Turkey Week

BONJOUR! Am I getting repetitive yet? I feel like I might seem like a CD with 6 songs on it that gets stuck in your car’s CD player. At the beginning, you love the CD and you think that you can stand it. BUT, soon enough, you are sick and tired of it and you would rather listen to silence or the classical music station on your radio (in this situation, you only have one radio station available and it is that one). But maybe at this point in my mission you have decided that you really did like the CD and you want to listen to it again, right before you trade in the car for something better. So guys, stick with me! I still have things to say!

Just as a warning. This week was pretty lame because basically nobody was home this week. Seriously. Arkadelphia was pretty much deserted. It was so spooky. It looked like a ghost town. 

On Tuesday we were able to go tracting around the apartment complex of a sister who lives in the branch. Nobody was super interested but we met a lady named Miya and her daughter and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and she said that we could come back and teach her. YAY!

On Wednesday we had district meeting in Camden and we talked about the reviewing progress section from the new part of Preach my Gospel. But actually not really at all. That is what we prepared for, but we actually all left feeling a little confused about what that District Meeting was about. We then drove 50 miles back to Arkadelphia where we had lunch at a Chinese buffet with Brother Crockett. He told us about his conversion story and about how we need to find him a wife. Pretty funny! Also, at the end we got fortune cookies and Brother Crockett didn’t want his so he said we could have it. Well I love getting fortune cookies so I said that I would take it. BUT then Sister Black opened her fortune cookie and it said, “you will receive a fortune (cookie).”. That is literally what it said. So then she got the other fortune cookie. Mine just said that A golden egg of opportunity falls into my lap this month. Maybe a golden investigator??? :)

Well, I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a pretty good one. We had thanksgiving “Linner” (lunch/dinner) with the Johnstuns and Sister Johnstun did an AWESOME hosting her first Thanksgiving. Everything was so good. We were instructed to stay at homes for no more than three  hours. So, after three hours we sadly left. But then we went and finished making a ton of sugar cookies and we delivered them all! It was so fun! CRAZY THING! We were coming back to the car after dropping off some cookies at the house of a sister in the branch that we visit teach and Sister Black and I were talking when suddenly she was gone!! Oh my goodness I let out a little squeal and then yelled to see if she was okay, but I heard nothing. Then she just popped up! I had imagined that she had slammed her face into the cement and was going to be crying and all bloody but she just told me that she was okay. She had just stepped in a hole (like a rain gutter) that went up to her knee. OH MY GOODNESS! After we got in the car she showed me her knee. WHAT IN THE WORLD!! She had a giant scratch on her knee and she was bleeding quite a bit! What have we learned from this experience? Sister Black under-reacts and I over-react. BALANCE.

This week was a pretty good week though. I have been so excited for the #lighttheworld initiative and it is finally here!!! We were able to go walking around on Saturday and hand out some light the world cards and some people told us that they would visit the website. I think it is going to be so awesome! We also are solidifying the plans for the #lighttheworld table at HSU. WE ARE SO EXCITED!!! It would probably be next week. Yesterday, we had a speaker in church cancel so a member of the branch presidency asked one of us to speak about light the world. Sister Black volunteered me since I am the senior companion. I will get her back though. Lol! I was actually super grateful to get to speak about that. I prayed that the spirit would be able to speak through me and the promise in the scriptures is so true that as you study the scriptures,  God will give you the words to speak in the very hour that you need them. I felt that God definitely helped me at that time. I shared Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”. 

I love the gospel. I love the opportunity that we have as missionaries to be representatives of Jesus Christ and proclaim the gospel to every living creature! Something exciting though, is that ALL of you can be representatives of Christ. This season you can be angels to those around you. You can serve and help others. I love Mosiah 2:17, “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God”. Serve others and do the #lighttheworld activities this Christmas and I PROMISE that your Christmas will be so much better. You will feel the love of christ in your hearts and you will be happy no matter your circumstances. 

