Facebook, Smartphones, and Messenger OH MY!!!

Hey y'all! It's Sister Esplin again! 

This week has sure been a crazy one. So much has happened! I feel like the days and weeks are shorter and shorter. There is not enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do! But anywhoooooo, ON WITH THE SHOW! 

THIS WEEK WE HAD ZONE CONFERENCE!!! AND WE GOT SMARTPHONES!!!!!!! It is so so so crazy. I keep looking around and thinking, Is this real life? It is so cool though because we get to be a part of something HUGE!!! As they were explaining things to us, there was just a spirit of being a part of something special. I cant even describe it!  President Hansen also talked about our temple covenants at zone conference, so that got into some deep doctrine, but I loved it. He is amazing. I am so blessed that I have had two wonderful mission presidents. 

On Monday we went to the temple and it was so AMAZING! the spirit was so strong and I felt some peace about life. I feel so blessed to have been able to go to the temple. 

Later in the week, we were able to have a wonderful lesson with a recent convert family about missionary work!! They are awesome, their names are the Bradys. THE BRADY BUNCH!! YAY! They were so willing to share the gospel. Their youngest son, Michael, is ten and said that he wants to go on a mission. YES! This is why we do this work! He also told me I can’t sing, so that was funny. I suggested that we sing the song, “The chapel doors”, and so Sister Black and I sang so they would be reverent as we had a lesson in the chapel and he pointed at Sister Black and said, "She can sing"  and then pointing to me he shared, " You cannot". Okay. I get it. Hahahahaha! But he redeemed himself when he said the closing prayer  and thanked Heavenly Father for getting to meet me. :)

Another great highlight was that we attended the general women’s session for General Conference and, let me tell you, it was simply FANTASTIC!!  I loved it, I always receive guidance and help when I watch. I had questions in mind and some of them I didn’t even expect to get an answer about because I felt like they were probably not important, BUT THE LORD ANSWERED MY PRAYERS. I felt the spirit so strongly testify to me that Heavenly Father knows me and that He loves me and because there are questions in my heart, even though they might not be super important, because they are important to me they are important to Him. I know that He is my Father in Heaven and that He loves me and all of you. I invite y'all to come to General Conference with a question in mind and pray and ask for help and guidance with that, THEN WRITE THE PROMPTINGS YOU RECEIVE DOWN!!!! I promise that Heavenly Father will answer your prayers. He has for me, EVERY TIME! In fact we challenged a sister in the ward who actually goes to a Seventh Day Adventist church to watch it, because she has BYUTV. We promised her the same thing and she texted us before having lots and lots of concerns and at the end she texted us again and she told us that she wants to come to church and that she was crying. She actually said, "THERE IS A RIVER IN MY LIVING ROOM!!". She was so touched. She said that she heard exactly what she needed to hear. 

This week I studied a lot! Oh my goodness, I was studying in Doctrine and Covenants section 100 and 101 at one point this week and there were a couple of verses that really stood out to me. I loved 100:12, 15. The lord says, Lo, I am with you even uno the end. HE IS ALWAYS THERE. In verse 15 He says, “All things shall work together for good to them that walk up rightly and to the sanctification of the church”, which goes along with in section 101:5, which says, ‘For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified”. I thought about that and sometimes I feel a little hurt or sad when I get chastened by the spirit, but chastening is the time for us to be sanctified. If we back away or get offended or hurt, we are not growing. I was reading a talk from Elder Jeffrey R Holland and he brought up Joshua 3:5 which says, “And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves : for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”  As we grow closer to God, like Ether 12;27 says, he will show us our weaknesses. We will be sanctified. As we recognize our weaknesses, pray to understand how we can grow from them and then ACTUALLY do it, He will do wonders among us. I know that is true in all aspects of life. I have seen it on my mission so much, that I have felt horrible because I realize I am falling short in something, but that is the Lord loving me enough to not let me fail and fall back. He wants me to move forward and He understands that I will fall short and He wants to help me!

I know that this church is true, I am so grateful to be a missionary today and be a representative of the lord. I love you so much! I hope that y'all have a great week. Remember to watch general conference and to read your scriptures and pray!!! love you lots!!!

Love,

Sister Esplin

Ashley

Missionary

General Conference fan girl

Striving to be sanctified

Your sister with a smartphone

Henderson State University

 The temple trip! 

We met a super sweet girl at Wendy's on the way back and 

we basically all taught her and she wants to meet with missionaries! Yay!

 Decided this would not be a good profile picture. 😆

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. And the end of a very long week!

