I'm Running Out of Witty Titles

This week went well! There's been a lot of stress going on here as

everyone gets their stuff done and then goes outside to proselyte and

gets rejected. Not the coolest thing in the world, but we're putting

out our best and trusting in the Lord. We finally found some other

people who seemed super interested in what we were saying! The older

lady from a couple weeks ago unfortunately went on a three month trip

to see family in another state, so we'll have to wait to get back and

help her. Oh well. We've had our fair share of hardships here so far

with so few people to talk with, but we're super excited for a stake

activity that'll happen in a couple weeks! One of the wards in our

stake is celebrating their 50 year anniversary, so the Church is doing

this huge shin dig! They'll holding a ton of events to help the

community and allow people to see what the Church of Jesus Christ does

and why we do it! There will be events about taking care of your

health, about keeping religious freedom, about improving your career,

about Family History, and about the Church here in this area! There

will also be a blood drive and several exhibits about how the Church

uses technology and our beliefs. It should be super awesome, and since

it's happening all week, lots of people should be able to go! Woo hoo!

I've been filling out tons of references and talking with lots of

people. I followed up a little on the referral I'd sent to Switzerland

in the France Lyon Mission, and apparently their Referral Secretary is

a Sister, which I had no idea happened! I've only heard about Elders

working in the mission offices. Cool stuff though! I go traveling a

lot and I know lots more of the missionaries here now. I have

memorized just about where every one of the missionaries is right now,

so sorting the mail is getting super easy. The people I work with here

are awesome and we get along well. I've been trying to help everyone

out as much as possible, especially my companion. It's stressful, but

we make do.

I hope that everyone had a good week and is ready to have yet another

one! It's really important that we work hard always and learn what we

need to. I've been putting a bigger focus on learning something from

all my experiences, especially my scripture study. It's just been

fantastic this week. I limited myself to just a few verses of 2 Nephi

9 every day, and I've been taking a ton out of it. It's been so cool

to learn and finally understand more about Christ's Atonement for us.

I've been coming get the beginnings of a grasp of the concept. Notice

how vague that is. I know that there's a ton more to it that I can't

understand, but I'm going to continue studying and seeking. I love the

scriptures! I hope that everyone makes the time to study a little

every day and apply it!

Elder Ashford

"Some missionaries may wonder whether they are in the right plae, in

the right mission. It is no accident for them to be where they are

assigned. The Lord knows the missionaries. He knows their mission

presidents. I think He knows who their companions will be. I don't

know the detail to which He knows the future, but my impression is He

knows a great deal. He calls missionaries to the places they are

assigned. So, even when it's dificult, you can have confidence that

the Lord knew the difficulty in advance, and just as He assured Nephi

that He wouldn't give a commandment save He prepared a way for it to

be accomplished, the missionaries can have that same assurance, tough

as it  may be, whatever the situation, that the Lord knew the

difficulties would be ther. He has prepared a way. Have faith. Go

forward."

     -Elder Henry B. Eyring

Elder Ashfords Big City Adventures

So, I'm definitely should be a São Paulo native now, as I know the

train and bus system like the back of my hand. I go traveling so much

now, that it's sometimes hard to do my other work, so I've gotten used

to calling people on bus rides and writing down their referrals so

that I can type them up whenever I'm actually in the office here. It's

cool stuff! I had to travel to President Farnes' house once, as well

as the Brazil Headquarters for the church once, as well as a trip

yesterday that I took with my companion to see a house in a small town

where we want to move the missionaries to so they can minimize bus

travel money everyday.

I'm doing well though. We're teaching this one old lady who's like 80

something who's super cool! She totally wants to know if what we say

is true and is reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know the

truth! Super great. We see lots of other miracles as well. It's kind

of awesome here.

I honestly don't know what the news has been saying about São Paulo,

but it's been a super long time since we've had rain here. We're doing

fine, despite the failing water supplies, but we know that God is in

control and will help us push through the hard times. As an office

staff, we've been coming up with ways to help people store and save

water, which is cool. We're doing great though! We're praying that

it'll rain a ton soon and fill up the water supplies here.

