Second Letter from Mission Field:

Hi Family,

I've attached a few pictures of my companion and I, the Elders in my MTC district, the Sisters in my MTC district, my entire district, and Kendra and I.

I'm doing a ton better since I emailed you last week.

I do, however, love getting your letters so if you could send those once a month or more that would be great.  But it really does mean a lot to me every time I get anything from you and I'm very grateful for that.  

We had two dinner appointments this week.  One on Memorial Day and one yesterday.  Both members served chicken.  The Memorial Day one we went and saw G's (Mom note:  We have been asked to not use names on blogs and any public forums so I am leaving them out) who have two kids about 10 and 12 I think.  We (and by we I mean their parents who used the missionaries to help their kids) encouraged the kids to read their Book of Mormon and pray about it.  They're a little strict but you can tell that they love their kids and want the best for them.  The other was with an older lady who not only had us over but had her sister, her brother-in-law, and another lady in the ward there.  She was so sweet.  I've really been able to get closer to the members this week and I'm building relationships with a lot of them.  We also went out with Sisters C  and S, Brother and Sister R, Sister M, and maybe a few more.  It's so great to hear their testimonies and see how their experiences and their qualities really can help the people that we visit.  For instance, Sister S, got divorced from someone who wasn't a worthy priesthood holder although he claimed to be.  We recently visited a recent convert, who's name is A, who just got out of a messy relationship with a man who had helped convert her but wasn't worthy of the priesthood power that he held.  Or C is quite young (22) so we went and visited a less active named B who's also quite young and still acts like she's in high school.  Having C there opened her up and she came to church on Sunday.  Sister M was able to help an investigator (who I'll talk about a little bit later) who was struggling because she was struggling with something very similar at that exact time.

It's been a really slow week as far as lessons go.  We knocked on a lot of doors of people we had appointments with and people that were investigators, recent converts, and less actives that we didn't have appointments with but we only got let in a few times.  It was frustrating to not get our goals, but in it's own special way it was also a blessing because every door that we knocked on and nobody answered made me a little bit more apathetic about numbers and I was able to work just as hard and not worry about numbers.  It made the people that we did manage to see even more special.  And as we evaluated our work at the end of the week, we realized that we had actually done much more then we thought we had.  It showed that working hard and relying on the Lord even when things looked bleak brings blessings.

The investigator that we've really been focusing on this week, her name is R.  She is 22 years old, single.  She lives with her dad and her three year old daughter, K.  She's being baptized this Saturday.  She's the one I was talking about when I said that I would talk about an investigator later on.  She's really been struggling this week.  This Wednesday she lost her job.  The next day we spent 4 hours at her house just trying to comfort her and make sure that we didn't leave her alone.  She's been really, really sad and Satan has been hitting her hard.  This fast Sunday I fasted for her and we were also able to get her a priesthood blessing.  I'm hoping that she's doing a lot better but we haven't been able to see her yet.  I know that she texted us yesterday and said "Love you, girls" so I hope that means she's feeling better.  Her little girl, K, is so cute and energetic.  I'm really looking forward to her baptism.

It won't be my first baptism since I've gotten here, however.  I was invited to my Mission President's daughter's baptism this Friday, so that was my first baptism, but it won't be the same as when an investigator gets baptized.

The other people we've been focused on this week is a family.  The mother's name is R.  She has two kids, D (8) and N (6).  She also lives with her partner, who she's not married with.  She's been trying really hard for months to get baptized but has been having the hardest time trying to get married.  She wants to get baptized so bad and so does her son, D.  They are such a sweet family and their testimony is so strong.  I hope they are able to get baptized soon.

As far as things that have been happening . . .  My bike almost stripped my skirt right off of me on a busy road and gave me three huge rips.  That was embarrassing . . . but also a funny story.  Sister Workinger got a shoe thrown at her which wasn't funny but the Lord will take care of whoever did that.  Both of those things happened on the same day.

Sister Workinger and I have been getting along better.  Something that I started doing that helped our relationship was (surprise) just being myself.  I know she thinks that I'm weird but I'm comfortable being myself around her because she accepts me for who I am.  In fact when I started showing personality is when she started warming up to me even though when I was younger that would have done the opposite.  And not just her; members and investigators and others accept me for who I am and in fact love me for who I am.  It's a great feeling.

I don't have much more to say.  I love you guys.  I hope you're all doing well.  I love getting your letters, packages, and emails.

Love you lots,

Sister Ashley Naylor