Winter Wonderland

Dear Friends and Family,

We have a had a bit of a crazy week this week! Monday and most of Tuesday we were snow/iced in. Missionary snow day are not as fun as normal snow days. It is nice to have more time to study and read scriptures but you go crazy after a while. Anyway because of the snow we had a bit of a late start to the week. But that didn't stop us from working hard. We were able to find some really elect people this week and we are excited to start teaching them the gospel!

On Friday we had our zone conference which is when half the mission gathers together for a meeting. President Wakolo spoke about our purpose as missionaries and one thing that he said and has said before that I just love is that we as missionaries need to match the message we share. We teach the plan of happiness not sadness so we need to be happy! Even when someone slams the door in our face or wants to argue with us. Even when we are walking in the snow and ice. Even when things are really hard. We can and need to be happy.

President Wakolo is one of the greatest examples of this principle. He is always so happy and excited about this work. No matter what is going on in the mission or in his day he is always happy. Sister Hosea and I have both been working on matching our message and being positive and happy no matter the circumstance. We were put to the test yesterday as we were walking through the sleet/ice storm with our umbrellas. After about 5 minutes of being outside Sister Hosea just starts yelling "I will not let this make me upset! I will be happy! I have the gospel and I will be happy!" It made me smile. I just love her sometimes :)

We received transfer news this morning both Sister Hosea and I will be staying in Pinnacle Mountain that is until Sister Hosea's visa come which could be any day now.

As always thank you all for everything you do! I hope everyone has a great week! Wish us luck it is snowing again and we might be forced to stay in again. 

Love

Sister Aase

PS Sister Hosea and I rewrote the Standard of Truth, which is a statement by the prophet Joseph Smith on missionary work, to fit our wintery situation yesterday while walking in the ice. 

The Standard of Truth has been erected; no storm can stop the work from progressing; snow may fall, roads may freeze, temperatures may drop, and hearts may be frozen, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, til our toes are frozen, umbrellas are broken, faces are numb, and our fingers are frost bitten, til the weather conditions are unbearable and the Mission President says "Stay in."

Our Trio is Down to Two!!

Dear Family and Friends,

This morning we woke up to ice and snow! We are officially snowed in but luckily we live with members who are letting us use their computers so you still get to hear from me. However we are lucky missionaries because most of the other missionaries will not have the chance to write home today (my heart goes out to all the missionary moms who are freaking out right now - glad you don't have to be one of them)  I still can't believe that we have snow today. It was 75 degrees on Saturday. Beautiful weather for Valentines Day.

The weather was not the only unexpected thing that happened this week. On Tuesday we got a call saying that Sister Anderson was going to be transferred to Conway on Friday to take Sister Kalahiki's spot when she left. In the words of Timon from The Lion King "Our trio's down to two." We spent Wednesday and Thursday packing Sister Andy up, driving her around to say goodbye to people, crying, and telling each other that it was all going to be ok.

Thursday night we headed to the mission home where I had to say goodbye to Sister Anderson and Sister Kalahiki, who finished her mission and is now home in Hawaii.

So I am now the solo trainer of Sister Hosea. Training is hard and stressful especially when you have to do it by yourself.  The song by Michael McLain "You can make it on your own" suddenly had new meaning when I woke up Friday morning.  Luckily she is awesome and so training all alone isn't bad at all. President Wakolo told us on Thursday night that this would be an opportunity for both of us to grow. It has only been like four days and I can already tell that we are both growing and becoming better. We have stepped up our game.

Also we get to see Sister Anderson this Wednesday at Zone Conference and she is spending her last P-day with us so really we just said see you later not goodbye :)

Despite all that craziness we still had missionary work to do. On Valentine's day we spent the day "heart attacking" members of the ward. It was so much fun and we only got caught once. By the end of the night Sister Hosea and I were pros. Sunday was super special. Trina was there! YAY. She has been unavailable for almost a whole month and it was the best Valentine's gift to get to see her in church again.

I hope everyone had a wonderful week. Thanks as always for all the prayers and love and support!

Love

Sister Aase 

Best quote of the week. 

Brother Burleson: Joseph Smith is like Justin Timberlake. You know because JT brought sexy back and Joseph Smith brought the gospel back. hahahaha

Missionaries Sang as They Walked & Walked & Walked

Dear Family and Friends,

It was another walk week here in Pinnacle Mountain. And we walked and walked and walked. Fortunately for us it has been beautiful the past few days and so walking was actually quite pleasant.

The week started with Sister Anderson's birthday Yay!

6 Birthday cakes

5 Birthday Dinners

4 times eating out

3 days worth of leftovers

2 sick sisters

and 1 week later we are all pretty Birthday-ed out. But it was fun to get to celebrate with Sister Anderson and Sister Hosea.

This week I have been thinking a lot about how important it is to listen to the Spirit even if the instruction or direction that we receive is a little strange. I was reading about the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in the New Testament this week. At the beginning of this story Philip, who was like me given the call to preach the gospel, was told by the Spirit to go into Gaza which was the desert. I'm sure that Philip was a little confused why God would want him in the desert when he was suppose to be teaching people. But he didn't question and followed the directions he was given. Once there he was again prompted by the Spirit and told to approach a chariot carrying an important Ethiopian eunuch. Once again Philip may have been a little confused as to why he needed to approach this person but he did as he was directed. And in the end this Ethiopian man had been very much prepared by the Lord to hear the gospel and Philip was able to teach and baptize him.

So many times this week I was prompted to things that didn't make a lot of sense but I did them anyway. One example we were asked to teach a man in a member's home and the topic the member had felt prompted to have us teach was about the temple. Usually we don't teach about the temple until an investigator has a little more understanding about the basics of the gospel. But we felt good about this and so without a lesson plan and totally relying on the Spirit to help us we began to teach this man about temples. The lesson went exactly as it should and in the end we were able to invite this man to be baptized.

I know that miracles happen when we listen to the Spirit. Even when it prompts us to do things that don't make sense or may seem a little scary. Like Elder Uchtdorf said "I think God knows something that we don't" and when we follow his guidance from the Spirit blessings are always sure to come.

As always thank you all for the support and prayers!

Hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Love

Sister Aase

You Are Now Entering The Mission Field

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a beautiful week here in Arkansas! It was sunny and warm and wonderful. Of course though, the weather realized this morning that it is still winter and the cold has returned just in time for walk week :)

Being in a trio is way too much fun. Somewhere between all the pictures and laughing and talking we get the real missionary work done. We also have time to teach Sister Hosea some important life skills and missionary skills. This week we learned what Marijuana smells like and how to tell if someone is trying to hit on you. Important life and missionary skills.

This week we also were able to find some really cool new investigators. We found one new investigator at a "hair party" we stumbled upon. It was crazy! Lots of black ladies all getting their weaves done. Sister Anderson even got to try on a weave/wig. She says her mission in now complete and she can go home happy. Somehow amid all the craziness we were able to explain what we do as missionaries and one mom invited us over to teach her kids where their names come from. They all have bible names but don't know the stories. So we said we would come back. You can truly find people to teach anywhere!

As always thank you for all that you do!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love

Sister Aase

 

Photos:

You are now entering the mission field. Cool Right!  This sign is actually in front of a HUGE Baptist church sponsored by Bill Clinton. We parked and ran and took pictures really fast.

 

The district:  sometimes we tease our District leader that he is a SIS-trict leader because he is over all Sisters :) good thing he has like four sisters so he is used to it