Sister Ashley Wilson

Nebraska Omaha Mission

11027 Martha St

Omaha, NE 68144


Monday, February 24, 2014

Hey Family! Well this week was really rough not gonna lie. A lot of stuff happened and is happening...but its all good and gonna work out:) The Lord is on our side helping us and with Him we can overcome anything. So we did A TON of service this week....We went down to Sioux City and helped the H's paint and build their house. Sister H is a member but her husband wants nothin to do with the church. He is fighting cancer right now and is real sick but wont just sit down and rest. Its so sad....Sister H is a mess because shes so worried about him....and she was scared cuz he HATES being around people from the church. But we ended up painting a room with him and the elders and ended up getting into a REALLY good conversation with him. He opened up and told us how hard it was to have to keep going into surgery and not bein able to do all the things he loves. He feels like he's failing as a husband and not bein the kind of man she needs. He can't take care of her cuz shes always takin care of him. It was so sad. He's this huge redneck tough guy, but when he opened up he was the sweetest person. Anyways we were there all day....and we just talked with him. That night Sister H called us crying saying that her husband wants me and Sister K to come to dinner sometime!! It was HUGE! she was sooo happy. She kept thanking us for not bein scared of him (He puts on this huge tough guy front) and for just loving him and talkin to him. It was cool!:)
Like I said....a lot happened this week that was rough.....so we literally did service ALL day everyday! haha which I LOVE! I can probably now build my own house!:) haha Ive learned how to do SOO much!!! But we did get to meet with C this week. She is J's best friend. J is struggling really really really bad. It absolutely breaks my heart...... And C is really struggling cuz its her best friend. We ended up getting into this huge deep conversation about the Plan of Salvation. She believes and LOVES everything about it. She wants us to start teaching her the lessons!! Which is huge coming from her! The spirit was SO strong in that lesson. She was a music major so music is the way to her heart. We sang 3 hymns to her and she was bawling sayin we were angels sent to her and knows that this is somethin special we are sharin. Ah we are finally gettin somewhere with her!
Well this week has been super rough....all our investigators are all goin through HUGE trials in their lives...either they have just lost a loved one or have cancer or somethin...its soo sad. We are constantly having to drop other appointments so we can go help these people in their emergencies. Its so sad...it breaks my heart. I am just so grateful for the gospel in my life. I have no idea where I would be without it. it brings such peace and comfort and happiness that you can't find anywhere else. Just like in Jacob 2:8....this gospel heals the wounded soul. It makes right what is so unfair about life. It is heartbreaking seein so much hard trials every day.....but I know that with this gospel...it makes everything just a little easier. It makes our trials bearable. Its been hard cuz our numbers have dropped drastically....and Satan has been workin on us makin us feel that we aren't successful missionaires cuz we aren't gettin any baptisms even close or anything....but then this morning, we got a phone call from some lady in Colorado. She was J's daughter. She is a member of the church. She said that they went and visited J 2 days ago and all J could talk about was her "Angels"...us. The lady was bawlin as she talked sayin she knew J was gonna be dyin soon....and couldn't begin to thank us for bein there exactly when Judy needed us. She knew that we were God sent and that we were angels. She said we were "Celestial Angels" and that to tell our parents how grateful they are that they raised us. She said she knew all Sister Missionaires are special.....but we weren't just special because we are Sister missionaires...that we are special because we are who we are. She said that my testimony about My brother Jared has never left Judy's mind and that's what brings her comfort in her hardest times. She said that Judy said I had changed her life......it was Amazing. The spirit was SO strong...I will never forget that phone call. I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each and every one of us. I know that he will be there for us when we are at our weakest and I know He will send others into our path to be our angels. I am so grateful for this decision I made to be the Lord's missionary. It is the hardest thing I have ever done at times....Satan can be a mean ol guy....but it is the BEST and most rewarding thing I have ever done. Serving our Heavenly Father is a priviledge. I have never felt so much happiness and so close to my Heavenly Father. I love you all and pray for each and every one of you! Have a wonderful week!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Hey! Ok so this week was really really good!!! So we have spent many many hours in Floyd Valley Apartments....