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

Elder Ashford Goes Legal

I'm sort of exhausted as it wasn't very long ago that I got back from São Paulo. I left yesterday evening to stay in the capital for the night and then go get my visa renewed. The government doesn't bother about being late to call people in. My visa expired 7 months ago, but they never called me back! It was a tiring trip, but fun to go with good mission friends. Now I'm back in my area way off in the middle of nowhere! I won't write much, as I want to go home and rest a little before leaving to work.

We had a good week! Our multi-zone conference this week was great and I learned a lot from President Farnes. He's great and really helped us take a look at ourselves and our work to see what we need to improve. It was great! We had a good week. Anderson, our investigator from last week, came to church again! We marked baptism with him for this Saturday and he wants it. He LOVED learning about the Plan of Salvation and where we came from, why we're here, and where we'll go after death. He's super smart as well, so it's fun with him.

I'm doing well! I'm loving things over here. I'm happy and working hard! I sure love being a missionary! My time left here is short, but I'll make it worth it! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

Fotos

Olá! Hope that everyone's doing well. I cried again last night after seeing my family on Skype for the last time on the mission! The next time I see them will be in the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on July 16th, 2015! Aproximately two months of hard, dedicated service I have to do first. Things are going well! They're hard. Sometimes I feel like I'm running into a brick wall continually, but they're going well. I'm being pacient and parying for guidance, trying to know the right thing to do. We've been trying to do what President Farnes told us and knock on 80 doors per day as part of our mission's 80th year anniversary this month! Super cool. It's a lot of doors though. We've had some success!

Wednesday we knocked a door we had previously knocked on, and out came a young man of 17! His name is Anderson and he actually turns 18 this week, which is even cooler! He had left his church, seeing that there were many things contrary to the Bible there. He knew it couldn't be right and stopped going. He's trying to find the truth and we show up at his door! We showed him the Book of Mormon, and he read about five chapters that very same night. We returned Friday to answer questions. Sunday, we passed by his house to pick him up for church, and he was already on the street waiting in Sunday Dress which is a miracle! He went to church and then out of the blue on the way back, asked us what he needed to do to be baptized. TOO COOL!!!

God is really preparing people to receive the truth and be baptism! I hope that we can all help find these special people and bring them to the truth! I love y'all and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ! Have a good week!

Elder Ashford

Araçoiaba da Serra

I'm liking my new area! It's like a farming town basically. No tall buildings, everything's spread out, and it's got that calm, slow, country feel to it. It's awesome. :)

My companion is great as well. Elder Gomes is from the northeast of Brazil, a city called Fortaleza. He's helping a ton and we're working well together. I'm a district leader again, so I'm having to get back into the groove of actually calling people to see how they're doing and having to follow up with missionaries and stuff. This week was fun, despite being crazy. We traveled a ton! I especially loved the visit we got from Elder Clayton and Elder Aidukaitis from the 70. They passed lots of inspiration to work harder! It was fun. I'm doing well and liking things. I'm grateful for the blessings I have, especially to be able to Skype call my family this Sunday! Woo hoo! Love you all! Have a great week!

The Missionary's Delight

So, seeing lots of baptisms is definitely a missionary's delight, but seeing the church chock full of great people on Sunday is also just awesome! This week, we started working with a TON of less active people! We started hunting people down through member referrals and our member records. We found some SUPER cool people. People who used to be fantastic members but that for one reason or another slowly stopped coming to church and doing all those things that make such a difference in life. We can't blame them. The road we walk is difficult, but we all have to remember the remarkable blessings that await us along the road, but especially at the end of the journey. 

We got to church on Sunday after having little success in searching out our investigators to bring them to church with us. We walked in to find SO MANY PEOPLE AT CHURCH. The building was SUPER packed! It was so cool! Cooler still because some of these people I got to help get there. Everyone was super excited with it all, and we took advantage of the situation to mark several days to go visiting people with members. We also marked family home evenings, so we should have about three family home evenings this week! Too cool! Bishop was super excited about it all, as well as the new Ward Mission Leader that they called today. Lots of members want to help us out, so we'll going to get them going bringing friends to church and sharing the gospel with them! We want to help the ward build up and know that we can! It's so cool to see the progress that has been going on here. I truly love being a missionary and being able to directly help these people with their lives. Sometimes it feels like we don't make that much of a difference, but none of our efforts is ever in vain. We can make a difference! It has to start with ourselves and then work out to others. We must change ourselves and then work to change others. We start with one or two people and are gradually given chances to work with more and more people and expand our abilities as we work with more and more people and as our influence spreads to them all. God gives us chances to learn and grow! This is a large part of our purpose here on Earth. We were sent from the presence of God to get a physical body and then pass through difficulties so that we could become more like our Heavenly Father. We're meant to progress and develop ourselves! It's super cool to think about.

