Recap and Fast Forward

This one should be good. HOLY COW THE TIME FLIES. We got to go to the

temple last week, and we had almost no time to do anything else. We

got lost on the way. Almost went to the city of Francisco Morato

instead of the Avenue. Soooo we missed the temple session, but managed

to find something else to do there. Still was super cool. This week

has been tough. No one feels like talking to us. Usually, tons of the

men are drunk at the bar and painting the streets for the World Cup

coming up here, and the few people who are actually in their house

during the day don't feel like listening. We're trying to find new

ways to let people feel comfortable with us entering their house and

hearing a quick message from us. It's hard! But we continue on! We

don't get let down!

It'll all pass with time. There are tons of things happening these

weeks. I'm also fairly certain that the devil is working extra hard in

this area right now, considering that WE HAVE AN APOSTLE COMING TO

VISIT US THIS WEDNESDAY!!! That's right. Elder Russell M. Nelson, a

living apostle of Jesus Christ, is coming to São Paulo to speak with

us help the leaders here, and will also use the time to speak with the

missionaries in the São Paulo North, West, and East missions. Super

cool! We are super pumped to hear from him and get some advice and

encouragement. Woo hoo!

Don't think everything here is bad though. We did have two baptisms

here last Saturday after all. Their names are Ryan and Roger! They are

the part of what was a less active family here. It's a super cool

story. A different area had records of our area from seven years ago,

and brought them too us. We found three baptism records of a family

and went there. That night, one of the older brothers returned

immediately and has been super strong. He's preparing to serve a

mission even! He's 19 and his name is Renan. We helped his mom and the

rest of his family start to come back, and also helped his little

brothers get baptized, so now the whole family is complete!! It's just

too cool! We love that family so much.

Anyways, I'm doing well. Tired, but working hard! I hope everyone is

doing well and working hard as well! Love you all! Until next week!

Elder Ashford

"Worrying does not empty of its troubles... It empties today of its strength."

     -Anonymous

The Miracles are Strong With This One

FINALLY. I managed to get a Star Wars quote as a title. All is well.

Anyways, we had a super awesome week, and have seriously seen the

miracles God has set before us. We doubled the number of lessons we

had, and met a lot of new people with potential to progress. We only

had 4 non-members at church, but we're gonna work to get a lot more on

this upcoming Mother's Day! Speaking of which, I'm SUPER excited to

get to make a Skype call to my family! We only get to call our

families two times a year, Christmas and Mother's Day, and this next

week will be my second Skype call home!

We have seriously been working hard though. We work our butts off to

help as many people as possible, it just doesn't always go the way we

want. Like Sunday, when we did absolutely everything possible to try

to talk with people and share our message, and everyone rejected us.

We managed to stay in good humor though. We saw a sign on someone's

gate that said "Jesus is welcome here." My companion was laughing,

thinking it would be funny if we made a contact using the sign. So, to

his surprise, I did. I knocked and the man finally came out. I said

something along the lines of, "Hello, we saw your sign here saying

that Jesus is welcome in your house, and we're representatives of

Christ here to share His message with you." He still rejected though.

I insisted again, saying that his sign said that Jesus was welcome

there, but he didn't buy into it. Oh well. It was funny. We kept

trying with other people to no avail. FInally, we stopped and said a

prayer, begging for a miracle with the 45 minutes we had left, with no

more plans for that day, and already feeling super tired. We asked for

help, and set out again, trying to talk with people on the streets.

After some searching, we passed by a house that we had tried before

but the person didn't have time. So we tried again! Low and behold,

the lady came back out, and this time we got to teach her an awesome

lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can be saved. She

was super interested, and wants to bring her kids with her to church

this Sunday. Woo hoo!!

