At the beginning of this month me and Sister Schulte sat down and set some goals. One was to teach 101 lessons in the month or March. At first we were excited then the first week wasn't super productive and then we realized that spring break was also this month...we were kinda losing hope for this goal of 101 lessons but we keep pushen on and prayed VERY  hard that we would have the faith enough to accomplish this worthy goal of ours and inspire people with the Holy Ghost! We made it and even more! 5 more lessons then we had planned for! This goes just to show that Heavenly Father really knows us and if we ask for help He will help us. It might not be in the way we are looking for it but He always does!

   Last Monday we went on an adventure up to Idaho City, the only place we can feel like we aren't in the mission anymore but we are! hahahaha The first place we went was to the Grave yard....don't ask me why we were following Sister Emmett!!! hahaha It was kinda nice to walk around and look at the names and there were a ton of unknown graves too. One of the sisters read one of the head stones and then the wind picked up really hard and clouds came in really fast so we headed back to the car real fast! hahaha They were joking that she had said a curse! I spotted a yellow crayon box container and turns out that it was a geo cache box! I have never found one before so we left something and each of us got a match from the match container we took! haha as we were heading back it started Snowing!!!! Only in Idaho City can it be 50* and snow! hahaha We toured main street then headed back down! About an hour drive. I'm glad I'm not up there, poor elders!

   There is a couple that we are working with to get them back to church and they want to get there as well so that's always better. Not easier by any means, but better! He has been through a lot! He has a purple star! and was a medic in the Marines and he's one of the 2 out of the 10 that are still alive. He has major PTSD. It is sooo hard for me to have friends and family to be in the military! That night was extremely hard, the HARDEST I have had on my mission by far! But he does want to get married to his girlfriend and get back to church!

   I love how the Lord works and I think I say that a lot but its sooo true!!!! We were walking and in the middle of a conversation when Sister Schulte turns and starts talking to this guy that is painting his trailer. Turns out that he has pioneer blood and he's very interested in Family History so we talked about that a bit and gave him a card to the website. We talked for quite a while and he told us we can come back anytime we want and gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet to read! Just when you think there are no more people that are interested, Heavenly Father proves you wrong! hhahaha

   Some Sisters caught our investigator Carl smoking...So we asked him at one of our appointments if he has smoked since the last time we saw him and he said no so we started a Mormon message called the sting of the scorpion and after he told us that he couldn't lie to us that he was smoking but he didn't even smoke half of it and it didn't even taste good. We informed him that he couldn't get baptized in a couple of days that he would have to wait another 2 weeks, and that he can't smoke ever again. He was very upset, not with us or God, but with himself. I think that this is definitely a blessing in disguise because now he understands a bit better the importance of Gods commandments!

  I LOVE service!!!! We were able to clean a lady's kitchen for her, which Ma has already posted on my blog and had to chance to help a family pack. We packed a whole kitchen in 2 hours! Then we came back the next day to help finish up! We have some FANTSTIC Elders in our mission! Elder Graves and Bartley came to help and stayed from 10 am to 6 pm helping them finish up!!!!

  So super BIG news! Rick told us as we were walking to have a lesson at the Balls house to ask him the baptism question and we told him that we were planning on it! hahhaha So we did and he knew exactly when he wanted to be baptized!!! April 25th!!!! its sooo exciting! Our mission has a goal for April and may to have a baptism in every ward! We have one in both of our wards for April and a couple more in Park Center that are coming!

  I get to teach the cub scouts the Boy scout moto and law in sign language this Tuesday at Blue and Gold! I'm so excited! Sister Tolman helped me refresh on some words! Its sooo nice to sign again! I miss it!  Speaken of the Tomans, their son Calen has a friend Quinn, who is awesome too, and he is being such a missionary to him! We had dinner with Quinn over the other night and we shared a scripture about prayer and helped the all understand why prayer is so important. So apparently Quinn really liked it so he had his parents start doing it and Calen was over having dinner and the parents asked him to pray for the food cuz they liked the way he did it! When they were cleaning up Calen heard Quinn ask his mom if they could be Mormons!!!!!!!! They have been praying as a family, the Tolmons, for  months now trying to find us people to teach! And MAN has the Lord blessed them with opportunities!!!!

