Week 2! Last week at the MTC!

HI MOMMY AND DADDY AND EVERYONE!

So I feel like my last email was sort of rushed, so I'm going to try to write a better one this week!

Okay so Dad was totally wrong about the MTC. I LOVE IT HERE!!!!! My district is so awesome! I've grown super close with everyone and I love them all to death. I'm still struggling getting pictures on here so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out because I have so many pictures I want to send you!

I don't know if I told you, but my branch presidency made me and my companion Sister Stalder Training Leaders over our branch. Our branch is our district and another one and we go to all the Sunday meetings together. STL's are the female equivalent of Zone Leaders so it's a pretty big deal. Haha just kidding. It's not that big of a deal. They just gave us flip phones for emergencies and then we gave a tour to the new district that came in on Wednesday.

We got a new sister from New Zealand this week! Her name is sister Beck and she's super cute! She's serving at the Kirtland visitors center so I'm SUPER JEALOUS. But it's okay though because I know my mission is just for me:) There's people in California that need me, not in Ohio.

We taught sooooo many "lessons". Really there are just role plays. I hate role plays. It's just so awkward because you know the "investigators" are actually members. Actually, most of my "investigators" are actually my teachers soooo yeah.

There's this thing called TRC and you teach an "investigator" like 4 lessons. That wasn't too bad because the girl we taught- Lianna- was super awesome. Probably the cutest/ nicest BYU student I've ever met. And I did my first ever baptismal challenge with her and she said yes! Yay!

So earlier this week my companion and I were SERIOUSLY struggling with teaching. Our teacher had to stop us in the middle of a role play and then proceeded to tell us that she's been teaching for 5 years and has never done that. So that was incredibly awkward. But we have improved SO MUCH. I feel sooooo much more comfortable teaching now than I did before! So that's good.

Our schedule is so tight here at the MTC. Literally every minute of every day is planned for you. I got a package from the Moffitts! And Grandma Olsen and Diana Jaco sent me letters! And Dad sent me the most amazing letter. Tell him I'm going to try the best I can to be a Zion Missionary!!!! But I don't have much time here to write thank you notes so tell everyone thanks and that I love them! I'm hoping I'll have a little more time to write real letters in the field because I'll be able to plan my own schedule. We will see what happens.

This week has pretty much just been a lot of teaching. Sunday was pretty cool because it was fast Sunday. I made it through the whole day without any gum! Go me! We had a pretty great devotional from the MTC presidency. The President (President Burgess) had an elder come up and share his testimony. This elder is the very first elder from Syria to serve a mission. His testimony was AWESOME. His family was about to get on a train from Romania back to Syria and these missionaries saw them and just happened to have a Book of Mormon in Arabic. It totally changed his family's life. He talked about all the hardships he faced because our church is not welcome in Syria. His dad was arrested and he didn't know where he was for like 8 months. His mom almost lost her jaw or something. Anyway, he said whenever he went through a hard time, he could feel the Holy Ghost telling him, "Have faith. It will all work out." This totally inspired me. If he can go through all of this, then I can definitely serve in sunny beautiful CA for 18 months. I'm so grateful that I have the Holy Ghost with me as a constant companion. I know that if I have faith when I'm struggling then everything will work out.

President Burgess came to my branch's fast and testimony meeting which was awesome! I bore my testimony and pretty much just talked about what dad said in his letter about being a Zion missionary and going above and beyond what you are asked to do. So yeah that was cool. Also I've been leading the music a lot here so that's also cool. Oh! And I did choir! Did I tell you that already??? I've been able to go to the temple twice since I've been here and I love it! I keep learning and it's awesome!

Sorry I don't really have any good stories. Our days all just so packed with teaching and I pretty much just feel the spirit all the time. I miss you guys! I can't wait to talk to you tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME.

Love, 

Ashlee or Sister Shlee or whatever you want to call me haha :)

This is my favorite picture in the MTC. The girl that I am pointing to is also Sister Olsen!!

Me and my companion Sister Stalder at the Provo Temple.

Me, Sister Stalder and Pres. Gines.

We were all matching and it was super cute :) Elder Ross is on the end. Basically he's the same person as Taylor except he's not shy haha. They have the same sense of humor and they look the same and they both really like soup.

Gotta love these Elders!!

My awesome district that I love to death! This pic is super awk.

Ross, Teichert, Poulter, Olson, Sandborn, Sis. Newcomb, Carlisle, me and Stalder

District 6B Selfie!

Sister Beck is in the red! she's from New Zealand. Then there's Sister Allen. They are both going to Kirtland and I'm super jealous. They're both so cute! They are replacing us as the STLs

Sister Johnson and I! It's been such a blessing having her here; I love her to death!

CALIFORNIA REDLANDS

Here I come!!!!!