I'm Coming Home!!

Well. This is it. In a weeks time I'll be at home again in Pflugerville, Texas. This will be the last email I write from Brazil. I had my last District Meeting today. Everything now will be only lasts. Strange, huh? I'm focused and working hard. I don't think much about going home because my head starts to spin when I do. Keeping focused on my purpose here has helped me a lot and will continue to do so. I love being a missionary!

I don't have much time now as our computer time was cut short with our temple trip tomorrow, and I don't really want to do some crazy email that will be all reflective right now, because I still have time left. I'll save that for after I get home. Be content with the fact that I am working hard until the end! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

(FYI--when you are finishing your mission they say you are dying)

Two Weeks Left

Time passes by so fast! Once again I'm sending out an email to everyone from Brazil. We're getting close to the end as well. It's been fun! We've been working extremely hard these days. It's been DIFFICULT let me tell you. We had 15 people promise to go to church and only one went, even though we went to pick up most of those people. We have seen awesome miracles these days, finding super special people who really want to follow Christ and do what's right. We've been trying to help these people choose the right and get on their way to being baptized, but lots of things have been cropping up to stop them. I've been impressed with myself, as normally at this point I would be a little down about the lack of apparent success (AKA baptism!), but I've really been calm and persistent. I don't feel frustrated or anything and I'm going really well! Elder A. Souza and I have been helping each other a lot. I feel great! I'm really loving it, and I'm confident that Heavenly Father will bless us for all our diligent work.

Our one investigator who came to church, Alexandre, had a really cool experience with the Book of Mormon, and he really felt its power as he read. He didn't understand it completely, but he sure felt it! We're going to help him get baptized this week or next. He's pretty special! We've also been having several people stop us in the streets and ask us to stop by. One lady told us we were walking really fast so we slowed down and talked to her. Turns out, she was taught before! She'd been taught everything, had been to church, and still wasn't drinking coffee from when the Elders had helped her stop! We've had 3 or 4 inactive members stop us saying they want to come back to church as well! We've seen los of miracles, and we've been trying to focus on being more thankful for all these blessings. Gratitude opens the doors to more blessings! We've been trying to be more humble and recognize God's hand a little more. We're even fasting with the only purpose being to thank Heavenly Father for all the little miracles he's sent us here! We hope to grow from it and be blessed forever from it.

Two weeks left until I go home! Have fun everyone!

Elder Ashford

Old Friends

6/22/15

I was sitting there Saturday night after having traveled all the way to the stake center by bus to a meeting that I didn't need to attend and was trying to go home early and work a little in my area. I was sitting there talking with another missionary when someone gives me a "Hello" from right in front of me. I look up (and then jump up) to see my old companion Elder Ladwig! Now he's just Francisco, but he came back and started living in Sorocaba, a city he worked in lots on his mission. It's now been almost a year since he got back home. He said he got home, sat down on his couch and said, "This isn't my home!" It was like a freak out moment for him. Hopefully  that doesn't happen so much with me! Though I know I'll miss all this a lot, especially all the great friends I now have here in Brazil.

We worked really hard this week! It was very gratifying to see the blessings that Heavenly Father has poured out on us for our diligence. During the past three days we've managed to find 2 people per day that have accepted  to be baptized! We're going to work closely with these people so they can be baptized here in a couple weeks. We're asking for lots of miracles! We're going to make it happen though. It'll be great! We're excited for everything that is happening. We're also very grateful for the help we've had in finding these people. I'm happy to be a missionary! Sometimes it's been hard, but we've managed to stay focused, happy, and diligent even in the slower times. I sure love all this a lot!

I hope that everyone has a great week! Work hard and do great things!! Know how much that God and Christ love us!!

Elder Ashford

Full Steam Ahead

This week was a little hard, but it didn't phase me much! I kept working hard. All our prospective investigators and baptisms fell through, including one sweet, 60 year old lady who died in between our visits. It was super weird and sad, but at least she died free of drugs, cigarettes, and coffee! She'd also accepted to be baptized and had been reading the Book of Mormon every single day. We trust that she'll accept everything in the spirit world.

We had an awesome meeting with Elder Schmeil of the 70. He was super great and helped a ton! I also had my penultimate interview with President Farnes. He also helped me a ton and I will keep myself working and excited during this last month! Full steam ahead! Love y'all! Have a great week!