  The woman's broadcast was beautiful yet again! I loved how much they talked about the family! I love the comment that we as women are co-creaters with God! Wow! We have such an important role in life! That was confirmed a couple minutes ago when I got an email by a women that I admire sooooo very much and that has helped me get to where I am now! I got a picture of Kailie Pew and her beautiful new baby Girl Kymri Jo Pew! I love the role we has as mothers and future mothers! I love you all so much and want you to know that I know the Plan of Salvation is God's plan for our happiness! Stay strong and Carry on!

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson 

 

 

  On our way up to the exotic Idaho City! hehe

 

 Even people in Idaho City knows that Jesus loves you!!!

 

  geo cache

 

 

 

  Welcome to Idaho City!  Only in Idaho City they would be selling a bridge!!!!

 Me and Sister Emmett we both had the same trainer and follow up trainer so we are what they call "full sisters" hahaha mission families! only in Idaho City they would be selling a bridge!!!!

....Another text from Idaho!

Another text from Idaho! I know this is not my blog but I LOVE THESE!!

Sister Clawson hard at work!! She is spending her day hard at work cleaning my elderly mother's kitchen. She's lived here for 42 years. Your daughter is a delight and such a cheerful worker!! Bless her!

She wants to say, "I love you forever and always!"

Carole Gates

On their way to do more good!!!

 

Can't tell you how much I miss and love this girl!!!

Changed by Grace!

I probably sound like a broken record or at least I do in my journal but this week was AWESOME!!!! We were blessed to teach 32 lessons!!!! That is the most I have ever taught in one week! And the crazy thing is that we could have taught so many more! These wards have sooo much potential its awesome!!!!!

  One of the saddest things is when you meet a returned missionary who loves the Book of Mormon and loved his mission and wants nothing to do with the church anymore.....I just don't understand that, but I guess that goes back to the title of this email. CHANGE. Something really cool that Sister Robison talked about in her talk at church yesterday is that by Christ's grace we are saved, yes, but it's also by His grace we are changed if we allow ourselves. By His grace we will all be resurrected but it's by how much we allow His grace to change us and help us become more like Him determines where we will live for all eternity and it's His wish that we will ALL change and return to live with our Father in Heaven!

  Saint Patrick's Day was super fun! We ate sooo much food tho! This super sweet guy that we teach/help took us out for lunch with Sister Arler and he took soo many funny pictures of us and our food with his camera! We had dinner at Sister Bishop's house which was super fun we had finger food and everything was green!!!!! Super fun! I was asking how old her boy was and he's 3 but he said I'm just a boy! hahahaha was way too cute!!!! Later that night we had a Relief Society dinner and it was a big birthday party that was really fun and a lot of people showed up! Neiva couldn't come but she was able to drop her son JoJo off for scouts and got to meet some people so that  was really good! I wore my green suspenders with my fully green outfit just like last year! It's awesome!!!!!

   I love working with people whose testimonies are there but they don't realize it! When you see that light bulb turn on its like fireworks in their eyes!!!! They realize that they do have a testimony and that the Lord has answered their questions! This month me and Sister Schulte have set some pretty high goals for our area and we were worrying about achieving them or having the faith enough to achieve them. After we had said a prayer before we left our apartment for the day we went to see this really sweet older lady and much to our surprise she had a young college student over chatting with her and we were able to talk with her and share a message and give her a Book of Mormon to read and she seemed very receptive! What an answer to prayers!!!! I know that the Lord loves us and wants the best for us and all we have to do is asking him for help and then go and do!