I don't have much more to say! I'm doing great here. There's always

something to do in the office and I get to continually be productive

and help other people, which is great! I hope that everyone has a

great week! Keep up the good work! I love you all!

Elder Ashford

PS: Sorry I haven't got many pictures in! I just haven't had time to

take pictures with my companion this week, however, here's a picture

that I took two weeks ago here, in front of a pizza shop that I really

need to try!

The Office

This week calmed down a little bit. There is still so much to do here!

We work and work and work. It really does give me a whole new

perspective on the mission. I see the whole business side to it now!

It's really neat though. The rules are a little different here so that

I can do my secretary work and help out others. Between all the four

secretaries we have here, we each play a part in helping the mission

flow smoothly for the other missionaries. We help them focus on our

purpose to help others understand the truth about Jesus Christ. With

all the work we do, the other missionaries don't have to worry about

anything besides missionary work. They can dedicate themselves

completely to the work of salvation without worrying about money,

houses, travel, records, and many other more worldly things, in a

large part because of 4 missionaries who stick it out in an office

from 10 to 5 (at the least) every day helping everything go. We still

get to do proselyting work, but it's a much more limited time

schedule. However, we see many miracles happening to make up for the

time we spend in the office. We met a young man who was going into his

house when we stopped and talked to him. He's super smart and

understood and took a lot of interest from our message! It was super

cool!

General Conference was wonderful again! I got to watch it in English

at the stake center like I have the other times. I loved the beautiful

talks that were given about improving ourselves. I loved when the

apostles talked so much about owning up to own mistakes and taking the

blame for our own. It was cool to see Elder Bednar talking to everyone

who isn't a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

and inviting everyone to participate. To see for themselves! This is

something I try to do every day, invite others to come and see for

them themselves. It's hard for me sometimes, because so many people

reject our offer to see what wonderful things await them. But I

encourage everyone reading this to experience for themselves the

wonderful blessings that come from Christ's true church on the Earth!

Unfortunately, I didn't even get to watch all of Conference. I was

blessed with permission from our President to watch the Priesthood

Session, which was great, but Sunday Evening I had to listen on the

internet as I continued typing the baptism records for the mission in

September into the church's baptism record program. They were all due

on Sunday, so I had to stay way over time typing up records. That's

the way it goes!

The pictures that I'm sending this week are from last transfer. My old

companion, Elder Vieira, and I went to Applebee's here in Brazil for

lunch and it was absolutely DELICIOUS! I had barbecue ribs and he had

a huge american cheeseburger. 

I also bought matching ties for us for

his birthday that had already passed the week before. 

Then, I got to

reunite with some other missionaries from the MTC when we had

transfers. I'll send some pictures of the office new week!

I love you all! I hope that everyone has a great week and works hard!

I have a firm testimony about Christ and His church here on the Earth!

The work that I'm doing here is divine and essential! I love it!

Sincerely,

Élder Ashford

Secretário Registrador

Missão Brasil São Paulo Norte

The Office (trailer)

Heeeeellllooooo everyone! I am now officially a member of the office

staff here at the Brasil Sao Paulo North Mission. It is crazy hectic

here. I have sooo much stuff to do right now. The mission has been

working without a records secretary for quite some time, so I have to

get all the records for last month in order and put them all in the

computer system before, like, tomorrow. So I don't have much time to

talk right now. But now I'll be able to use way more time on email and

stuff, because the computers are now free to use. I even have my own

personal computer that I use as a secretary. It's a lot of work, and

way different. I haven't had time to talk with people and do

missionary work so far, but I will next week. I'm companions with the

housing secretary, so I get to travel a lot to look at houses with

him. I also get the be woken up with him when the Sister missionaries

call at 11:30 PM because their shower head catches fire. Yes that

happened this week, and no I haven't been able to sleep as much.

However, all is going super well. This will be a completely new and

different experience for me and I'll make sure to learn a lot. Thanks

for all your support! I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Ashford