 I read this week in the New Era in November what Elder Hales said. He said: “Each of us was there in the Council in Heaven to choose the great plan of happiness we now enjoy. . . . When you have made a commitment to yourself, your family, your bishop, your employer, be there. When it is time to be in church, at Mutual, or fulfilling [an] assignment, be there. When it is time to graduate from school or training programs, be there. When it is time to serve a mission, be there. When the young woman [or man] you love most kneels at the altar of God’s holy temple, be there (and not as a witness). When your family is gathered in the celestial kingdom, be there. When the Savior waits to greet you as you return with honor from your life on this earth and your Heavenly Father wants to encircle you about in the arms of His love, be there.” I just thought that was really cool.

I love y’all so so much!!! Have a great week and enjoy Christmas festivities this next month!

Love,

Sister Esplin

Ash

A six song CD

Someone who only got ONE fortune cookie

#lightingtheworld

 Thanksgiving with the Johnstuns!! It was AWESOME!!!

 Cookie deliveries!  So many cookies!

 Call up Shel Silverstein! I found where the sidewalk ends. #southernlife

 Mural in Camden

Church signs, white houses, leaf storms and more

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y’ALL!!!!!! 

I hope that y’all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you are able to stuff yourselves with turkey. But in between the stuffing and potatoes, try and think about the things that you are thankful for and take the time to really reflect. As I was driving this week, I passed a church sign in Arkadelphia that was pretty funny, but also really got me thinking. It said, “Be grateful that God doesn’t give you what you deserve”.  

This week was a pretty good week! We were able to have a lesson with Maria about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the lesson went really well. She understood it and as we talked about how it is important to have faith in Jesus Christ, she also told us that not only is that important but, we also need to have a RELATIONSHIP with Christ.  So True!  I understood that, but I loved that she talked to us about how important it is!

This week people have been so generous to us in keeping our stomachs VERY full. We got fed every night and we also had two lunch appointments as well. We went to Cracker Barrel twice and also a Chinese buffet. We are now so stuffed, by the end of this week we may start rolling to get places. Hehe! 

On Thursday we went to Henderson State University to see if we could proselyte on campus. Sister Cordova helped us find who we should talk to and then she got us hot chocolate and she led us to the student relations guy. Well. It turns out that we cannot proselyte on campus, BUT we can spend some money and pay to have a table from 8am-5pm and give out pass along cards and proselyte if we want. So we left just shrugging our shoulders and deciding that that was that. Well,  as we were walking back to the car,  Sister Cordova turned to us and said, “If I get the cheddar, can you do it?”. Sister Black responded with “what is cheddar?” And I responded with an “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what?”  We reached out  to all of our mission leaders including President Hansen and also President Carter-the branch president- and they all said that it was great! We are going to do a “Light The World” table (hopefully) and give out cookies and light the world cards and also show the video and do a big thing with the LDS Student  Assocation! YAY!! President Carter even talked about getting a committee together! Oh my goodness, I am so pumped to #lighttheworld this year! 

On Thursday night we had dinner with the Skaff Seniors (There are two generations of Skaffs that live in the branch so they are Skaff Seniors and Staff Juniors). The Skaffs had invited several couples there and then us:) Well, we were just having a lovely dinner conversation when suddenly, Brother Skaff jumps up from his seat and goes to a secret compartment in his wall and just takes this long piece of wall off and pulls out a super old rifle and pistol. WHAT! We all were freaking out! What a crazy turn of events! I never in a million years would have thought that that would happen. One moment we are having a delightful conversation over tortilla soup, the next moment everyone is ogling over the old guns and passing them around as Brother Skaff Sr tells the history of them. Oh my goodness. I love branches! 