(This really ghetto apartment building that used to be a hospital) Hospitals freak me out...and this one freaks me out even more cuz its SUPER old. There are stories that everyone tells us that there are dead bodies buried all around the hospital....yea creepy. Anyways, we went and saw this lady C. Oh my heck she is So cute! I love her to death. She smokes like crazy and has really bad health...anyways we had a strong feeling to go and see how she was doin cuz she turned us down the other day cuz she was busy watchin "The bachelor" (I don't blame her) JK! But we went in and she was crying sayin she just wanted to go smoke...we had a really powerful conversation about overcoming temptation and then she started tellin us that the reason she wanted to quit smokin so bad was because she wanted to be here on earth with her family so bad. She wasn't ready to die....then somehow we got into this super deep conversation about the Plan of Salvation. I bore testimony of the next life and how her husband was over there waitin for her and watchin over her. She was bawlin...the spirit was so strong! It was real cool:) She asked us to please come back over and teach her more:) After we saw C we went and saw J:) Man I love J. That was such a cool lesson. She was feelin real sick.....the chemo has not been goin so good with her. Her family couldn't come see her cuz they are all a little sick....so she was real lonely and sad and scared. We knocked on the door and she said, "Oh I been prayin for you guys to come" It was so sweet:) We went in and shared a bunch of scriptures to help comfort her and cheer her up...then we sung her "How Great Thou Art" Its her all time favorite song because they sung it at her husbands funeral. She was bawling and bawling and afterwards hugged us sayin she felt him right there with her. It was such an amazing moment. Ah. We are just gonna continue to go and visit her and cheer her up....she thinks she is gonna die cuz this is her 4th time havin it and she is kinda done. It breaks my heart to have to go over there and see her sicker and sicker...basically watchin her die/.....but I know it brings her such peace and we just wanna comfort her as much as we can. Another really cool thing that happened is we have been teaching A A. She is the one who has been praying to know if she should marry this guy. Well we have been meeting with her every day....really studying the scriptures and having REALLY powerful lessons. Its way cool. The spirit is really strong there. Anyways....she got a feelin she should leave this guy she has been dating. So she did....and is now dating this guy who's been her best friend basically all their life:) Its SO cute. We are SOO happy! He treats her so much better!!! Haha then we also have been meeting with this lady named G. She is full ON methodist and at first wanted NOTHING to do with us. (her daughter is on a senior couple mission in Atlanta Georgia...yes in Amanda Rueckurt's mission!!!) but we decided to keep goin back and its been like 6 visits but she NOW is letting us in, has a Book of Mormon, and is now keeping commitments!!! CRAZY!!! her daughter wrote our Mission President thanking "Sister Wilson and Sister K for not givin up on my mom. Now she can actually talk to her about the Book of Mormon and about their mission!!! Its sooo cool! The Mission President told us and sent us the email:) I'll send it home soon!:) Last thing....we went to a baby shower on Saturday. It was sooo cool! Everyone in the whole town was there and we were able to talk to SO many people about the gospel and about what we do as missionaries. We became friends with so many people and they all want to feed us! haha so great:) Then we also are now serving every week at this "Christian needs" place where we work with a bunch of people from other faiths. They all love us and want us to come and teach at their "methodist womens group" about mormonism!!! That will be cool! I hope it actually happens!!! Then this weekend we have been down in Sioux City and last night we were walkin around this sketchy part of town....and an ambulance drove by cuz of a shooting...we were right there! haha Sioux City is sketchy!!! I am so glad I am in small town Le Mars!!!:) One thought I wanna share with yall real quick that I have been thinkin a lot about. I think one of the biggest temptations we face every day is whether or not we are gonna doubt God or not. Sometimes we wonder if He has abandoned us cuz we just don't feel him.....I think whenever these moments come, we must not fall into that fear that he has abandoned us or that He does not hear our prayers. He DOES hear us. He DOES see us. He DOES love us. I think that when we are in these horrible moments and want to cry out "Why hast thou forsaken me?" We need to remember that He is right there with us, where He has always been. We need to continue to pray and plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away. He is there. Our prayers ARE heard. and this quote that I heard from Elder Holland, "And when we weep, He and the angels of heaven weep with us." I think that is such a comforting thought. Anyways, I love you all! Thanks for all you do!!! Have a great week!!!:) P.S. Guess what?? We are havin a mission olympics and we have only competed in our districts so far and I WON out of all the girls!!! haha its soooo fun!!!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Hey family!! Ok so this week was crazy busy!!!! A lot of amazing things happened!!! Ill start with J:) (me and Jared's investigator) It was her birthday this week so we went and brought her some fuzzy socks and then wrote her a card. We ate cake and ice cream with her and talked with her....she was feelin real sick cuz of chemo...so we couldn't talk long. But she pulled me aside and hugged me and started crying sayin she was so happy that she met us because of the peace and comfort she feels whenever we stop to see her. She said we are helping her through this trial in her life and makin it easier....we bore testimony there were angels on the other side helpin her through and that all was gonna be well. She said she really hadn't felt pain and that for some reason...this time around chemo hasn't been as painful. I know its cuz I have prayed for Jared to watch over and comfort her. I know that he has:) I also know her husband is as well. I have felt him a lot:) Its so cool.
