Week 78

Mom!!

Overall though this week was AWESOME!! T is as ready as they get for baptism this week! He and all the ward are very excited for him! We also have some other really really cool investigators progressing for baptism as well! We then had another miracle of a member bringing one of their friends from work to church and he's gonna get taught by the missionaries up in Daytona which is where he lives! The ward here does well at inviting people to church and activities, so it helps the work go better for us obviously! We had a great lesson in Elders Quorum though and I wanted to share what I took from it. We studied from the President Howard W Hunter book and there were some amazing quotes in this chapter.

"We will all have some adversity in our lives. I think we can be reasonably sure of that. Some of it will have the potential to be violent and damaging and destructive. Some of it may even strain ourf aith in a loving God who has the power to administer relief in our behalf. To those anxieties I think the Father of us all would say, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” And of course that has to be faith for the whole journey, the entire experience, the fullness of our life, not simply around the bits and pieces and tempestuous moments. … Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” D&C 90:24 "Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another." My message to you today is to “fear not, little flock.” It is to encourage you to rejoice in the great blessings of life. It is to invite you to feel the great thrill of gospel living and our Father in Heaven’s love. Life is wonderful, even in the hard times, and there is happiness, joy, and peace at stops all along the way, and endless portions of them at the end of the road. Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right. …"

I think we all can apply this more in our lives. If we truly are centered on Jesus Christ, then we have absolute no need to fear. But for some reason, we, especially including me, still fear ALLL the time! And that shows a lack of faith and hope. So I'm really going to try hard this week to just not fear and focus all my thoughts and actions on all the things that could go right rather then focusing on preventing bad things to happen all the time. Living like that is complete torture, so I'm going to stop… Haha

I'm super glad to hear that Stevo and the Trips are doing well!

I love you!!❤️❤️

Love Elder A!

Sunrise from our apartment!

Back to back exchanges!! Idk how I made it the whole day without passing out!
Wednesday night we were up till 1:30, Thursday was 12, Friday was 12:30, and Saturday was 12....
 #YOSO (you only serve (full-time) once) haha

Exchanges with my old comp Elder Terry!

So the story behind all these selfies is we had to go up to Orlando to take care of some top secret business ;) Well we got on the turnpike (highway/Toll Road) at around 9:45 and before we knew it we were at a complete stand still. We could see tons and tons of police cars up ahead and fire trucks kept passing us on the side of the road to get up to whatever the problem was. Well after sitting there for an hour and a half we decided to go dukes of hazard in the truck and we popped the curb and went into the woods off the side of the highway to get to another road that would let us get outta that mess! Haha needless to say I got way bored and started to mess around with my camera and the long exposure shutter speed features and actually got some decent pics!

 

Stole a kids hover board and started to ride it to all our appointments ;)
Haha jk, just saw a kid on one and asked if I could ride it!
He said "man, you're a natural" haha they're pretty fun!

Week 77

Hey mom!!

So this week was great! T passed his baptismal interview which was awesome! We are very excited for him. He's been telling everyone in our ward about his baptism so hopefully it's a good turn out :) We also picked up some really really cool new investigators this week which was just what we needed. We have some high goals set, so we need a lot of solid people to achieve them! C, who was the one who just showed up to church last week came again this week and has been reading from the Book of Mormon quite a bit and is really enjoying it which is great! Our investigator E who is J's cousin came to church as well and he's been going each Wednesday for YM to play basketball which has helped him a lot! That social conversion is very important in missionary work. B is still working hard to get work off, but she's been reading a lot a lot and we've been getting lots of members over with us to help us teach so that when she can come she'll know lots of members and hit the ground running. We have a dinner with her and the 2nd counselor in the bishopric and his family this Tuesday which will be great. So overall, things are going very well! I studied "meekness" a lot this week and found some cool things! In the topical guide it links "meekness" with "teachable". In the scriptures is says often that it's the "Meek and lowly in heart" that will inherit the kingdom of our Father. Well I studied further and we become more meek through repentance. So this week, I've been trying very hard to repent more of all I do wrong. I've noticed more of the mistakes I make, but I've also seen myself get stronger as I repent right away of little habits or wrong things I do. I'm more aware of my thoughts and actions and its been helping me a lot!

