This week was quite interesting. So because it was Easter all the Catholic people (which is everyone), went to Melo (a different part of Uruguay) to go to the Virgin Mary and worship her. Go figure… Easter, resurrection of Christ… and they go worship Mary? So, this week really was like a ghost town. We didn’t have any appointments with our investigators all week. They all cancelled on us. So hard! Thing about Uruguay is, people close down shop and cancel school for any reason they can come up with. So all the stores were closed, and no one had school all week long. So this place really was deserted. They call it "la semana de turismo."

We did, however, have a ward activity. We planned it so last minute, but even though we were small in numbers it went SO well! It was an Easter activity and the elders did a treasure hunt using key words from the scriptures. Hermana Hite and I were on different teams and my team totally dominated. I have never seen the ward get so crazy, but we were running around the church trying to find the hidden clues. So fun. I found pretty much all of them with the help of the bishop and his daughter ha. We rocked! We saw the ward bonding a little bit, with us and together as a ward. It was awesome.

Me with Luis' little boy and nephew
Hermana Hite and I shared Easter traditions with each other and as an Easter surprise(during the week while I was showering and sleeping and such), she made an Easter egg hunt for me (without the plastic eggs because they don’t have them here). But, she did little coupons like we do as a family. I got a back rub, muffins and a pizza day from her! It was so sweet of her. I loved it. It was so nice of her to make it as close to home as possible. I love her.

I had my first getting sick experience here. We got fed raw tuna the other day... yeahhhhh. It was rough. My comp and I got really sick and had to spend a few hours of the night inside. It was like tuna jello, ha! That’s what we call it now that we are better. Not fun.

Miracle of the week... The bishop, for whatever reason, decided he wanted to cancel the "talks" in Sacrament and instead called on random people to bear their testimony of the Savior and the atonement. The whole ward was in tears by the end. You could just FEEL of the power of the atonement and the resurrection… the whole reason we are here and the reason this gospel is true. It was awesome to say the least.
My comp and I have been "called on" to talk in district meeting tomorrow. We are to talk on receiving revelation through the BOM and church attendance. She was studying the church attendance and I the BOM. As she was talking to me, she said, I have NEVER gone to church to receive revelation. I was shocked. I sat there with my mouth open just staring. She said she only goes to church because it’s a commandment and because she knows she’s supposed to. She teaches the investigators it’s important to go to partake of the Sacrament and to renew our covenants and start a fresh week. Mom and dad, I would like to thank you for teaching me... yes, it is a commandment to go, and yes the Sacrament is TAN importante (so important). We also go to be uplifted by others, to hear testimonies, to be strengthened and be happy in life. I love church. I have always gone to receive revelation. That is why I "take notes" every Sunday (or I did anyway). It’s a little more difficult being here, worrying about the investigators and Spanish and all. But, of course I’m here to help them. But, at home I always had that notebook with me and I was always taking notes, because I received revelation from others, I was uplifted and helped with my problems. That is so fundamental in church attendance. Anywho, I just wanted to point that out, because I couldn’t believe she only went because it was a commandment. Crazy stuff. The things you learn here.

Be good everyone. I heart your faces. Stay true to the faith.
Love, Ash

BAUTISMO!!!

The happy Hermanas Hite and Farr

So much to tell about this week.... and so little time. Stephanie finally got baptized!!!!! Praise the heavens. It was intense, but she is officially a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first baptism of my mish! Well, actually the first person I taught from start to baptism. Man, what a crazy ride we've been through with her, eh? She was so happy afterwards. It was the greatest. Her dad and grandpa came too. We got to watch from behind the scenes in the girl’s dressing room and help her change afterwards. It was awesome.

Stephanie's baptism day with her father and grandfather

We LOST Santiago. Ugh! He texted us only saying he needed time to figure out family problems and that was it. No more Santiago. We are so sad. But we’re ready to find those who are ready to accept the gospel and be baptized.

