Third Week! Everywhere. (6/24/2013)

This week was insane. On Tuesday we had 5 appointments. All of them fell through. We walked all over town to some of the appointments and people forgot or rescheduled or just weren't home. We at least talked to some people and tried our best, but it was the first time I'd experienced something like that so it was kinda crazy. I LOVE WEDNESDAYS. Only one appointment dropped and we were able to schedule one in it's place, we taught 7 lessons! It's awesome. We met with the Ortegas for the first time- it was awesome. The husband is so spiritual. We walked out feeling so strong. I hope so much that he gets baptized. The church is EXACTLY what he's been looking for. His wife is a sweetie, too and I think she's closer to coming than he is. So many people promised they'd come to church and a few of them kept that promise! It was awesome. Including one husband who we've been trying to encourage that family for the past two weeks it was fantastic to see them there. And this one family and since she's been teaching them Sister never saw the whole family at church and they all came on Sunday and stayed! It was great. Their son who's eight just got baptized- he's not a convert baptism because of the age, but we've taught him a lot so it feels like he is. :D It was great, we talked at the baptism about... well, baptism. lol Oh, and on Saturday we did some tracting and got harrased (verbally no worries) for standing behind the church with the whole boy scout thing. Some people just don't understand things. It was so dumb. Sister and I just bore our testimonies and tried to leave. The old man followed us out though, ugh. It was dumb. Not dangerous or anything, just sad and annoying. We are all God's children and He loves all of us equally. I'll say it until I die. This church is led by God, who wants ALL of His children to return- not just a few. He loves us all so much! He wants all of us to come unto Him and recieve the Gospel and be a member of the church. Every single person.

Silly people.

Anyway.
I was running (jogging and walking) today and normally my calves tighten up and I stretch them and they hurt and my feet go all hot and tingly so this time I thought I'd just keep going until they stopped tightening up. No bueno. My foot went numb AS I was walking. Such a weird feeling. I stopped and let it wake up... so odd. Mama Lorenc who walks with me while Sister runs in the morning massaged it for me and it hurt so bad! Apparently the tendons in my calves are super tight so that's why my calves tighten up when I exercise. My tendons were so swollen when she massaged them so I'm gonna try and ice them. But we don't really know why my foot went numb... Crazy, huh?

Oh and yesterday Sister and I gave a talk at a farewell. That was kind cool. My talk was on obedience and how loving Heavenly Father is our motivation for obedience which helps us submit our will to the Father which helps us become true disciples of Christ.

OH MY GOODNESS THAT LEADER TRAINING THING LAST NIGHT WAS SO AWESOME.
If you haven't watched it or listened to it or read it then go and do so! It totally changed missionary work and how we fulfill our responsibilities as missionaries and members. Which is so nice! People don't like tracting anymore. People that ignore us or tell us bluntly that we should never come back are super nice to their member friends and are so much more susceptible to their efforts in bringing them to a knowledge of the truth. Of course, people will still reject the lessons and stuff... but we as missionaries won't have to weed out the people who won't listen. I know it's a lot of responsibility, but hey! We've all been baptized. We've all shown that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ it's time we started acting like it! I know we can help this work to hasten!

Oh and you guys would die of... salivating? Hunger? Envy?.... something if you found out the wonderful food I get to eat out here in Jo City. Yesterday I had a guinea fowl... that was weird... but a few nights ago we had this amazing salad. So good! We get a LOT of salads out here- the members know Sister is a devout salad-eater. I'm cool with it as long as I get some delicious meat every once in a while. Which I did from Papa Lorenc. He brought me a fried chicken leg after my work out after Mama Lorenc massaged my calf (THAT HURT SO BAD. Oh, and you say their last name like lawrence).

Oh, Mom? Can you find me a cheap night gown like the one I got for you from my work in Jackson? Mine isn't long enough and doesn't have sleeves- not very covering enough.