On Saturday we had a walk day. Oh my goodness gracious! It got SO WINDY!!! I thought that I was going to get blown away. Seriously. Leaves where everywhere, my hair was everywhere, my skirt was everywhere (walking up a hill, waving to cars that are passing by you, keeping your hair out of your face, and trying to keep your lightweight skirt from flying up is no easy task. Only a sister missionary). We had walked that day and we had walked from across town to get to our apartment on time for our ride to pick us up. Well, we got to our apartment and she cancelled on us. The ride was to go visit the person picking us up! So our plans were also cancelled. I was so frustrated. I didn’t know what to do. I felt pressure because I am the senior companion,  BUT I still don’t know the area as well as Sister Black! In that moment, I  felt so discouraged and frustrated and like a burden. I was trying to be productive so I finally decided to hit my knees. I went to the bedroom and just prayed. I asked God to help me and to guide me and direct me as to what I was supposed to do. I just prayed and prayed and prayed. Finally the question came, “Will you do what I ask?”. Of course, I thought. Then I heard again in my head, “Will you do what I ask?”. I paused and I really thought about it. It was cold and it was getting dark. I finally answered yes. I felt that we needed to go to a white building on the left side of the road. I thought in my head of a place that matched that description. It was a pretty decent walk away. So I got up and grabbed my stuff and started walking. I’m sure Sister Black thought that I was crazy, but I just walked as fast as I could so we could get where we needed to be before it got too dark. As we were walking down the street, I saw a woman who was picking up her garbage and garbage can from the wind storm earlier in the day. I was going to walk past her, but then I remembered a scripture I had studied that day D&C 61:3 “It is not needful for... mine elders to be moving swiftly... whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief”. So I went and talked to her and even though she said she didn’t need help, I picked up some of her garbage and tried to help her. In my head I kept thinking, I need to get to the White House on the left side of the road! But then I just stopped and tried to focus on her. We finished picking up and she turned to us and asked if we would like to come and share a message with her. My mind kind of reset. It was great! We were able to talk to her and she shared her story with us. Her husband died when she was 21 and she had two kids. She is 64 now and she has not remarried. We were able to give her the plan of salvation pamphlet and we asked if we could come back. She told us that we were welcome to return any time!

At first, I was kind of frustrated because I never got to the White House on the left side of the road. But as I looked back I saw that HER house was white,  AND that it was on the LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD! What a sweet tender mercy. 

My spiritual thought goes hand-in-hand with this experience. Sometimes we have a plan in our mind and we feel like we are doing what Heavenly Father wants us to do and we get frustrated and possibly even angry when things don’t go according to plan. Heavenly Father is in control! Nothing is not according to His plan. It all works out the way that He wants it to. God wants us to be happy. So when we are doing what is right, obeying the commandments, and listening to promptings, don’t be discouraged if we don’t get the outcome that we think that we are going to get. IT IS ALL IN THE PLAN!!!! Trust in Him. I love Psalms 46:10 which says, “Be still and know that I am God”. 

I love y’all so so so much!!!! I hope that you have a wonderful week!!! I have a challenge for y’all as well. I invite all of you to pray to be able to come in contact with someone to introduce the missionaries to by the time that I give my homecoming talk. I know that you will be prompted and guided by the spirit to find those people. I hope that y’all have a great week. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I hope that you continue to read it everyday! 

Love y’all! 

Love,

Ash

Sister Esplin

 Meeting up with Sister Cordova at Henderson State University.

We can’t wait to #lighttheworld!!!

 FALL! 🍁 and walk days!

Selfie with Sister Moss after she went teaching with Sister Black and me.

Waiting at Cracker Barrel for our dinner appointment.

Beautiful ARKANSAS sunsets!!

Your regularly scheduled Sister Esplin broadcast!

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening! 

Hello! I hope that y’all are doing wonderfully! Perhaps the leaves are bright and colorful on the trees or now they are brown and dead on the ground. Here in Arkadelphia it was SO SO SO beautiful and there was a wonderful brisk feel to the air, then disaster hit. It suddenly got WAY HOT, and then it got FREEEEEZING COLD. And now everything is brown and dead and not pretty. But, it was STUNNING while it lasted. 

Thank you, Sister Esplin, for the weather update. Now to Sister Esplin with the news. 

Thank you sister Esplin. (I thought that was funny). This week was filled with crazy lessons, resetting baptismal dates, and exchanges! Oh my. Stay tuned for the full story after this word from our sponsor. 

READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. 

It is another testament of Jesus Christ and it WILL help you grow closer to God. 

It is the most correct of any other book. 

Back to our regularly scheduled missionary news. Okay, okay. I’m sorry I will stop with the newscaster thing. Gotta be creative with your emails after you have written a lot. 

Anywho….On Monday night we had an awesome lesson with Lisa, the lady that came to church with her friend that was speaking and that we tracted into. She was awesome! She had great questions and she was super excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. We even have an appointment with her and her friend, Sister Cordova, where we are going to read the Book of Mormon together. 

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Cameron, Maria’s son. Story for this week. We prayed at the beginning of the week and we said that if we were not able to meet with her that week that we would drop her, which is really sad, but we committed to do it. It was her do or die week. So we came over Tuesday and her 16 year old son came to the door (he actually came to general conference last month, but we hadn’t taught him because he never sat down in our lessons and when he was home his mom wasn’t). He told us that he had read the plan of salvation pamphlet that we had left with him and that he was ready for Bible study. We told him that we could not come inside without another sister and he said that his mom was home but that she was sick in the bathroom and she told us that we could come in. So awkward....We did teach him the plan of salvation and he loved it and had lots of good questions and experiences to share with us. An interesting thing about this lesson was that his girlfriend was on speakerphone and “listening” in on the lesson the whole time. She never said anything, but she was just there. Apparently, they will watch tv together but not be together. They will just waste their minutes! When we talked about how families can be together he told his girlfriend that they needed to get married in the temple. That is good. We also were able to see Maria and set up another appointment with her for the next day. 

On Wednesday, we had our lesson with Maria and it went wonderfully! She loved it and we discussed how we needed to change her baptismal date to December. She said that she really really wants to be baptized and that she is committed to it. She told us about how whenever she leaves her house she takes her Book of Mormon with her so that she can read it. She is great, she is just super hard to pin down for an appointment. Grrrr. 

Thursday we had zone conference and interviews with President Hansen! I love zone conference. I forgot to mention earlier that since we have become a more technology and social media mission, we have a new section of preach my gospel. It is “How do i fulfill my purpose?”.  It is really good and it really focuses on focusing on the people. I just love zone conference! The Hansens are fantastic. One of my favorite quotes from this zone conference came from President Hansen: “Skip the B.S. (direct quote guys). Introduce the Book of Mormon and get them (our investigators) to read it”. He is very straight forward and wears his heart on his sleeve, which I love. He is also brutally honest. I enjoyed my interview with him and I tried to ask him what he was going to do with me next transfer (he is notorious for telling people what is going to happen to them the next transfer in their interviews). Well, I told him that I love Arkadelphia and that I would love to stay here for the rest of my mission. I asked him if that could happen and he kind of said, “eeeeeeeehhhhh, we’ll just have to see”.  WHAT! I was kind of expecting him to tell me yes. PRESIDENT!! Also, I asked if I would be in a trio since I will go home 2 weeks early and the answer he gave me just confused me more. Moral of the story, don’t ask questions to your honest mission president if you don’t want to hear the answer or the NOT answer. Also, my other favorite quote from zone conference was from President Hansen,  as well, when he shared, “WE need to to learn to turn our will to God”. SO SO SO TRUE!!

On Friday and Saturday we had exchanges with the Pinnacle Mountain sisters and I was able to go to Little Rock on Exchanges. It was awesome. I went with sister Feinga and we met so many awesome and sometimes crazy people. There were a lot of people that came to their door and told us that they were indecent. My continuing question is why do people answer their doors if they are not decent!?!? But I learned so much from Sister Feinga. She is such a spiritual giant and she just takes everything in stride. I was also able to see the apartment that my parents  and I lived in when we lived in Little Rock!!! It was so cool to see walk around the apartment complex, knocking on doors, and think about the fact that this was the first home I ever lived in after entering this world.  It was such a surreal experience!

