Ashley from the MTC to Reno = MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!

March 12, 2018

This is long, but it's worth it. If you don't read all of it then you don't love Jesus and His miracles.

I cannot express how happy I am here. It is insane. Reno is a bit of a rundown area, and fairly ghetto, but the people here are incredible. My companion's name is Sister Morgan and she is from Arizona. We keep fighting on who has the better sunsets. But she is amazing, and everybody keeps calling us twins. And, the best part, she gives really good back scratches.

These. People. Are. Amazing. I love all of them. Especially because they feed us. But I didn't realize how I can easily create miracles with God's help. I also never knew how easy it was to be spiritually in tune with Him. 

Okay. The traditional use of missionary emails. Investigators. Oh I love them.

There is the coolest lady here. Her name is Donna. She was my first investigator. (Everybody else doesn't count because they were already being taught before I came here.) We walked into her house and it deeply smelled of smoke (almost everybody's house does and that doesn't bode well with my nose). She was wearing an oxygen mask and was kind of stuck in the chair because she couldn't move around a lot. We talked to her a little bit about our church and she goes, "Oh yes! I want to learn! Teach me everything!" We asked her about church, and she said she only has a limited supply of oxygen so she would only be able to go once a month. She didn't believe that she had more than 5 years left to live and she is 51. But a month ago she turned everything over to God and has seen many many miracles.

The only other person that knows about her taking lessons is a 90 old woman who is disabled and can't leave her home. But Donna found a brand new bible bag sitting on her chair. She has no idea who could have put it there. But she loves it. She bought highlighters and everything for her bible and Book of Mormon.

She also gives everything to other people. She gives everything up to her food and the clothes on her back and has never asked for anything in return. So she told us that God told her that she needed to ask us for help with food. She also asked us for dresses so she could go to church.

Well.... My dudes, this is one wild ride of a miracle.

Sit tight and listen.

During our second lesson, she was up out of her seat and didn't have the mask on. She got a call from the doctor telling her that the cysts on her lungs were nothing when she thought is was cancer. The doctor told her that she was healing and only had to wear the oxygen at night, which also meant she could go to church and be baptized. On that second lesson, we committed her to be baptized on April 21st. She looked in her planner, slammed it shut and said, "I commit!"

Then- yes there is yet another miracle.

We were on the search for clothes for Donna, but couldn't seem to find any. But I knew with complete assurance that The Lord would take care of it. I loved not doubting. It felt amazing.

Well one night, we saw a lady smoking in front of a member's house, so we decided to talk to her, but she went and got the lady who was living there instead. So we sat down and talked, and she said she was the compassionate service director. So we asked her if she would have any clothes. She went to her trunk and pulled out Donna's exact sizes and gave it to us.

Donna looked super cute in her Sunday outfit when she came for church.

Other miracle (they're just everywhere. Be jealous. Go on a mission.)

My first Saturday, all of our appointments fell through. All. Of. Them.

Around 3, my companion became fairly discouraged. So we said a prayer and I asked Heavenly Father to put somebody into our path. So we were driving, and Sister Morgan remembered a referral and we just drove by to say hi. When we knocked on the door, a panicked lady answered. And when I say panicked, I mean panicked. She was kind of talking through her words, but she also mentioned that there was a huge spider she was trying to take care of. We immediately offered to help because I'm really good with spiders. We go in, her kids are stuck in a room because the door handle is missing and the lady is freaking out because the spider was in fact big, and it was a brown recluse. For those of you who don't know what kind of spider that is, it is even more dangerous than a black widow, and this thing was big. So I grabbed what I could to take care of it, because the lady also didn't have the heart to squish it. So I grabbed a tiny cup, trapped it, and then we took it outside and through it in the dumpster.

She came back and was so relieved. She was about to have a panic attack. So we helped her clean her house for 2 hours because apparently, she had a babysitter come over and had all of the neighbor kids come over, let them do whatever they wanted while she smoked the entire time. So we helped clean up and she wants us back over to teach her family because they really need it.

IN CONCLUSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you all. And you can pray for miracles

P.S.

QQs:

My companion shouting at cars: "Go faster! WE have places to go, people to see, souls to save!!"

A son talking to his mom about the sister missionaries: Let them in, they're cute

Mom: They are on a mission!

Son: Ya, but they're cute

"You can make her cry by being baptized."

"Okay. I'll be baptized."

"Kelly no! that's not why you should be baptized!"

(Sister Morgan and an investigator named Kelly)

"One you know that the Book of Mormon is true, then you can get baptized."

