It's the Final Countdown

So this week you're allowed to look at the pictures first... This one's a lot sadder. That letter I'm holding is known as my "trunky letter". It's almost like a pink slip for the world's best job. It's the letter we get 6 months before we go home where we have to fill out some stuff for our travel plans. I was already expecting it because I was here in the office, but this letter can seriously spoil a fun Zone Conference when it gets handed to you out of nowhere. My trainer, Elder Marciano, was finishing off an exchange with the assistants and was here in the office. He picked up the letter from downstairs and came running up to give it to me. I'M NOT READY TO LEAVE. I still have 6 months though to make the best of it!

I don't have too much else to share this week. I know it's short and I'm sorry for that, but I don't have much time left! I'm working on lots of cool projects here at the office like the end of the year report about everything that happened as well as working hard in our area. I hope that everyone has a great week!

Elder Ashford

The Adventure Continues

I'm thinking that this will be a headline that will continue to be

used for the next two years. Actually, less, because I've been out for

FOUR months! Pretty crazy. I'm practically fluent in Portuguese as

well, so awesome!

The work is moving forward, and we are pushing hard for baptisms this

week! My companion is awesome and got me a Brazil soccer jersey for my

birthday! Brazil is awesome as well and I'm extremely grateful for the

opportunity I have to be here and work with these people. Brazil is

beautiful and the people are awesome. They're simple, but they love

their way of life. 

As a missionary, I meet a lot of people with

problems. People with addictions that are super hard to overcome.

People who just want their child to believe in God and go to church.

People who have disfigurations and mental problems. All kinds of

people. Some people speak very well, others speak very little

Portuguese, despite it being the only language they know. The streets

are full of people of all kinds and types. People live in the streets,

others in one room houses in an alleyway, others live in nice, big

houses that they made with their own hands. But these people all have

at least one thing in common. They are all children of our Heavenly

Father.

I thought that I loved everyone before my mission. Was kind to

everyone. Gave everyone their chance to talk and share their opinion.

But it's a lot harder here. I automatically think that these people

aren't as smart or special, because they don't speak English and

weren't born in the US. It's a natural reaction that I've been having

to overcome. But the people here are all special. They are all

children of a loving God who wants all His children to return and live

with Him some day. They all have problems, just like any other human

being. They're simply in a different situation. Look at people not as

who they are, but what they can become.

Charity is the pure love of Christ. I'm pretty sure it encompasses all

other of the attributes of Christ as well. It's kind of like all the

virtues of Christ rolled into one giant characteristic. This Christmas

season, remember everyone. Help the people that are in need. Search

for people that need YOUR individual help. The beauty of Christ's

church here is that we are given opportunities to act, and not simply

believe. To show our faith and not solely say it. So use the programs

you've been given, or make up your own to help someone. I'm working

hard here every single day to give people hope in a crazy world. To

say that Christ really restored His church to the Earth, and that all

mankind can come and partake of eternal life through God's plan for

us. Remember to help lots of people. Follow the example of our Savior

Jesus Christ this Christmas season and find someone to help.

I'm sending lots of love back home to everyone. Thanks for the letters

and love and support to me, and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas

and has fun and remembers Christ! Stay safe and work hard!!

Elder Ashford

Happy Birthday to Me

WOOOOW this week has been awesome!!! I honestly don't know how much

I'll be able to write before I have to get off, but I'm gonna try to

relate everything I can!!!

I want to say a big Thank You to Marcilia. None of you know her, but

she's a lady in our ward that really helped me out this week. If you

take a look at the last photo, that's here. She's the mother of

Vinicius, my very first baptism in the mission field. We had the

tremendous honor to have lunch with her this past Sunday, on my

birthday. She made a truly fantastic, big feijoada feast for us. We

ate a ton, and it was delicious! She also prepared a cake, complete

with candles for my birthday yesterday. She and her family and my

companion sang Happy Birthday to me and I felt truly blessed to be

right here right now with these people. Afterwards, we were talking

about things a little, and she said she really wanted my to feel at

home on my birthday, especially since I was so long from my family and

my home in Texas. I couldn't help but start to cry a little. It was

super touching, to know that this lady, who lives in a little one room

house down an alleyway, who struggles for money would do all this for

me. It was an act of total and complete charity and I thank her very

much for making my birthday spectacular, despite being long from home.

