I was able to be on the computer when Joy was on.  So we chatted.  It was so nice!  But she could not be on for very long.  This is our conversation.

Joy:  Hi mom I am here! What are you up to right now!

Mom:  I am working on Math homework for one of my math classes.  How is your new companion?  Are you still in Juacapa  sp?

Joy:  She is really great! Her name is Hna Salguero de Guatemala! Yeah, I’m still in Jucuapa. I don’t have a ton of time today to talk. I had to send a whole ton of stuff to Presidente Vasquez. I thought you knew that I am one of the sister training leaders. Jaja. I will probably be here in Jucuapa for 4 more months.  Is everyone still there at the house?

Mom:  So you are like Sister Jara?  A sister training leader?  Neat!  Only dad and I are here.  

Joy:  Hna jJra and Hna Evans are now in their houses! We had one change as leaders together! It was great becua

Cuz we got to see each other twice at the house of the President because we always have a meeting as leaders every month.

Did you see my invitation to chat? It is easier.

Joy:  I’im here

Mom:  Thanks we found it.

Joy:  Do you not have school today?

Mom:  No, it is spring break! How will we talk on Mother’s Day?

Joy:  Wow spring break came super early this year didn´t it? how long?

Mom:  All week

Joy: I don´t know yet. Here in El Salvador Mother’s Day is the 10th of May. So my comp with have one time to talk and I will talk another day.

Mom: Great!  I'm glad that they honor both days!  

Joy:Did you watch the Women’s Conf?

Mom: Yes.  I went to the stake ctr.  and took a ward member.

Joy:  I am trying to send fotos but the internet is super slow and I don´t have a ton of time. 

How do you feel as Relief Soc Pres?

Mom:  We love your fotos.  Will you be able to watch all four sessions of gen confer?  I am feeling ok.  I had to give a lesson yesterday,  I hope it was not too boring.  My counselors and secretary are great.  That helps a lot!

Joy:  I am sure it was great! I love you tons. How is job hunting?

Mom:  I've been job hunting this morning too.  I applied to Rowland hall and Challenger besides Waterford.

Joy:  Wow. That would be cool. I am praying for you!

Mom:  Thank you my dear girl.  Tuition at these schools is $18,000 a year.

Joy:  For the students?

Mom:  Niel would call them spoiled! Yes.  That is the cost for students to attend.  It's $ 22,000 for high school.

Joy:  That is insane, and gross. But would that mean you would get paid more?

Mom:  I don't think I'd get paid more.  I hope I wouldn't get paid less.  We will see.  Dad wants me to get a job where I don't have to go to work but still get paid.  Ha, Ha.

Joy:  That would be pretty nice jaja!

I have to go now

I love you all.

Be good.

Mom:  We love you very much!  Keep smiling.  We love your smile.  So does everyone who sees it!  Take care.  Be safe!

This week went by soooooo fast! What is happening! 

We had intercambios con Hna Urbina de Nicaragua y Hna Garcia de Costa Rica. We also hiked up a mountain with our zone and had a sad good-bye for Hna Evans. She really is a Christ-like person. I hope that she has all the blessings she deserves in her house. She goes home on Thursday. I still don´t know who will be my companion but I am praying that it is someone really great! All the girls here are great. Pray for my companion.

We were teaching an investigator this week se llama Marvin and he is really prepared for the gospel. We put a baptismal date with him and he said that he thinks that this is his time. 

This is super short. We had p-day de Hnas hoy (today), and now we have to go because our area is the farthest. 

Pray for me and I will pray for you! ;)

Fotos otro dia!

Con amor,  Joy

This week we had the Reunion de Hermanas in Cojutepeque because all of our sisters are there in San Vicente and we live the farthest out. It doesn’t make sense but we went on Tuesday and had the reunion and everyone got to share what they have learned which was really great. I think we learn more when we teach than when we just sit and listen.  So they all shared and testified and we felt the spirit so strong there.  But it went long and there weren’t any more buses to Jucuapa so we were stuck in Cojute that night with the sisters there, Hna Tumax and Hna Hernandez.  We came home on Wed. and got to work! 

On Thursday we had our zone conference and it turned out that one of our zone leaders had emergency changes and so now we are not Zona Jucuapa, but we are joined with Zona Usulutan, and we are still the only sisters. So today for p-day they all went to play soccer together and the sisters aren’t allowed to play with the elders so we got permission to go to San Miguel and shop for souveniers for Hna Evans. 

On Friday we had intercambios con Hna Salguero and Hna Rivera. Rivera came with me from the Ccm and Hna Salguero was the first sister I talked to here in the mission.  They are really fun.  We were able to have a great time and we contacted and put a baptismal date with a sister who is very humble but super receptive. She is super sweet, named Vera. We are working with her. 

This week has been hard for Hna Evans because she is super baggy.  She dreams about airplanes and her family every night. I am trying to help her but wow I can only imagine her anticipation after a whole year and a half. I am grateful that I still have half my mission ahead of me. I am also grateful that it is 18 months and not 24. Sorry not sorry  :).

Hey, just to remind everyone, conference is coming up. Get ready. Pray for the prophet. Pray for answers. Pray for missionary experiences. 

