On Saturday we had the wedding (boda) of Marisol and Javier! They were so cute! It was great. There was just enough food for all the guests and the wedding went smoothly. We had to put everything together but it turned out really cute. 

Marisol has her baptismal date set for 4 de Feb which is coming up fast. However, what is sooooo awesome is that now, after years and years of being married, the father-in-law of Marisol wants to get baptized. His wife is a member and has been all her life, but after time went inactive. But with this whole blessing of teaching Marisol and how happy everyone is, and that now they are talking about how in a year they will get sealed, God has softened the heart of Carlos that he too wants to get baptized and in a year, he and Mirella will also get sealed. Can you imagine????? It is so amazing how the time of the Lord is so perfect. 

We had our reunion de hermanas this week and all the companionships taught a part.  Our part was "how do our 

testimonies help in the conversion of the investigatores?"   It was perfect.  Thank you all for sending your testimonies. I was able to understand better how to answer that question.  It is true when we hear the testimonies of others, our testimonies also get strengthened. I am so grateful for this gospel and I know that it is true! I would love to receive letters about your spiritual experiences more often.  When we write them we also are able to recognize them better. 

In the meeting, president Vasquez also talked about how we can use the organizations in the church to our advantage. He told us about how the priesthood is organized and so I went home and I read more about the priesthood and it is so amazing. It is the power of God. And it is given to 12 year olds. Do the deacons know how special that is? Do they actually think about what they have. It is the ability to bless others. Thanks to every office in the priesthood, we get to receive those sacred ordinances.  Do we realize how important it is?

I was thinking about how a lot of teenage boys don’t realize how their ordination is real. I think a lot of the time when we grow up with these things always around us, we forget how amazing and important they are. I want all boys to know how special it is to hold the priesthood.  They always have to be worthy of it. God has put his trust in you to always keep His commandments and maintain yourselves worthy of such a calling. 

I absolutely love Chapter 13 of Alma that talks about the priesthood and how those who hold it are prepared in the premortal world. It is so incredible all the things we have, due to preparation in that time. But now is our time of probation.  We are going to be tossed to and fro by Satan because he does not want us to reach our potential. He wants us to forget everything that is good. But if we pray continually, we won’t be overdone.  We are children of God.  That is the most important thing that we need to remember.  We are the KIDS of GOD.  We are so special. Absolutely every single person in the world is and has that potential. 

I love you allllllll!!!!!!!!!

Be good!

Love, 

Hermana Ashton

This week was great! Since we now live in La Pacifica, we have sooooo many members, less actives, inactives, and non-members. La Pacifica is so full of people it is awesome! The reason that this area is so great for the sisters is that there are so many families here, but the men go to work during the day so when the elders were out, they couldn´t teach any lessons because they could only find women. But we are here now and so happy to help them out! 

Did I mention that there are a lot of less actives here in our area? We have been focusing on finding the less actives and inactives this week and there are a lot who have family who aren´t members. We also have some great families who are super active who have helped us make some visits and yesterday we had a miracle of miracles.

In the sacrament meeting we arrived with the cutest investigator. Her name is Mirian and I feel like I have already known her here. I don´t know from where but I swear I have already taught her. She is super adorable. She is 14 and her grandma is super supportive of her going to church and of her baptism. We passed by her house at 8 am because the buses on Sundays take forevvvvvver. We had called a lot of other investigators and they had "fallen ill", or were lazy and didn´t want to walk saying, "The car was still getting fixed." (Weird because the people here are very accustomed to walking because very few have cars). But, we arrived with her and other members brought investigators which is like the first time this has happened on my mission where the members brought people!!!!! (I really do enjoy the Pacifica).

We arrived and the sacrament meeting was stuffffffed.  I kept looking around and every time there were more people. And do you know what? We had 25 LESS ACTIVES in the sacrament meeting! Holy cow! I was so happy. It was such a miracle. They came, and they came as families! Everyone is so much more motivated! I love it! 

A lot of the people who came we hadn´t even visited that week but the members reached out. They brought some of the less actives. It was crazy. 

Our leaders called us last night to make sure that the 25 wasn´t a mistake. Haha. 

We are getting super excited for the wedding of Marisol. She is an investigator of ours who will get married this January 21st and she needs attendances at church so her baptismal date has been put off until the 4 de febrero.  She is so excited! I am so happy for her! She and her family will be so happy. Her husband is a member so we are working on activating him and in a year they are getting sealed! That is the goal!

This week I have been thinking a lot about the restoration of the gospel. The Liahona for this month is awesome. It talks a lot about the restoration and about Jose Smith and about prayer. I have been reflecting a lot on prayer. It is the way that our investigators can know if the church is true. It is the way that they can communicate with their Heavenly Father like I can communicate with mine. We all have prayer, but like it says in James 1:5 we have to ask with faith, doubting nothing. 

I read today about faith and about subjecting our will to God. I loved that. That is what I have been trying to do more. I want to do His will. 

