On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 1:43 PM Ashlyn Mikaela Jensen <ashlyn.jensen@myldsmail.net> wrote:
Pic 13- Sunday Temple walkPic 14- We are both "Sister Jensen"Pic 15- Elder Mair, Brinkerhoof me Carter, OlsenPic 16- @ Elder Scorse & Elder Beanrson ;)Pic 17-mePic 18- Me & Sister PoulsonOn Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 11:41 AM, Ashlyn Mikaela Jensen <ashlyn.jensen@myldsmail.net> wrote:Pic 7- The WallPic 8- Elder Dunyon!! @ Addy KennedyPic 9-My STL Sister Jex & WallusPic 10- #freezing #hateutahPic 11- I felt weird wearing a beaniePic 12- Sista EnglishOn Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 11:37 AM, Ashlyn Mikaela Jensen <ashlyn.jensen@myldsmail.net> wrote:Pic 1- the flight herePic 2- our roomPic 3- Sister Stephenson, Poulson,Me, EnglishPic 4- I love Sister English manPic 5- Gunichiwa Sister WrightPic 6- Sister Poulson & matching hydrosOn Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 11:36 AM, Ashlyn Mikaela Jensen <ashlyn.jensen@myldsmail.net> wrote:Day 1 coming into the MTC I felt like Mulan when Shane was singing "I'll make a man out of you." Now I actually know where I am going, I pray about 12 times a day & I have 4 investigators in my teaching pool! Special shout out to Aunt Kim & Uncle Chris for picking me up from the airport & treating me to some J-Dawgs. Week made. Also there were about 12 missionaries on my flight and it was so fun chatting with them! We were so loud the entire flight I feel bad for everyone around us haha!!SO Wednesday we came to class right away! I met my 2 teachers, Sister Bingham & Brother Crandall! They are both BYU student fresh off the mish, They seriously rock. They never teach together though! Sister Bingham will teach for 3 hours in the morning and Brother Crandall will teach for 3 hours at night. And in between we have meals, countless hours of studying preach my gospel and the scriptures. We met our zone leaders that night & Sister Training Leaders (ZL & STL) and they are so fun. Except the STL left last night :(I want to be just like sister Jex & Sister Wallus by the time I leave. I met my district & room mates! I love them all!! We have 8 sisters & 4 elders!! 5 of us are going to North Carolina, 3 are going to Little Rock & the others are going to Indiana! GUYS THERES SNOW EVERYWHERE AND I CAN'T HANDLE!!!!! Bed time is amazing. As a missionary 10:30 never sounds so good. Of course the 1st night we were all exchanging kissing stories haha!!! Theres 4 Sisters in my room.. me, Sister English (shes my babe of a companion), Sister Stephenson & Sister Poulson. We are all going to North Carolina!! I love them all.THURSDAY: I woke so confused to where I was. Right away Sister English & I prepared our first lesson for our new investigator Alice! It went great! We taught her about 3 more times after that. The food here is just interesting. I don't know how I feel about it yet... just get over the mystery meat and you are good. I stick very close to the salad bar ;) and of course BYU chocolate milk!!!!! Ill let all 117 of you in on a little creapy secret.. my District leader has a crush on me and its hilarious. Its the district joke & the way elders flirt he is cringe worthy but so entertaining haha!!FRIDAY: Woke up, got a sack breakfast, went and did service for 90 minutes. Me & Sister English were assigned to 4 flights of stairs sweeping them up and down then mopping. So you know what to do when sweeping and moping flights of stairs? You and your companion put on a disney broadway show for anyone within miles. I can say I have never met someone who knows and loves disney as much as I do until I met Sister English. We duet as Elsa & Anna pretty well too ;) After service we had gym time. I played volleyball with a ton of Elders & Sisters and it was so fun. I met some Elders from Mesa! Elder Arnett is here and he went to Mountain view so if any of you know him I met him!! So as a missionary you cannot touch an elder. Not even high five! And you can't use slang like "girlfriend" or "dude" or "guys".. well dont judge me because I sin differently than you AND I already repented for this but.. I was playing volleyball & this elder & I played this really good play okay.. and we high fived like we were so pumped and after words we both freaked out haha!!SATURDAY: Same old same old... class, read the book of mormon, more