Oh and I think some of the chicks in the mud swallow nest were pushed out :( I only see three at the most and there used to be six.... But the ones that are left are nearly fully feathered! And I saw an ugly/cute little baby pigeon thing! Papa Lorenc raises some funny named Far Eastern pigeon- so pretty when they're adults and tumbling in the air!

Love,
Sis. Askren

Mission address:
Sister Elisabeth Askren
400 West Apache St
Farmington, NM 87401

Shout outs:
Christine: I LOVE YOUR EMAILS. Seriously, I'm so happy for you! I'm so glad you figured out what stressed you out :D.
Becky: I kinda sorta talk about you and your amazing advice all the time, it's awesome
Joe Holt: Hey! how's school? You should come join the ranks- find your conviction! I want to go to your homecoming!
Daniel Butler: I love you!
Josef: You're awesome. Also, I wish we could go shooting!
Heidi: You're awesome! You'd love the food they feed me here, it's divine! I had homemade ice cream! And my comp makes the most delicious smoothies!
Estee: I love you! You'd love my companion, she runs and runs! She ran/jogged/walked for like three hours today. I wrote my email.
Mom: I ADORE YOU. You'd love the animals out here. And Mama Lorenc! I think you'd two get along so well! And Grandma Fey- she's awesome, you'd love her house.
Curty! : I have a picture of you! I think about you a lot. I hope you're doing alright!
Danny Wells: Hey missionary! you're awesome. I totally beat you to the email this week.
Brigham: HEY! You're so cool for doing this missionary thing AND learning a language. You're gonna rock this new member missionary stuff.
Chase Hessing: Thanks so much for your email! It's true! You are going to do great things! You're testimony is strong and you'll be a great disciple your whole life! Read that talk- the will of the father in all things by elder holland, it'll help.
Isaac: Isaac! you are going to be a great missionary! I hope school and whatever else you're doing is going well!
Alyssa Eatman: YOU ARE SO FANTASTIC. I learned so much from you!
Katherine Zieman: Dearie- You. Are. Awesome. Keep dancing!
Melanie Palsky: Seriously girl, I adore you. How are you???
Jayne!! Lovely! I adore you. How's Aspen lodge???
Joy! Hey!!! how's everything??
Miriam Jones: I had casava! So so so tasty. Also, smoothies are magic with frozen fruit and yogurt and real juice. and you can make this tasty drink with mint and lime with no sugar!

If I didn't mention you it's because you haven't written me and I've forgotten about you. Just kidding! I still love you, I just need to hurry off and write my mission president!

None of my pictures of my district/zone in the mtc came through :P But I do have a pic of the birds!

That's my fantastic trainer Sister Stewart from Sacramento

Second Week! Powerplant! (6/17/2013)

Hey Base 26! I need my driving record! If you could send that ASAP as
soon as it gets in, that'd be awesome! If you need stamps to send it
to me, let me know! And fam if you could send my pillow and blanket
that'd be awesome!
Kinchelo! You are amazing and I loved your letter so much! Oh Asian
stationary. What did it even say at the top? My friend Rachel Jones
is going to be a counselor, too! You're going to have so much fun.
Thank you so much for your diligence and prayers.

Awesome Activities:

The powerplant was so cool! We saw inside the boiler! Totally incredible.
This kid that they'd been teaching for two months before I got here
finally started reading the Book of Mormon. My comp and her old one
and Robert's friend had been trying the entire time to build up his
testimony so Robert and his friend could go on missions together and
then we just had this incredible lesson (we went over time and totally
blew our next app it was bad... but awesome...) and he finally saw how
important it was to read it. I was so humbled to be the one who
finally reached him. Such a huge blessing!
A less active woman who hadn't been doing anything spiritual when they
first started teaching her in March finally is coming to all three
parts of church and is reading and praying and all that good stuff!
This one lady who hadn't been going to church for years finally came
when we told her we'd sit next to her in Relief Society- how silly for
it to be that silly of a thing! And we said it as a side thing when we
were saying goodbye after this ridiculously long lesson!
This one awesome family they'd been re-activating into the church got
their temple recommends renewed! The mom lost her stinky job doing
something nasty and is so much happier!
We went on exchanges this last week and were able to double our
lessons that day! It was awesome.
And And!!! we found an eleven year old who's been wanting to get
baptized for a year and he AND his entire family went to church this
sunday!
As you can see. It's been awesome.