"Wait . . . Okay I know it's true."

"Kelly!!"

"It's revelation."

"You tell them, and they get the chance to run." - Walter

"I don't need your sass right now. This is a very touching moment." - Elder Dyer

March 2, 2018

     I only have a few more days until I’m in the field. The days at the MTC blur together, and by the time I go to bed, I have no idea what I did that morning. Warning, I have absolutely no idea what to write. Mostly because I just woke up. We haven’t anything sorely interesting go on. We did get to hear from Tad Callister from the Quorum of the 70, and he talked about the Book of Mormon.

      We had the opportunity to host new missionaries this week. That means that we get to take the new missionaries away from their families as they pull up in their cars crying. I had so much fun with that. I’m not ashamed to say that I was excited to rip a child away from their crying mother, but then I softened up because a mother got out of the car and asked if she could hug me, then thanked me for taking care of her daughter. But I got to show some newbies around and tell them about the stuff that we do.

      Our investigators are progressing well. This week we had Jalyne and Angela. They are both super sweet and earnest to find things out for themselves. I kind of stumbled on our last lesson with Jalyne. Apparently I had given her a scripture about people being burned alive, and that’s really not the best way to introduce someone to the Book of Mormon. Because of me freaking out, the rest the lesson was a bit haywire. I felt super bad walking out, thinking that I messed everything up. Then my companion, Sister Bird, reminded me that Elder Bednar promised that if we’re being good and being obedient, the Spirit will be there. It’s only our job to invite the Spirit. So even though I may not have felt it, Jalyne more than likely felt the Spirit during the lesson.

      A lot of goofiness has been going around. Mostly because of me. My companion pointed out that somebody threw away this huge tray of cake. I looked inside the garbage can and told her I wanted to eat. She shrugged and told me to go for it. She left to go to the restroom, then found me in the room eating the cake with a spoon, and I had made a considerable dent. It was a good cake. I also tricked the other sisters in my room to eating it first before I told them I had gotten it out of the garbage.

      I also pretended to explode my pen all over another sister when in reality it was disappearing ink. One of the sisters in our district has already made a habit of yelling my name whenever she’s irritated to the extent of calling everybody in our room “Sister Porcelli” at least once. People also look to me whenever something is broken and they blame me, even though I have no control of whether a not a door from a completely different building is broken or not. They’re the best people.

       We’ve been getting a lot of goodies and I’m sure I’ve already gained at least 8 pounds since being here and it shows. But what am I suppose to do when they offer donuts in the morning and ice cream for dinner. Now I have a garbage cake, four other cakes that I just got, and two boxes full of treats. My life is goooood.

       Shoutouts to my peeps who have had birthdays ever since I left, including my brother Chris. And I don’t know when my next P-Day is going to. E, so happy birthday to my sister Emily as well.

- Sister Porcelli

QQs:

“300 spoons have disappeared.”

“We’re building something.” -Elder McKinnon and Garlick

“I don’t like either of your ideas, and I agree with Sister Porcelli and that’s the only time you’ll ever hear that.” - Sister Young

Elder Cowan: *gets paired with me* I’m going to be destroyed

Elder Baker: *about to teach the law of chastity* What’s your name?

Me: Virtue

Elder Baker: -can you have a different name?

“That’s what Rose said right before she let Jack sink to the bottom of the Atlantic!” - Sister Young on marriage

“My mom watched a movie, she says that if I write everything down I’ll have the best 2 years.” -Elder Sharp

“Will you be baptized?”

“Yea sure. Sounds great.”

*a literal hallelujah chorus plays*

“Sister Siri will you call Brother Jones?”

Feb 23, 2018

The first few days at the MTC felt like weeks in and of itself. They

felt so long that at the end of the day, I couldn’t even remember what

I did that morning. They. Were. Brutal.

But after we made it through our first Sunday, things started to calm down.

We started teaching investigators the very next week. We taught two

girls, Adhieu and Amanda. They were both fairly receptive to the

messages that we had to share, so that felt great. Except I royally

messed up during our second meeting with Adhieu. I kept rambling and

made everything confusing and felt sooooo bad afterwards. I was

feeling down most of the night after that, but the sisters in my room

are so hilarious that it’s impossible to keep a frown.

The coolest part of the week was our Tuesday devotional. They wouldn’t

tell us who the speaker was all day, so Ali just assumed that they

hadn’t assigned it or anything. Then we all sat down. Guess who are

speaker was. It was Elder Jeffery R. Holland.

You should have heard the congregation gasp. It gave me a heart

attacking and I screamed, then I was scolded because of it. Ain’t my

fault everyone felt the need to gasp and scare me.