   We met Carl's wife! She just got out or prison and she was definitely not what we thought she would be! That teaches us to judge!!! Still working on that Christ like attribute!!! hahaha We went over the baptismal interview questions and then set up the actual interview. He passed the interview then we get a call last night from a couple of sister missionaries who saw Carl out smoking.....So we have to confront him with that and help him quit completely before he can get baptized! Me and Sister Schulte don't understand the struggle in trying to quite old habits...so we have picked some habits that we have and we are going to try our hardest to not do them for a week and then hopefully we will have more empathy and understanding and receive revelation in order to help Carl reach his goal of being baptized! We started today and it's already a lot harder then I thought! haha

   We had some open time the other day and we were wondering what we should do when we get a text from Brother Ayad asking us if we could come over and take Sister Ayad, the one that is dying of cancer, on a walk in her wheel chair. So we booked it over there and helped her get dressed and in her wheel chair and down some steps to go see the beautiful spring time! He has such amazing love for her and wants her to be the most happiest she can be right now. It was a great testimony builder of love and unconditional love! Sacrifice and Enduring to the End!

   We taught Rick about Family history this week at the Bunns and he really enjoyed it!!! He came to our ward this week too!!!! So CRAZY story!!! We have a member who hasn't come to church in a couple of years and he knows Rick! He rides with him on the temple riders association which is a bike club that I want to join some day!!! hahahaha He said he was going to come to church to see Rick but he didn't show but who knows? Rick might be an answer to somebody's prayer for this guy! Doubt your Doubts before you doubt your faith!

  I want you all to know that I love this work and the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! As I have been studying more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ the more I come to know and realize that He gave us an immeasurable gift and that He expects us to do something with it! There is this story that I want to share with Ya'll!

         During a seminary class the teacher before had asked a football player that everyone in the classed loved so much if he would be willing to do pushups for everyone in the class and he agreed to. So class starts and the teacher brings out 2 boxes of donuts and explained to the class that the football player was going to do 10 pushups for everyone in the class so they could have a donut. He does the first 10 then the next 10. Soon he hits 100 pushups and he is starting to get weak. Some kids in the class ask if they can just do them themselves and still receive the donut and the teacher says no he has to do it for everyone. Some felt that they didn't deserve the donut because they didn't do the work for it. The teacher explained that it was a free gift why not eat it? Why let it sit on the desk going to waste...why not appreciate what the football player did FOR them?         

      This isn't to the extent of what Christ did for us but its a pretty good example to the smallest amount of pain that we could even fathom that He went through for us. So I pose the question to you......are you going to let it go to waste or take this gift and let it work in you and reap the blessings that come from it and really show your Savior your appreciation for what He has done? Cuz it's done and He can't take it back.... This is my testimony that I leave with you that I know my Savior lives and that He has given me the BEST gift possible and I'm not going to let it go to waste!

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

Pictures

 

oh hey its LOLA!!!!!!!!

 

Rocken the green again!

 the license plate holder thingy says I <3 missionaries!!!!

 

Sister Ayad on our walk! She wanted the flowers in the picture too! hahaha

29 Lessons?!?!?!?!?!?!? 13 months! People

      The Lord has some BIG plans for this area! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!! I thought I would start off this letter with some inspiration from my little sister Mackenzie!!! "the greatest treasure is the wisdom of God...But even the greatest treasure can be worth nothing if not used in the right way or kept to yourself. Share the gospel, with others and you will unlock the wealth of the greatest treasure, of all the treasure in the world." How true is that! Man my little sister is so in tune with the spirit! This is why it says in the scriptures to become like a little child :meek, submissive and humble! I have learned that humility is EVERYTHING!!!! Just like when Jesus said during his last supper that someone would betray him and his Apostles didn't accuse each other, they looked into their own hearts and asked "Lord is it I?" That phrase has become such a part of my life recently! I have learned that we can receive guidance and council the greatest when we put others first and listen to others. Most of my learning and answers have come from other people. That is the way the Lord talks to me and I have to be humble enough to take it, apply it, and learn from it, which in turn is the hardest thing for me to do. But through my mission and my companionships I have learned really well that if I want to let my mission change me I HAVE to learn from others and really  become the missionary and person God wants me to become!