I know that Christ lives! He loves us and cares about us. He wants to help us! He wants to comfort us. We just have to let Him into our lives, doing what He asks us! Having faith in Him and showing that faith through our actions, including fixing the things that we do wrong through repentence. We have to be baptized and receive that Gift of the Holy Ghost to be clean and pure, to have a new life in Christ and to be able to start it all over again, to get a clean slate! We then need to stay strong and work hard to always be worthy of God's blessings so that we can one day return to His presence and live with Him forever in happiness and peace together with our families! I love this Gospel, Christ's true Gospel! I hope that everyone can apply these things into their lives and feel the beautiful music of the Gospel every single day!

Elder Ashford

More Pictures!

Another "Last One" Bites the Dust

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the last General Conference that I will be able to watch during this two year mission in Brazil! My fourth and last! It was super good! I'm sure that I wasn't the only missionary feeling more than a little trunky on Saturday with quite literally more than half the talks having been given specifically about marriage or directly stating that the topic at hand would prepare us for marriage. I don't know if it made it easier or harder for me to listen considering I have much less time left on my mission than most missionaries. Now, I officially have less than 100 days of missionary work left. I hit 600 days as of yesterday and someone told me that my group will leave with 700. Gosh darn it, trunky, contagious missionaries... I'll get refocused today though and work hard this week! The talk I really loved was from Elder Andersen of the 70. He talked about how lots of people learn the dance of the gospel and do it well, but how we all need to learn to hear the music and receive the joy from it all!

The pictures this week are actually all from last week. Last Monday, I had like no time to write anyone, as we took most of the morning up climbing a nearby mountain. SUPER FUN to go hiking again! I just felt super awkward in jeans and a t-shirt. Eck. I felt much better getting back into my white shirt and tie. The days beforehand were also super great! We had 4 baptisms that week!!! Alaide was baptized by herself on Sunday after church, and you can see here there with a bunch of the ladies and other members of the ward here! She is super special. She just had some doubts about getting baptized when we found her a few weeks ago. She has a friend who lives next door who is an active member and helped her out a ton. She overcame whatever fears she had, trusted in the Lord, and was baptized! It was also the only baptized here in Brazil where I actually got the water heater to work right, so I baptized in warm water! What the what, what, whatttttt! The other three baptized had happened the day before, on Saturday. There you can see Sérgio, who is the member who was asked to baptize some people, Marco and Regina, who had finally gotten married and baptized on the same day after visiting church for months! They are seriously great and have lots of faith. They have truly seen the difference that the Gospel can make in our lives! So cool! They are really special.

Last in the lineup of people-to-be-baptized is Tamires! She was a miracle. She was 8 and a half months pregnant when we found her. Her grandmother was taught in the past, so we tried to visit her and found Tamires as well! Tamires was super receptive and asked to be baptized right from the start! We'd explained in our first time there the importance of being baptized, and what benefits it would be. We explained how baptism would wipe away all her sins and would make her a new person. It would allow her to turn over a new leaf, a leaf that was focused on God and His son Jesus Christ. She really wanted that and insisted on being baptized and was content on doing it whenever, but she especially wanted it before her baby came. We got everything set up. The Bishop was a little worried about it all, but it was the most  perfect baptism I've ever seen. No squirming, no toes poking out of the water, just a perfect descent and coming out. So cool!!! She had tons of faith and really wants to follow God. We showed up at her house a few days after, and she'd gotten a tithing slip and wanted help filling it out so that she could start paying her tithing already!!! SOOO COOOOLLLL!!! We were truly blessed with that.