But Elder Holland’s message was amazing! First, he made sure that we

knew that he, and all of the other apostles, loved us. He’s such a

cute man. When he first walked in he blew a kiss. But the rest of his

talk was about obedience and enduring to the end through the mission.

There were so many good things about his talk that it would take the

entire email. So email me personally if you want to know what else he

said.

I started feeling wonky on Thursday and Sister Bird (my companion) and

I stayed in from a workshop. Afterwards, the Elders came and performed

a blessing. I didn’t real feel the need to ask for one, but I agreed

because the sisters kept pushing me into it. The blessing went really

well and I’m feeling better and I made it through the rest of the day.

It was a big blessing when we were teaching Adhieu again and my

stomach didn’t hurt at all during the lesson, and then immediately

afterwards. So I don’t always ask for help, even though It can be

helpful. I know that sounds a bit weird, but I’m learning a lot from

the MTC even though I’ve only been here a week.

I feel better than I thought I would, and a lot of my own prayers have

been answered. Before being in the MTC, I would focus on God, but then

I would also focus on Stranger Things and Percy Jackson. In the MTC,

distractions are taken away, and you have to discipline yourself to

stay focused, and that’s when you learn the most.

Ever since getting into the MTC, I’ve hardly thought of myself, and

that feels amazing. You’re focused on others and how you can help them

instead of your own problems. Those problems seem to disappear.

Okay. The title of this email. Let me tell you a thing. All of these

sisters are hilarious, and we’ve named our room the Tower of Babes

(that’s a scripture joke). So whenever any of us say, “To the Tower!”

The rest of us whisper “of babes.” We are great. I try to write down

all the funny things that everyone says so that I can share them with

you all. Or for those of us that do QQs *wink wonk*.

Also, to let y’all know, receiving emails, letters, and packages are a

missionaries greatest joy. They are a blessing sent from the heavens

above. It’s funny because my companion hasn’t received any packages

from her family, but she’s received on from her boyfriend’s stepmom,

who she’s never met before, and one from her best friend’s family. But

ya. I love receiving emails or letters from everyone. They make my

day. Besides Jesus. Jesus always makes my day.

So I’ll send pictures in a different email for space purposes.

I love you all and love hearing about your lives!

- Sister Porcelli

P.S. Funny sayings that I have found to be funny in a funny way.

“You don’t have to be hungry to eat ice cream.” - Sister Bake

(For when you’re feeling lonely on Valentine’s day) “You can give the

Elders high fives.” - Sister Vai

“You have the charisma of a champion.” Elder Baker

“I wish I could whistle.”

“You can’t catcall your investigators.” - Sister Bake and Sister Bird

“Elder, come here. Stand still, I’m going to punch you.” - Sister Young

“Who’s the hawk with cataracts now?!” Sister Bird

“I think Satan invented wall sits.” Sister Young

“Are you playing footsies with me?”

“And I’m winning.” - Sister Bake and myself

“Get out of my way Sister Pasta!” - Sister Bake screaming at me during

basketball

In fact, I’ve made a list of names that people call me.

Sister; Porcelli, Jelly, Pasta, Spaghetti, Tortellini, Luigi,

Fettuccini, Jelly-Bird, Porcelain, and  Poopcelli.

Feb 16, 2018

The girls in my district are hilarious and amazing. They already think

I’m going to burn down the MTC. But my companion is just the greatest.

Sister Bird and I get along super well and most of my district has

seen The Greatest Showman, so I can live with that. I also sang two

notes from the Lightning Thief Musical, and now everyone thinks I’m

this singing star and they told that to the musical number

coordinator, so I’ll have to see if I get forced to sing a solo in

church.

My district keeps making fun of me because I know people wherever I

go. They now think I know everybody because as soon as we turn a

corner, there’s somebody that I know. They tried to see how long I

could go without recognizing someone, and that only lasted 10.

Minutes. So they’re kind of fed up, but in a fun way.

I’ve also been kind of falling asleep during lessons, so I’ve been

chewing gum, but gum is not allowed in the brand new buildings, so

there’s that dilemma.

There’s not a lot else to report, but I can send and reply to emails

until 6 tonight.

So ask me anything, chat with me.

The missionaries highlight is receiving emails. Truly. And I’ve only

been here two days.

My girls and I have also named our room “The Tower of Babes.”

- Sister Porcelli

Feb 14, 2018

I made it. YOu're welcome. Send candy. I love you.

And I am here and p dY IS FRIDAY

Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love you