Mom's Letter & Questions 11/12/13

Hey!! I love you so much, but no time today because we went to the
temple today! P-day is always moved to temple day when we have it.
I'll talk more next week! I picked up my package, but haven't opened
it this yet. (Took less than 2 weeks to get to him, yeah!!)

Do you have to teach on Sunday at church very much? 

I don't teach at church.

Have you used any of your account money?

I haven't used any money yet

Can you listen to music other than MoTab?

Only MoTab

What fast food restaurants do you have in your area?

Only homemade food in my area

Have you taken pictures of the horses wandering?

No pics of horses yet, but I will

Did you get a new shower head?

We got a new shower head

Do you ever go on splits with other missionaries?

Yes I go on splits occasionally.

Do ward members ever go on splits with you?

sometimes

Do you have to pay utilities or does the church do that directly?

The church repays us for utilities

I stayed in the same area with the
same companion, 

I love you SOOOO much!! Miss you!

Elder Ashford

No Time!!!

So sorry guys. I literally have no time. We're at an expensive 

LAN house after the temple today, which was absolutely 

AMAZING!  There's six of us sharing an hour of computer 

time, so I'll be writing my mother and father and that's 

about it! I'll send pics and info about the temple next week. 

Stay tuned! I'm doing great!!

Elder Ashford

The Wait

Welllll this week I don't have too many exciting stories. Or pictures. Y'all will have to stave off until next week. Sorry!!

This week was good though. We found tons of new people to teach, we just don't have too many people progressing right now. That, and I won't find out until this afternoon or tomorrow if I'll be transferred. As of right now, I'm assuming I'll be staying in the same place with Elder Marciano, but I have no idea if I'll switch areas or companions! Suspense for next week! As of right now, I'm in an internet cafe, farther away from our house than I'd like, because the one three minutes from our house is not working STILL. And it's raining! Which is good. It's been super hot the past couple days, I just wish it was cloudy like this on a day where we were outside more! Oh well.

Because I don't know what will happen with companions, my topic today will be about ELDER MARCIANO, who I've been running around with for the past 6 weeks. (Time flys, huh?) He's from Rio de Janerio and is super cool. He's really good at helping me with my language and helping me learn. He has an cool story. His parents are inactive, and he'd always go to his Grandma's for church. His Aunt and Uncle are huge driving forces for him in the Church, and he's really close to them. He really has a love for the Gospel and for other people. He's fun and loves to mess around a little, especially with the youth in our ward. He loves to skateboard, and likes a ton of American music. His favorite band is Paramore, but he likes a lot of the same music I do (excluding country, which is pretty much non-existent here). He is a year older than me, and was Stake Secretary for a year before his mission. Have some responsibility as an 18 year old. He wants to go into Civil Engineering, or teaching, especially about History. He wants to go to BYU after his mission, so we've been working on English so he can apply while he's out here.

That's my super awesome life right now! Now just to play the waiting game! I love you all, and hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! I definitely missed going trick-or-treating. I hope everyone is having fun and staying safe!

Sincerely,
Elder Ashford

Stress, Sickness, and Baptism

Well, well, well. Another week come and gone! This was full of fun stuff, but don't be too fooled by the title, I'm absolutely perfect!  Keep reading and all will be revealed....

So the beginning of the week we had an awesome trianing session with the Mission President and his wife, all about stress. They talked about how stress is an absolutely normal part of life and that everyone will always have a little. It's when you let the stress go too far that it's dangerous. Remember you always have people to talk
to, and that can help a ton. Getting the opinion of another person always helps sort out things and make them better. So talk to people! Get it out, get things fixed, and make things better for yourself! If you ever need anyone to talk to, I've got this super wise missionary friend named Elder Ashford that you can email!

One of the other big events was Elder Marciano getting sick. I've been blessed to be perfectly healthy, and I didn't catch what he got. But Friday was very slow, and Saturday he was ordered to bed-rest, so after I traveled with the District Leader to do baptismal interviews, I spent the day studying scripture and napping with Elder Marciano. Any potential missionaries, make sure you know how to deal with sick people, because there's not too many people who can help if your companion gets sick (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!). So I was able to help Elder Marciano and he healed up pretty quick. He even felt good enough to go to church the next day and do one of the baptisms!!

We had two baptisms last Saturday. I baptized Irmã (Sister in Portuguese) Valdelice, and Elder Marciano baptized her son, Varnei. It was super awesome, and they love being in the church. We plan to continue working with them. We know that they can really benefit from our lessons. Next week they'll get the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and throughout the week we'll be teaching about other things, such as temples and how Valdelice and be reunited with her recently deceased husband in the next life through the sealing power of the temple. We also helped another family of recent converts yesterday who have been having some problems. We reminded them that life is hard, but they have the church and friends and scriptures to draw extra help from, not to mention a loving Heavenly Father who listens to our prayers and is willing to help when we ask. We reminded them that they have a huge goal to work towards, an eternal family in the Celestial Kingdom. Everyone has troubles, but through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, we know that families are eternal. I'm so glad for my family and how great friends there are to me and how close we are. I love them so much, and love that fact that I can be with them forever.

I hope everyone is doing well! I miss everyone, but I'm having fun! Next week I should find out where my next area will be! Have fun and stay safe everyone! Sending love!

