Things Here Are A Little Cold Right Now -

I'll Just Have To Learn To Let It Go !!!

Ashley Irwin

 

Hey!  So to start off, instead of giving you the full week from last week, I will give you two or three of my most spiritual experiences or favorite experiences because we have been having a hard couple of weeks.  So I'll share the uplifting things with y'all.  :)

 

First, On Sunday the 1st, we were able to take our new converts, B and L to the Mission Home Fireside in Charlotte with President Craven.  Although the actual conference was nothing different than the things we have heard before, for some reason, a story that President has told a gazillion times stood out to me this time and I would like to share it with you.  In his words (but paraphrased):

Many years ago, I too was a missionary in London, England.  We were walking endlessly on a very tiring day.  We decided to go up an knock on this woman's door.  As she answered and we introduced ourselves, she proceed to yell, 'I want nothing to do with religion!', and began to slam the door in our face.  Luckily my foot was in the way of the door frame or she probably would have taken off my nose!  She noticed that I had stopped the door and began to speak.  I said, 'I have traveled 5,000 miles to come share my message with you, won't you let us in?'  By this time, her husband had also come to the door.  She again stated, 'I want nothing to do with religion.  Not after what happened to me.'  Well that begs the next question doesn't it?  I looked at her intently and asked, 'What happened to you?'  She began to tell us that she and her husband had had a baby some years earlier and the baby passed away six weeks after birth.  When they took the baby to their minister to ask if she could be buried in the church's cemetery, he told them that no unclean thing would be buried at the church.  And since their little girl had passed away before she was baptized, she had gone straight to hell.  I looked at the couple with all the compassion I could muster and said, 'Mr. and Mrs. Rose, can we please come in and tell you where your little girl is?'

 

Isn't that a great story?  It just really reminds me of how great our knowledge is and how divine and merciful our Heavenly Father is to bless us with such knowledge.  It just gives me goosebumps just reading this story over again.  I can't even fathom the love that our Heavenly Father has for us.

 

Another experience we had last week was amazing!  We came to the library again to help one of the recent converts in the ward with more of his family history.  We were here for probably an hour and getting nowhere really.  After a while, I looked at him and asked if there were any other relatives that would know anything that could get us farther down his line.  He said that he had an uncle who claimed to know a lot of things, but he wasn’t sure how much he actually new.  I was so sick of not getting anywhere, that I told him to give it a shot.  We had been searching census record upon census record.  But with no maiden name or middle name, it's really anyone's best guess.  So he called his uncle and it turns out that he knew a lot more than we thought.  He gave us her maiden name, middle name, the names of all her brothers and sisters, and we were set!  We were able to plug it in to the census record that we had been working on, it matched the one that I figured was correct, we plugged in into FamilySearch.org and hit a jackpot.  Another (probably) 9-17 lines opened up.  We actually had to cut off how many names he takes to the temple this time because there were so many!  I am so thrilled with the testimony that I am gaining about Family History work as well.  People on the other side really are going to do everything they can to help you unlock things in order to get their work done.  And seeing how happy it makes the member doing the work is so worth it as well!

 

This week was abnormally hard for reasons I will not go into, but things are hopefully looking up soon.  As a part of "The Great Reset" that we are doing with Facebook and technology, we decided to go through our areabook and drop those investigators who just are not and will not progress.  We are hoping that through this, the Lord will see our diligent efforts to find his sons and daughters that are ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and come to learn and accept it.

 

A couple of miracles we saw this week were:

 

We were able to do some Family History with one of the youth in the ward.  We set her up on FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com and we started plugging in the information that she already has.  We found out that a lot of work on all four sides of her tree have been done, but that wasn't going to stop us from getting her a name to go to the temple with.  We searched and searched for about an hour to find her a name and finally found one that hadn't been requested.  We got it for her and we told her that we would be able to keep going and find some names through census records that haven't been found yet, but she didn't seem too interested.  ;)  She was losing patience.  I remember being her age though.  I thought that you could sit down for an hour or two and trace everything all the way back to Adam and Eve.  But it doesn't necessarily work like that.  

We were also able to go do service for some member's at the store.  The members that own that store were gone to Vegas for a tradeshow, so they left two of their employees in charge.  Turns out that the one that was in charge, got sick this week and was barely able to function at all.  The main problem was, they had to have the back storage room emptier before the owner's got back, because they knew that there were going to receive truckloads of new merchandise.  So we helped them about 4 hours this week pricing, placing, moving, etc.  It was hard work, but so worth it to see how much it meant to them.  It is so fulfilling to see how much volunteering helps people and how much they appreciate it.

