, so I think we are going to come back today to see.  Then I bought something I needed to make mom's birthday present.  My goal was to send it off this week, but unfortunately, I won't be able to send it till next week.  Sorry... I still love you.  Haha. Then we went to dinner at the C's house,  we had a downscale version of Navajo Tacos that were super good.  They doubled as dessert when you put honey and powered sugar on them.  Then we went to try to see our investigator, but he wasn't home.  So we went to a sister and talked to her.  She doesn't want to come to church.  Her reasoning is that she wants to bring her kids to our church because she knows it's true, but her kids attend another church and she would rather go to church with them.  :(  Then our time had run out for the night.  So we headed home, planned, and went to bed.

Tuesday-

We woke up and basically had to head straight for King's Mountain after getting ready for the morning because we had to catch our ride into Gastonia for Zone Meeting.  It was rather amusing because the elders were teaching their recent convert a lesson on the way there because he was the one that was bringing us.  The amusing part was that when we got in the truck, Elder P put a pillow (that was randomly found in the truck) in between us and said, "Pillow Barricade.  Pass and be vanquished!"  Haha  Our elders are interesting sometimes, but we love them.  Then we got to sit back and relax and listen to them teach a lesson on the resurrection.  That was sure interesting, because the new member asked TONS of questions.  We then got to Zone Meeting.  It was great because I got to see Sister M.  She's the greatest.  I can't even describe it!  Zone Meeting was based around sacrifice and teaching people, not lessons.  I was trying to get the picture with Elder S on our first break, but we didn't have time.  So we sat back down for accountability, and then had a second break.  I went up to him and said, "Hi Elder S.  It's nice to meet you."  I said this because I wasn't sure that he remembered me.  We shook hands and he said, "It's so good to see you here Sister Irwin.  WAIT!!"  He looked at me super confused for a second, then I said, "Did your mom mention... Me?"  He still looked confused then said, "OH MY GOSH!  You're Dr. Keith's Granddaughter!  He is the best!  What are the odds?  I can't believe this!  So where are you from?  How are you doing?  How is your family?"  He got really excited, really, really fast!  I kind of giggled and told him that everyone was good and that I am living in Spanish Fork!  He was shocked that we had lived so close for all these years and we had not been friends.  He made me promise that we are going to hang out when we get home and with that, we had to sit back down.  It was super funny!  After Zone Meeting, we went to a place called Tequila's Mexican Restaurant.  I love that place!  It is the closest thing to real Mexican out here.  Then we came back and exchanged with the Sister Training Leaders.  I went to Alexandriana with Sister L.  It was really fun.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to teach many lessons because it was cold and no one was home when we were knocking... But I learned a lot.  We did however get to teach a man.  That was interesting.  They aren't going to teach him anymore because he is so closed off to all of our teachings, but the things he did were so funny.  She asked him to start with a prayer, so he went to grab his prayer beads.  She started freaking out and didn't know what to do.  He also told us halfway through the lesson that there is no way that Christ is the son of God because that would mean he is half mortal, and mortals are made of mud!  Anyways... After we went to teach him, we went finding a little more and found a man out walking his dog.  He listened to our quickened version of the restoration and said we could come back the next day.  Then we went home, planned, and went to bed.

Wednesday-

We woke up, studied, made lunch, then we went to R's to talk about the restoration.  He was really receptive to the message and wanted them to come back on Friday.  But I won't be there, so you know...

