ONLY THREE MORE DAYS TIL ASH COMES HOME!!! Ya baby!!!

Words simply cannot describe the feelings within.  We are counting the hours at this point and it is literally 63 more hours until we get to see her beautiful face.  I can't wait to get my "Ashley" hug and then 'kiss the crap outta her!!!'  She has left such a huge void in our home, but it has been a blessing to share her with the people of Uruguay.  We love you, Ash.  Can't wait for the blessed day!!!

HOMECOMING:  Ashley's homecoming is scheduled for July 8th at 9:00 a.m. at the chapel at 300 West 3200 North, Lehi (same building as her farewell).  We hope you will join us in welcoming her home.

My Time is Coming to an End

Hi everyone : ) I hope this week was AMAZING with lots of fun and smiles. It was for us here anyway… well kinda. We still haven’t seen much progress, in fact it’s been the opposite. But I can feel myself growing and my comp is too. That’s good. Despite the MANY hardships we’ve had, we are still going strong.  I just want to say thank you to everyone who writes me. Thank you for all your love and continuous support. It’s something that is very much needed. I would be nothing without you guys behind me. Thanks Shaq for writing me : ) last week. I forgot to attach your email so it didn’t get it printed out, so I have two emails from you now. Better I guess, even though I was upset when I couldn’t read it last week. Brooke! I hope you had a good birthday: 18! I can’t even believe it. Your card should be coming your way but I’m afraid it will get there after I am already home. The district leader is a tid bit slow in getting things done. Dad! Just in case you don’t get my stuff either… HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I love you.

This week... Monday was fun. We spent the whole day at president’s house and cooked Salteñas and chocolate chip cookies. Cookies don’t exist here and no one cooks anything with butter either so they freak out a little. Chocolate chips don’t exist either so they aren’t the same. Well, a lot of stuff for the cookies don’t exist, but they are better than nothing. I laughed at the family night they had because it reminded me of home: everyone playing, doing their own thing, getting distracted; the mom trying to keep everyone focused and the dad just causing more distractions by playing with the kids. I ended up in tears laughing so hard... it almost felt like Christmas. It smelled like it and it’s cold enough to be. It made me miss everyone. Can it be Christmas when I get back? Just kidding. It was good to feel at home.

                                    Me on the Farm
Well, after that, later in the week, we lost all of our investigators. The few we had are done. No one wants to progress and that was frustrating. I hate getting my hopes up just to be let down. It seems that it happens all too often. Life is full of that I guess and there's nothing I can do to change that but... you know... It helps us appreciate the good times more. In the meantime, we have been trying to get references. It's the only way we can work because we don't know where else to go. Our weekly goal is usually 4 and somtimes we don't get that. We have been getting creative and thinking outside the box, but none of the people we have contacted want anything to do with anything. We still keep marching. The baskets, well most of them, have been given out... no one planned family nights with them so they are just kinda hanging in the air. One family just ate their basket and another gave theirs to a member. Oh gosh. People are so FUNNY sometimes. It's ok. We will see if we can get appointments with those families that were given baskets.

                             Milking the Cow!  Ya baby!
We had branch council. Our president loves us. He asked how the ward princesses were doing. We filled them in on stuff and then he started asking about our well being. The cold came this week and it's harsh. In the house, we can't feel our toes or fingers. They go numb and sore... it's horrible. So he bought us electric blankets and those are expensive! They bought us more fire wood and came over to the house to help us get everything ready to go. We are very blessed to have them taking care of us. They wanted to buy my comp and I leather boots and new coats because what we have isn't much, but we couldn't let them do that. Besides I won't be in the cold too much longer.

To sum up the rest of the week, we've been frozen, gotten more rejections than ever before, and not nice ones... mean ones, and for weekly planning, we have less and less people to plan for every week. Not a good sign. We have had some pretty low points, but at the same time, I've never laughed so hard in my life. Hermana Lopez and I are becoming one. We are one. We enjoy each other's company, and we turn to each other when we need. We are friends. I have seen proof of changes in my life because of the gospel. Obviously, that's the power of it! It's been great.

We did get mail this week. I got your package finally! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! It came on the perfect day. I am the first person in Uruguay to see the conference Ensign. It hasn't gotten here yet, but I am still reading the other Ensigns, so I can't start it yet. I did sneak a peek at the pictures though. I love them. There is just no time to do everything. I'm trying to finish the New Testament before I leave too.

In spite of everything... we are good. I fear I won't be able to help anyone more before I go, but all I can do is keep working hard and doing everything possible to go strong. The rest is in the Lord's hand. As of now... it's impossible for anyone to get baptized because we have no investigators and if we find someone this week... they have to go to church three times before they can be bapized, but we all know the Lord has a funny way of working. Who knows what we will find. We have been having a good study every morning and I keep finding things about faith and my comp keeps finding things about patience and we share them with each other in comp study. It's been everyday though. We think the Lord is trying to tell us something. We're trying to apply it but... it's easier said than done.

I also got what's called my "trunky packet" this week in the mail. It's a packet to get ready to go home. It's an open packet so the district leader and all the elders that live with him were looking through it and called me to tell me about it. Lame. I did get my plane itinerary, also the schedule for the last week of the mish which is... Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. I know to you guys I finish the mish on the 28th, but... the Sunday before is my last day really. Monday I'm having the going away party with the ward. Tuesday we go to Monteviedo and working is over. We go to the temple, have FHE and interviews with pres and stay the night in Montevideo. Wednesday we pack up and at 1:00 we leave to the airport. So really… I have very little time. Anyway, also in the packet I have to set goals for the next year of my life: spiritual, finanacial, school, marraige... yeah... sharing the gospel with others and other stuff. It's way intimidating. Things are so unreal. I feel like I'm never going to leave here and so to think of those things... its scary. I wanted to avoid such thoughts, but we have to have the packets prepared for president on that last Tuesday and it's a lot to fill out. There is so much to be done in the Lord's work and never enough time to do it in!!! And every second of my days are dedicated to it! What's going to happen when I have a life?! Oh boy...

For now, I'm just trying to find salvations to secure, testimonies to build, service to give, and lives to be changed. You know... it's a piece of cake. I know it can be done. The Lord's work is amazing and true. Nothing and no one will stop it.

I love you all.  Be good. Stand tall and share what we have. There are people searching. Until next week... love ash.

Winding down....

Hola to the hiz-house. How is everybody? I hope so well. Brooke graduated! You all look so pretty though! And it's your bday this week! Happy Berfday! I love you, I hope you're glad to be done with school. It's what you always wanted. Now the real fun starts. I just feel so grateful this week. Well, I do every week, but I guess I just wanted to share that with you and say thank you for everything that you all do for me. It means the world. You have to know I love you and appreciate you.

Welp this week was... not sure what it was. I feel like we´re just following the same pattern of doing bazillions of contacts, finding lots of people, and then never finding them again: no one who really wants to progress. It's honestly getting quite frustrating and both me and my comp voiced that out loud to each other several times this week. We are trying to patiently wait for the miracles to come but... it seems like its takes an especially long time when I don't have that. I just want to finish out well.