Yesterday, we were able to have a lesson with Brasha, a girl that we had found a couple of weeks ago. It was awesome! We were able to teach her the restoration and she loved it. She felt the spirit and she told us that she felt so calm. She told us that she wanted to share this message with her friends and she was wondering if we could conduct a Bible study with her and her friends every Sunday night. What?!!! She told us that we could teach everyone what we taught her that night because she felt that it will bless and help their lives. We just kind of sat there in awe. WHAT. She is great!!! She also committed to reading the Book of Mormon. Life is good y’all. The church is true!!!

This week I studied something interesting in my Book of Mormon. In Helaman 5:8 we are taught- “And now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is, that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away; yea, that ye may have that precious gift of eternal life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers.”

I had some thoughts on this. My mission is not to “boast” about being a “returned missionary”. It is not to receive worldly praise or gain. My mission blesses my life eternally. My mission is not about me. It is about connecting others to Christ. My mission is to help others gain eternal life. My ultimate goal is eternal life and I would much rather receive those blessings and praise in Heave than on earth. My call is from on high. I am here to assist the shepherd in gathering His sheep. Our greatest gift is eternal life. Do we want praise here? Or in heaven? 

I also read a wonderful talk by Steven E. Snow from his April 2011 general conference address titled “Hope”. He said, “ Hope alone does not cause us to succeed. ...Our hope in the Atonement empowers us with eternal perspective. Such perspective allows us to look beyond the here and now on into the promise of the eternities”. 

I LOVE THIS. This life is the time to prepare to meet God. Sometimes it may seem dark and impossible, but the light that Jesus Christ gives through His atoning sacrifice helps us to see ahead and have that hope to continue on.

I love y’all so so so so much!!! I hope that you have a wonderful week. Read the Book of Mormon and continue to pray. I know that doing those things can help us and bless our lives. I know that this is Christ’s church on the earth again! I know that Christ lives and that he loves us so so much. I know that Heavenly Father knows the whole plan and that he wants to help us. I know that as we turn to Him, he is able to guide and direct us. 

I love y’all!!!!

Love,

Sister Esplin

Ashley

Serving in Arkadelphia

Wannabe newscaster ;)

Side note from Ashley's Mom-

Ashley’s visit to our Little Rock apartment is such a tender mercy bestowed by the hand of the Lord.  Ashley recently wrote home on her PDAY mentioning that she thought that she would be doing exchanges in our former Pinnacle Mountain Ward (where we first lived when Ashley was born).  At the time, I thought to myself, “Wow, I sure wish I could find our old address… Wouldn’t that be cool to share that with her!”  That thought went in and out of my mind lickety-split since I hadn’t seen a record of that address in years and years and I was certain that I not would be able to find the address since all of our papers from twenty years ago had long since been shredded and discarded.   Well, the night before she did exchanges, I was restocking some copy paper in a filing cabinet we use specifically for copy paper…not important files or documents…just copy paper.  As I pulled out an empty hanging file folder to put the copy paper inside of it, I realized that there were a few sheets of paper still inside the hanging file folder.  Those documents turned out to be bank statements from our time in Little Rock…and the craziest part is that the bank statement cycle was the month that Ashley was born.  Honestly, I have not seen any documents with our Little Rock address in about a decade. The fact that I was guided to this address without even trying to find it was truly a MIRACLE!!!  I love that Ashley was granted  this opportunity to discover her first home on earth.  This address is part of HER life story. This is where she came home after she was born at St Vincent Hospital. This is part of who she is. This experience demonstrated to me, once again, just how truly mindful our Heavenly Father is of each and every one of us. This tender mercy was only made possible by Him and I am humbled by His great love and goodness in the big and little details of our lives!!!

 Love these Sisters!

Amazing Sister Feinga

My very first home as a child

13111 W Markham Street, Apartment 288

I can’t believe this is where I first lived!!

Another week teaching the gospel!

HELLO!!! 

