Well, That was a bummer....

Hey y'all! I had a great week! We got to teach lots of people and it

was fantastic! There was just one kinda overly-large downside... Elder

Nelson was supposed to talk to us, and it was all planned out

perfectly. The day before the meeting, we were working with one of the

President's Assistants here in our work area, when he got a phone call

from President. They had cancelled our meeting with an Apostle!!! It

was crazy. There was a planned strike of all the police and bus

drivers in 13 of the Brazilian states, including the state of São

Paulo. They were protesting their low wages before the World Cup

began, because it would mean tons of more work with their already

super low wages. To ensure our safety, they cancelled the meeting and

we all had to stay inside our homes for the entire day. Luckily, the

strike didn't happen and nothing went wrong, but it still stunk. Oh

well! No use crying over spilt milk! We were super excited though,

also since the missionaries from the São Paulo East and West Missions

were going to be there as well, and we would have gotten to see

friends from those missions. Of course though, we were more excited

for the Apostle.

Beyond that though, our week went well! We met some super cool people.

One day, Elder Hossaenian had to use the bathroom REALLY bad while we

were walking, so he knocked on a random house to ask to use the

restroom. Turn man was a little hesitant at first, but then let us in.

We marked an other day to meet with them, and taught them about the

Restoration of the Gospel on our return. The spirit was super strong

there, and they really understood everything. They thanked us for

sharing the Book of Mormon with them, and the tear-full look of

gratitude they gave us was just absolutely unforgivable. Too cool! I

just felt super good at that point and super grateful for God and all

He does to help us!

Beyond that, we have transfers this week! This time it was only 5

weeks, not 6, which is why it seems early. We'll see what happens! I

really hope I get to stay in this area, but I'll go where the Lord

calls us! I hope everyone is doing well and having fun and working

hard! Love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Ashford

"All progression is spiritual things is dependent upon the attainment

of humility."

    -Elder Bruce R. McConkie

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

The Miracles are Strong With This One

FINALLY. I managed to get a Star Wars quote as a title. All is well.

Anyways, we had a super awesome week, and have seriously seen the

miracles God has set before us. We doubled the number of lessons we

had, and met a lot of new people with potential to progress. We only

had 4 non-members at church, but we're gonna work to get a lot more on

this upcoming Mother's Day! Speaking of which, I'm SUPER excited to

get to make a Skype call to my family! We only get to call our

families two times a year, Christmas and Mother's Day, and this next

week will be my second Skype call home!

We have seriously been working hard though. We work our butts off to

help as many people as possible, it just doesn't always go the way we

want. Like Sunday, when we did absolutely everything possible to try

to talk with people and share our message, and everyone rejected us.

We managed to stay in good humor though. We saw a sign on someone's

gate that said "Jesus is welcome here." My companion was laughing,

thinking it would be funny if we made a contact using the sign. So, to

his surprise, I did. I knocked and the man finally came out. I said

something along the lines of, "Hello, we saw your sign here saying

that Jesus is welcome in your house, and we're representatives of

Christ here to share His message with you." He still rejected though.

I insisted again, saying that his sign said that Jesus was welcome

there, but he didn't buy into it. Oh well. It was funny. We kept

trying with other people to no avail. FInally, we stopped and said a

prayer, begging for a miracle with the 45 minutes we had left, with no

more plans for that day, and already feeling super tired. We asked for

help, and set out again, trying to talk with people on the streets.

After some searching, we passed by a house that we had tried before

but the person didn't have time. So we tried again! Low and behold,

the lady came back out, and this time we got to teach her an awesome

lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can be saved. She

was super interested, and wants to bring her kids with her to church

this Sunday. Woo hoo!!

These are just some of the miracles that happen every day of our

lives. One of the biggest, is the Book of Mormon, which I have the

pleasure to study and share every day. It's such a cool story, with so

many great examples of people who truly followed Jesus Christ. It

brings so much peace in a troubled world. I feel a need to read every

day, even if just a little, because I know life is so much more

difficult without the scriptures in my life. I love seeing the Book of

Mormon change the lives of other people. They sleep better, some are

healed from physical sickness like diabetes, others feel the spiritual

healing power and the power of forgiveness. Having a book to prove

that Christ restored His church to the Earth in these latter days is

something amazing. God speaks to and loves all His children, and I

know that the Book of Mormon is proof of that. Read this book! It's a

must read!!

