September 28, 2015 "NEVER STOP INVITING THEM!!!!!!"

Area: Anoka Minnesota

Companion: Sister Macey Jolley

Hometown: Alpine, Utah

Snail Mail:                                         

Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

5931 West 96th Street

Bloomington, MN  55438-1715

Recent pictures on: sisterashleeyoung.blogspot.com

Email: ashlee.young@myldsmail.net

September 28, 2015

“NEVER STOP INVITING THEM!!!!!!!!”

Hey Everyone!

This week has been full of miracles! Tuesday we had Mission Conference with Elder James Martino of the 70. It was so amazing to be around him and to feel of his spirit. He talked to us a TON about member missionary work! He taught us that we should not be an irritant, but that we can always show love to those around us and NEVER STOP INVITING THEM!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Elder Martino told us he finally was baptized because a friend continued to show his love to his family even when they turned down his invitation time and time again. This faithful friend did not give up and he did not stop inviting them to things for many years. Eventually, the invitation was accepted! You never know how far a simple invitation made with love will take someone.

I don't know if I told you about Yammah and Gladys. They are doing so

well! They love learning. We really want to get them into a member’s home

with the Spirit! They are progressing towards their baptismal date in October!

Beth oh my, we didn't see or hear from her at all last week. We finally got ahold of her! She has been going through some hard times but still wants to be baptized! We were able to teach her almost everything! She is a sponge just soaking it all in! We taught her the word of wisdom while she was drinking a cup of coffee.  We told her and she gave us the rest of her coffee storage! What?!? So cool! She is truly a miracle!! She is so prepared and is so willing to listen to Heavenly Father! So, now we have a container of coffee hahaha!

Wednesday we had a District Meeting with the Elders. All 6 of us had a neat experience because that night we all felt like we needed and we each received priesthood blessings. It was such a strong spiritual experience.   Elder Dygert had his surgery on his collar bone.  He is so happy to have it finally fixed!

Pat and Sister B. are doing great! Pat decided to stop smoking!  We are so proud of her! The Elders gave her a blessing to help her. It's so great! 

Yesterday was the Ward Primary program. The Spirit is so strong with those kids! 

 Love you to the Moonisota and back!!!!

Sister Ashlee Young

September 21, 2015 “Faith trust and pixie dust, oh wait the spirit….”

Area: Anoka Minnesota

"Sister Jolley & me"

Companion: Sister Macey Jolley

Hometown: Alpine, Utah 

Hi yall!!

Here’s my week:

Monday, September 14th, 2015:

P – Day! Today we went shopping. We found some good stuff on sale. We ate lunch at Costco! I haven't been in Costco forever! It was good to be back! We had pizza and berry smoothies! They were so good! Oh man! I almost forgot……we also had churros! They're the best! They taste like Disneyland in your mouth! We then went to see Peggy and her grand-daughter Natalie. We talked about prayer and the importance of having a good relationship with our Heavenly Father!!!

Tuesday, September, 15 2015:

"Fun in the Rain!"

We did “finding” all day long. It was really cool though because we stopped by a potential named Selena. We knocked, and she opened her door and was like “I believe in Jesus, but I don't want religion. I am happy where I am”. The Spirit took over the conversation and somehow we struck a chord or something, because she let us come in her home! She then continued to talk about Christ and then…… she spilled her entire life story to us. She has been through a lot of trials in her life. You could see in her eyes that she has been hurt, but that through Christ she is able to be here still. I could also see that she began to trust us. We said a prayer with her and the Spirit was so strong, she started crying. We talked about how that was the Spirit manifesting to her that what we were talking about was true! It was super cool to be able to see the Spirit soften her heart in front of our eyes!

"Elvie"

Later on we had an appointment with Yammah and Gladys. We invited Sister Villarreal to come joint teaching with us. We got to their house and they weren't there. We texted her  and she said she was coming, so we waited... and waited... and waited some more. After an hour we told Sister Villarreal we were so sorry they didn't show up, but, we really appreciated her coming to support us! Sister Jolley and I felt that we shouldn't leave, so we waited by ourselves. FINALLY, their car pulls up! 1-1/2 hours later than the appointment! We went inside and we were able to teach them the Word of Wisdom. We had taught it to Yammah before so it was more focused on Gladys. The spirit was so strong as we told them about how we don't partake of "C.A.T.T.S." We invited them to obey the word of wisdom and Gladys agreed! She said she would stop drinking wine and coffee! She said it wouldn't be too hard, and that she wanted to stop! It was amazing to see how she lit up when she committed to keep the W.O.W!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015:
Today was transfers. Sister Jolley and I were 1 of 2 sets in the whole Zone to stay together! She is awesome! She helps me come closer to the Savior and helps me be my best self! So while the Elders all went to transfers we went to ACBC,the food shelf we volunteer at every Wednesday. It was really boring without the Elders there to entertain us. But, that is okay because we had fun helping the people in the area!

