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