An Attitude of Gratitude

Hello!! 

This past week has been filled with spiritual enlightenment, if I do say so myself. 

On Saturday we had a training about Book of Mormon heros. It was awesome to talk about them and what amazing examples they have set for us! They didn't have to write it, we all know that they didn't write it for themselves but for US! Isn't that amazing?! I think so. 

Sunday is always a fun day....especially at a Spanish ward. We had 2 of our investigators come to church! They even came into Gospel Doctrine! I hope that what we are teaching them is sinking in. 

Monday was Zone Meeting where we talked about how important the Doctrine of Christ is in our lives. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end is how we change and become better each and every day. We've been focusing on the "nitty-gritty" of what we want to change about ourselves while we are here.....how we want to be remembered. At first it was a little of a struggle to think about what I wanted to work on. My companion is focusing on Charity, which is amazing, but it just didn't feel right for me. My Zone Leader, Elder Lartey, helped me pick out what I desired so that I could better figure out where I needed to work. I told him how I wanted to be like my Grandma Jane and not complain as much as I do. So i decided my area of focus is GRATITUDE. I am seeking out all of the good that comes about so that I will bear my burdens without murmuring. (1 Nephi 16:1-3) :) 

Tuesday we had Zone Conference with President and Sister Morgan. I love when we all get together to talk about the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. We always have 4 talks, one about Courage, one about Obedience, one about Reverence, one about Effort which make up our motto: Loyal to the CORE. Cleaver because we live in the big apple no? ;) 

The talks were, wonderful. Courage was given by Elder Vanner who is from Kazakhstan. He came out with me from the MTC. He is one of about 100 members there. He told of the courage of some of the US embassy members who knew that they had to share the gospel. These members didn't necessarily know the language but he said all they had to do was share the Book of Mormon with them and that he and is family are the fruit of it. 

Obedience was given by Elder Pemberton who is from Payson, Utah! He gave a great example of how blessings and happiness come from being exactly obedient. 

Reverence was given by my zone leader Elder Lartey who is from Orem. He told the story of his father who accepted the gospel message while is family rejected it. He choose to go on a mission at the age of 21. While he was serving he was about to step on a bus, which he had been waiting for for 3 hours, when a voice said to him, "Don't get on the bus." He turned around to see who had said it but no one was there. He took another step, again the voice said "No." When he headed off the bus the driver said, "You know the next bus won't be here for 2 hours right?" and He said, "Yes, but I will wait." As he got on the next bus, he felt a calm and knew it was safe. 2 hours into their journey to the airport, they came across the first bus which had rolled, and there weren't any survivors. He then told us that we need to have reverence so that we can be able to listen to the voice of the spirit and be able to follow what it says. 

Effort was given by Sister Parkin from California. She is so awesome and talked about how we control the amount of effort we put in even though we can't control the outcome. 

I LOVE IT HERE!! It is seriously amazing to be serving a mission for the Lord at this time. :) 

I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon. I invite you all to pray about what the Lord needs from you right now. Apply the system of the Doctrine of Christ. Have faith to trust the Lord, that you can change. Repent, CHANGE. Take the sacrament with the knowledge of what it means. Listen to the spirit and endure! 

I love you all!! Have an amazing week!!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster 

p.s. Sorry I couldn't send pictures again this week. I'm taking lots and will send them all at once.

Another week in the BX

Hello!!

It is so crazy to see these pictures of utah! It is just so different here. it is going to be weird coming back home. 

This last week in the BX was good!  

Last Saturday we were invited with our stake to go up to Newburg to do service at the girls camp there. It was quite a drive but SO beautiful! It was the most grass I have seen in a while! I seriously haven't seen nature like that in FOREVER! We just cleaned it up from the winter and had a lot of fun!

We have said good bye to 2 of our investigators who are headed back for the Dominican Republic. Flor and Irene are super awesome, and it is sad to see them go. But we have already sent their information to the missionaries there for them to receive the gospel!!

Just yesterday we met with a lady that the English elders knocked into. Her name is Paloma and she is awesome! She has an aunt who is a member in the DR and has attended a few times with her. We taught her the restoration and she was like, yeah that's true! We were just like jaw dropped! It is so great!

Last night we took a member home that lives very far away from the main part of our area, let alone the church or our house. It was TOTALLY THE SCARIEST THING EVER. I was like, how in the heavens does this 15 year old girl walk these streets by herself? I don't even know. God is with us, that is for sure.

Today we went to Target!! We have an amazing Elder and Sister senior couple in our area. We went to the store today with Sister McNairy she helped us out so much!! I don't know how people live here and go shopping! Without a car it is SO SO hard!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Love you all! Thank you for your prayers and love!!

Love, Hermana Lancaster

New area challenges and blessings

Hello from the BX! 

I hope you all had a wonderful week!! This last week for me has been exciting!! We have a lot of area to cover! All is well here. The Bronx is well, the Bronx. My comp said that basically it feels like there are drug deals being done all around us. (hahhaha not even kidding.) 

