Rainy Season, this happened in 15 minutes

 4th of July, Check out the shoes

 Too bad Ashtin isnt having ANY fun on her mission

7/7/2014

Oh heck so I have to tell you guys what happened on Sunday. Well okay, first I have to start with Saturday. Okay so we had been having an...interesting day haha. Pretty hard day if I am being serious, but we ended up going to a baptism of the elders and this lady is so flipping cute. She was so happy to get baptized and shes this little old lady, and yeah. But while I watched her get baptized, I remembered and felt so strongly in that moment why we are here. The trials and desafios dont matter at all when we get the chance to see another soul enter in the door to salvation. Like words dont describe being able to know that we were a part of bringing one more of Heavenly Fathers children back to Him. So anyway, I left that feeling good! The day continued as it had, but we were looking forward to our cita with the guy who is getting baptized in two weeks. We have the cita and yeah. We go back home and I am exhausted. We get a message from the guy we had just had the cita with telling us that he is thankful for all of our help but he cant change and he will no longer be continuing with us and coming to church. I heart broke in that moment. After that day, that was just kind of like the straw that broke the camels back. That night I prayed and poured out my heart to Heavenly Father and then tried to read a little about Christ because I know that He knows how I feel, and well I still felt pretty down, but I felt better knowing that I can relate a little bit more with Christ.

I woke up feeling good because I woke up determined not to let Satan win this battle. I would not give up that easily on this guy who has come so far to give up at the last minute. So we called him and the Spirit totally led that conversation. I dont think I would ever say what I said to him without the spirit. I asked him if he really loved God because when he says that he cant change, he is denying Christ and His ability to help him. He is denying His sacrifice. He was like yeah, tiene razon and we talked about other things too. In the end, he ended up coming to churhc. He showed up looking rather uncomfortable, but he stayed all three hours which he never does, ever. And he left smiling and looking very content. I know that Heavenly Father helped him out and helped him to feel better through his obedience to this mandamiento. I love seeing what obedience to the commandments does for people! Anyway, it was just an amazing experience for me to be able to see how Heavenly Father helps us to change.

Hope you all had a great Fourth of July! Love you!

6/30/14

Dear Family,

So this Sunday was pretty cool! Our investigator who has a fecha came! Even though he says he doesnt like the experience of going to church haha. And then a couple of less actives came to church! And I was so excited to see them! One of them haha okay so I asked him if he was coming to church a while ago and he was like yeah and I was like are you lying to me? and he didnt respond and I looked at him and was like I am a representative of Jesus Christ...do you know what that means? And he was like yeah. And I was like so if you lie to me...youre lying to Christ and he was like...oh. And so I was like are you coming to church this Sunday? And he was like yes and he came! And yesterday was the third time that he has come! And all of his family are members and usually only his mom comes or his dad sometimes and yesterday 6 of them came!! AHHH! It was so exciting :)

I have learned, and I wish I had done it earlier, to be very bold about our message and who I am. I am a representative of Jesus Christ and our message is true. It is for the salvation of everyone! I love the Spirit that comes into the lessons when we are bold. I have always admired the courage of the prophets and apostles for how bold they are but loving and I am trying to emulate them....even though I am far from them hahaha. But I am working on it. I cant believe I only have 8 months left because I still have so much to change!

So we have been praying that we could find this recent convert Hugo because we havent seen him in 2 months. One day nothing was working out and I was like whyyy haha and we went to this members house and we left the house late for our next appointment but I didnt feel anxious about it or anything which I usually do and we walk out and THERE HE IS! walking by at the exact moment that we left. It was such an answer to our prayers!

Love you guys!


6/23/14

Dear Family,

Well this week we had our final conference with Presidente y Hermana Watts! It was so sad! We got there and they talked to us for the last time, giving their final talks, they showed us our new president and his wife. Presidente y Hna Crapo. Gosh, it was so sad haha. Like so afterwards they had us all talk to them one at a time and take a picture with them. Hna Watts started crying before we could even take the picture...me too. I told them that I would never forget them because they have influenced my life for the better. They have taught me so many things, and I am the missionary I am because of them. Hna Watts said that she wouldnt let me forget them. Shes like we will keep in touch. When you start dating, you will have to introduce the guy to President Watts before you get married haha. I love them so much and I know that Heavenly Father sent me here partially from what I learned from them!

So in the mission lessons with members present is a super important thing. The goal is 20 a week. So we try our hardest to have a member always when we are with investigators which isnt as easy as it sounds haha. But one day we had members with us for six out of the 9 hours. six hours. Guess how many lessons we had with a member. A whopping zero hahaha. I was just like...oh my heck. But it is the effort that counts and for one reason or another we werent able to visit those people. It was just kind of a funny day haha.

Saturday at 11 at night they told me that I had to give a talk in church the next day and i was like como and they were like no en serio. So I stayed up until 1 thinking of ideas, got to bed at 120, and woke up again at 5 to give it. I gave my talk and here they have this little rd blinking light to tell you when you need to stop talking but I didnt know what it meant (i figured like okay wrap it up but it means right now end it haha) so i kept going. i blame it on my lack of sleep.

we have this investigator who is super awesome he has a fecha and he just really wants to change. I love seeing how the gospel makes people want to live better. to give up the good for the excellent. To get rid of their bad habits for good ones. It is only Jesus Christ who can make that change in people and it is such a blessing to be able to see that change in other peoples lives. to play a small part in it!

Love you guys!