May 25, 2015 "ET...no phone home...."

Happiness is......

Companion: Sister Hunt

Hometown: Mesa, Arizona

Snail Mail:                                          

Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

5931 West 96th Street

Bloomington, MN  55438-1715

Hey There! 

Watermelon my favorite!

       So, to start off this week’s email I have some bitter-sweet news. Saturday night Sister Hunt and I received a call from the AP's. They informed us that President was doing some emergency transfers "ET's" this upcoming Tuesday at mission conference. They told us that it would affect our companionship. The AP’s then continued to tell us that Sister Hunt would be leaving to go serve in the Cedar Lake Area; aka the Crystal Ward with Sisters Taito & Sister Pack.  I was told by them that I would be staying here.  Sister Coleman who has only been out one transfer would be coming here to Lake Nokomis with me and that I would be finishing her training. So I am becoming a "Step-Mom". We were in shock!!  I immediately started to cry because Sister Hunt and I have gotten so close. She really is like my sister. I didn't want to be separated from her.  I have no idea how to train a new missionary. I was (and still am) very scared for the changes happening tomorrow. I got down on my knees and I prayed to my Father in Heaven and asked him to give me the comfort to know that there is a reason for this ET and that I would be okay. I asked Heavenly Father that I would have the strength and the courage to help this new sister be the best missionary she can be. I felt a sense of peace and calm come over me. I know that my Heavenly Father is there for me. I know that He and my Savior will help me throughout this change.

Monday: We were at the mission home all day again picking out lice. I hate lice. We have washed our bedding and towels in hot water to kill the lice a few times at the mission home. We are tired of the lice and we need to get rid of it. Sister Forbes was so cute! She gave us some yummy salad for lunch.  She found a chocolate cake in the fridge and so she cut it up then we went and delivered cake on a platter to the mission office. It was so fun!

Tuesday:  We helped a member, Sister Showley, with a project at her house. We cleaned her basement shelves that had lots of mice droppings all over. We even wore hospital face masks to do it so it was quite the experience. After helping her we helped plant more flowers at Salvation Army with Elders Fuller and Hughes. When we got there, there was a protest going on but we just ignored it. Sister Hunt and I were a little scared that something crazy was going to happen. However the protest didn't last long - which was good. Later in the day we saw “Mom” and Debbie and read the scriptures with them. Debbie said that she and Louis really want to get back to church for themselves even though they were offended. She said to call them to wake them up on Sunday. That night we had dinner with Desirae. It was Nana's birthday so we celebrated it with them. She turned 3! We had a lesson with Desirae's friends that were there.

Wednesday: We had a lesson with Hope at 7:30. We showed her the 20 minute video of the Restoration. Charity was there for the lesson so it was good.  Most of the day we weren't feeling the best; so we just took it easy. 

Thursday:  We had our district meeting. The Elders gave Sister Hunt a blessing because her stomach was hurting again. That evening we found out that Desirae’s daughter Tiffani (age 12) went missing, so we helped Desirae look for her. We were so worried that she was going to do something dumb but she didn't. She left her house at 5:30 and got home at 10.   I guess she needed to go for a walk but it worried all of us. The Elders also helped us look for her.

Friday:  We saw Sister Page and did some service for her. We also saw Summer and had a good lesson with her. 

Saturday: We did some tracting but didn't have much success with that. We saw “mom” again. We also saw Desirae with the Elders.  She has a lot going on right now so it was good to be there to support her.

I received an awesome letter from Allie this week! It made my week so much better. Keep me in your prayers as I start training! I love you all to the “Moonisota and Back!!!”

 Love,

Look Mom, I'm eating gluten!

Sis. Ashlee Young

My Minnekiddo's

We love our girls

Love these little angels

Here's two cute boys I can hug!

Here's two cute boys I can hug!

Minneapolis at night

"Nana's Birthday!!"

X 2

"Our Planners!"

Minneapolis night time....beautiful!

Now that's a smile!

We "heart attacked" the Graff's
We love them so much!

Love is spoken here

May 18, 2015 "Aloha!!"

Shark bait.......oh, oh, ha, ha!

Aloha!