 

Ashley and Hermana Skinner taking a picture with the camera in the computer at the public library

My new companion is Sister Skinner and she is BOSS. She is such a great missionary! She has only been here for 6 weeks but I feel like she has been here 6 months! Her drive to do the work is awesome! She is also so fashionable! hahahaha We get along great.

We have been visiting a lot of less actives and members trying to get to know the area better. My last area, Inwood was about 15 blocks. My new area is about 50 blocks. And the way things are laid out is completely different than Manhattan!  We don't live in our area, so when we leave at 2 we don't go home until 9. 

Today we went to the temple and it was so wonderful! I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to have a temple so close to us. We are truly blessed!! 

Something happened that I never thought would; someone asked me where I was from!!! THEY THOUGHT I SPOKE SPANISH NATIVLEY! Dreams do come true!! Everyone says I sound like I'm from Spain. I also never really thought I would be the companion that knew more spanish than the other. LEGITTTTT...this is insane. 

A scripture that we have been sharing with quite a bit of investigators is 2 Nephi 31:20. Which is one of my favorites. I love how it says, a perfect brightness of HOPE. Hope is what leads to faith, which leads to repentance, which leads to baptism, which leads to receiving the Holy Ghost, which leads to eternal life. LOVE IT! That's life. I love the scriptures so much. They are such good teachers in helping us understand what we are doing here. Especially the Book of Mormon. :) 

I hope all of you have a great week!! Love you lots!! 

Greetings from the Bronx

(Side note: The Bronx is the only New York City borough with a Hispanic majority. At the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race). At the 2009 American Community Survey, Puerto Ricans represented 23.2% of the borough's population, Mexicans made 5.2%. In 2005, more than 200,000 Dominicans called the Bronx home, and in 2000 Dominicans made 14.5% of the Bronx population.)

WHAT UP FROM THE BRONX! 

I am now serving in the Bronx with Hermana Skinner who is from Seattle, Washington. She has only been here for 6 weeks! She is SO cute and I am very excited to be serving with her!! 



(I found a picture of Hermana Skinner on another sister missionary's blog.
She's the one in the middle with the glasses.)

We are going to be working in the Concourse Spanish Ward here at the Kingsbridge chapel. 

Back in Inwood, we are going to be having a baptism on Saturday!! I can't even believe I will miss it! But it will be so so great. Carmen is the best investigator I have had so far! I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to teach her. 

It keeps getting hotter and hotter! I can't even believe it! I wish that I could be in Antarctica!! I am not a fan of the heat. But, we shall endure! 

It is honestly so crazy to be changing everything. We received 18 new sister missionaries today and 33 total. We have already doubled the number of sisters in the mission since I got here! We have opened about 7 new areas since I got here! So crazy! I can't even believe 7 months have gone by. It is so so so crazy!! 

I don't have any pictures right now but I will get them for you soon! Next week for sure. 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and all the love that you send this way. I know that your prayers help me get through. I love ya'll!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster

Hello from sunny NYC!

Hello from sunny NYC! 

It has been so crazy this past week!! It started in the 40's then the past 2 days it has been in the 70's! it is so crazy! I packed up my winter coat! I am a little scared to be hot and sweaty all the time but I know it will all be well. 

This past week we have been working with a recent convert to help her start the work for her mother who passed away 7 years ago. She is going to go to the temple tomorrow to do the baptism and confirmation for her mother! We are so excited for her!! She also has asked me and my companion to do the other temple work for her. :) I consider it a huge privilege! 

General Conference was the BOMB! I loved it so so so much. The talks that really stood out to me were the Prophets talk about obedience and then Elder Falabella's talk on Sunday afternoon. I loved the talk about obedience because it really opened my eyes to how much more happy we will be if we keep the commandments. I love it. I am sad that I haven't given eye to this sooner in my life, like in my teenage years. When our parents set rules we are to follow them because we have faith that they are going to love and protect us. When we keep those rules, like be home at 10:30, then we are opening the door to greater privileges. 

We also have been given orders from our mission president to clean up the area "book," and review all of the progress of the area....like we were both going to be getting transferred! Luckily, we have already been working on this since sister e got here!! I feel so good about it now. That if I do leave, the area is in good hands and they know what to do. 

I love this area of Inwood so so so much! It is for sure going to be my favorite area on my mission. ;) 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

I posted some pictures from conference and the last week. 

Yes, a bird pooped on me

Ashley with Hermana's Campbell and Evangelista

AP Elder Hutchins

Ashley and Hermana Campbell

Ashley and Hermana Lavaki

Easter and Conference

HELLO!! 

This past week has FLOWN! Good Heavens I swear it was just last Wednesday. SCARY! 

This last week was super great! I hope that you all got to feel of the amazing spirit that Easter brings. Here in New York, with so many other churches around, everyone is celebrating Holy Week. A lot of people asked us what we do to celebrate Holy Week and we simply tell them, We believe every week is Holy Week. "We are always looking to be disciples of Christ." A lot of people really just don't understand what that means and others devote 3 days a week to going to church. We get a great variation of people around these parts. 

