Kay so we came back from Wrangell on the ferry on Tuesday night, we did weekly planning during the 3-hour journey and attempted a few puzzles. It was lovely to come back to Petersburg; it feels like home.
This week was a Spunky Woman week. I dunno if I ever really talked about the Spunky Woman, or if I even have called her Spunky WOman before, maybe feisty woman, I dunno. She's a firecracker. 72 years old, widow, been taught for 2 years, stubborn as an ox. Her husband died this time of year a few years ago and the timing has seemed to be perfect. She heart is softened a lil bit, she is more teachable than ever, all we want for her to do is go to the temple a year from her baptism and be married to her husband for time and eternity because she just misses him, she has such a broken heart, I have rarely seen such devotion before. So we've been talking about temples a bit and showed her this temple Mormon Message (3minute video clip) and we were so excited, turned to her, you know, excitedly asked her, "What did you think?" And this is SO her, she spat, "Money. All i see is MONEY. Why do they have to make them all so FANCY?" Luckily the awesome member we had with us bore testimony of Solomon's temple and how they used the finest cedar and all that stuff because, when you build a house for the Lord, you offer him your best. She understood by the end of the lesson.
She has NOT prayed about being baptized yet, she is not ready yet. Her admitting that was huge. We had two amazing lessons with her two days in a row. We realized she could totally be baptized, if she came to church just twice, she could maybe be baptized the last Saturday of the transfer. We called her Saturday night and begged her to come to church and she finally said FINE and we screamed and giggled and she likely said something dry and sarcastic and we hung up with her and we screamed and high-fived.
Church was crazy, though, we had been asked to play the piano a lot in primary and we were running around like we'd got our heads cut off and after church we called her to see how everything had gone, and we were devastated to hear her complain about the distraction of all the children, they run around and interrupt and slam doors and stomp their feet (and in such a tiny church building it is kinda unnoticeable) and she said she felt so incredibily out of place, no one had introduced her at the beginning of any of the meetings. She knows a lot of the people already she said, but there were plenty of people who she didn't know, and she was never introduced. She said, "I left church with a BAD taste in my mouth." We felt horrible, if we had just sat with her we would have introduced her, I had even thought of sitting with her at the beginning of relief society and introducing her to the class, and it is just WEIRD that no one welcomed the visitors, cuz there had been a baptism for an 8-year-old the night before and his grandparents were there visiting as well.
WEll, we were just so disappointed. We have a lesson with her in a coupla days, and we are hoping to help her realize the people aren't perfect but the church is still true, and also we wanna try and help her remember the good things that happened at church. Hopefully we will see good things to happen with her. We love her so very much.
Puerto Rican Mommy did NOT come to church either, but her kids and husband are outta town and they took HER car on the ferry so she has her hubby's truck and it's stick shift and there was lots of snow and she was nervous. But we also totally know her, she's a total home-body and always prefer to stay cuddled up in her house, ahhaha. Luckily since her fam is outta town, she told us we can come over every day if we want to. Hahah. WE WILL! We showed her all the "I'm a Mormon" videos on mormon.org that highlight the lives of Puerto Rican people. And we showed her the Christmas bible video nativity thing.
Last night our members whom we live with had about twenty people over for a sing-along, most were non-members, and we had been recruited to play piano and lead the sing-along. We had helped Donna on Friday make all the dips, too. Delicious stuff. Smoked salmon dip and home-made hummus. OM NOM. So that was cool to do, we just laughed and joked around and sang and hopefully all the people felt comfortable with two mormon missionaries hanging out with them all. Not that we were hanging out. Haha.
Well, tonight is the Petersburg Community Christmas Concert and we have two acts, and we are also singing with the Oxford Carolers. It will be at the LUtheran church, man that church has a beautiful stained glass window of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. My heck. Our first number will be me on the piano and Sister Hatfield singin with a ten-yr-old gal in the branch. It will be precious. One of those Silent Night mash-ups with another melody the composer wrote, there are like a billion of those. Real pretty. Our second number we asked a non-member from tthe Oxford Carolers to play for us, but it's an SSA arrangement (3 female voices) and we said if she could find another pianist she should sing WITH us. Well we got back from Wrangell and she did find a pianist, and lo and behold the woman she'd asked to play for us is a less active member of the Church who told ME on the phone months ago that she was not interested in meeting with us. So, it was awesome to go to her house and have a rehearsal there, not threatening or anything, we were just practicing music, and the woman seemed very comfortable (I have met her before, me and Sister Hatfield were doing service at a community race and this woman came up to get her number to pin on her shirt and when she saw our nametags her smile faded and I was like, 'Wow, I don't know if that woman likes us' and then found out who she was and I wondered yeah, maybe she DOESN'T like us, but I am glad we've been able to get to know her in a different setting and maybe one day she will allow missionaries to teach her).
WELL I am so glad to be a missionary, I love the Lord, I am so happy to be serving Him. I am nervous to find out about transfers but I know whatever happens is supposed to happen. I love you all. Merry Christmas. Remember the Savior.
Sister Ashbrook
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