class, lunch, more class, teaching Alice.SUNDAY: Sunday didn't feel like Sunday. We had relief society & the STL taught the lesson and it was so amazing. All about repentance. Without repentance there can not be any progress. If you are carrying a burden i testify that if you take it to God he will lift it from you. An example from the scriptures that I love is when Nephi was bound by his brothers. He prayed to Heavenly Father for strength to endure. He did not ask to be removed from the situation. Nephi is an amazing example to me. As a missionary, I need to ask for strength to endure, not to give up. After relief society, we had lunch. THEN okay this is intense... for Sacrament meeting we are given a topic the night before (it was the holy ghost) and every single person in our zone has to write a 3-5 minute talk. Right after passing the sacrament our Branch President gets up and names off names of elders and sisters who "get" to speak right then and there. Its straight up Hunger Games. I didn't get called this week tho ;) Can we take a moment and discuss how adorable my branch presidency is?!?! holy cow. I love them. The MTC presidency is adorable too!!! I had the chance to chat with them one on one. I adore all the senior couple missionaries here as well. Its like your mission grandma & grandpa aww! Speaking of grandpa's... Grandpa Sugar.. i made it to ice cream night!!!!! I thought of you the entire time!! Sunday also consists of choir practice! Our choir director is a hoot!! I made our entire district go! They thanked me later ;) but it was incredible. We sang "Where can i turn for peace?" and it was so powerful. I have a strong testimony of music. We sing hymns before every meeting because it brings the spirit & the words & melodies truly testify of Christ. I love the hymns. I love Battle Hymn of the Republic. Whenever I am down or feeling lonely I sing that hymn because it makes me feel apart of something. And that something is building Christ's church. Bettering peoples life with the saviors love. I love it with everything in me. Anyways... there was a devotional that night given by the MTC Administrative president. Elder Heaton? Elder Keaton? Anyways he called up a Sister who was baptized about 8 months ago.. she shared her story & long story short this guy in her choir class converted & baptized her.. THE GUY STANDS UP IN THE CROWD WITH HIS HANDS FORMING A HEART. So brother Heaton invites him up to the stage in front of the entire mtc and they go back and for about their story. It was an epic love story and all the missionaries were flipping out.MONDAY: A cruel day where all your missionary friends are emailing and you cannot. Also Sister english got hit in the face with the pull up bar and now has a huge goose egg on her head hahaha. We taught 3 investigators yesterday. Wren, Karissa & Kalein. they all went great & we are inviting kalein to be baptized tomorrow. A miracle happened in our district on monday. We were sitting in class and our district leader leaned over to me & told me that Elder Brinkerhoff was in the Branch Presidents office about to go home. Immediately we stopped everything we were doing & all knelt down in prayer. We prayed so hard for him. A few minutes later, he walked in and you could see a change in him. We were reading Ether 12 & he joined in with us. After we were done.. he announced he was staying & there was such an amazing spirit & so much joy. We all went around & told Elder Brinkerhoff how grateful we were for him. It was a cry fest. His experienced strengthened our district. Tender mercies.Today its pday obviously.. then after this we will go to the Provo Temple & do a session. I AM SO EXCITED!! I miss the temple. Then its dinner after the temple & choir practice woohoo!!!!Then tonight we are having a devotional & possibly one of the seventy or twelve will be speaking to us. So grateful. I love you all! I was so overwhelmed with grattitiude for my friends who sent me dear elder .com letters or emails throughout the week. I do have an ipad while I am here in the MTC so I am able to read my emails everyday. I love you all. The church is true. I fly out 2 weeks from yesterday. Hopefully this week I get my travel plans!! Have a good week!xoxo,Sister Jensen(Sorry if you get this email like 9 times im struggling to send it)Sister Ashlyn JensenFeb 13 NC-RAL Unit #402005 N 900 EProvo Utah 84602
