Oh my goodness family, how I have missed you! I realized this week that I am at my halfway point in the mtc and i'm starting to freak outa little bit. Life is really good though.
Thanks to all of you who have been writing. Once again..you have no idea how important letters are to missionaries until you have letters! Unfortunately I get very little time to write back and family is my priority, SO...if you have written faithfully and I haven't written back yet..I'm sorry..your time will come! :) ok..let me see. Mom, I won't be castrating any sheep on Sister Ball's farm. Her dad does all of that. lol! I'm pretty excited though. I am so happy she is my companion and I thank God daily for it. I wouldn't have it any other way. Mom..I'll answer your other questions in a huge-fatty letter I'm sending off today! :) Get excited!
Okay, random fact about the Philippines... on June 25th, John the Baptists birthday, they apparently run around the city pouring HUGE buckets of water on people to "baptize" them. funny huh??? Sister Rather said wear something not shear that day. haha! Also, this is random, Sweet sister rather can't always get our names right, so she has gotten in this fix of calling me Sister Stradler...which is a common mistake...but then she also calls my companion Sister Balls...lol! We had to finally correct her and let her know it wasn't good to pair those two together. So..I gave my first talk in Tagalog this week. It was simply and short, but I could feel the spirit. To be honest, I'm really struggling with the language. I got a blessing yesterday and I am more at peace with it, but it was SO SO SO HARD! Before I got my call the 2nd time I felt like I might learn ASL for my mission. But then..lo and behold it was Tagalog. Which I was also excited about. Well a sister from here just left 2 weeks ago and emailed me today. Guess what? She was reassigned when she got there to not speak Tagalog, but 2 other dialects and....ASL!!!!!!! Are you kidding me??? I guess they use it often! So..I may still have the opportunity. Who knows? It is up to the Lord and His will for me. But that would be amazing. I kept having that thought come to me last week, but I thought it was just craziness. Time will tell. So..there is an amazing quote in Preach my Gospel that I wanted to share this week. It is on page 151. "The attitude you have toward your mission experience is a reflection of your love toward your Heavenly Father and His Son and your respect for the priesthood." AMAZING!! Attitude is so important! I have learned a lot about myself while I have been out and the Lord has opened my eyes to my imperfections, which has been hard, humbling, and so good for me! I have realized that though I may have thought I was ready for marriage in the past...I have so many things I want to work on before I get married. I think that quote can be applied to any calling we have in the church though, including Visiting Teaching and Home teaching! The attitude we have towards God's work reflects how we feel about God, His Son, and the priesthood! Powerful!
Mom, you know that quote from The Guardian that you love? We had a speaker who shared a thought during a devotional that made me think of it, along with the story President Gunnell shared about Janice. He just talked about how on the Titanic many safety boats moved away from the ship as it was sinking so they wouldn't be pulled under. He said, then after the ship went under and people were still alive floating in the water, they went back to get the survivors because they wanted to help save them and they had more room in their safety boats. He said that survivors noted that sometimes people going into the early stages of hypothermia would swim away from the boats when others were trying so hard to save them. But there was nothing they could do about it. No matter how hard they tried, they would swim away, to their death. He talked about how missionary work is a lot like this. He said, a missionary with a vision can row a lifeboat 3 times faster because of spiritual adrenaline. He said, "you will be able to save many of them, but if spiritual hypothermia has already set in, they will swim away from you. Don't let that get you down. Save as many as you can!" This made me think of the Guardian, quote, "I swim as fast and I can, as hard as I can, for as long as I can, and the sea takes the rest." Sister Ball and I can't wait to be in the field, but a part of us will stay with the MTC. We have loved every moment of our experience here so far. The real work starts here and intensifies in the field. I have been missing family a lot this week. Sister Hawkes, a teacher here, shared some experiences from her mission with us this week. She said, "You're going to sweat like you've never sweat before. It will be all down your shirt and you will feel disgusting, but then it rains and no one knows if it is sweat or rain..and quite honestly, no one cares! Cause they are all sweating too! :)" haha..But she also said, "The Philippine people will teach you more than you could ever teach them. Where you are assigned has a lot to do with how the Lord needs to shape you for your life. It's about learning how to be happy when you have absolutely nothing! And being content when you have what you need. If you get down and miss your family, think of it this way. Yes, you are sacrificing 18 months or 2 years from your family, but you're doing it so the people you teach can be with their families forever!" I loved the way she put that. It put everything into perspective for me. Sometimes our focus gets a little tweaked and then we start a little pitty party. But, as President Hinckley's father said, "Forget yourself and get to work!" Or as Sister Ball and I have adopted the phrase from the Hansons... "Suck it up princess!" :) hahaha! We use that often, although I usually say it to myself. We had a really cool experience this week teaching in a TE. I have 2 minutes to write about it, but I want to share it. We went to teach a guy, Brother Miskell, and he decided he was going to play himself from 5 years ago, before he was baptized. We were teaching the 2nd lesson about the Plan of Salvation. So we start going through the lesson plan like normal and then Sister Ball goes off on agency..in depth and the ability to choose and I ended up going in depth about the Atonement, with much deeper scriptures than we would ever use! But..we get done with our time and he said, "I don't want to stop learning. I hate to have to stop you, but I have the next appointment. But can I ask if you taught differently than you normally would have?" We started to think about it and said, yes, we definitely did. We shared what we both felt impressed to share. I originally had another scripture, but turned to D&C 19. Well...come to find out, those are the exact scriptures the missinoaries shared the first time and he had been praying about things recently that he needed answers to and we were able to help him with it. AMAZING!! POWERFUL! The spirit is real! God knows us! He loves us! He is so willing to bless us..but the promptings are so quiet and still. Act on them! Allow quiet time in your life so you can be more in tune! Draw close to Christ and never pull away from HIM! Christ lives! Truth is restored! I love you all!
