...Pics from Idaho

...A sweet sister from Gilbert was visiting her family in Idaho and brought some things back with her for me from Ashley.  She had nothing but wonderful things to say about Sis Clawson! It was a wonderful visit and even better to hear that my sweet daughter is doing good things and is happy!

 

Among these things were a packet of pictures Ashley sent.

 

 Four Elders in the back of a car after zone lunch. Naughty Elders!

 

This is how we do comp inventory - list 5 things we love/hate about each other then put them on our foreheads apparently! Ha!

 

 Me and this adoreable dog!

 

 Sad and scared bunnies!

 

 This is Mia she's not in our ward but we did an Easter thing for her mom in Sis Archeleta's old area and she is just the cutest thing! She jumped into my arms when I saw her! <3

 

 Two districts: Our district got split up.

Stark, Bonaccorso, Anderson, John, Schrink, Morastica, Madrit, McChesney

Smith, Gummow, Me, Archuleta

My 2nd District

Stark, Anderson, Madrid (DL), McChesney, Me, Archuleta

 

 There are SO many flowers here! I love them all!

 

 We like the swings. I feel like a princess!

 

 Don't worry. I'm not taken this while I'm driving! Ha!

 

 Went to Tangos and had this Mexican Mango flavored soda. Yum!

 

 

 

 Laying down on the job!

 

 

 

 

 

 We taught a lesson about missions to the Activity Day girls and this girl has claimed me as her sister! Ha! So cute!!!

 This is our sweet little Aden. We love his so much! He said if we were younger or he was older he would date us! Ha!

We told the Matsons at dinner that this guy said we were the cutest missionaries he's ever seen and Aden said that's what he thought when he first saw us! Awe!!

He reminds me of Joey! Ha! <3

 

 My 1st District

Lucerro, McChesney, Bonaccorso, John (DL), Stark, Schrink, Del Nero, Gummo, me!

 

 Okay so there are a lot of little rivers and canals and Creeks. So this one was too "big" for Sis Archuleta to jump over when I could straddle it....Ha, it took her forever to get over. She only did it because there were Llamas on the other side! Ha!

 

We were taking pictures while tearing up garderns to put flowers in! We were beasts! Ha! Had to take time to take pictures!

 

It's a jungle! 

 

 My first Zone (Meridian North Zone)

Back row - Jones, McChesney, Jone, Schrink, Bodene, Stark, Popline (ZL), Wright (ZL), don't know, don't know, Ferrell, Don't know, Bonaccorso, Lucerro

Front row - Don't know, Cabrrera, Del Nero, Gummow, me Suton, Sherperdson

 

 Sister Archuleta likes taking pics of me driving and eating.

 

 This is Sister Benson my mission grandma! She is from England and has a fantastic accent and is almost 90  & her husband is 92!

 

 I found another toe thumb twin!

 

 Elder and Stark picked up Elder Madrid... This is a VERY common thing! Elders are so funny!

 

 My name tag

 

 Sister Archulta did my hair and both me and Bethany Matson's make up!

I love my mom so much and I'm going to wear the other half of the heart for my whole mission so she is ALWAYS with me! 

SO I have only one hour to write everyone so I am going to send a huge letter next week! I promise! Just wanted to let all of y'all know that I love you and I am doing great here in Idaho!!! And to always wear sunscreen!!!! Even in Idaho!!! hahaha! I got burnt hiking!

Well, till next week, stay strong and carry on!!!

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

 

....pic sent by Sis Christensen

I love getting pictures from ward members where Ashley is serving!!! Sent from the Christensens!!!

Sisters Clawson, Christensen, and Archuletta!!!

They brought some investigators to be taught in our home & did a wonderful job. Your daughter is a wonderful missionary & it was an honor to have her in our home. She is doing a great work here - you should be very proud! :)

 Sorry about yestardays letter being so short we had transfers and EVERYONE was at our library so alot of confusion. I will send out pictures next week I promise. I keep forgetting my camera cord! haha

  We had a great week this week! We got 2 new investigators Gloria and Gary. Gloria was outside planting flowers and we were going to visit a less active member in the ward. We stopped by to ask her if she needed any help and she said we could so we drove home and got our service clothes. I think we are just going to keep a pair in the car from now on ha! We went back and helped her plant these beautiful flowers. It was super fun to plant flowers! She and her husband both went through the Gilbert open house and loved it! They weren't planning on it but where driving by and decided to stop and tour it! So we talked about that for awhile. They invited us in and I shared Moroni's promise with them and they said we could come back anytime and visit and share a message! So thats super exciting for us! I love how the Lord puts us in places that we can help people and gives us things that are common with the people who are prepared to meet us! I know the Lord watches out for us missionaries!