     I have to be honest - Monday was really hard for me I got very truncky and wanted to just stay home in my pjs! But we went out and I said a prayer to help me get the desire to do His work. Man do prayers get answered!!!! That night we had a great dinner with some less actives that were invited to a ward missionarie's house and then we saw Samuel the Investigator that we sent off to the Elders for the Young Singles Adult Ward. We shared Nephis 'I will go and do' verse and explained that just like his journey that he told us about, the Lord wants him to go and do the things that he has commanded. We invited him to call up the Elders for some yard work and a lesson and to keep praying and reading the scriptures and answers will come! So he did! They hadn't had a lesson with him for a while now so that was one answer to a prayer! On Mondays we usually don't teach any lessons but we started off this week with 3 lessons taught!

    Tuesday was just as great! Got to teach Pam, who is such a sweet English woman who has a ton of questions and is really taking everything in and trying to understand! Our last lesson with Alex before she moves down to Logan and gets baptized down there! Super sad thing not to be able to be there for her baptism but it will happen and she will thrive down in Logan! We met a girl named Meredith, who we will have to send as a referral to the Elders once we figure out if she is really interested and wants to learn, She goes to a "fellowship" church right now that talks a bit about Christ but mainly is a social thing and she said that she will have to find a new church soon. She did say that our church has the things for every stage of life which is very true and that we have the best LOOKEN Jesus in our movies! hahahaha The things we girls talk about! hahahahaha Some of her family is LDS and she has the flu so she  invited us back in a week or so. Then we taught The the Plan of Salvation which went great but he brought up the fact that his wife who is in the UK isn't LDS and if he wants a forever family she needs to be...there are something's for him to think about for sure.

   We have had some over all GREAT SPIRITUAL lessons this week! We went on Splits with the ward missionaries and I went with Sister Lewis and we went to a guy's house that she was his mom's hair dresser. He opened up and was ready to shut the door in our face till she brought up his mom and his family. If it wasn't for her there is NO WAY we would have been able to talk to him and have such a great emotional experience. He even asked us how he would ask God why certain things happened to him when he was a kid....and we just said to ask and ask what he was supposed to learn from it but not to let that get in the way of his progress to become like his Savior and his testimony. Really cool experiences happen all the time! We had three visits like this  where we would read a scripture finish and then the member or investigator would realize what they needed to learn that day! I love when people say that it was the perfect timing and perfect lesson to learn for that day that they needed that because of what was happening in their life! It just goes to show that Heavenly Father knows EXACTLY what you need EXACTLY when you need it and that He knows you better than you know yourself!

    Shout out to Sister Tolmon real fast or mom knows her as Hannah she took us to dinner the night she was leaving on a big trip to Texas and took us to this famous restaurant in Boise its called Tusconos! Super delicious Dad! You would love this place! They come around with Meat of all sorts on big metal cabob things hahaha can't figure out the word for them! And they just give you as much as you want and they just keep everything rotating till you say stop! I havn't had so much meat in my life!!!! Well they have this delicacy called chicken heart that they bring around and man are they tiny and they keep bringing it around and Sister Schulte had one!!!!! You have to realize that she had been vegetarian for about 2 years a couple of years ago so this is a big thing and later that night I realized that she had two hearts in her!!!! We busted up laughing the rest of the way home!!!!!!!!

    We have been going around the ward getting to know and meeting people and its crazy how many people don't understand what the Gospel is and what we believe even as members! I wish we could sit down with each of them and have a very layed back conversation and try to help them understand many misconceptions. We had dinner with one of the people that I have been talking about and it was a really good time! It was so nice to be able to talk with them and answer some of their questions when they got comfortable enough with us! I wish I could do that with everyone! The wife of the member makes wedding dresses and all other types of dresses too and she never had one class! She taught herself everything! Talk about talent so me being me we talked about that a bit too! hahahaha

      I love having two sacraments to go to on Sunday! It's a long day tho, 6 hours of church, but totally worth it! Dinner got canceled so we took that opportunity to take a Sunday nap which has been missed soooo much!!!! It was super nice!  We were finally able to contact a referral from the Elders for Bodour and she said to call her on Friday to set something up and that she really needed to talk with us but she was taking an exam! She has 2 super cute kids so we are super excited about this opportunity to get to know her and teach her about the Gospel! Our lesson with Cynthia went really well but she is still super scared to ask her dad for permission to get baptized she just doesn't want to disappoint her dad. That is one of the hardest things about life I think - Wanting to be happy and do things that will bring that happiness and in turn disappoint the people we love the most....

