The MTC

Ash and her pre-mish comp,
(and best friend) Cyd

"I'm going there someday..."

Ashley's first e-mail from the MTC!!  Enjoy!

     Hola Familia!,
Wow!!! It has already been a full week!  I can't believe it. Things here are amazing! 
Showing up on the first day I expected to maybe have some time to drop off my things and
get settled in...but
that was NOT the case.  These mormons, they like to throw you right into the thick of things.  Two scrawny little

The MTC sign is gone :(

Elders helped carry my bags to my room. Elder Hans is serving in Cambodia and his arms are about the size of my pinky. He had two of my bags and seemed to be struggling quite a bit. I offered to help him out, but he was determined to be a gentleman. Haha. It was hilarious! They took me to a room where we had our picture taken and then they put our missionary tags on us for the first time. Guys. The second they clipped that thing on... the biggest smile spread across my face. THAT was the moment it was real. I am just so excited to be rockin the "Sista Mitch" tag. Its awesome! After checking in and doing all those things I headed straight to class. It was kind of surreal walking around in a MASSIVE swarm of boys in ties. This is definitely going to take some getting used to. I hadn't met my companion yet and wasn't really sure when I was going to. As soon as I walked into class there she was. I'll be honest... I wasn't sure what to expect. But let me tell you right now ladies and gentleman... I have... THE BEST COMPANION EVERRRRR!!! Her name is Sister Green and she is from St. George. She is called to serve in the Montana Billings mission. (We are the only companionship that aren't going to the same mission) There must be a reason they stuck us two CRAZY Sistas together.  She is just all around one rad girl. We spend all of our time together. (Duh) And I LOVE it! 

This week has been crazy busy and so much has been going on. First I'll start with the best news. Guess what? My whole branch is THAI SPEAKING!!!! Right?!?!?! What are the odds. There is a Solo Sister (Sister without a companion yet) named Sister Knutson. She arrived with us on Wednesday and is called to serve in Bangkok. She is my roommate and I absolutely love her to death! We have become so close I wish that I could stay the whole 12 weeks with her. But guess where she's from? Bellingham Washington. That blew my mind and I casually mentioned that I went there a few weeks ago to see a friend. She said, "Which friend?" I mentioned Montana and that we stayed with Dane and she knows him! She's known him for years and hung out with him all the time and ah. Its just such a small world here. I have run into sooooooooooooo many people that I know. So not only am I learning some Thai and saying "Sawadee Kha" and Y "ing" every five minutes but I ALSO get to speak with TONS of chinese missionaries. I swear they are everywhere I go. We get assigned to go do service with the mandarin speaking missionaries, we do gym with them, they seem to be always sitting by me in the cafeteria. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! I love it so much. I just love the chance to speak my language. It keeps me alive you know? I've already made so many good friends here. Its not easy for me to wake up so early in the morning and rock a 16 hour day. But the reward is worth it. The spirit is so strong here. It's amazing how closely you grow together when you are working for one common goal. Everyone looks out for each other. My district is AWESOME. The Elders are hilarious. And I am just loving life. I hope all is well with you back home. I want to hear everything that’s going on. I wish that I had more time but my time is up. 

I only get 30 minutes on the computer but I would love to hear from you guys. I can get emails from anyone at ashleym@myldsmail.net or you can use this website called "DearElder.com." It's awesome and it's free. All you have to do is type in my name and my mission. (California Roseville) And it will get to me the next day. I have been DYING for some mail lately so pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease write to me guyyyys. Xie Xie Ni!   (You can use dear elder or you can ALSO use my email. Its fine because I just print the emails out so it doesn't waste time. K!?!??! Okay. Love you. 30 seconds left on the screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

  

Choog Dee,

Sister Ash Mitch