  We have this lady in our ward that is from Argentina. I'm sure I've already told ya'll this but she owns a restauraunt called Tangoes where they sell empanadas and she is going to take us there every Wednesday for lunch now! She is such a sweet lady!!!! Love her so much!!

  Zone Conference was great!!! We focused mainly on our purpose and coming unto Christ ourselves. President Winder said "If we are going to invite others to come unto Christ we have to be with him". So in order for us to help people come unto Christ we ourselves have to be striving to come closer to Christ. Basically not being hyprocritical. Here are some of my notes:

      Faith; relying completely on God and trusting him completely      Why would he trust us if we don't trust him? That question really hit me and its soooo true!   Faith leads to action and changing to become like Christ

      Repentance; to change our hearts to become more like Christ  They gave us an example: we have this cleanest car challenge and we clean our cars on Monday and zone conference was on Thurs SO just like when we take the Sacrament on Sunday and like baptism we are cleansed from our sins. Throughout the week we fall short and we aren't perfect so we sin and we can use repentance. Just like water to wash the car again we can be forgiven and cleaned from our sins. Its somthing that we have to work at everyday!

   Baptism; We have taken his name on us and we serve him by serving others.

  Holy Ghost; He should always be our companion throughout the day for me my 3rd companion! haha

  Enduring to the End; "Salvation is not a cheap experience and it was Never Easy!" "Why would it be easy for us if it was NEVER EASY for Him?!" Elder Hollands quotes.

 We also talked alot about the Family A Proclamation to the world. If you haven't read it in a while, go back and read over it! It will give you sooo much guidance in your family life and the roles of husband and wife! I loved learning more about it although I am FAR from getting married! hahha

   So Elder Stark got transphered out of our district but one thing he would do was # hashtag EVERYTHING! hahah and so In rememberence of Elder Stark hahaha #ComeuntoChrist!   We learned sooo much from this conference! It was awesome! and I got to meet a lot more Elders and Sisters!  We did yardwork later that night for a less active member in our ward who is now a practicing Buddhist. Its quite interesting to listen to her and what she believes :)

    Saturday we go the transfer calls so we decided to have lunch as a district to listen to the voicemail together but the Assistants to the Presidents (APs) sent out a text saying that it would come later that day so we all decided to wait and not listen to it till 8:30 that night so we all could listen to it together! So we did and it came at 3:30! It was sooo hard not to listen to it! But it was such a relief when I head I was staying!

   So Sister Archuleta is Basque and Idaho is the only community of Basque people. We have one in our ward that we had dinner with and he was describing the attributes that they have and everything that he said perfectly described Sister Archuleta it was great! So Basques and short stalky built people and we took a picture of this 35 year old man's calves right next to 20 year old Sister Archuleta and they were almost the same size! Crazy huh?! 

    Our lessons with our 2 investigators Carrie and Dustin are going great! Carrie prayed at the end of the lesson! Ha! She even said a Mormon prayer! hahaha You wouldn't be able to tell that she isn't LDS! Their countenance has changed sooo much since we started teaching them! It amazing what the Light of Christ will do to a person and how you can see their understnading and faith grow just through their countenance. That is why it is sooo important members of the church to strive to have His love shine through us in everything we do and everywhere we go!

  We are also working with a family that the parents are inactive and the boys have not been baptized. They are the sweetest boys and always have so many great questions and they are really learning alot! They have a pet snake that me and Sister Archuleta LOVE! So we go over there to play with the snake every once in a while and we have become so close with this family and they love having us over so hopefully this week we will commit the boys to be baptized in June!

  So a lot of anticipation is in the air right now in the Cloverdale ward and all I can do is increase my Faith in God that these four investigators, no these 4 friends that I have made out here in Idaho will accept the invitation to get baptized and progress on their journey back to their Heavenly Father! I have really come to love them and pray every night that they will realize the truth of the Gospel and find out for themselves that what we teach and what the Holy Ghost testifies to their heart is true!

 I absolutely LOVE being on a mission! I wouldn't trade it for anything! I have learned sooo much and my faith has grown immensely! I have felt the love that Heavenly Father has for each of the people we go teach and talk with and it breaks my heart when they don't accept our help on this crazy journey called life. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and I know that there is sooo much more that I need to learn about being a missionary and the Gospel and I know that Sister Archuleta is the only one that can help me with a couple of these and that is why we are still together! Thats what I love about companionships because we help each other grow in ways only we can help them with! It's SO true! I love you all and hope to hear from ya'll soon!! Stay strong and Carry on! and Always look to God for guidance! There are so many ways to do that through prayer and scrpiture study and listening to the prophets and reading their words!

