Sherwood forever! Take 4

So…BEST THING EVER! I got to go to the temple today!!!!! We don’t usually get to go to the temple unless it is our birthday or we are going home, but yesterday President Wakolo texted us and invited us to the temple! I was so excited! It really was such an incredible day. The Memphis, Tennessee temple is smaller in size, but it sure is such a beautiful and amazing place filled with majestic beauty and power. I feel so honored to have been given this special opportunity. 

This week has been crazy...as always. Today I have to write this email in the giant 12 passenger transfer van and I don't want to get carsick so I will need to share just a few awesome highlights! 

First of all, I AM IN SHERWOOD STILL!!!!!!! YAY! I get to stay in he NLR ward through Christmas.

On Monday I had the opportunity to go to Conway with the office elders and the Jacksonville sisters to keep the car ride white handbook approved. It was so great to be with the sisters for a short amount of time and get to know them. They were so cute!

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Lavetta. During our last appointment with Lavetta, Sister Wright had invited her to pray to Heavenly Father to find guidance and to know if his is the right path to go on, then to write down the impression that she received. Well, Lavetta did it! She said that she had been praying about everything and reading the Book of Mormon and she had the impression to stay still. So she took that to mean that she needed to stay still in the church she is going to. Noooooooo!!! We seriously thought that she was dropping us! But then she went on to say that she wasn't sure if it meant something else, like stay still and continue on this path of learning! She then decided it was the second option. She begged us to keep teaching her! We were so happy!!! 

On Wednesday we had our ZONE CONFERENCE!!! It was so amazing. I just felt so spiritually uplifted and pumped to just BAPTIZE!!! President Wakolo talked about how our Heavenly Father has high expectations for us. Sister Wakolo taught us as well and posed the question:  are we praying with our lips or with our hearts?   It was cool for me to think about my prayers and assess  if I am really praying for my investigators with my heart. 

On Thursday, we had Hermana Olsen with us while her companion went to Memphis for a doctor’s appointment. It was so great to have her with us! Sorry, we forgot to get a picture with her…Bummer!!  We attempted to visit a former investigator, Mary. When we knocked on the door, we found out that Mary didn't live there, but we did meet Tara! She has lived at that address for about a month and she was looking for a church to go to! She was so nice and she was so happy to talk to us. It was so great to meet someone who wanted to really learn more! We also went to Cyrstal's (yes that is how it is spelled) house and cleaned her house. Cyrstal's husband is actually a mall santa and he will be working this season in Alaska. I share this because when we were cleaning their house we found a patch that said IBRBS, which for all of you non-mall Santa aficionados, that stands for the “International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas”. I had no idea that such an organization exists!!!  Cyrstal has been a member for about 8 months and she is just amazing. 

On Friday we had the Ward Round Up dinner, which was so much fun!  Brother Sanders from the ward is part of a square dancing group called the “Maverick Mixers” and they came and did a square dancing performance for all of us!   

Sorry this email kind of stinks. I have a tendency to get really carsick in the car and since I only have time to really write my emails while riding to and from the Memphis temple, I will need to keep my letters short this week.  Before I go, I just want to share some thoughts on an awesome talk that I read this week called “Converted to His gospel through His church” by Elder Donald Hallstrom (April 2012). Elder Hallstrom taught, " the purpose of the church is to help us live the gospel!"  I love that! I just love that! Sometimes I meet people that get offended by things that happened when they went to church, but the important thing is to remember that the gospel is what is important! Sorry, next week I'll write something a lot better, but for now, I would invite y'all to read that talk. It is awesome!!!!

I love you all so much! I am so excited for Thanksgiving! May we all remember that there is so much to be grateful for!!

Love,

Sister Esplin 

Memphis, Tennessee Temple

Heading to Memphis to go to the temple!!!

 Packing up Sister Christman

 Goodbye to Elder Boggess, Elder Smith, & Sister Forsyth

Teaching with sweet Sister Jackson

All the Sisters in the North Little Rock Zone Conference

Ward Round Up Dinner 

Thank you for your prayers and fasting!!!

Hey y'all! How goes it out in the real magnificent world? I want to thank y'all for all of your prayers and fasting on my behalf. I really appreciate it and I truly believe it is because of your prayers, fasting, and faith that I have the outcome that I do for my ankle.