   I want you all to know that I know the church is true and that President Monson has been called of God to lead and guide the church, yes he is just like us and ordinary man with a very extraordinary calling and responsibility to stay as close as humanly possible to Heavenly Father to receive that revelation through the Priesthood which he holds for the whole earth!

  So give this little story some thought....

                   So a man dies and he goes to the judgment seat and the man there asks hi what he knows about Jesus Christ ,

    So he starts to tell him that He was born of a virgin taught many lived in Egypt

     then the man says okay tell me more

   He goes on to tell him that He feed the hungry,  rose Lazereth from the dead, healed the blind

  Well done says the man is there any more?

   He died for us on Calvary and rose 3 days later.

   That's great! You can go now, says the man.

   The next person who died comes in and the man asks tell me what you know about Jesus Christ and the person looks up then falls on his knees and says MASTER!!!!

       Do we really know our Savior Jesus Christ?

 

 I love you all so much and want you to know that I have a relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ and am learning everyday more about Him and His infinite Atonement! Have a fantastic week all!!!!!

--
<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

 

 

  Like my friend? he thinks hes cool!!!! #tracting

 

 Look closely at the house window behind us!!!! CREEPY!!!!!!!!

 

 "work work work there is no satisfactory substitute especially in missionary work!"

 

 worked so hard I busted my Zipper we laughed SSSSSOOOOOOOOOOO hard!!!!!!!

 

Tacnonos yum!!!!!

 

...An Email from the Robisons

Attached is a picture of your daughter and her companion in front of our home. They have been teaching the gospel to the man in the background in the plaid shirt. His name is Rick Gibson and he is truly excited about the opportunity he has to be baptized into the church. Your girls are doing a wonderful job teaching him and preparing him for baptism. It is has been our pleasure to watch them work with Rick in gospel discussions in our home the last three Saturdays.

They are great missionaries and truly carry and convey the Holy Spirit of God.  You have every reason to be proud of their service and dedication.  Thank you for your sacrifice and letting them come to Boise to share the Gospel.

The other two men in the picture are Dennis Wallace, a member if the Church who is Rick Gibson's best friend and motorcycle buddy. He is the tall one. The shorter man on the left is Rick's future bishop, Bishop Don Arnold.   

It is always a blessing for my wife and I to have your daughters in our home. Our youngest son, Samuel, is also serving a mission. He is in Irvine California.  We always appreciate hearing news of his activities and seeing pictures of him that the members there occasionally send to us. We thought you might like the same.

With warmest regards,
Theron and Rebecca Robison

 

 

So Tired!

 

   One thing I have learned is that you know when you are doing this whole missionary thing right is when you are soooo tired! hahaha

 This week has been great again!!! We met with Tre and talked about Prayer and he shared his experience of when he finally just knelt down this week to pray and ask God for help that when he finished within 20 mins everything was worked out! Everything that he has asked for and for help with showed up in one way or another! He was so excited and so thankful for it! He has commited to read and pray every day and pray about a date to be baptized! The only thing is that he might have a job up in Alaska which is great but he would be moving there and stay till summer is up...which is okay because we can send the missionaries to him up there but we would love to be there for his baptism! 

   We had a GREAT lesson on the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity with Drake and one with Rick and they both went WAY opposite directions! Drake really wants to understand the LDS culture. He deals with people who have drug and porn addictions and is trying to understand how he can help the LDS families that are going through this addiction recovery. Where Rick is totally on track and on the same page with everything! He is so ready to be baptized its great!!!! He shared some of his music ministry songs he wrote with us and it was sooo good and his harmonica playing too! He is one talented guy that's for sure! 

  Marry is still having a hard time quitting smoking. but she still really wants to be baptized. We taught her the Restoration this week and she told us sooo much about her past....too much...but it shows us how far she has come and her commitment to becoming better and like her Savior Jesus Christ, first through entering the waters of baptism. 