 

Also, something weird happened this week.  We were calling our recent converts to see how they were doing, but we found out that exactly one week after they were baptized and confirmed, the husband was coming down with the flu, and the wife had the flu and pneumonia!  Like, what in the world?  She was hospitalized and treated quickly.  We informed the Bishop, who called her home teacher, and they were over to the hospital that night.  They gave her a blessing, and this is where we saw the miracle.  She was hospitalized, treated, and released in about 2 days as a result of the blessing.  It was amazing to see the power of the Lord work through the priesthood.  We went to see her and she looked so tired and sick.  The next day she was home, and she even came to church yesterday looking as happy as I'll get out.  It was incredible.

 

We were also able to find three new investigators this week.  Although, I think only 1 of them may be solid at this point.  So I'll let you know.  We should be teaching all of them tonight.  

 

Other than that, my week has been all over the place.  The companionship is going through stuff, we aren't always getting along, and it's hard to focus and be supportive of everything that is going on.   Something good will come out of it I hope!   “If the Lord brings you to it, He’ll get you through it”

 

Mom - It means sooooo much to hear you say that right now.  I am having a harder time right now and that just uplifted my spirits soooooo much!  I really needed to hear that, because the adversary is attacking us pretty hard right now.  But thank you so so so so much!  I am going to write that down and hang it up.  That's how much that meant to me.

 

Yes I am still in a trio with Sister Grace and Sister Buckner.  Not the easiest thing in the world, by any means.  But I am managing it.  I won't go into it much because it hasn't been the best.  Every day has its ups and its downs.  But we are doing okay.  P.S.  If anyone reading this is going to be a missionary, don't be numbers driven.  I am so sick of hearing about numbers from the District Leader.  I don't care how long you are out, missionary work is ALWAYS about the people not the numbers!  But enough about that rant.  Just be good missionaries and member missionaries and the Lord will reward your efforts!  Trust me!

 

We don't have many investigators right now because the ones we were working with, weren't really progressing.  Although, we do have one that lives pretty far away from us.  We called her and she said that she is retiring this week and she will be able to come to Shelby and meet with us on a weekly basis.  She is excited about that and she is the one I am holding out the most hope for at this point.  So pray that she will have her heart and mind opened and enlightened by the gospel.

 

I can't believe that Joey is going to the South.  Seriously, he is going to love it.  Tell him to prepare for LOTS of fried food!  ;)  haha

AND MATT SEARCY IS GOING TO MANCHESTER, ENGLAND?!  THAT IS WHERE I WANTED TO GO!  But oh well, I feel like he will still be able to focus there.  And we all know that I would not be able to.  ;)

 

I am going to hit my six-month mark next month.  Who knew I could make it this long?  Oh yeah - you guys did!  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and thoughts on my behalf.  I really appreciate it and feel all of your love so much!  Oh!  I guess I could include a few funny moments from this past week as well!  So... here we go!

 

On Thursday, We had zone conference at 9:00 in the morning, and we were asked to get there by 8 because Sister Buckner was playing the piano for the musical number.  (And when the leader of the musical number asked if she knew of anyone else in the zone that could sing, she said me!  So now I have been enlisted to sing in the musical number at MISSION CONFERENCE on the 20th.  I'll for sure let you know how that goes)!  Well, we found out that three days earlier, we accidentally ran over a screw in the road that was creating a slow leak in our tire.  So we actually had to get to Gastonia at 7 in the morning in order to fix it before the meeting.  Yay!  My car luck continues!  So when we showed up to the meeting, Elder Dedrick asked, "Are you sisters so excited for the meeting today?"  I responded sarcastically, "So excited that we have been here since 6:30."  He looked at me really confused, then I had to explain myself.  But we all had a good laugh about that one.

 

On Saturday, we were at the church using the wifi and the piano for a couple of things.  We heard someone in the hallway and I saw someone run by, but no one's car was there when we got there.  I went into the hallway, only to find the Bishop's wife.  We were playing music in the chapel, like I said.  When she saw us, she said, "I thought there were Heavenly Angels in the Chapel.  But then I saw Sister Irwin."  She paused and we just laughed and laughed at how she phrased it.  I responded with a jokingly, "Well, I never."  ;)

 

Also on Saturday night, we were calling the zone leaders about whether we were going to have zone activity today or whether we could plan a district activity.  Elder B, who I don't think likes me much anyway, answered the phone.  I asked him about it and he responded, "You know Sister Irwin, We have had MLC this week, Zone Conference, and Working with our investigators.  We just have not had a moment to let our hair down, let alone think about zone activity."  NOW THAT COMMENT I JUST HAD TO MESS WITH!  I said, "The hair that you do have, elder."  Now I am not joking, there was a solid 15 seconds of SILENCE!  Not one laugh!  We were trying our hardest not to giggle and he finally responded, "So we'll just get back to you about zone activity then."  We couldn't help it.  We just burst out laughing!  It was the funniest thing ever!