Things are going well here. I'm trying to improve myself always and be a better missionary, person, and follower of Christ! I love seeing that changes that have come from my mission and hope that I can keep up the things I've improved!! Things are challenging, but I know that Heavenly Father is preparing and qualifying me to do many other great things! I love everyone and hope that y'all have a great week!!!

Elder Ashford

Back with the Brazilians

Once again I'm back with a Brazilian companion! I think Heavenly Father wanted me to learn to love Brazil especially well, because I have now had 8 Brazilians for companions. It's cool! Elder Abdom is from the state of Pernambuco and is good to work with. He has exactly a year less on his mission than I do on mine. He learns quick though and is doing great! He's a little quieter than normal, but that's fine. We're getting along fine and working well together. I sent pictures of our baptism from last week, Tom, as well as the baptism that happened a couple days ago. Pierre was baptized by his grandpa who used to be bishop here! It was a great baptism and everyone got choked up. It was sweet! We also had five baptism interviews done and all five passed, so we'll work to have these people all baptized this weekend. Things here are great! I'm working past mental and physical tiredness. I get home exhausted and go to sleep quickly, which is nice. I love being with these people so much! There's so much I can learn from them, and I'm making sure to learn it all!

This week I said goodbye to a lot of great friends, including two of my companions, Elder Palhares and Elder Vieira who I served with in Vila Medeiros and then Vila Progresso respectively. It was sad. I don't know when I'll see them again and they were truly great companions and friends. I'm just happy how much easier things are nowadays to keep in touch with people. Time is going by super fast, and I have more great companions and friends who will leave soon, and then it'll be my turn. So weird! I love doing this work though and I'm taking advantage of every opportunity I have to help people and work here as well as play. It's too fun and gratifying. I love it! I hope that everyone has a great week and works hard! Have fun and always continue strong, doing the things that Heavenly Father has asked us to do! 

Elder Ashford

Transfer Time, Already?

I've come to discover here that time moves steadily faster. I seriously can't believe that I've been here for six weeks already with Elder Jones! It went way too fast! We did great work, it just all seems to pass in a blur. I'm having to fight back tiredness and laziness (which are constant temptations!) and make good use of every second. It's SO HARD sometimes. I've been doing well though! I'm trying to apply everything that I've been learning. That's really the biggest secret to living the Gospel in our lives, learning and applying! We can learn so much in life if we keep our minds and hearts open. Then, we have to take the initiative and use our God given talents and skills (and His divine help!) to apply everything. We can't simply learn about the importance of reading the scriptures, we have to show it and read every day. We can't merely learn the importance of using our time wisely, we also have to do it! That's what I've been trying to do.

We had a super cool week! We met this one lady who was just amazing. We visited a former investigator not expecting too much. However, we invited her granddaughter Tamires who's 26 to join us as well! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we need to have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and then endure until the end of our lives. We talked about baptism and weren't scared to invite the people there to follow the example of Christ being baptized. Tamires accepted!! We left a Book of Mormon with her without explaining much and we returned to find her almost reciting the story found in the Testimony of Joseph Smith! It was so cool!!! She had read the pamphlet about the Gospel as well and loved how taking the sacrament each week was a way to renew our covenants with God and be clean again! We got SO excited!! After the lesson, I said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for helping us find her, the type of person I had so long searched for. Too cool! She came to church and loved it!

We then baptized a man nicknamed Tom this Sunday! He had the biggest smile I've ever seen coming out of the waters. He has known the missionaries for years, and got converted about two years ago. He's been trying to get married for the longest time, but his "wife" Joice didn't want to. He battled with this for a while, but a couple months ago they marked a marriage date! They were married last Saturday and Tom was baptized the day after. Now we just hope and pray that his faith will spark Joice to really search for herself to see if the church is true! Their family is awesome, and I believe that their son, Vinícius, will be baptized as well when he turns 8!

Lastly this week, we got a call on Sunday about transfers. I'll happily be staying here in Perus for the next transfer! Unfortunately, Elder Jones will be going to a new area and I'll get a new companion, Elder Abdom. We'll see how things go! I sure am grateful for my mission and all the great experiences I'm having! I love this time so much. This day in four months will have mixed emotions for me as I leave Brazil and land in good 'ole Texas!! I hope that everyone has a good week!!

Elder Ashford

The Best Feeling

We had a great week. We're working on constantly improving and getting better. Sometimes we slip and wind up behind, but God will always show us the way to get back up again. We keep moving! We have purpose and we keep getting up, wiping off the dust, and doing what we know is right!

I don't have much time, but I just wanted to share one of the best feelings I've ever had. The other three people that were baptized two weeks ago were all confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost! It was seriously super cool. The Spirit was strong there in the room with us. The best part came afterwards. I was sitting there in the meeting and I looked around at everyone. I saw the people with whom I'd had a part in helping come to be baptized and then confirmed that day. I looked back and saw a few more people I'd had the chance to help as well. I knew that I was being used by the hands of God to help these people. I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. I'm sure that's what the Celestial Kingdom is like. There with all these people we love and have helped. Interacting with them and working to be better still. It'll be wonderful! I was able to catch a small glimpse of heaven. I know that it'll still be much better! I can't wait to have an eternal family and then to be able to live with them forever in God's presence. Now is the time we have to prepare for that moment! I'm doing everything I can to be prepared, and I hope that everyone else is as well! Have a great week! Be prepared!!!

Elder Ashford

Walking Dead

There have been times this week that I've felt absolutely dead. Like on Sunday morning when we woke up early to participate in Ward Counsel. Even my fingers were tired. It hurt to move them. This is crazy! I keep moving forward though. I'm working hard! We walked and talked and searched and found and helped and were helped a ton this week. Unfortunately, we weren't able to baptize anyone this week, but we're working with people still and there are a lot of good people set up for this month. I love doing this work! 

I don't have much time, because we went shopping today in the center of Sao Paulo and got back later, but it was super fun today! We rode up to the top of the tallest building in the city and looked out at all the buildings. It was crazy! The work is going well here. Rodrigo got the Holy Ghost on Sunday! I found out that he had a ton of member help. The members here are great and are really willing to visit with us and help people. Rodrigo was a member's friend who was invited more and more to be around the member family. They introduced him to the truth and he accepted it! It was so cool! I pray for more great experiences like this one, where the members can almost completely carry someone to change their life through the Gospel of Christ! 

I love this work!! Have a great week everyone!

A Week of Miracles

This week was cool. This week was miraculous! We've really been working hard, and we were more than rewarded for our efforts this week. We had a few baptisms planned this week, but we got more than we bargained for! I'll take you through some of the stories for the week!

The lady we helped baptize last week, Glória, was supposed to be working this Sunday, so we were hoping that there was still some way that she could receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We had run into her several times during the week and always reminded her to ask the day off from work, however, she didn't get it. We were passing close by on Sunday morning, when we decided to see if her children would go to church with us. Who meets us at the gate other than... Glória!! The train was having problems, so she returned home and was going to go later in a friend's car. She went to church and was confirmed a member of the church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost!! Too great!

We are teaching one young man named Rodrigo who absolutely wants to be baptized. Talking with him, we decided to change his baptism date to Sunday instead of Saturday so that his friends and family could be here. He was super strong! He said he had work on Sunday and would be baptized afterwards, so we were surprised to see him there at church! He had quit work a couple days before to go to church that Sunday and every other Sunday. We knew his baptism would go through, but were hoping and working for more baptisms!

Monday night, we had stopped at Luciane's house and talked with her and her three children, Lucas (19), Nicoly (13), and Tayna (8). Luciane was in a mess. Tons of crazy things were happening and she hated all the hardships she was passing through. She had tons of questions, like why bad things happened to good people and vice versa. We talked things out and helped her understand God's plan for her and she calmed down a little. She left after a little and we chatted with her children about how they could help their mother. It was a super cool lesson. I felt like a family counselor. Friday we went back. Luciane started off saying that she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible, so we marked her for Sunday on the spot. She spoke about the prayer she had said, the comfort she received, and the miracles that happened. She then gave us a weird look and expressed her fears about her readiness for baptism. I had no idea that she was smoking and drinking coffee. Luckily, the Spirit was with us and we skillfully helped her understand the need to stop before baptism, but didn't give her a specific new baptism date. We waited in silence a little, then, she said that coolest thing I've ever heard. "After today I will never put another cigarette in my mouth or drink coffee. You may mark my baptism for this Sunday." The Spirit was SO STRONG AS SHE SAID THAT. We knew it was right for her. We gave her every piece of advice we could, including drinking water, praying for help, and reading the Book of Mormon. Then, we prayed fervently all day long Saturday for her. We got to church and saw her and she just smiled real big and nodded. :)