Elder Ashford

First Week, Last Companion

All is well here in Araçoiaba da Serra! Elder A. Souza is great! I'm loving it here. It'll be great to end my mission with him as my companion. He really has a desire to serve to the max. He doesn't content himself with being good, but truly tries to help everyone. I was already working well, but now this last transfer will really go out with a bang! We've been carefully focusing on who will progress more. As a mission, we are trying to find more elects. More people who can be baptized now! We found a member's niece who has gone to church for three years now, but was never baptized! We're getting her ready for this weekend. Hopefully all goes well! We have also been searching out others who have the desire to be baptized exactly like Jesus Christ was. We knock doors and try to talk with everyone. I'm very happy! Working like this is often tiring, but I never let my smile get wiped off my face! I've been discovering lots of other changes that have happened with me. I think about things differently. I've truly changed the way I see the world and everything in it. I'm loving the changes that living the Gospel to such a high level has brought me. I'm super grateful for the time I have to completely dedicate myself to God's work! It's the best! I'm also super happy that so many more of my friends are getting their own mission calls and are heading out. It's a great work! I'm happy and working hard. I love my Savior! Love y'all!

The Final Stand

Really June 1, 2015

News came in yesterday of what will happen with my next and final transfer. I'll spend the last six weeks of my mission here in Araçoiaba da Serra, so I won't be move, but I will be receiving a new companion. Elder Gomes here will go to a part of Sorocaba, the nearby city, and Elder A. Souza will come down to stay with me. Elder Gomes and Elder A. Souza have the same time on the mission and are from the same city in Brazil. Crazy, huh? It'll be fun and I'm excited to get to know another missionary.

It's strange thinking that this will be my last mission companion. Weird thinking that the next time I'm transferred, it'll be to my own house. Sad thinking that I only have six more weeks to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary. I'll miss this a lot, so I'm going to make the most of every moment here. I've made a few goals for myself about what I want to accomplish here in these last few weeks. I hope that everything goes well and that Heavenly Father blesses me even more openly during this time. I hope to be able to help even more people, especially being baptized to receive a forgiveness of their sins and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I pray that everything goes well!

It's been weird seeing my companions and friends go home after their missions. Elder Carney, who I met on the plane ride coming to Brazil, goes home this week, and it's just crazy! He's been awesome to work with and was seriously a great missionary! I've met so many great friends here and I'm truly grateful for the opportunity I've had to have so many great experiences here in Brazil. I'm grateful for all the people I keep meeting every day and hope to help them lots!

I know that this church is true and that this is Christ's true Gospel. It's truly a miracle! I know that Christ lives and loves us. He guides us through living prophets and personal revelation! I love sharing the message of the Restoration with everyone, because it's such a great story of love to know how God brought back His church in modern times! He's not silent, but speaks! He loves us all and sent His son to die for us and rise with living breath! I hope that y'all always remember that! Have a great week! Love y'all!

Elder Ashford

The Tales of Michael the Missionary

Today is beautiful out! The sun is shining a lot. We got to go play football and basketball and some other games as a zone today, which was really nice! It was a good way to relax a bit from the stress of missionary work. Now my body is sore all over though. I haven't played a sport like that in about a year and eight months, or since I got to Brazil after the Missionary Training Center. It's been a while. I liked it though! Weird to wear normal clothes but seriously fun.

This week we had a baptism! We met Anderson two weeks ago, but he was just ready to be baptized! He understood everything really well. He used to belong to a different church, but left because he saw lots of bad things, especially things in his church that didn't line up with the scriptures. He's been praying for four years to find the true church. One day, two weeks ago, we were walking to a meeting we had and decided to use the 15 minutes we had beforehand to knock some doors. We had already knocked this door, but no one had come out, so I felt to do it again. Out came Anderson! Presented the message of the Restoration to him, seeing that's what he needed. He accepted everything! He really read the Book of Mormon and asked God if this was the truth he was looking for. He got his answer! We invited him to church and he came in a suit and tie. We invited him to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. He tried to find something contradictory even that would prove it wrong and couldn't! The Book of Mormon is great! Anderson is super smart and has lots of questions always. He doesn't hesitate to find out more or do what's right. He just does it! When we invited him to be baptized, he accepted right away. And he was! We had a super awesome baptism meeting and the members think he's awesome as well! Super cool.

I also got to do an exchange with my good friend Élder Carney. It was great and I was really grateful for the opportunity. He's an amazing friend and he's finishing his mission next week! I was happy to learn and serve with him and even got this awesome picture of him. Love him!

I'm doing well here in Araçoiaba da Serra! Sometimes I just get tired and don't want to work, but I just pick myself up and keep going! Helping other people always brings me the joy I need to keep working more and more. I hope that everyone has a great week! Here's a picture of a house that I thought was super pretty!

Elder Ashford