This week was truly phenomenol though. I had the opportunity to have

my interview with my mission president this past week. It was awesome

to be with him and hear some of his wisdom and get help. I also

participated in my first zone conference. I learned a TON and am

excited to work harder, smarter, and help more people! It's been a

little rough will no baptisms this week, but we're prepared and

determined! I know just how true this Gospel is and how much it can

bless the lives of everyone! I wish everyone a great week! Work hard

and have fun!

Love,

Elder Ashford

São Paulo Temple--11/25/13

 SORRY THIS IS LATE--I WAS IN CHICAGO

Geez Louiz. This has been a crazy few weeks! The temple in São Paulo

is beatiful, and I'm super grateful for the chance I had to visit! I'm

sorry as well if these come at weird hours of the morning. We have

daylight savings time as well! Except it's opposite here because the

seasons are flipped. So Texas is 5 hours behind me, and Utah is 6

behind me. Crazy stuff.

I'm sending a picture of the São Paulo Temple. It's absolutely

beautiful. It was an amazing experience to have everything in

Portuguese. We had fun going through the Temple and then eating lunch

at a restaurant. We also walked through a super fancy Walmart which

had multiple stories and moving sidewalks. But the Temple was

definitely the highlight. You can feel the Spirit of God there like

nowhere else. To be a missionary and visit is even more special. I

know that this church is true and was restored to the earth by Jesus

Christ himself, and that these temples are houses of God. Through

them, we can be sealed for time and all eternity with our families.

This is a huge thing, especially for people in Brazil. They hear about

how they can live with their families in heaven and want to have a

part in it. It's a wonderful work we are bringing about. We've been

having some difficulties lately, but we'll overcome. We have tons of

people who are ready to join the Church of Jesus Christ.

The work is going well, and I speak Portuguese really well now. I can

understand everything that people say and I can speak really well too.

It's amazing how fast you can learn with God's help. I'm working hard,

and the next time I write you, I'll be 19!! Have fun everyone, stay

strong, and remember to keep Christ in your hearts as we head into the

Christmas season!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

Mom's Letter & Questions 11/12/13

Hey!! I love you so much, but no time today because we went to the
temple today! P-day is always moved to temple day when we have it.
I'll talk more next week! I picked up my package, but haven't opened
it this yet. (Took less than 2 weeks to get to him, yeah!!)

Do you have to teach on Sunday at church very much? 

I don't teach at church.

Have you used any of your account money?

I haven't used any money yet

Can you listen to music other than MoTab?

Only MoTab

What fast food restaurants do you have in your area?

Only homemade food in my area

Have you taken pictures of the horses wandering?

No pics of horses yet, but I will

Did you get a new shower head?

We got a new shower head

Do you ever go on splits with other missionaries?

Yes I go on splits occasionally.

Do ward members ever go on splits with you?

sometimes

Do you have to pay utilities or does the church do that directly?

The church repays us for utilities

I stayed in the same area with the
same companion, 

I love you SOOOO much!! Miss you!

Elder Ashford

No Time!!!

So sorry guys. I literally have no time. We're at an expensive 

LAN house after the temple today, which was absolutely 

AMAZING!  There's six of us sharing an hour of computer 

time, so I'll be writing my mother and father and that's 

about it! I'll send pics and info about the temple next week. 

Stay tuned! I'm doing great!!

Elder Ashford

The Wait

Welllll this week I don't have too many exciting stories. Or pictures. Y'all will have to stave off until next week. Sorry!!

This week was good though. We found tons of new people to teach, we just don't have too many people progressing right now. That, and I won't find out until this afternoon or tomorrow if I'll be transferred. As of right now, I'm assuming I'll be staying in the same place with Elder Marciano, but I have no idea if I'll switch areas or companions! Suspense for next week! As of right now, I'm in an internet cafe, farther away from our house than I'd like, because the one three minutes from our house is not working STILL. And it's raining! Which is good. It's been super hot the past couple days, I just wish it was cloudy like this on a day where we were outside more! Oh well.