Luciane was baptized by her work manager who referred her to the church. Tayna, had decided to be baptized on the same day, and we had one more surprise baptism. About 5 minutes before the meeting, Nicoly went up the Bishop here and asked if she could be baptized as well. Luckily, she'd already passed the interview and was baptized as well!!! It was a fantastic day. I felt so happy. I got to baptize Tayna, and it was super special! It was like baptizing my sister Paige all over again. Now, we will work with Luciane's son to be baptized this week with a few other people we hope! We are truly being blessed here. It's so great! Heavenly Father loves us all so much and wants everyone to be closer to Him through baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost!! I'm so happy to be a part of this amazing work! Christ lives and loves us!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

PS: The guy next to me is a missionary that did the interviews, Elder Bustamante! Rodrigo asked to be baptized by him!

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was two days ago and marked my year and a half mark of being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That's a long stinking time!!! I entered into the MTC over 18 months ago. The Sisters that I met my first day in the MTC all finished their missions. Lastly, in exactly 5 months to the day, I'll be landing in Austin, Texas to see my family after a long time of service that has changed my life forever. That's weird. Oh dang.

Before I get too homesick though, it's good to use this kind of stuff to put everything in perspective. I don't have much time left to consecrate everything I've got to God, especially all my time, talents, and efforts! So I'm working hard and extremely thankful for all the experiences that God has given me and the circumstances that He puts me in to allow me to grow and develop. I'm working a ton here and always go to bed completely exhausted, but I love it! This week was rough with bad weather and a few other factors that didn't allow us to work as much as we would have liked, but we are working well and trying to focus on what's most important. I'm learning a ton! This area has lots of prepared people that already want to know the truth and even already want to be baptized. With many of them, it's just helping them overcome laziness and fear to get done what they need so badly. We were planning to have SO MANY PEOPLE in church this week, and then it just didn't happen. We called people beforehand, we sent church members to go pick up investigators, and we went (as asked by their mother) to wake up three investigators in any form possible. We spent 45 minutes, yelling, knocking, calling, and clapping for these people to wake up, but they never did! It was frustrating. Work impeded a lot of others from coming. However, we had two super great investigators come to church and they loved it. They've been coming for a while now and really, really, really want to get baptized. They finally marked a day to get married, March 28th being the soonest the government would allow, and then asked us if they could be baptized on the same day about two hours after the wedding! I felt so blessed to know these two special people and their family. It was great!

So, Sunday didn't go as well as we wanted, and then we spent the time running around teaching lessons and helping a special lady named Gloria. She was all set to get baptized Sunday at 7, but we knew she was a little hesitant so we went to help her! We walked all the way to her house, found she wasn't there, went and found her in the street, helped her understand how being baptized would help her in her life, then walked home with her, waited outside for her to get ready, found a member to give us a ride to the baptism, and then got everything done! Dang it was hard. I was exhausted afterwards. It was so cool though to see the difference in her face after she was baptized. It was special! Surprisingly enough, she asked me to baptize her, even though I barely met her two weeks ago. It was super special though! She didn't want to take a picture because apparently she doesn't like them, but we'll try to get a picture with her when we visit this week and help her get all ready for the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday! God truly blessed us for our hard work and endurance in the face of trials and sadness. It was great!!! I'm so grateful for the love that Christ offers us and the mercy He shows. We are loved!!! How great is that!!!

I love Christ so much and am so thankful for having been able to grow to understand everything about His Gospel this past year and a half. It has been truly amazing! I'm thankful for my Savior and the sacrifice He made to help every single one of us! It's truly marvelous! I hope that everyone has a great work and continues to work hard and remember the blessings that we have!! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

PS: Here are some pictures of my area and my companion! Perus is basically a neighborhood of São Paulo, but it's a little set apart, so there are tons of houses in a little spot and then there are tons of hills and green stuff! It's cool here!

