Thursday, November 12, 2009

The CMA's

I LOVED the CMA's last night. I had no clue what I was missing until Aunt Missy in Michigan sent me a heads-up text. Aunt Mel was so right-- Carrie was gorgeous, Tim McGraw was hot, and Sugarland gave me the chills! I really think they've hit brilliant musician status. I love Sugarland! Check out "Keep You"-- it's what they sang last night. Amazing bridge, amazing build, amazing lyrics-- ahh. Musical heaven.





Saturday, November 07, 2009

Rego Park, Queens

Elder Wright: He was transfered two weeks ago. He kept real busy while adjusting to the new area so I didn't hear from him for about two weeks. I did get a letter today (yay!) and am happy to report that he's doing well. His new area is Rego Park, Queens.

He ate dinner with the members once a week at most in Brooklyn. He's excited to be fed a bit more in Queens; so far they have had a few dinner appointments. There's also a large hispanic population in Rego Park, so he's glad to have a background in speaking Spanish. It has already come in handy. The language barrier was a challenge in Brooklyn. Zeke was called English speaking, but many of the investigators in Brooklyn spoke Russian, Italian, or Chinese. That was tough. Back in our high-school days, Zeke would go four-wheeling all the time and I usually got on his case in regards to safety. So, of course, he was glad to tell me "You won't have to worry about my safety here Ash because there's less projects." Ok EW. I hope you're right...


All of the above colored regions are considered New York City (I didn't realize that until I paid more attention when Zeke got his call back in April). Zeke's mission covers all of Long Island.

Probably impossible to see the words, but Rego Park is north-west(ish).

One night they were alone on the train so Zeke decided to bust out his old gymnastics moves. Not gonna lie- this pic made me smile real big :)

Street contacting. It's what they do most often.

EW is the one walking to the left of the two men.

Difficult to see, but this was all part of a "street sweep" in Bensonhurst (Brooklyn~ his previous area). A street sweep, as he informed me, entails drawing some part of the gospel on the sidewalk (in this case, the Plan of Salvation) and then talking about it with passerby's.

I love hearing from Elder Wright. I think he's amazing and his example is an important part of my life. He always updates me on the progress of his investigators. Three of my four grandparents were converts to the church. I believe in the power of missionary work and I am truly grateful that Zeke is where he is. I'm excited for him to rock it in this new area!

Entirely unrelated: I bought an ENTIRE PUMPKIN PIE today at COSTCO. Awesome to the max right there, folks. It's November. What's November without some pumpkin pie, right? I know they sell 'em huge, but I wouldn't dare resist. Significant to note is that this decision of mine was very much pre-meditated.

The Story: Friday night, 7 PMish. Ashley feels a little bit hungry. Ashley thinks about pumpkin pie (who knows why?). Ashley realizes that, being November and all, pumpkin pie is an entirely appropriate food craving. Ashley chronicles her thought process:


Should I do it? Should I really buy a whole pumpkin pie?


ABSOLUTELY!!


I'll never regret it. :)

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Catch up: Ashland!

Since Sister Woods is gonna help me slurp this thing into a book in a few months, I want to record a few things that happened earlier in the year. The first week of July, Auntie Mel and I went to Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival-- our favorite! Aunt Mel is a UCLA grad in English. I love that we share a love for literature and I find myself calling her on occasion to specifically discuss a recent book I've read. She is so awesome! Anyhow, Ashland was lovely. Here's a few photos:




Such a cute town. Flowers everywhere!




Lithia Water


I love bridges.


This was so much fun.




The first play we saw: "Don Quixote."










You know the movie "River Wild"? It was filmed here.






Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Lately

"Lately" has been fast paced and jam packed! Halloween was great. We went to Christine's house in Highland and hung out for a little bit before we took off for a dance in the area. It's hard to tell in these photos because we weren't fully in uniform yet, but we were spies. Take my word for it.

Getting ready. And no, that's not our apartment. We keep it cleaner than that :)


Us with our friend Jeff.


Hot mamas. They'd never admit it, so I'll spill the beans for them :)


Our friend Brad. He ran the Provo half marathon earlier that morning and that skull shirt is from the race. I thought it was cool.


We had fun!

Sunday night Natalie, Christine and I stayed up 'til midnight waiting to be able to register for classes. True to form, I have already begun to plan how I will re-work the schedule I've currently got (three english classes, one sociology, and one religion), although it is exactly what I hoped for when I signed up three days ago. Go figure. I'll be sure to blog about my schedule once it's set in stone. Throughout that evening Natalie went around with this sticky hand thing and kept shocking me by grabbing my papers with it. She had a way of striking when I was deep in thought, head down, buried in what I was reading. Suddenly, a jelly-like green hand jump in front of me and snap me out of focus. It was awesome! Glad she could mix up an otherwise stuffy and stressful process.

There she is. And there IT is. Guilty as charged :)


Monday night was good fun. Our ward went to Seven Peaks to play some broom ball hockey.





Sunday, November 01, 2009

Catch up: Conference Weekend

I know I'm late with this post, but I've been looking forward to sneaking it in...

Conference weekend was wonderful! My family came to visit and we were able to attend both morning sessions. We also went to the BYU/USU game and moseyed around beautiful Park City.


Park City


Me and Trav with the Stripling Warriors


Having dinner with our friends the Meyers in SLC-- Mom's missing from this shot


In the Conference Center, Saturday Morning Session


Brandon the Cougar


Ran into some of our Chico friends in the cougar eat


GO COUGS!

The Ysasagas, minus Mady and I


I love to see the temple. I took this from the car Saturday morning when it was raining.


Some of the main ideas (at least, some of the things I wrote down) from talks I loved:

Richard G. Scott: We can increase our capacity to be guided by the spirit. Write down impressions when you receive them.
Russell Oscguthorpe: Learning and teaching are not optional activities in the kingdom of God.
David A. Bednar: What we know is not always reflected in what we do. "I love you": we need to say it, mean it, and consistently show it.
Deiter F. Uchtdorf: Love should be the center of everything we do.
Russell M. Nelson: The Lord's offer is generous: ask, seek, knock, and it shall be given.
President Thomas S. Monson: Love (the verb form, mostly). :) And let me just add that every time he speaks, I always feel his love for the Lord, for the gospel, and for me.
Jeffrey R. Holland: The Book of Mormon is true. Easily the most powerful oral witness I have ever heard of this book.

Well, there's lots more that I loved, but these were some of my take-home points. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and I am grateful for modern day revelation. I was talking with my roommate Christine the other night, and we were talking about the truthfulness of the gospel when she said something that really struck me. She said that even if the gospel wasn't true (which, we both fully believe it is), she still knows that it is what makes her the most happy, and that makes it worth living.. I also know that living the gospel is what makes me most happy. But I also believe that it is true. And I say it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Full Archive of the 179th Semiannual General Conference: