Hey this week there are changes in the mission... but I’m not going anywhere! Ahhhhhhhhh I’m going to kill Hna Salguero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is going to be our 4th change together!!! I was actually packing my stuff last night because I was sure that they were going to separate us! 

But today they called us while we were cleaning the house and told us that neither of us would be leaving the area! I’m probs going to be in Chaparrastique a total of 4 changes because after this change, Hna Salguero goes home and I will have to teach the other Hna that comes to our area.

If someone wants to translate this, it is part of the letter to president:

yancy esta progresando. ella va a cumplir 9 años esta semana y nos enseño su libro de mormon donde habia leido de la introduccion hasta la mitad del testimonio de jose smith. ella esta poniendo todo su esfuerzo en leer. llego a la iglesia con su libro de mormon y tiene mucho apoyo de su tia y tio. solo su abuela esta haciendo comentarios que ella no debe bautizarse hasta que tiene 13 años como su hermano david pero ella tiene mucho deseo de poder bautizarse.

ayer fuimos a una colonia en busca de una familia menos activa la abuela se llama dinora. y cuando estabamos preguntando por ellos, las personas nos dijeron que vivieron en una casa de la colonia. tocamos alli y entramos solo para encontrarnos en la casa de la persona equivocada que se llama nora. hablamos y descubrimos que son antiguos investigadores super positivos y sacaron su libro de mormon. solo nos dijeron sus preguntas y que la razon que no se bautizaron es que creen en su bautismo. presentamos la restauracion y ellos entendieron la apostasia muy bien, y explicamos el sacerdocio pero no acepto una fecha. pero va a acompañarnos a la iglesia el domingo

(This is Google Translate’s version):

Yancy is making progress. She will turn 9 this week and showed us her book of Mormo

n where she had read from the introduction to the middle of the testimony of Joseph Smith. She is putting all her effort into reading. She comes to the church with her book of Mormon and has a lot of support from her aunt and uncle. Only her grandmother is making comments that she should not be baptized until she is 13 years old as her brother David, but she has a lot of desire to be baptized.

Yesterday we went to a colony in search of a less active family. The grandmother is called Dinora. And when we were asking about them, people told us they lived in a house in the colony. We walked there and went inside only to find ourselves in the house of the wrong person called Nora. We talked and found out that they were formerly super-positive investigators and took out their Book of Mormon. They only told us their questions and that the reason they were not baptized is that they believe in their baptism. We presented the restoration and they understood the apostasy very well, and explained the priesthood but they do not accept a baptismal date. But he is going to accompany us to the church on Sunday.

You won’t be able to put it in google translate because it lacks a lot of tildes but someone who speaks will be able to understand.

Today we went to a place a little bit like Yellowstone where the hot air from the volcano gets released and it is like a sauna and it was really funny because the Elders from Jucuapa were there too and they were trying to cook eggs. Haha it was pretty funny.

We really are sooo happy to still be here in Chaparrastic, but it has been hard to find new investigators in these days. We hope that there are more that will be ready to accept the gospel in their lives. We know that they are out there.

This week I was reading in Helaman at the end when Samuel the Lamanite is teaching from the wall and how the people who listened and  believed went to Nefi who had already taught them. But these people remembered that he had the truth and got baptized. Also when Alma the Younger was called to repentance and that he was in the gall of bitterness  but remembered the words of his father when he taught of Jesus Christ.  The people that we teach right now might not accept the gospel but there will come a time when they will remember what we taught them and know that it is true and will have a change of heart and will be ready to really accept the gospel in their lives

I love you all so much!  Hna Ashton

Joy Ashton	3:27 PM

On Tuesday we had intercambios with the Hnas of the Pacifica, Hna Lopez and Hna Cabrera. They are really fun. Hna Lopez goes home at the end of this change. She is a really great missionary. Now she only has 9 days left.  Ja ja that is crazy. 