This week started out with Pday. We went to Las Piedras and went shopping. I got some Mate stuff to bring home so you can all try it. As you can see in the first picture, that's me, but I was only drinking hot chocolate. We can't drink Mate on the mish. Tuesday we got calls and said we were having zone conference. My last one. We went on Wednesday and it was sad. Not only was it my last one, but Pres and Hermana's last one too. The people who are leaving in the zone always have to give their goodbye testimonies there and that was sad. I honestly had no idea what to say. I just cried. There are no words that I can put to a mission and the experience I've had here. I was the only one leaving from the zone, that was embarrassing, everyone gives the people who are leaving such a hard time. Lame. Then we had the conference which was awesome. Just the thing I needed to hear and learn to finish off strong. They talked about internalizing our mission purpose. It was cool. Then Pres and Hermana showed us some pictures of the new president. Then they said goodbye to everyone and there were so many tears shed. I didn't have to say goodbye cause I will see them in the mission home when I go and have my final interview with Pres... but everyone else, it was their last chance. It was a sad day.

The only other really exciting thing that happened was our activity. Not many people came at first, but at the end it turned out well. They decided it was too late to deliver stuff the actual day so everyone will go this week to take the baskets. We decided we better be good neighbors too and so we went to meet all the people in our apartment complex. It was fun. Everyone was so super nice and it made us feel really good. Then we even made a basket for our neighbor. She hasn't been there the last couple of nights so hopefully we can drop it off tonight. They put crackers, salty and sweet jam and butter and the Book of Mormon. That's what we have here. And it's what everyone eats for Merienda. That's their third meal because they don't eat dinner here. We just have to be patient with the references while they are coming. I hope you guys all went and did something too. If you haven't done it, go do it this week!

We had a couple of investigators, but they didn't go to church last week so we basically just went and visited them all week telling them they had better get to church or we couldn't come by anymore. Two of the three showed up to church yesterday. It was cool. We made one lady cry. Her name is Graciela. She was one of the investigators that Hermana Kirkham and Lopez were teaching before, but she wasn't progressing at all. We got her to stake conference though and she came yesterday to church. She lives in a difficult situation. She has lived with a man for 15 years. They sleep in separate rooms. He gets drunk. They never talk. Sometimes he beats her. We decided to talk with our branch president to find help with what to do. She has tried to kick him out before, but he doesn't go. Pres had some great advice. He said as a church we will never tell anyone to break up a family, but as a church we strengthen, we want eternal families, not broken ones, so he said if she loved him at all, she should try and help him and try and save him as well as her. She agreed. So on Thursday we will talk with him. Ah! Maybe we can change his life, or help him let the gospel change his life. But now she can't get baptized this month... its a big deal. Every night our district leader asks who we invited to be baptized, who will be baptized this month and how we will meet the goal we put for baptisms and everyday... we tell him nothing. It's hard. But Graciela knows the church is true. She has felt a change in her life, and she notices the difference. She is happier, and has more energy, a little bit of everything. She's so sweet. I just hope the best for her. She deserves it.

We have met with lots of less actives this week on president's request. We are supposed to do whatever he says, but it's been really discouraging. We try not to let it show since we have been going with president himself and I guess it worked because he said if we could get to his age with the enthusiasm we have now and being able to smile and laugh like we do, we would have very happy lives. He's cool. But no one understands the doctrine. The mish pres said there are no less actives or inactives, just people who don't understand the doctrine because if we really understand, we could never be able to turn away from the truth. It's a blessing to be able to comprehend these things, really. But it's just hard to see all the people who don't want to understand the gospel, and we can't do anything for them.

Anyway... I gotta get going. We are going to be at president's house all day cooking Bolivian food and I'm going try to do chocolate chip cookies. It'll be fun. I can't believe how fast time is going. I just hope I can accomplish whatever the Lord wants from me. Good thing is... with all the patience we are having to exercise, my comp and I are doing well. We are each other's strength. It's been good. We have fun.

I loooooooooooove you! Have a good week. Love, me

Pressing Forward...

Progresso... sighhhhhh. It has been a week, not just any week, THE week. We have had soooo much opposition. I can’t even explain and after starting out the last week with lots of enthusiasm and faith, we both broke. It’s been a rough week for our whole district.

We have been visiting lots of people, obviously, seeing what the area has to offer. We have been teaching lots of people and trying to use the members, our greatest strength with us. It proved to be working last week. Well, all our investigators just decided none of them wanted to go to church (it’s been awhile since that has happened) and that was just the topper of the week yesterday. We’ve been trying so hard to help people Progress and after all our work, we took some members with us to visit a family and they completely lost all interest. We try so hard and when the members have so much to do and sacrifice so much to come with us and to have a family that just doesn’t want anything to do with anything, it is a crusher.

I don’t know what it is here, but people like to fight. I’m pretty passive (and at the same time not), but when it comes to this sort of thing I just let it go. Also whenever I testify to people, usually they will stop their arguments because you can’t argue someone’s testimony, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has been questioning me. It’s frustrating and really caused me to look deep inside and ask myself how I know all these things are true. Lots of people have straight up been asking how we received our testimonies of these things. I’m a little different from everyone. I was born with my testimony built into me. I have never once questioned the church, never once questioned the principles mom and dad have taught me. Just seeing the lives of others not doing what they should be was testimony enough for me. I remember people saying, ‘you should pray to know the truth.’ I tried that and the feeling that came over me was, "Why are you asking this? You already know everything is true." That was enough for me.

I had to speak in Sacrament... the first time in the mish. It was an interesting topic… the blessings of serving a mission. Who would have thunk it. I struggled with the topic all week long, how can I sum up in 10 minutes the blessings of serving a mission. I used the talk from November conference priesthood session to help me out. It was a good opportunity for me to take time and think about the things I’ve gained from my time here (even though I didn’t want to come here to receive blessings of my own). I just wanted to pay back the Savior for all he’s done for me. That will never be possible...

We are doing that activity to take the baskets. I hope you’ve prayed and thought of someone. We are going June 1st. We will make the baskets. The cool thing about living in Uruguay, we make everything by hand. Then we will put random things in the basket, not sure what yet. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you have a Book of Mormon with a testimony written in it. While the members are taking the baskets, getting to know this person and stating that they are members of the church, and inviting them to a family night, my comp and I will be at the church making cookies and hot chocolate for them to enjoy. It’s the only thing we’ve got to find good people (and families too). PRAY that it will work! Not only on this side of the world, but on your side too.  I really think it would be awesome for you to do, a great opportunity. Let me know...

My comp and I are really well. It is good. We are on the same page and working together, supporting and uplifting each other and it’s awesome. I know this church is true! I know this is the Lord’s work and he’s in charge, I just don’t know what he’s doing... but gotta keep the faith. I’m so grateful to all of you for everything! I hope you feel my prayers and are doing alright. I love you!!! Love, Ashley

The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways

It has been a long week, but things for the most part are good.  The first week of changes is always the hardest.  But it's okay.  I just wanna start off saying... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAQ! 

