Week 96

Mom!

I hope Brandon does well in his baseball tourney! Thanks for the updates this week! I love those so thank you ☺️😘❤️

Ahh man Fathers and Sons camp bring back a lot of great memories! I hope the boys have a really fun time on their campout! I hated campouts but I'm glad they're excited!

So this week was good overall. we are seeing tons and tons of miracles and work is getting done, this area has never done better then it is now, so that's great! We found an AWESOME family of 5 yesterday! We had a member out with us and we taught this single mom and her 4 kids who are all above the baptismal age which was exciting! They seem very sincere and they really liked what we had to say! They're coming to church this week and we're meeting with them twice before that! So that was a cool miracle! We had two other investigators named Yuri and Coleen who are both kinda on the edge of being dropped. But we were able to have two good lessons this week where we told them that if they don't start coming to church and reading their scriptures that we'll have to stop coming over. We went through Acts 19 with them and Mathew 3:11 and some other scriptures about baptism by authority and after those lessons they began to understand the significance of what we were saying. They should both be coming to church this next week and are currently praying hard about baptismal dates for The end of June! We've been seeing a lot of Less Actives and part member families as well and most of them are making some good progress! So all those things were great! This week as I was studying for some of our investigators I came across the baptismal requirements for about the 100th time, but this time something new stuck out to me. So in Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 it lists off the requirements for baptism

Humble themselves before God
   Desire to be baptized.
   Come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits.
   Repent of all their sins
   Be willing to take upon them the name of Christ.
   Have a determination to serve Christ to the end.
   Manifest by their works that they have received the Spirit of Christ.

So when we teach our investigators we teach them that partaking of the sacrament each week is just like being baptized again. Well if that's true then that means that we need to prepare ourselves each week as if we were getting baptized again. I tried to do that this past week and it made my sacrament experience even that much better! And that's something I needed this Sunday especially with the talks that were given! Let's just make the story short and say one lady tried to share a video from her phone over the pulpit by putting the speaker up to he mic! Luckily our bishop got up about 5 seconds after she started the video and told her she couldn't do that!! Haha and then in gospel principles the lesson was on exaltation and becoming gods and the class was going nutsss!! Other then that tho this Ward is pretty normal! Haha

Elder Tredinnick and I get a long great so that's good!

I love you mom! Have a great week!!

Love Elder Ashworth☺️❤️

Got to go on exchanges with Elder Jennings! This one guy had a sweet snapback
hat that he was getting rid of that was brand new so i basically just asked him if i could
have it and so thats why i have a hat on in one of the pics!

Elder Donnelly and i are in the same zone!
I got to serve with him over a year ago and so its been fun to be around him again!

This guy has these sitting on his front porch and it always gets me when we drive by!
I always think its a real person and so i had to stop by and get a pic with it!

Week 95

Mom!! That's soooo awesome to hear about how well the boys are doing in all their sports! I'm excited to come to games when I get home!:) Erin just said that Grandpa was being hilarious!! Haha what was he doing? Those videos are pretty hilarious tho! The experiences you have on your mission just create so many funny and also spiritual memories!!

So this week was pretty good! Tuesday I was on exchanges and it went well! I went with our ZL who I came out with and we stayed up late talking about the Zone and its needs. I really miss having lots of exchanges with ZL's so we can talk about each of their Zones. I liked having convos about that and seeing them apply why we talked about on exchanges and seeing the whole Zone change for the better! That was always fun to see. Wednesday it POURED rain on us while biking so that was fun! :) It was hot all week so I sweated my booty off!! But it was worth it cuz we had a sweet week! I got lots of members out with us so we only biked for like half of most days cuz we always had a member to come out with us at night which is always effective. The members make a HUGE difference in investigators and less actives conversion and retention. We were able to see 6 or 7 less actives come to church which was awesome to see! We then had dinner at the bishops house with a recent convert and her daughter Christelle who isn't a member so we're teaching her. It was great! They could tell the bishop really cared about them and I think it will help Christelle in her conversion process. Overall things are going pretty good.
Love Your Son Elder Ashworth️

I found this flag on the street so i put it in my helmet and started to ride around with it!
Haha Elder Tredinnick felt embarrassed to even ride by me so he would stay
back about 100 yards to not fully associate himself with me hahah

Personal studies are fun!

Got SOAKED in the pouring rain so we had to dry out at an investigators house for a bit!

We eat lunch at the other elders apartments cuz they live in our area so its more convenient.
Elder Coley with the sandwich actually went to Lone Peak! We didnt know each other tho haha

Got to go on exchanges with Elder Lefholtz who i came out with!

Had to put all my stuff in a plastic bag cuz it rained so hard and was seeping through
my "rain proof" backpack haha

Week 94

Mom!! Thank you so so so much for all the emails and prayers! They helped me a lot. I am so thankful for you. You're the best mom, I'm serious, you're literally the best! So this week went great!! Ocoee is EXACTLY what I expected!! The people here are so humble and caring and nice and open that you can't not love them! Elder Tredinnick and I worked hard this week. It has been great getting to know this Japanese Canadian 😉 He's a super chill dude! We play darts every night after our long hard day of work and even tho I always win and get the bullseye first, we're still good friends!! We found new investigators this week, we found new less active part member families to work with, our Investigator D-Shawn came to church and we set a baptismal date for June 11 with a recent converts daughter named Christelle which we were ULTRA PUMPED about! We were in the car this week, so next week is bike week which should be fun! Maybe I can get all the kids to introduce us to their parents by popping a wheelie on my bike by them to get them to talk to us 😂😂 The thing is that all the kids here speak English, but almost all the parents only speak Hatian Creol. It's literally a whole different country down here in Ocoee. It will be a fun and memory filled transfer or two! The Ward is super super small but very humble. Not many leaders or youth, so we'll have to go baptize some. There were probably 95-120 people at sacrament yesterday but there's over 700 members on the rosters. We should be able to get some back to church.