TENDINITIS!! Yep, the doctor came in and told me that he had good news and bad news. He said the bad news was that the MRI didn't really show anything. The good news was that I didn't need surgery. He told me that I have intermediate tendinitis on the peroneal tendon(s?),  mild tendinitis on the tibialis posterior, and some degree of tendinitis on one more tendon whose name I can't remember. In a nutshell, I have tendinitis in all the tendons that I need for walking...you know, the ones you need to use everyday as a missionary. He told me not to walk on that foot, which is interesting because when I first went in I was told that my ankle would be strengthened with walking. Well, the next day we walked 11&1/2 miles and my leg got swollen and my condition got worse, which forced us back to the doctor's office. This time, the doctor told me NOT to walk on my foot. Confused, we asked why he would say it was okay and then change his mind. He told us it would be okay to walk on it if we walked like normal people, but we walk like super humans. That is what I am going to call missionaries now. Missionaries: Super Human walkers.  😆 Anyway, he told me that I needed to not walk on it and that it needed to stay stable. Well you know me, no brace can stop me from twisting my ankle! I've twisted it several times with the brace on. Oops. So he said the next step was a boot or a cast. A BOOT. I'LL TAKE THE BOOT!! NO CAST, PLEASE!! So now I have a super cute boot that makes me feel like iron man. I. Am. Clumsy woman. So the boot is my new fashion accessory. All the sisters are so jealous of me and my limping gait. She has style, she has grace, she is Miss United States. Yep, that's me. The newest member of the boot crew. Anyhoo, onto the next topic of conversation-I never was good at transitions. 

This week, as always, has been filled with good moments and bad moments. Moments of beautiful joy and moments of confusion and heartache. But the atonement helps all. What a simple phrase with a large meaning behind it. I have come to love my Savior more and more each day.   Alright, I am just going to give some highlights (or lowlights). 

On Thursday, we went to lunch with Donna. We only went to Sonic and then back to her apartment, but holy cow, did that little outing make for an eventful afternoon! Donna wasn't stable on the curb and she fell backwards! Her walker flew up in the air and she HIT THE GROUND! I yelled and went hobbling to find some help, but since no one was around, we called 911 and a fire truck came. Well, I still had my Sonic drink with me when help arrived so I slowly lowered it to the ground so it didn't look like I was just enjoying the day watching Donna lie on the ground. Fortunately, she is totally fine, just a bit sore. When she fell, all of the people in her retirement community came outside and watched her, some with snacks. Geriatric theater?!! 

We also had a lesson with Cyrstal (a recent convert) and it was amazing, the spirit was so abundant there. We were talking about the temple and it was such a beautiful moment that I just didn't want it to end. Even Cyrstal commented that it just felt wonderful there. It was such a beautiful moment relating everything to Christ and to eternity. 

On Friday, we visited with Chelsea and she shared that she feels a lot of peace in her life, like she feels like things are just going to go well. I just love her. Plus, she is in 2 Nephi 30!!! I am SO proud of her!

On Saturday, we had a member, Sister Sandlin, come out with us. In fact, she actually called us up and asked if she could come out teaching with us. That never happens!! Unfortunately, one by one all of our appointments fell through, which was a total bummer, but we salvaged our time together by meeting with some of her visiting teaching ladies. 

Alrighty, here is my spiritual thought. I was reading Elder Don R. Clarke's October 2006 conference talk, "Becoming Instruments in the Hands of God". Elder Clarke posed the question- "Do we really want to be instruments in God's hands? If so, our desire will permeate our prayers and be the focus of our fasts." He also taught, "When we receive promptings regarding God's children, if we write down the thoughts and inspiration we receive and then obey it, God's confidence in us increases and we are given more opportunities to be instruments in His hands". I would invite you all to pray for opportunities to be instruments in the Hands of God and then to write down promptings and to act on them. I know this church is true, I love it completely and will believe it forever. President Wakolo always says, I will never doubt it, I will never question it. I want to say that as well. I am still trying to grow my testimony each day, but I am surrounding it with truth and love. I love y'all and I am so grateful for your influence in my life!

Have a great week! 

Ash

Sister Esplin 

Lunch with Donna

Showing off our sonic stuff. Literally, seven minutes after this picture was taken she fell off the curb and we called 911. What a crazy turn of events.

District meeting 

 Check out the cars the missionaries in our district drive. So sweet. I drive the mommy minivan!!

 Eating lunch with sister Wood, Sister Decker, sister Smith and sister Forsyth  at “Two Sisters” 

Look at that fried chicken! Sister Wood and I were twinners. 

What an IMPACTful Week!!

Well, hello there! I am excited to announce that fall has actually arrived in Arkansas! It got cold again-but as I write this I am hesitant, for I don't want to jinx it and be the reason for 87 degree winter here. On Halloween it was around 90 degrees. Woooooweeeeieee!  

Halloween turned out to be such a good day! We thought that we were going to be all alone on Halloween, but then the Turners invited us over to make mini pizzas which was so much fun! It didn't quite match up to all of the fun and pandemonium that goes on back at the home front, but it was sweet and memorable! Sister Jensen and I also went to TCBY to get some really yummy fro yo, and in an effort not to break tradition, I made pigs in a blanket. After, we watched "Meet the Mormons" on this handy dandy iPad of mine. Yay for mission Halloween! 

