Happy Thanksgiving

Well, unfortunately I didn't have any turkey or pumpkin pie or anything else that I love so much, but I still had a good Thanksgiving remembering all the blessings and good things that I have here in life! I had a pretty awesome week. I got to visit the temple here in São Paulo. It's seriously so great there. The spirit is super strong. There's just so much peace and learning that can go on if you let it, and I really tried to be open to new things. Open mind, open heart, that's the key! It was super pretty outside. Even the roar of all the cars seems to just fade away as soon as you get inside the temple grounds. It's funny. You look out to the front and see and these buildings and cars and craziness, and then look back and see this oasis out in the middle of the city. The temple is SO awesome! I loved it. I'm with Elder Curtis in the picture, who is also a secretary here in the office!

I had a day where I had literally tons of work to do. you can imagine how frustrating it was then when the President's Assistants came in saying they had urgent work to do and needed my computer. I use my computer for literally everything, so I wasn't too happy when their work got even more crazy and had to stay on until 7 PM doing their stuff. I made the best of the situation though. I was upset, but kept myself under control and found other useful things to do. Like.... DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS!! We'd found a ton of old Christmas lights and decorations hidden away, so I got them out and put up tons of stuff! It looks a lot better around here now. I'm liking it!! This is an old picture I took, because I put up more stuff afterwards, so I'll take a newer picture later.

The best thing that happened though was the baptism meeting. SO COOL. These two Bolivians have been awesome! Carlos and Veronica are their names, and they were super ready to meet us. Carlos had already been going to church for two months and Veronica was super willing to see for herself and try it out. Veronica had a super great experience with the Book of Mormon that made her want to be baptized and she then helped Carlos want to be baptized as well. The two cousins were baptized last Sunday after church and will be given the Gift of the Holy Ghost tomorrow. Awesome!! They are great and I've loved being able to work with them. It's so great to see people's lives changing as they come to truly follow Christ! Even though we don't always have tons of time to go and talk with people, we are truly blessed with miracles. 

It's so great here!

I hope that everyone has a great week! Work hard and always do your best!

Elder Ashford