The Neighborhood of TurkeysWell, I'm in a neighborhood way in the north called Perus, or turkeys! I got transferred after all and am now sitting yet again in a small, dark internet cafe. Man I miss my computer. Oh well. I can't complain! I have zero time to send this message, so it'll be short and I'll get more out next week. This area is SUPER BLESSED. There are TONS of people who for the longest time were just waiting to have a baptism date marked with them. We marked 7 in a week, 5 of which are for this Saturday and Sunday. We'll be marking a bunch of other ones this week as well! The members here are great, and I'd actually already met the Bishop here! He works with mission finances and I went into his office one time on secretary business! So far people think highly of me, which is nice! My companion is Elder Jones and he's from Poway, California. He's pretty cool! I'm finishing off his training which is SO HARD TO DO. There are lots of things to be learned. I'm developing more patience though! I'm trying to work my hardest always and just keep pushing, because I know that this area deserves it. It's different not being in the office anymore, but I've liked it so far. I'm exhausted, but content thus far. The next time anyone hears from me, I'll have more than a year and a half as a missionary. It's crazy how time flies, but that's why it's so important that we make every second count! I hope that everyone has a great week! Love you all! Elder Ashford

Well, I'm in a neighborhood way in the north called Perus, or turkeys! I got transferred after all and am now sitting yet again in a small, dark internet cafe. Man I miss my computer. Oh well. I can't complain! I have zero time to send this message, so it'll be short and I'll get more out next week.

This area is SUPER BLESSED. There are TONS of people who for the longest time were just waiting to have a baptism date marked with them. We marked 7 in a week, 5 of which are for this Saturday and Sunday. We'll be marking a bunch of other ones this week as well! The members here are great, and I'd actually already met the Bishop here! He works with mission finances and I went into his office one time on secretary business! So far people think highly of me, which is nice!

My companion is Elder Jones and he's from Poway, California. He's pretty cool! I'm finishing off his training which is SO HARD TO DO. There are lots of things to be learned. I'm developing more patience though! I'm trying to work my hardest always and just keep pushing, because I know that this area deserves it. It's different not being in the office anymore, but I've liked it so far. I'm exhausted, but content thus far.

The next time anyone hears from me, I'll have more than a year and a half as a missionary. It's crazy how time flies, but that's why it's so important that we make every second count! I hope that everyone has a great week! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

Meet the Mormons

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone's doing well! I had a super fun week. To start it all out, I bought these GIANT bananas! I was in the store and saw them and mistook them for another type of banana they have here in Brazil that is larger than a normal banana like we have in the US. However, I then noticed that these are normal bananas! The same species that we eat in America, just abnormally large. I couldn't resist buying a couple and taking pictures. I've included my impersonation of a tauntaun with my letter.

The next greatness that happened is called Dr. Pepper. Some other Elders had to pass close by, so they stopped in and bought some soda. They had Dr. Pepper!!!! It tasted so good. I was pretty happy.

From there, I went road tripping! I went to help out with one of the zone conferences we were having in Sorocaba, a city that I'd worked in before coming here. I got to see lots of good friends and help out by giving trainings and assisting with various parts of the conference. It was fun! There was a surprise for everyone, as President Farnes had asked (and received) a voice-overed copy of the new movie Meet the Mormons!! We're the only people that have it in all of Brazil, so it was even cooler to see. The movie tracks the lives of 6 Mormon families and gives 15 minute glimpse on a Bishop, a football coach, a women's boxer, an aged pilot, a humanitarian, and a missionary's mom. They movie was great and provided great outlook to those not of our faith or who may have misconceptions of who we are. All the missionaries there were crying pretty much when we watched the segment about the missionary's mom, especially when it showed the missionary leaving from the airport! I also shed a tear when the football game started though. The band came out, it showed the American flag and the jet flyover, and then showed a football game and it was all very emotional. I just kind of realized, dang I miss football!!