I hope that y’all had a WONDERFUL Halloween. It sure was crazy over here in Arkadelphia. They actually didn’t really have kids trick or treat at houses but they went to the university in town and the clubs and organizations did a “safe” trick or treat. But, there were still a lot of people out and about, which meant that driving was terrifying. Also, I was able to go to the dentist on Halloween and that was awesome! Everyone at the office kept talking about how it might be scary, but it is okay. I just kept telling them that I love going to the dentist! Shout out to Uncle Clint for being the best dentist ever! 

This week. Hmmm. Well. We had some ups! And we had some downs. Last week, if you remember, we had the really awesome lesson with Sister Mckim. Well. On Tuesday we got a really sweet text from her telling us that she was grateful for the opportunity that she had to know us and telling us to take care and God be with us. All we responded with was “Thank you so much! Happy Halloween! “ Well, the next day we texted her and asked if we could come and see her on Wednesday. She replied that the note she had sent us the day before was telling us ‘goodbye’ and that she was not a Mormon any more. What…WHAT?!!  On Friday we went over to her home and she grumbled at us through a closed window that she told us not to come back. We both were SO sad!

We also have lost Robert. He moved to Fayetteville because of some things that happened. Now we are just teaching Sara and Michael-which is still great! But it is sad that Robert is gone. One of the things that he took with him though was his Book of Mormon and he said that he is going to read it every day. On Thursday we had a lesson with his mom and brother and with the primary president and her boys and it went pretty well! We talked about service. One of the things that I love in Preach my Gospel is found on page 87, “All callings are important and help build God’s kingdom. We are to accept such callings and work diligently to learn and fulfill our duties. As we do so, we grow in faith, develop new talents and a greater ability to serve, and receive numerous other blessings”. I love that! Everything that we are called to do is to help us in specific times in our lives so that we can learn and grow and become more of what Heavenly Father wants us to be. 

We went ‘finding; this week and when we did, no one seemed to be home. But we won’t let that get us down!! SWEET IS THE WORK! I know that there are people being prepared and that before long, we will find them! 

This week we had a lesson with a lady named Brandy and we were able to teach her the restoration. It was so cool! My companion, Sister Black, asked some awesome questions! She asked if she ever wondered why there were so many churches. Brandy told us that she wondered that all the time. She said it must be because there are so many religions. We told her that Christ only set up one church though, so how are we supposed to know which one is His church? She loved it all! She told us to come back another time thought because she was having tooth problems so she really isn’t able to pay attention because her tooth pain was so bad. She also had the cutest little 3 year old twins!! They were all over the place. We tried to show Brandy a video and the twins kept turning the video off! 😂 They were so so cute though, so that made up for all their shenanigans. 

Okay, for my spiritual thought this week I have thought a lot about how sometimes things just seem like they keep getting worse and worse and that a lot of times we aren’t able to see the light. I love the hymn, ‘How Firm a Foundation’. One of my favorite verses is verse 5 where it says: “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine”. I know that God has a plan for each and every one of us and that He is in control. We do not need to fear as we have faith in Him. At one point in my life, When I could only see a little farther ahead of me, I wondered why God would let difficult things happen around me and to me if He really loved me. I knelt down in prayer to my Father in Heaven and poured out my heart to Him, asking Him why He would let all these things happen to me. I was humbled then and I still am today by the peace and love that I felt at that time. I am stronger now from the trials I have experienced  and I know that He truly is there through our refining fires. God is in control and I know that we can turn to Him for peace and for comfort. This is truly the Plan Of Happiness! The things that we go through are for our good. You may not understand now, but you will someday. He is so organized. He sees the whole picture. I know that this church is ABSOLUTELY Jesus Christ’s Church, restored on the earth today through Joseph Smith. I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true. Oh my goodness, it brings me such joy and happiness and it has helped me in my life so much. I am so grateful to be on my mission and to give my life to the Lord. This is what I love doing. There is so much to do and so little time. I pray that I will not miss any people I was meant to personally serve!

I love y’all so so so much!! I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Esplin

Ashley

 I love this amazing mural in Arkadelphia!!

Getting some much needed dental work done!