ONE YEAR MARK!!

Things have been well here in Uruguay. Just a thought, did you know I have been here for 1 YEAR!!!!! I can’t forget about it because everyone reminds me about it all the time. It’s no wonder people get trunky. It doesn’t help when every person you talk to in the streets knows you’re not from here, Spanish isn’t your first language and they always want to know how long you’ve been here. Now is when I switch from telling them the exact number of months, to... un año y pico, mas o menos. haha It’s intense... now everyone says I’m almost done. What the junk!!! Not the case! 6 months is a long time still! Anywho, I’ll be fine…


Yuri got the priesthood!!!! Wahoo! He’s awesome. We are working on finding him a wife! haha

We FINALLY got our washing machine hooked up... yes just barely. We have already done 3 loads of laundry. It’s great even though things still have to air dry, but you don’t hear me complaining.

Our faucet in the kitchen broke off so we were without water for three days. I was disgustingly greasy. Ew. We went to Punta last week, and I found this bench. I loved what it said. Sometimes things sound better in Spanish, sometimes better in English. This is one time Spanish wins. “Life is beautiful”... or “La vida es Hermosa.” I love it.
I wish you guys got to meet all the people I do... they are so fantastic. We met a family yesterday, the wife went on a mish, the hubby didn’t because he was inactive, but now is second counselor. Just getting to know all these many people and see how the gospel has worked in their lives, to see that even when they went away for a little Heavenly Father was still looking out for them, he still had a plan for them and everything eventually works out. It’s so awesome to see their testimonies and hear their stories. I just love the people. They are fantastic. PLUS! Giant plus... haha he was so cool. I was telling them a story and he just looked at me wide eyed. I stopped and asked what was wrong, kinda giggling. He just stared and asked me how long I have been here. Once again... uh un año, mas o menos. He just said.... Wow, I’ve never heard anyone talk like you; you sound like an Uruguayan. You don’t take breaths to breathe when you talk and you can talk FAST! Score. That was the second compliment I got on my Spanish this week. So if Liana and Katherine are reading, I can’t wait to speak Spanish with you when I get home!

This week has been a little stressful for me. We got a new district leader, it just so happens to be Elder Hudsen who was my district leader in the CCM. Wahoo!! He’s cool, we "grew up together" at the MTC. He’s been great. Last week I mentioned numbers. The zone leaders are really focusing on numbers lately. We have to give them a number for baptisms this month that si o si we were going to get. Oh man. My comp and I put a high goal: 4! We have been eating, sleeping and drinking numbers. Not good. We know we can get it. So we have been making plans and setting goals and working really hard to achieve that, right?

Well, we decided to look through old investigators to see if now they could potentially progress. You know, harvest someone else's planted seeds. Well, instead we came across stacks and stacks of inactives. People who were baptized and never went back. You know the story. It broke my heart looking at this. We realized that no one in our ward is a recent convert of the last 5 years. That means every person ever baptized for the last 5 years is not attending (or moved). It stinks! The fact that we have probably found more inactives in the streets than ever before didn't help the situation. This place could seriously be Utah if every person who was baptized was active. I'm not joking either. People have been completely forgotten about. I hate the thought of it. This just cannot be! If it's one thing I've learned here on the mish, is how to be a better member. That's why I made that challenge last week. We cannot have people fall away like this.

We just got really discouraged about this. Ugh. And a good missionary always verifies on the assignment they have left behind. So don't think I forgot about you. I wanna hear your reports back on your work from last week ; ) please? We are the Lord's hands on earth. People need our help, let's go out and look for them. Families can be saved and lives changed, souls rescued through our efforts. One member here actually did that this week. She returned to our ward yesterday even though she belongs to another ward. She didn't know her son who is 9 could be baptized... golden reference. We sent our leaders over there. We will see what happens.

I had another opportunity to perform a real act of service to someone. Sheyla's mom. We have been working, working, working with her to keep her strong while she regains her mom's trust over some things that have happened. Her mom just knew it's the only thing she really enjoys so she took the privelege of attending church away from her. Ugh! She had her loooooong hair to the floor almost braided. I told her it looked so great. She had a wedding and said she had to pay someone 300 pesos, TWICE to do it because it fell out the first time. I yelled what! Why?! I could have done it. She said welp... tomorrow then, because I have another wedding. I french braided her hair, we did a pretty tie tuck thing (that I really can't explain). Sadly, I forgot my camera. I didnt get a pic, but it was so pretty. She was so happy and she let Sheyla go to church. Wahoo for service and talents that mom taught me. Thanks mom, you blessed a life here in Uruguay :)

Anywho, almost everyone got released in church yesterday, even our DOM (ward mission leader). I was so sad. I hope they call someone quick. Oh well, we are here for a reason so we will march on. I can handle it. I know the work will go on. It's the Lord's work and he has complete control and he knows what he is doing. I just gotta trust in that. I just miss my DOM really bad. He was so awesome. More changes to come next week they say. Oh boy.