Interviews this week were so good. Pres loves me, pretty sure :) They went so well. He said he was going to do it in Spanish as long as I could understand everything. I was fine with that, of course. I responded in Spanish and then he just switched to English for some reason. I still spoke in Spanish. He said my pronunciation rocks! Thank you very much, daddio. While it was my comp's turn, I spoke with his wife, Hermana Da Silva and she said I speak way better than lots others at this time in the mish. I don’t feel like it AT ALL! But it’s all good. Pres says I have that going for me and then he said I had another thing going for me. He really knows next to nothing about me. It was so cool what he said! He said, you just have the sweetest spirit about you. I can feel your love and that will touch many investigators and contacts as well. He said to make sure during my whole mission that I don’t lose that about myself. It is a very special gift I have. It made me feel so good! I loved it.

Our humble abode.... the gates to our house, our bedroom and our kitchen

Pres brought two packages for me with him. Yep, that’s right... EASTER packages! Thank you so much everyone! I loved it. Mom, you’re gonna kill me, but I did open them. Ah, don’t shoot me. I wasn’t going to, but my comp wasn’t that much help either. But, I mentioned we have been starving and so we needed the candy. Too bad it lasted us all of two seconds. Kenya, your little bag of candy you made is sooo cute! I love it. Thank you so much! And mom... I love your guts! Those flowers are so perfect. My comp loves them and they do bring me sunshine every day. I love the bookmark too. Everything is perfect.
















We’re back to starving. Yes, mom, we do have a store we can buy stuff from, of course, but we have not near enough money to provide ourselves with good stuff. I mean good as in healthy. I just want to say, I liked the food when I first got here. It’s not terrible, but I quickly realized, their menu consists of only about five meals. I’m not kidding. I have eaten the same greasy, oil-covered fattening things since the day I got here. I feel bad saying that, but it’s true. It's just not the variety we have in the U.S. It’s all good though! All is well. I am happy!

Miracle of the week... Hermano Ery Ramon gave us a reference this week. Score! We have been trying to work with the ward to get references. We were only doing contacts in the morning so we decided to go visit her. She is awesome! Fabiana is her name. We walked in and talked with her and her daughter. It’s just them. She’s a ballerina and so cute, in between Cass and Kenya’s age. Her name is Denise. We gave the lesson of the restoration and the BOM. They had questions galore. She even asked about tithing. Questions are good from investigators. That means they have questions of the soul and are looking for something. If they sit there and just say they understand everything, it’s a sign. Anywho, we decided to end with a prayer. We taught them how to pray. When Hermana Hite ended with Amen, Fabiana slowly looked up at us and said you almost put me to sleep. Hermana Hite flipped out and said I’m so sorry! It was kinda long, wasn’t it? I apologize. Fabiana said no... that’s not it. I feel at peace. I feel so calm and ... good. She held her hand up to her heart and got a titch emotional and said I can’t explain this feeling I have in me right now. I feel so good, what is this? We got to explain the spirit to her and of course I started tearing up. She asked why I was crying and I said it was because I knew she was feeling what Heavenly Father wanted her to feel. And that the things we were teaching her were right and true. She said I have a lot of love, just like president said. I guess people can see it more now :) It makes me feel good. She said she felt the same spirit when she was with the Ramon family and she wanted to feel it all the time. It was so awesome.

The streets, buildings, shops and artwork of Uruguay















Later, we saw her in the streets. She loves us. We invited her to church and she said she probably couldn’t come, but she would try. I decided to ask Ery Ramon to invite her. He said he was on it. He invited her and lo and behold they showed up to church on Sunday! Ah! It was a miracle. The church yesterday was full of about 10 investigators of ours and the Elders. That is so awesome for this ward! We were so happy. Interesting thing happened though. In Relief Society the lesson was on tithing. We thought good; she'll learn about tithing here. But, “no.” The Relief Society got in a giant argument about it. Fabiana is very bold. She said straight up in front of everyone that she thought it seemed like a burden. The ladies freaked out! I was afraid she was going to walk out, but thank heavens, she didn’t. I said a little prayer and Heavenly Father made it okay. She stayed for all meetings and got to see Steph receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now she wants a BOM along with a Bible. She doesn’t have a Bible, which is weird for here. We will meet with her this week, so I think everything was alright.

