Over The Hill

I think that describes me pretty well. For those of you that still

don't know, (Don't know how that happened, because I'm sure that my

mom told EVERYONE) I hit my one year mark this last week!!!! It's

ridiculous to think that I've already been a missionary in the service

of Christ for ONE ENTIRE YEAR OF MY LIFE, but it's true. What can ya

do. Actually, technically, I'd already hit my halfway mark, because

when we went to visit São Paulo for a day last week, my companion and

I stopped in the mission office, and I saw my wonderful friend Elder

Carney!!! Which was super great. He's the financial secretary, so he

has all this cool access that I don't have. He showed me my missionary

file, and it said that I'll be finishing my mission on July 28th, two

weeks before my two year mark. You may mark that day in your calendar,

Mother.

I didn't have time to write everyone last week, because we had a super

awesome Zone Activity that Elder Vieira and I planned out for the

other missionaries in our zone. Therefore, we did not have much time

on the computers last week. Being the first time to do a Zone

Activity, we wanted it to be super awesome. Just don't let your socks

get knocked off with the brilliance of our idea. We all got together

in the chapel in our area, all 14 missionaries, and had a potluck!

Everyone brought some food. I made an awesone meat cake, which is

basically a loaf of ground beef with cheese and bacon and sausage

inside! It turned out great. Then, we started our treasure hunt. They

got split into two teams, with one member of the group blindfolded.

Elder Vieira and I were investigators, and the teams had to take turns

doing certain tasks. One person had to make a street contact with me,

and then run to find the other clue. Two other people then had to

practice what they had learned in their Zone Training, applying the

techniques they had learned, inviting me to be baptized. The person

blindfolded then had to do some paperwork, which turned out hilarious.

The blindfolded person then had to navigated a maze to get the next

clue, taking directions from their team mates (and from the other

team!). They then had to apply other teaching skills on us, and in the

end, my companion and I were dressed in white in the baptism font! We

gave them pictures and a letter praising them for their good work and

encouraging them to always work hard to help others in this great work

we're doing! Finally, we took them to our service project, where we

all sang a couple hymns and listened to the conversion story of a

member of our ward here who was baptized blind and without her legs.

Her legs had to be amputated years before, but she really wanted to

hear the message of the Restoration and be a part of the Church of

Jesus Christ! She gave up smoking and now is an active member of our

ward. Blind and without legs, she still goes to church every single

week.

Needless to say, we felt awesome about the activity, and all the

missionaries returned super excited to help everyone in their areas.

Later that week, I had my one year anniversary! That morning, we had

interviews with our mission president, President Farnes. He's super

awesome! We kept ourselves occupied doing teaching practices and

sharing our conversion stories with each other, which really helped us

get to know each other better. Later that day, we stopped at the pizza

parlor here owned by a member, and we ate free pizza! Super fun! I'm

doing great and working hard. These weeks have been rough on us, as we

haven't gotten the results we were wanting, but we are determined to

work better and harder! There are tons of people we are preparing to

be baptized in Christ's church. It's so cool to see so many people

leaving behind their own lives and choosing to follow God in the way

the He wants us to! I'm so proud and thankful and humbled and

priviledged to be a part of this work here. I love you all and hope

that y'all are well! Keep working hard and have fun!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

"Perseverance is a positive, active characteristic. It is not idly,

passively waiting and hoping for something good to happen. It gives us

hope by helping us realize that the righteous suffer no failure except

in giving up and no longer trying. We must never give up, regardless

of temptations, frustrations, disappointments, or discouragements."

     -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Trials are How We Learn

This week was fantastic! I know that sounds weird after the title I

put on, but it's true! We did not get the results this week that we

were hoping for. We couldn't find many people to talk to, our baptism

fell through, some of our investigators with the most potential turned

us away, and we had to just keep on moving. It was definitely hard,

but worth it. We learned a lot together this week. I went to my first

Leadership Counsel on my mission this week, now that I'm a Zone

Leader, and it was just super cool! The advice and training that our

Mission President gave to us was extremely useful and will be super

effective! I'm excited to be able to pass on all this learning to the

rest of our zone tomorrow in our Zone Training. It'll be awesome! It

was also super great to see lots of my best friends and old companions

there! It was funny. Sister Farnes, our Mission President's wife, did

a super funny demonstration with my friend Elder Berrios there. She

explained about planning! Elder Berrios had a bunch of seemingly

random cooking ingredients and had to use them all to make a cake

without a recipe! We have no idea how it turned out, but we'd rather

not try it, just in case it went bad. Then, we ate cupcakes that she

had made following the recipe. Super smart! We need to follow the

instructions every day while we plan as missionaries, because if we

don't do things in the right order, everything can turn out bad!

