Stress, Sickness, and Baptism

Well, well, well. Another week come and gone! This was full of fun stuff, but don't be too fooled by the title, I'm absolutely perfect!  Keep reading and all will be revealed....

So the beginning of the week we had an awesome trianing session with the Mission President and his wife, all about stress. They talked about how stress is an absolutely normal part of life and that everyone will always have a little. It's when you let the stress go too far that it's dangerous. Remember you always have people to talk
to, and that can help a ton. Getting the opinion of another person always helps sort out things and make them better. So talk to people! Get it out, get things fixed, and make things better for yourself! If you ever need anyone to talk to, I've got this super wise missionary friend named Elder Ashford that you can email!

One of the other big events was Elder Marciano getting sick. I've been blessed to be perfectly healthy, and I didn't catch what he got. But Friday was very slow, and Saturday he was ordered to bed-rest, so after I traveled with the District Leader to do baptismal interviews, I spent the day studying scripture and napping with Elder Marciano. Any potential missionaries, make sure you know how to deal with sick people, because there's not too many people who can help if your companion gets sick (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!). So I was able to help Elder Marciano and he healed up pretty quick. He even felt good enough to go to church the next day and do one of the baptisms!!

We had two baptisms last Saturday. I baptized Irmã (Sister in Portuguese) Valdelice, and Elder Marciano baptized her son, Varnei. It was super awesome, and they love being in the church. We plan to continue working with them. We know that they can really benefit from our lessons. Next week they'll get the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and throughout the week we'll be teaching about other things, such as temples and how Valdelice and be reunited with her recently deceased husband in the next life through the sealing power of the temple. We also helped another family of recent converts yesterday who have been having some problems. We reminded them that life is hard, but they have the church and friends and scriptures to draw extra help from, not to mention a loving Heavenly Father who listens to our prayers and is willing to help when we ask. We reminded them that they have a huge goal to work towards, an eternal family in the Celestial Kingdom. Everyone has troubles, but through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, we know that families are eternal. I'm so glad for my family and how great friends there are to me and how close we are. I love them so much, and love that fact that I can be with them forever.

I hope everyone is doing well! I miss everyone, but I'm having fun! Next week I should find out where my next area will be! Have fun and stay safe everyone! Sending love!

Sincerely,
Elder Ashford

Questions

I asked Michael the following questions, and these are his answers:

How do you get your monthly money?

Monthly money is put on my debit card they gave me.

Do you have an account there, or cash?

It's an account, but I can take money out for bus and train rides. 

What are the stores like?

There are tons of tiny stores everywhere, mainly specialty stores. Nothing like Walmart, but I did see one Sam's Club on my ride from the airport! 

Do you shop at open air markets?

We shop in mini-markets.

Where do you go to email?

We email in internet cafes.

How come you are always so pressed for time?

We pay for hour, and only have that one hour, and I have to message mission president first, in Portuguese.

Where do you do laundry?

Laundry is in house.

Are you in a ward or branch?

We have a ward.

What is the youth program like?

The youth program is tiny.

Have you gotten my card yet?

 I got your card two weeks ago (sorry). It takes about a week and a half to travel and another half week to be delivered to me.

Did you ask about Brother Claridge taking you to dinner?

I haven't asked about Bro Claridge yet, I may be in a new area by then!

One Month in Brazil

Well, Tuesday marks one month in Brazil! Pretty exciting!! I don't think I've lost my English yet, but only because I've been emailing people and helping my companion learn English.

First item of business: is letters. Heads up, it takes about a week and half to send me a handwritten letter and another half a week or so to reach my hands. I love getting letters, and they should be send to my mission office. I can send letters back, but it may be kinda expensive and it's a lot harder for me. But I gladly will!

This past Sunday, we had a stake conference, and the beginning was kind of hilarious. The microphone wasn't working and there was a whole slew of people trying to fix it in a tiny room on the stand. An American in our area leaned over to me and whispered, how many stake presidency members does it take to fix a microphone? Afterwards, they gave up and started hauling all this equipment and cables and jury rigged a new audio system. Pretty hilarious.

I'm choosing to talk about houses today. I don't know how much longer I'll be in this area, two weeks, or 8, so I figured I should do this now. I'm in a slightly poorer section right now, called a favela. There are tonnnnssss of tiny houses jam packed in. Nobody has a dryer, or dishwasher, they're too expensive. Everyone hangs their clothes to dry. Gas isn't built in, so everyone has a tiny stove with a propane tank attached. Nobody has a yard, only about three feet of driveway and then a gate and then their car and then their house. And that's if you live on the street. Lots of people live in fundos which are behind the street. You have to take a little alleyway to an area in between streets where even more houses are packed in. Also, here at least, you don't buy a house. You buy a lot and build a house. You buy a cheap dirt lot, pay for a concrete foundation if you can, then pay for a big

truck to deliver thousands of large brick. You lay your piping in, and if you have money, your wiring. Otherwise your wiring is floating on walls and hung from the ceilings and everything is exposed. Then you take your bricks and make a house. Usually three or fours rooms, sometimes one and a bathroom. then, later on, you can add more. a second story, or expand out or something. TI's actually kinda cool. Then you lay concrete over the bricks, and paint it or cover with tile. Everything here is tiled. There is no carpet, there is no fancy wood flooring. It's concrete or tile. The roofs are generally flat and made of either brick or metal sheeting. It's crazy. But it's life.