On Thursday we had Zone Conference. It is always so fun because we get to go downtown to the chapel at the temple. President talked a lot about teaching lessons with not a lot of fluff. But direct and straight forward. I'm not going to lie, after the conference I was feeling pretty down. I didn't seem to be doing anything right and I was just frustrated with myself. Luckily my companion is awesome and we were able to have a great chat about applying what we learn in the trainings to the Spanish program because I am not going to lie, it is completely different than the English program. Also, funny story about the conference, we were watching video's about driving safely, and lo and behold, Elder Chase Larsen was in one of them! I was like, I know him! It was pretty funny. He also served in New York but more western. 

Saturday we had 2 baptisms for the Spanish ward. One for an 8 year old boy and the other for an investigator of the Elders. It was crazy! There were so many people there! And someone forgot they were baking a pizza, and so inbetween the changing of clothes/bearing of testimonies, the fire alarm went off. We all thought someone had pulled it and then we all smelled smoke and started to panic. Luckily it was just burnt pizza. :) 

Saturday was also my mothers birthday! She is SO great! She has been an amazing example to me all of my life of going for what you want. She helped me decide a long time ago that if I wanted to go on a mission, the time was then to prepare. I am thankful to her everyday for this AMAZING experience I am able to have. 

Sunday was Easter! I woke up to candy sent to me from my wonderful aunt Julie and my family. It was a little weird not searching for an Easter basket. ;) In sacrament meeting Sister Evangelista sang a song! Haha I love to sing in the Spanish ward because everyone tells you how lovely it sounded. Where as in the English ward, there are opera singers. I don't think I ever will be singing there. We had a great dinner at the Giffords house and I even made cake balls! Strawberry cake with vanilla icing dipped in white chocolate. A special Easter treat. :) 

Tuesday we had a great district unity game. We called it the humble game. It is where everyone says what they like about everyone. Hahaha we are working on really working together in our ward and things have been a little weird lately so this really helped us realize that we all have strengths and weaknesses and that we need to work together to help this ward be great. 

Today we went to TARGET! I hate that it is fifteen minutes away but out of our area. The next closest target/store with decent prices, is down on 116th. Mostly it just isn't fun because they are out of our area and we can only leave 2 times a cycle. But, it was so fun looking at all the spring clothes! There are a few dresses that I have my eye on! I can't wait for the weather to warm up a little! 

Sister Noll sent me a letter! She updated me on her family as well as Ryan. Tell her thank you so much!

I can't wait for this weekend! We are going to be able to hear from our prophet! One of the questions that I like to ask people is, If Moses was on the earth would you listen to what he had to say? Usually the answer is of course! Then I get the privilege of testifying that I know that God has a prophet here on earth today. That Jesus Christ is the head of our church and that He directs it through His prophets, seers, and revelators in our day. How amazing is this knowledge we have! I invite you all to pray to know that this is Christ's church upon the earth and that President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet, the mouthpiece of God here on the earth today. I know that the Spirit will testify to you of this truth. 

I love this gospel so much. I can't believe how much I have learned in the last 6 months that have changed my life forever. I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity to preach the gospel to the people here in New York and also for the refining of self for me and my future. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and a wonderful experience listening to the servants of the Lord!! 

Love you all!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster

Long Days, Working Hard, Happy Too!

Promised pictures from last week's P-Day

Manhattan New York City Temple  view from a dance room at Julliard

Ashley and other sister missionaries visiting a ward member who attends Julliard dancing 

Ashley in "heaven" at Julliard on her P-Day

Hola! 

This week has been pretty busy. Mostly it feels like it was just barely Wednesday.

This last Friday we had dinner at the other Peruvian lady in our ward's house. It was so good! I love everything they do with potatoes. Her grandson was there, and he had just gotten home from his mission in February. He served in West Africa speaking French. Hermana Evangelista loved it because they just spoke in French the whole time! It was funny because he said he totally has forgotten his Spanish.  

Saturday was CRAZY! It was the busiest day I think I have ever had on the mission. We left the house at 9:30 am and got home at 9:00 pm. We had 6 lessons! It was very legit. 

Ashley (with her new bangs) and Hermana Evangelista

Sunday I got so sick. I think it was because I was fasting, but I am happy to say that I did fast for 24 hours.

Monday we had district meeting and they told us that we can now e-mail anyone we want! Holla! So all of you who want to e-mail me you totally can! (ashley.lancaster@myldsmail.net)

Ashley and Hermana Campbell

We extended a baptism date to one of our new investigators and she said, "well...I can't tomorrow, but maybe next Wednesday." LOVE IT! hahaha. We told her we still have more to teach her, and set the date for April 20th. She is GOLDEN! She is so ready for the gospel in her life. 

Tuesday was pretty chill. We were both really exhausted. We are working hard! 

I hope you all have a great week!! I love you guys and hope that all is well! 

Love you!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster