UM EXCUSE ME, Sarah is going to BYU Idaho or Arizona, which one? I am so very confused.
Hahhah,
so I am not homesick at all! It was the easiest, most normal yet SO
WEIRD experience talking to a lot of my family yesterday. I was so
weirded out all day. We went to the first of our dinners yesterday (we
had two) and I was saying to Sister Babcock, "I just feel...it is so
weird that...it's just I am the same and they are the same...yet I feel
so different, and they haven't SEEN me in Alaska and then they did...i
just..." I couldn't finish my sentences and Sister Babcock laughed and
laughed.
I loooved seeing my family. And how Greggie is cute
and Jessica is big and plump and sweet-faced. I love everybody. It was
awesome seeing the Daltons, now that they live so close. I hope Jared is
feeling better.
Congratulations on Candace getting married, I am so happy!!!
Today,
the most horrific culminating experience occurred: Sister Rivera told
me, "Um, did you know your laundry detergent is actually fabric
softener?"
Um, excuse me, I have been washing my clothes with
fabric softener for five months. I AM WEARING DIRTY CLOTHES!!! THEY HAVE
NOT BEEN CLEANED!!! WHAT THE HECK!!! WHY CAN'T I READ?!
I dunno if you wanna put this on the blog hahahah, it's not bad, ask mom:
So, one time, we went to go do our hour of mormon.org
and we were sitting there, Sister Rivera and I and two elders, and I
had forgotten to wear my nametag that day. I FELT SO NAKED. This man on
another computer asked for help transferring a picture from Facebook to
another website. I decided to help him. He had each website open on
different computers. Now, that wouldn't work. I got him to open both
wesbites on the same computer and then had him save the pic of him on
facebook to the desktop and upload it on the second website. I should've
known better when I saw that the second website was match.com.
HAHAHAHAHHA. So basically, he was a computer illiterate 40-yr-old man
and he wanted this second picture of him and his BICEP now, and I was
like, "Oh dear," and then he wanted to get a picture from his PHONE to
the computer, and he didn't know how, and I told him to open up the
picture on his phone, now wondering if I really should be helping him
even though I wanted to be Christlike. He just giggled and cupped the
phone to himself and kind of looked embarrassed. Oh my word. I didn't
wanna know. I crept back to my computer and started packing away my
stuff, shooting looks at Sister Rivera who kept giving me encouraging
smiles, with her headphones on, totally oblivious. She thought I was
sharing the gospel. Mister Forty-Year-Old asked me, "So, what's your
name?" Hehehe... "Um, actually, I'm a missionary, and this is my
companion, Sister Rivera, and those are two other missionaries over
there." They all waved, quite jolly, and Mister Forty-Year-Old just
stared. Sister Rivera said, later, "You shoulda seen his FACE! It just
FELL!" We laughed n laughed about it in the parking lot. BUT, all the
way home I felt SICK!!!! I FELT SO DIRTY, and I didn't feel better till I
grabbed my nametag and put it on and I felt this calm relief go over my
body. Isn't that CRAZY?! HE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN TALKING TO ME THAT WAY
IF I HAD BEEN WEARING MY NAMETAG!!!
So the Woman in the Store dropped us, she said she
had never felt so vulnerable and uncomfortable in her own home. It was
so WEIRD. This text came right before the Mister Forty-Year-Old
experience, which experience helped to distract me from my acute sadness
and desire to burst into tears. I had no idea what had caused The Woman
In The Store to feel that way, except that I had noticed she was
different during the whole lesson, completely closed off. We didn't text
her back until Monday, I said I had noticed she had felt uncomfortable
and didn't know why, except perhaps that the two new faces---my brand
new companion and the member we'd brought with us---freaked her out. She
texted back and said the issue wasn't with the other missionary (Sister
Rivera) but with the member we brought with us. I was getting excited
cuz it had been hard to text her back, i felt so weird and sad, and now I
felt like we were getting to the bottom of this and I was so glad I had
courageously texted her and didn't wanna leave it alone. I asked her if
she felt comfortable telling us more about this and we went to her
store and she let us know (bad experience with the individual's spouse)
and she said she had never wanted anyone outta her house so bad in her
life. We apologized profusely, we'd had no idea, and then she said, MY
FAVORITE: "I wouldn't be opposed to you coming back this Saturday for
another lesson, but please do not bring anymore weirdos." OH MY WORD WE
HADN'T LOST HER! A word to say: it's sad when you love these people and
hear about others who have problems with these that you love. Please
remember everyone has different facets and sides to them. People you may
think are ridiculous and drive you completely crazy, well someone you
already like probably likes that person for some reason, even if it
seems impossible that they would, well they do. ANYWAY, we went n saw he
Woman In The Store at her home on Saturday and had a LOVELY AMAZING
LESSON full of the Spirit, she was laughing and happy, she was SO
DIFFERENT than the last lesson. Still worried about her anti-mormon
husband. Wants to get him to sit in on the lessons. Told her that if we
all have perfect undoubting faith that the Lord would soften his heart,
it can happen. SERIOUSLY GUYS, if this family gets baptized, I will sob
during the entire service. It will be the biggest and most amazing
miracle ever.
Spring started...and then it got cloudy and it
stalled. The sun's back out, it's almost fifty degrees today, hopefully
summer is on its way. I'm still waiting for everything to go WHOOSH,
GREEN! Right now it's brown with little hard-to-see-at-first leaf buds
growing on the trees.
Sister Rivera and I have an awesome thing going. We
can talk about anything and everything and we're on the same page like
all the time and we laugh hilariously at night when we're supposed to be
sleeping and we stayed up WAYYY too late last night talking before we
went to sleep.
Oh, Anne, you can accept Colleen's friend request on Facebook, she's wonderful, I love her.
Well,
I just love being a missionary. I love seeing amazing things happen
right in front of my eyes, and working hard with my companion, and being
happy, and studying on a certain subject furiously to help someone in
need who needs just a lil bit of encouragement. I love seeing the trees
and mountains of Alaska every day. I love and miss my family but really,
Alaska and the people i love here have replaced that hole that got dug
when I flew to the MTC and left my besties and my fam-fam behind.
Hearing from my family and my friends is, thus, bliss. Extra joy. Keeps
ya going when things get tough. I love my friends, I hope they are well.
I PROMISE TO WRITE BACK TO YOU TODAY, SAMARA. HAHAHHAHA.
We got Utah truffles in sacrament yesterday. I fandangled getting two.
I
love my warrd---you really get to know the people here when you're here
for five months, and they get to knwo you too. Lil kids give you
presents---I got a little photo (a school photo) of a kid last week, and
someone (I CAN'T REMEMBER WHO!!!) made me a butterfly out of blue tape.
It was someone doing construction on their house. What the heck. And a
lil girl in church yesterday just walked up to me and gave me a drawing.
I love them all. One day, when I am transferred, and I am in a ward who
doesnt' know me and--what the heck? the kids don't already love me? Oh
man, it is gonna be hard. OH WELL, I'll survive.
THE CHURCH IS TRUE! Read the book of mormon every
day, especially my teenage cousins, that means you too Jake Hurlbert! I
think about you a lot, my wonderful cousins! Don't ever give up, lose
hope, get discouraged, think you're forgotten, stop praying, or turn
away! THE WORLD IS NOT WORTH IT! I love this gospel and I know that
Jesus Christ is my Savior. I'm so happy to be a missionary.
Love,
Sister Ashbrook, the daughter of my wonderful parents whom I love
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