Bedbugs Again!!!

HELLO! Hello Again!!!! 

It is little me, back in ARKANSAS!!! YES. But also, NO! I love serving in Arkansas, but I also absolutely adore serving in the Memphis area. :/ So I am serving in the Little Rock Stake (I have now served in EVERY STAKE IN THE MISSION!), in the branch/area of Arkadelphia! It is so awesome! (For those who have been counting, which I am sure is ALL of you 😉, this is my SIXTH area). The branch is actually pretty big! I am absolutely loving it here already. It is so cool because my whole mission I have really wanted to serve around a college and now I am serving right next to TWO universities! We live literally 5 minutes away from Henderson state University and also a Baptist university, Ouchita baptist University. I am so happy to be here, and there have just been so many cute, sweet little tender mercies and coincidences that have happened. First of all, my companion Sister Black is AMAZING! She just really wants to work and teach and she is very organized and she is great. Also, WE HAVE THE EXACT SAME BIRTHDAY!! WHAT?! So crazy. :) Also, we are fifth cousins, once removed. (Through the Esplin/Webster line for those of my awesome relatives that love family history). Also, there is a member that I was talking to on Sunday and she was talking about how her daughter just left to attend BYU and she is a freshman who wants to go into nursing and she lives at Heritage Halls and it turns out that she lives on the same floor (or at least building) as my AWESOME sister Megan. SMALL WORLD! I just love this place though. There are so many good, crazy people that I am definitely going to have some amazing stories to tell y'all someday. 

Believe it or not, I have Bedbugs...again. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!. Done. So done with those little buggers. Basically, I came to Arkadelphia just super pumped to work and on Wednesday we went to this trailer for an appointment and we sat down on the lady's couch and as we were sitting there I saw some bugs crawling across the floor. I thought to myself, is that what I think it is? Then I looked at my arms and PEOPLE!!! THERE WERE BEDBUGS ALL OVER MY ARM!!! Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but there were like 3 on my arm and, as far as I am concerned, that is three too many. So at that point, my mind started to check out of the lesson and started to mentally scroll through the bedbug checklist I have utilized far more than I would l care to admit. As we left the lesson, I turned to sister Black and said, "there were bedbugs all over and our schedule for the day has now changed". We immediately tried to contact the mission bedbug specialist, but he didn’t answer, so we called the mission office and they told us a bit of what to do.  When we got home, I did everything I knew we were supposed to do. After we showered, we checked the bedroom, and as we began stripping Sister Black’s bed, we discovered a bedbug!!! NO! We didn’t see any on mine, but it doesn’t matter. If you find ONE bedbug, it is game over.  Eventually, the bedbug specialist called and do you know what he told my companion? That I was the bedbug expert in the mission! ARGH. I don’t want to be known as that. I just keep thinking that maybe I get into these situations so that I can prevent further bedbug calamities from coming to the area. That is what I keep telling myself. Sadly, the last several days have been spent doing SO MUCH LAUNDRY!! Washing and double drying everything I own. Also spraying a ton of permethrin all over the apartment and my suitcases. We have only seen one bedbug so hopefully that means there is not an infestation. We are crossing our fingers 🤞 and saying our prayers that we don’t have to deal with bedbugs in the coming weeks! I really want to work hard and I don’t want this distraction, especially since my remaining time out in the field is so brief!!  

Anywho, this week was really a good week other than that. We were able to talk a lot about our goals for this transfer and we honestly believe that Satan knows that we have a tons of work to do and that we are going to do so much good and this is the only way to stop us from doing the work we desperately desire to accomplish. On Tuesday, we were able to have some awesome lessons with some investigators and one of them, Karl, has a baptismal date. He picked the date out himself, last transfer. He wants to get baptized on December 27th. Heh. Happy anniversary to my parents on that date! 😂 When I first heard it, I thought that he said September, but nope, it is December. Crazy. We were able to talk to him about prayer and we invited him to read Enos! He said yes, so we will see how his reading goes this upcoming week.

We also got to help a blind lady scrapbook which is great, I am realizing that I am not the best at scrapbooking other people’s pictures. :) We also got to visit a Sister McKim, who is great, she even came to church on Sunday! Oh! And some members, the Johnstuns invited us over on Tuesday night for cake and they made me a welcome cake!!! It was so so so so sweet! In multiple ways ;) I am absolutely loving it here in Arkadelphia, other than the bedbug issue, of course. 

