Happy 2015

WOOO!!! A new year full of new excitement and possibilities!! This year has lots in store for me. It's the year I come home from my mission, the year I start college, the year I get to have Christmas with my family again, the year my family moves to a new house, and who knows what else! I'm excited. I've resolved to work harder still during these last six months and a little that I have left. Not that I haven't worked super hard, just that I'm going to push myself more so and finish out strong!

This New Year's day wasn't too exciting. It was pretty much a normal day. I was typing up baptism records all day, then left and went to do an activity in another area where we helped them out by doing street contacts and lessons to strengthen the work there. Then we all watched a baptism there and went home. New Year's Eve was great, as I did an exchange with Elder Farias who is from Maceio, Alagoas! We did some awesome work and found some amazing people. It was cool to learn from Elder Farias' humility and see how he treated everyone with so much love! He talked to everyone he could as well to help spread the message of the restored gospel! It was awesome. Then we went home and went to bed at 10:30 just like any other night. I think it was one of the first times I've ever not stayed up untilmidnight, and it may very well be the last! It was fun though. I love being around the people who work here in the office and live with us. They're all super great people! It's been fun to pass the holidays with them.

I don't have much else for this week, but make sure everyone to make good goals this year to help change yourself into the kind of person God wants you to be! Have an awesome week!!

Elder Ashford

PS: Included is a picture of the mug that our family friend sent me!! Thanks Sheliah Safford!!

Merry After Christmas

So, don't look at the pictures yet. Save those for last. I have to explain them first!

Anyways, this week has been awesome! We had so much fun. Tuesday we had a fantastic Christmas Activity with all the mission. Man was that a mess to set up... With renting buses and transporting Christmas boxes and materials, it got a little crazier, especially when we were trying to leave and people tried to stay and chat! But oh well. It was fun. We had a super spiritual experience as we listened to Christmas messages given by President and Sister Farnes. It was great to remember the reason of the season! I liked it even more when we then read the story of Christ's birth in between singing songs. President had the assistants and the secretaries each read a part of the story in front of everyone. We would alternate in between reading scriptures and singing songs as a mission. So much fun! The spirit was super strong as we sat there and partook of the experience together. We then afterwards ate lunch, which was barbeque! Super great, but the most fun was the talent show. There were some pretty funny acts that were dumb, and the missionaries had us cracking up as they imitated other missionaries and people. During this whole time, there was a photographer paid to just take bazillions of pictures. So he did. Including when he gathered us all together to take a mission picture. He took seriously like 30 pictures. So, I don't exactly know what he was thinking when he decided to sent a sample picture

to us, and I WAS LITERALLY SITTING FRONT AND CENTER WITH MY EYES CLOSED. What nerve. I was not too happy. It's okay though, because I'm sure he'll drop off all the pictures here in the office, so I'll steal them all and send some better ones. Funny thing though, another Elder here in the office, Elder McArthur, decided to be creative. He saw the picture and decided to improve it. You may now look at the pictures. DON'T I LOOK GOOD?? Just saying. Yes, he stuck glasses on me in the picture, and he even took the liberty to take those particular glasses from my friend Elder Carney who's sitting two people away from me. I laughed SO HARD for like 20 minutes straight. I kind of loved it. I might have to buy similar glasses now and just always do my hair like that. Just saying.

So that was great. Christmas Eve and Christmas were kind of normal. We worked here in the office and spent time resolving problems with missionaries trying to talk with their families. There were quite a few anxious parents who called or emailed us just exasperated. It all got taken care of though! We had Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas lunch with the same member, the relief society president, who is just super awesome, so that was fun. The best part, of course, was talking to my family on Christmas day. I called there around 7:30 at night here, so I had to wait patiently, but it turned out great! I loved, loved, loved getting to see everyone there. I miss my family so much! They are very dear to me. However, I'll get over the trunkiness soon, because this next week will be chaotic. Salt Lake wants all the baptisms for the year entered by the 3rd of January, which is three days earlier than normal. So I'll have my work cut out for me getting stuff done, but it'll go fine. It's almost 2015!!!! It's so cool. Seriously excited. So, in advance, Happy New Year!! I hope that everyone makes excellent life goals this year that will help you reach your true potential! If you're in need of a nifty, little goal, feel free to see the third picture included here! I love all of you and wish you the best!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

Merry Christmas

And Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season and

is settling back into normal things with ease!

We passed Christmas very well here in Itapetininga! I got to open all

my awesome presents, including my UT pajamas for Christmas Eve, and

spend the day with some awesome missionaries! This Christmas really

taught me a lot about the true spirit of Christmas. Being a missionary

brings a whole different meaning to it. About the love for other

people and the love for our Savior Jesus Christ! We went and had a

nice big lunch at the house of a member, and then I spent a little

more than 3 hours (whoops) talking with my family over Skype! It was

super cool and I was so glad to be able to talk to them for that

amount of time. I know other missionaries had troubles with Skype and

internet, but I was blessed to have everything work perfectly. It was

definitely hard to get off at the end and to say goodbye. This goodbye

was a lot harder than even when I left to start my mission! But all is

well and afterwards the members gave us some nice gifts and we

returned home. We had bought a lot of food and feasted on some

delicous meat, rice, and salad! It was awesome to have that time with

my missionary friends.

I hope everyone is doing well and having fun! 

I love everyone and am loving the work here! Keep safe!

Elder Ashford

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