   Neiva is still not really progressing and Satan is doing everything in his power to make it so we can not take members over to their house to introduce them! We believe having a friend for her is the key for change and getting her to church to feel the spirit! We got to read the Book of Mormon with her and Ismael which went really good and she said that she would wright a reminder to pray and read everyday on her mirror in her room! We are just going to keep reading with her till she catches the fire and does it herself!

   Brother Fergeson is a recent convert and he is almost at his year mark to be able to enter the temple so him and his wife are taking the temple prep classes! He is still on fire as much as he was when he was first baptized! He received the Melchizedek priesthood this Sunday! It was an awesome experience to be a part of. When they were giving him a blessing after ordaining him Lacie popped into my head and I could see the way she was so proud of her son Josh and the tears coming from her eyes when he received the priesthood! 

  Alex is doing great! We have a tentative baptismal date set for her for the 26 or March! Carl is doing great as well! He is in the homeless shelter right now till he can find an apartment that both he and his wife can live in when she gets out of jail, which should be very soon and we pushed back his baptismal date to the 28th so she could be there so fingers crossed! AND she is LDS! We didn't know that so he invited her to come take the lessons with him again! How cool huh?!

  The Luises took us out for dinner and told the waitresses that it was my birthday!....So they start to clap and I'm like oh how cool its someones birthday and then they put the ice cream in front of me......I don't think I could have gotten any redder!!!!!!!!! Now to get him back! hahahha Speaking of Birthdays, it was Sister Toleman's birthday and we pulled a prank on her that Sister Schulte was getting transferred and we got her soo good! But we had dinner at her house for her birthday to make up for it! hahaha 

   I love you all so much and love hearing from you! I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each and everyone of us! Let the Atonement work in your life by actively seeking for it and seeking for the healing that comes through repentance and through the Atonement! Christ didn't make the Atonement for it just to sit there untouched...use it to its fullness even if you don't think you are worth it! Study Alma 5 this week and ask yourself those same sole searching questions Alma asks! You will see miracles and understanding of the Gospel and who you are!

--

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

Meetings upon Meetings Make Days Confusing!

So these last two weeks have been crazy and super confusing...I'm still not totally sure what day it is. SO what went on during the week of Feb 16....

   We had this awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation with Pam, an investigator. It went really well and I asked her to be baptized then she over analyzed EVERYTHING, and said probably not, after she said yes, might I add, and that she rather take the chance of being wrong and only making it to the Terrestrial Kingdom....WHAT?!? That's one thing I don't get is that we teach about this wonderful plan and tell her how easy it is to achieve, living with God and she wants to settle for less. BUT she loves the LDS people! We are still working with her and gave her some things to study. She loves to study...that's confusing too!! hahaha We had another Nerf war at the Tolman's for dinner. It didn't last very long because Calen was attacking me for my bag so I sat on him. His mom gave me permission though, kinda like I would sit on Joey and Zach! Ha! We went to the Relief Society meeting that night where they taught how to sprout things...ya I had NO idea what was going on! Everyone was eating these sprouts and I looked everything over and picked up a cucumber and said that I know what this is and ate it and Sister Farnsworth made fun of me for it the REST of the night! Ha Just like the good ol' days back home!

 Wednesday we helped clean this really sweet guy's house. He has the same camera I have at home so I got to play with it for a bit and then he took some "action shots" of us cleaning! It was great! Then we went and taught Neiva about the Priesthood and the organization of the church and how important missionary work and service is. The lesson was SO great that we were late for zone choir practice. Then we went to institute with Alex again and she was there early sitting next to Josh, who is in her ward! YES! It is awesome to see investigators be independent! Dinner was a GREAT adventure! We showed up at the wrong Grover's. This one, his wife isn't a member so we went in and stayed 15 minutes, then rushed to dinner 20 minutes late! Ha! So awkward! We have decided if a college had a class on being awkward, me and Sister Schulte would teach the 400 class!!!!! We are PROS!!!!!