This week as well, we've had miracles. We learned in training last Tuesday to pray for miracles and expect to see them. Elder Marciano and I did just that this week and boy did we see them. One lady was a referral from a stranger, adn she said in our first lesson, that as soon as she opened the door, she felt this huge overwhelming feeling of happiness and peace. And this coming from a lady in the Congregation of Christ, which loves to debate with our church generally. She said she had imagined us giving her a bouquet of yellow roses. We explained that this was the Book of Mormon, which is very precious adn has gold writing on the front and was originally written

on gold plates. It was amazing. Thats all for now though! See y'all next week! 

 Elder Ashford

The First Step

Wooo!! I do not have much time left, this will be quick!

This week I got to go register with the police which took place super

early in the morning. So I've been pretty tired all week. Also, my

shower head isn't working. Here, water comes from the pipes, through a

shower head that warms it. If the shower head doesn't work, no hot

water. It's literally cold enough that I can see steam come off my

body because there's such a difference between my body temperature and

the water. Fun stuff. We're working on getting a new one. My companion

and I work super well together. We love teaching and my Portuguese is

making leaps and bounds of improvement. There's lots of work to do

here, and yes, Irmão Pinho, we invite to baptism the first of second

lesson. Speaking of which...

My super awesome experience for the week is this:

Last Saturday, we held our first baptism in this area together. After

a couple weeks of work, Janaina Menezes and Vinicius de Oliveira were

baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and

yesterday received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was an amazing

experience, especially because I was asked to baptize them. I did, of

course, accept. It was the most wonderful experience for me and them.

Their faces after the ordinances were a sight to behold. I asked them

how they felt, and they said they had peace like never before. I title

this The First Step, because for them, this is the first step to a

totally new life. One centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The two

are dating seriously, and I wouldn't be surprised if they married

eventually, which means an eternal family for both of them. Before

then, Janaina has a desire to serve a mission and share this with

other people. We're still working on Vinicius, though he definitely

has the desire to share. It's an amazing thing. And yes, that blue

pool behind them is the font.

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

Whooo! Week Two!

Hellllloooo everyone!

I'm gonna keep things short and sweet this week because I have TONS of
personal emails that I really need to write back to. So here's my
quick update on a few things!

First off, me. I'm doing fantastic and the work here is really fun.
The language is coming along surprisingly quick, and I know I have the
Lord's help. I was able to converse the other day with all the other
Brazilian missionaries and keep up with teir fast language which was
super cool. I'm happy to say that I haven't been sick even one time so
far. I've been perfectly healthy! And also happy to say that I got to
watch General Conference in English which made me super happy. Beyond
that, I go around teaching people about Jesus and His Gospel and it's
fantastic!

Next, the streets. We do an enormous amount of walking each day. For
hours every day. Sometimes, it takes an hour and a half of walking to
get to someone's house because they live so far away. And it's all
super hilly which is really nice. And let me tell you, walking down is
just as hard as walking up. The sights are beautiful, but a lot of the
streets are filled with trash and garbage strewn everywhere. And don't
get me started on the animals. They are dogs EVERYWHERE in the
streets. And often horses. Just wandering around, not doing much.
Seriously. Horses.

Last, I want to talk about a super cool experience we've had this
week. Elder Marciano and I had had a long day without many people to
teach. We were a little bummed, but determined. We decided to visit
someone who wasn't on our pre-planned schedule. They weren't able to
talk right then, but gave us a referral to a small family that lived a
couple stories above them in the apartment complex where the grandma
had recently lost her husband. We knocked on the door and announced
who we were and what we were there to do. The family let us in and we
taught about the Plan of Salvation and how we can see our family again
in the presence of God when we follow this plan. She was so happy!
Later we taught about Joseph Smith and how he helped restore the
Gospel of Christ with Christ himself. The lady just kept looking at us
with this incredulous look. We asked if she had any doubts about what
we had taught, and she said no. She just couldn't believe that God had
sent us to talk to her in just the very time of her need. It was
amazing. We are still working with her, and want to see her baptized
in a week or two.

I know that this Gospel is true and I can see the miracles it creates.
I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope you know that I think of all
of you. Have a good week!

Elder Ashford