Companion: Sister Hunt

Hometown: Mesa, Arizona

Snail Mail:                   Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

5931 West 96th Street

Bloomington, MN  55438-1715

Hey ya'll!
        Hope it's been a great week for you!
This week was not as eventful as last but hey I'm not complaining :) This week Sister Hunt and I met up with Elder Ford and Fuller downtown to do some service for the Salvation Army. We planted flowers in the “garden” or what it really looks like the cigarette butt dirt. It was really fun though!

"Salvation Army" service project
Catch the irony?

Transfer meeting with best Elders!
Ford and Esquivel! Don't worry I am
wearing heels.......I haven't grown
that much! 

After we went to lunch for one last time with our Eldorado’s to Arby's! Man we are going to miss those two! They really work well together! We had Sister Teucscher come with the 3 of us to be her rent-a-companions while Sister Roberts went to the MMM to die! I can't believe she is already home! So crazy! We had dinner at Sister Wetzel’s and had a great chat about the scriptures! After that we went over to see the girls and had a great lesson. While we were there, we took some fun pictures in the yard! We then went to Mykea's.  She is having surgery on her toe and wanted the Elders to give her a blessing. 

This guy told us to "sit, and turn around"
and we were like "okaaay".......It was
like an awkward family photo

Wednesday morning we went to transfer meeting.  President and Sister Forbes were in Salt Lake for a conference, so Elder Stacey conducted the meeting.  He is so great! He said he was going to give us a lecture because he's a Seventy now and he can do what he wants…. hahaha! He gave an analogy of Lebron James and playing in the NBA to Missionary work!  He talked a lot about our calling as missionary’s in the Latter-days. He wanted us to know who we truly were. It was a very humbling experience. It reminded me of the quote called my “Missionary Commission.” I felt so spiritually fed after that. We said adios to Sister Zimmerman and to Elder Ford. We said hello to 
some of our MTC buddies! After that Lucianne called and needed some help setting up her garage sale.  So, off we went to go help her.  I helped Sarah take apart her loft bed to sell. Guess what? I actually figured out how to do it!!!  After, Lucianne  made us a delicious dish for helping her! She's a
great cook! 

Lucianne's yummy food!

       Thursday, we went and taught Hope and Charity in the morning.  She asked if we could come 

Baby Bird 

back later and help her do some stuff in the house.  We said; “ yes ma'am!”  So, we left and went to see Desirae and had a lesson with her about Patriarchal Blessings! We hope she will have the desire to receive hers soon. Her kids found a nest on the ground with baby birds. They took them in their house and were caring for them. They were so tiny! I held one! After we went to Charity's again and helped move some furniture and spackle the walls.  Then she asked if the Elders could come move some furniture to the garage. So, Elder Fuller and Elder Hughes came to the rescue and carried a big hutch into the garage. We then went to Bishop's meeting and had a great time. After that we went back to the girls’ house and had a lesson with Faith, Summer and Shania while painting their bedroom!! It was a lot of fun!

       Friday, we went to Feed My Starving Children as a zone. I love doing service there! We packed food for children in St. Lucia! We then did our weekly planning,  and then we had a lesson at

Triplets @ FMSC

Lucianne's house with Sarah and Annika. Annika is doing well, but I don't think she really is ready to take the next step towards baptism.  That is sad, but I will keep praying for her and meeting with her. Eventually over time her testimony will grow on its own.

       Saturday was a special day. Not! We were itchy again,  so we checked our hair... Lice again! Sister Hunt had 18 live bugs in her hair!!!!! EWW! We called President and Sister Forbes and asked what to do. They told us to come to their house, so we went. We washed  our clothes, sat in the yard and just picked out

My hair is bugging me!

lice all day long!!!! Sister Hunt picked eggs out of my hair for 4 hours!!!!! Only found 1 live bug so that's good.  Hopefully,  I am getting rid of the stupid things!!! We had lunch with the Forbe's, then that night we had a dinner at the church. The youth in the ward have been planning a fundraiser for camp. So we went to a LUAU! It was so fun! The Fuluvaka family was in charge of the food. It was so good! There were some leftovers after, so we were able to take some rice, pulled pork, teriyaki chicken and other yummy Hawaiian foods home!  It was so much fun!  They had a lot of

We got leftovers......Mahalo!!!!!

different decorations and activities.  The best was Kathryn taught the ELDERS and us how to do the Hukilau dance! IT WAS HILARIOUS! 