Man, I just love her. She has bonded with me. She expresses emotion and hugs and stuff (which isn't typical of the culture), so I feel so connected to her. She is just great. We can only hope for the best, right? I’m excited to see what will come with her.

I had an overwhelming experience... mom and dad, with that thing you told me to do... make a list of what I want to become while I’m here and one with what I want to leave behind. Shaq sent me her testimony with a quote that said, "The scariest thing in this life is that through the atonement and Jesus Christ we can be whatever we want to be and have whatever life we want." I love that and I’m finding it to be so true... it changes lives out here and it can do the same for me. Now I’m scared... because I can be anything I want. I want to be me... a better me... a me that Heavenly Father needs for my future family, and my future callings and ward and life and you guys. I just happened upon an old conference talk that went right along with all this stuff. Faith. Faith builds off the past but never longs to stay there. Faith is for the future, faith is knowing God has something in store for us, something that’s better than what we have now. And by trusting in that faith, we can have anything we want. I guess Heavenly Father really wants me to start being the better me. I get overwhelmed with that. But I also know, "Whoever shall lose their life for my sake, shall find it" and that’s what I’m trying to do. Oh man, good stuff this mission teaches you. I don’t even know who I’d be without experiencing these things I am. I love this gospel. That’s all there is to it.


Ash with the little ninas


In the meantime, Hermana Hite and I are slowly rockin’ San Jose. We have more lessons with members, more lessons period, more investigators and life is good here. Slowly but surely San Jose is growing.

Thank you for your testimonies, your love and support and packages. Until next week, loved ones. Be good. Strengthen your testimonies! This church is true, without a doubt. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t. I love you all! Love, Ash

FOUR MONTHS!

Why yes, it has been four months! Seems like a lifetime, but then again... not so much. I don’t know...it’s weird. Time has no meaning here, except to count down the mission days. Everyone is doing it ;)

Hello family! Oh how I love thee. I think about you so much. Of course, it’s impossible not to, but it’s good. Thinking of you keeps me going. Not that I’m having problems with keeping going. Life seems to be going pretty swell here... we just go about our thing and I haven’t felt too much... I don’t know if I dare say this... opposition. It’s just the regular missionary stuff now: People not coming to church, not fulfilling commitments, just the regular stuff. It’s too easy, something has to go wrong, right? Stefanie has been off the cigarettes, and is getting baptized we hope on Saturday, April 16th.

Santiago was supposed to be baptized, but he disappeared off the face of the earth. We actually had a really scary experience with that. It’s been days since he talked to us, and won’t answer his phone and we’ve gone by to find nothing. It’s weird. We went to leave a note there and his window on his door was gone and the lights were left on outside, which no one does here because it’s expensive and both vehicles were there... we got a really bad feeling when we saw that and we booked it. We still can’t find him. We hope all is well.

Luis... I have to tell Shaq something. It hit me really hard what you said last week about when we know what the Savior has done, it’s not so hard to do things for him. I read it to my comp and we decided to change our whole weekly plans for him to teach him a lesson JUST on the atonement. We invited the Elders over and we chose five scriptures about the atonement and told him he couldn’t say a word. We didn’t either. We figured the scriptures would do all the talking that was needed. Afterwards we watched a DVD about Christ. It was about his ministry and all the things he has done for us. At the end, we bore our personal testimonies of the atonement. Hermana Hite actually talked about you. She said, Ashley’s sister, Shaquel, wrote about you and you have her family and my family praying for you. So many others too! He just sat there quiet for the first time ever. We told him for homework he had to write down the things the Savior has done for him and what he’s doing in return for the Savior. We left... we haven’t seen him since. I don’t know what happened but we will see him this week. I hope it went well. But that was all because of you, Shaq. :) Your words (family) mean more to me than you know! They are inspired.

