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!