Jesus is for Everyone!

Hey guys!

Sister A here! Okay first off.. no one out here can say my last name.. like NO one. I never realized my name was hard to say till I got out here.. People just call me Sister A or just Sister...

I guess that will just have to come over time haha

Last week was beautiful and sunny in Madison Wisconsin and this week it's a frozen tundra, it is raining cats and dogs. and a freezing kind of rain that chills you to the bone. Me and Sister bean went running this morning and it just started to pour! but on the brightside... rain means rainbows :)

We had Stake Conference this last weekend and that was so awesome! Elder Carlson of the Seventy talked and a bunch of other wonderful people.

Elder Carlson said that "the mere fact that we are here on Earth is because we had faith and chose to follow our Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness. We left Heaven only because we knew we could and would make it back. We walked out that door, knowing we'd walk back in"
I loved that. I know that is true.

I read something about life and judgement the other day that hit me really hard, it said that "Judgement day will not be a day in which Heavenly Father gets out a list of all of the good and bad things we did in life. Rather it will be a time in which we look at what those decisions we made helped us become. It is not what we did, but rather who we have become"

I hope my Heavenly Father is proud of who I am becoming.

I love you guys and I love this work.
We are going to ask Nate to commit to be baptized this week.. Keep him in your prayers :)
Love you guys!!

-$ister Askerlund

okay guys... take the time to read this little piece of a talk I read this last week. IT CHANGED my outlook on everything!

"God uses another form of chastening or correction to guide us to a future we do not or cannot now envision but which He knows is thebetter way for us. President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personalexperience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, hecame across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leavingonly small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thoughthe heard it say:“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will lookdown on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruittree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say,‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”
Years later, President Brown was a field officer in the Canadian Army serving in England. When a superior officer became a battle casualty,President Brown was in line to be promoted to general, and he was summoned to London. But even though he was fully qualified for thepromotion, it was denied him because he was a Mormon. The commanding general said in essence, “You deserve the appointment, but Icannot give it to you.” What President Brown had spent 10 years hoping, praying, and preparing for slipped through his fingers in thatmoment because of blatant discrimination. Continuing his story, President Brown remembered:
“I got on the train and started back … with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. … When I got to my tent, … I threw my cap on thecot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, ‘How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do tomeasure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?’ I was asbitter as gall.
“And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, ‘I am the gardener here. I knowwhat I want you to do.’ The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness. …

“… And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to [God] and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurtme.’”⁵

God knew what Hugh B. Brown was to become and what was needed for that to happen, and He redirected his course to prepare him for theholy apostleship."

The first picture is me Sister Bean and our Investigator Nate, (the one who tried to hug me) he is HILARIOUS!

the next picture is Aven Lee, he is my favorite member of the Madison 4th Ward

#BECAUSEOFHIM

Wow! Easter was so remarkable yesterday.. I have never felt so close to my Savior. He really truly lives. I know he does. so many people we meet out here, when we ask them about Jesus, they always say "I love Jesus, he died for me" while that is so powerful and so true, I think so many people forget to realize, HE LIVED FOR THEM also.

On Saturday, Sister Bean and I got to travel to her old area to see a baptism of some she used to teach! It was so awesome.. i cried like a baby.. of  course!  

We are teaching Nate, the black guy who came to church and tried to hug me. The other day we were teaching him and talking about church and he was like.. "why was there no black people at church on Sunday? There must have been a big BBQ goin on or something" hahaha you might need to know Nate to understand how funny this was but I was dying haha He is awesome!

on April 15th, we went with our investigator Coredyn to Orange Leaf to get Fro Yo, (they had a deal going on that you could get as much fro yo as you wanted and it would only cost $4.15 because of tax day..) so you know me... I LOADED up my up. like LOADED! I think I put half a pineapple in there! It rung up as $9.10.... and turns out you had to have the advertisement printed off in order to get the deal. so I had to pay $9 for fro yo! This is completely not gospel related by any means but I just wanted to let everyone know that I think I broke my record for fro yo weight. It was a proud moment for me :)

I have like no time on the comps today because we are getting a tour of this place called Epic today that is within our boundaries. It's like this medical analysis place or something.. I don't even know but it is HUGE and I'm pretty sure it is taking over the world haha google it or something. it's insane... but so I have to get going because we're meeting an investigator over there for the tour.
Sorry I didn't get to write many people back :(
I'll talk to you all next week!
I love you so much!