         Sunday, we had church. We had a great lesson in Relief Society about the Book of Mormon and it sweeping the Earth like a flood. We were asked to go up and share a message for 15 minutes explaining what we teach about the Book of Mormon. I was nervous, but I think people were able to feel the spirit. We had President's fireside which Summer was asked to speak at! I was so proud of her. When she told her story to the congregation we went right up front so she could see us so we could support her! Charity told the other two girls to move so she could sit in-between her Sisters! Haha…. she is great. She is like another Mom to us here in Minnesota! Summer put me in tears. I was so excited for her. She was so cute and came up to me and was like; "Sister Young, I felt it! I felt the spirit prompting me to help a resident! "(she is a nurse) I told her that was amazing and that she feels the Spirit a lot but now she is learning to recognize how the Spirit speaks to her!

Having a little fun.....

I am so grateful that we each have the opportunity to have the gift of the Holy Ghost with his companionship if we are worthy and are obedient to God's commandments. I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Him. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his beloved son, Jesus Christ. I know that if we take Moroni's challenge (Moroni 10:3-5) and ask our Heavenly Father in prayer with a sincere heart and REAL intent that HE WILL manifest the truth of it unto us by the power of the Holy Ghost. When you do this He will testify it is true!  This is Christ's true church here on the Earth today. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

I hope you all have a blessed week!!!!

Sister Hunt made Charity a
snowman made out of
SPACKLE!!

Love you all to the Moonisota and Back!!!

Hawaiian temp. tattoos!

Sister Ashlee Young

Chocolate shakes......reward for our
hard work! We are weirdo's.

Creepy Green Bug!

Lice in my hair is not nice....
Especially since, this is twice!Talk about taking one for the team!

May 11, 2015 "They weren't kidding when they said it would be THE BEST 2 years!‏!!!!”

Our Three Miracles!

Tripanion: Sister Hunt, Sister Zimmerman

Hometown: Mesa, Arizona – Northern California

Snail Mail:

Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

5931 West 96th Street

Bloomington, MN  55438-1715

Hey Ya'll!

So, my letter will be brief since I talked to ya'll yesterday.......this past P-day was the best day ever! We had district p-day at a member’s house in the stake.  (who is loaded) They have a really nice home! We all played sports, but guess what they had?!?? LACROSSE equipment and a yard big enough to play it in!!!!! Ahhh…… I was so excited!!!! I played lax A L L day long! I've missed it so much!!! We also played the “couch” game, and “apples to apples!” But the important thing is I got to play lacrosse!  No one else really knew how to play so I tried teaching Sisters Hunt and Zimmerman……. but they didn't like it (#couldn'treallydoit) They had their sports there too (tennis and soccer) so they were a little occupied.  I convinced one of the Elders to play catch with me. It took a while to teach him some basics but he eventually got it. It was a blast!! It made me miss my team though!!!! Later that night we had a lesson with Faith, about Jesus Christ. It went really well.

Some "bunny's" are tired after a service project in the garden.
Lucianne really appreciated the help! #worthitfersure

Tuesday, we went to Lucianne's house and gardened in her huge yard! We planted bulbs, and weeded. We were so worn out at the end. We also found a dead bunny's head and tail.  It was morbid. We were so tired after playing hard on Monday, then gardening all day.

Wednesday, we went and saw the Walkers! They are the cutest old couple. (I've told you about them before) We also did a lot of “stop-bys”, but without any success. The day ended great when Sister Zimmerman's recent convert from her past area came to visit us and took us out to the Cheesecake Factory for a special dinner! It was so lovely! Seriously, the food

"Me with the Walkers"

there is prime! 

Thursday, we had district meeting. We talked a lot about the enabling power of the atonement, grace, remembrance, and families. Those are some things that are so unique about the Church. You have got to love eternal families :)  We had to sneak out of the meeting a minute early so we could get to Sister Z's physical therapy appointment.  Her knee is doing a lot better.  She is off crutches now, so that is nice.

Me and "Z"

Friday, we had the most awesome miracle with the girl’s mom! Sister Hunt and I went over to her house and talked to her about Alma 32. We had asked her to read it the prior visit. She told us that she had read it 5 times! She said she has had the missionaries in her house for 4 years but that nothing worked with her. That was until she read that chapter and it touched her heart. For her to read the Book of Mormon, was such a miracle and an answer to our prayers. She expressed her desire to learn more, to meet with us, and to come to Church!!!! We are so thrilled!!!! The rest of Friday had been

Zone Service Day!

rough. It's been an extremely slow week. But as you can tell, Heavenly Father is blessing us with tender mercies to help us along.

