Sister Mary-Ashley Esplin: 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