We had some other investigators show up to church. We have been teaching them for four months. Obviosuly, it wasn’t me teaching them the whole time. They are so awesome, but they don’t progress. I fasted for them and they showed up! It was wonderful. The kids want to be baptized, 2 kids. I’ve mentioned them before. Andrea and Leonardo are the parents. It was great. We have high expectations for them. In the meantime, we found a family of like all girls, one son. All the rest are teenagers. They are so awesome. I felt the pressure when we were teaching. I thought of all my sisters and how I would want someone to be so careful with teaching them, if we didn’t have the gospel. I wanted to get it right. They are committed to be baptized on the 30th. I just hope it goes through :) They are awesome. Maribel, Tamara, Diana, Camila, and Eliana are their names.

So, we have our first interviews with president this week... uh... He and his wife are coming to our house to do it! So we don’t have to travel two hours, but apparently they check everything in our humble house: our filing system, how we keep track of investigators, and all. So INTIMIDATING! I didn’t even know they did that. Wish me good luck tomorrow morning.

I love P day! I’m just saying... I’m a happy lark. Anywho, this morning we listened to a talk by John Bytheway and he was talking about trials. He related it to lifting weights and how you have to break down your muscle tissue before you can make it stronger. I thought about that a lot. Of course, it’s so true! We have to be broken down, tried, before we can be made stronger. He said a lot of cool things and talked about the trials of many prophets in the scriptures. "You have to go through the wilderness before you can get to the Promised Land." I love that. Moses was called to deliver millions and he couldn’t speak. Enoch was made fun of, but in the end his city was lifted up with Heavenly Father. Joseph Smith was ridiculed, and he experienced physical hardship as well his whole life, but his trials brought forth the restoration. Christ was betrayed by one of his best friends, but we have eternal life because of his sacrifices. We have to get through the hard, to get to the good. I feel like we're at that point here in San Jose. I love it here... we are experiencing many great things and seeing the blessings of our labors. We are working hard with the members and our lessons with members have been increasing and that’s such an amazing thing. When we experience something hard and we stand steady, only good can come from it. Think about that while experiencing hard things.

Try to draw closer to the Savior daily. I love you! You’re in my prayers!

Love, Ash

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!

This week was long and rough. We spent a lot of time trying to get everything fixed (toilet and fridge) in our house and lost a lot of time getting work done. That was frustrating.

As for the weekend… how amazing! I guess we couldn’t have everything be spectacular this week right? We are entitled to one major spiritual event per week haha and that was conference! Luis did not accept our baptismal date, so we will see what happens with him. He’s still so awesome. He will be baptized sometime. Stefanie’s date is for this Saturday. I hope nothing goes wrong this week to prevent her from doing so. Santiago’s date is for next week, but if he didn’t go yesterday to conference, we want to postpone his date again. We had to travel forever away to get to conference. And we were separated from our ward. They went to a different place, so as of right now we don’t know which investigators went. We hope they all did because such powerful messages could have been answers to their prayers. I guess we´ll see.

So... conference made me homesick. haha Like I said, we had to travel far away and on Saturday no one showed up from the stake. It was really sad. But I was spiritually uplifted when I saw my HOME: Salt Lake City. I saw your weather and the people from my home! It was crazy when that realization took place. I heard English hymns, English prayers, English Amens. I got homesick, but it’s all good. It really hit me that I’m not going to be here forever. At this point, that’s what it feels like. This is my life and this will be my life for eternity haha, but I’m getting accustomed to everything and Spanish. But just to leave here and get back to my own language and traditions… that was weird for me to feel and recognize.

The program between conference sessions yesterday about the member who survived 9/11 really touched my comp and I. When we saw the pool in his backyard and the BBQ and American clothes and traditions, we were struck with gratitude as I am so often here. The pleasures we enjoy... man, I just can’t even believe it. My comp kept saying, "God bless America." We were humbled once again. It’s crazy to think that none of you REALLY know what I’m talking about, except dear daddio. I will NEVER TAKE FOR GRANTED my country, my state, my home, the gospel ever again… I say that now right... psh.