I wish all a good week! Love you all and praying for everyone! Keep

safe and have fun!!

Elder Ashford

"The Book of Mormon was written for us today. God is the author of the

book. It is a record of a fallen people, compiled by inspired men for

our blessing today. Those people never had the book. It was meant for

us."  ---President Ezra Taft Benson

Just a Quick Update

Sorry, I have no time whatsoever. This week was super good and we had

transfers! I'm in the same area, but I lost my friend and gained a new

one! Elder Hossaenian is awesome. His dad is Iranian, his mom is

Japanese, Spanish, and German, he was born in Peru, and has lived in

Japan for 10 years now. Super crazy! But cool! He's from a

neighborhood close to Nagoya, where my dad served his mission! We work

well together, and he loves to do magic tricks and is super good with

them. We get along well and are excited for this transfer. I hope

everyone is doing well! Thanks for all the emails, love, and support!

Love y'all! Keep working hard!

Elder Ashford

"The greater part of happiness depends on our disposition and not on

our circumstances."

     -Martha Washington

Success Comes After the Trial of Your Faith

Soooo Happy Easter!! We didn't do too much to celebrate, besides make

homemade, chocolate easter eggs! It's a Brazilian thing. You don't

hide eggs, just make or buy chocolate eggs. Super good! I'm trying

hard to get pictures uploaded, because I have other awesome news as

well! It's just not wanting to show up on the computer...

This is the last Monday of the transfer, and later today we'll know

where we're going and with whom. It's been a great transfer, but it's

gone by wayyyy too fast. My companion was Elder Willian Fiuza Palhares

Teixeira, who is from the state of Minas Gereis, right above São

Paulo. He's yet another super tall Brazilian that I had the

opportunity to serve with. We had a great transfer, but had to start

up pretty much everything from scratch, but we did and got rewarded!

Elder Palhares is super funny and loves to talk. He also loves cooking

and is very good at it! I've have learned and eaten tons of Brazilian

desserts, which are his favorite thing to eat. He has a sweet tooth

like no other, and can afford to eat a lot because of his height

(unlike me...). He makes delicious food from scratch and is an

excellent missionary! It's been super fun serving with him, and we'll

see if we get to serve more this transfer as well!

The super cool news is that Friday, two people were baptized into the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and another on Easter

Sunday! The two on Friday were super special. The Bishop's brother,

Eraldo, got into a lot of trouble in life, but got out of it recently

and changed everything. He's been a true example of someone leaving

everything to follow Christ. In a matter of three weeks he was ready

for baptism, and his 8 year old son was baptized with him as well. The

baptism was very cool, with all the family of Eraldo and the Bishop

being there to see it. The rest of the family aren't members, but we

hope that now they'll be more interested. After the baptism ordinance,

the Bishop welcomed his brother into the church and gave a touching

story about how all the family was reunited helping Eraldo return to a

better path in life. Eraldo then bore his testimony that all this is

true and about the Book of Mormon. He doesn't like to read normally,

but he couldn't put the Book of Mormon down with how good the book

felt. Pretty much everyone there was in tears and it was a very

sucessful baptism.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, Eraldo and his son Kauan were confirmed

members and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Afterwards, we had

another cool baptism of a young woman named Jéssica. She's 14 and her

twin brother was already baptized several months ago. She wanted to as

well, but would never find time to do it. We finally got everything

straightened out for Sunday, but the water in the chapel had run out.

The city had shut off the water from the draught, and the backup

supply in the chapel isn't connected to the baptism font. Usually the

font fills in a little over an hour, but after an hour there was less

than a foot of water in the font. Our Ward Mission Leader here said it

probably wouldn't happen, but we told him to just leave the drain open

and that we'd go by faith. Jéssica was determined to go on with it,

even if she had to be baptized on her knees. Three hours later and the

water still hadn't risen more than a foot and a half. We were still

determined. We'd even had Bishop announce the baptism in sacrament

meeting! Everyone got settled in to watch, and we went ahead to start

the baptism meeting with song and prayer and a talk about baptism. As

we waited, the font miraculously started to fill a little more, as

four members of our ward here began to carry water in buckets from

other sources of water to the baptism font. Another member entered

with Jéssica to baptize her, and they knelt down to get Jéssica all

the way under the water, and it worked. Afterwards, the spirit was strong in the room, and lots of people got emotional. After a few

complications, faith, and actions, Jéssica was batized.

