Companion: Sister Parker
Guess what family! I was able to meet Elder Perry. Yeah, its okay. You can all be a little jealous! Haha just kidding! :) It was great though! We came to Cokeville on Friday and we went to the church parking lot to make some phone calls and we saw a member out in their yard and they are related to Elder Perry and so, what do we do? We go over there and we ask them if Elder Perry is in town yet and he said yes, would you like to meet him? Of course I said YES!!! We go into the house and we saw Sister Tonga and she said that she would go get Elder Perry and that he was in the back. I was so nervous! Lol I was getting excited over the fact that I was under the same roof as Elder Perry. Haha Well, we started to visit with everyone and as we were talking with someone I knew that he had walked up behind us. In all honesty, I didnt want to turn around haha. But, I did and I was like ahh! Its Elder Perry. Yes, I really did say that too. But it wasnt like in a freaking out kind of way. I was just acting myself. But, for those who do know me, you can be sure that it was entertaining to watch me "freak out". Everyone around was laughing. I did say his name like every other word... It was great. It is kind of one of those had to be there moments. And no, this is not an Ashley story. :) I think that those are done away with now that I actually know how to talk and carry on conversations. (I got sidetracked) Anyways... I shake his hand, he asks where we are from and we tell him. He asks how the work is going and we say great even if its not really... But really, the work is going great! Haha I just really wish that you all could have been there. He is such a sweet guy! He is so cute! Lol He gets around really good for how old he is. And he is so cute with his wife. As he and his wife were standing there talking with us, he had his arm around her and was holding her hand. They were so cute! I hope to be a cute old couple one day! Of, course I will have to get married, because I cant be a cute old couple by myself. There has to be two in a couple. Lol :) As you can probably tell, I am all over the place. And really, I am just writing everything that comes to mind right now so, this email may not make sense. And if it doesnt, I am sorry. This is what happens when Sister Halbison is super happy! :) Anyways, back to Elder Perry. Okay, so, we went to a program and we were talking with some members as we walked in, and the Elders were saving us some seats because we had to go powder our noses in the bathroom, no we really had to use the bathroom for what its for, but anyways, as we were talking to some members, Elder Perry walks in (this is on Saturday by the way) and we shake his hand like we have known him forever and the Elders were looking at us and the minute they saw us shake his hand, their jaws dropped! Hahahaha It was priceless.I really wish that I would have gotten a picture of that! :) It was great. The program was really good. Elder Webb was there from the seventy and he was the one who talked. He gave such a great talk. He talked about following Jesus Christ and dropping everything to follow Him. He gave the example of the Fishers Of Men and how they dropped everything the minute the Savior said "Follow Me" They didnt say, okay, one second, give me like five minutes so that I can finish up what I am doing. They just dropped everything and followed. I thought to myself, if the Savior told me to follow Him, would I drop everything and do as He has asked? I thought about coming on a mission. Of course it took some time to get on the mission. But, I left everything at home, my job, my friends, my family, and I did as the Savior has asked and I am out doing His work, His way, on His time. Elder Webb also talked about the pioneers and how they left everything behind when they came to the Americas. They left their family, friends, everything. And they did what the Lord wanted them to do. What a great example we not only have in the scriptures but also in the Latter-Days. It was such a great talk and I wish that you all could have been there. Really, I guess I just wish you were here for my whole mission because it has been pretty amazing! :) Well, after the program, we were able to have lunch. And guess what! We sat right behind Elder Perry, so, I had an Elder take a picture of Sister Parker and I with the back of Elder Perry's head. A little obsessive? Maybe :) But, as mom already knows, and probably some other people, we were able to get some pictures with Elder Perry! It was so much fun! :) I loved it! I got a pretty good picture on my camera that I will have to send. It is a cute one. It is of all of us looking at Elder Perry and we are all smiling. :) Well, I guess that is all of the stories that I have with Elder Perry. I am pretty sure that I am best friends with him now. Haha Just kidding! :)