Another really cool experience was when we drove out to Strubel. Its honestly in the middle of no where. There are a total of 15 houses in that town. I LOVE IT. Anyways the G live there. They have had SUCH a rough life. They watched their Dad commit suicide and the daughter who is 16 has tried to commit suicide many times....ah its so sad. The parents drink like crazy and beat their kids but the kids are SO special. So we had a feeling to go over and visit. It was really scary cuz when we first got there the Dad was yelling at the kids and locked them outside. It was 5 degrees out so we were FREEZING. But it ended up bein a blessing. We got there and started talkin to G (the 12 year old) He started crying saying how much he missed his Dad and couldn't deal with all this anymore. We bore testimony to him that his Dad was with him right now....the Spirit got SO strong and he looked up and said "He's hugging me" Oh my gosh. The spirit was so strong. It was the coolest thing ever. His Dad was there. I testified that if he prayed to his father in heaven that He would feel that more....and if he read the scriptures that he would felt hat peace he was feeling. He said he would. Then His parents came out and we went inside and it was horrible....no one was listening and they were talking about inappropriate things so we tried to teach a lesson....no one listened except for G. He listened to every word and looked like he was in complete peace. That was such a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us SO much. He loved that little boy so much that He sent us to tell him that. I know that God really does know us and wants to help us....all we gotta do is turn to him for strength. Strength isn't something you have...it is something God helps you find. And I saw that little boy find the strength he needed that day because he turned to God. Another really cool experience was S (the 75 year old we are livin with) wanted to have a potluck and invite a bunch of people. So we ended up invitin the 3 members that live up here and our investigator L and S invited all these people who have helped us move. IT WAS AWESOME! we got like 10 new potentials! They were asking us about mormons and about missionaries and we were able to answer tons of questions!!! One newly married couple invited us to their baby shower and asked if I would give a prayer there cuz they loved the prayer I said for dinner. Ha it was way cool!!!:) So we will see what happens with all these new potentials:)
So this week we did A TON of service. That's about the only way we can get into peoples houses:) But we cleaned this hoarders house....and it was real real real bad.....ha I felt sooo sick after we were done. She was a chain smoker and had bugs ALLL over the kitchen and all her food was expired. It was sooo sad. But it took ALLLL day but we got it lookin SOOO good!!! Then after we were able to share a lesson with her and she was bawling saying she was so grateful we wouldn't judge her and help her clean up. It was so cute. She is the biggest sweetheart. She invited us to come back over for dinner for this week...so we will see what happens:) But Its amazing the love you feel for these people. You just know that Heavenly Father loves each of us SO much and just wants to help us and let us feel his love. I am so grateful I could be able to feel this type of love towards all these people I meet everyday. I can't imagine how much he loves us. ne last experience I'll share is about A. She is this Less Active that we found and are tryin to get to come to church. She was baptized 2 years ago then stopped coming so she really don't know too much about our religion. She has been dating this guy and wants to marry him but doesn't know if its the right thing. She asked us to come and see her every day and prep her to know everything about eternal marriage and our beliefs on marriage. We started last night....it was soo cool. She listens to every word we says. She says she wants someone who holds the priesthood and who will love and respect her wholeheartedly and who will be there to stand by her side through whatever trials come in life. She said she wanted someone who would love her despite all her flaws and who would be there through thick and thin and never give up on her. we told her that that is exactly what she deserves and that's what her Heavenly Father wanted her to have. So if she prayed and asked, Her Heavenly Father will lead and guide her to end up with someone like that. It was soo cool.....I just want her happiness so bad!!! I just want her to end up with someone who will love her unconditionally and love her the way she deserves. She deserves someone special...and I know that Heavenly Father will lead him to her:) Ah its so cute!! haha Anyways it was cool....made me realize how much I am grateful for our beliefs on eternal marriage and know that one day I can have that blessing in my life.