Sister Mary-Ashley Esplin: 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