So much to tell everyone but so little time.... This letter may be a little random :)

So teaching is awesome! Sister Paul and I taught so many lessons this week! There was this one we had prepared a ton for and were ready to teach him the Plan of Salvation. We had our game plan ready and we went in and started talking to our investigator, Joseph. As we talked and said an opening prayer, Sister Paul and I felt prompted to go a completely different direction. After the prayer, I read a conference quote about God's love for us and we talked for 20 minutes about God and how much he wants to hear from us in prayer. My mouth was seriously filled with what to say as I spoke. The spirit is amazing!

Another day this week my district had a testimony meeting. As many people know, I have anxiety problems so doing anything in front of a group of people terrifies me and I get so nervous. I felt like I should bear my testimony to the 15 other people in my district meeting, and I've never felt so calm. It was seriously as if I was having a casual conversation with a good friend instead of bearing my testimony to a group of people I hardly know.

I'm talking a lot about lessons but that's seriously my life here. So we taught another investigator named Ny (who is actually not one of our teachers and could be a legit nonmember) and we taught about the Book of Mormon. We asked her to read 1 Nephi 1 and when she came back for the next lesson she had so many questions. We spent the entire 25 minutes answering questions about the first 5 or 6 verses of 1 Nephi 1. I had no idea I knew so much about the Book of Mormon! And every question we didn't know we found out soon after the lesson! I even found a scripture that talked about prophets warning the people of the destruction of Jerusalem in the Bible, so ya the Church is pretty much completely true :)

So the Fourth of July is kinda lame here. Our teachers got us excited for this fun activity thing and then we all got there and it was a devotional. The speaker was a professor from BYU and he went on for close to an hour and a half. If I was ever considering taking a history of religion class, I know without a doubt now that I never will. He also spoke for so long that it went until 10 and we missed some of the fireworks. Not that we could really see them from the MTC parking lot anyway....

On Sunday we met Stephanie Nielson from the Mormon Message "My New Life." We just ran into her during our temple walk and we all got to take a picture with her. Unfortunately, we didn't get to talk to her very much.

Speaking of Mormon Messages, y'all need to see "Lift." It's seriously the most amazing video ever! Also, Sister Anderson's Texas pride may be wearing off on me. She's hung a Texas flag in our room and I've started saying y'all sometimes (which I had to ask her how to spell and all :) ).

Last night we had a great devotional with Jenny Oaks Baker. For those of you that don't know, her dad's kinda a big deal. I mean, he's Elder Oaks, ya know the apostle. Jenny is also a professional violinist and played some for us. She even performed with her kids and it was amazing! I believe her kids are 13, 12, 10, and 8 and they played the violin, piano, cello, and guitar. The music was amazing and I learned so much from what she said.

I didn't tell you guys last week about the amazing devotional we watched from Elder Bednar called "Character of Christ." The talk for some reason can only be found at the MTC and it's amazing! He talked a lot about the difference between having a testimony and being truly converted. He also talked about turning outward and selflessly serving in order to work toward having the character of Christ. He also compared the natural man to Cookie Monster, and seriously who doesn't want to see Elder Bednar impersonate Cookie Monster? But in all seriousness, that talk is seriously life changing!

Also, as a random side note, I slept in til 7:30 yesterday and it was glorious! We had stayed up until almost midnight the night before because of fireworks and talking and such so that was much needed!

I also forgot to tell y'all that I will be for sure riding a bike on my mission...I prepared a little bit by riding about 4 miles on a stationary bike in 20 minutes on Friday, and I didn't die during or after, so I think I may be fine...Pray for me :)

From the depth of my soul, I must request that you all see Legacy. Never in my life have I seen such superb acting and I strive daily to emulate such quality. I learned so much, including some pick up lines of the century (well, maybe the 19th century). Becca, take note because I expect you to use this line. I really should've given it to you before you left EFY but whatever..."I'll miss you! After tribulation cometh the blessing." Man those actors were some smooth talkers and let me tell ya about the extreme amount of hand holding and hugging in the movie. I also learned how to turn down an ox nicely after having a deep heart to heart with it. "I know you've given your best but it isn't enough." Next time I have a deep heart to heart with my ox or even some random person (it could probably work for anyone!) I'll be sure to use that line. If all of this has not convinced you, the men's amazing hair will. Just wow. New favorite movie.

As a reward for getting this far, here are some things that are only said at the MTC. I'll be leaving tomorrow for Reno so enjoy :)
--If you see your companion falling asleep, punch them in the face.

--You have my permission to mug each other. Spiritually mug each other.

--You know a speaker's from Utah when he's talking about his trip to the Northeast, and then you realize he is talking about Ohio and somehow considers that to be the Northeast.

--Speaker at last Sunday's devotional: How many of you have gotten a Dear John/Dear Jane already? **He has them all stand.** Let's observe you and your battle scars. **pauses** Now for the rest of you, there's always mail tomorrow!

Love and miss you all!
Sister Ashley Gootee :)