Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!🎄🎁 

OH MY GOODNESS! I hope that y’all have had a wonderful Christmas and have been able to feel of Christ’s love for you. First of all, shout out to my family. I love you guys so much! Saturday night we helped a lady in the branch put on a single adult party and the song that popped into my head was from Karen Carpenter. “Merry Christmas darling, we’re apart-that’s true. But I can dream, and in my dreams I’m christmasing with you”. We Esplinos (especially Megan) love Karen Carpenter and these lyrics reminded me of my feelings for them.  I am so grateful for my sweet family and for all of the wonderful memories we have made together over the years during Christmas. I am also so grateful for my extended family and friends. I absolutely loved the 24 days of letters from everyone. It was super touching. It really made my day every day to read sweet letters from those I love and cherish. Thanks y’all! 😊

This week we had so many different things going on. It was hectic and also so fun. We had exchanges this week with the sisters in the Pinnacle Mountain Ward. Our zone was originally going to go caroling in our area on Monday but they cancelled last minute on us. Kind of lame. But the sisters still came and we visited some people and sang to them. It is so interesting how people who would usually get angry at you for knocking on their door late at night are so sweet and kind when we start with a song. Maybe we will do that all year round. Hehe. It is so true that sacred music invites the spirit. If all else fails, sing. 

On exchanges, Sister Feinga and I were able to go see Sister Moss, whom we had felt we needed to visit for a while. We went over to her house and she was super overwhelmed with things and with some things that happened with her kids and daughter-in-law. We had gone in with the intent to show the video “The Good Samaritan”, but the spirit told me to share another one called “I am good enough. Will I make it?” . She loved it and Sister Feinga asked her what she was going to do now because of what we had talked about. She really was repenting. 

On Saturday we were able to help Sister Cordova set up a singles party at the church. We were the youngest people there. The next youngest person was in their fifties. Eek. But it was so neat, for some of the sisters that were there it was going to be their only Christmas festivities. That was seriously the highlight of their Christmas. It was so fun to be able to serve everyone and help make other people’s Christmases better. 

Guys I am so sorry the letter is so short this week. BUT MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves me and that He loves you. I am so excited to one day personally thank Him for the great gift that He has given me every single day. This week we had zone conference and we watched “The Testaments” and while we were watching the film,  I felt so strongly that Jesus Christ loves me and that He died for me and that He will help me with anything that I stand in need of as I turn to Him in faith and trust in His plan. 

I love y’all!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!

Love

Sister Esplin

Ashley

 Christmas Day with Sister Winn

 Exchanges with Sister Feinga

Goodbye to Sister Anderson. 

She goes home a couple weeks after me. 

Walking in Arkadelphia

Arkadelphia sisters did not sing as they walked and walked and walked and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaalked. 

Well well well. Seems like a week has just FLOWN by! I seriously cannot believe that I have a mere 17 days left. WHAT!? I cannot wait to see y’all, but at the same time I am really going to miss my mission. BUT as Donna summer and Barbra Streisand would say: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” this week was so crazy and we walked SO MUCH because our car was in the shop. Seriously y’all, it got attacked by FIVE DOGS. It was truly one of the scariest moments of my life. Okay, maybe one of the top 20. Our car got so messed up from it and, as a result, we have been on foot this week! When we dropped off the car, the really sweet secretary at the car shop asked us what car they were giving us to drive to which I replied: “our feet”. Stunned and confused, she decided to repeat the question.  Again, I told her that we were planning to walk. She just looked at us with big eyes and told us that they would definitely work super hard to get the car finished quickly. As it turns out, we will be getting the car back today so Hooray! 🚗 

Walk weeks always bring miracles, and this week we had some good ones:) Just to preface I want to say that the weather here has been CRAZY. It will be hot one day and then freezing the next day. Everyone is getting the flu and pneumonia. Please pray that I don’t get sick! But everyone has been either down and out with the flu or out of town for Christmas, which is a bummer but also is helpful to meet new people. We walked ALL over Arkadelphia! It really is amazing how your feet can take you anywhere. At the beginning of our first day it seemed impossible but then, at the end of the day we were able to look back and see all of the success we had had and the ground we had covered. 