Whoa! Brayden comes home so soon! Take a picture of the case with all our plaques. I want to see the four of us together.

On Wednesday we went to the hospitla again for Hna Salguero’s back. She had a mucsle spasm so we got that fixed. 

On Thursday we went to Chinameca and did intercambios there with Hna Ochoa and Hna Garcia. Their area is super, super good. I would like to go there if I have changes. It is super cool and fresh and the people are so nice.  We found a lot of really positive people who will probably go to church and get baptized. It is always so nice to find part member families. 

We are teaching the little sister of David and she is so adorable. She has 8 years and is super smart and loves to go to church. She is now starting to read the Book of Mormon and has friends at church too, which is so great.

That is one of the things that helps most with investigators- when they have a friend at church, who calls them, who reminds them about their commitments, who encourages them and is always there to support them. If you guys see someone new at church, you should go up to them and talk to them and make them your friend. They are children of God who are searching for the truth and it is so big that they are even at church. 

Also, are you all doing your family home evenings? Do they edify? Are they fun? Does everyone look forward to them? Are you inviting non-members? If not, start to do these things. I am pretty sure that as descendants of Ephraim, it is not so much a choice as it is a responsibility.  Missionary work is not just for us with tags. It is something that we have to do in every minute. We can talk to anyone and everyone about the gospel. Just open your mouth.

I also found in the house a new testament where one side of the page is in Spanish and the other side is in English. It isn’t published by the church but it is super nice because if I come to a word I don’t know, I learn it. it also doesn’t weigh as much as the complete Holy Bible. I have marked almost all the scriptures from the first three lessons in their coordinating colors blue, orange and green and made tabs to that it is easy to find all the references depending on what we teach, like prophets and dispensations, or the importance of the laying on of hands, etc. I am very proud of it. :)

I am so happy with our new President and his wife!  They are so loving and kind.  They care a lot about us and have a lot of plans to help us reach our potential. One of their goals is that instead of our goals for baptism every month, we are going to put goals for every week. Hey, que trabajar! (Hey, what’s work)!

I have to say that my testimony of the restoration is a lot stonger nowdays than it was before. The apostasy was real. This is the church of Jesus Christ on earth again with all the bases that Jesus established. 

The church is true! This is the way. 

Have a good week!

Love,  Hna Ashton

This week was fun! It has been raining a ton here and we got drenched. But not just a little bit. We got home and we were going to change but surprise, we didn’t have any clean clothes because the stuff that we washed was set out to dry...

But we broke out the root beer that we found at Walmart and the ice cream and made root beer floats!!!!!!! They were super delish. A taste of USA USA USA!

FELIZ INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!!! Blow up some fireworks for me!!!! And eat a lot of watermelon!

We have been eating more fruits here lately because we are fat. We are also doing exercise in the mornings like a good missionary should and it has been really good. We have been a little more conscious of the fact that our clothes are slightly smaller. We are not the problem. The clothes are the problem. 

So I want to extend the same invitation to you all. That starting now, we all do AT LEAST half an hour of exercise every day  because as slightly chubby people, we tend to get chubbier and I want to have a team to motivate me. 

Will you do it with me? Exercise!!!!!!! Yes! And eat more veggies and fruits. Today we ate a whole papaya because they say that it helps people lose weight haha because it sends you to the bathroom... haha! I testify of that!  Haha.

But tony, from p90x is motivating us with his "I hate it, but I love it!" 

But this is because our bodies are the temples of our spirits. It needs to be pristine to welcome the Holy Ghost. 

There is also the need to be spiritually fit. How do we do that? Read. Pray. Go to church. Those are the things that we have to do… the exercise part. But what is the nutrition part? The nutrition part is to put what we learn in accion (action). Reject anything that degrades us spiritually. Be our own agents. (Use our free agency wisely).

You can do it!  And so can I! 

I love you alllllllll!!!!

Hna Ashton