I am a Child of God

Dear Family and Friends,
We survived transfers! Somehow Sister Mathison and I were able to get all of her stuff packed and in our car and make it to transfers on time :) She is now serving in Conway exactly the same place I started my mission all those months ago. My new companion is Sister Pochop!  She is from Washington state and has been out for about 8 months now. She is amazing! She likes Disney movies, Harry Potter and minions, she is an inch shorter than me so I feel really tall when I'm around her,  She is one of the sweetest and nicest people I have ever met, and she is a bomb.com missionary. What more could you want in a companion. :)

We are continuing to serve as the sister training leaders in our zone. We realized this week that all the others sisters in the zone have been out for two transfers or less which is good because they are super excited to go to work and to learn. We are going to see miracles in the Searcy zone this transfer for sure!  This past Saturday was the General Women's session of general conference. It was amazing as always! If you didn't get the chance to watch it that's ok because it is already on the internet waiting for you to view. One of my favorite quotes from this session was from Sister Wixom's talk. She said "I am a child of God....therefore what?"  The question "therefore what" is something my mission president has taught me to ask myself and I do quite frequently. I have been pondering this specific "therefore what" question since Saturday evening and these are just a few of the answers I have found.

• I am a child of God therefore I can become like Him someday.
• I am a child of God therefore I have a divine nature and destiny.
• I am a child of God therefore I know that He loves me and wants what is best for me. Therefore I will follow His commandments and the words of His prophets.
• I am a child of God therefore I will labor in His vineyard and help Him do his work to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"
• I am a child of God therefore I can have hope that things will get better.
• I am a child of God therefore I can have joy no matter what I'm facing.

I am so grateful for the knowledge that I know who I am.  I am also so grateful that because God loves us so much he has given us a prophet in these latter days.  I am so so so so excited for General Conference this weekend! I can't wait to hear the words of our prophet and apostles. Think about it a prophet of God, a man who speaks with our father in heaven, is going to be speaking to us in less than a week. Our prophet and the apostles are going to be delivering messages that have been revealed to them by divine revelation for us in this day.

I CAN HARDLY STAND THE WAIT!!!

I invite everyone to take the time this weekend to watch conference.  If you can only pick one session to watch, Sunday morning is when the prophet will be speaking so that's what I recommend.  Anyway I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Thanks as always for all that you do. And don't forget that you are a child of God too!
Love
Sister Aase

A Multitude of Tender Mercies!

Dear Friends and Family,
The was the last week of the transfer here in Searcy. Transfer calls were made this morning and I'm safe but dear Sister Mathison is being transferred this Wednesday. We are both really sad but we know that it is what the Lord needs to happen at this time.  This week has been so great though. Really busy and full of ups and downs and full of tender mercies and miracles but that's missionary work.   We spent the day in Jacksonville on Tuesday with the sisters there.  One thing I really love about being a sister training leader is that I get the chance to work with lots of different sisters in lots of different areas.  On Wednesday we had a zone meeting. Sister Mathison and I instructed at zone meeting about recognizing tender mercies and miracles in our missionary work. We decided to have a little fun and organized a Easter egg hunt (side note it is really hard to find Easter eggs in September and people look at you a little funny when you ask). We had one representative from each district come and search for eggs.  Three had their sight and three were blindfolded. After our Easter egg hunt we talked about what blinds us from seeing all the tender mercies in our lives. We found that there are many things that can blind us -- distractions, disobedience, negative thinking etc. but we have the power to take off our blindfolds and to see with new eyes all the blessings and miracle all around us. I find that I always learn the most when I teach and since our lesson. both Sister Mathison and I have found that we are being showered in tender mercies each day. My eyes have been opened this week and I have so many tender mercies to be thankful for.
Just a few from the week
-- Tiffany set a baptismal date for the 1st of October
-- we had a wonderful lesson with the Turner family including brother Turner who is not a member
-- people fed us almost all the days
-- I gave a talk on Sunday and it went well
-- I found out that someone I taught in Pinnacle Mountain is preparing to go to the temple in a few months!
-- Antonio accepted the word of wisdom
-- we got to know some super awesome members
-- the weather was beautiful!
What a wonderful way to end the transfer :)   As always thank you for everything that y'all do.

Hope you have a wonderful week!
Love
Sister Aase

Zone Conference - teaching
Pday at The Old Mill
Sisters!!

Testimony miracle!

Dear Friends and Family,
Another wonderful week in Searcy! We are seeing so many miracles everyday it is awesome! And the weather this week has been beautiful!  Missionary work is always more pleasant when the weather is perfect. Since I arrived in Searcy we have been working with this girl named Tiffany. This week as we were discussing what we should teach her I felt impressed that we should talk about testimonies and invite everyone to bear their testimony at the end of the lesson including Tiffany.  Now this is what you need to know about Tiffany, she hates being put on the spot. She is really uncomfortable answering questions and refuses to pray in our lessons so Sister Mathison and I were a little worried about how she would respond to being asked to bear her testimony. But we felt like it was what we needed to do so we went forward with preparing the lesson. The lesson went super well. We talked about how a testimony is really just a simple statement of what you believe or know to be true. It doesn't have to be eloquent or long if fact some of the most powerful testimonies found in the scriptures are small and simple. My favorite example is Peter's firm testimony of the diving of Christ found in Mathew 16:16. We came to the end of the lesson and we had everyone write down their testimony on a piece of paper and then we asked if everyone would share a part of their testimony. And Tiffany totally participated and share a short but powerful testimony that she knew God lived and loved her. It was AMAZING!! Since then she has started progressing even more. It is a miracle.

I'm so grateful for my own testimony which has grown so much stronger as I've been serving a mission. I am also so grateful for the testimonies of others which help to strengthen my own. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and as always thank you for all that you do!
Love
Sister Aase

We Went About Doing Good

Dear friends and family,
We had another amazing week here in Searcy! We went about doing good and were blessed for it!

We are teaching so many amazing people right now who are all so excited about the gospel. We taught this one man on Tuesday and we asked him if he would be baptized once he came to know that this message was true. He was a little hesitant but said yes. Later that week we saw him and he comes running over to us. And told us that he had been thinking a lot about what we had taught him and about being baptized and he wants to be baptized! Yay! We are also teaching two families right now. One came to church this week and loved it! They want to get baptized as soon as possible which is always what we missionaries want to hear.  We are seeing miracles everywhere and everyday. It is exciting! I know that the Lord is truly hastening his work and I love that I get to be right at the front lines

We had an amazing specialized training this week. We were instructed for a little bit and then we hit the streets and practiced what we had just been taught. What was even better is all the missionaries were in Searcy so Sister Mathison and I have referrals for days!  I love this gospel and I am so thankful for all that y'all do. The prayers, the thoughts, the support, it all means a lot to me.
Hope everyone has a great week!

Love
Sister Aase

You Can't Beat Crazy!!

I have to tell you about this crazy lady. Please ask me about her in three months because this story will be much better in person. But I will do my best in writing.

So we met her last week and we're going back for our return appointment. We knock and she answers talking SUPER fast "come in come in come in come in coooome inn!" So we go in. And she just starts talking really really fast all about how she has found Jesus and she is never going back because you don't turn your back on Jesus etc. Then she tells us that SHE DON'T PLAY and points at me and sister Mathison and is like "you feel me"? We nod and at this point start to realize she is crazy. Then she tells us that we are warrior princesses and we have to "battle battle battle baaaattllee" but she in the middle of the battles she starts singing.

Like no joke.

My thought at that moment oh my goodness my life is literally a musical right now.  She continued to sing randomly and would even get up and dance every now and the. As she sang the rest of the time we were there. So crazy. Sister Mathison and I finally realized that we weren't going to be able to teach this lady because "you can't beat crazy" so Sister Mathison says "we have to get goin but will you send us out with a prayer?"

My thought at that moment "this is gonna be good"

Crazy lady is all like "YES I'd love to". So she makes us stand up and she grabs our hands and then is like "your hands are warm why they so warm?" My thought at that moment "this lady don't know what she is talking about because my hands are not warm they are clammy" Then she comes up to me and starts waving her hands around and then puts her finger on my sternum and pushes me! Then she starts asking me "did you feel that? What are you feeling? What are thinking what are you feeling (sung)"

My actual feeling at that moment: a little scared
My thought at that moment "what do I say to make the crazy lady stop"

I gave some response that satisfied her. Then she puts one hand on my back and one hand on sister mathison's back and starts pushing us together until we are literally cheek to cheek and we are doing everything not to laugh at this point. And she starts saying how "nothing will come between us" and "we are covered in the blood of Jesus, the blood the blood the blood (sung)"  Then she pulls her hands back and says "EAGLES WINGS"

We were able to leave after that's but not before she told us to be grateful grateful grateful (all sung). 
So crazy :) but those are the moments you remember on your mission :)  I am still loving every minute and I can't believe it is coming to the end.