Just wanna leave yas with my lil testimony. Oh man, nothing in this world matters besides the gospel. I wish I could hit people over the head with that info. No one wants to listen! They spend all their lives searching for stuff when what they really need is right in front of them. Makes me sad. I wish I could change the world, truth is... I cant, but we all can make a difference. I'm so glad I have the Lord by my side. He is my advocate, my strength and my brother. I love him with all my heart. You guys, sigan asi. Keep doing what you are, be strong as always, lead others to the waters and always be an example of the believers. Love you. Till next week.

Love, Ash

TRANSFER CALLS.....

So hey! How is the outside world? We are well here. Lots of stuffies has happened this week. It was a good one. Where do I start...
Transfers.... oh man, I don’t know what I’m going to do about calls… as always we were so nervous. Our zone leader called us and asked who we wanted to know about first. We were sitting on pins and needles, but my comp yelled, "Hermana Farr!" …. He says, “Uh, Hermana Farr se queda.” That means... I’m staying! Huh? You’re joking. He doesn’t give me time to think before saying, “Hermana Laursen se queda tambien! What the JUNK?! “Elder, you’re lying.” Turns out he wasn’t. So I’m staying here AGAIN in Maldonado. Can you believe it?! And we are staying together!!!!! haha We start jumping up and down. This NEVER…. and I mean NEVER happens in the mission. You don’t stay with a companion for three changes... ever! Welp, apparently we still have people and a ward here to help that need us specifically. It’s crazy, isn’t it? We haven’t been able to get over it all night or morning. But here we are, staying together. Good times it will be. Seven and a half months here. That’s pretty much my whole mish. No one can believe it. Ademas... (in addition) we are going to be together for every single big holiday... Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. So you’ll get to meet Hermana Laursen when we all skype. Yeah baby! We’re gonna find a Christmas tree to set up and decorate tambien.

Last Pday was so fun! We got to go to Casa Pueblo and it was BEAUTIFUL! Uruguay is gorgeous. I can’t even explain to you. My breath was taken away when we got off the bus. I took tons of pictures, but I can’t send them all so you only get a few today. Don’t worry more are coming. The pics are just one of the pretty views before you get to Casa Pueblo. I felt like I was in Mexico. Then we saw a tarantula while we were walking! Ah! So crazy, it was huge. You look down one side of the coast and it looks like Ireland and the other side looks like you’re in Greece. So it was a good day. We traveled around the world; got out of the mission for a few hours and then hiked down some cliffs to take cool pics and read letters by the ocean. I actually took off my shoes and socks to hike, it was so fun! Check out that tarantula by my shoe

Yuri got baptized! It was so awesome. He is such a sweet person who deserves every bit of happiness. He’s my best convert. He is so awesome. I really feel like he will be a strong future leader in the gospel. He is so committed. Thanksgiving was good. I was trying not to think of the things going on there so we just worked really hard and then went to dinner. We didn’t have much time, but they were all great. It was good to be in loving company. We had chicken with gravy that Sandra and Mark (from Utah) made. We had stuffing, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. It was good. By the way... Sandra goes home this Friday and we are sending home packages with her for you. She’s awesome and totally American-ized. haha Good times. Her husband, who is a convert, is way cool too.We had the opportunity to see a little miracle this week with an elder who is serving in the mission. He called us one night to ask if a specific gentleman was in our ward. We said no, but we could do some investigating and possibly find him. "Why?" we asked. "Well, he was the elder who baptized me." We did our best to locate the man and learned that he’s the brother of a member in our ward. She called him and told him about this elder who is now serving in HIS missionary’s country. How cool is that? The sad thing is that this former missionary who baptized the current elder when he was 8, is now inactive. The elder got so excited that we found his missionary. They both were. Now they get to communicate and I imagine (hope) that this elder that is serving here now will help this man get re-activated into the gospel. It’s funny how the Lord works, isn’t it. Don’t ever doubt his grand plan. It’s amazing.