~Sister Stadler
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Oh how I have missed you all this last week. This week has been filled to the brim with blessings and humbling moments.
SO..some things I have found out about the country. Mom, you will be gleefully happy to hear that eating dog is illegal in the Philippines! Apparently only the drunkards eat it, and I don't see the drunkards having the missionaries over for dinner often. So no worries there. Also, the partially fertilized egg thing...Sister Rather (who is a native Philippina) said that her mission president told them not to eat it and that it isn't impolite to reject it because it is known to make many missionaries sick! AH!
Paul and Holly, how is Kaitlin doing? How is the trimester going for you? What about the pregnancy? I assume all is well since I haven't heard anything...either that, or everything is terrible and no one wants to tell me! haha! Amanda, I love to hear from you each week. Those letters and quick emails mean more to me than you could ever know. Also, reminiscing about the Olive Garden experience the night I went through the temple made me laugh harder than I have in a long time. haha! Josh, how is school going this semester? Are you still working to set up events? Sean, are you getting enough hours at work? Did you get my letter? I hope to hear from you soon! Robyn, I love your cards! The pictures you send were amazing and everyone in the district was super excited to see "little Ashley". :) Shelley, I don't know if you read this ever, but I love you to death and I love all of my adorable nieces and nephews as well. I pray for each of you nightly. I have never realized how powerful prayer can be. True I have had the occasional truly meaningful prayer in the past, but now my prayers are longer than ever, and I realize I wasn't praying for hardly anything before!!Make sure you are all spending time on your knees. I hate to sound preachy in my e-mails or letters, but I'm finally beginning to realize the power that comes with complete and "strict obedience" (in Alma 56-57..read it..it is amazing!) I only want to share what I have learned with you.
As for my lovely friends who have written, good grief I love you all. I also pray for you and hope you are doing all you can to grow closer to God and to learn more about the Atonement so that you can use it even more effectively in your lives.
Mom, you asked for what you could specifically pray for. So here it is, I have been giving a lot of thought to praying for the language and the gift of tongues and have come to the conclusion that I have been channeling my energy in the wrong direction. Instead of praying for the ability to get the language, I have been praying for the spirit to be my personal tutor in this work. It is impossible for me to learn this language academically, but I can do it spiritually, according to the will of God. So, don't pray so much for the language, but more so that my faith and my ability to recognize the spirit will be greater so that I can then call upon the powers of heaven for the gift of tongues. But..I must be personally prepared first.