I got to go look at houses this week and have some other adventures along with sharing the gospel with some very special people. It's so great to be here working! Unfortunately, as I've said before, President already said that I'd be leaving the office on the next transfer date, which happens to be this Tuesday! I'll know where I'm goingtomorrow morning! I'm excited! I'll miss it here, but I know that I'm ready to have other learning experiences as well! I hope that everyone has a good week! With my area change I shouldn't be able to write until next Monday, as my preparation days will switch back to that day. So until then everyone! Have a great week and work hard!!

Elder Ashford

"Dang this week went fast"

Yeah, that's not a quote from anyone, unless you want it to be my quote. I just thought it'd look better with quotation marks around it. This week was super cool though! Lots of fun stuff happened. First off was the mouse hunt we did. I was walking downstairs from my house to a different one when one of the Assistants to the President starts yelling, "Venha, venha! Come here!!" I ran into their house to see them rummaging around. "Get a broom!" They yelled. Our houses are being infested by mice from the neighbors and one had gotten inside the Assistants' house and was hiding behind the door in their room. We shut all the windows and grabbed brooms and the mouse ran out super fast! Elder Carney started yelling and jumped up on the bed because he was caught so off guard from the mouse's flee. It went under the bed until we got it out and led it into the shower. We closed the shower door and it just started climbing up! We knocked it down from outside and got ready to go in. We knew we couldn't keep him around, so we put it out quickly. No, I didn't break that dust pan, it was already broken.

The next day, we all went to the temple! It was super great to go and feel of the Spirit there. We got to spend quite a while there just soaking in the good feelings that exist there. It's such an awesome place to be! I love going there, and may get another chance this week as well! We took a picture together as an office staff in the front. From left to right there's Elder Decker, who President decided a couple weeks ago that I would train as the new Records and Referrals Secretary and who used to be our Supplementary Secretary, Elder G. Ferreira, who is my companion and the Housing Secretary, Elder Farias, who is an Assistant, Elder McArthur, who is the Financial Secretary, myself, Elder Curtis, the current Mission Secretary, Elder Carney, my friend from Itapetininga who used to be the Financial Secretary and is now the other Assistant, and Elder J. Silva, who is the Mission Secretary in training.

Other Elders had told us a rumor about a bakery close by the temple that sells American soda and candy, including Dr. Pepper, so we went on a hunt for it. We managed to find it! Rough part was that the Dr. Pepper shipment hadn't come in yet, however, my A&W Rootbeer was still great! I think it tastes even better after about a year and a half without drinking it. Nevermind that it was about 3x the price of a normal soda! I'll have to see if I can get back there soon for a Dr. Pepper.

We had a bunch of cool teaching experiences as well this week. One family who we are teaching practically forced us to have dinner with us and afterwards we explained the entire Restoration message. The look on the mother's face was the coolest when we told her how Joseph Smith went out to pray and then Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ came down and called him to be a prophet. Her jaw just about hit the floor. She kept looking over to her husband like, "Are you getting this??" Super great! Then,Thursday we had a blitz session here. We've been doing them in one area every week where we get together as a zone and all work in one place to help that area. We had one here and a pair of Sisters found this super great guy. We went and visited him yesterday and it was awesome! The guy used to be a rocker. He used to play in a band and was atheist. One day though, he wasn't satisfied with life and decided to just ask God if He really existed and about his path in life. He did! And he said he felt this awesome feeling around him just urging him to change. This guy, Leonardo, started going home to see his family more often and started taking better care for his son, who is now 8. Crazy, imperceptible miracles started happening, like how he broke his finger the day before a concert. The guy is covered in tattoos, still has gauges, and his hair is pretty funky, but he wants to follow Christ. You can see the love he has for everyone, especially his son and his parents. He goes to different churches, searching what is right, and prays every single day with his son thanking God for all the blessings he has. It's super awesome! He'll be coming to church and he's already reading the Book of Mormon and loving it. We're excited for him! Moral of the story, real, pure desire can work miracles. God answers our prayers when we ask with a real intent, as Moroni says in Moroni 10:4. It's all true! Search for yourself if you don't already know.

I hope that everyone has a great week! Sending my love over there to everyone!

Elder Ashford

"Greatness is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in life that appear totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved. Sometimes we are incluned to put up with a situation rather than endure. To endure is to bear upunder, to stand firm against, to suffer without yielding, to continue to be, or to exhibit the state or power of lasting."

     -Elder Marvin J. Ashton