Because I don't know what will happen with companions, my topic today will be about ELDER MARCIANO, who I've been running around with for the past 6 weeks. (Time flys, huh?) He's from Rio de Janerio and is super cool. He's really good at helping me with my language and helping me learn. He has an cool story. His parents are inactive, and he'd always go to his Grandma's for church. His Aunt and Uncle are huge driving forces for him in the Church, and he's really close to them. He really has a love for the Gospel and for other people. He's fun and loves to mess around a little, especially with the youth in our ward. He loves to skateboard, and likes a ton of American music. His favorite band is Paramore, but he likes a lot of the same music I do (excluding country, which is pretty much non-existent here). He is a year older than me, and was Stake Secretary for a year before his mission. Have some responsibility as an 18 year old. He wants to go into Civil Engineering, or teaching, especially about History. He wants to go to BYU after his mission, so we've been working on English so he can apply while he's out here.

That's my super awesome life right now! Now just to play the waiting game! I love you all, and hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! I definitely missed going trick-or-treating. I hope everyone is having fun and staying safe!

Sincerely,
Elder Ashford

Stress, Sickness, and Baptism

Well, well, well. Another week come and gone! This was full of fun stuff, but don't be too fooled by the title, I'm absolutely perfect!  Keep reading and all will be revealed....

So the beginning of the week we had an awesome trianing session with the Mission President and his wife, all about stress. They talked about how stress is an absolutely normal part of life and that everyone will always have a little. It's when you let the stress go too far that it's dangerous. Remember you always have people to talk
to, and that can help a ton. Getting the opinion of another person always helps sort out things and make them better. So talk to people! Get it out, get things fixed, and make things better for yourself! If you ever need anyone to talk to, I've got this super wise missionary friend named Elder Ashford that you can email!

One of the other big events was Elder Marciano getting sick. I've been blessed to be perfectly healthy, and I didn't catch what he got. But Friday was very slow, and Saturday he was ordered to bed-rest, so after I traveled with the District Leader to do baptismal interviews, I spent the day studying scripture and napping with Elder Marciano. Any potential missionaries, make sure you know how to deal with sick people, because there's not too many people who can help if your companion gets sick (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!). So I was able to help Elder Marciano and he healed up pretty quick. He even felt good enough to go to church the next day and do one of the baptisms!!

We had two baptisms last Saturday. I baptized Irmã (Sister in Portuguese) Valdelice, and Elder Marciano baptized her son, Varnei. It was super awesome, and they love being in the church. We plan to continue working with them. We know that they can really benefit from our lessons. Next week they'll get the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and throughout the week we'll be teaching about other things, such as temples and how Valdelice and be reunited with her recently deceased husband in the next life through the sealing power of the temple. We also helped another family of recent converts yesterday who have been having some problems. We reminded them that life is hard, but they have the church and friends and scriptures to draw extra help from, not to mention a loving Heavenly Father who listens to our prayers and is willing to help when we ask. We reminded them that they have a huge goal to work towards, an eternal family in the Celestial Kingdom. Everyone has troubles, but through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, we know that families are eternal. I'm so glad for my family and how great friends there are to me and how close we are. I love them so much, and love that fact that I can be with them forever.

I hope everyone is doing well! I miss everyone, but I'm having fun! Next week I should find out where my next area will be! Have fun and stay safe everyone! Sending love!

Sincerely,
Elder Ashford

One Month in Brazil

Well, Tuesday marks one month in Brazil! Pretty exciting!! I don't think I've lost my English yet, but only because I've been emailing people and helping my companion learn English.

First item of business: is letters. Heads up, it takes about a week and half to send me a handwritten letter and another half a week or so to reach my hands. I love getting letters, and they should be send to my mission office. I can send letters back, but it may be kinda expensive and it's a lot harder for me. But I gladly will!

This past Sunday, we had a stake conference, and the beginning was kind of hilarious. The microphone wasn't working and there was a whole slew of people trying to fix it in a tiny room on the stand. An American in our area leaned over to me and whispered, how many stake presidency members does it take to fix a microphone? Afterwards, they gave up and started hauling all this equipment and cables and jury rigged a new audio system. Pretty hilarious.