These are just some of the miracles that happen every day of our

lives. One of the biggest, is the Book of Mormon, which I have the

pleasure to study and share every day. It's such a cool story, with so

many great examples of people who truly followed Jesus Christ. It

brings so much peace in a troubled world. I feel a need to read every

day, even if just a little, because I know life is so much more

difficult without the scriptures in my life. I love seeing the Book of

Mormon change the lives of other people. They sleep better, some are

healed from physical sickness like diabetes, others feel the spiritual

healing power and the power of forgiveness. Having a book to prove

that Christ restored His church to the Earth in these latter days is

something amazing. God speaks to and loves all His children, and I

know that the Book of Mormon is proof of that. Read this book! It's a

must read!!

I wish all a good week! Love you all and praying for everyone! Keep

safe and have fun!!

Elder Ashford

"The Book of Mormon was written for us today. God is the author of the

book. It is a record of a fallen people, compiled by inspired men for

our blessing today. Those people never had the book. It was meant for

us."  ---President Ezra Taft Benson

Success Comes After the Trial of Your Faith

Soooo Happy Easter!! We didn't do too much to celebrate, besides make

homemade, chocolate easter eggs! It's a Brazilian thing. You don't

hide eggs, just make or buy chocolate eggs. Super good! I'm trying

hard to get pictures uploaded, because I have other awesome news as

well! It's just not wanting to show up on the computer...

This is the last Monday of the transfer, and later today we'll know

where we're going and with whom. It's been a great transfer, but it's

gone by wayyyy too fast. My companion was Elder Willian Fiuza Palhares

Teixeira, who is from the state of Minas Gereis, right above São

Paulo. He's yet another super tall Brazilian that I had the

opportunity to serve with. We had a great transfer, but had to start

up pretty much everything from scratch, but we did and got rewarded!

Elder Palhares is super funny and loves to talk. He also loves cooking

and is very good at it! I've have learned and eaten tons of Brazilian

desserts, which are his favorite thing to eat. He has a sweet tooth

like no other, and can afford to eat a lot because of his height

(unlike me...). He makes delicious food from scratch and is an

excellent missionary! It's been super fun serving with him, and we'll

see if we get to serve more this transfer as well!

The super cool news is that Friday, two people were baptized into the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and another on Easter

Sunday! The two on Friday were super special. The Bishop's brother,

Eraldo, got into a lot of trouble in life, but got out of it recently

and changed everything. He's been a true example of someone leaving

everything to follow Christ. In a matter of three weeks he was ready

for baptism, and his 8 year old son was baptized with him as well. The

baptism was very cool, with all the family of Eraldo and the Bishop

being there to see it. The rest of the family aren't members, but we

hope that now they'll be more interested. After the baptism ordinance,

the Bishop welcomed his brother into the church and gave a touching

story about how all the family was reunited helping Eraldo return to a

better path in life. Eraldo then bore his testimony that all this is

true and about the Book of Mormon. He doesn't like to read normally,

but he couldn't put the Book of Mormon down with how good the book

felt. Pretty much everyone there was in tears and it was a very

sucessful baptism.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, Eraldo and his son Kauan were confirmed

members and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Afterwards, we had

another cool baptism of a young woman named Jéssica. She's 14 and her

twin brother was already baptized several months ago. She wanted to as

well, but would never find time to do it. We finally got everything

straightened out for Sunday, but the water in the chapel had run out.

The city had shut off the water from the draught, and the backup

supply in the chapel isn't connected to the baptism font. Usually the

font fills in a little over an hour, but after an hour there was less

than a foot of water in the font. Our Ward Mission Leader here said it

probably wouldn't happen, but we told him to just leave the drain open

and that we'd go by faith. Jéssica was determined to go on with it,

even if she had to be baptized on her knees. Three hours later and the

water still hadn't risen more than a foot and a half. We were still

determined. We'd even had Bishop announce the baptism in sacrament

meeting! Everyone got settled in to watch, and we went ahead to start

the baptism meeting with song and prayer and a talk about baptism. As

we waited, the font miraculously started to fill a little more, as

four members of our ward here began to carry water in buckets from

other sources of water to the baptism font. Another member entered

with Jéssica to baptize her, and they knelt down to get Jéssica all

the way under the water, and it worked. Afterwards, the spirit was strong in the room, and lots of people got emotional. After a few

complications, faith, and actions, Jéssica was batized.