This upcoming week is pretty exciting. We are going to the temple today! President Hansen worked it out with the temple president for every missionary to go to the temple before the temple closes for renovation in October, and so our zone is going today, which is super exciting! Also, we have zone conference this week and we are GETTING OUR SMARTPHONES!!!! Also, president Hansen is doing a magic show of the ages because we got 3500 ARAs as a mission two weeks ago! Exciting things in the Arkansas Little Rock Mission (ARLRM! Exciting things!

I am so sorry, but since most of my P-Day has been devoted to traveling to/from and attending the Memphis temple,  my challenge to you is to attend the temple!  If you aren’t in a position to do so, learn more about the temple and the blessings that the temple can bring into your personal life. I don’t have the opportunity to attend the temple on a regular basis, so when I do, it feels like such a spiritual privilege. I am so grateful for the spiritual blessings that can come to all who attend the temple and I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has made it possible for temples to dot the earth and provide this blessing all who choose to enter the doors of the temple and receive spiritual peace and refuge.  

Love y'all lots and lots and lots!!! HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!! Stay safe and have a blessed day. :) 

Love, 

Sister Esplin

 Bedbugs… Again!! 

The cake I got from the Johnstuns welcoming me to Arkadelphia 

Working with Sister Black in Arkadelphia

Justin Timberlake is from Millington, Tennessee?!!

Heeeeyyyyy y'all!!!!!! 

Do you want to know a truth that I learned this week? God has a sense of humor. Yes he does. Do you want to know why? BECAUSE I'M BEING TRANSFERRED!!...AGAIN. Oh my goodness. I this is the fourth transfer in a row that I have been transferred. I am now going to my 6th (and hopefully last) area. I am going to the Arkansas side-didn't I say that I only transfer to different states?- and I am going to be serving in the Little Rock stake in an area called Arkadelphia. It is a branch, and I have heard nothing but good things about it. My new companion is Sister Black and I haven't really met her yet but she sounds awesome! Everyone tells me she is funny and she is a workhorse! YEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! I. Am. So. Pumped. I am so ready to just work my heart out! I told Sister Anderson, when we were coming back from exchanges on Saturday night and she was asking for goals, that I wanted to leave fire on the ground because I worked so hard and fast…SKID MARKS! This transfer is going to be amazing. I just feel it. It was so crazy, I woke up that morning and I just didn’t feel stressed at ALL! I just felt peace, I knew that everything was going to be great. I talked to Sister Anderson when we were coming home from exchanges and I just turned to her and I said, "I dont know what is happening with this transfer but I know this for sure, I am staying in Millington. 100% sure." Hahaha. Ten minutes later I found out I was being transferred. Guys. God has a sense of humor. 

This week was so amazing. I had exchanges with Sister Anderson again and she is AMAZING!!!!!!!!! THE BEST PERSON EVER!!!!! I went to Bartlett with her and we were able to find lots of awesome people. We even got bashed. All we could do was testify and share what we know. People can be funny. But I was able to also receive a big confirmation from the spirit of how true the Book of Mormon really is. I truly love when you teach and all of a sudden you start to learn things. That is when you know the spirit is teaching. 

We also had a lesson this week with this awesome lady named Minnie! She ordered a Book of Mormon and she was so so so excited to hear about the gospel. I just loved being able to testify of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith! After we taught the restoration she was just in awe. She loved it. Then she told us how her husband is a minister, her father is a deacon and she had 5 or 6 cousins that are deacons. HA. So that will be fun! We can teach a whole congregation! Hahaha!

Okay, I am so sorry that this email is so lame, the day of transfers are always crazy! I studied so much this week! I read an amazing talk this week by Marvin K. Ashton called “Adversity and You”, He taught, "In football or in life, the adversaries, the ones with whom we compete, the ones we oppose or resist--our opponents, our foes, our enemies, or our problems--are often the determining factors in our ultimate strength and achievement." He continued, "From Harry Emerson Fosdick we read, “The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this. Irritations get into his shell. He does not like them. But when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has a chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl. It may have to be a pearl of patience, but, anyhow, make a pearl. And it takes faith and love to do it.” (In The Treasure Chest, ed. Charles L. Wallis, New York: Harper & Row).

Those who yield to adversity become weaker. To the valiant, adversity becomes a stepping-stone to increased power. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and God-fearing people worldwide will not pray for freedom from trials. They will not surrender or panic. They will strive to put themselves in condition to meet and master troublesome trials." I know that adversity comes into every one of our lives, but I know that through Christ and through the gospel we can overcome all. We can be who our Heavenly Father wants and knows we can be. 