Sister Ball and I had a beautiful experience in the Teaching Appointment last Thursday. We started out with our language task of picking up an investigator to go to church and ask if they were able to keep their commitments of reading 3 Nephi11 and praying to know about Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. The language part went pretty well, we were working with a native Philippina, Charlene. We then had to go back to the room and teach her the 2nd lesson in English. So we went back to the door and my heart was pounding like crazy. Earlier in the day we taught a 15 minute lesson with a teacher here and we got demolished. He stopped us halfway through and said, "you are giving me so much information and yet you haven't related it to me personally at all...i have completely shut you out. Now fix it..Go" It completely through me off guard and I prayed like crazy and it did get better, but i was thrown off. So I didn't want to repeat that experience that night! I had been praying all day and pondering on the things we had been taught and I have been really trying to be as in tune with the spirit as I possibly can be so I can EASILY distinguish it's promptings. So we start to teach this lesson. Ask her if she had the chance to read the BofM and she says, "Oh yeah, I actually finished it this week, but I do have some conflicting thoughts about it." I was impressed she had finished it and asked more about her concerns and she said it was about baptism, she had already been baptized as a child in the Catholic church. We ended up talking about baptism the entire time and explaining authority and how the baptismal ordinance needs to be performed in order for it to be accepted of God. Then I felt that I needed to share from Alma 7:11-18 where it talks about our Savior's Atonement and what is required of us. As we read this with Charlene and asked her questions about it the room was thick with the spirit. One thing I have learned about Philippinos is that they are so hard to read with facial expressions! I had no idea what she was feeling, but I knew that if I was feeling the spirit, she was feeling it too. After reading the scripture I felt impressed to invite her to be baptized. For a split second I thought, "are you crazy??? She just said she wasn't sure if the book of mormon was true in it's entirety!!" Which then immediately I felt the impression again. So.. I did! I asked her if she would follow Christ's example and be baptized through the proper authority. And guess what???? She said she felt she should be! Tears started to poor down her face and I, of course, lost it too. I have never felt Christ's love so strongly for an individual like I did that night with Charlene. Later that night Charlene spoke with some of the Tagalog teachers and explained to them some things that they later shared with us. Apparently Charlene comes to volunteer in the T.A. because she likes to feel that spirit that she did when the missionaries first taught her family. She had been having a really hard time lately and was beginning to doubt some things. Our lesson was a direct answer to her prayers. Alma 7 is her favorite chapter in the book of mormon and having us read that without knowing that testified to her that her Savior did know her as an individual. She went home that night and talked about the experience with her husband and said she wanted to come back again and soon! That right there testifies, yet again, to me that this work is true! We have these opportunities to practice, but they aren't just practice! We are teaching truth! The experiences people share are real! The Atonement is real! This week read about the Atonement in all 4 gospels. It takes about 40 minutes to read all of them in depth. Pay attention to the details in each. Mark's is my favorite. Remember that what we see in movies is a version that is G-rated ...it was far more violent. Christ loves us so much. I'm running out of time. I love you all so much! The church is true! Joseph Smith is indeed the prophet of the last dispensation! What are we doing with Christ's sacrifice? What are we doing with the sacrifices of Joseph and other wonderful prophets on the earth? We cannot afford to be casual about this work, about the gospel! Raise the bar! I love you and pray for you! May the Lord bless each of you! Until next time--
GOD SPEED! We are the armies of Heleman and we have been taught in our youth!! Be firm in your minds and trust in God!
All of my love,
Sister Ashley Stadler
SO..some things I have found out about the country. Mom, you will be gleefully happy to hear that eating dog is illegal in the Philippines! Apparently only the drunkards eat it, and I don't see the drunkards having the missionaries over for dinner often. So no worries there. Also, the partially fertilized egg thing...Sister Rather (who is a native Philippina) said that her mission president told them not to eat it and that it isn't impolite to reject it because it is known to make many missionaries sick! AH!
Paul and Holly, how is Kaitlin doing? How is the trimester going for you? What about the pregnancy? I assume all is well since I haven't heard anything...either that, or everything is terrible and no one wants to tell me! haha! Amanda, I love to hear from you each week. Those letters and quick emails mean more to me than you could ever know. Also, reminiscing about the Olive Garden experience the night I went through the temple made me laugh harder than I have in a long time. haha! Josh, how is school going this semester? Are you still working to set up events? Sean, are you getting enough hours at work? Did you get my letter? I hope to hear from you soon! Robyn, I love your cards! The pictures you send were amazing and everyone in the district was super excited to see "little Ashley". :) Shelley, I don't know if you read this ever, but I love you to death and I love all of my adorable nieces and nephews as well. I pray for each of you nightly. I have never realized how powerful prayer can be. True I have had the occasional truly meaningful prayer in the past, but now my prayers are longer than ever, and I realize I wasn't praying for hardly anything before!!Make sure you are all spending time on your knees. I hate to sound preachy in my e-mails or letters, but I'm finally beginning to realize the power that comes with complete and "strict obedience" (in Alma 56-57..read it..it is amazing!) I only want to share what I have learned with you.
As for my lovely friends who have written, good grief I love you all. I also pray for you and hope you are doing all you can to grow closer to God and to learn more about the Atonement so that you can use it even more effectively in your lives.
Mom, you asked for what you could specifically pray for. So here it is, I have been giving a lot of thought to praying for the language and the gift of tongues and have come to the conclusion that I have been channeling my energy in the wrong direction. Instead of praying for the ability to get the language, I have been praying for the spirit to be my personal tutor in this work. It is impossible for me to learn this language academically, but I can do it spiritually, according to the will of God. So, don't pray so much for the language, but more so that my faith and my ability to recognize the spirit will be greater so that I can then call upon the powers of heaven for the gift of tongues. But..I must be personally prepared first.