We got here Tuesday and I didn't want to get off the bus.  I wanted to go to Montevideo with all my friends and to see Hermana Laursen but they made me get off and we went straight to work.  Hermana Lopez and I hugged and laughed at the odds of us being put together again.  Everyone was freaking out; it's the first time any of us has heard of it happening.  I wanted to start off on the right foot though and I think we did. We went to the house.  Our bedroom has no window and is growing mold all over the walls, so we moved our beds to the main room because I can't breathe in that air at night.  It makes me sick.  In the meantime, we are looking for a new house.  

My new bedroom

We started out discussing the area and what was going on.  She told me it was HUGE.  And when she said huge, I didn't understand what she meant by huge.  But we have a lot in our hands. There have been no baptisms for about a year.  Rough.  It's a branch.  Luckily, we have a church building but it looks more like a house.  It's the first time I've been in a branch and not a ward.  It will be interesting.  There are 500 members who live here, but of course, they are all inactive. Hermana Lopez told me that her previous comp wasn't looking for people to baptize.  They were just working with less actives.  In my entire mission, I've probably only had about two families reactivated, but not because of us... because the members helped them.  They were teaching family after family trying to activate them, but it wasn't working.   Frankly, they were just wasting their time.  I told Hermana Lopez that was going to change.  It took a long time for me to get it drilled into my head, but we are here to baptize.  And I don't have much time here.  Thanks to a blessing I got on Monday from Hermano Barreto, I know there are people here waiting for the gospel.  I know I need to find someone here before I go and with not much time, I told her we gotta get to work.  LUCKILY, she is on the same page as me on that.  The good thing about my comp is she has a strong testimony, she knows why she's here and she works hard.   That's something I've missed the last little while.   It's only six weeks.  I have to make the best of it.

We decided we had to go to each leader; meet them, gain their trust, show them we're here to work hard, and let them know we aren't here to activate people, but to strengthen Zion here in Progresso by bringing new children to the fold.   We did just that.  We now are ready to start working with the members.  It took a week's worth of prep, but we had to clean up the old stuff and get ready for the new.  Luckily, we are already experienced in that because we did the same thing in Sarandi.

It's always hard coming to a new area because everyone misses the old hermana.  And being American is sometimes hard to be accepted into their culture.   I've been trying to use my smile and laugh (like dad told me) to gain people's trust.  I think it's been working.  I'm just trying to keep my head up.  It will only get better from here on out.

The area itself... I finally feel like I've arrived at what I imagined my mission would be like.  It's a busy city, but also some fields and stuff.  It's really loud here.  I got so used to the country that my ears hurt.  I kinda miss it back there in Sarandi and I miss seeing the horses and animals. It's busy here, but all dirt roads, and it's poor.  Probably the poorest area I've been in yet.  It's cool seeing this side of Uruguay though, hard to work in but... it's okay.  It's got more culture than any other area I've been in.   We have to take a bus everywhere and we got on the other day and this guy and girl got on with OLD guitars.  They just start playing guayan music, it was SOOOOO AWESOME!  I was so mad I didn't have my camera.  I was happy and he looked at me and smiled while singing and I gave him a thumbs up and while playing he gave me a thumbs up.  haha  It was cool.   That's the kind of stuff I'm seeing here.

After we had worked on Tuesday, we get a call on our cell and it was Hermana Laursen.  She was crying, and she told me she was sad because we werent going to be able to see each before I left.  She's training - white washing.  It's not very often a trainer gets to see their trainee, train. She's going to be awesome.  I missed her lots after that.  She still is with an American, all four of her comps were from Utah.  That's funny.

Sooo... so much for not letting anyone know how much time I have left.  First member we have lunch with and he looks me in the eye and says I'm finishing here.  What!!!!  It was lame, but the old comp told everyone about me.  So, everyone knows I end here.  Dang!

So... our idea for now to get members involved in the work, I want you guys to do the same with us.  We are telling all the families to pray for a family, someone who isn't a member.  They have to pray to choose who it is and to know if that's the family the Lord wants them to choose.  We are going to the church, we don't know what day yet, but we are going to put together welcome baskets (no one here knows their neighbor).  That night we will put together a basket of jam, cookies, and goodies, but most importantly a Book of Mormon with their testimony.  We are going to go out and have everyone deliver their basket, get to know the family, tell them who they are, that they are members of the church and invite them to a FHE.  You guys can invite them to whatever you would like.  Then... we come in.  We will go to the family night and try and teach them.  It's going to be awesome and it was truly an inspired idea.  We are really excited.  With the area so big and with no investigators really, we have to work with the members to find those who are prepared for the gospel.  Anyway, I want you guys to do the same thing the same day... try and share the gospel with someone.  You gotta do it as a family and it will take some courage, but it'll be awesome.

Yesterday was such a good day.  We went to stake conference in Las Piedras.  Right when we got there, I realized that San Jose would be there.  I got super excited.  I told my comp I'd probably see a bunch of people I loved.  Welp, right when we got there, a bunch of people came running at me and hugged me.  It was such a great reunion, laughing and feeling that love.  The Ramon family and other people I grew to love so much were there.  We talked with them the whole time.  It was so good to see everyone and I felt so good.  Ery Ramon grabbed both my hands with his and said I was always welcome in their home, there will always be space waiting for me and my family and that they wanted to meet my husband one day.  He also told me they we going to make my wedding dress.  Sweet, huh?  It was just good.

Awe! a sweet reunion with loved ones from San Jose

Then we went to lunch with the branch president.  We hadn't had the chance to meet him because he lives like 20 minutes away in the middle of nowhere.  They have a pool, ranch, five horses, and many other animals and a nice house.  They spent the whole day talking with me, which guayans don't normally do.  They asked everything about me and I felt their love.  They have four kids and after learning that I had a Jeep, my dad had taught me to shoot, I liked to draw and I came on the mission for good reasons, I totally won him over.  He said, "All that I'm missing is a son for you to marry." haha   It was funny.  He gets discouraged sometimes, but we told him our plans to help the branch and he was very willing to listen.  He says whatever we need to further the work, he will give it to us and he called an emergency "missionary work only" ward council this week so we can make a plan, get everyone on our side and get the work moving.  Despite the long week, the tiredness and other slight trials... I'm excited to see what this area will bring.  We are doing everything we can.  I can't even make it to 10:00 at night without falling asleep.  We come home, plan and I zonk out before I have time to do anything.  We are working hard and I hope I will be around to see the results.

I love you all.  I gotta go.  Be good.  This church is true!!!  Love, Ash

Saying Goodbye is Hard to Do!

I don’t even know what to say... I don’t know where to begin. I’m so grateful that after last night’s skype I can still hear from you guys today. I was in the best of moods after we talked, of course. It was great to see and hear your voices. My comp got to talk to her family and then we planned and sat down to watch The Other Side of Heaven. I was laughing and enjoying myself until we got change calls.

The elder told my comp she was staying and then he said I was going to Progresso, the one area in my whole mission that I said I never wanted to go. Then I realized that’s where Hermana Lopez was. My comp said, "But, Elder, Hermana Farr was already with her." He said, “Yep!” I started packing and went straight to bed. I was up all night. I feel like I’m not ready for this change, but I must press forward and do as the Lord commands. We travel to Durazno tonight at 7 to stay the night with a member there. I won’t go all the way to Montevideo for changes because Progresso is on the way. They will drop me off there in the morning and we’ll get to work.