On Tuesday, we had district meeting where we practiced teaching the plan of salvation to someone on the street and then calling a member to come with us to the follow up lesson with that person. After district meeting we went and talked to a less active sister, Sister Christman. It was so cool. We went in wanting to talk about how families can be together forever and I was kind of nervous (sometimes that can be a sensitive topic), but we as we let go of our fears and  testified of this great truth, we had  such a spiritual and beautiful lesson. 

Also, last week I forgot to share a super cool experience that we had with a potential investigator named Tangie.  On Sunday, we decided to go find someone whose address indicated that she lived in Hollywood California. Well, I assumed that there was most likely a Hollywood Drive/Avenue/Blvd or Circle here in Sherwood. Sure enough, there was! We found the home and met Tangie.  She said that she had recently moved to Jacksonville and was now only here visiting her father at his house, but she shared that the elders had seen her every day when she used to live in Sherwood and that she just loved hearing about the gospel!  She even asked for something to read, so we gave her a Book of Mormon. We gave her name to the Jacksonville sisters because Jacksonville isn't just another ward or city, it is a whole different Stake than us! Interestingly enough, when we  looked for her teaching record, we couldn't find any information on her! The elders had seen her every day but didn't put anything down to help us so that we could follow up with her! Poor lady. I hope she likes being taught by the Jacksonville sisters. :) The reason I bring this up is because on Tuesday we went to find Tangie to tell her that there were sisters right by where she lives in Jacksonville, but she was at her sister's house...a couple of streets away! So we went over, missed Tangie, but we met her sister, Ashley! She said that she had met with the missionaries before and would be interested in meeting with the missionaries again! YAY!

On Wednesday, we had a super awesome member come out with us and try to visit a lot of the less active single men in the ward that live in Sherwood  (we can't go alone). Well, we didn't get to see anyone, but she was just fantastic! 

THURSDAY!!!!!!!! Well, let me tell you why I make a big deal about Thursday. It really made an IMPACT on me--Tee hee!! On Thursday we were kind of struggling. Dana had not shown up to the lesson SHE had set and we were kind of lost as to what to do. Just when we needed some extra love and strength,  we got a phone call. We answered the phone and the IMPACT SISTERS were on the phone! Quick explanation. "Impact sisters" are two awesome sister missionaries in this mission who are assigned for that transfer to go to different areas where sisters are and they stay with those sisters and help strengthen the missionaries, the companionship, the area, or anything they need to help the area grow stronger. Our experience with them was SO COOL!!!! Hermana Macfarlane and Sister Skordas were with us from Thursday to Sunday afternoon. On Thursday afternoon, we all went to Sister Jackson 's house and cleaned her windows because she can't reach them. Sister Jackson is so cute!! After, we went to dinner with Sister Hugentobler at chilis! 🌶 Then, we dropped Sister Jensen off with Hermana Macfarlane to go see Brother Medlock while Sister Skordas and I went to see Sister Kurkowski. It was so neat. Sister Kurkowski told us that we were just what she needed that day. We shared a scripture with her (Alma 37:36-37) and she said that she had been needing to hear just that! It was so neat to be there. Then, we went to pick up the other sisters and it was cool to hear that they had found some people that had met with missionaries before and wanted to meet with missionaries again! 

Hooray!!

On Friday, we had weekly planning and then Sister Skordas and I went to the hospital and got my blood drawn so that they could take my creatinine level in preparation for the MRI. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the hospital, we needed to turn around and go pick up the sisters from where we had dropped them off because the McKinneys had called us on Thursday to ask us to come over at 3:15 for a surprise! Well, the McKinneys live in Maumelle, so that is a bit of a drive, but the sisters found some really awesome people to teach!!!! When we got to the Mckinney's, Brother McKinney let us in and he told us to sit down and that he would get Sister McKinney. Well "sister Mckinney" turned the corner and surprised us. IT WASN'T SISTER MCKINNEY!!! IT WAS SISTER EVANS--my first companion and trainer!!! She finished her mission back in AUGUST SEPTEMBER but had come back to Arkansas to go to the temple with one of her converts in Conway and she was staying with the McKinneys and wanted to surprise me! As Sister Evans turned the corner, I totally freaked out and started to cry. I had been feeling really down on myself because my dumb ankle was slowing me down and preventing me from becoming the missionary that I knew I desired to be. These past few weeks,  everyone has been telling me to slow down. The mission nurse, President Wakolo, the physical therapist, and the Doctor. I just wanted a hug from my mom so much and for her to just tell me that everything would be okay. In my heart, I knew I couldn't have that. So did Heavenly Father. But, He bestowed on me a tender mercy and He gave me the next best thing...My MISSION MOM! In that moment, I felt such immense love and understanding from my Heavenly Father. He knew what I needed. Even though Sister Evans wasn't there to see me, it truly was  something that really helped me see that God cares about me and knows that I still have things yet to do here. 