Then we tried to do some more finding.  But again, there was no one home and it was really cold.  So we decided to go back to Gastonia and do our evaluation, then switch back with the other sisters.  We headed back toward Shelby.  We had to go back to have lunch, so after that, we tried to go to contact a referral for the second time and then we went to go see some less-actives.  But again, NO ONE WAS HOME!  Haha  So we decided to head for King's Mountain to go teach a lesson to our investigators.  We brought the Elder's new convert with us to friendship them.  We talked about the restoration again because they hadn't heard that discussion yet.  Overall, it went well and they were really receptive.  Then our night got all flipped around.  Sister B had planned without me because of exchanges the night before.  So we switched some plans around and decided to go see a couple of people they had met the night before and some less-actives that live around them.  But guess what??  No one was home... Again!!  So what we did was, we called the Ward Mission Leader and asked if we could go send an email using the wifi from their family's lake house because we were super close.  He found no problem with it, so we headed that direction.  Well, Brother P had forgotten to disable his family's alarm system before we got there.  Great... Right?  We unlocked the door and tripped the alarm!  And you know those baby alarm systems that are just there to scare people off?  It wasn't that.  There were at least three different alarm sounds and it was loud enough to hear on the whole block!  Yay!  So we did what any normal human being would do... Oh wait!  We aren't normal.  Sister B sat down and started freaking out because "She was a missionary.  Missionaries can't go to jail!"  I told her to calm down because we had permission to be there.  Meanwhile, I stood there trying to devise the most clever thing to say to the police when they got there, because I figured they were on the way.  This was all after we called him to tell him what happened.  He laughed and took the blame.  Then we had to go into spy mode because he told us that we had to get into the house without tripping any more alarms, get upstairs, disable the system, and act like nothing ever happened.  Easy enough right?  Haha  We finally got the system disabled, he got a call from the chief of police about it, had to call off the cops, send our email, and be on our way!  ALL THAT FOR ONE LOUSY EMAIL!  Lol  Then we decided that we had better go to Bible Study because we had an investigator going.  Turns out that the Elders were there that night.  This was a tender mercy from the lord because Sister B needed a blessing, and the elders NEVER come to Bible Study.  So everything aligned perfectly.  Just as the Lord wanted it.  After the blessing, we chatted for a minute, then we home to have dinner because by this time, it was around 8:30.  Then we planned and went to bed.

Thursday-

We woke up, studied, then we had 3 hours of weekly planning.  This was nice because my ankle was really hurting and it was freezing outside!  After that, we planned to eat lunch, go see some former investigators, who weren't home, and go marinating (knocking) in the area.  But no one was home and that is when we got lost and ended up at the giant salt pile!  After a while of being lost, we had to head home at 3:30 to go to dinner with the S's.  Who eats dinner that early?!  Anyway, they picked us up and we went to their house for roast, potatoes, slaw, carrots, and beans.  It was super good.  Brother S is a very spiritual man that apparently gives amazing blessings.  He kept asking me questions over dinner about my mission.  He asked me what I hoped to get out of my mission and I responded, "I hope to gain the knowledge and experience necessary for me to raise my children and my family in the way that God would have me and the way that I want to."  He said that was the best answer he had ever heard from a sister missionary.  That made me feel all nice and fuzzy inside.  He then asked how long I had been out, and I said a little under four months.  He was shocked by that and said he would've guessed nine or ten because of my knowledge and testimony of the gospel.  :)  After dinner, we went to T's house to teach him a lesson.  He was really close to baptism like I mentioned last week, but he is having a hard time giving up tea and coffee.  We are going to teach one more hardcore commitment lesson and then we are going to see where it goes, so I'll let you know.  After the S's dropped us off, we were supposed to go teach a few more lessons, but we ended up teaching a drop lesson to a bible referral, then we went home to work on our finding map, planned, and went to bed.

Friday-

We woke up, studied, then we went to go finding for a few hours and we went to update Facebook and our areabooks.  After this, we decided to go to IHOP for lunch.  This was so far past amazing!  We had all you can eat pancakes with bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns.  So so so good!  Then we spent (no joke) like 3-4 hours contacting less actives, referrals, etc.  but no one was home and no one would answer the door.  Then we went to a new member's house for dinner.  She made us chicken, noodles, and gravy.  Yum! And I had an allergic reaction to the salad dressing because it had bell peppers in it.  Yay!  Haha  Then we tried to go see a contact that Sister B had found on exchange.  They were home, but they didn't come to the door.  Unfortunate.  So after we tried to contact a few people, we decided to go to a less actives house.  His name is J and he is fantastic.  The only thing is, he is really old and can't get to church for health reasons. 

Saturday-

We woke up, studied, then we were supposed to go see our investigator named S, but she cancelled on us, so we went to do service for some members at their store.  We were able to really help them before they had to leave for the day, so that makes me feel good.  Then we sat in our car and ate our packed lunches for an hour, and headed to go contact a Bible referral who asked us right off the bat how she could come to church and receive a blessing.  So we are thinking that she is going to be a solid contact.  Then we went to go see some less actives and one said that she was the member that fed the elders oppossum a few years back.  Then... She offered to feed us sometime…  Anyway, then we went to dinner at Pizza Inn with the P's.  Then we headed home to go to a lesson with J and L with the J's.  Well that lesson on the plan of salvation went really well, we just ended up spending 2 hours there instead of a half an hour because Sister J really likes to talk about gospel topics.  So since our night was pretty much blown after that, they decided to take us out for Japanese food. 

