Updates from Hermana Goudie: The Ashleys Got Baptized!!!

Hey y'all! No, the Ashleys is not a last name. We had two different Ashleys get baptized this last week. Isn't that cool? They are not related either. And both their middle names are Anne. Super crazy. We found them within days of each other. Okay, well we actually got one of them as a referral from the Dville sisters. But they are awesome!

So last Monday we had a full P-day again. It was lovely. We had some time to play chair soccer with the Elders which was a lot of fun :) The rest of the week was super busy trying to make daily contact with both Ashleys which was stressful but it all worked out.

And GUESS WHAT??????????? So at transfer meeting this last week Pres. wanted everyone to come so he could announce what we achieved as a mission in November and what the goals for 2015 are. And in November we had 92 baptisms and 90 confirmations. Record high! The hard work payed off and the sacrifice of cutting P-days short was worth it. The highest this mission has baptized in a month was like 76 I think... so this was such a neat thing to see that when we sacrifice our time, talents, and efforts, the Lord blesses us. And the next cool thing that I found out at this meeting was that we are getting MORE SPANISH SISTERS!!!!!!!!!! I thought that when I went home in April that would be the end of the Spanish sisters. But nope :) We are getting 1 in Jan., 3 in February (which means that I might train because there will only be 4 Spanish sisters in the mission at that time), 1 in April, and 1 in May. So there will be more Spanish sisters I am so excited :) I had a dream once that my companion was a native and I thought that would never happen because we don't have native sisters but in February we are getting one native speaker! I would love to have a native speaker as a companion. She could help me so much with my Spanish. I will do lots of praying :) Also, our car share got changed since there were tons of missionaries that left so we are now in a 3/4 car share. I have been on a 2/3 my whole mission so this will be nice to have one more car week :) especially in the winter.

We did some spraying for bed bugs this week. I don't think we have any but my companion thinks she might be getting some bites so better safe than sorry right? ;) I also almost caught myself on fire this last week. I was trying to cook something and accidentally turned on the front burner instead of the back and so when I went to put the pan on the back burner the sleeve of my robe starting smoking because it was touching the front burner and it burned a hole in it ;) haha it was kinda scary. next time I will roll my sleeves up ;)

There was a Xmas parade here in Russellville this last week that I really wanted to go to but we had our mission pres. come up to interview Ashley at the same time so we couldn't go :( but good news is that both Ashleys passed the interview :) And I got to spend some time with Sis. Wakolo and her daughter jasmine which is always a pleasure.

So Friday night we had the baptism. And of course something always has to go wrong no matter how much planning you do ;) The baptism was at 6 and at like 4:30 we got a call from Ashley and her son Corvid had dropped her car keys and house keys down a hole in her wall and the keys fell down under her house! So we called the Elders and they came over and tried to get them out but the hole was tiny! So then this mountain man came and knocked the bricks out and got the keys! it was hilarious. So she was able to make it to her baptism! There also may have been a fist fight in the middle of the baptism. Freya and Luna started fighting over their moms phone and screaming and hitting. Haha love those kids :) thank goodness for awesome members who helped a lot to keep them under control ;) I love those kids though. They are super cute! That night I decided to run home once we got to our street and Sis. Stevens followed me in the car. It felt so nice! It was like 63 degrees! I miss running.

On Saturday our investigator Rafael took us out to eat at Mulans which was awesome. We had a good lesson with him at the restaurant. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and hopefully he will live it because he is ready to be baptized. We had the baby shower of a LA that day and played basketball that night with the members. I really love Russellville. Its just the greatest :) And i love seeing all the miracles taking place and how the gospel changes peoples lives.

Sunday was awesome! Both Ashleys got confirmed. It was fast and testimony meeting and both Ashleys got up and bore their testimony :) And Sis. Stevens wrote down what Luna wanted to say and she bore hers too. It was so cute! I love being able to bear my testimony twice on Sunday in English and Spanish. I wont have many more fast Sundays to do so :( That is something I will miss.

I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time and it was awesome! I am now reading the new testament which is so fun to read during the Christmas season. The words of one of my favorite songs from Power in His Touch kept coming into my head yesterday. "This is God's plan, to learn His love by following this man. Come find Him, and feel the Power of His Touch." That is my challenge to y'all. Strengthen your relationship with Christ. I know that by reading the Book of Mormon you can grow your testimony of him. I know that Christ is my Savior, that he gave His life for us (2 Nephi 26:24) and that He lives. I am so grateful for this time to be a representative of Him and learn how to be more like Him. I love being a missionary :)

I hope y'all watched the Christmasmas devotional last night. It was awesome! Love y'all :)

Sister Goudie