 

Loves and Hugs from North Carolina!  I love you beyond the eternities!

 

Ash

P.S.  I am still at the same address. Some of you were asking so here it is:

1635 South Dekalb St. #1014

Shelby, NC 28152

It Doesn't Snow Here - It Rains Ice !!!!  I Thought I Was Going To The South Where It Is Warm ???          

           

Ashley Irwin

To

me

Feb 23 at 10:58 AM

Hey everybody!  How are you guys doing?

This week, I didn't have tons and tons of spiritual experiences, but there are a couple.  There are also a couple of funny moments, and sad/happy moments.  So I'll include all of those as well!

Okay.  So let's see...

Monday,

We went to Gastonia to meet up with the Elders and Sisters there.  We had planned a district activity that day.  So we went to meet up with them, then to Charlotte we went!  We went to the Premium Outlets in Charlotte!  I MISS SHOPPING SOOOO MUCH!  It was really fun, but more so because I could live vicariously through Sister M, who was going home on Saturday, so she could buy whatever she wanted to.  So we went to Nike first.  Because all of the Elders wanted new basketball shoes.  A couple of them were even contemplating buying shoes for over $120.  I don't understand why you would spend that much money on shoes that you are probably going to end up leaving here because they won't fit in your suitcase at the end of your mission.  But oh well, their choice, not mine.  We went to a few other stores, and then Sister M wanted me to go back to Nike to get these Purple High Tops that she wanted oh so badly.  They were really cute though.  And they were on sale!  So we went back to get them.  One of the stores we went in to had all of this superhero stuff and band merchandise, so Elder C wouldn't go in with us.  He said that it was a "Satanic Store".  So we went in to see what they had.  The majority of the stock was Batman, One Direction, Sherlock, Dr. Who, etc.  They even had a My Little Pony section.  Sister M and I wanted to get some jewelry.  She wanted this bracelet and a necklace.  I just wanted a bracelet.  But the necklace that she wanted came in a set of two, so I have the gold one and she has the silver one!  Awww PRESH!  It was really funny though.  We walked out of the store only to find Elder P and Elder C.  Elder C was giving us this look of pure and utter disgust!  It had to be the funniest thing I have ever seen because we literally did nothing wrong!  In fact, the bracelet she wanted happened to have a tree that looked similar to the tree of life on it.  LOL  When we got home, We tried to go buy Eggs, Milk, and Bread.  Now, the weather was really bad that day and they expected a snow storm.  I have NEVER seen those things FLY off the shelves faster than they did that day.  There was NOTHING!  We were forced to buy Reduced Sugar Almond Milk to get us by until the middle of the week.  Then, once we got home, we got a call saying that we couldn't drive anywhere for the next two days because the roads were too bad.  Figures... right?  haha  So we stayed in and worked on a couple of things we needed to catch up on in the apartment.  Oh, and when I say it "snowed", it didn't.  IT ICED!  There are little chunks of ice that fall from the sky.  And it hurts!  

Tuesday,

We basically had to stay inside all day long.  We taught some Facebook lessons, We watched Johnny Lingo and The Phone Call, and basically had to catch up on studies because we couldn't walk or drive anywhere.  I had never felt so antsy!  Well... one other time I did.  When Sister B was sick in Pilot.  We couldn't do anything then either.  But anyways...!  The really funny thing that happened this day was, we had dinner with the M's that night.  We didn't really want to cancel it, because they are the closest ward members to us.  So we figured we could just walk.  We walked the two miles to their house in the snow.  It really wasn't that bad.  We even found a sign outside of Family Dollar that informed the public that they had bread in stock!  ;)  But when we got there, we were telling them about the sign and Sister M said, "By that, do you mean that you two WALKED HERE!?"  We nodded our heads, and Brother M looked at us and said, "YOU DOOFUSES!"  haha  Apparently they have gone on and on about it for days!  But it's okay.  Because we all had a good laugh about it.  That night, we got Transfer Calls.  We found out that both Sister B and I and the Shelby Elders were all staying in SHELBY!  WOOHOO!  But the Gastonia sisters got pulled, and two of the three elders in the Gastonia Elders' trio were leaving.  :(  BUT I GET TO STAY FOR THE BAPTISM!