"Sister Jolley & Ivy"

We then went to Bishops for a meeting and for dinner. Since Elder Johnston is training they weren't there. The new Elder’s flight didn't arrive until later. We were able to talk to the Andover Elders, Elder Oldroyd and his new companion Elder Dygert. The day before  Elder Dygert snapped his collar bone in half! We saw the x-rays and it was so gross!

We stopped by to visit an investigator named Vicki. She loves us! She always feeds us and calls us "little girls" in a really high pitched voice! She is darling. We talked about the second coming because she was telling us about the earthquake in Chile and Peru! I hope everyone is okay. I have been praying for the people there, especially the missionaries and their families! I am so grateful that we have the peace and the knowledge that no matter what happens in this life we can see our families after this life! Afterwards we stopped by at a part member family. We were able to help them around their house.

Thursday, September 17, 2015:

Today we had the opportunity to go visit Pat! We shared a quote from

"Sister Jolley"

President Eyring. It was wonderful to talk to her about how in life we are never alone. We then went over to Sister B's (across the hall) and Pat went on the porch to smoke. As she was smoking, I went out and sat by her. I asked if I could hold her pack of cigarettes. Sister Jolley looked at me and knew what I was going to do. I silently prayed over her cigarettes that she would no longer have the desire to smoke, and I knew that Sister Jolley was also praying for the same thing. I handed the pack to Pat and told her to smoke a cigarette. She started to feel sick after 2 puffs, so she put it out, and we told her what we just had prayed about. We talked about how God wants her to succeed in life. How she had so many blessings and such a huge potential going for her, but she would have to quit smoking. She was able to see that God's hand is in all things and he can perform miracles when we have faith and do our part. It was such a neat experience to have!

We went back inside and Sister B. had bought some Christmas decorations on sale. Naturally, I asked if I could put them up! She said sure! Sister Jolley rolled her eyes because I have been sneaking Christmas songs on in the car hahha! I was pretty excited!

We went home to eat dinner and walked in our garage and a the bottom of the stairs there was a MOUSE! I luckily hadn't walked down yet, but Sister Jolley had!  I haven't ever seen her move so fast!  We were flipping out! I then started running into things around the dark garage to go get Brother Fosvick to kill it! I banged on the door and he opened up and I was like "Help! There's a mouse!! Come get it!!!"

"Did someone say mouse!!"

 He then threw his shoes on and grabbed a fly swatter.... Ran down the stairs but the mouse had crawled under the rug to hide.  Bro. Fosvick just stomped on the rug vigorously, lifted it up and it’s little leg was twitching. Then he grabbed the thing by the tail and carried it up! EEEW!!!! I was freaking out! Now we are super paranoid about our basement and the garage. I live in fear.

We then went to teach Yammah and Gladys the law of chastity with Mazie Anderson. Long story short, Gladys told us to give Yammah the talk.... She asked how babies are made. What? Oh crap!  Sister Jolley looked at me panicked and so I had to explain it.... Awkward I didn't get into details, but it was pretty funny to see an 8 year old realize what she had asked. Her mom was laughing so hard! Thank goodness the Spirit was the teacher there. We also talked about tithing. Best of all, we set a baptismal date for October 10!!!! We are so thrilled!

Friday, September 18, 2015:

Today we had weekly planning! We got to have our first District Lunch with

"Elvie & Us"

Elder Johnston, Elder Coon, Elder Oldroyd and Elder Dygert!

Sunday September 20, 2015

 President’s fireside was tonight. We went and saw a bunch of people and took Yammah. It was great! We sat by Christy.  Oh, I’ve missed her so much. She gave me a bracelet she had received on her baptism day. I was so touched it meant the world to me. We then sang “The Family is of God” The spirit was so strong.

Love you to the Moonisota and back!!!!

Sister Ashlee Young

"More fun in the rain!!"

September 14, 2015 “Miracles, Birthday…THANK YOU TO ALL!!!”

Area: Anoka Minnesota

Companion: Sister Macey Jolley

Hometown: Alpine, Utah

Snail Mail:                                         

Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

5931 West 96th Street

Bloomington, MN  55438-1715

Email: ashlee.young@myldsmail.net

Hey guys!

First off I want to THANK YOU ALL for the birthday wishes! You
made my day so special, I was swamped with email birthday wishes!! I appreciate all of the support that ya'll show me all the way across the country!

So, this week was so full of miracles! So the past few weeks Sister Jolley and I have
driven by a road and we kept feeling like we should tract on it, and last week finally we were like okay why don't we just tract it right now! So, that's what we did. We walked up to the first door I knocked and this lady came and was like "Hi!" and we did our missionary thing,
and she was like ladies I love God! Come back later, I have to run, so we told her we would come back Friday.