Sadly, this was our last week working with Maria.  We prayed and felt like this was the last week we could to give her before we dropped her and we were so sad to realize that it was time to move on.  It is always super hard for me to drop people that we have seen make progress, but we also can’t keep making excuses for them. We can help them to a certain point, but ultimately these individuals need to make and keep their commitments and get to work so that they can have the joy of repentance. Repentance doesn’t come without effort or pain. When you repent you are fighting against the natural man and becoming someone even better and stronger. So it was sad that Maria’s schedule was so crazy that we were not able to continue teaching her. On the bright side, her son Cameron has been progressing.  When I first met him he wouldn’t read the Book of Mormon and he wouldn’t talk to us. But this week we were trying to meet with Maria and he was there and we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and we turned around to leave and he came outside and told us that he wanted to read the Book of Mormon with us. Yay! We read 1st Nephi chapter 1 with him and it went really well. 

While we were walking this week we were able to see so many people and share the gospel and the light the world message with them. People here in Arkadelphia are really sweet and nice but not super committal. But we were able to meet this awesome lady named Shannon. She was so sweet and super interested in the gospel and about learning more! She is engaged and we talked about the temple and she was super excited to hear more! The sad thing is that she lives outside of our area, so we had to refer her to another set of missionaries. :(  That is okay. Sweet is the work!

Well y’all! I love you guys so much! Thank you so much for all of the support and help that you give me. I am also super grateful for your love and I love all of the Christmas cards! Thank you so much! 

This week I just wanted to share with you my love for my Savior, Jesus Christ. As we are celebrating His birth, it is so important to also remember His life. I know that Jesus Christ was born and that He lives. I know that His life neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. I know that as we turn to Him, His arms are always open and He wants us to come unto Him. I love Him and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve Him and become more like Him.

Love,

Sister Ashley Esplin

Ash

 Walk week

Apparently we look alike? I have no idea. 

President always gets sister Daniels and I mixed up. 

Sister Hansen apparently also looks like us 🤷🏻‍♀️

Be Ambitious For Christ

Merry Christmas! 

I hope that your Christmas season is going great and that you are doing the #lighttheworld activities every day. 

Life has been so crazy busy! I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with her head cut off. There is so much to do before my departure on January 4th and I have so little time! Since Sister Winn is going to be with me for these remaining four weeks, there is so much to cram into her brain about the area. Poor thing, but she is such a trooper!! It has been such a blast working Sister Winn this week! She is so fun and is excited to do the work. It has been a great transition. Usually the first week together is super awkward and weird, but I feel like we just dove in and have been getting along well. 

We got SO MUCH visiting teaching done this week! ✅ Yay! It really is helpful to have a new sister with you that you can introduce to people. We had a lesson with Sister Beatrice where we read the Book of Mormon. She didn’t really want to read, but I reminded her that she had promised to read the Book of Mormon the last time we met. She kind of grumbled but then she got over it. Fortunately, she is doing well and I can see that she  is enjoying the book of Mormon more and more. She gave Sister Winn a 25 pound bag of pecans! What!? She also told Sister Winn that when she “faxes” her parents she needs to tell them that Sister Beatrice loves her. FAXES her parents....She is adorable!!!

We also had a lesson with Sister Nisbet! We read Enos with her. We read with her in the chapel, and there was such a sweet spirit there. You could just feel love from Heavenly Father. She was so sweet and so overwhelmed by the love she felt. It was just one of those moments that the you just feel so happy to be a missionary.

We did so much service this week. It was crazy! We put up two Christmas trees and we cleaned for a bunch of people, as well. Another great thing that happened this week was our branch Christmas party!!! It was so fantastic. It was so fun to be able to be around the branch members and there was so much fun to be had. Everyone had a blast! It was crazy how everybody turns out for the Christmas parties. 

We also did quite a bit of finding this week. It was not super fruitful and it left me wondering and pondering about what more I can do to improve and help this area to grow and how we can find people to teach effectively. This week, I turned to prayer a lot and felt that Heavenly Father truly answered my prayers and I was able to learn a lot from Him. I also felt like I was able to understand more of what He wants me to do while I was partaking of the sacrament yesterday. I am so grateful for the sacrament and the opportunity that it provides us to renew our covenants and to turn to our Heavenly Father and to our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for that experience I had to feel the spirit in more abundance. 

I am so grateful for the time that I have to be a missionary and to be able to proclaim the truth to all that will hear and to be able to help others to come unto Christ and be a part of their lives. I am so grateful to be serving in Arkadelphia for the rest of my mission! I know that this is where I am supposed to be and that there is so much to do and so little time. I love the people here, both the members and the people who are not members. People are so kind and I love the spirit of Christmas that is in the air. 

