Ashton blog: Barbara was Baptized!

SO BARBARA FINALLY WAS BAPTIZED on June 13th!!!! we are so excited for her!!!

well this was a GREAT GREAT GREAT week!!!!!!!! Full of miracles and tender mercies from our Heavenly Father!!!!!!!!

So!!!! During the week I turned to sister green and said "You know I feel really bad inviting others to get to know their neighbors when we don't even know ours!' hahaha SO we took cookies to the woman across from us and the people kitty corner from us and this indian family down stairs and they totally invited us to their home for indian food this Friday!!!!!!! SO WE ARE EXCITED FOR THAT! #softcookies #softenhearts hahaha it was A MIRACLE! we are excited!!!!!!!

ALSO their is so much power in missionary work through ward members!!!!!! It is SO KEY and SO ESSENTIAL to the work! So we have a sports night every week (us and the elders) and we all play games with the youth and they invite friends and this week it was a HUGE SUCCESS!!!!!!!!! The bishops daughter brought her friend and the friends mom came to pick her up and so we got to talk to her for a while and then myra (recent convert ) brought her friend and she and I are basically best friends now...you know/....no big deal! hahaha I love chillin with 11 year olds! haha but it was just AWESOME to see the ward bringing friends to church activites! haha

I mowed the lawn! NOT just any lawn....a lawn that had grass that was as tall as me....okay not quite it went to my HIPS BUT STILL!!!!!!! HAHAHA and then this woman who we were mowing the lawn for, has cat figurines everwhere! BUT because her grass was so long I couldn't SEE THEM! hahahaha so I definitely ran over one and it shattered into a thousand pieces...hahahha it was hilarious....but not.....oops. hahaha

I WENT TO OSHKOSH WISCONSIN FOR AN AWESOME MEETING WITH ALL THE NEW MISSIONARIES AND THEIR TRAINERS! It was so so so so so so so so so so so so good to see all of those people I was in the MTC with and to see my good friends like sister hess and SISTER QUIST and sister blas and elder reed and elder lott! They are so awesome! anyway! The cutlers were there and sister cutler drove back to muskego lakes with us so we drove a few hours in the car together and it was super fun! We found out that her daughter Hannah, and my sister Madison went to the lake together this weekend....?? Random! hahahaha

BUT SATURDAY was barbaras baptism! SHE IS SO AWESOME! THE SPIRIT WAS SO SO SO STRONG! I love her and it was glad to see her make those covenants with God and to see the ward come out and support her! Baptism through the proper authority is essential to our salvation, and because Barbara knows this, she took that step to follow her Savior! SO COOL!

OH! OKAY! SO Saturday and sunday was the Milwaukee Polish Festivval!!!!!!!!!!! SO SO FUN!!!!!!!! THe church had a family history department set up so we just taught people how to use it and taught people about eternal families and this awesome polish dancer named Alexandria taught me and another sister how to polish dance and then we taught her the restoration and gave her a book of Mormon! SHE IS SO SWEET!!!!!!!!! A very Christ like person!!!!!!!!! and also this woman came up to me and said "Can I have this????" and she was holding a polish Book of Mormon and I said "BY ALL MEANS!!!!!!!" and then she said "Can I have the English too??? I want to give it to my family! (This woman was hardcore from Polland!) " haha and I said YEAH! I explained what it was and she went on her merry way! hahhahaha it was a day full of miracles!

I know that this is the only true church on the earth! I know that as we learn of the gospel of Jesus Christ by reading the Book of Mormon we will receive eternal life! It is a sure thing! I know that Jesus Christ is the merciful Savior of the World! I know that He is real! He's not just a nice thought or a nice man that lived 2 thousand years ago...He is the Son of God, He is the Savior and Redeemer of our souls, and He is the great Jehovah that all the prophets have prophesied of since the BEGINNING! I love Him! I love you all!!!!!!!!! I am able to even be here because He lives!!!! LOVE YOU!

"Because I have been given much I too must give!"

-Sister Ashton Louise Wise

so THIS!!!!!! Is the polish festival I went to!!!!! we worked at the family history center because Wisconsinites LOVE researching their german polish and Swedish backgrounds!!!!!! MAN! It was awesome! We taught like 40 lessons in an hour! hahaha and this is Alexandria! A SUPER AWESOME polish dancer! And of course I had to talk to her! Because dance is my thing! But she taught us a polish dance and then me and sister escobar (from NAMPA and also danced at my STUDIO) taught the restoration because she was super curious what we believed! GAVE A BOOK OF MORMON TO HER!

Polish festival!

and this is Elder Standifird (far right) and Elder Martell (center) hahaha they are SUPER great and hilarious...elder standifird is going home Thursday so we thought we all had better get a pic

so this is ELDER AND SISTER CARTER! they are our office senior missionaries and sister green pop in there once in a while to help with some office stuff they need! I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!! Theyre one of those couples that will be at my wedding my 26th birthday...you name it! they will be there! hahaha theyre funny!

and then this is sister miller who we wont be coming and visiting anymore either since we aren't going to cover their ward

hahahaha and this is connie! An autistic woman who we go see! SHE IS HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!! it was my last time visiting connie because sister green and I are being taken out from the west allis ward and put into just the muskego lakes ward

okay and this is sister coats who Is less active woman that we go see every week in a nursing home! She can't see very well so we go read the ensign with her! SHE IS AWESOME AND SASSY!

SOME SUPER FUN YOUTH from the muskego lakes ward! The one w ith the lighter hair is myra and she was just baptized in October and she brought her friend to our sports activity! we had a fun time getting to know her!