Newest letter from Sister Ashley-- 8 October 2012

Last week we got a handwritten letter and it was really long and I didn't have it in me to type it up.  We didn't get a very long email as Ashley was trying to get pictures uploaded and it took most of her time.  I am thinking of other ways to transcribe letters so I can share all the letters the girls send.  I have been playing with the idea of using the microphone on my cell phone to dictate the letter and save it.  Maybe I will do that with the next handwritten letter.  I am such a slow typist that it takes me a long time to transcribe the letters.
I also uploaded her most recent pictures (there a just a few) from last week. 

Here is her latest letter...

*****************************

Hello!

Another week! Oh my Wow!!! it's nearly been 6 weeks! I'm super excited for you Lexi to go into the field... you'll have to tell me what it is like... i wonder how different it will be from here. 

i wrote a lot of our adventures down in detail in a paper letter (thanks for transcribing our letters for us mom :) ... it'd take forever to write down every awesome thing that has happened... but the biggest news is that we have 2 investigators getting ready for baptism! we are so excited and i can see people in the ward getting excited for them too. we need all the support from the ward that we can get. i can see now why the missionaries always ask for members to fellowship the investigators. it would be so lonely and scary... if it weren't for their testimonies they'd probably never come back save they had a really strong friend.

We also have a new investigator - who was actually taught by missionaries before. Our new investigator had a baptism date and everything about 3 years ago. he still reads the book of Mormon and knows that it is true. and he went and found a church that he could get baptised in... by immersion because he knew that that was the right way.    i know that blessings will still come to those who try to follow what Jesus has commanded through being baptised - even though it wasn't an authorized baptism. but now we need to find a way to convince him that there is priesthood authority on the earth and baptism is only valid through that authority--it might be a struggle - but he already has a testimony in everything else.

we also met a recent convert on Saturday before conference who was super golden.  he had met sisters when he was 15 but his parents wouldn't let him get baptised. then , 15 years later, he met elders, and was baptised 4 weeks later! he was SUPER active for  the first 4 weeks... he fellowshipped himself, attended all the meetings and activities, was super involved in service activities and the like. then he just dropped.  the previous elders had no idea what happened .  we were able to contact him with Jaz's help, and we talked for a while.  he says it feels right to him... but he just doesn't know.  he agreed to come to conference on Sunday. and he did! it was great. he even said that conference addressed some of his concerns and asked us to give the post baptism lessons to him! YAY!

Conference was amazing wasn't it!? i definitely enjoyed it... though we only go to see 3 sessions... the Sunday afternoon session started at 9 pm last night. can't wait till the ensign comes out now :)  i was shocked, but excited about the change in missionary ages... it's just always been 19 and 21 so now i have to get used to the difference. pretty awesome though.

and i really loved elder Holland's talk... though we heard nearly the exact same one in the mtc (a recording from years ago about  feeding his sheep. it was much more intense for the mtc. awesome though.)

i'm gonna try to send som pics of the week.

we had 2 zone football tournament this morning... that's why this email is coming much later than usual.... and they required at least one sister to play on each team.... sis. Medvescek refused... so i just stood on the field and pretended to play. elders are too aggressive and competitive for me. it was rainy and muddy. and one of my toes went numb. just one. lol.

gotta love the rain.

and we did get the package. we went to the office to check for it and it was there... they were super yummy! how did you do it? thank you thank you thank you! Sister M thinks you're pretty awesome. I'm trying to get her to convince her mom to get on missionary moms.... she's not a member though. it'd be awesome for her to be in contact with you as my mom :) her english is good enough to communicate.

i'm frustrated right now with the internet. it's down. luckily i can keep writing, but it wont attach pictures, and if we don't get internet back in 25 minutes, the computer is going to boot me off and i might not get this. oh! it's on!

sending now!

***************************

We also got a couple short emails too, it sounds like she was having technical difficulties...

***************************

i tried to send pics. then the internet went down and they wouldn't load. then when the internet came back my battery on my camera had depleted. :( so no pics this week. sorry.

i got some pics of us when we got lost on our way to Barry... we took completely the wrong road (on the way there and back. lol) traveling on Thursday took up nearly 6 hours of our day. lol.) but the first road we got lost on was so beautiful. we didn't realize we were lost, but the sun was shining and their were hedges all along the road, and pastures and some black sheep. pretty. i only got a couple pics of that but still.  and i took a couple pics of the football tournament today. wet and cold. and took a long time. boys and their sports. lol. and for some reason they have a rule saying that a sister must be playing on each team (i guess it keeps them from being too aggressive or something.

*********************************

I asked Ashley if they ride their bikes alot and specifics about their 6 hours of travel on Thursday and if it was getting colder there.  This is her answer...

*********************************

we were biking for 5-6 hours. i feel pretty buff by now... my quads are pretty firm. :)  it's getting colder every day. but we're surviving. we both bought fleece lined leggings.

i get mail from the mission office every couple of weeks.  I'm here for a while. the mission office is a 4 hour trip from here, so there isn't a whole lot of travel.