  Thursday was our Zone Conference! It was great, like always! hahaha We learned a lot about not giving up on people and to stay focused so we can let our mission change us as people and not just as missionaries. We had some GREAT lessons these last two weeks!!! We had to pass Samuel off to the YSA Elders though, kinda sad, but he's doing pretty great we hear! Which is sooo exciting!!! We went over to the Ayads house and had the most emotional talk/lesson that we have ever had! Sister Ayad is dying and Bruno is having such a hard time with it! He is also having a hard time getting answers from God and feels so alone! We told him that he is never alone and that maybe his question is being answered in a way that he doesn't comprehend.....in a way that he doesn't realize...maybe through others and the ward? We were all in tears.

    On a bright note we have another investigator and we taught him the Restoration at the Brown's house and it went SOOOO well!!! He has had such a hard life and really wants to change and not be selfish anymore and put God first. At the end of the lesson I asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes!!!!! We are so excited to teach him two times a week and get him prepared to enter the waters of baptism! He wasn't able to come to church this week like he said he would so we will see how we can help him get there. That is one of our goals that we are working on is to do our best and pray for ways to help our investigators get to church! Oh! Two of our less active members came together to church this week!!!! It was sooo exciting seeing them both help each other get there!!! It's true if they have a friend its easier to go back to church!!!!

  We also had leadership exchanges where all the senior companions go together and the juniors go together. I was with Sister Shepherdson and we had such a great time! We talked a lot about much deeper things then I would talk to anyone about. She also goes home in a couple of days so she understands where I'm coming from and visa versa. The training that we had was great! We were challenged to teach a one minute lesson on any of the lessons that we teach and use things around us to connect to the people that we would be talking to. President Winder gave each of us a rock that said Be a little Bolder on it! How cute huh?! It's so true and let me tell you if we just open our mouths the Lord can and WILL make miracles happen!

   We were able to go to the temple on Friday! I love the temple soooo much! I wish I could go more often  and just be closer to my Heavenly Father! Ya'll should go as MUCH as you can! We will NEVER stop learning from the temple, never! After we went with Sister Cluff to the new Meridian temple site and saw the progress there. There isn't much you can see but they are doing a lot with plumbing and digging holes as well. We went to Café Rio for lunch and there was one Elder there. weird huh? just 1. He just got back from his mission and then it hit me - I have 5 1/2 months till then! Wow! It will be nice to be home but I don't want to leave the mission field! I have decided to give it my all, more than my all! To give even more than I have and then I have been giving! Go and do no matter what! Never giving up!

  We have a baptismal date for Alex for March 26 and her baptismal interview with President as well!!! It is going to be SOOO great!!! We are super excited!! We had a great lesson with Cynthia! She is so excited and ready to be baptized but because her dad made such a big deal when her mom got baptized she is scared to ask him for permission and to disappoint him. My heart hurt so bad for her when she had to excuse herself to go cry! We are praying sooo hard that his heart will be softened when she asks him, when he sees how important it is to her!

  We were able to hear From Elder L Tom Perry this Sunday and it was so eye opening! First off, Sister Marriott spoke and she spoke about loving everyone and understanding how to love people by understanding how God loves them! It felt like she was directly talking to me! Mom had brought up letting grudges go and becoming a forgiving loving person like Jesus Christ and that is one thing that I have been working on a lot lately and then Sister Marriott talks about it! Apparently it need to sink in that I need to try harder and  fix things at home as well!!! So that is exactly what im doing! Elder Perry gave us 4 things to work on

1.) Keep our Body's pure and clean and healthy

2.) Value truths and the sources they come from and seek for them

3.) Become a trusted generation and a foundation for others - be that example like the Savior

4.) Learn eternal truths by studying the Scriptures!

   Honestly is sucks to be away from family! I receive the strength to do it from what Doctrine and Covenants 31:3, 5&6 has to say! Read it! 

  3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.

 5 Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Wherefore, your family shall live.

 6 Behold, verily I say unto you, go from them only for a little time, and declare my word, and I will prepare a place for them.

 I know that the Gospel is true and that it WILL change peoples life's if they just let it! I love you all sooo much!!!!!

--

<3 Sister Ashley Clawson

 

 Temple time with cluffs at the new site

 

 Temple Time!

  I stole sister schultes glasses! hahaha

 

Sister Workman's last day! She came in with me a year ago!