Ashleigh: by Julie

OK, it's my turn now! Our ministry and family entered a new era last Thursday - an era without Ashleigh! Ugh! Wow! How can I share what the last two years of life with Ashleigh have meant in a blog that doesn't break the world record for the longest blog ever? I still remember that day towards the end of the summer of 2007 when I checked my email real quick on our family computer downstairs and had received my first email from Ashleigh. I had no idea who Ashleigh Weis was, but had received an email from her expressing her desire to serve in a mission setting. She offered to do ANYTHING we needed - from office work, to changing diapers to making a hot cup of tea when I needed it! Guess what? She has spent the last two years doing just about everything - from making pizza sauce and homemade granola, to hugging me when I needed to cry, to running to the store and teaching preschool and English classes. When I received the original email my first thoughts were: "Either this is a great Christian young lady with an incredible gift of service and great faith or she is a total lunatic!" I mean, really, who offers to move to a foreign country to help out missionaries that you have never met in a language that you don't speak? You know who? Ashleigh!

And are we glad she did! Ashleigh watched our family grow from eight children to twelve! She watched the house grow from one story to two! She was there when Fidel slept in a bed for the first time ever! She watched the basement nearly triple in size! She blazed the trail for future staff members, both national and international! She was there when Pati passed away and when Marshalls arrived! She watched our oldest girls change from young girls into beautiful young women!

The Zaragoza Family when Ashleigh first arrived!

The Zaragoza Family Now

However, we aren't the only ones who changed and grew in these last two years! Ashleigh did too! After Ashleigh left last week, Lucy made the comment that Ashleigh had observed that her first and last meals at Refuge Ranch were the same! That was a total accident! Talk about the Lord providing bookends to Ashleigh's time here! Well -that meal was pozole. Pozole is a Mexican soup made of hominy (like exploded corn kernals) and pork. You put oregano, onion and radishes on top. I think that was a little much of a culture shock for Ashleigh's first meal in Mexico (Oops -sorry Ash!)! However, by the end of Ashleigh's time here, she was requesting pozole before she had to go back to the U.S.!

Ashleigh's first Evangelistic Medical Mission Crusade was quite miserable! She had stomach problems all week, was exhausted, could speak almost no Spanish and basically spent her time on the crusade just trying to survive- physically, emotionally and spiritually! Now, Ashleigh has gone on two crusades just this year and absolutely thrives while on the crusades! In fact, on her last morning here at Refuge Ranch, we all went around the breakfast table and shared something about/with her and Rosa, our cook at Refuge Ranch and on the crusades, shared that she felt that the Lord had a special call for Ashleigh's life in regards to the crusades!

Victor and Ashleigh had their share of frustrations with each other as the got to know one another and adjusted to each other's cultures and expectations. They did learn to love each other just as they are! By the end of Ashleigh's time, they had formed quite a bond with each other and Victor even cried when Ashleigh shared that she would be leaving.

I think our culture of sharing just about everything we own with whoever needs it was something new for Ashleigh and took some time to get used to. By the end, Ashleigh was giving away her favorite possessions left and right - her overstuffed lounge pillow, a favorite pair of sandals, MP3 speakers and fragrant candles!

Besides being a great practical help at Refuge Ranch, the Lord sent Ashleigh right when He knew that I needed a best friend close by!

We continue to pray that the Lord would guide Ashleigh into "his good, pleasing and perfect will" for this time in her life. However, our prayers are a bit biased as we pray that Mexico and Fishers of Men will once again form a part of that perfect plan in the not too far future!

Ashleigh - I love you and I miss you dearly!

Julie and Ashleigh last Thursday - the morning that Ashleigh left to follow her Heavenly Father as He continues to lead her into His perfect will!

"A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Proverbs 18:24