Other things that happened this week… We had a FHE with the Gonzalez family last Monday. It was great. They invited just about half the ward to make everyone dinner. They fit in just fine with the ward here. It was really fun. They are amazing people, Fernando has been without smoking still and progressing along just great.

I had exchanges this week with an American. She was great. We worked together just great. It was fun to be with someone so kind and loving and willing to help because of a strong testimony. I miss that. That's a good thing about Hermana Lopez, she has a good testimony and will pull her own weight. I'm trying to keep my hopes up, I really am. Next week will be great. The gospel has the power to change lives, right?

I had to say goodbye to all the people I had come to love. It was HARD! We went by everyone and I shed tears knowing I won't see them again, or not for a long while at least. I kept telling my comp, "I hate this. I hate saying goodbye. Why does it have to be so hard." It's amazing how much these people come to mean to you. Man... long day.

Then it was time to go, a few members took me and they told me how much they appreciated everything I did and the new bishop said he was so excited to work with his new team, aka us, and now I was leaving. It's okay, Sarandi is going to be soooooo successful.

Great things to Come

Last Monday we went to wish some members a happy birthday and I got to talk to their daughter who lives in Spanish Fork on the phone. It’s so weird! I can’t talk in English when I’m surrounded by Latins. I mix my words up and can’t separate the two languages. It’s strange, but that was fun. Her only birthday request was to hear beautiful voices singing and she asked me and my comp to sing. So we sang happy birthday to her.
We have a couple people with baptismal dates and they went to church yesterday, but we´ll see how things progress. Nothing is set in stone but this week we found a ton of investigators. Let’s hope we can help them all progress.

Since the Gonzalez family was baptized, I keep telling my comp that I won’t be satisfied with single baptisms. I want more families! It was too great of an experience. We had district meeting on Tuesday and it was great. Our leader taught us about paying attention to the small things that the Lord has given us and to look at the small things and take them and move forward with those. Well, that day I was thinking about that. I get the very distinct feeling we should go to this guy’s house named Jorge. He was a reference; he’s awesome but works a lot so we can never get together with him. Well, my comp said exactly that... he’s going to be at work.  I had a feeling so we just have to go look. We pass by and his bike was there, lights on and house open. Wahoo! Let’s go. Well, we can’t teach men alone for our own protection so now we had to hurry and try and find a member before he can get away from us. We run and one member can’t go. So, we go to the lady who gave us the reference who also works a lot and miraculously she isn’t doing anything. So she goes with us and we have an awesome lesson. He is of a different religion, active, listened to the missionaries before, read the Book of Mormon, returned it because he didn’t believe it, but eight months ago he lost his wife. And we nailed him with that. He’s only about 35. He’s been listening to us so much, and praying to find an answer, but he said it hasn’t come yet. We taught the Plan of Salvation and of course... silly member... she has to mention doing work for the dead and he freaks out and asks us what that is. We should leave the dead in peace.... salvation is personal and so on. I begin to explain the temple and the things we can do there. He starts to ask more and more. We are getting really in depth now and he liked what he learned. He started asking if in our eyes he could get married again in this life. Then he asked about how that worked with being sealed to his wife. Oh boy, we left it at that. I told him he has to receive an answer first before I’ll explain that, but he liked it. He hasn’t gone to church ever. It was a good lesson and for some reason I was led to his house that night and everything worked out perfectly. We shall see. After that, we decided to go by this lady’s house really fast even though it was late and we didn’t think she would REALLY listen to us. We go by and her husband/companion (we weren´t sure which) answered the door. We thought he was going to tell us to go away but he says, "pasen chicas." Come in girls. Alright, they were waiting for us. They also had the missionaries over before but never went to church. They believe in God, but aren’t the type that go to church they say. So does everyone else. But we were talking and she says she has a question. She wants to know what happens after this life. Welp, we taught the plan again and involved her six year old son with pictures I have. They loved it. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and he did too. Wahoo! Another family! I’m praying for them. Maybe now is there time, ya know? I hope so. Well, after that we go straight home, hurry and plan and go to bed. Next morning I wake up to study and can’t find my Book of Mormon anywhere...  and I’m left with that. We have searched everywhere and all the studying I have done for the last 17 months, all my notes, inspirations, teaching helps and resources, pictures of you guys… it’s all gone. We retraced our footsteps, searched their house, our house. It literally disappeared. I was fasting for that, along with other things... praying all week long... nothing. I’m devastated and sick. I would rather lose my camera first over my Book of Mormon. I can’t even understand my English scriptures anymore. They are so unfamiliar to me. I hate it! Ugh... I’m not losing the faith. I don’t know when I’ll find it or how, but I have to find it. In the meantime, this week hopefully my leaders will give me another one to at least use in lessons and to study but... it’s not the same. And it’s pretty much useless when I have 7 weeks left. Ugh. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for me!

On top of those things... Jessica and Agustin want to name their future daughter after me. Crazy, eh? Also, I have a major rash all over my body because of detergent that we got, it’s been warm weather, dad turned 50, Katherine got married and I get to talk to you all this week on Skype. That was my week.

One more thing, Agustin and Fernando got the priesthood yesterday. It was awesome. They let us come in for the ordinations and it was so great. I love it. It’s the most amazing thing to see these people progress. I love them so much. Everyone was congratulating us afterwards for our good work. We didn’t do anything, just taught them the basics. But it’s amazing to be a part of. I want to be a missionary forever! Never again will I have the same power, authority and blessing to do what I’m doing now and that makes me really sad. But I just gotta enjoy every minute. I love you all so much. Talk to ya next week! Love, Ash

A Family is Baptized!!!

Thank you for your continued support and love. It means the world to me. I feel so blessed to have such a huge team cheering me on. And the work continues to progress. It’s been miraculous.

The Gonzalez family did get baptized this week. It was awesome. They are so happy. I am so happy and I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are even more so. It was a grand occasion. It didn’t come without difficulties though as usual. We talked with our ward mission leader and he said he was going to take care of the font and set up everything for the baptism starting at 2:00. I have learned from past experiences that we must always check on things at the church and so on Saturday we went by the church to find it empty. The font takes three hours to fill up and the baptism was at 5:30. If we didn’t start soon, it wouldn’t be full by the time everyone got there. Another thing... we didn’t have keys to open the doors to start the water to the font OR a cell phone. We waited... and waited. At 2:30 I was freaking out and we were searching everything we could and discovered a way to open the front doors in front of the font so that everyone could watch (if you know what I’m talking about). We threw a chair in there, I hoisted my comp in and she cleaned out the font and got the water started. It was quite the adventure and we were laughing until our ward mission leader got mad at us for "doing things wrong." Whatever. We got things done. After that, it was the least stressful baptism I’ve had here. They all filed in the water and it was awesome. At the end, Fernando and Mabel (mom and dad) bore their testimonies. It was awesome. They were confirmed yesterday without flaw as well. The hermano that gave us this reference is now working with another family he works with. He’s going to hand us over the reference, a family of six, hopefully this week. Wahoo for families! Hermana Barreto gave a talk and congratulated us, my comp and I, and said what a great privilege it was to bring souls to Christ. I got an overwhelming feeling of the sacredness of my calling. And I don’t want to leave it. I love teaching the gospel.

                                The Gonzalez Family
We had a little bit of drama with Agustin and Jessica. They were discouraged with their situation. Plus, it got cold this week. And I mean cold, out of nowhere. The afternoon is okay, but the mornings and nights are frigid. This whole time I was thinking of them and their situation (living in a tent). They are discouraged about not having a place to live. They have nothing and jobs are few here. They expressed all their frustrations to us and I felt so burdened and overwhelmed by what was going on. A huge frog crawled in my throat and wouldn’t leave and it was all I could do to hold back the tears. We coordinated the next morning to pass by and talk with them and I left feeling so down. All I could think about was them and how I could help. I want to give them everything in the world: a home, food, a job, and whatever else, but I was overcome with helplessness. I prayed for them and studied for them the next morning. You’ll be happy to know I found the perfect scripture to share with them. It came to me the second I opened my scriptures. It was the first thing I read. We decided to share it with them that morning so we went by and I asked if they were doing any better. The fact that a bitter wind was blowing didn’t help the situation. They laughed and said a dog had come by and eaten all the food they had, someone stole something of theirs that was outside, they slipped the only tidbit of oil they had left on their tent which burnt a hole in it and landed on Jessica’s leg and burned her as well. Awesome, I thought. We started with a song because I honestly didn’t have the words to comfort them. We sang... "All is Well" (is that what it’s called in English? I’m not sure anymore) haha. Anyway, I started out just telling them how horrible I felt. I told them of my desire to help, but I can’t do anything, and the tears started flowing... I said I wish I could give you the world, all the physical things you need but really you have the greatest gift you could ever hope for: the gospel. I told them I was praying and studying and shared the things I had found for them. We read the scripture and it brought them to tears as well. I told them whatever else… I don’t remember, but the spirit was there and I think it helped. My comp didn’t say much, even when I gave her the opportunity. I asked Agustin if he was going to give his talk at the baptism that he had committed to give and he said no. I said fine, but you should at least go to the baptism to feel of the spirit, to remember your baptism and to support them. We talked some more and I felt the need to continue pushing for him to give his talk. Jessica, being the strong woman she is, said that they would go and they would prepare the talk. By the time we left they were excited about it. I will say he did awesome. I was really impressed. They are doing better now.


Other than that, things have been good. I’m excited for things to come. We don’t have many investigators at the moment but we are expecting lots of references from families and there is no doubt in my mind as we continue being obedient, we will continue to find those who are prepared to accept the gospel. I look forward to finding them. The mission just keeps getting better and better with the work.
I love you all more than ever. You’re in my prayers and thoughts constantly. The church is true. There’s no other. Until next week. Love, Ash

P.S. We have a fireplace... it’s small and doesn’t put out much heat, but it’s a fireplace!
P.P.S. I hate the cold, but sadly it’s better than the summer heat as a missionary. Luckily, I don’t have to deal with it that much longer!!

PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED...

HALLLLOOOOO!!!!!! Oh how I love and miss and love you all some more. It’s been too long. Mondays never seem to come fast enough. I just want to thank you all for writing me, keeping me in your prayers, thoughts and giving me your encouragement and love. It means more than anything in the world. Thank you, thank you!
 We are making great progress with the Gonzalez family still. Fernando has completely quit smoking; he said he doesn’t even take his tobacco to work anymore. Before that, he bought five packs of tobacco a week (because they make their own cigarettes here) and that wouldn’t last him till the end of the week. That’s almost 1000 cigarettes or something. I’m not exactly sure, but more than a hundred a pack. And he has completely dropped it. He says he uses lots of gum. Mabel said baptism was the best thing that could ever happen to her. Welp... they will be getting baptized this Saturday. Crazy, eh? I’m happy for this family. It’s crazy how prepared they really are. So pray for them that they can stay strong!!!

Can you find Hermana Farr in this picture?

Some different forms of art to enjoy along our path.... kinda cool, eh?

A little miracle, well a huge one, happened this week. We were working one night and realized that none of the city lights were on. We aren’t supposed to go anywhere in the dark as hermanas. It gets sketch. So we go to our lessons and they say that the power is turned off for the night and that we couldn’t see anything and we would have the lesson another day. What? It was only 6 and we had a whole night’s worth of things to do. I panicked. My comp said we should just go home and I knew that we couldn’t go home because that’s what Satan wanted us to do: stop working. I told her we would go by a member’s house and see what was up and figure things out from there. The hermana said the power was shut off for the night. My comp said she was scared, wouldn’t work in the dark, and no one would talk to us anyway. I invited her to the bathroom to say a prayer. We went in there and I asked her to pray. Her prayer surprised me as she simply asked for the lights to be turned on so we could continue working. Good! She left so I could use the bathroom and I said my own prayer, so that we could keep going, and asked for the lights to come back on. I went back out and sat down with them and we ate a little. Ten minutes later, just as we were finishing up to leave, the lights come back on. Everyone was shocked because it was said they wouldn’t be turned on till after midnight. Wahoo for prayer!

We continued, went to a lesson with the hermana and found an awesome lady and had a great lesson. It felt good to do what was right. Heavenly Father will always give us the strength to do so. Little note! "El Raiz" is here. It’s the horse races. They ran right past our house Sunday morning. It was so cool! We couldn’t enjoy any of the other festivities, but it was cool. The city came alive over the weekend. I’ve never seen it like that here. It was fun. There will be one more bigger race here in June. This was just the first preliminary one. It was an endurance race just like Kenz did. So cool. I told everyone what you do Kenz and they all were jealous! I love you all soooo much!!!! Be good, keep the faith. I love you! Love, Ash

A Few Setbacks...

Hi! I love you all. Kenz! First place in your horse race! You rock Suggar, I love you. I’m so proud. I hope all else is well in Zion. Things here are pretty grand. I’m happy about the fruits we were able to see, in spite of the setbacks.

Well, this grand week started on Monday, like most weeks do. We were going to leave at 5:00 to do some last minute shopping for my comp to finish up Pday. As I was finishing writing a letter, my comp decided she wanted to wax her legs. Alright, I guess, do what ya want, but make this quick cause we gotta go. Welp, she put the wax in the micro for 20 minutes and then next thing I know she is screaming from the kitchen. I run in and the wax was so hot it just completely pulled off her skin at the touch. And I mean completely pulled off her skin. It was so gross and she was in extreme pain.

Hermana Ureta's leg
I didn’t know what to do because all the wax was still on her leg. I didn’t know if applying cold water would make it harden and therefore harder to take off so I ran to grab the members that we live behind. They decided we should just run to the hospital. We went to the hospital and they fixed her up, but it took forever. We didn’t work at all on Monday and they told her she had to take five days to rest! What! I’m sorry… we’re missionaries, we don’t EVER rest. So, we called Hermana Da Silva and she said, “If that’s what they said she had to do, then do it.” She has to say that cause if something happens with my comp, she is responsible. Anyway, but it was too much time to go without working so we needed to find someone, some member, to go out with me. We thought about Silvia!

