A Week of Miracles

This week was cool. This week was miraculous! We've really been working hard, and we were more than rewarded for our efforts this week. We had a few baptisms planned this week, but we got more than we bargained for! I'll take you through some of the stories for the week!

The lady we helped baptize last week, Glória, was supposed to be working this Sunday, so we were hoping that there was still some way that she could receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We had run into her several times during the week and always reminded her to ask the day off from work, however, she didn't get it. We were passing close by on Sunday morning, when we decided to see if her children would go to church with us. Who meets us at the gate other than... Glória!! The train was having problems, so she returned home and was going to go later in a friend's car. She went to church and was confirmed a member of the church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost!! Too great!

We are teaching one young man named Rodrigo who absolutely wants to be baptized. Talking with him, we decided to change his baptism date to Sunday instead of Saturday so that his friends and family could be here. He was super strong! He said he had work on Sunday and would be baptized afterwards, so we were surprised to see him there at church! He had quit work a couple days before to go to church that Sunday and every other Sunday. We knew his baptism would go through, but were hoping and working for more baptisms!

Monday night, we had stopped at Luciane's house and talked with her and her three children, Lucas (19), Nicoly (13), and Tayna (8). Luciane was in a mess. Tons of crazy things were happening and she hated all the hardships she was passing through. She had tons of questions, like why bad things happened to good people and vice versa. We talked things out and helped her understand God's plan for her and she calmed down a little. She left after a little and we chatted with her children about how they could help their mother. It was a super cool lesson. I felt like a family counselor. Friday we went back. Luciane started off saying that she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible, so we marked her for Sunday on the spot. She spoke about the prayer she had said, the comfort she received, and the miracles that happened. She then gave us a weird look and expressed her fears about her readiness for baptism. I had no idea that she was smoking and drinking coffee. Luckily, the Spirit was with us and we skillfully helped her understand the need to stop before baptism, but didn't give her a specific new baptism date. We waited in silence a little, then, she said that coolest thing I've ever heard. "After today I will never put another cigarette in my mouth or drink coffee. You may mark my baptism for this Sunday." The Spirit was SO STRONG AS SHE SAID THAT. We knew it was right for her. We gave her every piece of advice we could, including drinking water, praying for help, and reading the Book of Mormon. Then, we prayed fervently all day long Saturday for her. We got to church and saw her and she just smiled real big and nodded. :)

Luciane was baptized by her work manager who referred her to the church. Tayna, had decided to be baptized on the same day, and we had one more surprise baptism. About 5 minutes before the meeting, Nicoly went up the Bishop here and asked if she could be baptized as well. Luckily, she'd already passed the interview and was baptized as well!!! It was a fantastic day. I felt so happy. I got to baptize Tayna, and it was super special! It was like baptizing my sister Paige all over again. Now, we will work with Luciane's son to be baptized this week with a few other people we hope! We are truly being blessed here. It's so great! Heavenly Father loves us all so much and wants everyone to be closer to Him through baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost!! I'm so happy to be a part of this amazing work! Christ lives and loves us!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

PS: The guy next to me is a missionary that did the interviews, Elder Bustamante! Rodrigo asked to be baptized by him!

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was two days ago and marked my year and a half mark of being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That's a long stinking time!!! I entered into the MTC over 18 months ago. The Sisters that I met my first day in the MTC all finished their missions. Lastly, in exactly 5 months to the day, I'll be landing in Austin, Texas to see my family after a long time of service that has changed my life forever. That's weird. Oh dang.

Before I get too homesick though, it's good to use this kind of stuff to put everything in perspective. I don't have much time left to consecrate everything I've got to God, especially all my time, talents, and efforts! So I'm working hard and extremely thankful for all the experiences that God has given me and the circumstances that He puts me in to allow me to grow and develop. I'm working a ton here and always go to bed completely exhausted, but I love it! This week was rough with bad weather and a few other factors that didn't allow us to work as much as we would have liked, but we are working well and trying to focus on what's most important. I'm learning a ton! This area has lots of prepared people that already want to know the truth and even already want to be baptized. With many of them, it's just helping them overcome laziness and fear to get done what they need so badly. We were planning to have SO MANY PEOPLE in church this week, and then it just didn't happen. We called people beforehand, we sent church members to go pick up investigators, and we went (as asked by their mother) to wake up three investigators in any form possible. We spent 45 minutes, yelling, knocking, calling, and clapping for these people to wake up, but they never did! It was frustrating. Work impeded a lot of others from coming. However, we had two super great investigators come to church and they loved it. They've been coming for a while now and really, really, really want to get baptized. They finally marked a day to get married, March 28th being the soonest the government would allow, and then asked us if they could be baptized on the same day about two hours after the wedding! I felt so blessed to know these two special people and their family. It was great!

So, Sunday didn't go as well as we wanted, and then we spent the time running around teaching lessons and helping a special lady named Gloria. She was all set to get baptized Sunday at 7, but we knew she was a little hesitant so we went to help her! We walked all the way to her house, found she wasn't there, went and found her in the street, helped her understand how being baptized would help her in her life, then walked home with her, waited outside for her to get ready, found a member to give us a ride to the baptism, and then got everything done! Dang it was hard. I was exhausted afterwards. It was so cool though to see the difference in her face after she was baptized. It was special! Surprisingly enough, she asked me to baptize her, even though I barely met her two weeks ago. It was super special though! She didn't want to take a picture because apparently she doesn't like them, but we'll try to get a picture with her when we visit this week and help her get all ready for the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday! God truly blessed us for our hard work and endurance in the face of trials and sadness. It was great!!! I'm so grateful for the love that Christ offers us and the mercy He shows. We are loved!!! How great is that!!!