Cemetery Service Project
Aria, Adriana,Young, Hunt

Saturday was great! The Lake Nokomis Ward did a service project at Oak Hill Cemetery. You know this is right up my alley.  It's only a block away from our apartment.  We planted some flowers, and got in a water fight...... I may or may not have started it...... We raked around the fence, and un-buried some head stones that were overgrown by grass! We are going to start doing service there weekly to help them out:) After that, we had to shower again. We got really muddy, so we rinsed off during lunch. After that it was time to go fill the font up for Hope's baptism! Let me tell you, there is nothing like the sound of water running in the church :) When Hope and her family arrived at the church, we took some pictures.  Elder Stacey (called as an Area Seventy at General Conference in April) who is baptizing Hope asked her sisters, Faith (age 14)and Shania ( age 11) why they weren't getting baptized today too. They were both like “we are going to do it eventually” and he said; “why don't you just do it now, you know the church is true?!” So, they said Mom, can we get baptized with Hope tonight? She said YES!!!! We were like how can we do this? So I called President Forbes and explained that they really were prepared and they know the

We made it! Ready to be baptized!
May 9, 2015
Edina, Minnesota

church is true.  He asked if the Zone Leaders were going to be at the baptism and we said yes; they are the witnesses. He said to have them give the girls an interview when they got there and he would try to come to see them get baptized! I was freaking out! Seriously, I was like hyperventilating, laugh- crying, squeezing the girls and Charity their mom all at the same time! Elder Fuller and Ford walked in.  I ran to them and told them what had happened, and they were like what? Sister Young calm down we don't understand you! I was so excited!!!! Then they were like no way!!! So they interviewed the girls 

Elder Fuller, Elder Ford, Sisters Young, Hunt and Zimmerman
#dacrew

and the baptism start time was delayed a bit, but of course it was well worth the wait! To top it all off, President and Sister Forbes came in time to see them get baptized! Sister Hunt gave a really good talk on Baptism. Next it was time for the baptisms.  Hope was baptized first, then Faith, and then Shania.

"Elder Stacey with Girls"

I was a mess crying. I have never felt so much joy in my life. After, Hope shared her testimony, then Faith decided she would like to as well. She does not cry, but she got up and started to cry when she bore her sweet testimony. I was so proud of her. Sarah was whispering to President Forbes after not to transfer us because she would “die!” Haha; she is so cute!

After the baptism, Elder Stacey said he would take us out to Perkins.  Little did we know it was his birthday.  Naturally we found out. ( because we are sneaky)  While we were there a biker gang came in. They were all drunk and when we started singing “Happy Birthday” to Elder Stacey, what happened next was HILARIOUS! One of the really drunk ones was like "YOU DID IT MAN, YOU DID IT!!!!" We all were busting up laughing!!!!  After that we had a conference call with the zone because our zone had 7 baptisms in one day and 3 of them were ours! So we got on and bore our testimonies then talked about the experience! It was a great day!

Following the baptism, Elder and Sister Stacey of the
Seventy, take us out to dinner at Perkins to
celebrate!
We Love the Stacey's!

Sunday:  Happy Mother's day! Today the girls were confirmed.  Charity came to church with them and it was so amazing to see Charity, Summer, Faith, Hope and Shania all at church :) I was bawling during their confirmation blessings especially when they talked about them getting married in the temple and Shania going on a mission!!!!!! I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of their life to see them enter into the waters of baptism and make covenants with the Lord! After church we went to Lucianne's to skype you guys! Mom I can't believe you didn't recognize my voice at first!!! Everyone looks so good! I was so thrilled to be able to see you all and talk to you! I love you all so much! This was seriously the best week

"Mom with her girls!"

ever! Oh and today we found out about transfers...Sister Hunt and I are going ETERNAL!!!! Sister Zimmerman is going to Bloomington, and Elder Ford is being transferred to Sauk Rapids.  We will miss them! Well, I have to go.  I love you all to the Moonisota and Back!!!!

Love,

Sister Ashlee Young

"Be free little friend!"

Zone P-Day Fun!

Not all of the comforts of home were left behind......

Great night at the Cheesecake Factory
thanks to Sister Z's visiting converts
from her last area