So here’s a little tip… you should get and read a Preach My Gospel. Read about the members’ responsibilities. We had a really good member step it up with some investigators he brought to church. When we thanked him later for it, he said, "Yeah, of course. That’s our responsibility or role in the work." That’s the truth, but most members don’t realize that. Later, we were reading in the white handbook and it says our duty as missionaries is to remind the members and inform them of their roles in the work. So here I am. I figure I could mention it to you, even though I know you are all doing so much missionary work already. I mean with befriending less or in-actives… you don’t understand how much it helps to have that friend. So my challenge to you this week is to find a less active and go by and visit them, invite them to church or some activity and be there for them every step of the way. Take them cookies, make a card, do something. It’s our duty. Use the wonderful American resources you have. We have been blessed with so much and for this reason, much is expected of us. Every member a missionary! Let’s go team!

I know this work is of the Lord and I love him with all my heart. Let us serve him with all our hearts.

I love you family... you mean the world to me. Keep being strong and holding on to that rod, but grab a few people on the way. I love you. Be good. Until next week.

Love, Ash

On the Wings of a Prayer...

I got package number 1? Yes! We had a party last night eating. We almost died because of all the flavor. I LOVED the Thanksgiving gratitude chain you made me. Everything was sooo nice. You don’t know how good it made me feel to see all the nice things you wrote about me. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
We are going to Casa Pueblo today. Look it up… it’s one of Uruguay’s famous trademarks and we got permission to go. It has an art museum and other cool things, but I just mostly want to go to take pictures. We are so excited.

We have gotten calls from the zone leaders because our numbers have been so good. Now, I want to emphasize that I know numbers don’t really matter, but my President is actually very strict about numbers. He holds us very accountable for them. After we went to the temple, we had a zone conference about the importance of planning, getting and setting numbers each week as our goals. And he convinced me (or maybe it was the spirit) of just how important they are. We don’t want numbers, but we do want people to get baptized. We want the ice cream! But we have to use the spoons, or our other numbers, to get to eat it. We have since focused a lot on our goals: making sure we actually look at them, check ourselves and hold ourselves accountable for them. Since then, our companionship has flown high and above everyone else. The only thing I can say is that we are really trying our darndest to do our part to be worthy of the blessings Heavenly Father wants to bestow upon us. I have since learned a lot of lessons, but I feel like I am fulfilling my calling by reaching our numbers. Not just that, but I feel like it’s a reflection of my desire to serve and I can surely say that if we don’t have baptisms, it is not our fault, only that it’s not the Lord’s timing. I have a clear conscience... but the thing is... we ARE having baptisms. It is awesome!!

We had Nataly’s baptism and what a smashing event it was... then this weekend was Loana’s baptism and it was even better… if that can be possible. The young women had their Night in Excellence scheduled for the same time as our baptism and we were afraid everyone would just go to that and we wouldn’t have any ward support for the Rodriguez family. But the bishop decided the miracle happening with this family was more important and so he made them stop their activity and have everyone join us for the baptism and everyone loved it. Strong spirit, good support and a baptism. What more could you ask for? It was great.
Yuri continues to progress and develop each day in the gospel. This will be hands down the fastest baptism I’ve ever had. Less than 3 weeks to find him, teach him everything, have him have his conversion and get baptized. That will be this Saturday. Pray everything goes well and we don’t have any snags. He’s awesome.

We continue to see miracles, I’m telling you. I get more and more amazed at Heavenly Father’s love for us each day. I’m literally blown away. I had a really cool experience last night... well, this morning. We planned last night to go to Casa Pueblo and, of course, a huge storm comes in. We have been dying of heat all week. We got so bummed and it only got worse in the middle of the night. I actually woke up because our house was flooding. Yes... awesome Uruguayan constructed houses, oh how I love them. My suitcases, boxes and other things were soaked. I just never went back to bed … that’s how much water was coming in. I was up protecting all our stuff. So we were bummed when we discovered the rain still hadn’t stopped while we were studying. We called our district leader and told him to bring my comp’s mail because we were actually going to stay here instead of leaving. He said he would. Now you don’t understand the challenges we’ve had with mail and how much it means to my comp. Anyway, she was actually excited for the rain because that meant that she could receive her mail. I was bummed about not being able to go. We got our mail and guess what? The rain stops... the sun immediately comes out and I had figured out the perfect plan of God that he has to make all of us happy. He made it possible for us to go to Casa Pueblo and for my comp to get her mail. If it had been sunny and clear all morning, she wouldn’t have gotten it. I know it seems trivial, but it means so much to us. He loves us.

I stand here as a testimony of that to all and I’m trying to do my part to get it out to the rest of the world. Slowly but surely, it’s working. I love this gospel. There is nothing more or better to be living for. Don’t forget it, EVER! Be good... keep smiling. He’s there and He’s looking out for each one of us. Don’t ask me how it’s possible, it just is.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!! I love you all with more than all my heart.

Love, Ash.