Don't mess it up.

Hello everyone!

We'll just jump right into it.

We were able to teach [] again this week! I don't remember how much I told you about him so here goes. He is 17 years old and he's been investigating the church since he was in junior high but he has never met with the missionaries. His friend that is helping with the lessons is []. She is the bishop's daughter and is a great girl. [] has looked up at [] for a while as an example in the church. He recently let her know that he had read the Book of Mormon and that he had questions. So we have met with him twice so far. He has read the whole Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, some of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Gospel Principles book, the New Testament and some of the Old, and when we met with him and talked about the Restoration, he practically quoted the Bible Dictionary where it talks about the Atonement and what it does for us. He is as golden as they come but his family is Southern Baptist and he hasn't told them anything. Not even that he doesn't believe what they believe or that he's been looking in to our church since junior high! He is planning on waiting to get baptized until he moves out so he feels like he can make his own decisions but we are praying that something will happen and he will be able to be baptized sooner.

 

We had a pretty cool experience this week. On Thursday, we had 6 appointments set and we were so excited! So we woke up and were getting ready and we got a text letting us know that our first one cancelled. Oh, how sad were we. Then we had one set for 12:30pm and so we drove there and we were supposed to meet with a less active youth member named []. We were going to meet with him at one of his active member friends house. We got there and they had forgotten, even though we had reminded them the day before. So the mom was gone getting an oil change and [] wasn't going to be able to come but he said we could come by his house later that day. We got in contact with him and were able to set up a time for Friday. So on Friday we went over there and, long story short, one of his friends was there and she was super excited to receive her own Book of Mormon and wants to learn more! Destiny. This was meant to happen. So even though we were sad that we didn't meet with [] on Thursday, we were able to meet [] on Friday and who knows if we would have ever met her had [] not cancelled the day before!

Then there's the []. We've been trying to get them to come to a baptism for like a month and on Saturday they finally did! Bro. [] said he's never seen a baptism done like that before(immersion). We had someone watching their kids so they were able to pay attention so I hope they felt something and have a greater desire to enter the waters of baptism. We feel like they are super close!

On Saturday night we went and had dinner with the [] family. After dinner we were giving our message and when we told them to turn to Mosiah 28 in the Book of Mormon, [], their 11-year old said, "I love this story!" So we asked her to start telling it for us and so she started with King Mosiah and we are pretty sure that had her dad not stopped her, she would have gone all the way to Moroni's promise at the end of the Book of Mormon! She was explaining things that I didn't even understand until I entered the MTC! And she is ELEVEN YEARS OLD!!! She is more qualified to be a missionary that I am! And she is 11! So she was a great example for me to learn my Book of Mormon better! I urge all of you to do the same! If an 11 year old can do it, so can we. She also just finished reading the book of Psalms and when we asked her what she thought of it, she said things that an 11 year old would not normally say. Again, if she can read the Bible, so can we!

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to attend a fireside that the YSA Branch was holding. I was really dreading it at first but I'm so glad we went! The speaker was Patriarch Severe. It was so good! I wish I had a tape recorder so I could forever have record of what he said! I'll just mention a few of the notes I took:

-words in your Patriarchal Blessing will stay the same but the meaning will always change

-Patriarch means father. A Patriarchal Blessing is a Father's Blessing from your Heavenly Father

-Prayer - get down to the nitty gritty. Tell Him about the day and tell Him you will report at the end of the day. Make sure you report and say what you did good and what you did bad. Don't avoid the bad stuff! That's what Heavenly Father wants to talk to you about!

-Priesthood holders should ALWAYS wear a white shirt and tie when giving a blessing.

-the ACT of reading the scriptures will bring blessings no matter if you get something out of it or not.

-Your Patriarchal Blessing can answer ANY question that you have if you are in tune with the spirit.

-If your blessing is short, Heavenly Father tells you less because you need to hear less. Study it and you can get more out of it.

-There is a clock on the wall of your life. Heavenly Father knows what time you are leaving this life. Don't procrastinate the important things in life(repentance) because you don't know what time it is.

-You have a calling in life. You may not know it yet but don't mess it up by making wrong choices now. Have courage to choose the right. Have courage to repent. Have courage to study your scriptures. Have courage to say your prayers morning and night. One day you are going to find out what your life calling is. Make sure you are ready for it. Dont' mess it up.

I'm so grateful to be out here on a mission! I've grown so much already and can actually see the ways that I have grown! It's not just someone else telling me I have but I can see that I have! I hope and pray that I can continue to grow and that I can help others come unto Christ and fulfill my purpose as a missionary.

I love you all! Keep the letters coming!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Ashley Pahl