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson  

 

#ComeuntoChrist!

I'm Staying!!!!

Yes its official! I did not get transfered!!!!! Super exciting!!! SO this week was really fun! We had a great week with teaching people! SO the big update! Carrie and Dustin our investigators are doing really well and progressing! This Saturday we are going to extend the invitation to be baptized! We both feel really strongly that they will accept. They will have to get married before they can get baptized though. So fingers crossed! This week went by soo fast I am not even sure what happend to be honest! ha! I'll write more about it next week! I love you all and I know that The Church Of Jesus Christ is true! And that it will bring you closer to Christ and make you soo much more happier! :)

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

Three Months Today!

Its been 3 months already!!!! Crazy how time flies! It's true what they say about missions - days go slow weeks go fast! Our bishop's son got home from Honduras, however you spell that, last week and we finally met him on Monday when we had Family Home Eveing with them! They are such a great cute family!

So dentist news here we go; I went in Tuesday  and the tooth that I had chipped only had  a small cavity in it. I really didn't want them to numb my mouth so I asked if they could do it without numbing me. They said they could if I really wanted to and to let them know if anything hurt really bad. So I did and the stupid numbing hurt more than them drilling on my tooth! I was so proud that I did it without the numbing stuff!! Then he looked over the other side just to make sure there was nothing bad.....well he found a big cavity that he did have to numb for so the tender mercy from this story is that I only had one side of my mouth numbed not both! :) hahaha

 We had exchanges this week which was an interesting experience, not my favorite. This sister is going home in a few months and is super trunky! It was hard BUT I got to sleep in a yert!!!! What is a yert, you ask? Well it is a oxygen building that has a kitchen, very tiny, and a bathroom. It's pretty cool! I felt like I was camping! hahaha

 We talked to a lot of people this week and got into some less active members houses that we havn't been able to in a long time, which was great!

 Me and Sister Archuleta spoke in church yesterday. I always seem to speak on Mothers Day! hhaha It was really good. We talked with the RM (returned missionary) and we had 2 investigators come to church and they said they really liked it and they would have stayed the whole time if they didnt have a Mothers Day lunch they had to be at. I am so excited to teach them more!

 Transfers are this week on Saturday! I am soo nervous! I don't want to leave my area or my companion Sister Archuleta! I pray we stay together. If not Heavenly Father has something different and better in store for us.

 I loved talking to my family yesterday on Mothers Day and if any one knows my parents there were alot of tears but happy tears of coarse! I love this work tho! I was really scared of becoming homesick after I talked with them but I didnt. The Lord blesses his missionaries thats for sure. My first thought after I said bye was back to work! I can't express to all of you how much the Gospel helps with life!

 

 Well dad asked me to explain in my own words some chapters out of the Book of Mormon found in Ether. so here it is:

     Ether 3:  The Lord asked the Brother of Jared what he would have him do about the darkness in the barges that they built so in this chapter the Brother of Jared brought his solution or answer to the Lord to see if it would work and to ask God in faith to make these stones shine forth. The lesson from this story  is that he didnt just go outside his tent and find rocks that would be fine. He climbed the tallest mountain and uesd his skills and time to make these perfect white stones. Thats what God asks of us when we have decisions to make - to really study and ponder and do research then decide and bring that decision to him in faith that if it isn't the correct choice that you will change and do what he wants of you. Because of the Brother of Jared's faith he saw the finger of Jesus when he touched the stones to make light eluminate from them. Jesus then showed himself unto him and ministered the same things that he would tell the Nephites. He told him to write down His words and seal them up to the Lord. He wote them in a language no one knew with the power of God and Jesus gave him 2 stones, the seer stones, to hide up with the writings so when its time for the people to know the full truth again they could translate using the stones depending on their faith and by the power of God.
 

Ether 4: These are my thoughts, tell me if I'm wrong but here Moroni sealed up the words of the Brother of Jared and hid them and because they are not writen in the Book Of Mormon, just talked about.  They are still hidden from us because of the lack of faith in this world because Moroni says that when we are faithful the Lord will reveal these revalations that Jesus gave to the Brother of Jared to us. So there is still more that we can read and learn if people would loose their pride and become faithful rightouse people.
 

Ether 5:  Simply that the Lord will show the plates to 3 witnesses at first for a testimony that the golden plates are real and are true scripture from God because NO ONE can deny or defile someone's testimony, something that they know is true deep down with all their heart. And that the Book of Mormon will testify of itself, which it does several times through prophets revelations and prophecies.
 