Sister Ball and I had a beautiful experience in the Teaching Appointment last Thursday. We started out with our language task of picking up an investigator to go to church and ask if they were able to keep their commitments of reading 3 Nephi11 and praying to know about Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. The language part went pretty well, we were working with a native Philippina, Charlene. We then had to go back to the room and teach her the 2nd lesson in English. So we went back to the door and my heart was pounding like crazy. Earlier in the day we taught a 15 minute lesson with a teacher here and we got demolished. He stopped us halfway through and said, "you are giving me so much information and yet you haven't related it to me personally at all...i have completely shut you out. Now fix it..Go" It completely through me off guard and I prayed like crazy and it did get better, but i was thrown off. So I didn't want to repeat that experience that night! I had been praying all day and pondering on the things we had been taught and I have been really trying to be as in tune with the spirit as I possibly can be so I can EASILY distinguish it's promptings. So we start to teach this lesson. Ask her if she had the chance to read the BofM and she says, "Oh yeah, I actually finished it this week, but I do have some conflicting thoughts about it." I was impressed she had finished it and asked more about her concerns and she said it was about baptism, she had already been baptized as a child in the Catholic church. We ended up talking about baptism the entire time and explaining authority and how the baptismal ordinance needs to be performed in order for it to be accepted of God. Then I felt that I needed to share from Alma 7:11-18 where it talks about our Savior's Atonement and what is required of us. As we read this with Charlene and asked her questions about it the room was thick with the spirit. One thing I have learned about Philippinos is that they are so hard to read with facial expressions! I had no idea what she was feeling, but I knew that if I was feeling the spirit, she was feeling it too. After reading the scripture I felt impressed to invite her to be baptized. For a split second I thought, "are you crazy??? She just said she wasn't sure if the book of mormon was true in it's entirety!!" Which then immediately I felt the impression again. So.. I did! I asked her if she would follow Christ's example and be baptized through the proper authority. And guess what???? She said she felt she should be! Tears started to poor down her face and I, of course, lost it too. I have never felt Christ's love so strongly for an individual like I did that night with Charlene. Later that night Charlene spoke with some of the Tagalog teachers and explained to them some things that they later shared with us. Apparently Charlene comes to volunteer in the T.A. because she likes to feel that spirit that she did when the missionaries first taught her family. She had been having a really hard time lately and was beginning to doubt some things. Our lesson was a direct answer to her prayers. Alma 7 is her favorite chapter in the book of mormon and having us read that without knowing that testified to her that her Savior did know her as an individual. She went home that night and talked about the experience with her husband and said she wanted to come back again and soon! That right there testifies, yet again, to me that this work is true! We have these opportunities to practice, but they aren't just practice! We are teaching truth! The experiences people share are real! The Atonement is real! This week read about the Atonement in all 4 gospels. It takes about 40 minutes to read all of them in depth. Pay attention to the details in each. Mark's is my favorite. Remember that what we see in movies is a version that is G-rated ...it was far more violent. Christ loves us so much. I'm running out of time. I love you all so much! The church is true! Joseph Smith is indeed the prophet of the last dispensation! What are we doing with Christ's sacrifice? What are we doing with the sacrifices of Joseph and other wonderful prophets on the earth? We cannot afford to be casual about this work, about the gospel! Raise the bar! I love you and pray for you! May the Lord bless each of you! Until next time--
GOD SPEED! We are the armies of Heleman and we have been taught in our youth!! Be firm in your minds and trust in God!
All of my love,
Sister Ashley Stadler
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Hey Hey Family!
How is everyone doing?? First off, thank you to everyone who has written me letters or used dear elder ! There is no way I can physically write all of you back, there were over 10 of you! Let's see if I can remember them all! Um..: Brittany and Dave, Tara (twice) :), Ian, Jamie, Scott, BriAnna, Robyn, Amanda (with the sweetest package ever!), and mom of course!(I'm forgetting a couple people...ah...sorry! I have all my letters in my bag upstairs for writing time. Anyway, thank you all so much! Letters are the greatest things ever! I promise I will write each of you back, but it just may not be this week.