Back to conference… we had to stay with the other hermanas who lived closer so we wouldn’t have to pay so much to travel back and forth. It was fun having a sleepover! I didn’t want to carry all my stuff over so I slept in my clothes and all. Good times. On Sunday we left for conference again and their ward actually had a bus to pick up every person in the ward and take them there. I can’t tell you my feelings as I watched FAMILIES, big families, get on our bus… kids of all ages, youth and all. It’s been so long since I’ve seen that. Our ward doesn’t have that. Hermana Hite said, "Hermana, this is how it should be and I promise you other wards will be better." It’s crazy! We filled up the entire bus with families to go. I was touched by the faithful members of this church again. They are awesome. The stake center on Sunday was full. Thank goodness : )

I loved all the talks, of course, and I received answers to three questions that I was searching for. It was so wonderful, but I wanted to touch lightly on Elder Holland’s talk just because he finished up the conference. I can’t tell you the power of the hush that came over the congregation when he bore testimony of our prophet. It was silent. The spirit was so strong and everyone listened and I know everyone agreed when he said, “We stand shoulder to shoulder with you, ready to continue this work in any way we can.” And that my friends is the whole point of our gospel. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the man called of God, who leads and directs our church here on this earth today. We have the power and authority of God on the earth. That is incredible! We stand ready to aide him in any way we can and further this work. That is our purpose in life. We must be willing to do so. I love this gospel. I can’t express my feelings. Without it we have nothing. I stand firm in the faith, as we all do. I’m so grateful for the sacrifices that our leaders have made and I’m so grateful for their Christlike attributes. May we all strive to become more like them.

I caught myself saying yesterday to my comp, "You silly" and "You funny." So, I guess I didn’t grow out of that. I just needed someone I was comfortable enough with for them to bring the kid out in me again!

I love you all with every fiber of my heart! I love this gospel. Be good. Until next week… may all be well.

Love, Ash

P.S. Have you ever seen a lightening storm??? What the junk? They are so wicked awesome. We had one last night. I didn’t know they existed, but the whole sky lights up with lightening every second. It’s sweet.

P.P.S. Grams B. I love you. You’re always on my mind. There’s a letter coming your way : ) and Rick (my cuz) I’m writing you too! Hopefully…. Love you!

THE BEST WEEK EVER..... AGAIN!!! REALLY!

This week, ok really, has been the best week haha. Seems as though every week is, but really… I have learned more this week than ever before. I love you all!! I hope all is well with you. I miss you.

First off, new comp... She’s awesome. Hermana Hite is her name. She is American. I feel like I’m learning a whole different level of missionary work with her because we can communicate! I love it! She talks to dogs like Chels Gould, she is straight forward like Kayla McKinnon, looks like a dark version of Dani Berg Griffeth, laughs like Jess Porter Huff and is fantastic. I feel like I’m with all my best friends. It’s the greatest. I love her with all my heart. We get along great, have fun, and best of all, we teach with power. It is magnificent.

An experience I had this week sums up everything I want in this mission. We are teaching Luis. He is my favorite and I have developed a sincere Christ-like love for him. He is more than ready to be baptized. This week we decided we were going to give him a baptismal date. He comes to church, he reads, he prays, he knows it’s true. So we went to his house and taught him with a member. At the end we told him we prayed about his baptismal date and it was to be the 23rd of April. We talked forever about it and he finally agreed to pray about it. We were to go over on Saturday night just real fast to see how his prayer went. I had no idea what was in store for me on Saturday… the most powerful spiritual experience I have yet experienced here.