In the Liahona I read: 

David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has said: “For many of us, conversion is an ongoing process and not a onetime event that results from a powerful or dramatic experience. Line upon line and precept upon precept, gradually and almost imperceptibly, our motives, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds become aligned with the will of God” (“Converted unto the Lord,” Liahona,Nov. 2012, 107–8).

I wrote this on a note and I want to remember it.

            “It is the little things that we change that change us as a whole.” 

Keep reading your scriptures. If you have a doubt, a question, a hope, pray and God will answer, Pero pida con fe, no dudando nada  (Pray with faith, nothing doubting). 

I love you!

Hna Ashton

So on Monday they told us who had cambios and everyone in my district had them but me. I was left in the ward because they were taking out the elders. The Zone Leaders told me to pray about the house, if I needed to stay in the house where I was or if I needed to move to the Ciudad Pacifica where the elders were. I prayed and I felt like I needed to stay. So, that meant that I didn’t have to change anything in the house. Then, Tuesday night at 9:30 they called me and said that I had to move anyway to the area of the elders. So I packed everything up that night, we cleaned, we took down all our decorations, because that meant that we had to close the house. 

We moved all our stuff and my bags weigh a ton! We went to the terminal and we said goodbye to everyone who had changes, and I received my new Compañera! Hermana Capellan from la Republica Dominicana. We luckily had Hermana Yanini Moto (the wife of the first counselor to the bishopric) with us to show us around our new area. It is really big. 

But we like it here. The elders never, not even once, cleaned their house though. We walked in and it stunk so bad. I don’t know how many years the elders have been there, but I can assure you that we used all the bleach that we could find. 

But the house is nice. Small, but nice, and guess what!!!! the shower has pressure and  warm water!!!!!! It is sooooo wonderful. I mean it is not what we would consider "warm" alla but it is comfortable. And today I was shocked when I saw a little fog on the mirror! That is so crazy!

We have a lot of work here but it is great. There are a lot of partial families that are less active that we are going to work with.  We are going to activate them and baptize the rest. 

(Mom my address is):

.(or should the second one be El Salvador?)

There are really great people here and I am happy to be able to go to all sides of the ward because I think it will help the unity of all the people. 

Hna Capellan is great and we are learning a lot from each other.

I am also learning to live on the top bunk. What happens when I get hot at night is hang half my body off my bed.  The first night I was sleeping and got hot, I forgot that I live a lot higher than I used to, so without thinking(because I was asleep), I hung half of me over the edge and I woke up just in time to catch myself and cling to the bed.  Since then I have been a lot more careful.

I love you!  And happy new year!

What also happened. We went to bed at 10:30 like normal on New Year’s and at 12 I almost jumped out of bed because of all the fireworks! Haha.

Be good! Love ya! 

Our family got to talk to Joy using Skype on Christmas Day.  We loved seeing her and visiting with her.  She said that it used to sound like people speaking Spanish...now it just sounds like people talking.  Isn't that great!  She is fluent!  We surely love her and love getting these letters.  Today, Jan 1, she has been out for 7 months.  In two more months her mission will be half over.  

Joy on Skype on our computer and her sister Cathering who Skyped in from Iowa

Hi guys! It was so fun to talk to you all yesterday! I can’t believe Christmas came and I almost have 7 months and... a fifth change in the good old Pacifica 2 (District ?). Whooooo!

Actually what is happening is that I have to take all of the ward instead of it being split between the two areas of us and the Elders. The Elders are leaving and only my new companion and I will be in Pacifica.  Our area is already too big for the two of us and now it will be even more ginormous! I don’t know what to do about it. Good thing I have a tool called prayer ;D

We ate chicken sandwiches 3 times on Christmas Eve. That is the tradition here. Everyone gets a loaf of French bread and  they stuff it with veggies and a chicken leg . It isn’t really a sandwich because you have to pick it apart because there is a bone in it.  But it is pretty good. 

We had the Christmas activity as the missionaries of Oriente (the East) on Friday where we played with water-balloons and with water because right now it feels like a normal August day.  

We all got shirts with ourselves in the middle of them and it is pretty funny. 

Thanks for all the photos and the letters. I am so glad that everyone is so happy. Even when there are times of hardship, we can put a smile on and know that God knows what is best for us. 

I am so grateful for the gospel and that I have it in my life. I want everyone to have what our family has. I’m sure that this is the truth and that is why I am here. I know that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I love it with all my heart. I am so grateful that our family is eternal and I am so grateful that I have this once in a life chance to share these things with the people here in El Salvador. Haha, something that Presidente Vasquez said is that we are the only missionaries who get to teach El Salvador… because that means Savior. We smiled. 

I am always trying to strengthen my testimony and I know that it is something that takes time but with prayer and fasting and the scriptures and with the Church, we can do it. We can strengthen  our testimonios and make them unbreakable. 

I LOVE you all!

Hermana Ashton