"DID YOU NOT GET THE WHOLE THING?? This is from last p-day. I will write more later today when I am at laundry. I mean I will write my actual letter then"
HI FAMILY!
So i am sitting here in the laundry room at the MTC typing as fast
as I can cuz there is timer thing up there. Anyway. Currently I am
feeling like I have been here forever.
- It is really cold here
- I wish I had some boots but I let my family ship them to Alaska
which is cool but still my ankles get cold and I am scared it is really
gonna snow here
- So I wanna buy like those small boots that are called milano on sorel.com but I am trying to restrain myself
My companion's name is Sister Peterson and she is from springville,
utah. Everyone is from utah. THeir families dropped them off at the
MTC. haha sigh. It's lovely but I am a little glad I didn't have to go
through that emotional separation right before I marched into the MTC
and was taken to my classroom.
My district is 6-b. We are pretty cool. Whoever gave me that advice
though, about being patient with elders, was inspired. It is crazy
sometimes being in a room full of six other 19 and 20 year olds but we
are growing together and getting to know each other and supporting each
other, except for when the elders are making fun of me for laughing so
much, they just have to START making a funny face at me and I start
laughing. Or when Sister Peterson and I have to leave the classroom
during personal study time because Elder Gardner is telling me I sing
like a black woman and Elder Noxon is putting "sister missionary
proverbs" on my desk and so we leave. And then we come back an hour
later, having happily studied, and there are two pens in the ceiling,
stuck tip first, and we just LOOK at the elders and are like "ELDERS!"
and then our branch president who has as much charisma as a man can get
and silvery white hair IMPECCABLY in place who can
command the seas to calm (I mean...get the elders to listen) is coming
down the hall and Elder Gardner has to jump as high as he can as fast as
he can and get the pens outta the ceiling, and then giggle at the holes
there, and then B.P. is in the room to lead district meeting and we are
SILENT. And RESPECTFUL.
Our branch president is pretty amazing. He told us an amazing story
about listening to the spirit, when he was in London years ago on HIS
mission he & his companion forgot to get directions to this place
where they were supposed to drop off some film strip at 5. In a panic,
they prayed and apologized to the Lord for neglecting to prepared, and
his companion asked that the directions be told to Elder Myers (my
branch president). So they started driving and impressions started
coming into Elder Myers' mind and they were taken into a forest with
back roads and little side streets they'd never seen before. A picture
of a roundabout and a pub came into his mind and 2 minutes later they
rounded a curve and he saw the pub and he started to cry. He got an
impression where to turn and they turned, and down the street was the
man they were supposed to meet, in the middle of the street tapping his
watch impatiently, and they were able to
drop off the film strip on time. He told us that we should not doubt
the impressions we get from the Holy Ghost. And that people are NOT
making this up.
I am so happy here. There is so much peace around us (sometimes not
IN us but whatevs that is what stress management is for). That is why I
laugh so much. I am happy! I pretty much have forgotten my old life.
Hahah just kidding. But really they keep you so busy here. You have no
time to think about family or friends back home. You cross my mind
often, don't get me wrong. But I am trying so hard to be focused here as
well.
I love my flannel pjs that remind me of dad.
I love all my skirts.I haven't worn the wool one yet; I think I would be too hot.
My shoes are comfy. My feet never hurt. Yay for not having clunky sister missionary shoes.
I go to the GYM (i kinda have to it's in the schedule). And we go on the ellipticals or however they are spelled.
THank you mama for going through my stuff and getting the info
about my shots. Hopefully it will all work out. And thank you Anne for
going through all the papers in my piano room. I am sorry I never
finished cleaning everything up.
We have to teach our teachers, Brother Woolf and Brother Bradley,
as if they are investigators. And we have lesson plans but they say
"Teach to the investigators' NEEDS. And listen to the spirit." So it is
not just "follow the outline" it is "pray and listen and if THEY don't
feel the SPirit then they will never believe what you are telling them
and you sometimes have to teach one person one thing and another person
another thing." I never knew how much I would have to rely on the
Spirit. You basically don't get anywhere without the spirit.
I get it now, how MUCH you have to listen to the gentle, subtle
promptings of the Holy Ghost. And it is everywhere here because we are
all missionaries and were set apart and given that blessing to give us
the power and potential to be the best missionary we can be. And
sometimes I feel like "many people won't listen to this message. Or they
do but then they eventually reject it." I have a hard time having
enough faith that EVERYONE needs to have that chance to be baptized but I
liked what I learned the other day. It's not about building the numbers
in this church. It is about giving every child of that Heavenly Father,
who loves them, a chance to experience the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
THeir burdens and guilt and confusion can be lifted and they can feel
their Savior's love and eventually enter the Celestial Kingdom.
Missionary work is about teaching people who their Daddy is.
And EVERYTHING MUST BE APPLIED TO OUR PURPOSE. Lemme tell you.
EVERYTHING. In class. "How does THIS how does THAT how does THIS how
does THAT apply to our purpose?"
WHich is...to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them
receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his
atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost,
and enduring to the end.
LOVE YOU ALL..
Sister Ashbrook
My MTC address is
Sister Melissa Jean Ashbrook
MTC Mailbox # 113
AK-ANC 1219
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
MTC Mailbox # 113
AK-ANC 1219
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
p.s. i love the letters i've already gotten. I feel so loved. I love everything.
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