Hermana Ureta all fixed up!
We called her up and she agreed to do it immediately. My comp has to rest for five days so you gotta work with me for five days so bring enough stuff to live here in our house for five days. She was honored and came like 30 minutes later. We set up a mattress on the floor and I began to teach her the ins and outs of being a missionary the rest of the night. The next morning we got up at 5:00 to head to district meeting while my comp stayed with the member here. Silvia was so tired, but we studied and practiced. She learned how to teach the first lesson and then we even did practices in front of our district. She loved being amongst other missionaries too. We came home and went out to work. At first she didn’t want to say anything, but with the pass of a few hours, she got up enough courage to start bearing her testimony and at the end of the day she was teaching principles with me. It was awesome. She did great, needed a little direction here and there to really realize what our purpose here is as missionaries, but for her first day she did great. She learned that we are not plain and boring missionaries after all, but at home we like to have fun. She didn’t realize we were actually normal people, even though we act the same with her. She said she couldn’t wait to be a missionary.

Next morning, she was so tired and my comp was in a lot of pain so I got up to exercise by myself. I tried getting them up, but neither would wake up, so I let them sleep for a little and got ready. When I was done in the shower, Silvia got mad at me for letting her sleep in. She took it way too hard on herself and was upset the rest of the morning. Her attitude completely changed. We asked her if she was going to keep going during the day and she said yes. So we studied and then we went out to work. I don’t know what happened, but she decided she didn’t want to work anymore. I took her home and she asked me to call her mom because she was going to go home. And home she went. It was rough. So we lost another day of work.

Thursday my comp decided we couldn’t miss more work and we went out, but her leg hurt a lot and at the end of the day she couldn’t go more. I personally felt soooo guilty for sitting in the house, but she couldn’t go. I just let her be and we lost another day of work. Sighhhh! It was a long week of sitting in the house doing nothing while I thought of the things we needed to be doing. It was the worst feeling ever. Then our district leader told me these were trials and to tell my comp that too and she should be out working. It made me feel worse for not making her leave. Thank heavens for repentance.

Riding on the Omnibus to Stake Conference
That was pretty much the whole week until Sunday. It was stake conference in Durazno and we took an omnibus with the whole ward over there. We had nine investigators go. The Gonzalez family was one of them. It was a meeting all about missionary work. Three youth who had their mission calls spoke and then three returned missionaries spoke. Oh man… it left me thinking about the mission experience a lot. It was good. It’s so weird seeing people who are about to go out, but don’t have the mission experience yet, then being a missionary and then hearing from those who are done. It was a bittersweet experience. It was cool hearing them talk about bringing people to Christ while two of those who I had brought to Christ were sitting right next to me, Jess and Agustin. I kept nudging Jess then she laid her head on my shoulder. It was a rich experience.

We had a lesson with the Gonzalez family after and they prayed, well the dad and mom. He said he has never felt the way he has over the last two days and he believes everything is true. It was awesome. The mom said she has noticed a difference in their marriage already, applying the things they’ve been learning the last two weeks in church. She said she wants to keep learning and we told them both these were signs of the spirit. They have super respectful kids. They all agreed to be baptized on May 5. Wahoo!!!! A family! He has to stop smoking, but he can to it… and he wants to more importantly. Keep them in your prayers. They are awesome. Afterwards, we were talking with the family who gave us the reference and introduced us to them and Fernando (the investigator dad) said, I’m just so grateful to Jorge, the other dad member, for inviting us to know more about these things. I’ll do anything to get my family back together in the celestial kingdom. Thank you for sharing these things and thank you hermanas for teaching us. Wow, so awesome! I’m so excited. After the lesson, my comp and I walked home in the dark and we were dancing and singing. It’s an indescribable joy. It’ll be even better the day of their baptism.

This week we have interviews, Tuesday, so I’ll get packages then. Then we have to go back to Durazno again on Wednesday for other meetings. Busy, busy, busy we are! And once again the whole week is already planned with investigators. Hope all goes well.

I love you more than life itself. I am trying to be so obedient to be worthy of Heavenly Father’s blessings and he is bestowing me with them. And it’s increasing my faith and my testimony. It’s awesome. I feel good today; we have a lot going for us here, just like the scripture promised me. It’s being fulfilled. It’s cool. I know this is the Lord’s work and I’m grateful to be part of it. I love it and I love you. Until next week. Love, Ash

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter all! I love you with all my heart. I was thinking of what you were all doing on Saturday for your Easter celebrations and how I wanted to be there eating normal breakfast things with you. Things are good, but I did miss you this week. Your Easter eggs and faces are so pretty and dad is handsome. Miss you dad.

This week started out with craziness. I was a little concerned for my new comp, but that was quickly lost in the worries of Hermana Lopez. She was so stressed and scared for her first area change. She was going to be in Progresso, an area I did interchanges in, and with Hermana Kirkham. I tried to reassure her, but it was rough. I felt so bad, but I tried and tried to help her. I’m sure she’s fine now. Hermana Lundskog is training a cute little Latin. I got to see her only very briefly in Montevideo, but she’s good. We left on Monday when Pday ended to Durazno. Then we left at 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning to Montevideo, spent all day there, went to Durazno late Tuesday night, stayed with a member there, had district meeting on Wednesday and by accident spent pretty much the whole day there cause we could only take a late bus and ended up getting to Sarandi late Wednesday. Oh man, I have been so drained this week. We spent about 15 hours in a bus, but we got here okay to our area.Hermana Ureta and Farr
My new comp is Hermana Ureta from Chile. She is 22. We were in the same district in Maldonado and I thought she was soooo quiet. Welp, I thought this will be a first (because all my comps like to talk). Nope, we got together and she’s only shy at first, then she gets CRAZY!!!! She likes to imitate voices and in that respect she makes me think of Brooke!! Good times.

I’ve had a change this week. I can’t really explain it, but with many hours of travel, lots of silence and loads of time to think, I have analyzed a lot and studied a lot and I’ve had a change of heart. Not that I was bad before, maybe just feeling like I lacked a little bit of the faith of the power of my calling and the power I hold; the importance of a missionary (but not all missionaries) just myself. But I have received new inspiration and perspective. I am so beyond good personally. I have utterly lost myself in the work this week. I stopped every passerby, testified to everyone, used every minute wisely, obeyed every rule and I can almost say I did everything how I should’ve. And I have felt so good about myself this week personally. I don’t have THAT much time left. It’s coming to a close and I need everything to count. I can’t explain myself well enough. It’s not that I wasn’t doing these things before, it’s just that I think maybe I lost the view of the big goal a little and I feel with the end of the tunnel just up ahead, I can see better and things are more clear. I have had the spirit testify to me over and over again this week of many things. I have new hope. I am now completely relying on the promise and revelation I read in 1 Nephi 2:19-20. As long as I keep the rules, this will be a BLESSED land, more than anywhere else. It all depends on me. Cow tongue: much better this time. Last time I ate it, it was so tough, I couldn't even chew it!
Jess and Agustin have never been better. All three of them were confirmed yesterday and it was awesome. Silvia is totally going to go on a mission. We found a new family. Well, actually a member found a new family. A WHOLE family dad!! The Gonzalez family. A member works with the dad. He started asking gospel related questions and the member told him he was going to bring him something that would help him (the BOM from us). They invited them to church and they came yesterday. We went and taught them. They will get baptized if and when they have a testimony. Four kids: 3 boys and 1 girl and they are married! Praise the heavens for that. It’s awesome. The only problem is he works en el campo which is outside and they only come home every Saturday night so it’ll take some time to teach them what they need to know to have a testimony. But that’s okay… we have all the time in the world.

