A Visit From Pres ...

Me emailing mi familia
We had interviews this week. They went really well. It just proves to me once again that pres is a man of inspiration. It’s amazing how I feel like he can just read me like a book. It’s cool. I remember that he’s a man of God, he has the spirit and he really is representing the Lord here for all us missionaries. Usually he asks stuff about us personally, but this week the first thing he asked was three attributes my comp had. Interesting. I bet no one can guess what my comp said about me. haha Just kidding. I said she was studious, fearless and real with the people. She said I was loving, charitable and kind. Then he asked, if one of your sisters was preparing to go on a mission, what advice would you give them? I have actually thought about this a lot... but there is SO much I would tell them. I had to really sit and think. There was just too much to say. Then he specifically asked me something that had been on my mind this week. I kinda freaked out. He assured me and said I was doing awesome here! When my comp was in there, I decided to talk to Hermana Da Silva and we ended up talking all day until about 4 in the afternoon. So, instead of interacting with the other missionaries in the zone, I just talked to her. I found out about president’s conversion, his callings, where he has been and what he has done, and her role as wife to a man of God. It was really awesome. I got to know them both a lot better. We’re personal friends now. Just one of Uruguay's beautiful sunsets
Then on Saturday, some of the hermanas from our zone did an MTC for a day activity in their ward. So we went to Piriapolis and taught the youth all day as they rotated in and out of classes. It was really fun. They fed us lunch and even President and Hermana Da Silva showed up to teach the youth at the end. They actually sat in one of our classes, which was the MOST INTIMIDATING THING EVER! He has never actually seen us teach... oh man, my mouth dried right up, my Spanish went out the door and I froze. It was horrible, then I regained my cool and was okay. Then the spirit took over. It all worked out.

We ended up pushing Nataly’s baptism back again because we have stake conference this week and our bishop didn’t want her to receive the Holy Ghost a week later. They have to do it in the following Sacrament meeting. We set it for Oct. 29th.

We have made lots of progress with Nataly. We took Sheyla with us to teach her and we had a lot of fun. We taught her the Book of Mormon and how to use it. Then we had a competition with her mom, Sheyla, my comp and she ended up winning. She knew how to use those scriptures so well. We gave her a ‘For the Strength of Youth’ pamphlet and had her read about chastity because her sister is 16 and pregnant. She went and visited her dad this weekend and is bringing back a cousin that we might start teaching as well.

We had a few miracles this week... Belen, Bruno, Mauricio…. their mom has been taught time and time again, but never wanted to get baptized. She believes in the church, but has trouble smoking and said she needed to repent of a lot of things first. Well, we went and saw them and they told us she has quit smoking and she told us she felt completely clean of her sins. We told her the next step was baptism and she has agreed. Her date is the 29th also. Her name is Alejandra.

Also with Natalia’s family... we hadn’t seen them for a little and my thoughts kept coming back to them. My comp was thinking the same thing. We decided we would go this week to find them again. We had lunch with Natalia and decided to talk to her about it, but not before her sister showed up at the house to eat with us. It was so weird. We literally feel like we’re being directed to them. And if the mom isn’t ready, we might as well see if it’s one of the kids who is ready now to accept the gospel. We talked with her and eased into it and she agreed to be taught... yes! We set an appointment with her, but then it has been raining and pouring all week so she couldn’t come to the lesson. We have looked for her twice more but with no luck. We don’t know why this is all happening, but we're just trusting in the Lord. He knows what he’s doing, we’re just his little tools. He wants his children to accept the gospel more than we do and he will make whatever is necessary happen so that the person can progress, if it is their time. All we can do is hope, pray, have a little faith and keep moving forward. Hopefully something will happen soon.

I miss you all more than you know. I love your guts! Stand up for what’s right. Until next week...
Love, Ash