Love you lots have a great week!
Love
Maddie

Exchanges, and meetings and miracles oh my!

Dear Friends and Family,
This week was awesome!! We saw many miracles including a family of six get baptized into the Ward, we worked hard, we laughed a lot, and we met some really cool and some really crazy people.

The week started with an exchange in Mountain View. I once again got to go to one of the prettiest places in Arkansas and spend 24 hours with the lovely Sister Pemberton and Sister Arnold. We had a really good exchange together. These sisters are on fire! And I feel like I learned much more from them then they did from me. One of the best parts of the exchange was I came home with new used skirts from Sister Pemberton. She goes home tomorrow actually so she was packing a bit during the exchange and gave me a few of her skirts. Score!

After spending a day in Mountain View we met in a little town called Heber Springs to switch back. Unfortunately due to some miscommunication our driver didn't realize she had to take us back to Searcy after driving us to Heber. So we were left stranded an hour away from home in this little tourist town for a little bit before a wonderful Ward member was able to come and pick us up.

That same day we had a very interesting lesson with a crazy lady. The lesson included fast talking, some singing and dancing,  Jesus in a white robe spinning around in a circle, and ended with us being blessed with eagle wings. It was definitely one for the journal.  On Thursday we got to go to a special mission leadership council meeting with two members of the executive missionary committee. It was such a great meeting! We learned a lot about how to be better missionaries and to be more effective missionaries. I left feeling super excited to get to work.  So of course I woke up really sick the next day. Fortunately Sister Mathison was a good nurse and made sure I got lots of rest and I was feeling much better by the next day.

On Sunday we found some really amazing new investigators. Jenny was a referral that we contacted over the phone and invited to church. And she came with her husband. We saw her afterward and she has actually been investigating on her own and through missionaries on the Mormon.org website. She is super awesome and has the cutest little baby girl. We also found a little family. We met this little girl named Kamia earlier in the week and she decided that we were going to be friends. We saw her Sunday and she wanted us to come met her mom.  Unfortunately her mom wasn't available. So we talked with her and her brother for a little bit and made some videos of them doing the nay nay. Then Kamia's brother went into the house and came back out and told us that his mom already knew Jesus and didn't want us to come over. We were a little sad but said ok and left for our appointment.  But both of us, Sister Mathison and I, felt like we needed to go talk to this mom. So at the end of the night we decided to go back and try her. Turns out she has been looking for a church to take her kids to and she is really interested in learning more about our church!  Thank goodness for the Holy Ghost prompting us to go back to talk with her!  I can't wait to go back and teach this family.

I can't believe tomorrow is September! Time is flying by faster and faster. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love getting to see God hastening his work and getting to be a part of building his kingdom. I love this work!
As always thank you for everything y'all do!

Have a great week!
Love Sister Aase

WhiteOut

Dear Friends and Family,
We had another really great week here in Searcy!

So I have always had a love for office supplies but since my mission there is one particular office tool that I have come to love.....white out. One of my companions used to use it all the time and I confess I totally judged her at first for being a perfectionist. But then one day I made a mistake while writing in my study journal and it was really bothering me. So I humbled myself and asked if I could use some.  And it changed my life.  Now I can't imagine studying without my whiteout. I use it nearly everyday because I tend to make a lot of mistakes (especially spelling mistakes) but it is good to know that I have a way to fix them.  Sometimes my mistakes require a lot of whiteout and sometimes just a little itty bitty bit but no matter the mess up, it can always be fixed. I am very grateful for whiteout. 

Whiteout is a little like repentance which is something else I have learned to love on my mission. Because of our Savior, we don't have to live with our mistakes. We can change, mistakes can be whited out. Sometimes our mistakes are big, sometimes they are itty bitty, but they can always be fixed. Like it says in Isaiah "though your sins be scarlet, they will be as white as snow" We taught this principle to two men we have been teaching from Kenya named Alex and Edward. They had a lot of question about repentance and forgiveness and the process of it all. It was so amazing to testify to them that we can repent. We can repent every day. And as often as we will repent God promises to forgive us. What a wonderful message and blessing that is. I truly love repentance. I love that we can always change and become better. And I love getting to help people as they go through the repentance process themselves. I love getting to see others change for the better.

We are excited for this upcoming week. We are going on exchanges which is always lots of fun :)
As always thank you for all that y'all do! Have a wonderful week!

Love
Sister Aase

1) Arkansas Sunset
2) Me and my young women
3) Sister Captain America