Later that night, we went to the hospital and remained there for the longest time! In spite of the long wait, something really cool happened.  If you know me, you know I HATE needles. To complicate the situation, no one can EVER find my veins. I am not exaggerating. My veins are small and run deep under the skin, so blood work is always a nightmare. In fact, the last time I did blood work back at home, I went through multiple nurses/phlebotomists and multiple sticks only to get sent home because NO ONE  could find a vein and my entire arm had become a pin cushion. As you can imagine, I was dreading another awful experience. At first, a couple of people felt around to find a vein but couldn't find one. Then, another phlebotomist came by, swiftly stuck a needle in my hand and immediately found a vein! Phew!! What a TENDER MERCY!

On Saturday, we had interviews with President Wakolo and it was such an amazing experience. I had so many concerns and feelings of inadequacy and he really helped soothe those fears and feelings of weakness. What an amazing man of God!! I am so grateful to have him as my mission president. I also told him that Lexi Ostler from my home YSA ward had recently been called to this mission and he was excited for her. She is going to love it. This is the best mission ever. 

Everyone, thank you so much for the outpouring of love and support! I have felt so much strength from your fasting and prayers. I had my MRI this morning and I will be having my follow up appointment with the doctor to go over it on Wednesday. I am a bit nervous, but I know that everything is in God's hands. I love being a missionary. It has been difficult to not work as hard as I know I can and that is so FRUSTRATING! I am so grateful that my awesome parents have helped me become a person who is now not comfortable with taking it easy. It just isn't fun. Still, I love this time because I have grown so close to my Heavenly Father, as I have sought to know what he would have me do, and and then follow the promptings given. I don't feel that it is time to go home. I believe that Heavenly Father is just helping me learn patience and more fully realize how joyful this work truly is. Oh sometimes I wish that I could see what He has in store for me when I start my trial, but I really do love the "Ahah" moments during them. 

I love y'all. I love this gospel. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him, to declare His word, among His people that they might have everlasting life! (3 Nephi 5:13). Thank you to all of you who have fasted and prayed for me. You all are amazing and I am so grateful to have y'all in my life. Stay strong and love God!! 

Love, 

Sister Esplin

Ash

Working with the Impact Sisters

 Sister Jensen and I went to this cute cafe called “Two Sisters”.  How fitting!!

 SISTER EVANS!!! Look, NO name tag.  Who even is she? ;)

Sister Jackson!

 Dinner with Sister Edgar and the Maumelle Sisters

 Making cute Christmas crafts at the Carpenters with the Maumelle Sisters

 Dinner with Sister Hugentobler

Nightly icing of the ankle. Woot! Woot!

Trick or Treat! Y'all don't want to smell my feet.

Alright, alright! So this past week was a good week. It may have not been a great week based on our numbers, but we did talk to new people and we really strove to plan effectively to meet our goals. The only problem is that you can plan and pray as much as you would like, but people still have their agency. Agency, thou double edged sword. Still, it was so beautiful to see Heavenly Father's hand in my life each day-even the hard days...actually, especially the hard days. 

I don't know if y'all know the story of the footprints 👣 in the sand, but I love it SO MUCH! Basically, the poem is about a vision in which a man sees his life in review, matched with two pairs of footprints on a beach—one belonging to himself, and the other to the Lord. During the hardest times of his life, the man sees only a single set of footprints. Troubled by this observation, the man asks Christ why the second set of footprints is missing during his greatest trials and when he needed the the Lord the most, the Savior explains that the single set of footprints were His… “It was then that I carried you.”  Some days that is how I have felt when I hurt, when no one wants to hear the WONDERFUL message of love and gladness that we have to share, when people drop us, or when I just wonder if I am even making a difference. There are moments where I just see that one set of footprints and for a split second think that I am alone, but then I realize that those moments are the ones that the Savior has carried me through. I absolutely love this gospel and the fact that we know how much our Savior has done for us! 

Alright, here comes our awesome week in 3....2.....1!!!!!!!!!!  There were definitely some sweet experiences this week....along with some crazy ones. 

I'd like to start with a quote from a sweet little 4 foot 2 German sister in her 80s named Sister Jackson. She told us when we went over to visit her this week, "Rest if you must, but never ever give up".  We just love Sister Jackson. She is truly amazing!! She survived WWII Germany. She is just so cute and tiny and has the spirit with her all the time. Whenever we visit her,  she truly uplifts us. For example, one day last week we went and saw a less active member who drove the spirit away and just made us feel downright horrible (it seriously was one of the craziest things that has happened on my mission, it was so weird and rough).  Afterwards, had a visit scheduled to help Sister Jackson, but she ended up being the one to bless our lives and help us so much!