Well, for the 24th celebration, we were able to be in the parade and we handed out copies of the Book Of Mormon, pass along cards, and also DVD's. It was so much fun! We were in a model T 1917 car and it was so nice! I loved it! :) I was running all over the place handing out things. There were a few times that I was way behind everyone and I have to run to catch up. Lol. So a few stories with the parade... There was this one couple that Sister Parker tried to give a Book Of Mormon to and they said "NO" kinda in a mean way and I followed behind her and siad, "here is a Mormon.org card!" and they took it! :) YAY! :) Uhh lets see, there was a group of guys that were around a truck and one had tattoos and that doesnt mean that they are not active or anything but, I went up to them, placed a DVD on the hood of the truck and said, "Here, you can have a movie night!" And left it! Lol. There were some guys that were in the back of the crowd that were laughing at us, well I dont know if they really were, and I went up to them and said, since you are laughing at us, you can give a Book Of Mormon to a non-member friend. Haha And I said it as I laughed and they laughed along with me. It was so much fun! :) But, want to hear some of our success? :) There is a lady who called us last night and she was telling us that she was from Georgetown and she was at the parade in Cokeville and she was handed a Book Of Mormon and it had a card with our number in it and she called us and told us of a non-member who is in our area that would love to hear more about the gospel! AHHHH!!!! If that is the only success that comes from handing things out at the parade then I would have to say that we were pretty successful still! :) We handed out probably about 75 copies of the Book of Mormon and about 300 pass along cards and 30 DVD's It was so great! :)So, cool story... There is this guy Brandon that we met out in Dingle a couple of weeks ago and he was super nice. Well, we told him to call us if he needed help with anything. So, he called us and he asked us to help him with pulling weeds. So, we went over there and we were helping him pull weeds and as we were pulling weeds we were getting to know him a little bit more. And as we were getting to know him, he told us a little more about the night that we came over. The wonderful thing about missionary work is that there is more to the story than just the missionaries point of view. You have the person that you are visitings point of view and we were able to get Brandons side. So, Brandon told us that the night that we knocked on his door, he was telling himself that he needed to go back to church. And the second that he was done with that thought, we knocked on the door. And he told us that we were an answer to his prayers. He told us that it was crazy that we would knock on his door at that moment. He was also telling us about how he knows a family that was just baptized and that he was going to go to the baptism but something happened to where he was not able to go. I asked him who it was getting baptized and he told us and I was in shock because it was the Elders baptism and they had asked me to play the piano at the baptism. So, if Brandon would have gone, then we would have been able to meet him. I asked him if at that time, if he would have met the missionaries, if he would have been ready at that point to go back to church. And he told us that where he was at in life, he would not have been ready. I told him that I thought it was so ironic that he was not able to go to the baptism, when he was not ready to go back to church, but the night that we knock on his door, looking for someone else, he had just finished saying that he wanted to go back to church. He said that he was so grateful that we had knocked on his door that night. I love that even though us as missionaries may think we dont have an impact on someones life. we could most certainly be an answer to their prayers in their eyes. :)
So, TRANSFERS are here! YAY! I have really enjoyed the time that I have had here in the
Montpelier South Stake, but the Lord and President Brinkerhoff, along with me, all know that my time here had come to an end. And my time to be a Sister Training Leader has come. I will be serving in Blackfoot! I am so excited! :) I am sad to leave, but I know that I have dont what I need to here in this area. New adventures await! I think that the weirdest thing to think it that this will more than likely be my last area and my last companion. Time has gone by so fast! Well, I am sure that there are many more things that I could tell you about this past week, but my time has run out. :( We have so much to do today! AHH! This week will be so stressful Haha But, I look forward to it! :) I love you all so much and I can not wait to see you! Only 11 more weeks left! Yeah, time is going so fast!
Love,
Sister Ashley Halbison
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