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

Saying Good-bye to President

So this week was definitely full to the brim. We had an amazing week,

with many cool experiences and miracles. This week, we stuck around

inside half a day because Brazil was playing in the World Cup, so I

sent a picture of our street here, as well as one of me, cheering in

my Brazil gear. Brazil tied against Mexico, and everyone's hoping that

they do a lot better today in their game. 

Beyond that, we also had a

very cool Multi Zone Conference this week. This was the chance for

President and Sister Martins to say goodbye... Too weird to think that

they'll be leaving in less than a week, and that after that will be

only our new President, President Farnes and his wife Sister Farnes. I

learned a ton from President Martins, and I'm super glad to have been

able to serve under him for this time. He has a strong focus and

dedication to the mission that he shared with us. I've learned tons

from him about the importance of being exactly obedient, and serving

the way our Savior served. President Martins is very knowledgable, and

I was happy to learn and serve with him. We got to take pictures with

them, hug them, and hear their strong testimonies of the truthfulness

of this gospel, of the Book of Mormon (which President Martins

actually helped translate to Portuguese), and of the power of the

Priesthood in our lives. I have a much stronger desire to live the

gospel always now, in part because of President Martins. I thank him

profoundly for his service and wish his family the best as they return

to their home in Hawaii.

During the conference we had, we learned more about the importance of

bringing members to teach with us to strengthen our investigators and

their desire to visit church, read the Book of Mormon, and pray to ask

Gd if it is true. We decided to follow that counsel with miraculous

results. I've been teaching an older couple for almost three months

now here, and they are great! They just haven't been wanting to get up

in the morning for church, or read lots of the Book of Mormon.

Finally, we decided to bring a recent convert who got baptized 4

months ago. His name is Francisco, and his wife, Darci, and he

absolutely love the happiness and blessings they've received having

come to know the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We brought him with us

to our investigators Joaquim and Nilde, and he worked miracles! They

have the same age, and Brother Francisco began to talk about his

conversion story, about his health and happiness in the Church of

Jesus Christ, and shared his testimony with them that this is the only

true church on the face of the Earth. Joaquim and Nilde began to

change. They said that they could see a light in him that they had

seen in the missionaries. They could feel the spirit of God remarkably

strong in that moment, and we invited them to visit church again and

be baptized the following week. They accepted!!! They are planning and

are super excited to be getting baptized this Saturday. We're going to

be working hard with them this week to keep that excitement level, but

I have faith that they will be able to do this super sacred ordinance  

this Saturday, and be baptized with God's power and authority into His

one and only true church. It's such a blessing, and God really helped

us with this. Pray for these people please!

I also know that this gospel is totally true, and that the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is here on the Earth to bless

absolutely everyone with God's love and power. I'm so glad to be a

missionary! I love this work! I'm sending love back home to everyone!

Keep strong and have fun this summer!

Elder Ashford

"I do not know what we did in the preexistence to merit the wonderful

blessings we enjoy. We have come to earth in this great season in the

long history of mankind. It is a marvelous age, the best of all. As we

reflect on the plodding course of mankind, from the time of our first

parents, we cannot help feeling grateful."

     -Elder Bruce R. McConkie

World Cup--Brazil 2014

HOLY SCHNIKES!!!! I've never seen anything like that, and I'm almost

scared that I'll be seeing the same thing happen again tomorrow and

next week and probably more times still. I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE SO

CRAZY ABOUT SOCCER. It's ridiculous. I have a few pictures, and I'll

send more next week. Thursday, we went to lunch, adn the member was

having this HUGE barbecue, and I felt SO at home. It was absolutely

wonderful and I left just completely stuffed, almost bursting at the

seams. We tried working a little bit, but to no avail as everyone was

busy glued to the pre-game stuff on tv shooting fireworks and making

noise. Anyways, one hour before the game, we went home like we were

told to. It was like quarantine. We stayed inside for the rest of the

day. The people here have painted the majority of the streets here, as

well as hung up tons of little flags and done a whole bunch of other

things to decorate. We were inside, and I started to write a few

things down with all this noise. Suddenly, everything stopped and went

silent. It was super strange, but I understood afterwards when this

crazy sound started. Literally the ENTIRE COUNTRY was screaming

together at the SAME EXACT TIME. Brazil had made a goal and everyone

had gone crazy. We went to look out the window, and there were tons of

fireworks shooting off from all around the city. Looked like the 4th

of July. Seriously. People were honking horns and screaming and it was

CRAZY! But, kinda cool to see their culture here. Anyways, they kept

going for about 3 hours, and then it finally started to get normal

again. It was a cool experience, but I've never seen anyone get so

excited for any kind of sport. Literally every single person was

wearing a Brazil shirt.

Anyways, I'm doing well and helping loads of people. There are so many

people here who are proving God's words and reading the Book of Mormon

and praying to know of its truth. Super cool! We're trying to get them

to come to church this week so they can understand that this church

really was made by Jesus Christ Himself, and not by any man. It's

going well! I love you all and wish y'all a great week! Have fun and

keep safe!!

Elder Ashford