This week, my ankle finally felt strong enough to walk and go 'finding' in some neighborhoods close to our apartment and, let me tell you, the homes are so CUTE! I have had some houses in mind that I have wanted to knock on for so long. Well, none of those people in those neighborhoods wanted to hear about the message, but I saw these super high tech cool doorbells where people can see us while they are away at work! Scary. Also there is a BEAUTIFUL white house that I have always wanted to knock on (or at least since I have seen it), so we went and knocked on it. An old Vietnamese lady opened the door, told us she was Catholic and Vietnamese, and then she just stared at us. I handed her a picture of Christ and she took it, looked at it, nodded her head and then gave the picture back to me. I tried to give it back to her, but she just kept saying "Catholic, Catholic, Catholic". 

You just have to love my end-of-the-night less active visit stories. This past Thursday evening, we went and visited Sister Bersett. Sister Wright, the Relief Society president had suggested that we visit Sister Bersett but we hadn't for a while so we thought we would go by and see how she was doing. Oh. My. Good. Night. She is awesome. The spirit was so strong! She was helping sister Jensen and I work together, to better share scriptures, and she even told us our fortunes....hmmm! Apparently, I am going to be a national roaming reporter and Sister Jensen is going to be a stressed out housewife. Pretty funny. I love that she counseled us to work harder at working together. She talked about the people at church with so much love. We need to get her to church. That is our new focus...working with the less active. 

On Saturday, we went to a lesson with Latonia, which I was super excited about! Then we got there. We started talking about the Book of Mormon and she just started shaking her head. She refused to believe us. It was a pretty discouraging lesson to teach. She was flip-flopping all over the place! One minute, she would say that she would read the Book of Mormon and then the next minute she would say that she would not read the Book of Mormon. She kept saying, "I don't believe it" and shaking her head. I asked her if she wants to believe it and she just laughed and said no. At that point, all that I could do was testify of it’s  truthfulness, so I testified that I knew that the Book of Mormon is true and that God loves us so much that He gave us the Book of Mormon!  It hurt so much to KNOW that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it testifies of Christ, only to have Latonia tell us that it doesn't feel right. That was really hard. Interestingly enough, the more she treated the Book of Mormon like it was an evil book, the more the spirit testified of it's truth and my love for it and faith in it grew. 

Compare that to our next lesson of that day. JUNE! She is so cute. She is a little old lady who loves Mormons. She used to live by a family that were really good friends with her that were Mormons. In fact, the dad was a newscaster here in Arkansas.  We went over and chatted with her and asked her if she felt anything about the Book of Mormon as she had been reading it. She replied  that she has no doubt that it is true, and that she has no doubt that our church is true. She then told us that she had a connection with Joseph Smith and believed that he did see God, the Father, and His son, Jesus Christ. It was so awesome and the spirit was testifying to us all.

On Saturday, WE HAD OUR WARD TRUNK-R-TREAT!!!!!  It was so much fun. The four elders were supposed to judge the chili contest, but only two elders showed up so all of us judged. It was so fun! Plus, we judged the Halloween costumes. Everyone was so cute in their Halloween costumes! I just love Halloween! As a bonus, Donna came! I didn't think that she would, but she did! Sure, she came 2 hours late and was the last person to leave, but she came, and it made me so happy to see her there!!! There was just so much happiness all around!!!

Alrighty, spiritual thought. I have been reading a lot in the war chapters of Alma lately. Actually, I finished Alma recently and now I am in Helaman!! YES! May I just say that I absolutely love when Captain Moroni is getting angry at Pahoran for not helping out more and he just is pretty much chewing him out in his epistle. He basically tells him to stop sitting around on his lazy behind, and to help them out or he will kill him! Eaaaash. Harsh words, but I love that Moroni says “I seek not for power, but to pull it down. I seek not for honor of the world, but for the glory of my God , and the freedom and welfare of my country”. (Alma 60:36) Now, in my opinion, Pahoran totally has every right to get ticked off at Moroni. Moroni seriously threatened to kill him. Come on! But instead, this is why I think that Pahoran is the most underrated character in the Book of Mormon. Pahoran  responds in Alma 61:9  "And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it matters that not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart. I Pahoran, do not seek for power, save only to retain my judgement seat that I may preserve the rights and liberty of my people. My soul standeth fast in that liberty in the which God hath made us free.”  Pahoran also moves forward and works together with Moroni. How cool!! I want to be able to respond in love to those that fight and get angry with me. That is my goal.

Well, bye for now! I hope y'all have a great Halloween! I know I have!!! 

Love,  

Sister Esplin

A Sherwood sister

A sister in tights

Someone who loves Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Sherwood Sisters!  

For the ward trunk-or-treat, we wore coordinating green dresses so we could be the “Sherwood (Forest) Sisters”.  

Sharing a moment with this amazing spiritual giant, Sister Jackson!

Dinner with Bishop Gustafson's family

 Dinner with the Quigleys

Look how pretty!

Having fun with the mustaches that Sister Jensen’s mom sent.  Sister Jensen and I love Halloween!