I'm choosing to talk about houses today. I don't know how much longer I'll be in this area, two weeks, or 8, so I figured I should do this now. I'm in a slightly poorer section right now, called a favela. There are tonnnnssss of tiny houses jam packed in. Nobody has a dryer, or dishwasher, they're too expensive. Everyone hangs their clothes to dry. Gas isn't built in, so everyone has a tiny stove with a propane tank attached. Nobody has a yard, only about three feet of driveway and then a gate and then their car and then their house. And that's if you live on the street. Lots of people live in fundos which are behind the street. You have to take a little alleyway to an area in between streets where even more houses are packed in. Also, here at least, you don't buy a house. You buy a lot and build a house. You buy a cheap dirt lot, pay for a concrete foundation if you can, then pay for a big

truck to deliver thousands of large brick. You lay your piping in, and if you have money, your wiring. Otherwise your wiring is floating on walls and hung from the ceilings and everything is exposed. Then you take your bricks and make a house. Usually three or fours rooms, sometimes one and a bathroom. then, later on, you can add more. a second story, or expand out or something. TI's actually kinda cool. Then you lay concrete over the bricks, and paint it or cover with tile. Everything here is tiled. There is no carpet, there is no fancy wood flooring. It's concrete or tile. The roofs are generally flat and made of either brick or metal sheeting. It's crazy. But it's life.

This week as well, we've had miracles. We learned in training last Tuesday to pray for miracles and expect to see them. Elder Marciano and I did just that this week and boy did we see them. One lady was a referral from a stranger, adn she said in our first lesson, that as soon as she opened the door, she felt this huge overwhelming feeling of happiness and peace. And this coming from a lady in the Congregation of Christ, which loves to debate with our church generally. She said she had imagined us giving her a bouquet of yellow roses. We explained that this was the Book of Mormon, which is very precious adn has gold writing on the front and was originally written

on gold plates. It was amazing. Thats all for now though! See y'all next week! 

 Elder Ashford

The First Step

Wooo!! I do not have much time left, this will be quick!

This week I got to go register with the police which took place super

early in the morning. So I've been pretty tired all week. Also, my

shower head isn't working. Here, water comes from the pipes, through a

shower head that warms it. If the shower head doesn't work, no hot

water. It's literally cold enough that I can see steam come off my

body because there's such a difference between my body temperature and

the water. Fun stuff. We're working on getting a new one. My companion

and I work super well together. We love teaching and my Portuguese is

making leaps and bounds of improvement. There's lots of work to do

here, and yes, Irmão Pinho, we invite to baptism the first of second

lesson. Speaking of which...

My super awesome experience for the week is this:

Last Saturday, we held our first baptism in this area together. After

a couple weeks of work, Janaina Menezes and Vinicius de Oliveira were

baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and

yesterday received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was an amazing

experience, especially because I was asked to baptize them. I did, of

course, accept. It was the most wonderful experience for me and them.

Their faces after the ordinances were a sight to behold. I asked them

how they felt, and they said they had peace like never before. I title

this The First Step, because for them, this is the first step to a

totally new life. One centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The two

are dating seriously, and I wouldn't be surprised if they married

eventually, which means an eternal family for both of them. Before

then, Janaina has a desire to serve a mission and share this with

other people. We're still working on Vinicius, though he definitely

has the desire to share. It's an amazing thing. And yes, that blue

pool behind them is the font.

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

BRAZILLLLL!!!

Ummmmm... Wow. Where to begin? How about, this keyboard is super hard to write on, because it's a Portuguese keyboard instead of English? Well Saturday and Sunday weren't too eventful, except for saying goodbye to people that were leaving, which stunk. And packing. Lots and lots of packing. But my adventure started Monday, when I went down in the morning to board the bus to the train to the plane to the bus to the plane. Got all that? The shuttle bus dropped us at the train station which we finally figured out how to ride to the airport. It was me, one other Brazilian going to Florinopolis, and a ton of Argentinians. We eventually found the airport and our planes, but it was crazy. I got to talk to my family twice while at airports which was super amazing! I thought I was going to be alone to Brazil on both my flights, but as it turned out, there were two Elders from reassignments flying with me on both my flights! Awesome right? We didn't sit next to each other and I didn't have anyone sitting next to me, so no plane ride conversions. Getting off at JFK airport, a one year convert who had recently gotten cancer stopped me and asked for a blessing. So Elder Carney and I literally gave a Priesthood healing blessing inside of JFK airport with all its noise and craziness. Super cool. Then we hopped on our flight to São Paulo. That's where things really started going berserk.

