At first this week was pretty tough. It was the worst
feeling ever not being able to just hug and cry together. Thank you so much for
your sweet emails. Your emails about the ranch also really got me through! I
LOVED reading about every day! I loved the part about when Mom was super hyper
during card games hahaha! “I haven’t even been drinking! …Soda! I mean soda!”
Haha I laughed so hard thinking of that. I loved reading about stargazing in the
field of horses that sounds like an absolute dream of mine! I decided I’m just
going to live there…maybe rescue all the inactive members in town and start a
branch..haha. Obviously have no power over that but you never know!
This week I have been leading the area! At first it was
pretty stressful but I needed to stay busy! It all went pretty well..but you
know with us we always get put in SOME weird situation..haha. Oh wait sorry
side note..President just called as I was writing this and told me my new comp!
She is from Argentina..so I’ll probably get that good thick Argentina accent..
so I’m stoked. I can’t imagine being without Hna. Pattillo :( But I am so excited to
meet her and learn from her! Supposedly she is super shy.. I don’t think that
will last. Hopefully I can get her out of her shell if that’s really the case!
I think she sounds so awesome. Ok sorry back to this week…
As you know already, the 2 of the fantastic 4 of Buenos
Aires (2 meaning me and Hna. Pattillo) always have a good story of the week.. I
feel like we are always saying, “Why are we always put in this awkward
situation?” This week thankfully it wasn’t anything like poisoned dogs, decapitation
of chickens, trying to find pearl earrings, or accidentally walking into a gang
meeting… Thankfully this week it was just us stranded on a bus out in the
middle of nowhere. We were walking one day and I got this brilliant idea that
we should take a bus that we had never taken before to actually make it on time
to lunch… (we were out by the ocean teaching pretty far from home) SO we saw a
bus and decided, “eh why not!” We got on the super sketchy bus and half
ran/slid/flew to the back holding on to the railings because our life depended
on it. (The bus drivers are crazy here..aka there are no signs for speed limit
or speed bump warnings.) It’s always an adventure. Anyway, we got on and the
bus kept driving…and driving…and driving (as we are trying not to throw up)
until we were the last ones on the bus.. Then next thing we know it we are in the
boonies and the bus stops.. The driver and the lady who counts the money just
got up and left.. We just sat there like, “Ok... do we run? Orrr…” Then we
realized there was nowhere to run to and so we just sat..and waited..and waited
some more..then decided to write goodbye letters to our fams..ya know telling
about the life lessons, what of mine I wanted to give to Jersey, the numbers to
the Swiss Bank account (haha for Dad). Haha just kidding we just sat. FINALLY
the bus driver came back (no idea where he went..). We became their buddies,
talking about the States and how cool Peru is, etc.. Then he told us he could
drop us off somewhere. So after a long drive we finally got off.. we were about
exactly where we started… We sang that extremely annoying song about how the
pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked
annnnnnnnd waaaalkedddd.. all the way home. And missed lunch. Lesson learned.
I’ve learned a lot this week.. a lot about myself.. and a
lot about this Gospel and Plan. Since Sunday it was pretty tough. I had a tough
time feeling like I needed to be strong and wasn’t allowed to be sad.. and then
just some really tough moments. But hey, we are human! If God wanted perfect
robot missionaries he would have sent the iRobot army to proselyte… My comp
really helped me out and helped me to realize that it is okay to be sad because
I will miss Grandpa.
One morning during the week was pretty tough. The song, “Homeward
Bound” played on my iPod during a personal study and put me in tears because it
was also a song sung at someone’s funeral in high school who had cancer. I
turned off the music and decided to find a talk to read. We have a HUGE stack
of Liahona magazines.. maybe about 120 copies.. not kidding. I took them ALL
out trying to find a talk to help me.. but what I found was even better! At the
very bottom of the stack I put aside a Liahona that I wanted to maybe read
(because its cover was my favorite really..haha). I looked through maybe 30
others but decided on that one still. Then I went to my desk and opened the
magazine. In the pages of the magazine I found a letter that was addressed as, “My
beloved daughter.” At the end it said, “With all my love, Your Heavenly Father.”
I will send a picture for you to read it because I am not going to write the
whole thing on here! Obviously I know it wasn’t typed out by Heavenly Father, I
don’t know who wrote it or who left it in an old magazine.. but I know that I
was supposed to find it! I just read a talk called, “An Educated Conscience,”
and it taught a lot about how if we always just think, “Eh it’s coincidence” or
“That’s just me thinking that,” then we are going to miss the Spirit. If it is
good, it is of God! Anyways, it really helped me through! I’ve been counting 5
tender mercies a day, and it was for sure on the list!
Later that day, we went to teach a lesson to one of our
wonderful investigators. She is always so full of light and excited to listen…
But we got a different, unexpected approach. She opened her door and
immediately told us she did not want our religion anymore and that she was
confused. We were devastated. There was something wrong. We talked at the door
for a long time and then asked if we could just pray and then say goodbye.. She
let us in and we prayed with her. After the prayer she had tears in her eyes
and began to cry. She then burst out that her daughter had cancer. She told us
that she didn’t know what to do she is so terrified and that if her daughter
dies, she will too because she is her life. I began to cry, too. We taught her the
Plan of Salvation and she just cried the entire time, we all did. She asked us
to please come back. After the lesson Hna. Pattillo said that it was probably
the greatest lesson she has had in the mission.. I think it was for me too. We
went and sat by the ocean and I just broke down crying again but this time I
realized that the pain wasn’t there that I wasn’t with you guy, but instead an
overwhelming feeling of gratitude that we are an eternal family… and that we
KNOW we can see Grandpa again. Then all of these little kids that we see almost
every day saw us on the rocks and ran screaming, “Hermana Espringhairr! Hermana
Pateeshoo!” They came and sat looking at the ocean with us. I thought in that
moment how there is no place I would rather be during this all. It was so hard
seeing someone who is scared to lose their family member thinking that they can
never see them again. I am so excited to tell them that they can be with their
families for eternity.
I am so grateful that I moved to Utah and spent so much time with Opa and Grandma. I loved waking up in the morning and knowing Grandpa was awake because of his squeaky office chair.. or finding him reading the newspaper or sitting by the fire. We had a great system going where I brought home Tagge’s jam to them in exchange for cornflake chicken, peanut M&Ms, a place to stay haha! I absolutely loved it.
I am so grateful for the tender mercy Heavenly Father gave
me right before the mission to accidentally run into Grandpa at the Salt Lake
Temple. I am so grateful to remember him like that. I am so grateful to have
such a strong missionary on the other side. I am grateful that we are an
eternal family! You are truly a Pearl beyond Price to me! Continue to share the gospel that Grandpa
loves.
Siempre,
Ash
P.S. Oh yeah I turned 20! Haha best day ever.. it was also
Dia del Nino.. That’s for next week though. ;)
P.P.S. I am SO grateful Leah is okay!! I am praying for her
and the girl’s family who passed away. They are all in my prayers!
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