 More Halloween Silliness

Hope y’all had a Happy Halloween!

A week of exhaustion and wisdom…

Well, I just have to say sorry about last week's letter. I was a little rushed and, to be honest, I was out of my mind in pain from a crazy migraine (which I still am dealing with…any suggestions??), so I didn't get to share much with y'all. Hopefully, this letter will make up for it and convey the joy that I feel about the work we are all doin' down here in the south. It is true that some locals may argue that Arkansas is not the south, but to them I just have to say, "bless your heart" ❤️. I have heard enough southern accents and fun southern stories to accurately say that "Yessiree, Arkansas is definitely one of the southern states!!" 

This week sure was interesting! Let's just start out with our district meeting on Tuesday mornin'. Set scene. Four sets of missionaries -yes, I said FOUR- sit in the relief society room awaiting the news of how they will be continuing their missionary work in the North Little Rock ward now that there are two sets of sisters and two sets of elders serving the North Little Rock ward, as well as one set of sisters now serving in Maumelle, but still residing within the North Little Rock ward boundaries. All four sets of missionaries are unsure how the ward will ultimately be split up. Open scene.

Scene1. We had started our district meeting and basically we were kind of on the edge of our seats. For the past two transfers, this ward has only had the North Little Rock elders, the Sherwood sisters (yours truly), and the office elders (the elders that basically make this mission run, and have saved our lives several time, such as finding us a bed bug free apartment). Up to this point, we have all been visiting everyone in the ward, not really caring about what city we were in. We would go to Maumelle and visit members, less active members, and investigators. Or we would go to North Little Rock and visit some members, less actives, or investigators. But Elder Wilson (our district leader) got up and rocked our NLR world,  as we knew it. He said that President Wakolo had basically given him the power to decide how it would work and Elder Wilson came to the conclusion that NLR would stay in NLR with the NLR ward members and less actives, Maumelle would stay in Maumelle with the members and less actives in the ward that lived in Maumelle, and Sherwood? Yeah, Sherwood sticks to Sherwood. It was a sad day! We sent off over 70% of our investigators, potential investigators, and new investigators to Maumelle and NLR. It was ROUGH. We have so very little to work with now so it is like we are whitewashing again!! Dagnabbit. I really do love Sherwood though. Elder Wilson told us to strengthen our areas to the best that they can be. He also told us to focus on the one. We are in those cities for a reason! The only hard part is that half the time I'm confused about whether or not I am in North Little Rock or in Sherwood, the boundaries switch so fast! But sweet is the work. Sister Jensen and I are super pumped to be here at this time for these people! We were also super excited because we WERE going to be doing our walk week this week and finding lots of people. I will get to why the WERE is emphasized in a little bit. End scene. 

Scene 2. Act Tuesday. Who is my favorite person in all of Sherwood!?!? If you guessed Chelsea, then you are CORRECT! Vanna, show them what they have won. 😉 We went to Chelsea's and we read some scriptures with her. It was so cool to see that she was really applying the scriptures to herself and to others around her and how it could help their lives. Then, we invited her to invite people around her to the ward Halloween trunk-r-treat and she was so excited to do that. Later when we came to knock on someone else's door we saw a bunch of invitations that Chelsea had taped on doors. We talked to her on Sunday (10/23/2016)  and she told us that she tried to talk to as many people as possible about the party. I am so proud of her!! Just seeing that made my heart burst just a little bit. 

Scene 3. Lavetta, who I mentioned last week, is pretty much the most amazing person ever. We called Lavetta after our district meeting to see if it was still okay to come over. She told us that she would need to cancel, because she was talking to some lawyers about her will before she went in for heart surgery that Thursday! What?! We had no idea!  She told us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon and really enjoyed it and she couldn't fast like she wanted to because her doctor said she wasn't allowed to, but she was still going to read the scriptures very closely to see if it was true. What a gem! 💎 

Scene 4. We attempted to visit someone that Sister Wright, the Relief Society president wanted us to visit. Unfortunately, we got there at eight o'clock at night. As we pulled up to the house, I started to feel nervous about introducing ourselves at that evening hour. As it turned out, I should have heeded that impression.  We got to the door and they yelled at us because it was so late and they told us to go away. I got back in the car feeling horrible because I hadn't listened to the prompting that I had received, so I was a little bit down. Sister Jensen, being the sweetheart that she is, suggested that we go and get some ice cream. Our day had been pretty much a bummer so I rolled our mini van over to the nearest Sonic (for every LDS church you see in Utah, there is a Sonic in Arkansas. They are that plentiful). We ordered our ice cream treats and here is where I know that Heavenly Father recognizes when we are trying our hardest and feeling sad. The server/worker guy came back to our window and told us that the card reader wasn't working and so our sonic blasts were free. Free! It seriously felt like Heavenly Father bought us ice cream to help us survive that night. Don't ya just love them tender mercies?