As for life here, I always think it couldn't get better, and then it does! We are learning more and more of the language. Every Thursday evening we have a Teaching appointment with an "investigator" which is always someone who speaks the language. We always have a language task before we do the lesson and then the lesson is in English. Well, last week we met with a guy who asked us how long we have been here. Now Sister Ball and I were stumbling all over our words...we're determined to do better next week, but we told him we have been there for 2 weeks. He freaked out and said, "No way!!! You have been here for at least 7!" So we must have sounded better than we though. So...mom, you asked for specific things to pray for. Instead of being vague and asking for just help on the language, maybe pray specifically that we will be able to successfully accomplish our Wika (language) task. BUT...with saying that, this is our last week of speaking English. Next week we are speaking completely Tagalog from now on. We have been trying it out this week. It is incredibly difficult, but it is a great exercise with using what we know. I have so much to tell you! Um, this week we worked in the RC (referral center) where we take incoming calls from people who see the commercials or get referral cards and want free dvds or the Book of Mormon. What a trip! so much fun! Our teachers stressed that it is definitely possible to have your first baptism through this system. They know many missionaries who have taken it seriously and have done it! So we go in all pumped..Elder Pickard got a call that was amazing, Sister Woodward got a pretty good call too. Elders Lewis and Scott had a chat going that was solid and I had a wrong number! hahaha! Sister Ball was chewed out by a lady who thought we were dish network, needless to say, we were a bit jealous. We are so eager to teach and share truth! BUT...later that night Sister Ball and I had a few unscheduled minutes after a teaching appointment left in our MDT (missionary directed time). So we decided to run up to the RC for a few minutes. So we did...and guess what??? I spoke to this amazingly sweet woman, Lilly, who wanted the DVD the Lamb of God. We talked for over 25 minutes about church doctrine. She asked all kinds of questions and I was amazed how I was guided to answer them. She definitely had simple questions and didn't have a great understanding of the English language, so with flowering words..she would just tune out completely. Anyway...after our talk, she said she didn't feel comfortable having the elders over to deliver the items because her husband thinks that Mormons are crazy. So I asked her if it would be okay if I called her back in 4-5 days to talk about how she felt when she watched the movie. She was all excited about it and told me when she would be off work and able to talk for awhile.... I'm so excited! She was a super sweet woman with a strong desire to have her family with her forever! So keep Lilly Gonzalez and her family in your prayers. She also asked for me to pray for her husband because he just recently lost his job. So ...even though I don't know his name, pray for their family! Um, have you ever seen the painting by Nathan Pinnock of "Lehi and the Tree of life"? It is beautiful! they have it in the MTC. That was random, enjoy.
So other news, I received a calling yesterday. The oldest district is leaving us today and so we are receiving 36 new missionaries this coming Wednesday and now we are the "experienced" ones. I know..crazy huh? 2 1/2 weeks and we're official. So I am now the coordinating sister for the zone. Many, many responsibilities. So, pray for me that I will have an abundance of charity toward these sisters coming in and that Sister Ball and I will be able to live up to the example we should be setting for them. We are excited to meet them all. There should be somewhere between 4-7 sisters coming in which is awesome! So many people being called to the Philippines. SO..get this!!! Today I go into the temple and guess who is in my session???? MISS TARA ANDERSON!!!!!! I balled my eyes out! I didn't think it was really her at first. She is up here for her friend Kami's wedding, and the friend she brought with her to the session is actually coming into the MTC on Nov. 18th going to a Tagalog speaking missin in the Pines! CRAZY! So I'll probably welcome her in when she comes if I'm still the co-sister. Man, I only have 8 minutes left.
I have really been trying to work on patience this week. I have been studying all about our Savior's patience and how loving He was with all around him. Sister Ball and I are looking for opportunities to serve daily. There are little things we can do each day. I would encourage each of you to find someone to serve each day. Whether it was helping an elderly couple with their grocery cart or letting someone go into a lane of traffic ahead of you, comforting a child, or making someone's bed, sending a note to a friend you haven't talked to in awhile (or maybe even a friend you have talked to..but you don't express how much you love them often). Really make an effort to be more Christlike through your attitude of service. Many times we run right past the opportunities because we are so set on our schedule! Make the time! Take off your blinders and serve and love it! Love every second of it.
5 minutes...here we go. I love you all so much, I miss you like crazy, but the thing is, I don't have much time to think about it, which makes it great! But every night when I get ready for bed I blow a kiss to my family photo and then kneel and speak about each one of you to our loving Heavenly Father. How blessed we are to have open communication with them any time we want, for as long as we want! We determine how long we want the conversations to be! amazing! Remember that anything is possible with faith. Mahal Kita! The Church is true! Press forward ever!!! We are ALL called to serve our king!
~Sister Ashley
How is everyone doing?? First off, thank you to everyone who has written me letters or used dear elder ! There is no way I can physically write all of you back, there were over 10 of you! Let's see if I can remember them all! Um..: Brittany and Dave, Tara (twice) :), Ian, Jamie, Scott, BriAnna, Robyn, Amanda (with the sweetest package ever!), and mom of course!(I'm forgetting a couple people...ah...sorry! I have all my letters in my bag upstairs for writing time. Anyway, thank you all so much! Letters are the greatest things ever! I promise I will write each of you back, but it just may not be this week.