These are just some of the coolest stories on a mission. It's amazing

to see people as they turn to Christ. This church is true! It's true

because Christ Himself organized it and leads it today! Jesus Christ

lives, and is our Saviour. I'm so thankful for His sacrifice and to be

here serving Him as a missionary and His representative. Have an

awesome week! Work hard! Love you all!

Elder Ashford

"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for

tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then

the doing of your work shall be no miracle---you shall be the

miracle."

     -Phillips Brooks

One Third

I'm really running out of creative titles, and don't really have time

to think of a better one... But like it says, today marks 1/3 of the

mission for me! That's 8 out of 24 months, and it's also ridiculous.

Time passes way too fast here, and I'm quickly losing all the time I

have to help as many people as possible as a full time missionary, so

I'm just gonna live it up and go all out! Yeah!

This week our baptisms didn't happen. The bishop here rescheduled to

this Friday so that we can accomodate everyone. It is his brother and

nephew that are being baptized after all! Super cool stuff. We have so

many amazing people we are working with here, it's just hard getting

them to come to church a lot of the time, which serioulsy impedes.

We're doing everything we can though! It just got a lot colder last

night, and we're hoping it sticks. Tired of sweating all day. It's

good though, because I hardly notice the sweat and everything until we

arrive home at night. I just love this work too much!!

I don't have like any more time, so I'll tell you more about our

baptisms next week when I have pictures. Also, I'll have to do my

standard email about my companion, as transfers are coming next week!

ANOTHER transfer!! Holy cow. It's too much. Just know that we are

working hard, and I'm recording all the funny/crazy stories that

happen, like the guy who told us to repent the other day before it's

too late. Fun stuff! Love you all! Keep working hard and stay firm in

the gospel!

Elder Ashford

General Conference is AWESOME

Super grateful for the awesome opportunity I had this week to  watch

General Conference, in English to boot, which  is always  way better

to hear  the Prophet's actual voice. I was blown away with  some of

the awesome talks we heard.  So good! So much stuff about Jesus

Christ, it  was just amazing! I loved  being inspired by them, and

took  lots of notes that I will be reviewing frequently. I  would

suggest the same to all of  you! After all, reviewing these words  was

 counseled by the Prophet, so  it's gotta be  good for you.

Beyond that, we've been doing great here! We have tons of work to do

and are working with some really  special people. Some of which should

be baptized this week! They know everything is true,  and were

seriously  just prepared by  God. We are working on making this area

grow tons. Our goal for this area is  to be baptizing once a week,

which is super possible here.  The stake  really wants to split, so

God is preparing the people they need to create the new wards!! SO cool!!

This week was  pretty  special as well, as my companion completed one

year of his  mission, and is celebrating his birthday today. We get

along super  well and are working incredibly hard together. The only

problem is, that he loves sweets and desserts. Good, in that now I

know how  to make several Brazilian desserts. Bad, in that I've

gained about 3  Kilograms since I arrived here. This can't last

forever. Happily,  I'm feeling tons better, and any sniffling from me

is mainly seasonal allergies. They followed me here,  and I was so

hoping to escape them for a couple  years. They're passing though, and

we  are  doing just dandy. I'm getting tons of correspondence from

friends as well, which is awesome, and I'm loving it! If anyone  feels

like writing letters,  it takes about a month to reach me, but I love

reading them, and I  have more time to respond them. I also  love

getting pictures so I can see how y'all are doing.  Make sure to share

your testimony and  any missionary experiences  you're having!

I don't have much more time, but I hope next week to talk a little

more about experiences I'm  having here.  Don't worry though,  they're

 all  written down in my journal to share after the mission as well.

Hoping everyone a good  week and sending love! Keep safe and have fun!

Sincerely

Elder Ashford

"We must put God in the foretront of everything  in out  lives...When

we put God  first, all  other things fall into  their proper place or

drop out of  our lives."

     -President Ezra Taft Benson