Scene 5: Wednesday-Thursday.  We had EXCHANGES!!!!! Exchanges are seriously inspired! I just love being with the sister training leaders.  Sister Decker came with me to Sherwood and Sister Wood went with Sister Jensen to Conway.  We have been kind of “scruggling” (people often say str words with a c instead of a t). Because of the newly enforced boundaries, we sent off most of our investigators to the Maumelle sisters and the North Little Rock elders. As a result, we have very very very few people that we are actively teaching. There is a lot of finding to be done! I sure love Sherwood, but dang people! Would you just let us talk to you? We are not going to attack you, we are two white girls in skirts. Anyhooooo, that day we experienced some amazing miracles. We met a girl named Deja who has to go outside of her norm and learn and attend a church that she doesn't go to (it’s a school assignment). She goes to the University of Arkansas Little Rock and she is the cutest! We gave her a church tour and she told us that she had been reading the pamphlets and really liked them. For the assignment, she has to come to church 2-3 times. But, she met with the bishop on Wednesday night and she said that she would like to come to church more than that. AAAAAAHH!!!! Our bishop was so cute and said, "heck, you could come after your project, if you want!".  Another miracle happened after Sister Decker and I got home on Wednesday night and she noticed that she didn't have her ipad. Oh no! We quickly hopped back in the van and started for the church. It wasn't there! Sister Decker was saying some silent prayers and I asked if she wanted to say a prayer out loud-because I know that, for some people, it helps more. She said she didn't think that she needed to, but then a few minutes later she asked me if I would say the prayer. Well, I was driving so I I offered a prayer out loud, with open eyes and unfolded arms,  which was super weird for me. We pulled up to Brother Medlock's house (the member that we had been talking to right before we went home) and she hopped out and found it in the grass face down, completely fine! Wow! The power of vocal prayer! 🙏  Another cool thing happened. On Wednesday, we met with Sister Barker,  who is the daughter of a ward member.  She has actually joined another church, but she invited us over to visit, so we went over on Thursday and she was so sweet. She asked a lot of questions about missionary work and then she told us that we could stop by any time and visit and that she would also love to feed us. She was just so nice!!!

Scene 6: FRIDAY. I really remember very little from Friday. I know that we had dinner with the Edgar family. Mom and dad, do you remember the Jim and Natalie Edgar? They are cute, older couple that used to attend the Pinnacle Mountain Ward with you.

The Finale: SATURDAY/SUNDAY!

So, Saturday mornin’ I woke up and how did I feel? Completely sick. I was aching all over, I was freezing cold, I felt like I was going to throw up, and I couldn't think or see straight because my head was hurting so much. If I were going to give this finale a title, it would read “Ballad of the sick” or “Ode to soup and naps”.  When we went to dinner with the Edgars on Friday night, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I had the biggest migraine. Then, on Saturday morning, I had no idea what I was reading in the Book of Mormon because I was hurting so badly, but I read on, because I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!!!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! After getting ready for the day,  we went out with a member to go see some people but because nobody was home, we went and visited one of her visiting teaching sisters with her, which was cool. After the visit, I called the mission nurse to see what she recommended and she told me to stay home, because I had a bug or something. During our conversation, I also told her that I had finished physical therapy but my ankle was still hurting like crazy. She suggested that I call President Wakolo and talk to him about not doing a walk week, so I started dealing with all of my medical junk. I told Sister Jensen that we were going to be in for the next day or two and then I called President Wakolo and told him the situation with my ankle. He recommended that I rest my ankle and not do a walk week. He often tells us "Fast is slow and slow is fast”, and that is what he told me over the phone. He told me to rest my ankle and go easy on it, because if I keep trying to heal it fast it is going to go slower but if I take it slower it will heal faster. I reluctantly agreed. As a result, we stayed in on Saturday, which was good for Sister Jensen and me because we actually got to know each other a lot better. We talked and learned more about each other. On Sunday, I went to church (probably shouldn't have, but I did) and I received a blessing from Bishop Gustafson. He told me to be wise, to counsel my Father in Heaven, to take care of my ankle and my body, and to take it easy for a little while. I had just been pushing my body to the edge and ignoring the obvious need that my body had to rest. I finally am realizing that I need to rest a bit more. I told Bishop Gustafson that I was a little concerned that my ankle wouldn't get better and I would have to go home, but he looked at me and said with surety that “I know it will heal". It was so comforting to hear that. Later that day, we met and visited with two potential investigators, had awesome lessons with them, and even set up return appointments so now they are new investigators!!!!! I JUST LOVE THE GOSPEL! I love that Heavenly Father knows what we are going through and that He will help us when we ask Him.