I love Christ so much and am so thankful for having been able to grow to understand everything about His Gospel this past year and a half. It has been truly amazing! I'm thankful for my Savior and the sacrifice He made to help every single one of us! It's truly marvelous! I hope that everyone has a great work and continues to work hard and remember the blessings that we have!! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

PS: Here are some pictures of my area and my companion! Perus is basically a neighborhood of São Paulo, but it's a little set apart, so there are tons of houses in a little spot and then there are tons of hills and green stuff! It's cool here!

The Neighborhood of TurkeysWell, I'm in a neighborhood way in the north called Perus, or turkeys! I got transferred after all and am now sitting yet again in a small, dark internet cafe. Man I miss my computer. Oh well. I can't complain! I have zero time to send this message, so it'll be short and I'll get more out next week. This area is SUPER BLESSED. There are TONS of people who for the longest time were just waiting to have a baptism date marked with them. We marked 7 in a week, 5 of which are for this Saturday and Sunday. We'll be marking a bunch of other ones this week as well! The members here are great, and I'd actually already met the Bishop here! He works with mission finances and I went into his office one time on secretary business! So far people think highly of me, which is nice! My companion is Elder Jones and he's from Poway, California. He's pretty cool! I'm finishing off his training which is SO HARD TO DO. There are lots of things to be learned. I'm developing more patience though! I'm trying to work my hardest always and just keep pushing, because I know that this area deserves it. It's different not being in the office anymore, but I've liked it so far. I'm exhausted, but content thus far. The next time anyone hears from me, I'll have more than a year and a half as a missionary. It's crazy how time flies, but that's why it's so important that we make every second count! I hope that everyone has a great week! Love you all! Elder Ashford

Well, I'm in a neighborhood way in the north called Perus, or turkeys! I got transferred after all and am now sitting yet again in a small, dark internet cafe. Man I miss my computer. Oh well. I can't complain! I have zero time to send this message, so it'll be short and I'll get more out next week.

This area is SUPER BLESSED. There are TONS of people who for the longest time were just waiting to have a baptism date marked with them. We marked 7 in a week, 5 of which are for this Saturday and Sunday. We'll be marking a bunch of other ones this week as well! The members here are great, and I'd actually already met the Bishop here! He works with mission finances and I went into his office one time on secretary business! So far people think highly of me, which is nice!

My companion is Elder Jones and he's from Poway, California. He's pretty cool! I'm finishing off his training which is SO HARD TO DO. There are lots of things to be learned. I'm developing more patience though! I'm trying to work my hardest always and just keep pushing, because I know that this area deserves it. It's different not being in the office anymore, but I've liked it so far. I'm exhausted, but content thus far.

The next time anyone hears from me, I'll have more than a year and a half as a missionary. It's crazy how time flies, but that's why it's so important that we make every second count! I hope that everyone has a great week! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

Meet the Mormons

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone's doing well! I had a super fun week. To start it all out, I bought these GIANT bananas! I was in the store and saw them and mistook them for another type of banana they have here in Brazil that is larger than a normal banana like we have in the US. However, I then noticed that these are normal bananas! The same species that we eat in America, just abnormally large. I couldn't resist buying a couple and taking pictures. I've included my impersonation of a tauntaun with my letter.

The next greatness that happened is called Dr. Pepper. Some other Elders had to pass close by, so they stopped in and bought some soda. They had Dr. Pepper!!!! It tasted so good. I was pretty happy.

From there, I went road tripping! I went to help out with one of the zone conferences we were having in Sorocaba, a city that I'd worked in before coming here. I got to see lots of good friends and help out by giving trainings and assisting with various parts of the conference. It was fun! There was a surprise for everyone, as President Farnes had asked (and received) a voice-overed copy of the new movie Meet the Mormons!! We're the only people that have it in all of Brazil, so it was even cooler to see. The movie tracks the lives of 6 Mormon families and gives 15 minute glimpse on a Bishop, a football coach, a women's boxer, an aged pilot, a humanitarian, and a missionary's mom. They movie was great and provided great outlook to those not of our faith or who may have misconceptions of who we are. All the missionaries there were crying pretty much when we watched the segment about the missionary's mom, especially when it showed the missionary leaving from the airport! I also shed a tear when the football game started though. The band came out, it showed the American flag and the jet flyover, and then showed a football game and it was all very emotional. I just kind of realized, dang I miss football!!

I got to go look at houses this week and have some other adventures along with sharing the gospel with some very special people. It's so great to be here working! Unfortunately, as I've said before, President already said that I'd be leaving the office on the next transfer date, which happens to be this Tuesday! I'll know where I'm goingtomorrow morning! I'm excited! I'll miss it here, but I know that I'm ready to have other learning experiences as well! I hope that everyone has a good week! With my area change I shouldn't be able to write until next Monday, as my preparation days will switch back to that day. So until then everyone! Have a great week and work hard!!

Elder Ashford