Sincerely,
Elder Ashford

Questions

I asked Michael the following questions, and these are his answers:

How do you get your monthly money?

Monthly money is put on my debit card they gave me.

Do you have an account there, or cash?

It's an account, but I can take money out for bus and train rides. 

What are the stores like?

There are tons of tiny stores everywhere, mainly specialty stores. Nothing like Walmart, but I did see one Sam's Club on my ride from the airport! 

Do you shop at open air markets?

We shop in mini-markets.

Where do you go to email?

We email in internet cafes.

How come you are always so pressed for time?

We pay for hour, and only have that one hour, and I have to message mission president first, in Portuguese.

Where do you do laundry?

Laundry is in house.

Are you in a ward or branch?

We have a ward.

What is the youth program like?

The youth program is tiny.

Have you gotten my card yet?

 I got your card two weeks ago (sorry). It takes about a week and a half to travel and another half week to be delivered to me.

Did you ask about Brother Claridge taking you to dinner?

I haven't asked about Bro Claridge yet, I may be in a new area by then!

One Month in Brazil

Well, Tuesday marks one month in Brazil! Pretty exciting!! I don't think I've lost my English yet, but only because I've been emailing people and helping my companion learn English.

First item of business: is letters. Heads up, it takes about a week and half to send me a handwritten letter and another half a week or so to reach my hands. I love getting letters, and they should be send to my mission office. I can send letters back, but it may be kinda expensive and it's a lot harder for me. But I gladly will!

This past Sunday, we had a stake conference, and the beginning was kind of hilarious. The microphone wasn't working and there was a whole slew of people trying to fix it in a tiny room on the stand. An American in our area leaned over to me and whispered, how many stake presidency members does it take to fix a microphone? Afterwards, they gave up and started hauling all this equipment and cables and jury rigged a new audio system. Pretty hilarious.

I'm choosing to talk about houses today. I don't know how much longer I'll be in this area, two weeks, or 8, so I figured I should do this now. I'm in a slightly poorer section right now, called a favela. There are tonnnnssss of tiny houses jam packed in. Nobody has a dryer, or dishwasher, they're too expensive. Everyone hangs their clothes to dry. Gas isn't built in, so everyone has a tiny stove with a propane tank attached. Nobody has a yard, only about three feet of driveway and then a gate and then their car and then their house. And that's if you live on the street. Lots of people live in fundos which are behind the street. You have to take a little alleyway to an area in between streets where even more houses are packed in. Also, here at least, you don't buy a house. You buy a lot and build a house. You buy a cheap dirt lot, pay for a concrete foundation if you can, then pay for a big

truck to deliver thousands of large brick. You lay your piping in, and if you have money, your wiring. Otherwise your wiring is floating on walls and hung from the ceilings and everything is exposed. Then you take your bricks and make a house. Usually three or fours rooms, sometimes one and a bathroom. then, later on, you can add more. a second story, or expand out or something. TI's actually kinda cool. Then you lay concrete over the bricks, and paint it or cover with tile. Everything here is tiled. There is no carpet, there is no fancy wood flooring. It's concrete or tile. The roofs are generally flat and made of either brick or metal sheeting. It's crazy. But it's life.

This week as well, we've had miracles. We learned in training last Tuesday to pray for miracles and expect to see them. Elder Marciano and I did just that this week and boy did we see them. One lady was a referral from a stranger, adn she said in our first lesson, that as soon as she opened the door, she felt this huge overwhelming feeling of happiness and peace. And this coming from a lady in the Congregation of Christ, which loves to debate with our church generally. She said she had imagined us giving her a bouquet of yellow roses. We explained that this was the Book of Mormon, which is very precious adn has gold writing on the front and was originally written

on gold plates. It was amazing. Thats all for now though! See y'all next week! 

 Elder Ashford

The First Step

Wooo!! I do not have much time left, this will be quick!

This week I got to go register with the police which took place super

early in the morning. So I've been pretty tired all week. Also, my

shower head isn't working. Here, water comes from the pipes, through a

shower head that warms it. If the shower head doesn't work, no hot

water. It's literally cold enough that I can see steam come off my

body because there's such a difference between my body temperature and

the water. Fun stuff. We're working on getting a new one. My companion

and I work super well together. We love teaching and my Portuguese is

making leaps and bounds of improvement. There's lots of work to do

here, and yes, Irmão Pinho, we invite to baptism the first of second

lesson. Speaking of which...

My super awesome experience for the week is this:

Last Saturday, we held our first baptism in this area together. After

a couple weeks of work, Janaina Menezes and Vinicius de Oliveira were

baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and

yesterday received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was an amazing

experience, especially because I was asked to baptize them. I did, of

course, accept. It was the most wonderful experience for me and them.

Their faces after the ordinances were a sight to behold. I asked them

how they felt, and they said they had peace like never before. I title

this The First Step, because for them, this is the first step to a

totally new life. One centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The two

are dating seriously, and I wouldn't be surprised if they married

eventually, which means an eternal family for both of them. Before

then, Janaina has a desire to serve a mission and share this with

other people. We're still working on Vinicius, though he definitely

has the desire to share. It's an amazing thing. And yes, that blue

pool behind them is the font.

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford