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Amber Ltr: 2014-03-31

Subject: So excited for conference!!!
Hey family!!

That is so fun that you are all up at G'ma's house!!! I am excited to hear all about your trip! Did the whole family get to go? I hope so!! So jealous of all of you but there is no other place I'd rather be right now :) Even when times are hard, this is where I need to be. I really love this ward and I am grateful to be serving here. We haven't gotten transfer calls yet, hopefully they will come by the end of this email...if not I guess you get to wait one more week! Haha I'm pretty sure I'm staying here. The real question is if Sister Webster is staying with me. I hope she is! I feel like we have a lot left to do together here. We will see...

I'm glad that all the letters came! Sometimes I just don't trust the post office. And the reason pictures haven't come is because I haven't sent them. Haha I'm the worst. I'll get them sent this week I promise!

I'm so glad that Brook had a great birthday! That is so cool about Sister Bensemon getting her boots!! Send me a pic ok? :) Just know that I was thinking about you and that I love you!

And happy birthday Ashley!!! I sent a card off but it sounds like it might not have gotten there in time... But it should be coming soon! I love you and hope that you have a great day!!

It has been an interesting week, not going to lie. I guess slow times just come sometimes on missions. But ever since Michael's baptism we have had a really hard time helping all of our other investigators progress and finding new people to teach. Flaky people really irritate me when they say that they will be there or do something and then they don't. It is so sad to just know how much the Gospel will help people and then watch them still choose not to act on what they know. It is so hard to not be able to control the decisions people make and to have to back off and let it be there choice to move forward. It is a really hard line to draw as a missionary. I know it will come but in the Lord's timing, and not mine.

Sister Webster woke up on Thursday with strep throat and she has had the worst allergies poor thing. We have tried so many different things to try and help her out but it isn't doing a whole lot of good unfortunately and she is pretty miserable a lot of the time. But she is a champ and really pushes through it.

As always, there are those tender mercies that get us through the week :) One of them was a great lesson that we had on Tuesday with our investigator Shawn. Have I told you about her? I always forget the stories I have told... Just as a refresh... She came in contact with the missionaries back in 2005 and had to be dropped because she wasn't progressing but a couple of weeks before I came here, our previous ward mission leader told us to try and recontact her because she might respond better to sisters. She has a lot going on in her life right now. Her daughter who is 26 got diagnosed with thyroid cancer that doesn't respond to treatments. She is also taking care of her sister who is home bound and works from like 7 AM to 8 PM every day and just has a lot going on. Because of her busy schedule we have a hard time getting in with her but we were able to on Tuesday. Grandma Kinghorn sent me a really cool object lesson about priorities using different sized rocks and a jar and we decided to use that with her. Before we left, I had the thought to grab the conference issue of the ensign that you sent me and as we were talking to her, I had the thought to share President Monson's talk, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." It was exactly what she needed to hear and set the tone for the rest of the lesson. She broke down and told us how she knows that she needs to refocus her life on Christ and we testified how when she does that, everything else will fall into place. We knelt down and prayed with her about finding peace through the Gospel and developing the faith to move forward. She knows that it is true and wants to be baptized but there is some fear that is holding her back and it is so hard to help her develop the faith to take that step. I know she can do it! Prayers for her would be greatly appreciated. We are really trying to get her on date this week.

Another neat tender mercy was Michael. He received the priesthood yesterday and stood up in sacrament and bore his testimony in how grateful he was for Heavenly Father leading us to him and helping him get baptized. I love him!!

And yes we were able to go to the General Women's meeting :) It was so good!!! I loved thinking about how you were all watching it at home and I felt really close to all of you during it. Especially when all the primary girls stood and sang, "Teach me to walk in the light". I thought of Madi standing up and singing and of course I started to cry because I do that now and I just wanted to let you know how much I love all of you and how grateful I am to be a part of this family. I am so excited for the rest of General Conference this weekend!! It really is like Christmas for missionaries :) We are so blessed to live in a time that living prophets speak to us. I am so grateful for that and I know that this is the true church. Have a great week family and know that someone in Georgia loves you and is thinking of you!!

Sister Bedke
Posted by TennesseeNeedsAshley at 5:09 PM 


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