God is real and there for each one of us if we will seek him 

Miracles are all around us, we just have to look for them :)
Love you guys!!

with all my love, Sister Askerlund

ps attached is some pics of me and my Comp Sister Bean
hahaha people were giving us the weirdest look the day that we matched each other :)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

It has been humbling week for Sister Askerlund.

But it has been a wonderful week! I know the Lord is mindful of me.. (minus the fact there was snow outside this morning.. that must be part of his sense of humor)

It's been an awesome week full of lots of laughter, lots of tears and lots of Jesus! What more could you ask for, right?

First of all, this coming weekend is Easter... :)

I don't know about you.. but I am guilty of thinking about cadburry eggs, my hatred of peeps, and jelly beans a whole lot more than I think about Jesus Christ. 

I love my Savior, and before my mission I thought I had a good relationship with him.. but being out here.. has changed all that. I feel him with me every day. He's with me as I walk, he's with me as I knocking on every door, he's with me at the end of the day during my prayers, he's with me when I feel  rejected, inadequate and defeated. But he is also with me during my lessons as I bear my testimony of His love for the people I am teaching, he is with me when we commit someone to be baptized, and he is with me when someone repents and feels the atonement work within them.

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES.

He lives! He may have died on the cross, but he lives, and guides this church and his people today! I find no greater comfort than that!
Speaking of Easter.. guess who got asked to speak on Easter Sunday.. none other than Sister Bean and myself.. I'm a little nervous to say the least. No pressure right?.. :)

everyone, watch this video,
it is amazing!!

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng#d

We have been working with some amazing people this week! Sam is awesome! Pretty sure we are the same person! She loves dogs, she has a weiner dog named Oscar... haha cracks me up every time! We taught her the plan of Salvation.. she had so many good questions! We are teaching her again this week!

Nate came to church! The awkward hug guy... He's black.. and our ward is 100% white so he added a little flavor haha he is so awesome!! 

We dropped Micheal.. (the guy who went to Jail) which means we aren't teaching him anymore.. which is really hard.. but it's what's best for right now. The Lord will continue to work with him till he's ready again. 

There's this lady Lisa in my ward who got baptized last November and he is SO awesome! She has such a love for the gospel and has such a light about her :) I truly love her!

We met this awesome guy Robert, who started talking to some Elders at a gas station, and he was like "hey I tried to be mormon once" so he wants to be taught again, he smokes, but we can help him with that :) Lucky for us he lives in our area so we get to teach him! he's had a hard life but has such a positive outlook on life!
We have this investigator Cindy.. who is awesome, she has a quad, has been to temple open houses, basically knows more about our church's history than I do.. but she doesn't believe all of it. She has a problem with our beliefs in Grace. But on Wednesday we made homeless packages with her. She bought all this stuff, like granola bars, socks, a tooth brush, juice boxes and even little bibles and we separated them all out and put them in bags to hand out to homeless people. we even put scripture references on each thing in the bags. She is the most Christlike person I have ever met! 

On Thursday, I had my first exchanges, Sister Johnson came and stayed with me for the day.. and wow was that interesting! Sister J. is from Texas and is SO awesome! She is on fire! We tracted and met the most amazing people! We met this guy named David who at first wanted nothing to do with us.. he first thought we were Jehovah Witnesses, then when he found out we were Mormon, He asked us how many husbands we have.. after we cleared all that up, his dog came out and I bent down to put her (of course) and I asked  her name, He said Lacey, and when I looked up at him he was crying.. he said that was his wifes name and today was the anniversary of the day she died.... I stood up and told him how sorry I was and I told him she was in a better place and that he'd see her again, he was really crying now..the spirit was insane!! We asked him if we could pray with him and he said yes. He told us we could come back whenever... so we definitely will :) the Lord guided us to his home that day, I know it!

I know all this stuff sounds so happy and the perfect missionary life but I will tell you... there is A LOT OF REJECTION! A lot of people don't like us.. and there is some mean people. We are just here to help and uplift people and build their relationship with Christ, I pray that some people will soften their hearts and realize that.

But
the work is hastening and the Lord is preparing people :)

I know this is where I am supposed to be.

I know Heavenly Father has guided me through life to this exact point, he has placed people in my path to help me get here. I feel so blessed to be a missionary.

This is the happiest times of my life.