As for life here, I always think it couldn't get better, and then it does! We are learning more and more of the language. Every Thursday evening we have a Teaching appointment with an "investigator" which is always someone who speaks the language. We always have a language task before we do the lesson and then the lesson is in English. Well, last week we met with a guy who asked us how long we have been here. Now Sister Ball and I were stumbling all over our words...we're determined to do better next week, but we told him we have been there for 2 weeks. He freaked out and said, "No way!!! You have been here for at least 7!" So we must have sounded better than we though. So...mom, you asked for specific things to pray for. Instead of being vague and asking for just help on the language, maybe pray specifically that we will be able to successfully accomplish our Wika (language) task. BUT...with saying that, this is our last week of speaking English. Next week we are speaking completely Tagalog from now on. We have been trying it out this week. It is incredibly difficult, but it is a great exercise with using what we know. I have so much to tell you! Um, this week we worked in the RC (referral center) where we take incoming calls from people who see the commercials or get referral cards and want free dvds or the Book of Mormon. What a trip! so much fun! Our teachers stressed that it is definitely possible to have your first baptism through this system. They know many missionaries who have taken it seriously and have done it! So we go in all pumped..Elder Pickard got a call that was amazing, Sister Woodward got a pretty good call too. Elders Lewis and Scott had a chat going that was solid and I had a wrong number! hahaha! Sister Ball was chewed out by a lady who thought we were dish network, needless to say, we were a bit jealous. We are so eager to teach and share truth! BUT...later that night Sister Ball and I had a few unscheduled minutes after a teaching appointment left in our MDT (missionary directed time). So we decided to run up to the RC for a few minutes. So we did...and guess what??? I spoke to this amazingly sweet woman, Lilly, who wanted the DVD the Lamb of God. We talked for over 25 minutes about church doctrine. She asked all kinds of questions and I was amazed how I was guided to answer them. She definitely had simple questions and didn't have a great understanding of the English language, so with flowering words..she would just tune out completely. Anyway...after our talk, she said she didn't feel comfortable having the elders over to deliver the items because her husband thinks that Mormons are crazy. So I asked her if it would be okay if I called her back in 4-5 days to talk about how she felt when she watched the movie. She was all excited about it and told me when she would be off work and able to talk for awhile.... I'm so excited! She was a super sweet woman with a strong desire to have her family with her forever! So keep Lilly Gonzalez and her family in your prayers. She also asked for me to pray for her husband because he just recently lost his job. So ...even though I don't know his name, pray for their family! Um, have you ever seen the painting by Nathan Pinnock of "Lehi and the Tree of life"? It is beautiful! they have it in the MTC. That was random, enjoy.
So other news, I received a calling yesterday. The oldest district is leaving us today and so we are receiving 36 new missionaries this coming Wednesday and now we are the "experienced" ones. I know..crazy huh? 2 1/2 weeks and we're official. So I am now the coordinating sister for the zone. Many, many responsibilities. So, pray for me that I will have an abundance of charity toward these sisters coming in and that Sister Ball and I will be able to live up to the example we should be setting for them. We are excited to meet them all. There should be somewhere between 4-7 sisters coming in which is awesome! So many people being called to the Philippines. SO..get this!!! Today I go into the temple and guess who is in my session???? MISS TARA ANDERSON!!!!!! I balled my eyes out! I didn't think it was really her at first. She is up here for her friend Kami's wedding, and the friend she brought with her to the session is actually coming into the MTC on Nov. 18th going to a Tagalog speaking missin in the Pines! CRAZY! So I'll probably welcome her in when she comes if I'm still the co-sister. Man, I only have 8 minutes left.
I have really been trying to work on patience this week. I have been studying all about our Savior's patience and how loving He was with all around him. Sister Ball and I are looking for opportunities to serve daily. There are little things we can do each day. I would encourage each of you to find someone to serve each day. Whether it was helping an elderly couple with their grocery cart or letting someone go into a lane of traffic ahead of you, comforting a child, or making someone's bed, sending a note to a friend you haven't talked to in awhile (or maybe even a friend you have talked to..but you don't express how much you love them often). Really make an effort to be more Christlike through your attitude of service. Many times we run right past the opportunities because we are so set on our schedule! Make the time! Take off your blinders and serve and love it! Love every second of it.
5 minutes...here we go. I love you all so much, I miss you like crazy, but the thing is, I don't have much time to think about it, which makes it great! But every night when I get ready for bed I blow a kiss to my family photo and then kneel and speak about each one of you to our loving Heavenly Father. How blessed we are to have open communication with them any time we want, for as long as we want! We determine how long we want the conversations to be! amazing! Remember that anything is possible with faith. Mahal Kita! The Church is true! Press forward ever!!! We are ALL called to serve our king!
~Sister Ashley
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Oh my goodness! I miss you all so much and at the same time I am so busy that I have pretty much 5 minutes a day to think of all of you! ( not including prayers of course) Which now my prayers are completely in Tagalog...which makes for some pretty simple prayers! HAHAHA! Good thing Heavenly Father knows the desires of my heart! This week has been such a roller coaster of emotions!