Also we are going to have a temple trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. I miss the temple so bad. Go people. You have it so stinking close to you!  Please go and do the work for all the people waiting.  And receive the blessings of peace in your own life. Go to the temple. Ashton, Allison, Hunter:… do baptisms. Ashton drives now, go all the time. You will feel so much closer to God. You will have the spirit in your life. Adults: go to the temple every week… or at least once a month.  There is a temple every two miles there in Utah. You have no excuses. Please go. I am super jealous of you guys. 

I am sweating really bad in this cyber. Wow. Is it cold there still? 

I want you all to know how much I love you and how much more I love the gospel of Jesus Christ because for him and his life, we can be together forever. Keep the commandments. This life is a time of probation. It is so short. The least we can do is live the gospel and in the end we will have the biggest blessing of all. It is so selfish to not live it now. We were taught before this mortal life everything we needed and we were given our trials because we were prepared to fight through them. Don’t let Satan trick you into thinking that this life is long. Every day is a day closer to our judgement. I don’t want to be preachy, but I know that you can fight through your problems. Your temptations. Take one day at a time to get closer to God. That is the goal that we all have. To arrive to live with him again. So we have to walk in that direction. There is no other priority. Not a thing. What are you doing everyday to get closer to Heavenly Father. You have to see the bigger picture. You have to see the map…. the timeline. 

I want to hear what you all have done to better your relationship with God this week. I want to hear your testimonies. I know that everyone of you has a tesimony. It will grow, but you have to give it what it needs… sun, soil, water… we are all responsible for our own salvation.  The saviour is merciful with us, but we have to let his grace save us as we work to deserve it. 

I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he lives. I know that he has one gospel and we have it hear in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. We have a responsibiliity to share it. Love it. Live it. Share it  and keep the commandments. Comparto esto en el nombre de Jesu Cristo amen.

Read the Book of Mormon and the Bible. They are both the word of God.

Much love.

Hna. Ashton 

Halfway!

Nine months.

I swear that I got here yesterday.

I can’t believe that it is going by so fast!

Feliz cumpleaños (Happy Birthday) to everyone at home. I am really horrible about remembering what day it is.  But happy birthday!  Everyone is getting so big and grown up. 

This week we had intercambios with the hermanas from La Espiga.  Hna Vela y Hna Camez.  They are super great girls. They have super powerful testimonies. I went with Hna Vela and everyone gave us food. We drank from coconuts and then they cut the coconut up for us to eat. It was so good. It tasted a lot like almonds.  A HUGE almond.  We had it all day, munching along the way but it never got smaller. We didn´t know what to do with it because we were also given bananas. Then tamales. It was great because we didn´t get hunger during the proselitismo and we needed the strength because we helped move one of our recent converts from her house. Phewph. 

After that, our whole district got food in the plaza near our house. It was really fun to have more people there. 

We found a really really awesome family this week. No, two families!  They are so great. They understood everything we taught them.  We asked questions and they responded after thinking for themselves about what it means to repent and how every step of the gospel is important.  We were going to look for an antiguo investidagdor in one part of our area that we haven’t visited before and we hopped in a mototaxi and said "um you can drop us off here" because we had no idea where to start. So in that spot, we started walking and we heard some kids playing so we climbed up the hill where their house was and asked for some name, (I don´t remember which name we used), but the whole family was there talking and they were so friendly and they let us in and we chatted and we taught them the third lesson and they accepted a baptismal date. But they were almost impossibly perfect so that we weren’t sure if they understood.  So we asked them again if they would accept to be baptized and they said yes again. What is really awesome is that they already know the bishop in our ward. They work together.  Talk about wow how the lord works. He places us in the right situations all the time. He has so many people prepared.

We also found a family who want to learn so much about the gospel. They have a daughter who is super ready, she just needs a friend to support her. We will go with one of the young women to visit her. She is really really smart and super excited about the gospel.

We went to the council of leaders again this week. Hna Jara and Hna Evans both bore their testimonies because this was their last consejo. It was actually really sad. Two of my companions are leaving the mission for good!  My mother (entrenadora-Hna Jara) won’t be here to support me. I have to be a big kid. Not gonna lie. I cried when she gave her testimony. Their missions are over. I am going to miss them super bad. 

I am learning to be a more loving person who shows emotion. It is hard but little by little…. you know how it goes. It is really hard. 

Today for p-day we played a whole bunch of games. We played volleyball and we played with balloons and we played with cups and then we ate and now we are here writing.

I hope that all is well!

I pray for you! I love you! Feel free to send me pictures of your lives. I don´t care if they are glamour shots but glamour shots would be welcome too, jaja.  I want to see you people. Sheesh. :)

I love you all and I want you to know that every time we teach the restoration of the gospel my testimony grows. I feel the spirit testify of its truth. I haven´t seen God nor Jesus Cristo but I can tell you that I have felt their love and that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, restored by a modern-day prophet named Joseph Smith. We have a prophet hoy in dia also named Thomas S. Monson. I know that he has been called of God. I love this gospel. I love my savior Jesus Christ. I have a testimony of these things. If you want to strengthen your testimony, share it. Pray. Read your scriptures. Then act on what the spirit teaches you. You will grow to be strong in your belief, but you have to act.  A testimony doesn´t come without sacrifice on our part. 

I know these things are true, and I share this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.