These are just some of the coolest stories on a mission. It's amazing

to see people as they turn to Christ. This church is true! It's true

because Christ Himself organized it and leads it today! Jesus Christ

lives, and is our Saviour. I'm so thankful for His sacrifice and to be

here serving Him as a missionary and His representative. Have an

awesome week! Work hard! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for

tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then

the doing of your work shall be no miracle---you shall be the

miracle."

     -Phillips Brooks

Da, Da, Da Down With Sickness

Sooooo super sorry about not sending anything last week in terms  of

letters in general. The internet  in  this LAN house crashed three

times, and we left  after  the third. Every time it  crashed, they had

to restart every single machine here. Not cool. Beyond that, no, I

don't think I've even ever  heard the song  in my title all the way

through, it's  just fitting. EVERYONE  was sick after Zone Conference.

Actually, one companion from each pair was sick from like everyone  I

know. Nothing bad, but I  had to nap  a couple hours on Friday before

we got  to work. It was still a  good days work too! Everything is

just amazing here, and we're finding soooo many people with tons  of

interest. There  a  lot of partial member  families here, and we're

helping  people know about  the goespel, so that one  day these

families can all be sealed  in the temple as families for all

eternity. It's  pretty much the coolest thing ever. This  work is

AWESOME!!

I'm  sending pictures of my companion and I in  a different email. The

 other  picture, is me mixing the dough to  make  the  SUPER delicious

cheese bread  they have in Brazil,  and that  I will be  able  to

make when I come home  as well, so  no  need to be  too jealous

people.

Beyond that, I'm  super excited for General Conference this  weekend!!

I love hearing from the prophet and the apostles and hearing their

testimonies and getting  counsel from them. We're even pretty sure

that we  can get it hooked up in English here  for the  few American

missionaries here. Awesome, huh? This church  is amazing though,

beyond  that  fact that it's true. Kinda a side benefit  of having a

church  that Jesus Christ came down to organize, and  then reorganize

in these latter days, I guess. I hope everyone  is doing  well, even

better than I'm doing, which is hard to beat. THinking of everyone and

missing y'all! Sending love!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."

     -Victor Hugo

Back in Black (and White)

ANNNND I'm back in São Paulo! My color reference was to the clothes I

wear every single day in public. I got transfered this week to a new

area with a new companion! I was shipped out of Itapetiniga, and am

currently serving here in the Vila Medeiros Ward. (Sound familiar

Elder Youd?) Elder Palhares is my new companion, who I actually

already now. He was nearby in my first area here, and we did a few

companion exchanges there, so we already knew each other. This area is

super packed with people, and we know we'll do super well this

transfer. We're going to work super hard and help lots of people get

baptized!! It's really great here, but I feel as if I'm slowly losing

commodities... I've been told that the washing machine here isn't

great, so I got to wash my clothes by hand for the fist time today!

Fun stuff!

This is all super cool though. Some people, namely my mother, think

I'm softening things up for everyone at home, but I'm really not

having any problems. I'm loving everything I do so much, that I just

don't feel down or upset, and if I feel sick, I just don't let it get

to me. Yes, this work is super hard. But we just keep working here! It

seriously is a marvelous work and a wonder that we can do all this

stuff! It's an amazing experience!

 I'll add on pictures of my old zone in Itapetininga, 

and the scripture cases I bought, 

but I haven't taken any more yet. I know, I know, I've been slacking with pictures, but

I'll get better! There's lots of stuff here to photograph! I love

hearing about all the fun everyone's having, so I hope it continues

for everyone over there! Thinking about everyone, missing people lots,

and praying for y'all! I hope everyone has an awesome week! Love

y'all!

Elder Ashford