I'm glad to hear you had fun in Boston! How did Stevo play? I miss you so much! Thanks for the package! I've been gaining some weight back little by little ☺️☺️

I love youuuu❤️

Love Elder Ashworth☺️❤️

Selfie stick fun!

Preparing Tom for his baptism!

Sushi!

Took Sebastian out to a lesson with a strait Rastafarian Jamaican guy!

Mission life can be tough sometimes ;) This was at our investigator Toms house!

We decided to sit up as high as we could so our heads would touch the ceiling so people we
drove by would think we were 7 feet tall. We got some funny looks!

Week 76

Hey mom!! This week was probably the busiest week of my mission. I know I said that last week, but this one trumps them all I think. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we went to all of Presidents interviews so that we could be there to help the meeting go smoothly and also because we have a relay race game we've been playing which has been fun. It's a PMG relay race where each companionship goes against each other and has to do half PMG Chpt 10 "teaching skills" activities and then half random activities like shooting a free-throw, bouncing a ping pong ball around a chair and back, guessing how many M&M's are in the jar, making a put put golf shot and things of that nature! Haha the best part about it though is that we have them dress up in a Santa costume as well as a Captain Jack Sparrow costume which just makes it way funny! Getting taught the Restoration simply by Santa makes it hard to keep a strait face :) Haha then on Friday we had to take E Langston to Vero to take over the new Zone down there and then got to spend the rest of our day with Elder Mejia because he's coming up to Hunter's Creek to do YSA work since E Langston took his spot. Saturday was a big teaching day for us and it was full of miracles! Our investigator T who we've been working with for like 4 months out of nowhere wants to be baptized on the 30th... Haha we were pretty shocked to be honest. We went over to his house to drop him and it ended up that it went the opposite direction then we thought it would. But hey, we won't complain! He came to church yesterday and was telling everyone about his baptism on the 30th and how he knows this is the one true church and me and E Johnson were just in shock! And then to top that off, a guy named C who the Spanish sisters in the stake knocked into randomly just showed up to church and absolutely loved it and wants to be taught and come every week! We see a lot of potential in him! We then had a lesson with our investigator B and the Elders Quorum presidents house last night and that was a spiritual lesson. Overall it was a busy, but miracle filled week! This week in my personal study I came across a couple great quotes on "being commanded In all things" as it talks about in D&C 58. "Indecision is fatal. It is better to make the wrong decision than build up a habit of indecision. If you're wallowing in indecision, you certainly can't act, and action is the basis of success." So many missionaries are indecisive because they feel like the Holy Ghost has to tell them everything they need to do. If they don't feel like the Holy Ghost told them to do it, then they won't do it. Now the desires of their hearts are great, but doing missionary work like that closes so many doors of opportunities. At the end of Chapter 4 "recognizing and understanding the spirit" in PMG there is a great quote about this from Elder Dallin H Oaks “[A person may have] a strong desire to be led by the Spirit of the Lord but … unwisely extends that desire to the point of wanting to be led in all things. A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable. We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment. I love this quote for so many different reasons. I've personally found in my missionary work that the miracles and blessings I have seen has come from action. Just being aware of our surroundings and capitalizing on opportunities God slips in our path on a daily basis has brought so many great things. Many times if my companion and I would have sat back and tried to 'pray out' our next decisions for a couple minutes, we would've missed lots and lots of opportunities. Most the time, we just need to act. We know the difference between a right choice and a wrong choice, so we don't have to think about those, but with many other choices, Heavenly Father leaves it up to us. Lots of times it is a "Good, better, best" but often it's also "best, best, best" We just have to act on our feelings and if it's really not right, Heavenly Father WILL tell us. Learning this has helped me so so so much. I feel like I've been able to come into contact and teach many more people then I would have if I was a tentative missionary. My personality of "Go Go Go!" And making plans on the go has provided me with lots of opportunities to introduce the gospel or re-introduce the gospel to lots of amazing people.

That makes me sooo happy to hear that Steven did really well!! I'm so so excited for him! :) How was your week?? I miss you guys! I'm excited to go out to lunches with you again when I get home! I'm excited for a lot of things!

I miss you a lot mom!! Thanks for everything! Elder Johnson LOVED his tie!! He said to say thanks!

Love you!
Love Elder Ashworth!

Bye bye Langston

Just driving back late from some meetings

Just got some nice RAYZZ during my personal study ;)

Dropping off Elder Langston in Vero

Playing with the kids until dinner was ready! He kinda looks like Miles!