Wednesday,

We had district meeting in the morning.  This was a very spiritual district meeting because we left time for departing testimonies from Sister Meads and the rest of us.  Then we all wrote our testimonies down in our journals.  I do so encourage each of you to try this if you haven't already!  It is so neat to be able to write down my testimony of the gospel, and be able to look back on it at later points in my mission and later points in life.  I am so excited to see how it grows over the years and even over the course of my mission.  I will include some of it here:

"I have a testimony of this true and living gospel.  We are so blessed to know all of the things that we do because of our religious freedom.  There is no other way by which we can return to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ than by studying about them each day and striving to do our very best to live the way that He would have us live and to accomplish the things that we want to, both in our lives and in the gospel.  I know for a fact that Joseph Smith is a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator.  I am so thankful for his willingness to act upon the impressions that he got at such a young age.  Because of his service, we are able to have the Book of Mormon and Prophets to lead us and guide us today."

On Thursday,

We were able to do weekly planning.  After that, we went to go help one of the youth in the ward, I M, start her family history.  We wanted to do this so that she could have some names to do the work for when she goes to the temple on the 14th.  But we ran in to hours and hours of issues.  Mom - I will send the issues we are running into in another email and maybe you will be able to help me work them out.  But we are convinced that this ward is going to do amazing things with Genealogy because the adversary is working his very hardest to make sure that we run into EVERY issue possible so that these people cannot get their work done.  But who said that a few confusions and issues are ever going to stop me?  I just need a little assistance from the two best genealogists that I know (Mom and Grandpa) because the family history consultant here hasn't done it in years and can't answer any of my questions.  But we WILL work this out.  Also, that night we had dinner with some of the recent converts in the ward. 

Friday,

We went early in the morning to help the T's unload a box truck.  After we had unloaded all of it, we were cold and very, very dirty.  We were planning on going home to eat and change before we were going to go finding and teaching.  But, we had noticed that we had a missed call from the Zone Leaders.  We called them back and he was asking us if our baptism was still set for Saturday, how we were doing, etc.  Then he said, "Did you sisters get a ride for your new companion to Shelby after Transfers today?"  We were like, "WAIT... WHAT?"  We were totally scrambling.  We had to set up the extra bed that we had in our apartment, go to habitat to get a desk, set up the apartment, and get a ride for her by 4:00!  That was insane!

BUT I'M IN A TRIO NOW!  It's me, Sister B, and sister G!  She is super sweet!  She is from Lehi, Utah.  We all teach together so well!  And we get along splendidly.  I will be able to answer more questions if you have any later today or on Monday!  :)

Saturday,

We had two baptisms that morning!  B and L B’s got baptized!  They were so happy and so excited to finally be able to enter the waters of baptism and receive all of the blessings that we had been telling them about.  The really spiritual part of the baptism, other than seeing the beautiful smiles on their faces, was Sister P's "Welcome to Relief Society" for L.  She said that while she watched them be baptized, she could almost see the faces of Jesus Christ and John the Baptist while she was watching them.  She said this was a true testimony to her and everyone else at the baptism, that we are all truly following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ by entering into the Waters of Baptism and taking upon us, His name.  I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to find, teach, and assist in baptizing these two wonderful children of God our Eternal Father.  I love them with all my heart!  They are always going to be my friends and my converts.  They always tell us how much we mean to them, and I wouldn't trade that for the world!

Sunday

Was a day of getting more comfortable in a trio.  In church, we were able to friendship lots of members, Sister G got to know a lot of people, and we got to know how well we get along together.  After church, we all watched Johnny Lingo while eating lunch.  (Because Sister Grace has never seen it).  Then we were able to go teach two lessons.  When we were teaching a man named T yesterday, he said that he thinks we might be someone that God sent to him, and that he needed to listen to us.  Although we weren't able to teach the entire restoration, we were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon, and he accepted the invitation to read it and to pray about it.  One thing I learned from Sister G yesterday, (because she has a lot of mission knowledge - being out ten months and all), was that if we mess up in lessons and don't deliver the message in the way that we wanted to, maybe it's because that is the way that the investigators or the less-actives needed to hear it.  Interesting... right?  I had never thought about it that way.

Other than that, I am pretty good.  I have had a couple of moments where I have been homesick this week, but I say moments because they were brief.  I do miss you guys tons, but I wouldn't trade the work that I am doing at this time, for these people, for anything in the world.  It's amazing!

