Ashton blog: Skirts May Get Stuck in Bike Tires

June 29, 2015

and this is a BEAUTIFUL LAKE we found!!!! THERE ARE SO MANY LAKES HERE!

WHAT AN AWESOME WEEK!!!!!!!!!! I feel so blessed to be a servant of the Lord and that I have been able to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ and been able to just open my mouth!! I have seen the Lord work miracles in the lives of those we teach!!!

OKAY!....well something CRAZY happened this week!!! So we met this woman on the street named marlene! and I won't say what religion marlene was, but she was curious as to what we believed so we set up an apt. with her! SO on Wednesday! we show up at marlenes apartment and we walk in and she has an older man and woman with her and they have their bibles open sitting at the table and they are just READY TO BASH! so marlene just says "come on in" and I wanted to just DIE! I was just thinkin "OHHHHH MMYY GOSH! THESE PEOPLE ARE OLD! THEY KNOW MORE ABOUT THE BIBLE THAN I DO!!!! THEY ARE MORE EXPEREINCED! WHAT DO I HAVE TO SHARE THAT THEY WONT HAVE A COME-BACK FOR??" So before we sat down I just said "uummmm....can I use your bathroom????" and she said yeah so I run back there and I just get on my knees and I just offered up a prayer! and immediately what I felt is "You have the truth". and then I got up sat down at the table and.........................

THEY BASHED WITH US! (Bible bash: to bash on ones beliefs with your own)....so as they were telling me things like "We don't have spirits, we die and then that's it we are gone we are not spirits anymore" I stopped them and said "Here wait wait....so my grandmother passed away a year ago! And she is so dear to me! When I sang at her funeral I can't deny that I felt her presence there! How do you explain that?" and they said that I was really feeling a DEMON! WHAT?????????? Oh that was IT! hahaha I was so just...BAH! Not happy...and they were saying all of these other things as I silently had some tears watering up in my EYES! oh baby! It was ridiculous! But then I thought! WOW!!!!!!!! I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT I HAVE THE TRUTH! I love the gospel! I love Jesus Christ! I love that I will return to that God that gave me life one day!!!!!

Okay so later in the week sister green and I were doing nightly planning....and our area is HUGE right??? SO we have to really be smart about who to visit, when to visit them so we can preserve our miles (we are only given so many miles a month). so we were planning and I said "sister green....we don't have enough miles...so....I think we should take the bikes" hahahhahahahahha and WHAT AN EXPERIENCE THAT WAS!!!!! hahahaha it was a humid day and I was wearing a flowy skirt! (BAD IDEA!) hahaha you don't know the struggle.....till you are forced to ride a bike in a skirt! "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble and SKIRTS MAY GET STUCK IN BIKE TIRES!" BUT nevertheless! THE WORK CONTINUES! hahaha kidding! So I definitely put my skirt into a pony-tail...it was great! but anyway! SO we tracted the heavens out of this neighborhood!!! IT WAS AWESOME! lots of people are prepared in this area!!!! but the best part was...SISTER GREEN TOTALLY GOT ATTACKED BY A BIRD....not that that's cool...but its weird! "Persecutions may rage mobs may combine armies may assemble and bird may attack you while tracting!" haha ANYWAY! It was a good time tracting! I was grateful for those bikes!!!!!!!

OKAY!!!! And went to church on sunday and sister olsen (bishops wife) came up to us and said "SISTERS I forgot to tell you!!!! A woman called me this morning! She isn't a member but she's coming to church and wants to be baptized!!!!".......I was shocked......OBVIOUSLY! hahaha but sure enough!!!! Her name is marie! and she sat between us and the cutlers!!! (My mission president and his family) and YEAH! and THEN! Elder and sister Barley (Senior missionary couple) totally brought a friend to church! and I was sitting by them too! And she leans to me in sacrament meeting and gives me a "What would Jesus Do?" bracelet! DAY MADE! hahaha it was AWESOME! and THEN!!!!! Paula Dietz (awesome member in the ward!) asked us to come over and teach her friend! and we did!!! her name is mary and she is SO AWESOME!!!!!!!! she is so kind! She is in the process of a divorce right now! so it was really good to be of comfort to her! we taught the plan of salvation and invited her to read the Book of Mormon to bring peace into her life!

I know that Christ lives! I know that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration! "He lived great and he died great" as John Taylor once said! I know that this is where I am supposed to be! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! I know that we find and learn in the Book of Mormon of the fullness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ! I know that God cares about each one of His children! He is in the DEATAILS of every aspect of our life! He knows what makes us happy, what makes us sad, what we regret, what we are proud of! I love Him! I decided that ALMA 36:24 is MY SCRIPTURE!!!!!!!!! people always ask "so why are you on a mission?" and my reason is the same as alma the younger! it's because I have felt the sweet sweet taste of mercy and forgiveness and grace and now I want OTHERS to feel those same things! I love this work! WE ALL ARE APART OF IT! you don't need a nametag AT ALL to do missionary work! do what Christ would do! TALK to people! Share with them what the restored gospel and grace of Christ has done for you!!!! :) you will be so HAPPY! I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and to all the Idaho people!!!!!! ENJOY THAT 107 degree weather! hahaha GO TO ROARING SPRINGS! hahaha :) wahoo!!!!!!!!!

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

-Sister Wise

P.S. so this guy in our ward asked me to say a prayer at this meeting and his name is Tom Motta (like Maw-Tuh) but in the prayer I pronounced his name Tom (Mow-tuh) and so after the prayer he said "Sister wise you prounounced my name wrong....." hahaha and I said "Eh.....tomato to-MOTTA!) hahhahhahahhahahahahahahhaha" It was SO funny...anyway....just a little slice of Ashton in this email! hahaha

and the other one! I TOTALLY COOKED and I feel so cool! THANKS FOR THE RECIPE for the energy bites ken! They were a hit! I shared some with the other missionaries and they approved!