Sister Aeschbacher at the MTC

Sister Jena Aeschbacher was the first of the friends to receive her mission call! She was called to preach the gospel in Manchester, New Hampshire. She reported to the MTC, or Missionary Training Center, on March 13th. She is leaving for New Hampshire tomorrow, the 25th! Because of the increase in missionaries, time spent in the MTC has been decreased to 12 days for those staying in the United States. She has been loving the MTC! Here are some excerpts from her first two letters.

Sister Aeschbacher, Week 1:

"It will be great to get into the field. The spirit is amazing here though!!! The Holy Ghost is constantly testifying to me of the truths of the gospel. Especially when it comes to the doctrine of Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring. Read 2 Nephi 31! The doctrine of Christ is the simplest, most important part of our gospel! It is an on going process that will help us to return to our loving Heavenly Father."

Sister Aeschbacher, Week 2: 

"On Thursday, we taught a volunteer and it was by far one of the neatest teaching experience I have had so far. The lady is an artist and is losing her eye sight. I immediately was directed to some scriptures in the Book of Mormon that illustrated how the Savior's atonement is not only for us to be forgiven of our sins, but to feel of our Savior's support and comfort as he knows and has felt everything we will ever experience. I can't remember the exact verse, but one of the scriptures was in Alma 7... Whether she truly was an investigator or not, she came to have a greater understanding of HER Savior." 

Called to Serve

So this is a blog dedicated to 12 great friends. These twelve girls randomly lived together their freshman year at Brigham Young University, and had some wonderful adventures that first year. They decided to live together the following year in adjacent apartments. When they signed up for housing, they had to pick a group name. "Friends Laugh Together", an inside joke from a church activity, became their motto as they entered into their second year of college.

A few months into the semester, a life changing announcement was made at General Conference. The mission age requirement for sisters was changed from 21 years to 19 years! This meant that the girls of Mansion 11 and 12 were eligible to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Now, a mere six months later, 8 of these 12 girls have made the decision to serve a mission in the near future. This blog will soon be full of stories and pictures from the lives of these girls as they go from living next door to each other to living in different countries and speaking different languages.

All twelve of us! :)