I know that Heavenly Father knows and loves each and every one of you. I know that Jesus Christ has died for us and that he has also lived for us and I know that he lives! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of god and that we can come closer to christ by reading it. I love you all so so so much!!! Have a WONDERFUL WEEK!!!

I love yall!

Love,

Sister Esplin

Ashley

Someone going to her 6th area

Sad to leave Millington

Pumped to go ham!

Proud Arkansas missionary

Student of patience during adversity, believer in Christ 

ALSO, Justin Timberlake is no joke from Millington, Tennessee! Man, I could have tried to find his house! That is probably why the Lord let me know right before I got transferred…ha! "Can't stop the SPIRIT!"

  Millington district!!

 Final goodbyes with Sister Christensen

The Jacks

 Exchanges with Sister Anderson. We got to clean the Memphis temple!!

 Spreading the word with Sister Peterson

Goodbye, Millington!

The rains came down, and so did the blessings!!

HEY Y'ALL!!!!! 

I hope that you have all had a wonderful week and that you were able to see the hand of God in your lives more clearly. I know that as we count our blessings, we see that there are even more blessings than we would have ever thought we had. This week has been seriously SO CRAZY!! I look back and just think, what happened? Hahah! Oh mission life. There really are a lot of days where it feels like Groundhog Day, but I tell ya what, there are also a lot of crazy things that happen. WHEW! I will get to it right now. 

ACTION!!! 

So this week consisted of yet ANOTHER exchange! This time I went to Bartlett with Sister Stringham. It was awesome. I had a wonderful time there and, oh my goodness, Sister Stringham taught me SO MUCH!! She is fantastic. She was SUPER sick but she just kept working (I mean I don't entirely agree with the whole work when you're dying sick thing, but it worked for her). She was so diligent she went out and worked and she put on a hospital mask. 😷 Oh man, I wish that I had taken a picture of that. Darn it. Anywho. We went and tried to visit a bunch of people and it was cool because at one point we pulled down a street and it was the wrong street and as we turned the car around to go somewhere else, Sister Stringham just turned to me and said, “We need to talk to that man back there". I just looked at her and said, "okay". I honestly didn’t see anyone there. We pulled the car back around and we parked farther down the street and then I saw the guy she was talking about. He was sitting on the side of the road and he was fixing something in the ground. I honestly couldn't tell you what. I think he said something about a meter? Anywho, we were walking down the street and I said hello and asked what he was doing. We talked to him for a while and he told us all about a bunch of miracles that have happened in his life. We talked to him about how Heavenly Father will help us to achieve our dreams as we ask for help and do his will. We were able to share a super cool Mormon message with him and he loved it! He said that he would love to meet with missionaries! Too bad he is neither in the Millington area or the Bartlett area! But good for the missionaries in the Germantown area! YAY!

Another cool thing that happened is this week Bishop Coombs texted us and told us that there is a 16 year old girl that is best friends with his daughter that wants to get baptized!!! So hopefully we can start teaching her soon. ALSO!!! We have been picked as one of 12 missions to be a SMARTPHONE MISSION. WHAT?!!  We will be on Facebook and we will all be using smartphones! That is so cool. They said that it is because we are so obedient with our technology and just obedient in general. OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSINGS! Or, you know, curses. I really don’t know how I feel about it all. But it is cool. The mission is definitely growing and becoming something so so cool! 

I wanted to share some of my studies with y'all. I have been studying a lot about patience this week and it was really interesting what I found. I found a great article by Elder Neal A. Maxwell (October 1980 Ensign) titled “Patience”. He said, " Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient we are suggesting that we know what is best-better than does God. Or, at least, that our time table is better than His". That really stood out to me. It made me think a lot. I would invite y'all to study that talk. It is SO GOOD!!!! 

Oh also, we did get a ton of flash flood rain!, but no floods. We just got stuck at a member’s house. So we emailed our investigators and we did a bunch of online proselyting.

I love y'all so so so so so much!!!! I hope that you have a wonderful week. Y'all are all in my prayers. I hope that you are able to have more patience in your lives, as well. I love you guys! Have a good one. Oh, also, transfers are this upcoming week. So look forward to that fun stuff! 

Love you lots!!!

Love, 

Ash

Sister Esplin

Storm prepper (we helped a member prep her house for some flooding that might happen)

Elephant watcher

Someone who plays with baby pigs

A student of patience 

The sisters!!!

  The Memphis Zoo!!

  The Jack’s pig. Kevin. Kevin Bacon. 😂

Matching with Emma!!!

Exchanges with Sister Stringham