Ehter 6:  It took them 344 days to get to the Americas, which is the promised land. When the Brother of Jared and Jared were about to die the people wanted them to annoint a king but the Brother of Jared said that that would only lead to wickedness and captivity, which it did, but did it anyway because the people asked.
 

  I really love the Book of Ether! it has fantastic chapters that are full of wisdom and guidence for our lifes! Everything is going great here and its finally getting warm! ha! I know that my Savior Jesus Christ came to a young 14 year old boy named Joseph Smith. And because of his humility and restored the fullness of His Gospel back to the earth. And I am so thankful for that and to be in HIS church! I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!!

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

 

 

We have tooo much fun!!!! Just driving around! Of course this was taken while we were stopped though! hahhaa 

 

the yert!!!

 

 Me and Sister Archie! So much fun!!!

 

 

 The biggest one I've ever seen!!!
.

What a week!

 

This week has gone by so flippin slow!!!! hahaha So can I just say that tracting if super awesome!!! I love it!!! We talked with this really sweet lady Colleen. We shared a message with her and talked about the family history center. She seemed super interested in it, which is really exciting! So we are going to go back this week to see her and see if she wants to go there with us!

 We have this less active who has been through a really bad divorce, starting with his wife cheating on him with his best friend, who was the reason he is a member of the church. How sad.... he has three little boys  that are adorable!!! His heart is very hard towards God and it's really sad. He thinks he's a lost cause when it comes to going back to church and regaining that faith that he once had. All because of a choice that someone he really loved chose. It made me really think about the choices I have made and how they would effect people and strive now to make the choices that will help people on their path through this life back to our Heavenly Father. So me an Sister Archuleta are working on softening his heart with our testimonies and teaching him that God really does love him. We were talking about agency with him and he brought up the Choose Your Own Adventure books and compared that to life! I have NEVER thought of it that way before!!! But it is SO true!!!! With every choice we make there are different outcomes! And we have to realize that God has given us our agency and everything that happens is because of a choice we or someone else has made in our lifes!

 What is really funny is that we have a lady that missionaries have been seeing since December and she has told us that she doesn't want to take the lessons because her friend said they were boring...so we invited Bishop over to meet her and she started asking him questions that she has never asked us about the Gospel! I think she felt more comfortable because he was older then her...idk but we ended up teaching her the Plan of Salvation, which is one of the lessons we teach and so she has FINALLY become a new investigator!!!!!! She is so stubborn I love her!!!

 Ok so the best little Argentine restaurant is located within 20 mins of where we are! Sister Bremmer owns it and she took me and Sister Archuleta to it. It's called Tangos! They have delicious Empanadas!!!! I know Kaylie would enjoy that! hahaha. Definitely a place I will have to come when my mission is over ha!

 We met this guy Roy while tracting a couple weeks ago and we went to see him and got to see his kids. He is also going through a divorce but this one is definitely smoother than the other one and we told him that we were there for him even though we are only 20 year old girls, that we did care about him. So we had a lesson with him a couple days after about the Restoration and he already knew a lot and had many quesitons for us. We taught it on the doorstep because the kids were sleeping but the Spirit was still there and supper srong! I love this work! He agrees to come to church not next sunday but the following one. I am so excited to be able to teach him more and help him learn!

 The stake had a roadshow this Wednesday and we as missionaries in the stake sang a medly of primary missionary songs! It was great! Everyone loved it and many members said that they could feel the Spirit! :) We were pacticing right before we went on in a small little rooom with 14 missionaries! That room was exploding with how strong the Spirit was present! I will never forget the way the sound of worthy preisthood holder's voices lightly topped with Sisters voices echoing off those four walls!

  So there is this super cute kids Aiden from the ward that the Matsons live in that came over and had dinner with us! It was a blast!!! We told the Matsons about how we were tracting and this guy answered the door and said, "I have never seen such beautiful missionaries before!" After we told them Aden said "That's what I thought when I first met you!!!" What a sweetie! And that if we were younger or he was older he would totally marry us!!! hahahaha love that kid!!! He reminds me of Joey!!!

Oh so are you ready for the exciting news?! I have yet another cavity.....I guess I had chipped my tooth on something and a cavity worked its way in! Oh and I can almost fit my retainers again! OUCH! My teeth hurt so bad! ha!

 I think people have just realized how strange I am! hahah I love it though! I love being Sister Ashley Clawson and wouldn't give it up for anything! Well i love you all and the church is true so nothing else matters!!!!

 

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson!

PS. Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there!!!