"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

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, unfortunately I didn't have any turkey or pumpkin pie or anything else that I love so much, but I still had a good Thanksgiving remembering all the blessings and good things that I have here in life! I had a pretty awesome week. I got to visit the temple here in São Paulo. It's seriously so great there. The spirit is super strong. There's just so much peace and learning that can go on if you let it, and I really tried to be open to new things. Open mind, open heart, that's the key! It was super pretty outside. Even the roar of all the cars seems to just fade away as soon as you get inside the temple grounds. It's funny. You look out to the front and see and these buildings and cars and craziness, and then look back and see this oasis out in the middle of the city. The temple is SO awesome! I loved it. I'm with Elder Curtis in the picture, who is also a secretary here in the office!

I had a day where I had literally tons of work to do. you can imagine how frustrating it was then when the President's Assistants came in saying they had urgent work to do and needed my computer. I use my computer for literally everything, so I wasn't too happy when their work got even more crazy and had to stay on until 7 PM doing their stuff. I made the best of the situation though. I was upset, but kept myself under control and found other useful things to do. Like.... DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS!! We'd found a ton of old Christmas lights and decorations hidden away, so I got them out and put up tons of stuff! It looks a lot better around here now. I'm liking it!! This is an old picture I took, because I put up more stuff afterwards, so I'll take a newer picture later.

The best thing that happened though was the baptism meeting. SO COOL. These two Bolivians have been awesome! Carlos and Veronica are their names, and they were super ready to meet us. Carlos had already been going to church for two months and Veronica was super willing to see for herself and try it out. Veronica had a super great experience with the Book of Mormon that made her want to be baptized and she then helped Carlos want to be baptized as well. The two cousins were baptized last Sunday after church and will be given the Gift of the Holy Ghost tomorrow. Awesome!! They are great and I've loved being able to work with them. It's so great to see people's lives changing as they come to truly follow Christ! Even though we don't always have tons of time to go and talk with people, we are truly blessed with miracles. 

It's so great here!

I hope that everyone has a great week! Work hard and always do your best!

Elder Ashford

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

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