Itapetininga and a Merry Christmas!

FELIZ NATAL EVERYONE!!

Christmas is almost here and that's super exciting! Especially for a

missionary who gets to Skype his family!! Christmas here is VERY hot.

Like, in terms of the temperature. It's just about summer here. So

super weird for me. Unfortunately, Christmas isn't nearly as decorated

here. People don't have lights up or decorations in the street and

there's a lack of Christmas carols. But it's okay! We had a ton of

stuff happen this week!

Firstly, I got transferred. I am now in Itapetininga, São Paulo. It's

a fairly "small" city in the interior of the country, closer to the

Amazon. There's less pollution and lots more people! I got a new

companion, Elder Agnelli, who's in the picture with me. This is his

last transfer before he leaves to go home, so I'm hoping to learn a

ton from him! 




The work here is a little different. The church isn't so

strong here, but I plan to help change that! We spend lots of time

finding new people, because people here aren't very good about keeping

commitments and promises to attend church and stuff. But we'll get

some good work in before Elder Agnelli leaves! Itapetininga is an

actually city, unlike my old area which was more of the outskirts of a

city, the poor section. This is city stuff. We live in the center of

the city, and it's super fun because we live with two other

missionaries! Our city is split, and one missionary pair gets one half

of the city, and the other the other half! It's definitely fun.

This past week was full of Christmas stuff. We had a Christmas

celebration for both halfs of the mission, the interior and the

capital. We learned a lot from President Martins, and then had a giant

hundred person White Elephant before a giant lunch. No joke. White

Elephant took FOREVER. But it was awesome! We've been giving lots of

Christmas messages to people. And I'm super excited to see my family

Christmas evening! (Morning for them!)

I'm so happy for this time of year and the wonderful family and

friends I have in my life. Thanks for all your support! Sending love!

Merry Christmas and have fun and be safe!!

Elder Ashford