Transfers!

Letter from Ashley today!  June 25, 2012

Hello!!!

It has officially been 2 months since I have seen all of you! Crazy! It seems like longer but it isn't. That's okay. In no time I will be home and reminiscing my mission with all of you!

Transfer calls were this last Saturday. I cannot believe that I'm almost done with my first transfer! 12 more! I am staying in Bella Vista with Sister Knutson! We pretty much expected this since she is training me and the training program that we are doing takes 12 weeks to complete! I expect to go somewhere else next transfer. Sister Knutson hasn't been with a companion longer than 2 transfers so I expect to be transferred out next time. You never know though. The Lord works in mysterious ways!

This last week was kind of a doosey. It wasn't terrible but we didn't have the week we were expecting to have. You have some good and you have some bad I guess, right? If we had good weeks everytime we wouldn't be appreciative of them. We just need to work harder and be more obedient and the Lord will continue to bless us!

We met with the []s' this week and we asked them if they felt they have been coming closer to Christ since they started meeting with us and they said yes! Not as close as they'd like but closer than they were 6 or 7 months ago! I was so glad to hear this because I'd been getting kind of discouraged since they don't want to set a date and so it was nice to hear that they feel closer to Christ! So I am fulfilling my purpose as a missionary! Yay!

We also got a new investigator! He is 17 and has been learning about our church since junior high! He has never officially met with the missionaries but he has read the whole Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, the New Testament, and some of the Old Testament. He has also read through the Gospel Principles book! The only problem is he hasn't and doesn't want to tell his family. They are really Southern Baptist and he wants to respect his parents and not go against what they believe. So he wants to wait to get baptized until he is 18, moved out, and he feels like he can make his own decisions. We are pretty sad because of this so we are praying that his family's hearts will be softened. We will see what happens though. The Lord works in mysterious ways and so I know everything will work out in the end in the way it is supposed to.

I am now about to tell you something that will blow your minds away. Just kidding. But Sister Knutson and I were pretty excited! I mentioned last time a lady named [] and how we have a social conversion challenge for the members. Well we were at dinner last night at the []s' home and another member, Brother [], came over to have a meeting with Brother []....make sense? So they had their little meeting and Sister Knutson and I gave the challenge to Sister []. After their little meeting we were giving a general explanation to Bro. [] and Bro. [] told us something way cool!!! We did the challenge with them a couple weeks ago and so they have been praying specifically for the people on their list. They have a 3-year old daughter, [], and she said the prayer the other day.......she prayed for all the people on their list!!!!!! Since they have been praying for these people a lot and [] hears their names all the time and that her parents are praying for them, SHE PRAYED FOR THEM TOO!! Not only were we excited but Bro. [] was too! It is so great to hear that the members are actually doing the member missionary work that we ask them to do! It is not possible for us to teach people if we don't have anybody to teach and the best way to find is through the members, as I have said many times previously. I'm so excited for the work here in Bella Vista!!

I love and miss you all! Thanks so much for the letters that I continue to receive! I am so blessed to have such great family and friends! Don't blink, I'll be home before you know it!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Ashley Pahl