The Will of the Father in All Things. by Holland. Read it. It'll
change your life!

Seriously. I'm changing how I see things. Work is hard because we
have to prove that no matter what we will humbly kneel before the
alter of God, give everything- our vanity, our pride, our ambition,
bow our heads silently and walk away. (paraphrased, from the talk.
read it!)

So when I get up in the morning and we go for a run and I just want to
glare at everything... I kneel. Bow my head, and walk away. It's
awesome. Because I love Him. And nothing will ever change that.

I shrunk my shirt on accident, there are mud swallows outside my front
door and there are these crazy siren birds, I think they're called
grackles. They're all over town.

Love,
Sis. Askren

Mission address:
Sister Elisabeth Askren
400 West Apache St
Farmington, NM 87401

First Week in the Field! (6/10/2013)

I'm in the Field!!! Perfectly honest, I hate writing these emails. Like a lot. I get home sick every. single. time. I miss your wonderful faces and loving personalities.

Anyway.

I didn't get home sick at the MTC until I had that P-day where I emailed all you crazy people, but it went away and didn't come back until I was riding the bus out of Provo in the middle of the night. That was depressing lol.

My area is Joseph city! I have no idea the population, but the evelation is 5000 something. There's one gas station on the edge of town that we can't really get to because we don't have a car. The closest thing to a store is a laundry mat and a pizza place that's closed because the guy who runs it is the bishop of one of the wards here and he's in hawaii. On... Friday? Saturday? Saturday. It was one hundred degrees (I didn't get sunburned Mom) and it was the one day that week that Sister Stewart and I were able to tract. We met a sweet Pagan lady with two Irish wolfhounds (I know, I about died of happiness. She used to breed them and one of them she got from Scotland.) That was interesting. We talked for a bit. That same day we met an awesome old man who wanted to take us for a flight in his plane with a lady in town (against the handbook unfortunately). He was really sweet though, his wife died in May and he really misses her. the last lady we met that day was.... it was very sad to talk to her. Her life was one of the hardest I'd heard and it was continuing on in that way. She didn't want to change and come to church until her life settled down. It made me sad to think she didn't want to go to church so her spirit Could settle down.

About 70-80% of the members here are active- the rest we try to teach. Many of the rest are not interested and are going to stay that way for a long while. But Sister and I keep trying. It's all we can do. We teach about twenty, hour long lessons a week. The town itself is so small! Everyone knows nearly everyone else- or at least their distant relatives and everyone has a history. The Rez is just outside of town, but it's a small group here and although we teach a daughter and mother who live there, we don't know anyone else out there because it's a mile out and we can't make it out there in enough time. There are a few spots in our area like that- it's too far out for us to teach and we have to leave it up to the ward. No one knows where anyone lives-no one has mail boxes and everyone just lives in the one house that so and so lives near. Our conversations go like this:

"Do you know where the Johnstons live?"

"Which Johnstons?"

"Elllie and James?"

"Is that Grandma May's daughter?"

"No, it's her niece."

"Oh, they live next to the Williams."

"Who?"

"The ones with the big blue house next to the Jones's"

"The Johnstons live there?"

"No, next to that house"

"Oh!....Then where do the Smiths live?"

"Which Smiths?"

And so on and so forth. Most of the families have lived here since the seventies or eighties- anyone older who've lived here since they were born have children living other places or their siblings and their families live here.

If you're not poor watching tv and such then you're making your land as green as possible or taking care of the animals or something. Most people either work at the school, Holbrook, or the power plant (which we're getting a tour of today!) There are houses with horses on nearly every corner and every other house has a dog. Needless to say I say hello to all of them and Sister Stewart teases me for it.