So Friday rolled around and we went back to see Beth, she had forgotten about our appointment and was super busy but she said, we could chat for a few minutes in the back.
She was telling us about how she grew up Catholic and has recently left the church because she feels that it is becoming corrupt. She then shared with us her old fashioned morals; little did she know it is exactly what we believe! Marriage, modesty, forever families, etc.

So, we decided to give her a “For the Strength of YOUth!” We texted her this past Tuesday night to set up a time to come back and she texted us back that God was so good because she was just reading the FSOY when we texted! She is so amazing she basically bore her testimony via text to us!

So Friday rolled around and we went to her house to have a lesson. We talked about EVERYTHING in the gospel, and she was agreeing with all of it! We all felt that we knew each other in the pre-existence and the spirit was so strong! She knew that everything
was true! We then started talking about the Restoration. The spirit was so tangible. We invited her to pray to know if Joseph Smith is a true prophet and she said she was praying about it while we were speaking and she knew that it was true!

What the flip!?! Seriously someone pinch me!!!!

So then we invited her to be baptized and she said, how fast can I be baptized? She told us to teach her everything in one week! What in the world?!? Is this for real?? This kind of stuff doesn't even happen in the district! So Sister Jolley and I are so stokes! We are so thrilled! October 10th, is the lucky day!

We met with Yammah and Gladys this week. We really had a great lesson about baptism……again! Lol!  Yammah is ready to be baptized.  Gladys is still gaining an understanding and a desire, but she does want to. Originally we had a date set for September 26^th, but we changed it to the 10th of October to give them the time they need to both be comfortable and prepared. We prayed about it, and it felt so much better! We are super stoked for them!

Great news! Transfer time is here and Sister Jolley and I are staying put in Anoka!!  Sister Hunt is being transferred to our Zone, so I will get to see her some of the time too!! I am so happy! Elder Anderton our district leader was transferred. He was made a Zone Leader in Minneapolis. So that is cool. Our District is definitely hurting with him leaving. He was a great District Leader!  We will both miss him so much.

All good stuff happening!

I had a good birthday, a little bit of a crazy day. And we are celebrating more today! Sister Jolley is a great companion! I am so blessed to be with her! She is great!

Again a BIG THANK YOU to everyone for the birthday greetings!!

Got to go…..

Love you to the Moonisota and back!!!!

Sister Ashlee Young

September 7, 2015 "11 Months!! - Labor Day-Leapin Lizards!!!"

"11 Months!"

Area: Anoka Minnesota

Companion: Sister Macey Jolley

Hometown: Alpine, Utah

Snail Mail:                                         

Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

5931 West 96th Street

Bloomington, MN  55438-1715

Hey!!

Leapin' Lizards!!!! It's Labor Day!! Ha-ha well, I'm doing amazing; the work here in Anoka is really great! Sister Jolley and I are Bustin’ our Humps and earnin’ our keep! Sister Jolley and I get along great. We work so hard! In just the few weeks we have been together, Sister Jolley and I have found almost all of our investigators.  I am glad to hear that Matt taught the YM to stay away from the Vapor Cigarettes. I really don’t like vapors. Very Dumb!  Cigarettes are awful too.  We 

"At the Warrens, I'm a dork, I touched the electric fence!"

are trying to be healthy. We are walking and we workout.  Crazy that I am turning 20!  How did that happen? I want you both to know that I love you guys so much!

    We are having a really good day. The weather is great. It isn’t too humid, this week was like swimming! Today, we are emailing at church and eating noodles for lunch. Guess what? We are getting close to having 2 baptism dates set.  I am really happy in Anoka. I am healthy, and we are doing well. Next we are on our way to get our hair cut by Sister Fossum. Then we will go grocery shopping and then go to lunch. If we have a little time left later, we will finish P-day off with more emailing.

     I am trying to be the best missionary that I can be! I love Sister Jolley and I am trying to be the best companion I can be for her to help her have a great mission.

Please send me pictures of the house, and my room. I forgot what it all looks like! Can

"Feed my sheep!"

you believe it?

We have been doing yoga together in our district. This morning Sister Jolley did a new

"Sister Jolley @ Yoga this morning, ha ha ha ha!!"

positon although it looked to me like she was sleeping.

We went to the Warren’s for dinner. I’m such a dork. I touched the electric fence; WOW! Now that was a shocker! The Glismeyer’s were there to. They have baby lambs that are just so cute. I was so happy, then I found out I was standing in stinging nettle. Electric fence and stinging nettle…let’s just say I was really on a roll!

I will write a snail mail this week!

Love ya all!

Sister Ashlee Young

"Poor little Froggy!"

"Mississippi River"

"Bette Rinkie"

"Elder Anderton-District Leader"

"Mississippi River"

"Anoka"

"Storm Rollin in"

Add caption

"Bridge in Anoka over the Miss"