We were so nervous, outside his house that night. We prayed that we would feel if he needed a different date depending on what he said. We got in and talked and he told us this date was not his date. We were so bummed... so bummed… and after that we decided to talk to him about why. He is not living the law of chastity. He has a son out of wedlock and another one on the way. He won’t marry this woman (and they aren’t living together) because she is crazy. So he says, but they still have relations. He says he’s not ready for this reason. We shared some scriptures with him and he went on to explain a huge story of which I couldn’t understand. It took a long time to tell, and the whole time I was just sitting there listening, trying to catch a glimpse of what he said. Nothing... Hermana Hite just talked with him the whole time. I usually have something to say, and I joke with him all the time and he caught on real quick that I was a little saddened by his choice. He turned to me and said, “Why aren’t you saying anything!” I just smiled and said, “I don’t know what to say quite honestly.” He said, “Yes you do, you always have something to say. Tell me whatever is in your head. I need to hear it.” I just sat there for a sec, and I knew that I needed the spirit to be with me right then at that exact moment to say whatever he needed to hear. I started to tear up as I felt the love that the Savior and Heavenly Father have for him. I was overwhelmed by it. He said, “Oh no, oh no, don’t start crying.” I laughed a little but really...I was touched. I told him that this is his salvation, this is life eternal. Heavenly Father wants him back and loves him so much. This is so much more than... you know what… with this woman. I told him that I have prayed my entire mission to help one person find and know of this truth. A person that would truly understand what we had to offer and he was this one. I told him that we cared about him more than anything. He is so special to us, and if he is this special to us, what does Heavenly Father feel for him? My comp started crying too. The spirit was there; she never cries. She’s tough. He just sat there and I know he was feeling something. He said, “I can’t handle girls crying. I feel so bad, I feel so bad.” He kept saying that over and over, I never make women cry. It’s so hard to explain, but this Latin man, he started to cry too. He felt so bad that he had caused me to feel this way. He didn’t know it was really the spirit... man. I can’t describe this the way I felt it, but he was touched. We continued to converse and Hermana Hite said the closing prayer. She couldn’t even talk. She expressed thanks to our Heavenly Father for our Savior, the atonement, and as we were on our knees praying with him, we were all touched. She really couldn’t talk she was crying so hard. We all were. Then she said something I will never forget, when she managed to find her words she said, "We thank thee for people like Hermana Farr... and the love she has for everyone." I can’t tell you what I felt in this moment… it’s like when Mom said in my little notebook you all wrote in…. you will find that one, pray for that one, search for that one, work for that one and great shall be your joy. I wish I could say he changed his mind and now has accepted his baptismal date, but he hasn’t. But he is a "one" and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I was meant to find him. I was meant to speak the words that I did and touch him. I felt that, I know that. And the power that knowledge has is incredible. He said he feels so bad and Hermana Hite said, maybe it’s a good thing. Use those feelings to ponder and pray and think, really think about these things. We are going to see him tomorrow and we´re either cutting the line, or baptizing him. That’s scary to me but... I pray for the best. Whatever the Lord has in mind, I know it’s what is right. I’m just his hands. It’s not my work and it might not be his time. Only the lord knows.

I wish you could all really understand the things I’m learning here. My life is changing. I don’t even know who I was spiritually when I was at home. My testimony of everything has changed completely. I don’t know who I would be without this mission. Today I can honestly say, I love it here. I love my mission, and even though I still have a long way to go, this is the best experience. It is harder than crap and everyday I have a reason to give up, but I love it! I’m so grateful for Hermana Hite. She has shown me what the mission should be like: fun, hard, full of love, spiritual and the best... that’s all I can say. I love this gospel with everything I am. It’s true. I have not given up a year and a half for a fairytale. This is true, the one and only gospel. I love my Savior and Heavenly Father. I do. I love you all. Thank you for everything. You mean the world to me and I pray for you daily. Keep me and Luis in your prayers too. I have faith that all is possible.

Until next week. Love, Ash

P.S. Our fridge and toilet broke this week. We spent a lot of money fixing it and it’s not reimbursable because they didn’t give us legitimate receipts. Ugh. We have been living off of the leftover tuna someone left in our apartment. It’s the first time I’ve ever really been poor haha. But it’s been fun. We’re starving quite literally though. We´ll get money next week for the new month but... I am only able to spend 7 dollars a week! That’s not enough to be healthy. Yes, I dipped into my home money to pay for our stupid accidents. I’m sorry! but I'm trying real hard to be good! I love you so much! THANK YOU!!!!!