My spiritual thought this week is from a conference talk from October 2016 “Be Ambitious for Christ”. “What does it mean to “be ambitious for Christ”? Being ambitious for Christ means being motivated, focused, and dedicated to His work. Being ambitious for Christ will seldom mean that we are singled out for public honor. Being ambitious for Christ means that we serve faithfully and diligently in our wards and branches without complaint and with joyful hearts.”

I am so grateful that I can strive to be Ambitious for Christ. I invite y’all to strive for that as well. Remember striving is a consistent effort. It isn’t just trying. I have an invitation for y’all this Christmas: Get a new Book of Mormon, write your testimony in the front of it and then pray to either come in contact with someone who will need the book or a name of someone to give the book to. Then wrap it up and deliver it to the person with a plate of cookies. President Hansen has invited us to invite the members in our wards and branches to do that and I know that it can bless y’all as well! SO PLEASE DO IT AND RESPOND BACK and TELL ME HOW IT GOES!!!!

LOVE Y’ALL!!! 

❤️ Sister Esplin

Ashley

Master tree decorator

Being Ambitious for Christ

 Day 10 of #Light the World

 With Santa Claus (President Carter). 

 Roderick the snowman. I made him for Korrine. 

 Decorating the Skaff Sr.’s Christmas tree

With Sister Winn

The Final Countdown Begins

The Final Countdown Begins

Hello. It is me. Your favorite missionary. Potentially. For my ego’s sake, let’s just say that I am your favorite missionary. Hehe. 😉 WELL. On Saturday we got BIG TRANSFER NEWS! For my LAST TRANSFER. I. Will. Be.............(drumroll PLEEEEASE!!!).........STAYING IN ARKADELPHIA!!!!!! WOOT WOOT! I am so so so excited to stay, even if it is just for a few more weeks. Sadly, Sister Black is leaving me, but she is going to Millington (if you remember correctly, Millington was my last area) and I know that she is going to do great and wonderful things there and bring joy to her new companion and area just like she did here for me and for the Arkadelphia branch. She is a great servant of the Lord and I feel so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve with her and get to be companions with her. She is so funny and just so great! But you may be wondering at this point, “Wait, if Sister Black is leaving, who is going to be with Sister Esplin?”  Good question! I am going to be a solo missionary...JUST KIDDING! My new companion’s name is Sister Winn! She is from Arizona and she has been on her mission for about three months and she seems fantastic! I am so excited to serve with her. 

It is really weird. Since I am staying for only a month of the transfer I thought that I would be in a trio. I thought wrong. I feel bad that she will have to be involved in some sort of emergency transfer, but I bet she will be tough. My hope this transfer is that we can have fun and work hard talking to everyone we see.

This week was a pretty good week! We were able to get in contact with a lot of people and have some great lessons! We took a walk day on Tuesday and we were able to see Brandy! We intended to go and teach her a lesson but what was interesting was that we ended up doing service for her instead. We came to her house and she was super stressed out so instead of teaching her we helped her fill out paperwork. It was great because after we helped her she had so many questions for us and we were able to teach her a little bit more. It is amazing how service softens people’s hearts. 

We were also able to do a lot of visiting teaching this week! We had a lesson with Sister Smith and it was so interesting! She was talking about how her life was horrible and how she always feels depressed and then she started talking about how the whole world was going to die (pretty dismal). We tried to teach her the plan of salvation and she just kept making it seem like it was the plan of sadness. I told her that this is a plan of happiness! I then felt like I was should ask if how her Book of Mormon reading has been going. She told us that she hasn't been reading.  I promised her that if she read the Book of Mormon she would have peace and comfort and help along the way. In fact, we are starting a book of Mormon reading group with her!

Since today is a transfer day, it has been a super busy today so all I am really going to say is to read the Book of Mormon! There are so many blessings that come from it. We have seen both the blessings and consequences of reading and not reading the Book of Mormon this week. 

We also had a mission tour by elder Robbins of the presidency of the seventy this week and I will tell y’all about that next week! I am so sorry! The email next week will be amazing! Hopefully ;) 

Also, the “Light the World” initiative is amazing and I love it and I hope that y’all are enjoying doing it and if you aren’t doing it... START NOW!!!!!

Love y'all!

Sister Esplin 

Ashley

Sister missionary

In her last transfer…EEK!

FREAKING OUT!

 #LightTheWorld

 Arkadelphia youth lighting the world 

 Month mark with the Cordovas!

 When wolves reject me