Sunday-

We woke up, got ready, and went to church.  We were really excited because we had our investigators J and L show up and they told the Bishop's wife that they were thinking of coming all the time!  Hooray!  After the block, we went home, had lunch, recorded the songs for you, and went to try to contact some less actives for a few hours.  We contacted three of them, but they were all so busy that they had asked us to come back sometime this week or next week.  Then we headed to our dinner appointment to help with whatever we could.  Dinner was the best!  We went to M’s and had the best food!  K and W (other members of the ward) came to dinner, which made it even better.  K served her mission in Charlotte and never left.  She met her husband at institute in Charlotte, and they got married a few months later.  Her husband is basically a real life Sheldon Cooper.  IT IS FANTASTICALLY MARVELOUS!  You know how much I love the “Big Bang Theory” We laughed a good bit, sent an email to the zone leaders, and went home to plan and go to bed.

So that was my week.  Overall, the work is going really well.  The three weeks I have been here, we have surpassed our goals for total lessons each week.  Much improvement over meeting our goals in  Pilot Mountain!!!  I am doing a lot better!  Things are getting more familiar and I am feeling better as well! Oh!  Speaking of which, I went to see the doctor about my ankle this week and he said that what happened was that there could have been a hairline fracture at the very beginning, but there is no way to know for sure.  The theory about a high ankle sprain isn't that far off either.  But according to the x-rays he took, (By the way, that is the third time taking them!  I am going to get freaking cancer in my leg or something!), he found that ligaments are torn in my ankle.  And every time I step wrong on it or bend it the wrong way, it gets stretched out even farther.  He said the best thing to do for it is just wear the brace like I have been, doing the exercises that you sent me because I can't go to physical therapy, and it should heal by itself in another 3-6 months.  He said if it isn't completely healed by then, it may require surgery.  I asked him if that could wait until I got home from my mission and he said yes.  He said, "If you wait, it shouldn't get worse by any means."   I AM SO HAPPY!

I'm glad you had so much fun while Grandma and Grandpa were there.  Oh, and Sister B and I have decided that we are attending church with Aunt Debbie when we get home if the general authorities sometimes attend.  Haha  JK... No but really.  ;)

Answers to questions:

1. My companion is amazing.  She is so amazingly weird (like me), that we have made it a thing.  Like I said earlier, we walked around Walmart doing English accents, we talk about BYU Provo stereotypes, etc. we get along splendidly.

2. Above

3. The food is much better.  Lots of roast and barbecue.  No complaints from this happy missionary.  

4. The baptism may or may not happen.  He literally just texted us telling us that the pressure from everyone to get baptized is getting to be too much and is driving him away from the church,  so we'll see.  I'll keep you updated.

5. Most of the new friends on Facebook are members, only one or two of our investigators actually have Facebook.  Which makes posting and Facebook lessons harder, but oh well.

6. The Weather has been really nice the last few days.  It's around 40-60 degrees typically and sunny.  really really nice!  :)

7. His name is Allen B. Alexander and his wife's name is Denise.  Basically all we know about him at this point is what is on Mormon.org.  Go look him up.  He is the only one under that name.  :)

8. The missionaries in my district and zone are really great!  We have a good mix of missionaries and we all get along really well.  As Elder S said at Zine Meeting, "Y.O.S.O.  You only serve once, so make the best of it!"

9. Thank you so much you guys!  You are amazing and I love and pray for you so much every single day

Like I said, I love you soooooo much.  I will be looking forward to those letters if you ever get them sent off.  ;)  Just let me know about the weekly recap and ideas for teaching with family history.  If you have time today, I'd love to get those ideas.  If not, then send them next week.  Thank my two sisters for writing me and tell Emily that I hope to hear from her soon.  Love you to infinity and beyond!

