Just a Quick Update

Sorry, I have no time whatsoever. This week was super good and we had

transfers! I'm in the same area, but I lost my friend and gained a new

one! Elder Hossaenian is awesome. His dad is Iranian, his mom is

Japanese, Spanish, and German, he was born in Peru, and has lived in

Japan for 10 years now. Super crazy! But cool! He's from a

neighborhood close to Nagoya, where my dad served his mission! We work

well together, and he loves to do magic tricks and is super good with

them. We get along well and are excited for this transfer. I hope

everyone is doing well! Thanks for all the emails, love, and support!

Love y'all! Keep working hard!

Elder Ashford

"The greater part of happiness depends on our disposition and not on

our circumstances."

     -Martha Washington

Success Comes After the Trial of Your Faith

Soooo Happy Easter!! We didn't do too much to celebrate, besides make

homemade, chocolate easter eggs! It's a Brazilian thing. You don't

hide eggs, just make or buy chocolate eggs. Super good! I'm trying

hard to get pictures uploaded, because I have other awesome news as

well! It's just not wanting to show up on the computer...

This is the last Monday of the transfer, and later today we'll know

where we're going and with whom. It's been a great transfer, but it's

gone by wayyyy too fast. My companion was Elder Willian Fiuza Palhares

Teixeira, who is from the state of Minas Gereis, right above São

Paulo. He's yet another super tall Brazilian that I had the

opportunity to serve with. We had a great transfer, but had to start

up pretty much everything from scratch, but we did and got rewarded!

Elder Palhares is super funny and loves to talk. He also loves cooking

and is very good at it! I've have learned and eaten tons of Brazilian

desserts, which are his favorite thing to eat. He has a sweet tooth

like no other, and can afford to eat a lot because of his height

(unlike me...). He makes delicious food from scratch and is an

excellent missionary! It's been super fun serving with him, and we'll

see if we get to serve more this transfer as well!

The super cool news is that Friday, two people were baptized into the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and another on Easter

Sunday! The two on Friday were super special. The Bishop's brother,

Eraldo, got into a lot of trouble in life, but got out of it recently

and changed everything. He's been a true example of someone leaving

everything to follow Christ. In a matter of three weeks he was ready

for baptism, and his 8 year old son was baptized with him as well. The

baptism was very cool, with all the family of Eraldo and the Bishop

being there to see it. The rest of the family aren't members, but we

hope that now they'll be more interested. After the baptism ordinance,

the Bishop welcomed his brother into the church and gave a touching

story about how all the family was reunited helping Eraldo return to a

better path in life. Eraldo then bore his testimony that all this is

true and about the Book of Mormon. He doesn't like to read normally,

but he couldn't put the Book of Mormon down with how good the book

felt. Pretty much everyone there was in tears and it was a very

sucessful baptism.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, Eraldo and his son Kauan were confirmed

members and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Afterwards, we had

another cool baptism of a young woman named Jéssica. She's 14 and her

twin brother was already baptized several months ago. She wanted to as

well, but would never find time to do it. We finally got everything

straightened out for Sunday, but the water in the chapel had run out.

The city had shut off the water from the draught, and the backup

supply in the chapel isn't connected to the baptism font. Usually the

font fills in a little over an hour, but after an hour there was less

than a foot of water in the font. Our Ward Mission Leader here said it

probably wouldn't happen, but we told him to just leave the drain open

and that we'd go by faith. Jéssica was determined to go on with it,

even if she had to be baptized on her knees. Three hours later and the

water still hadn't risen more than a foot and a half. We were still

determined. We'd even had Bishop announce the baptism in sacrament

meeting! Everyone got settled in to watch, and we went ahead to start

the baptism meeting with song and prayer and a talk about baptism. As

we waited, the font miraculously started to fill a little more, as

four members of our ward here began to carry water in buckets from

other sources of water to the baptism font. Another member entered

with Jéssica to baptize her, and they knelt down to get Jéssica all

the way under the water, and it worked. Afterwards, the spirit was strong in the room, and lots of people got emotional. After a few

complications, faith, and actions, Jéssica was batized.

These are just some of the coolest stories on a mission. It's amazing

to see people as they turn to Christ. This church is true! It's true

because Christ Himself organized it and leads it today! Jesus Christ

lives, and is our Saviour. I'm so thankful for His sacrifice and to be

here serving Him as a missionary and His representative. Have an

awesome week! Work hard! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for

tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then

the doing of your work shall be no miracle---you shall be the

miracle."

     -Phillips Brooks

One Third

I'm really running out of creative titles, and don't really have time

to think of a better one... But like it says, today marks 1/3 of the

mission for me! That's 8 out of 24 months, and it's also ridiculous.

Time passes way too fast here, and I'm quickly losing all the time I

have to help as many people as possible as a full time missionary, so

I'm just gonna live it up and go all out! Yeah!