One of my favorite things that I read in my studies this week was in Alma 37:36-37 which literally everyone, including my sister training leaders, the mission nurse, my mission president, my ward mission leader, and the bishop have all told me. I have recognized that when more than one person says something to me, it is probably a message from my Heavenly Father. In verses 36-37, it teaches: “Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”  I have really been trying to counsel with my Heavenly Father more lately rather than just talking at Him. I have also been learning that there is wisdom in all things and sometimes it is not wise to push more than you have strength. Ugh. Darn it. But really, the more I think about it, we don't need to be pushing more than we can or should be. Our Savior already has worked beyond anything anyone could do for us. We need to rely more on the Lord and recognize that He loves us and doesn't want this journey to be miserable. If you are working to a point or pushing yourself to a point that you just are miserable, perhaps you are not doing quite what God had planned for you. Even if you think that's what He wants. Truly counsel with the Lord. I love y'all. I love my Savior. I love my Heavenly Father and I love this area. I pray for y'all and hope everything is going well!!!!

Love ❤️ 

Sister Esplin 

The sick

The one who needs wisdom

Sister training leaders in Conway

 Reeeeaaally sick Sister Esplin

 Feeling excited about the Halloween package that Sister Jensen’s mom sent

 Dorks

It’s Fall y’all!!

Fajitas!

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!

Honestly, I don’t know the rest of the lyrics to the above mentioned song, but I sure like what it says. I have just been having a good ol’ time over here in Arkansas. Well, a good ol' time might be a bit strong, but I have been having a WEEK! 

Monday...The switch. There I am. Sitting at the church since 6:30 in the morning, waiting for my new companion, Sister Jensen! She came to the church around 4:30 and we said hello again and off we went to  a dinner appointment. Then we went and tried to talk to as many people in our area book that we could because man, it gets DARK here. FAST. But sister Jensen is awesome! This area is going to be wonderful when we get through with it. Watch out satan. Sister Esplin and Sister Jensen are armed-with Book of Mormons and Bibles—and ready!!  

Tuesday. My encounter with a 104 year old woman. Sister Jensen and I were out meeting less active families and as we were driving down the street in Sherwood, when we saw the sweetest little old lady named Mozelle who was outside with her walker raking her front lawn. So we pulled over! She was so glad that we asked to rake her leaves. We talked to her and we asked how long she had been living in her house and she said 50 years. So then we asked how old she was. SHE WAS 104 years old!!! WHAT?! I am so glad that we raked her leaves. She tried to pay us $5 but we told her that we couldn't accept, that we just try to show love and service for others like Jesus would do, if He were here.

Wednesday. I don't even remember what happened. I really need to be a better journal writer.

Thursday. The. Best. Lesson. Ever.  We basically had the best lesson ever with Lavetta! She was so amazing. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and just read the first chapter of Nephi and she told us that she would read the WHOLE FIRST BOOK OF NEPHI and that she would fast about it!!!!   In fact, she is planning to take a three week fast from the Bible to focus on the Book of Mormon and then she will compare the two books and see how they compare. What a blessing it is to have the Book of Mormon AND the Bible in our lives!!  When we talked to Lavetta, she had such a glow about her and I truly felt how much the Lord loved her. It was so amazing. I could not believe that I was sitting there having such a wonderful experience with her. She wants to learn. She wants to know the truth. She is so prepared and I am so excited for her. In fact, she talked to deacons at her church about the Book of Mormon and she told them that they couldn't impact what she thought and if she found that the Book of Mormon was true, she would follow that. She is amazing!!

On Friday we had two dinners! Partly because one dinner was at 8 o'clock and the other dinner a new couple called and asked if we wanted to come over for dinner and so we said yes because we wanted to meet them! They are great! 

Saturday! We helped Sister Sandline get ready for her daughter’s birthday party.  After that, we helped a less active family clean their attic.  It felt great serving these families and we were definitely blessed and protected while we served.  When we were cleaning out the attic, poor Sister Jensen crashed through the attic floor,  and really could have gotten hurt.  Fortunately, as she was falling through the attic floor (which was the garage ceiling), she grabbed onto an attic post and held on for dear life until one of the family members helped her get to the ground safely. It was kind of scary, but I am so glad that Sister Jensen was protected in that moment.

My spiritual thought is basically to stay positive. Satan is going to want us to be negative but stay positive! I have been trying to do that. But sometimes it is tough! But try, be like Alma ! Be like the people of Ammon! BE AMAZING!! Sorry for the short letter. I have a raging headache and a muddled brain. 

Love y'all

Sister Esplin

 The new Sherwood duo--Sister Jensen and Sister Esplin

 Adventures in attic cleaning

The attic hole (garage ceiling) Sister Jensen crashed through…so scary!!

 Dinner with the Murpheys

 Notice the Sherwood Forest guy in the left corner of the sign? That little guy is on all the street signs in Sherwood.

 Helping the Sandline family get ready for the birthday party

Dinner with the Turner family