She's awesome though, Sister Stewart, she's from Sacramento and she goes home the middle of July. I'll be step-trained (half of my training with one sister, half with another) when she goes. I'm learning tons from her and it's been a blast to try and adjust to this crazy thing called a mission.

This mission has taught me so much about how missionary work should correspond with a ward and how much responsiblity the ward really does have in helping us find and helping pick up those who won't listen to us.

I'll share a lesson Sister and I have been sharing at our dinner appointments (we get fed every night by the families in the wards)

There was a talk in the Priesthood Session of General Conference in April 2012 by Bishop Edgley. (I haven't been able to get my hands on it, so the details in the story might be off) It was about these people who were stuck in a POW camp in WWII and how volunteers dedicated all they had to rescuing those people. They pledged before God to not let one of those people suffer one moment more.

If a friend gets hurt, how quick are we to help them? If they need to go to the hospital what would you put aside to take them there? How much would you give to help them in their hour of need?

You know someone who is hurt. They are struggling. They have slipped in their faith and have done what all of us do- they have begun to doubt. Who are we to deny them strength? Who are we to deny them mercy? To deny them hope and faith and love?

You don't have to do anything more than share your testimony with them. Let them know where you gain strength, what has helped you through your times of struggle. Testify of the might of the Lord. Heavenly Father has been trying to get them to come back the moment they stepped off the path. He will be with you as you testify of His love.

Miscellaneous:
There are over 200 missionaries in my mission. Sisters are allowed on the reservations now, but only in very specific spots. (The Elders out on the Rez live in trailers on the church parking lots out there) Can someone scrounge around DI and find me a bigger leather bag? It still needs to be a purse, though- no messenger bags. (I need to fit in a water bottle, scriptures, PMG mini, copies of the BOM, food, and a folder or binder. And a phone) No biggy if not- Heavenly Father'll take care of it :D We can't drink the water here, it makes people sick for some mysterious reason unexplained to us silly sisters. I'M AT CHURCH FROM SEVEN AM UNTIL FOUR PM. Totally getting husband points. Oh, and to those from Gallup- it's one of the hardest areas in the mission, there are 3 companionships, and not even half of the members are active. You. Are. Awesome. for being from there and still strong. You rock. If you're not actually from there but a little way from it you're still fantastic. You're also fantastic if you're human... but whatev. Oh! the wind is my constant friend. It's awesome. Except for when it tries to compromise me. Or when it doesn't blow at all and it's like a sauna (a dry sauna). I live with a member lady- no trailer for us. Though sometimes I wonder if I'd prefer that instead lol.

I love you all and I gotta go, I forgot to write President! lol

Love,

Sister Askren

The first and last letter from the MTC

Bitsy's first post (well, letter that I have posted!) Sorry I didn't get it up sooner...been a crazy week! Please enjoy!
~Alyssa Eatman

I survived my first week!!!! I can't describe it. This is just so much more and so different than I expected. I thought at least some of it would be familiar, but there are so many things I thought I knew, that I was completely wrong about. One of the reasons why I came out here was I wanted to learn how to love people and boy did I receive that blessing. If I'm a representative of Christ and Christ gave His life in expression of God's love that what am I to do? Love everyone! It's been amazing to begin to learn what that means. There's still so much for me to learn and so much to understand, but I know I can do it. My faith has been changed. I hope all of you can feel my love for you!

This really is the best work out there and I'm learning so much that I can use in life after my mission. I leave for the field on Monday. (I know, one single Preperation Day in the MTC what a bummer!) If you want to send letters while I'm still here please use dearelder.com it should be free so long as you use it before Monday. We check the mail twice a day and your emails are printed out and given to us the day of so you can email me and I can write you back in letters. :D

I've had to have three skirts sent home because of the fit! They're very strict about how everything fits. I love it and hate it. lol

The devotionals were fantastic (I've seen two so far with Elder Zwick of the 70 and.... Elder Allen- super amazing man, was inspired to scrap his talk and go completely by the Spirit. Sure am glad he did, too. It was so uplifting and just what all of us needed)

My companion and I got off to a rough start (thanks to me :P ) But I finally wrapped my head around the right way of thinking and we're getting along a lot better. We're completely different in a lot of ways- she played softball for 11 years and did world competitions and she has 11 siblings. She's fantastic. We're not super close, but we can teach with the Spirit and plan with the Spirit and I'm happy with that.