Ash

Transfers Came !  Now I am in Shelby NC

"On Guard" 

Hey Mom !  So I have just finished emailing and shopping for the day.  And you know, I was thinking ... my situation really isn't that bad (she was feeling sad that she left Pilot Mountain and the people she had come to love) .  But what's even worse is I am letting myself feel sorry for ... ME!
That isn't how it should be!  This, being said - I decided that it would be good to read a talk by Elder Quentin L Cook called "Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time"  It's funny how the Lord Leads you to those talks & scriptures that help you most - right when you need it.  I encourage you to go read that talk.  And do forgive me for my "down in the dumps day!"  I tried to make the pictures and letters as upbeat as possible.  I hope I succeeded.  I really am enjoying Shelby.  The members are great.  Bishop S and his wife, The P's and the M's are some of the people we have to come back to see.  Oh!  and Sister C and the M's, and the T's!!  Just everyone I guess Sister C is a kick!  She took us into Gastonia for District Meeting last week and when she picked us up she was wearing her "fun week"!  She has a very nice new car and BLASTED MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER's - DECK THE HALLS like we were all "hood" or something!  Plus ... I have Sister B as a companion.  And she's like ... amazing!  She just sits there quietly most of the time, but when I can get her going on something .... she doesn't stop! :)  Plus, my district is great!. We have Me, Sister B, Sister S, Sister M, Elder P, Elder C, Elder S, Elder C, and Elder S - He is from South Hampton, England!  I Love England.

I really have been blessed with a lot.  I just need that little reminder and tap on the shoulder from you guys and Heavenly Father.  SO I DON'T LIKE TONS OF CHANGE !  So What?!  LEARN TO EMBRACE IT!!  After all, traveling is an all new experience all the time.  Maybe I need to look at it like that!  So my ankle hurts?  So What?  Like you said, I could have amoebas.  Or I could be Elder S.  He biffed it on his bike a week before Elder Christofferson was here and Messed up his face.  He had only been out like three weeks. :( And yeah, it landed him the the ER.

So I don't love the dangerous areas of town?  SO WHAT?!  At least i'm not in Russia or Africa like some of my friends dealing with war and Ebola.  Like I said, I really am blessed.  Thank you for putting up with me today.  I really hope you can focus on the happy parts of my email.  I am trying my hardest to put a smile on my face constantly.  Because I learned yesterday that you never know who is watching or listening.

I was joking with the elders.  They asked Sis. B to play the piano for the baptism yesterday and they asked if I would sing a solo.  After I said yes... The were shocked.  They told me they were kidding.  So when we got there, I said, "Elders, What happened to my solo? I was so looking forward to it" (just joking with them)  They just laughed and then 5 minutes later a member asked me, "Did you really want to solo Sister Irwin?"  I didn't even know we were all speaking loudly enough for anyone else to hear us.

I few minutes before that, a young girl came up to me and said, "Sister Irwin, you always look like you just enjoy being a missionary and doing missionary things.  You make me want to go on a mission even more now."  I didn't know she had been watching me.  Plus, she had seen me cry at transfer meeting and a little during church.  Goes to show how influential missionaries really are.

In the talk I was reading, it references D&C 121:7-8 "My [daughter], peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment (my ankle), And then if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."  Isn't that a great reminder of why we're all sent to earth?  Who said it was going to be easy?  If I can't do this ... then what can I do?  After all, I am 1/6 done and can already tell you more than 20 families that I have blessed and that have bless me.

To My Sisters:  Girls, missions are NOT a piece of cake. BUT .. they are worth every living second of it.  I hope you can tell as much as I can how much my mission is already changing me for the better!  If any of you have the desire to go serve the Lord for 18 months DO IT!!!!!!  I can already tell you that it is the best decision I have ever made up to this point in my life.  As I was telling Sister B yesterday. "  Let's knock every house that we can.  It would kill me to know that if I skipped a few roads while tracting, there could be that one brother or sister of mine that I promised that I would find; that has been praying and hoping that we could bring them home."  I also siad "we won't be able to do everything, but we can sure try our hardest.  God will bring them to us or us to them either way."  It means the world to me to know that my eternal family is always loving, supporting and cheering for me !!!

Now we just need to bring that blessing to others!  Mom - thank you for being a little rough with me !  I needed it !  DOn't get me wrong.  I love a little sympathy.  But, it took you and daddy being encouraging yet realistic, to get me don off my high horse and remind me that I AM NOT THE REASON I'M HERE!!!

Y'ALL 'R THE DERNDEST BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME

Love, Ash