Week 75

Hey mom!

So this week was one of the busiest weeks of my mission! We first had to pick up the newbies on Monday and then get them settled in at Presidents for the night. We got to roll play with them and it was SOOO awkward with them!! Haha its always soooo funny roll playing with them because they are so new and timid to teach! So we had to help them a decent amount which was ok. We then had transfers on Tuesday which is always NUTSSS!! And then right at the end, to top it all of, there was a trio of sisters who were white washing a new area and were also In a car share so they got stuck at the church and didn't have a ride to their new area!! So Elder J and I had to take them to their new area in and help them unpack all their stuff! Then everyday after that we got to go train all the Zone Leaders and District Leaders which is always fun! It's cool to train brand new District Leaders because a lot of them are really really eager to learn and improve, which is obviously the best kind of people to work with! Those who are open to advice and ready to improve! So I've been trying my best to be like that! Then on Wednesday was J's baptism and it was AWESOME!! She asked me to baptize her which was absolutely amazing! It was exactly what I needed this week!! Her moms non member friend came as well and he really really liked it and now we're teaching him! His names C and he's totally solid! Plus, we're almost positive that he has a thing for J's mom, so hopefully we can just have her "flirt to convert" as we like to say! ;) On Thursday we had MLC with President and Sister Berry, the ZL's and the Sister Training Leaders. These meetings are almost always focused on being trained and having discussions on how to become more effective and spiritual teachers and leaders, but this time we had to talk about helping our missionaries keep cleaner apartments.... I literally almost RIPPED MY HAIR OUT!!! Ask all the Zone Leaders!! They were all chuckling at me cuz they could tell I was going insane inside that we had to talk about such a pathetic topic. I literally DO NOT understand how 18,19,20 & 21 year olds can be so un-organized and un-reliable! I sometimes feel like we are babysitters. But it needed to be talked about. After the meeting, President came up to me and said something about one of the comments I made about how "embarrassing" it is that we had to talk about this subject at an MLC. We started talking and I realized that I could go into any Elders and Sisters apartment and tell you within a matter of minutes how many lessons they teach and how often they baptize. The same goes for looking through their Preach My Gospel. You can tell SOOOO much about missionaries by the cleanliness of their apartments and the in depth markings and wear and tear of their Preach My Gospel manuals. The same usually goes for people's yards. If someone has a sloppy yard, they a lot of times have a sloppy or un-organized life. Those are just my thoughts on that... As you can tell I'm not a very opinionated person ;) Then on Sunday we had a stake conference because the ward boundaries are getting all mixed up. One of the Bishops who got released said something super awesome! He shared a story about how when he was a priest he and three of his friends decided to all read the BOM on their own and they're all still active and so are all their kids. He then said that there were 4 other priests who didn't read the BOM on their own and they were all in-active now. He later said "Reading the Book of Mormon isn't just reading a book, it's an EXPERIENCE!"... "For all you youth who are older then 16 and haven't read the Book of Mormon all the way through on their own, I worry very deeply for you and for your future in this church" He then went on to bare solemn witness of the Savior and of the divinity of the church and the Book of Mormon and it was soooo powerful! We need to go into reading the Book of Mormon with a changed attitude, and changed desire, and then watch it, and more importantly let it change our nature and who we are. This week I was also studying in PMG Chpt 6 under obedience and I came across this great quote by Elder L Tom Perry. "The discipline contained in daily obedience and clean living and wholesome lives builds an armor around you of protection and safety from the temptations that beset you as you proceed through mortality.” I love that quote because I can definitely testify that when I'm keeping the commandments, it's 100X's easier to cast off temptation! One last thing I'll share about something I learned was from the chapter heading of Alma 27. It says "Ammons joy exhausts his strength" and it made me think, does this gospel, or other people's progression, or our love for our friends, families, and spouses bring us so much joy that it "Exhausts our strength?" I feel like that's
something we could all work on, is getting more Joy out of the small, simple, but yet so significant things of life! Overall, it was a great and eventful week!

I miss you a lot. Thank you for praying for me! I still need those. I miss you guys!

Love Elder Ashworth

Elder J and I coming back from dropping off the departing missionaries
at the airport at 4:45 am... Dead tired!!