Planning is important!!

Also this week, my companion was having real trouble with forgiving

himself of his weaknesses and moving on. He'd been having a hard time

with that and asked for a blessing of comfort. I gave him one, and it

was super cool. I could feel the Spirit just giving me the words that

he needed to hear. I truly felt that it wasn't me that was speaking,

but the Lord. I was truly an instrument in the Lord's hands, because

in the blessing I said a few things that no one else knew about, just

my companion and the Lord. It was super cool to see the power of the

Priesthood take effect in Elder Vieira's life as he left his worries

and troubles behind and starting working better to help others. I love

being a missionary! This week was really one of growth and we are

excited to have a much better week now! We're working hard and well

together and I've been truly blessed here in Vila Progresso. The

church is true! God restored His holy priesthood on Earth to further

benefit the salvation of all mankind! This power and authority resides

in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because it is the

church that our loving Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ came

down in these latter days to bring again in its fullness to the earth!

I'm know that Christ lives and leads this church! We can all push

through and learn from our mistakes and trials, and need to, because

we will never understand the lasting effects of this while we're here

in this life! I love you all! Keep seeking and finding! Stay strong!!

Have an awesome week!

Elder Ashford

"No missionary can determine the lasting effects of his or her labors."

    -Elder Richard G. Scott

Progress

So Villa Progress (Vila Progresso) is making progress and we were

really close to having a baptism this week, but he needs a little more

time. Pray that this week will work out! We are working with tons of

people with good desires to follow God correctly and we are finding

more and more every day! I love being here and am doing great! I don't

have too much else to say for this week, but I'm loving being here and

working with my companion, Elder Vieira. He's from way north in Brazil

where it's super hot, so he also enjoys the heat, which stinks because

it's been cold here the last few days! He is very loving and likes to

help others in whatever way we can. He has a strong testimony of the

Church, and is a great help to me in learning how to be a better

person and missionary! I'll explain more about his background and

story later, but he's seriously awesome and it's a pleasure to be able

to serve with him! I hope everyone is doing well at home! This week

should be exciting! We're gonna do awesome work! I love you all! Have

fun!

Elder Ashford

Adventures in Vila Progresso

This week was yet another great one. We had our fair share of hard

investigators and difficulties, but it all turned out well. Some of

the people we taught this week turned out to be pastors who openly

refused to just pray and ask God if the message we brought was true.

Super sad... We also made a nice long journey this week to pick up

materials. Our zone was down to nothing in terms of Books of Mormon

and pamphlets and everything, and President Farnes brought some for

us, but we had to go adventuring in Sorocaba to pick them up. We had

to figure out the bus system here and get to a different church

chapel, and then carry the super heavy boxes back home with us.

Unfortunately, we got off the bus wayyyy to late and had to carry the

boxes in our arms for quite a lot of time to get back home. Oh well.

Things go that way sometimes. :P

We were pretty sad last Sunday, as it ended up that none of our

investigators could come to church with us and visit and experience

the Church of Jesus Christ. They all had work or medical problems or

stuff like that, which was sad they didn't get to come. We'll work on

getting people there this next Sunday though, so all's well. We have

quite a few people who are preparing themselves to be baptized in a

few weeks, which is awesome! We're working really hard and doing our

best and relying on God! My companion is seriously awesome, and is

helping me out tons! So grateful for him and so much support from back

at home! Sorry my letter is short this week, but I'll try to write

more next week! Love y'all!!

Rockin' and a Rollin'

HOLY COW DO I FEEL FANTASTIC! It is so good to be in a new area with a

new companion and everything!! I loved my old area, but it was getting

a little difficult with my companion. Now, I just feel fantastic, and

feel like I'm finally doing real missionary work! My new companion is

Elder Vieira, and he's from the north of Brazil. We are zone leaders

in a part of a super big city about two hours from São Paulo. The

city's name is Sorocaba, and we are working in Vila Progresso. It's so

wonderful here! The members are super willing to help and the people

here are good. Neither of us know the area, so we started from scratch

and starting talking to lots of people. We managed to have lots of

miracles happen as we exercised our faith and kept searching for God's

elects! There are serveral people who really needed God's help, and

were found right when they most needed it! It's wonderful to know that

when we are obedient and have faith, we can be instruments in God's

hands to help His children. Too cool!!!

We had a good transfer, and I got to see so many good friends that

I've met here on my mission. One of my old companions left home after

completing his two years as a missionary! I was so excited for Elder

Ladwig. Now he's sitting at home or working or something. 

On the bus ride to Sorocaba with all the other missionaries going there, Germany

beat the living daylights out of Brazil in the World Cup. 7 to 1

wasn't even a contest. It was sad, becuase I wanted Brazil to win, and

now I have to make sure everyone understands well that I am American,

and not German. Beyond that, we've been working hard here, and we're

super excited! I love getting to work like this, and we are having so

much success so far! 