Pretty much everyone on the plane spoke Portuguese which was fun. So was the 10 hour plane ride. Hear the sarcasm? I managed to sleep a little bit, but not much. I got lots of scripture reading done. Eventually we landed the next morning and I was in a new continent. Forget the country, I was in a new continent. And yes, the toilets do flush the opposite way this side of the equator. One fun fact down. The other one? Brazilians speak verrrry fast. It's hard to understand a lot of the time. It's crazy.

 Anyways, I dealt with passport and visa and got picked up and taken through São Paulo to the house of President Martins, who, in fact, while looking intimidating, is actually SUPER nice. He's hilarious and full of all sorts of wisdom and knowledge. Upon entering the apartment, guess who I see? My dear old companion Elder Youd of course! Sitting on one of the couches. We hugged as everyone looked at us awkward like, why are these two random Elders hugging? Anyways, super awesome, and then we ate. Also super awesome!

The new missionaries stayed the night in the mission house until the next day when we got sent to our first assignments. After being interviewed, he told us each where we would go and who we would be with. My companion's name is Elder Marciano, which translates to Elder Martian. We are in the Amador Bueno Ward of the Barueri Stake in the town of Itapevi, São Paulo, Brazil, which was previously occupied by Elder Santos and Elder Paredes, which translates to Elder Walls. Elder Marciano is from Rio de Janeiro and knows very little English. The English he does know is from American songs he listens to. American music is EXTREMELY prevelant in Brazil. Tons of people listen to it. But he speaks Portuguese perfectly! He's super patient though, and we are now terrific friends. We practice Portuguese all the time obviously, and he helps me with words and translating people's words. He is amazing. He teaches really well and knows what he's doing. Just another sign that God puts us in certain places for certain reasons. This is the exact type of companion I needed.]

For right now, Elder Marciano does most of the teaching and I do smaller portions. My Portuguese is already getting tons better. It's seriously a miracle. For all of you waiting to come here, study hard. You'll need it. The people here do a lot of talking with their hands. They use the thumbs up sign for everything. Hello, goodbye, how are you, I'm doing well, everything. Just be prepared. Also, Brazilians really do use that finger snap thing all the time. And it doesn't mean let's go faster like the MTC video says. It's their expression of excitement of happiness.

The houses here are tiny and scrunched. They have no yards, and lots of people live in Fundos, which is housing behind houses. You have to go down an alley to get the them. And there are tons of super steep hills. We walk miles every day teaching people and telling people our message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Being a missionary just has the coolest feeling about it. It's indescribable. Seeing the faces of people as they hear the message we spread is priceless. After all, the worth of souls is great in the eyes of God. It's an amazing thing I'm glad I get to do. And I haven't even been here a week!!

Our housing is actually under a house. I'll try to attach pictures. We have to go through the non-member's garage, down the side of the house, to the back porch, and down some steps to our little hobbit house. It's seriously tiny. Smaller than most dorms. Heck, a lot of people's houses here are smaller than dorms. A lot of people we've taught only have one bedroom houses with a small bathroom. And that's with like 4 or 5 people living there. The drivers are crazy here. but the sights are absolutely beautiful. I had my first church meeting yesterday, and they do it backwards! Sacrament is the last hour here. The church building is super nice in comparison. It's the only building that doesn't look completely torn down. But it still doesn't compare to houses in America. Consider yourself lucky to live in the USA.

I have tons more I wish I could say, but I have no time. I hope everyone is doing well. I don't have time to even look at personal emails, but hopefully next week. I love everyone and can't wait to tell you more. Stay safe, work hard, and have fun! And those of you waiting to come to Brazil, hurry up!

Sincerely,

Elder Michael Ashford

PS. Of course I have the one computer with a problem and can't send photos, Super sorry y'all. Next week hopefully. =(