This week our baptisms didn't happen. The bishop here rescheduled to

this Friday so that we can accomodate everyone. It is his brother and

nephew that are being baptized after all! Super cool stuff. We have so

many amazing people we are working with here, it's just hard getting

them to come to church a lot of the time, which serioulsy impedes.

We're doing everything we can though! It just got a lot colder last

night, and we're hoping it sticks. Tired of sweating all day. It's

good though, because I hardly notice the sweat and everything until we

arrive home at night. I just love this work too much!!

I don't have like any more time, so I'll tell you more about our

baptisms next week when I have pictures. Also, I'll have to do my

standard email about my companion, as transfers are coming next week!

ANOTHER transfer!! Holy cow. It's too much. Just know that we are

working hard, and I'm recording all the funny/crazy stories that

happen, like the guy who told us to repent the other day before it's

too late. Fun stuff! Love you all! Keep working hard and stay firm in

the gospel!

Elder Ashford

General Conference is AWESOME

Super grateful for the awesome opportunity I had this week to  watch

General Conference, in English to boot, which  is always  way better

to hear  the Prophet's actual voice. I was blown away with  some of

the awesome talks we heard.  So good! So much stuff about Jesus

Christ, it  was just amazing! I loved  being inspired by them, and

took  lots of notes that I will be reviewing frequently. I  would

suggest the same to all of  you! After all, reviewing these words  was

 counseled by the Prophet, so  it's gotta be  good for you.

Beyond that, we've been doing great here! We have tons of work to do

and are working with some really  special people. Some of which should

be baptized this week! They know everything is true,  and were

seriously  just prepared by  God. We are working on making this area

grow tons. Our goal for this area is  to be baptizing once a week,

which is super possible here.  The stake  really wants to split, so

God is preparing the people they need to create the new wards!! SO cool!!

This week was  pretty  special as well, as my companion completed one

year of his  mission, and is celebrating his birthday today. We get

along super  well and are working incredibly hard together. The only

problem is, that he loves sweets and desserts. Good, in that now I

know how  to make several Brazilian desserts. Bad, in that I've

gained about 3  Kilograms since I arrived here. This can't last

forever. Happily,  I'm feeling tons better, and any sniffling from me

is mainly seasonal allergies. They followed me here,  and I was so

hoping to escape them for a couple  years. They're passing though, and

we  are  doing just dandy. I'm getting tons of correspondence from

friends as well, which is awesome, and I'm loving it! If anyone  feels

like writing letters,  it takes about a month to reach me, but I love

reading them, and I  have more time to respond them. I also  love

getting pictures so I can see how y'all are doing.  Make sure to share

your testimony and  any missionary experiences  you're having!

I don't have much more time, but I hope next week to talk a little

more about experiences I'm  having here.  Don't worry though,  they're

 all  written down in my journal to share after the mission as well.

Hoping everyone a good  week and sending love! Keep safe and have fun!

Sincerely

Elder Ashford

"We must put God in the foretront of everything  in out  lives...When

we put God  first, all  other things fall into  their proper place or

drop out of  our lives."

     -President Ezra Taft Benson

Da, Da, Da Down With Sickness

Sooooo super sorry about not sending anything last week in terms  of

letters in general. The internet  in  this LAN house crashed three

times, and we left  after  the third. Every time it  crashed, they had

to restart every single machine here. Not cool. Beyond that, no, I

don't think I've even ever  heard the song  in my title all the way

through, it's  just fitting. EVERYONE  was sick after Zone Conference.

Actually, one companion from each pair was sick from like everyone  I

know. Nothing bad, but I  had to nap  a couple hours on Friday before

we got  to work. It was still a  good days work too! Everything is

just amazing here, and we're finding soooo many people with tons  of

interest. There  a  lot of partial member  families here, and we're

helping  people know about  the goespel, so that one  day these

families can all be sealed  in the temple as families for all

eternity. It's  pretty much the coolest thing ever. This  work is

AWESOME!!

I'm  sending pictures of my companion and I in  a different email. The

 other  picture, is me mixing the dough to  make  the  SUPER delicious

cheese bread  they have in Brazil,  and that  I will be  able  to

make when I come home  as well, so  no  need to be  too jealous

people.

Beyond that, I'm  super excited for General Conference this  weekend!!

I love hearing from the prophet and the apostles and hearing their

testimonies and getting  counsel from them. We're even pretty sure

that we  can get it hooked up in English here  for the  few American

missionaries here. Awesome, huh? This church  is amazing though,

beyond  that  fact that it's true. Kinda a side benefit  of having a

church  that Jesus Christ came down to organize, and  then reorganize

in these latter days, I guess. I hope everyone  is doing  well, even

better than I'm doing, which is hard to beat. THinking of everyone and

missing y'all! Sending love!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."

     -Victor Hugo