Things are good. I love you all so much. This work is true! I love it with all my heart. I will bawl my eyes out the day I go home. I don’t want to. I miss you. I love you. Be good. Do what’s right and help others do the same. Talk to you soooooon!!!! Love, Ash

Christ is the Reason

This week we have seen many miracles and many afflictions. It all started on Wednesday when our dear friends Silvia, Jessica and Agustin had their baptismal interviews. We decided to have Agustin go first so we could call president immediately afterward and coordinate for another interview, if needed. Well, Agustin told the elder he was on probation for the crimes he had committed, but didn’t know how long it lasted. No one was checking up on him anymore so he didn’t know where things stood. Things are very laid back here and no one has any idea about matters pertaining to the law. So we called president and he said, if he’s on probation, or thinks he is on probation, or is not sure of how long it lasts, or whatever... he can’t be baptized. Whoa! We had no idea. I wanted to cry. As we discussed the situation with the elders, as those three waited inside, we didn’t know what we were going to do. While the elder did the other interviews, we decided to take Agustin aside and try to clarify everything. Well, we talked and as he realized he might not be able to be baptized after all the challenges he’s gone through, he became very sad. And so did we. He said he would do whatever he needed to do to figure it out so he ran to the city building to figure out his situation. We didn’t even know if it would be open, considering Sarandi and Guayans close everything early. He ran... and didn’t tell Jessica where he was going. We had to explain the situation and we all sat there in anguish as we waited. The two girls finished up their interviews and we went to fill out their records for the church, still waiting anxiously for Agustin’s return. I have never prayed so hard in my heart. When he came back, he informed us that he was cleared. It has been four years since his last crime and the time for his probation was already up. It was a joyous occasion. It was most certainly a miracle: the first of many for the week. Me and Hermana Lopez
The next day... day of the wedding and baptisms. Chaos is always guaranteed on this day and it was no different. You never really know what to expect. The wedding went without flaw and there were lots of people there to support them. They left with some members and their families. We proceeded with our day, doing all the baptismal stuff without our DOM. We met with the Relief Society pres who was doing the whole after party to celebrate the events of the day and we found out she had had a death in the family. Oh no! That puts another hold on all the activities. It’s okay the show WILL go on. We had to take care of the things she could no longer do. It’s 5:30 and the font is full, of course with cold water, but that’s okay too. We realize we don’t have the room set up, the music for our special hymn isn’t ready and everyone gets there. We start asking people if they will help us and so everyone is running around like crazy and the baptism should be starting. Well, the hermana who was going to give the talk decided she didn’t want to and left it up to us to do. The hermano who was going to be directing the meeting didn’t show up and we find out last minute the guy who Agustin wanted to baptize him wasn’t worthy to do so. Oh boy!

Everyone was hanging out in the hall and so we go tell everyone to change into their white clothes so we can get moving. We went to help Jess and Silvia in the bathroom and Jess tells us Agustin is not okay. We went out to find him and there he is standing in white... looking happy. We asked him if he was okay and his face dropped down and he said, "No, everything is not okay." We pulled him away from the members so we can chat privately and he is so absolutely crushed about the hermano who is no longer worthy to hold the priesthood and perform his baptism. He said his family and friends were now making fun of him and his decision to be baptized. He didn’t think that was how he should feel on his baptismal day. We decided to take him to a room and pray. As we did, a feeling of peace came over all of us and he was ready to go. He remembered the real reason he was getting baptized, but man, Satan didn’t stop: wouldn’t let up for a second.

The baptismal service went on and all three of them were baptized. It was a beautiful site! Agustin and Silvia got up to bear their testimonies afterwards and it was awesome. The spirit was strong and they knew they had made the right decision. Afterwards, we had the party to celebrate. The pictures don’t do it justice. There were a lot of people there and it was good. A triple baptism of Silvia, Jessica and Augustin!!
General Conference was fantastic! We had the miracle of watching half of it in English and, of course, the stuff in Spanish I completely understood. I loved the three Seventies’ talks all in a row on Sunday afternoon session. But it felt like everything was addressed to me and my situation. It’s awesome how we can all say that, huh?

Welp, we got change calls last night and Hermana Lopez is leaving after this week. I am a little sad to see her go. The people, mostly our converts, will miss her a lot. Just goes to testify there really are specific people waiting for us because the hermana who is coming here now, couldn’t have gotten to the people Hermana Lopez and I did. My new comp is Hermana Uretta. She’s Latin, but I don’t think I’ll finish with her. We shall see. So pretty much I’ll spend all week traveling to do changes.

I just wanted to share one last thing with you. The mission: obedience is the price, faith is the power, love is the motive, the spirit is the key and Christ is the reason. This is the Lord’s work and he will continue to direct it. I love you all. I love the gospel and I love my Savior. Thanks for all you do... until next week. Love, Ash

Another one is brought to the fold

The happy, newly baptized Emiliano
Good news of the week, Emiliano DID get baptized! Also, Agustin and Jess are doing great and everything came out okay for their wedding. The timing was perfect and they will be getting married on Thursday. Ah! My comp and I are witnesses, weird huh? Weddings here are just taking pictures of them signing the civil papers. It’s so strange, but we will have a party after at the church to celebrate. Their baptism is planned for the same day but... seeing as how Agustin has a criminal record, he has to have two interviews: one by our district leader and another by Pres or someone else he assigns. We asked our Zone Leaders who was going to do the second and they said they didn’t know, but come Wednesday if he responded the same thing (that he has a record) to our District Leader in the interview, then and only then will they call Pres to figure out what to do. I’m worried that if someone can’t get here in time, Agustin might not be getting baptized on Thursday. I guess the Lord’s will will be done. Silvia is good too. We have seen miracle after miracle with her. She was definitely someone the Lord already prepared and then handed to us. It will be about two weeks from start to finish that we found her, taught her and baptized her. There are miracles! It’s kinda like a Yuri story, but she’s had a lot of doubts about whether or not baptism really is the right thing and if it was really going to be everything she imagined. As missionaries, we know the adversary is working against these people and our job is to do everything possible to get them to baptism and not be swayed by Satan. So we spent numerous hours this week, working through her doubts, turning to the Book of Mormon and praying. She has now gained a testimony of these things. She prayed the other night to really know if baptism was the right decision and she said as she hopped into bed, she felt a tingling, zing feeling, warm, in her chest. She says she knows it’s right and since then she hasn’t looked back. We planned the baptism along with Jess and Agustin and they are all ready to go. They are so excited. It’s been so great to see.
Augustin and Jessica... look at how their countenances have changed! That is the gospel in action.
I have been sick this week… really sick. The food makes me so nauseous and I can hardly eat anything here. It’s weird. Even though I’m in the same country, everything is different. The way people talk, act, eat, are and everything. I’m still not used to it. Oh missions... so great they are.

Yesterday, Sunday was a pretty emotional day for me. Church was good. It’s been awhile since I thought church here was actually for my benefit. We are just always running around, helping investigators, calling the ones who aren’t there, going to look for the ones who didn’t come that we rarely get to sit down and actually enjoy and learn. But yesterday, thanks to faithful investigators who come by themselves, we could enjoy the classes. I learned a lot from Hermana Barreto. She teaches the new member/investigator class that we attend with everyone we’re teaching. We talked about obedience. It was very spiritually uplifting and I felt so touched. So, why do we obey? Are the Lord’s commandments ever too small or too big to obey? Can we obey even when we don’t know why we have the commandment? Of course, these are all obvious answers but I learned so much personally. She talked about how we have the basic commandments, but the Lord gives to each of us our own personal commandments, revelations, answers to prayers. Do we obey our own set of commandments? Or in other words, am I going to throw a fit or will I obey even when I don’t understand the reason for such rules or commandments. It’s simple when just learning, but if we are actually living the situation, it’s a little more difficult. Am I going to obey because I love the Lord, or am I going to disobey and not be worthy of the blessings and fail on my test of faith? I will obey because I want to prove worthy of Him at the end and because I want him to know that when he calls, he can count on me.... even when it’s ridiculously hard.

Also, the Barreto family all bore their testimonies yesterday because it was fast Sunday. They have one boy who lives in Chile and has his own family already and then they have five girls. So whenever I go to their house I feel like I’m at home. The dad bore his testimony about his daughter who is on the mish and how much he misses and loves her and how he can’t wait to hug her and hold her in June when she comes home. Paula, the other daughter, (over the weekend went to the temple for her endowments to leave on her mission) and all her other sisters followed her up to the pulpit to bear their testimonies. And all I could think of was my sisters and how much I miss them. Every single one of them bore their testimony about eternal families and missionary work. It was powerful. There wasn’t a dry eye in the whole room. I just miss all you guys. I love you so much.

The only thing I can do is put my faith and trust in my Heavenly Father. How true is that for any situation in life. We can only blaze through the winds and buck up and in the end we will receive our recompense. I just want to make sure I fully complete my "mission" here and accomplish what Heavenly Father wants me to accomplish. I can only bear my testimony that I know this work is of God. He has a plan and purpose for everything. I know he loves us so I know he won’t do anything that will harm us. He does see it fit to try his people in all things. And there comes the true test. Will we endure to the end? That is what he wants to know. Will we prove faithful? That’s my challenge to all, that we might take a look at our lives and see if we are really being faithful. That’s all. I love you all more than you can imagine. Until next week... I love you, Ash

The Time Flies By...

So this week has had it's ups and downs. Miracles and challenges, but what’s new? We have had a scare with almost every one of our investigators. Emiliano has been having struggles. But we had a lesson and he was so excited about his baptism. We told him it’s his choice and he said it’s what he wants to do, so we´ll keep moving forward with the baptismal date. They said okay and we announced it in church yesterday and have made all the plans. He will be baptized on Friday at 7:00 p.m. Yeah!
This little colt was born right across the street from us

I don’t know if I mentioned last week, we have had challenges with Jaekelin as well. But we got her back to where she was and we are moving forward. She has seen so many trials with her baptism. I’ve never seen so much opposition in an area. So many things in our way, it’s ridiculous and frankly I’m just mad at Satan for making us wait and postpone and wait some more. But he will be conquered. I’m not worried; I know everything will be okay. It’s just a trial. We gotta prove our faith and if we do, according to Ether 12:6, we expect those trials to come. I was waiting. Or so I like to think.

Agustin and Jess have conquered yet again the rumors of the ward and we met with these ward members and cleared up some stuff, shared some scriptures and now they are all on the same page again. No one is fighting. It’s awesome! We watched The Testaments with them and it was great. Without fail, everyone cries at the end of that movie. It has a beautiful ending. I love it.
RS Activity: great spirit, great fun!
Miracle 1 :) We got a little surprise. We had the Relief Society birthday party this week and Hermana Gonzalez brought Jessica and a girl named Silvia with her. Silvia is the daughter of a less active recent convert. Both her parents are members, but they don’t come very often. We have taught them before, but Silvia would always hide from us so we were surprised when she showed up on Friday at the activity. Well, as we’re all eating, talking and having a good ole time, Hermana Gonzalez yells to us that Silvia wants to be baptized! Yeah! Immediately, of course, we go over to her to see what’s up. Well, ten minutes prior we had a testimony meeting about how the Relief Society has helped the women in our ward. So she says she has been thinking for a long time about the church, but has always been unsure. She decided she needed to learn a little more and experiment so she decided to come to the activity. Well, while listening to the testimonies, she said she was sure she wanted to get baptized. She says she feels so good in the church and that she’s searched far and wide in different churches to feel that way. So cool! We told her to come to church on Sunday and we would talk to her afterwards and teach her the first lesson. So we did. We put a baptismal date for the 29th with Jess and Agustin. They are friends now too so it works out. Love it.

Another miracle... we had to leave the activity early because we have a curfew and all but when we were walking out the doors, Jessica came out after us and asked if we could talk for a minute. She told us she was really homesick. We told her we could relate!! She started to cry and we just talked about life in general. She said even down to this little problem that I’m having of missing my mom, the church helps me with that because there are all these women inside who will love me and who help take care of me, if I need it. She said the gospel is incredible and that life is so much better with it. And she hasn’t even been baptized! She has grown through the roof. It’s been so amazing to see it. She didn’t even like to go to church when we found her, now she loves it. But I can testify to what she says... the gospel of course helps in every little part of our lives. It IS our lives, if we´ll let it be. If we truly have a testimony, it becomes much more than just a religion, it is EVERYTHING and I love it that way.

We had our second ward council here. It went well. The members have been really great. We used to eat with the same members every day of the week each week, but I told my comp we need to change that so we can get to know more members. Now we’ve been eating with more members, getting to know them and their lives, so we are able to help them. They gain our trust and it all works out better. Well, because of that, we have become greater friends with people and more people love us and we are working better together. In ward council we were talking about the things we need and everyone was being so considerate. It’s such a great blessing. One hermano just told us straight up, you know what the savior said, "Ask and you shall receive." I’m so grateful for them and the huge amount of work they have been doing. It’s been a great change. I think I will leave this area better than what I found it and that’s our purpose as missionaries. I love the people here, just like every other area.

Remember the kid that we taught, Nauel, the grandson of a member... he’s getting baptized next week! So cool, huh? I told you I would keep you updated. There you have it... It’s so awesome, all over the world, every Saturday thousands of people are coming to the fold of God once again. How cool is that? I challenge you all to look for someone you can bring to the fold.... do it!

It’s been a good week. We had 10 investigators in church and a couple of inactive members who came. I love it. It’s been awesome...

I hope all is well at home and you can feel of the love of our Savior. I pray for that daily and that we can all work as a team to get where we truly desire to be and that we can help others to do the same. Our little part goes a long way, so keep working, keep searching for those who need you and the Lord and we will be rewarded...

I love you all!! Until next week! Love, Ash!