I love it here so much! Ah! And we leave so soon! We only have three classes (in three hour blocks) and one day of field orientation- (basically a twelve hour class all day tomorrow) and Fast Sunday (no food!! yay...)

So. Much. Happy.
Love,
Sis. Askren

Mission address
Sister Askren
400 West Apache St
Farmington, NM 87401

P.S.

Extra! AKA Everything I forgot- minus the pictures, my companion Sister Jeppson is emailing them to me so I can forward them to you.
the food is amazing. Heavy, but amazing. I kind of pig out and have a real meal every time I go (breakfast, lunch, and dindin) and I haven't even glanced at my weight thanks to the beautiful lack of scales in the residence halls. So here's how this next part is going to work, I'll put your name and a little thing and then you'll forgive me if I haven't called you out by name. Just because I don't have a special something to say to you doesn't mean I don't think about you and appreciate your prayers and support! You're all amazing.

Melanie- I kept seeing someone with your exact hair it was so pretty! I loved loved loved loved your letter and I'm so happy you get to spend time with your family!! (Don't worry, if Mark and you don't work out I'll still love you when I get back! Also, OF COURSE IT'LL WORK OUT.)

Alyssa- Konichiya!! I know I spelled it wrong lol. I adore you. I always try to say hi to the Japan bound missionaries, thinking of you and your awesomeness. I hope work and school and social life is all going harmoniously!

Estee- Best friend ever!!!! How are you??? Don't worry, I know how horrid you are with letters, I understand if you won't write me... like ever. lol oh and can you give me brig's email? I forgot it

Katherine- You'd never last in my district at the MTC there's a companionship of the most adorable nineteen year olds I've ever met. And so spiritual it's fantastic! They're awesome- Elder Scoffield and Elder Meyers. They're totally going to throw it down in the field.

Joy- I've had so many mock investigators talking about how they feel a "happy feeling" when they watch Disney movies and wondering if it's the Holy Ghost! lol Disney is awesome! Families are forever! lol

Sachiyo- sorry, I never could spell it right! I hope your adjustment to the States is going well and you've been able to have fun and experience American culture!

Chanel- You're INCREDIBLE for doing this. I met the Mom of someone coming home in three weeks from your mission! She is from Provo, but I forgot her name :P Her mom teaches missionaries how to read the Book of Mormon better.

Becky- I loved your letter!!! It helped sooo much! Can you give me chrissy and josef's email? I never got that from them.

Mom- can you and/or Gram make me more of those awesome skirts? They're perfect, not too tight and long enough. Let me know if you need any measurements! And can you send me the characteristics of servant leaders that's taped to the steering wheel? If you want to keep it, it's no big deal, but can you send me a copy of it?

Kevin- hey!! you and your family are amazing!!! But did Jess want to get my emails? If not, it's cool.

Yes yes I know, scatterbrained am I. It's why I should've written out this letter before email you all. But I want to give another shout out to all the lovely people who wrote to me! (also, Alyssa, I don't mind if you put all this extra stuff on the blog. You're fantastic)

Miriam Amato, Miriam Jones, Mom, Becky, and Melanie Palsky thank you for the letters!!! It's so nice to get mail! Especially when there's a girl in my district who gets at least one a day! lol It's great to see everyone's face light up! I love you each and I'm so happy things are going well for you and you're pulling through!

Done with the shout out.

Oh! but if anyone has some time, can you write a dearelder to my whole district? some people never get mail. The people in my district are: Elder Scoffield, Elder Geillmann, Elder Meyers, Elder Tingey, Elder Botkin, Sister Smith, Sister Anderson, Sister Lewis, and Sister Jeppson (yes, we have two trios!)

If not, it's cool. Love you all!!!!