"Yea, I know that I am nothing, as to my strength I am weak; therefor I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things yea, behold, many might miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever"

Alma 26:12

with all my love, Sister Askerlund

"God engraven upon your countenance"

Am I the only one who is just floating on a spiritual cloud right now? Conference was the BEST! People say that Conference weekend is the best weekend of your mission, and they are RIGHT! I feel bad for everyone else because I just feel spoiled since all the speakers prepared their talks just for me.. or atleast that's what it felt like ;) I especially loved Bednar's talk about the "load". We spent time the Lee family, they are my favorite! We even went our to Orange Leaf in between sessions, so you can imagine.. I was a pretty happy girl :)

This last week has been amazing and full of miracles :)

The fields are white in the Madison 4th Ward.. and whitening every day we are here. People are searching for us, they are searching for God, they are searching for the gospel. It's amazing!

I have some really sad and devastating news.. My dad sold my blazer.. For those of you who had been on adventures with me in that baby understand what I mean. "mourn with those who mourn" Haha I hated that car and it died on me so much but we sure have been through a lot together. My dad sold it to a friend, he said he "hopes he doesn't lose 15 years of friendship over that piece of junk" Brutus, was a good car, he will be missed..

Also, BIG NEWS! Brady turns 18 next week! Hold the phone, when did time fly by so fast? Make sure to give him some birthday love next week for me :)

Life has been great out here in Wisconsin! We got two new investigators this week! Trisha and Sam! (<<<<<good name!) but they are both awesome! and I am so excited to teach them more! Trisha is a single mom of older teenage girls! She loves religion and was taught by missionaries like 20 years ago! She has such a light about her, I love her already! Same is married and has two teenage boys! She is awesome! Not to mention i love her cuz of her name! It's crazy, and almost creepy how automatically you can begin to love someone out here.. I feel so much love for the people I meet because I know God loves them! (cheesy but it's true!) God loves all of us! He loves us so perfect, regardless of our imperfections, our mistakes, our shortcomings, he loves us SO MUCH! I am just begin to understand the smallest layer of that love and what it truly means to be a child of God. We are also visiting a less active named Tamesha who was baptized a long time ago but never went to church. She cried last night when we were reading the scriptures and said she has "never felt so much love in her life" :)

AWKWARD MOMENT OF THE WEEK: so there is this guy named Nate who works at a gas station Sister bean and I always stop by at, he is black and AWESOME! He knows every customer, by name. So he has gotten to know us pretty well and what we are about. So we went in on Wednesday and he was like "my siiiiiistas" and started coming out from behind the counter to greet us and I knew what was coming.. he was going in to hug me! (as a missionary, I can't hug men) So here I was with like .27 seconds to react, but it wasn't enough time because he was too fast so he started hugging me and I AWKWARDLY went like all stiff and then I went into like this bent over position while he was still trying to hug me, this whole time I was just screaming "i can't hug you I can't hug you" I wish I could describe it better, and I wish I could show you a picture of his face and reaction after.. he was like shocked. We then had to spend like 10 minutes explain why I can't hug him, and we had to assure him that other mormons can hug him. (it was the most awkward moment of my mission, thus far) Anyways, he is so awesome! We gave him a BOM that day and he promised he'd read. His mom is a Jehovah's Witness, and he said if she finds this book he'll be burned at the stake and that he will make sure to haunt us in his after life." hahaha he is awesome!

It's finally warming up out here.. Wisconin is so full of wild life haha there is bunnies everywhere! I need to try to get a picture of them in our front yard! and WOW the squirrells! EVERYWHERE!!  I cannot wait for spring out here, people say it is so green and beautiful! :)

Micheal is out of Jail.... wooooo! So that's good.. he is still moving towards baptism but he definitely still has a lot to go. Tim is on two weeks no smoking! If I don't see another miracle my whole mission.. Tim will be enough. It is amazing seeing the Lord work within someone :) He is so awesome!

I'm doing really good ) don't get me wrong, it's hard.. really hard. But it's worth it! People are generally pretty friendly out here.. haha till they find out we're Mormons, then they run away like we have the plague! But it's all good! The work is  progressing. We are building up our teaching pool and find new people every day! I know this is the true church of God on Earth, and I know it can bless lives, like it has blessed mine! that is why I am out here.. I would hope we all can reach out our hands to someone as Christ would, you can changes someone's life by bringing the Gospel into it.

I love all of you guys and I am so grateful for all the love and support my family and I have received! Especially the prayers on my behalf and on the behalf of my investigators!

Until next week, god bless <3

all my love, Sister Askerlund

"stop waiting for the rainbow and thank God for the rain" -Utchdorf