The weather is pretty weird.  At the beginning of the week, we were having ice storms and it was 2-6 degrees.  But the past couple of days it has been around 57-60.  We even went for a run this morning.  Granted, mine was a walk/jog because my foot started hurting.  But I'll take it.  I am glad I am a little more south than I was in my last area though.  According to pictures, they got dumped on and it's super cold!  ;)

Sister B is a lot better.  I think she was just getting a little worried about transfers.  But we are all good now and we adore Sister G!  And the California family will be glad to hear that, she is an ANGELS FAN!  :)

I got Sister Burrows to send you a friend request on Facebook and she says that she will send you her new phone number if you want it.  :)

I am glad to hear that Elder Standefer's homecoming went so well.  I will definitely tell MawMaw that the elders say hello.  We actually went over to eat with her last night.  MawMaw's real name is S M.  She is Brother M's Mother.  Bishop S is doing well, but can you guys please pray for their daughter.  She has been in and out of the hospital her whole pregnancy and had to go to the ER again yesterday because of a serious migraine, and since she can't take anything due to the pregnancy, she could use a lot of prayers.  The girls they were talking about are the W's.  I have mentioned their grandmother Sister M before.  And yes, they still live here.

I am still in Shelby, so please keep sending letters and packages to the same address.  And go ahead and send the vitamins as well (with the apartment number) in the next couple of days.  I am out of the main one already, so I would greatly appreciate it.

YES!  Tell Bethany to email me with pictures of Sweethearts so I can see everything!  I am glad that the little ones are doing well.  And I am glad that Cait can play soccer again this year.  She was doing so well last year!  DON'T BE AFRAID TO GET IN THERE BABE!  The genealogy is doing well, I don't know if there is anything you can help with right now, but I did mention that you are willing to.  So if they ask for your number, I'll give it to them. 

What kind of dancing did you and dad do at the Sweethearts dance?

You're right!  The zoo was soooo fun!

I have had an interesting week.  It has been a lot of cleaning, preparing, and rearranging, but it has been good.  I missed you guys a little more this week, but I notice that it happens around every transfer meeting that I get a little bit homesick.  So oh well.  Satan didn't really mess with us or with our investigators before the baptism other than that though, so that's always good!

I am doing great and I will let you guys know if I need anything!  I love you lots and lots and lots and lots!  Loves and Hugs from NC!

Ash

P.S.  I am off to play Settlers of Catan with the elders.  Wish us luck?  ;)

We Went To The Zoo

In The Pouring Rain

And Had A Blast

Ashley Irwin

To

me

Feb 16 at 4:04 PM

Monday-

WE WENT TO THE ZOO!  It was... Shall we say... An interesting experience?  You see, when we finished planning that morning, we got two voicemails from the zone leaders.  One said that we didn't have to wear "Proselyting  Clothes"!  Yay!  We got to wear... JEANS!  The second voicemail was Elder Morrow doing his impression of a weatherman.  He said, "Elders and Sisters today we are expecting a slight chance of precipitation overhead, hope to still see you there!"  But there was no way rain was going to stop us!  It didn't start raining though, until we headed into Gastonia to meet up with Sister M and Sister T to ride up there.  We also had to take our car in that day to Firestone while we were at the zoo to get a leak checked out.  I thought it was brake fluid, one member thought it was power steering, one member thought radiation, and one member thought oil.  So we just brought it in to find out for sure.  So once we headed into Gastonia, it started POURING!  We couldn't see ten feet in front of us!  But we made it safely.  Then the sisters picked us up from there and we were on our way.  It was a total party!  Sister M is always a good time!  On the way, we were looking for a place to eat, so she screamed, "SISTERS!  BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR CHICK-FIL-A!" over the blasting gospel music!  Once we found one, she barreled across the highway, we spent ten minutes looking for the actual building, stopped to inhale our food and keep heading to the zoo! 

Now, when I say zoo, it was really more of a ranch.  But it was the closest thing within our boundaries and they had giraffes and zebras.  So I'm counting it!  We got there and it was still down pouring.  We went in the gift shop and we all decided that it would be more fun to pay the ten dollars each for the hay ride than to try to see which animals would come out in the rain.  SO WORTH IT!  We saw Emus, Ostriches, Buffalo, Bison, tons of Llamas, Deer (My favorite because they had baby deer), Giraffes, and Zebras.  I am probably missing a couple, but you get the picture.  :)  The entire time we were on the wagon, we were allowed to feed all the animals but the zebras and these weird cow things with mega horns!  I'll show you a picture.  But because we were allowed to feed them, they would not stop following us the entire time!  We felt like Noah in the Ark the way they would follow us!  After the hay ride, we went to see a couple of animals like the wallabies and such, took a zone picture, and had to head home.  (The wagon ride takes about two hours).  So we headed back, smelling AWFUL!  It was like animal feed, wet fur, and slobber all mixed into one smell.  Rank, rank I tell you!  Haha  But as we got back into Gastonia, we had the sisters drop us off at Firestone and leave.  Well, since I am the "experienced" one with cars in the companionship, (thank you dad), I got the task of figuring out what to do about the car.  But, when we talked to the manager, he said it was a good thing that we had our car towed into the shop because it was leaking engine oil and if they started the car without this part they had to order, it was going to explode.  Guess the drive from Shelby that morning wasn't the BEST idea ever... But I wasn't going to tell them that.  Our vehicle coordinator called and asked if we did have it towed and started to get irritated because we hadn't asked permission to tow it.  When I told him we had actually drove it in he said, "Whoops.  Don't tell them that!"  And he started laughing and wished us luck on getting home.  So there we were.  Stranded an hour from Shelby.  We called the sisters, had them take us to the church, and we got a ride home from the P's when they offered to come get us.  Eventful day... Right?  The sisters said we should have just stayed at their house and slept over for zone meeting in the morning, but Sister Buckner said no.  :(

Tuesday-

We had zone meeting this day.  It was absolutely amazing!  We had an amazing training given by a member of the Gastonia ward.  Brother B trained on how to more involve members in missionary work.  He is also really into psychology.  So he went around and "read our body language and speech" as we were role playing.  That was a little weird.  But he is really cool, so I didn't mind it.  We had an amazing rendition of If You Could Hie to Kolob by Sister T.  Then, we were going to have a training on using Facebook in the work, but it was going to ruin the spirit in the room.  So the STL's did their training, and we had departing testimonies from the missionaries going home.  Talk about spiritual!  Elder S and Sister M made me cry the most.  I probably sat there for a straight ten minutes and just cried.  Then, after the meeting was over, I went to congratulate and say goodbye to Elder S.  He then proceeded to make me cry again.  Unintentionally of course!  I am just a big sap when it comes to missionaries going home!  If I could simply just tell you how much I enjoy zone meetings!  (Apart from role playing of course, that's awful!)  But the spirit you feel and the things you learn are indescribable.  And I do take lots and lots of notes! After zone meeting, we ended up waiting for a baptismal interview to be done, going to lunch and an appointment with the Gastonia sisters!  By the way, I really LOVE hibachi grills!  Mmmmmm!  The appointment was good, we were teaching one of their new converts about family history and temple work!  So very appropriate for what my talk was on this week.  Then we hurried to go pick up the car so we could get to our dinner appointment.  Then we basically planned and made up for the time we lost.

Wednesday-

Unfortunately, this was one of those days where we didn't have any solid lessons scheduled or they had fallen through.  So we planned to help a ward member chop some wood for he and his wife so they could stay warm this upcoming week.  They find it pointless to pay for heat and air conditioning for some reason... Lol.  But since I had chopped wood before, (again, thank you dad), I let Sister B go first.  We had to first chop a piece of wood by hand for "experience".  It took her about 50 swings to finally get it.  But it was pretty good for her first time chopping wood with an ax.  Then it was my turn.  It took me all of 5 swings to chop it.  He gave me oak, which is harder to split.  I was a little rusty, but I split it nonetheless.  ;)  Then we got to split the rest of the truck load of wood with the wood splitter.  That thing is AMAZING!  If we had a wood fireplace, I would tell you to invest in one!  All you have to do is set the wood on there and guide a lever forward.  It’s trying work! ;)  It took us about 45 minutes to split all of it for him.  It was really fun!  But I think the most fulfilling part of the entire thing was when he wife said, "Girls, you have no idea how much that means to me.  Our room was 53 degrees last night, and that wasn't even with the storm warning.  We are actually going to be warm next week.  Thank you so much!"  It's little things like this that make me appreciate more and more the work I am doing for my brothers and sisters, the Lord's children.  It is not only about serving those outside of the church, but strengthening those already in it as well.

Thursday-

I'm not going to lie to you guys.  The spiritual side of things this week really didn't start picking up until Friday through Sunday.  So I will tell you about a funny lesson we had instead.  We knocked on this door in Patterson Springs and before we could even out our hand forward to knock, this girl opened the door and her giant dog came barreling out.  This would have been fine if the dog didn’t looked like it wanted to kill me.  All she said was,"I'm glad you're here.  I needed someone to talk to.  Don't mind the dog.  He won't hurt you.  Come in."  I have never been so hesitant in my entire life.  She said that she was sorry about the smell, but they raise 6 dogs, two rats, tons of fish, and she is a lizard breeder.  She then proceeded to tell us how one of the two rats they had to shoot because it ate three of her lizards and bit off one of the geckos tails.  Then she showed us the geckos tail growing back.  Gross!  I never want lizards or rats.  Ugh!  She invited us into her room to look at the decor which consisted of, how do I say this, band posters who thrive on singing about death, misery, and destruction.  Tons of fun!  :/  She told us to go back into the front room and she would wake up her mother who is a minister, and we could all talk.  Basically, the actual lesson wasn't bad.  She just sat there and judgmentally stared at us.  Meanwhile, her 16-year old kept asking us if she was going to heaven or hell.  We shared the whole restoration and planned to go back last night and read the Book of Mormon with them, but they didn't answer the door.  Oh the experiences you have on a mission.

Friday-

This day, there were two really amazing things that happened.  A couple of weeks ago, we had this bible referral that we had dropped because we had tried multiple times to get ahold of her with no success.  And the number she had was disconnected.  But, the other night, while we were looking for another former investigator, we noticed a car at her house.  So we decided to knock on the door to see if she was home.  She answered and we set up a return appointment for Friday.  So when we got there to give her the bible, we were determined to teach her about the restoration as well.  We taught a very basic restoration lesson because she had a few questions.  But she said, "I am so thankful you girls were able to come over today.  I have been looking to get closer to Christ since I was saved last year, and my church that I'm going to doesn't seem to be preaching the truth all the time."  She agreed to come to church with is, though she never actually showed up.  Then, we headed toward Mooresboro because that's where our dinner appointment was.  Two things came from that:

1.       On Thursday night, we went to dunkin' donuts because sister b wanted some really badly.  When we left, we saw this car covered in storm troopers and Mickey Mouse heads because they had run the Disney triathalon.  We thought nothing of it and left.  But when we were in Mooresboro, we saw the same car at a neighbor's house of a less-active!  So we are going to see if we can go teach them soon, instead of just asking if they know their neighbors like we did the first time.  If they let us teach them and they end up getting baptized, I am going to use the hashtag - #dunkindonutstodunkinfamilies!  Isn't that funny??

2.  We were in Mooresboro, and we got lost.  Surprise, surprise!  So we went to a members store a few miles back to get wifi.  When we got there, they said that we should go visit their daughter.  Funny enough, we planned the night before to go see her that day.  There was an incident and her ten year old got in serious trouble.  So we stopped by to visit her.  She looked at me and started crying.  She asked, "How do y'all always know where to go at the right time?"  I told her that we go where the spirit guides us to go.  This was a true testimony builder that if you show faith to the Lord, he will place you in the paths of those of his children that you need to be.

Saturday-

This day, we were able to go see a man that we met last Sunday.  We met him on his porch while we were walking down the street.  We were able to teach him the restoration and set up a time to come back on Saturday.  When we came back, he told us that he was having a really hard time accepting the fact that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet and that he could receive revelation.  So what we did was, we read the Book of Mormon Introduction with him.  Nothing to out of the ordinary, but as we read it, he said it was too much to take in.  I pulled up Mosiah 10:3-5 and read it to him.  I invited him to read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know about its truth and the truth of our message.  He suddenly calmed down a bit and he said, "Well since y'all took the time out of your day to come explain this to me, I will give it a shot."  The thing that was different is, it was nothing that I hadn't said in a lesson before, but you could sense the love of God for him through me.  I felt it so strongly.  Our Heavenly Father was trying to reach out to him!  I was just his temporary mouthpiece!  It was amazing you guys, really.  I couldn't have been happier that I was so willing to open my mouth and proclaim the truth of our everlasting gospel!

I gave my talk this day!  Mom - I really appreciated your copy of your talk because I stole all of the stories from it.  I basically just changed the perspective of the stories and added a few paragraphs and testimonies of my own and took out some of yours.  It went REALLY well.  I had two people ask me for copies of my talk because they "couldn't take notes fast enough."  I also had the bishop, his wife, and loads of other members tell me it was the best talk they've ever heard on family history!  So thank you so much for the help!  I didn't end up having the time I thought I would to write it... Silly me!  But I had three members say that my talk made them so excited for family history, that they couldn't even wait until I was done.  They were using the church wifi on their cell phones to sign up for and use family search!  One of them found their four generations DURING SACRAMENT MEETING!  And one of them got on and found where their grandmother was born, and they had been looking for a long time!  I also had the assistant family history consultant ask if we would come talk to the family history committee of the city of Shelby once he gets some more credibility down there!  Isn't that great??

The other great thing that happened this day was... OUR INVESTIGATORS WERE ABLE TO GET OVER THEIR WORD OF WISDOM ADDICTIONS IN ORDER TO BE BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!  That's right!  I have two baptisms set in stone for Saturday!  They are so happy.  The amazing thing is, that the bishop was able to get out of them something they hadn't shared with us.  He asked them how long they had been looking for a religion.  She replied, "Oh, probably 20 years.  See, we had been going to a Church of God.  When we were in a hard spot, we asked the preacher for counseling, and he said he wouldn't do it.  We got to the point where I was praying every night because we couldn't do it anymore.  We couldn't do it on our own.  Then these two lovely ladies showed up at our door."  20 YEARS!  I was almost to the point of tears when I realized that I was the answer to that prayer.  Missionary work is the greatest!  God called me to Shelby for them specifically, and I am so grateful for that!  And they are ready to start family history and attend the temple after their baptism.  And they are looking forward to maybe being able to go to the temple with us when I come back if it will work out.  So we'll see.

Apparently, all the missionaries are going to be giving their iPads back to the mission in March and we are all getting new ones to use.  So I'm just wondering how much they had you pay for them.  I want to see if I can buy it off of you... ;)  So let me know!

As for the Vitamins, I am going to find out if I am getting transferred or not on Tuesday (tomorrow).  So just hold the order and any other mail until I can let you know after transfers on Monday.  Okay?  Oh!  Speaking of which, I think if I am getting transferred, I am going to be able to send a package home before the end of the week.  But I have a question, I want to keep things like the drum sticks you sent me for Christmas, but there may not be room for them.  So what kind of things am I allowed to send home and not allowed to.

Speaking of packages though, I am OBSESSED with my Valentine's Day package!  Thank you sooooo much!  Dad - I got the cinnamon lips finished in like three days and they were delicious.  Beth - I am savoring the chocolate!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!  But, I would have to say, my favorite (non-food related) thing was the two frogs!  Who am I supposed to give the other one to?  And was there a purpose behind the FROG?  ;)  lol

Tell grandma happy birthday for me!  Sad that I am missing it, but tell her I am sending her hugs and kisses from North Carolina. And no!  I can't believe how fast time is flying!  It's insane!  You'll have tons of fun at Elder Standefer's homecoming!  You'll have to tell me if you hear him say anything about Pilot Mountain, or Y.O.S.O. (You Only Serve Once)!

And basketball sounds super fun this year!  I wish they had thought of themes when I went to play with the young women's!  That would have made it so much more fun!  And I am also glad that they get to go to a scout camp for girls camp this year.  That was by far my favorite year of girls camp!  Far too many memories from that year!

Thank you for the idea for the genealogy night!  I'll keep it in mind if I do indeed stay in Shelby.  My thoughts on transfers, they are definitely closing the Gastonia area for sisters, which I am sad about.  But we think they might transfer Elder P and Elder C.  My personal thought is they might close Shelby for Sisters as well because we are losing so many sisters in the mission!  This transfer alone, we are losing 17 sisters and only 9 are coming out.  Then, we are losing 14 elders and only 8 are coming out.  So I think that one of us will be transferred, they'll close the area to sisters, or they'll keep us both here.  (Which I honestly don't think is very likely).  But I'll let you know on Monday what happens!  I probably won't be able to let you know before then, but like I said, please hold the vitamins and any other packages or letters until Monday when I let you know for sure!  Because, mail is going to be even slower getting here because of the weather. 

Speaking of weather, THIS IS INSANE!  I have never seen anything like it!  We are having blizzard warnings left and right!  Now, the actual snow is not the thing I am concerned about, considering where I grew up.  The thing that concerns me is the 1-digit temperatures and the rain and snow instantly turning to ice.  It took us 5 minutes to start our car to get to Walmart when we came home from Gastonia today, and when we got to Walmart, all the eggs, milk, and flour were gone.  Stores are shutting down, and people are going into hibernation.  Literally.  I think it's funny!  I'll let you know more next week as it continues!

The outlets in Gastonia were great!  I got some new bracelets.  So I'm excited!  I wanted a lot more, but I have no room first of all, and second, I can't wear the stuff I wanted while I'm out here anyway.  Practically everyone in our district bought either Nike's or Van's... But I had no room or money... So ya know.

I did hear Jessica and Robbie had their baby!  He is so cute and I am so excited for them!  Thank you so much for all the pictures!  I love them!  Finally I get to SEE how y'all are doing!  Haha JK

Next week, I'll let you know about the baptisms, transfers, weather, etc.  But until then, LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND HOPE YOU ARE ALL HAVING SO MUCH FUN!

Hugs and Kisses from NC!

Ash

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!!!