The other picture that I'm sending is of our

iron. We almost tried to iron our shirts, but then the iron started

melting. Whoops... Time for a new one!

I love everyone lots and hope that y'all are doing well! I pray that

you can all find the greatest happiness that exists in life, which

comes from perfect obedience to the comandments of God! I know that

god really wants us to be happy, and I'm so glad that I can help

people be happier every day and prepare themselves to be able to

return to God's presence. Keep working hard! Have fun!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

"Meekness is knowing who you are and not having to prove it."

    -Anonymous

Life's A Dance

Life's a dance you learn as you go,

Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow,

Don't worry 'bout what you don't know,

Life's a dance you learn as you go.

That's the song that ran through my head this morning! I'll explain

more in a bit. First, we got to meet our new mission president this

week! He is seriously awesome and is going to do amazing in leading us

here! We already miss President Martins, who's now in his home in

Hawaii, but are excited to work with President Farnes!

This last week went well. We are trying our hardest, and our area here

is about to get some fresh blood. This morning, we got transfers. So

we already know where we're going! They're moving us out and putting

in two new missionaries here. I will be going to an area called Vila

Progresso. I got this call from President Farnes this morning, saying

that I was going to be made a Zone Leader there. I got super

nervous!!! I was going crazy, like "Zone Leader? ME?" But I trust in

the Lord, and with His help I'll be able to serve in this new way. I

had a great experience as well. After President finished his call, I

started praying that the Lord would help me in this new assignment and

guide me. Then, I returned to reading the Book of Mormon, in Alma 38.

Instead of reading where I'd left off, my eyes were drawn to the

beginning of the chapter, and I began to cry as I read. Heavenly

Father opened my eyes, and I no longer read it as a letter from Alma

to his son, but as a letter from God to me. I felt so overwhelmed. It

was beautiful, and I knew that the Lord trusted in me. That I was

doing a good job, and could continue to do so as long as I always

stayed faithful and tried my hardest to be obedient. It's hard to

describe the emotions, but they were strong, and I'm so grateful for

the light God showed me.

I know that God lives! He answers our prayers! Christ is His son and

lived and died and resurrected to help us! He loves us all! I love you

as well, and wish the best for you all! Keep strong and work hard!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

Faith and Baptism

"When you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed."

     -President Ezra Taft Benson

I decided to put my quote at the beginning of my email today, because

it has a lot to do with what happened this past weekend. We had a

baptism!!! Flashback to three months ago, my other companion, Elder

Palhares, and I were given a member reference of an older couple,

Joaquim and Nilde, who were doing lots of family history work at a

different church building. We went there and started teaching of

course! Coming back to this past weekend, they were baptized into the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the day after

confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The experience was

absolutely fantastic! I loved seeing them make progress and change

their lives. Miracles happened as they started reading the Book of

Mormon, prayed to know the truth, and came to church one Sunday to

watch the Prophet and Apostles speak in General Conference. They have

large health problems. Nilde had diabetes. I say had, because she no

longer needs to take the medicine or worry about the problem. As they

began searching for Christ in the right way and place, her health

problems began to disappear. A true miracle from God.

Joaquim has serious problems with his heart. Years ago, he had a heart

attack that left him absolutely dead without a pulse for six minutes.

SIX MINUTES DEAD. However, he was miraculously spared and given more

time here on Earth. Thanks to a procedure created by Elder Russell M.

Nelson before he was an Apostle, Joaquim had his two collapsed veins

restored to normal operation. Joaquim was left with several problems

though. One of them being that he cannot stand cold water. He almost

instantly catches hyperthermia in cold water. Knowing this, we tried

heating up the water last Saturday, but the water heater wasn't

working correctly. With little time, we started boiling large amounts

of water and throwing it into the baptismal font, but it wasn't

enough. The water wasn't even room temperature. We debated what to do,

and decided to continue and let them decide what they wanted when the

time came. I entered the water, and invited Joaquim in with me. He

started to step in, but stopped at the top and commented that it was

too cold. Others told him to desist, to give up and do it later, but

Joaquim knew that this baptism was what he wanted. He knew it was

right and he put his faith in God. Slowly, he entered the water. You

could tell he was cold. But he went in still and was baptized. As he

came out of the water, he smiled real big and told us how warm he

felt. He left the water without a single problem and without a single

sin. Clean and changed because of his faith and determination to

follow Christ.

I hope everyone has a good week! I hope everyone likes this story and

always tries to emulate the faith that this brother had. Keep safe and

work hard! Choose to follow Christ!

Elder Ashford