Pressure! Ok..So now the spiritual stuff. I'll answer other personal questions in a letters.
HOLY CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING!!! Was it not??? I swear everything related perfectly to what we have been studying here. I have been focusing a lot on being in tune with the spirit and listening hard to its promptings. There is no reason to even go on a mission if I'm not working hand in hand with the spirit. And Holland's talk?? Can we say inspired and powerful?? We have been focusing a lot on power too in class and that was an ideal example. The whole room was absolutely silent. That never happens with 2,000+ missionaries! Amazing! So back on the spirit topic. I have been thinking a lot about how we pull ourselves away from the spirit on a daily basis. There are SO many distractions in the world! To all those friends who are reading this, as well as siblings. Let the distractions go! Pick one thing today to get rid of in your life that is just "froth" and get rid of it! Whether it is a song you love to listen to that is pointless and has no depth or if it is a show that you LOVE LOVE LOVE watching that has filth in it or if it is texting or reading things that are of no importance... let it go!!! If it is a phrase you say often in your speech or thoughts you have of someone you don't really care for.. let it go!!! Why do we give in so easily to distractions and allow ourselves to compromise our standards for a show or a movie? I have been such a bad example of that in the past. Not that these shows or movies were absolutely terrible, but I'll tell you they were definitely of the devil. Satan is so alluring! He is a sneaky man I tell ya! I love how Dallin H. Oaks said in conference, "God's choicest blessings are reserved for those who obey His Laws." So true! I have seen it in the MTC! You can see a huge difference between those missionaries who are obedient in all ways and those who think the rules are a hindrance and are silly. I want to go up to them, shake them and say, "You signed up for this willingly! No one forced you to make these years God's time!" I feel the same way about our existence here on earth. We didn't come to this earth blindly, not knowing what would be required of us! God would never do that! Agency is such a huge part of this plan. We knew, full well, that we would be tempted here and that we were going to suffer and go through strife and hardship, but guess what??? No one forced us to sign up for this mortal journey! We signed up for it ourselves!! So step up to the plate. Let us all find a way this week to perfect ourselves. Drop a bad habit and never, NEVER look back! Move forward being perfected through Christ.
I was impressed with how many topics in GC were based on Love and service and missionary work, which I think go hand in hand! I don't know if you have kept up with the news lately, but the Philippines was hit with another hard storm. Hundreds of people have died and thousands of families are homeless. My companion's mission is the place that got hit the hardest. Our teachers told us that the area of the city that was hit was actually the drug area! Coincidence? ...I think not. We are so excited to go and serve and love these people! We already have an amazing love for them, even before we have met them! God is humbling them as we prepare to go and serve. So many hearts will be softened by the time we get there. I guess although the Philippino's are very kind and loving people, they don't like to commit to anything. They will take a Book of Mormon from you and then use it to prop up their coffee tables instead of reading it. So our teachers talked about how if they don't read it, we have to ask for the book back. Interesting huh? They said if we ask for the book back, and say it is our own personal copy they can "borrow" if they want to read it, it pricks their hearts and makes them wonder what they could be missing out on. Anyway..I feel this whole letter is a little jumbled. I have so much I wish I could tell you right now!
Mom, you asked for me to say what I need you to pray for, so here it goes. I have had more opposition while I have been here than ever before in my life. Satan works as hard as he can to get us to feel that we can't do this work, that we aren't cut out for it. Well...too bad for him, because I'm here and I'm staying. BUT..I need your prayers now more than ever. Our experienced district is leaving our zone next week and we are getting 60+ missionaries coming into our zone and we will be the leaders in the zones at that point. Well, we really need to know the language before we can do that effectively. The language is so hard. I feel like I'm struggling to keep my head above the water. Pray for me to be able to receive the gift of tongues. I will do my part and study it out and then I know the Lord will bless me. But i need those prayers. For me to be able to specifically remember the things I learn and that my memorizing skills will greatly increase. there is so much to remember. Anyway, that's about it. Life is so good! The church is so true! We watched the Joseph smith movie last night. I was reminded of what an amazing man he was! Truly a prophet of God. You know he has to be looking down on us and rooting for us! In conference they said the missionaries that were out right now were the fulfillment of prophecy! How exciting is that? We truly were born to be the armies of Heleman and to go forth bringing families to Christ! Pray for the prophets, pray for the Philippinos and their families during their trials, pray for the countries to be opened to the work. There are thousands of Philippino young men around the age of serving missions!! Think of where they could go and the effect they could have! The church is true! I love you all more than you know!Buhay Tagapaglitas ni JesuCristo! (Christ, our Savior, lives!) Write me! Letters bring much more joy that I could ever have imagined! Sometimes I need that mid-week pick me up!
All my heart and love,
Sister Ashley Stadler
Pressure! Ok..So now the spiritual stuff. I'll answer other personal questions in a letters.
HOLY CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING!!! Was it not??? I swear everything related perfectly to what we have been studying here. I have been focusing a lot on being in tune with the spirit and listening hard to its promptings. There is no reason to even go on a mission if I'm not working hand in hand with the spirit. And Holland's talk?? Can we say inspired and powerful?? We have been focusing a lot on power too in class and that was an ideal example. The whole room was absolutely silent. That never happens with 2,000+ missionaries! Amazing! So back on the spirit topic. I have been thinking a lot about how we pull ourselves away from the spirit on a daily basis. There are SO many distractions in the world! To all those friends who are reading this, as well as siblings. Let the distractions go! Pick one thing today to get rid of in your life that is just "froth" and get rid of it! Whether it is a song you love to listen to that is pointless and has no depth or if it is a show that you LOVE LOVE LOVE watching that has filth in it or if it is texting or reading things that are of no importance... let it go!!! If it is a phrase you say often in your speech or thoughts you have of someone you don't really care for.. let it go!!! Why do we give in so easily to distractions and allow ourselves to compromise our standards for a show or a movie? I have been such a bad example of that in the past. Not that these shows or movies were absolutely terrible, but I'll tell you they were definitely of the devil. Satan is so alluring! He is a sneaky man I tell ya! I love how Dallin H. Oaks said in conference, "God's choicest blessings are reserved for those who obey His Laws." So true! I have seen it in the MTC! You can see a huge difference between those missionaries who are obedient in all ways and those who think the rules are a hindrance and are silly. I want to go up to them, shake them and say, "You signed up for this willingly! No one forced you to make these years God's time!" I feel the same way about our existence here on earth. We didn't come to this earth blindly, not knowing what would be required of us! God would never do that! Agency is such a huge part of this plan. We knew, full well, that we would be tempted here and that we were going to suffer and go through strife and hardship, but guess what??? No one forced us to sign up for this mortal journey! We signed up for it ourselves!! So step up to the plate. Let us all find a way this week to perfect ourselves. Drop a bad habit and never, NEVER look back! Move forward being perfected through Christ.
I was impressed with how many topics in GC were based on Love and service and missionary work, which I think go hand in hand! I don't know if you have kept up with the news lately, but the Philippines was hit with another hard storm. Hundreds of people have died and thousands of families are homeless. My companion's mission is the place that got hit the hardest. Our teachers told us that the area of the city that was hit was actually the drug area! Coincidence? ...I think not. We are so excited to go and serve and love these people! We already have an amazing love for them, even before we have met them! God is humbling them as we prepare to go and serve. So many hearts will be softened by the time we get there. I guess although the Philippino's are very kind and loving people, they don't like to commit to anything. They will take a Book of Mormon from you and then use it to prop up their coffee tables instead of reading it. So our teachers talked about how if they don't read it, we have to ask for the book back. Interesting huh? They said if we ask for the book back, and say it is our own personal copy they can "borrow" if they want to read it, it pricks their hearts and makes them wonder what they could be missing out on. Anyway..I feel this whole letter is a little jumbled. I have so much I wish I could tell you right now!
Mom, you asked for me to say what I need you to pray for, so here it goes. I have had more opposition while I have been here than ever before in my life. Satan works as hard as he can to get us to feel that we can't do this work, that we aren't cut out for it. Well...too bad for him, because I'm here and I'm staying. BUT..I need your prayers now more than ever. Our experienced district is leaving our zone next week and we are getting 60+ missionaries coming into our zone and we will be the leaders in the zones at that point. Well, we really need to know the language before we can do that effectively. The language is so hard. I feel like I'm struggling to keep my head above the water. Pray for me to be able to receive the gift of tongues. I will do my part and study it out and then I know the Lord will bless me. But i need those prayers. For me to be able to specifically remember the things I learn and that my memorizing skills will greatly increase. there is so much to remember. Anyway, that's about it. Life is so good! The church is so true! We watched the Joseph smith movie last night. I was reminded of what an amazing man he was! Truly a prophet of God. You know he has to be looking down on us and rooting for us! In conference they said the missionaries that were out right now were the fulfillment of prophecy! How exciting is that? We truly were born to be the armies of Heleman and to go forth bringing families to Christ! Pray for the prophets, pray for the Philippinos and their families during their trials, pray for the countries to be opened to the work. There are thousands of Philippino young men around the age of serving missions!! Think of where they could go and the effect they could have! The church is true! I love you all more than you know!Buhay Tagapaglitas ni JesuCristo! (Christ, our Savior, lives!) Write me! Letters bring much more joy that I could ever have imagined! Sometimes I need that mid-week pick me up!
All my heart and love,
Sister Ashley Stadler
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