Thank you so so much for the package Mom! I LOVED that tie!☺️ And this apartment was FILTHY so those wipes will help in keeping it clean! We did a deep clean the first night I got here and it helped a lot! The area was kinda dead to be honest. But it picked right up this last week. The thing is that yes I'm excited to be home and to advance and progress in different aspects of my life, but I'm not that affect the work. I'm going to finish strong work wise no matter what. Being lazy and slacking off just isn't in my nature. But I am very excited to be home!

I love you so much mom! I hope the trip and wedding went well! Thank you for all that you do for me mom. You don't even know how much I appreciate you. I can't explain it in words a lone. So I'll just have to show it by spending more time with you when I get home!☺️😘 I hope you are doing well!

 Love Elder Ashworth❤️

Sister Bromley made it safely!

Saying bye to the Mabey family! They're a cool couple!
We caught them in the middle of their P90X workout 

Teaching some less active ladies grand kids! Just showed them a quick video and prayed with them.
 They're not quite accountable yet!

Winning in darts!

These girls just ran up to us and asked if we had Jesus wrist bands.
We didn't but we had them read the scripture I've been memorizing
 that I had in my pocket! Haha

Week 93

So this week was wonderful! On Wednesday night we went to the church to see if any of our recent converts were there. Well when we got there we saw that one of our former investigators had come with our member Shawn to play some basketball. Well we pulled him and another member into a side room and taught him the restoration again. The spirit was super strong the entire lesson. He was asking perfect questions and it was an amazing lesson. Well at the end of it we taught him how to pray and had him say the kneeling closing prayer. At the end of the prayer I knew he had felt it when he asked if Joseph Smith was a prophet. I said to him "Barney (that's his nick name) you felt it and just received an answer didn't you. He said "yes" and so we committed him to be baptized in June. He accepted and he came to church this Sunday and really enjoyed it! The coolest thing that happened this week was Marcos's baptism! It was also super super spiritual and he bore his testimony afterwards about how the day we stopped by was the day that he was dealing with bad bad depression. He talked about how ever since that day his life has just gotten so much better and he's much happier and sees the bigger picture of life! It was very heart warming to hear him talk about that and know that Heavenly Father lead us to his house that day for a very specific purpose. Last but not least was talking to you guys!! I LOVE talking to you guys on Christmas and Mothers Day! I'm not going to lie tho, it's always an adjustment afterward tho! For about an hour I feel as if I'm back home! Then the second I hang-up reality hits again and I realize that I'm not home but that I'm still on my mission. Haha so that's hard for a bit but you just gotta snap out of it and carry on!

Love Elder Ashworth

Got to see my recent convert Sandy this week. I got some new sunglasses too.
Cant remember where i got them and dont know if they're mens or womens but who cares right? haha

We take the youth out a lot cuz they always have friends or family around that we can go teach!
  I'm gonna miss the youth here a lot!

Week 92

So this week was awesome!! I found out that I'm not training next transfer which is a bummer.... President didn't think that I was prepared enough.... Haha jk, there were a couple reasons why I'm not training but he said I'll be able to go with and help a younger missionary which will be just as good! I'm really excited to get a new scene! I've been AP here for 8 months and I've loved it! But it becomes very hard to plan and such when you know everyone here and know their schedules and when they can or can't meet! So going to a new area will be good for me! Marcos is SET AND READY for his baptism this Saturday! Man I'm so so so excited for him! He's such an answer to prayer! I prayed so hard at the beginning of the week that I'd be able to see one more conversion while I was here! Next thing you know, I run into Marcos on exchanges and he's progressed ever since! He's such an amazing guy! The ward is very very excited for him! We've also been able to find two more part member families who we're now working with which will be good! A lot of the Less Actives that we see have been coming back to church and it's been amazing to watch the light and love of the gospel wiggle it's way back into their lives! You can just look into their eyes and see that they are much happier then when we first met them. The problem in most of society is something that President Monson talked about in his General Conference Talk "choices". He said, "May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.". Most people these days act as the state of a liquid rather then a solid. They follow and choose the path of least resistance. Rather then pushing themselves to accomplish bigger and better things, they always and instinctively take the easiest route. It's like Laman and Lemuel. Laman and Lemuel were comfy and confident in their usual life back in Jerusalem. Their father warned them of the consequences of staying and they had to have seen the destruction of Jerusalem coming, but they knew that their journey through the wilderness would be very very long and hard. They didn't want to go because they knew they would have to work and would have to change their attitude. So, rather then allowing the situation and the Lord to change them and help them become better, they complained and ended up bringing a curse of laziness and entitlement upon most of their offspring. I see this all the time out here with Less Active members. They know the church is true, but they know that the second they start to come back to church they'll feel guilty for not keeping the commandments and will have to change and get rid of bad habits. So, they "choose the easier wrong" rather then "the harder right". Then, their children usually grow up with no spiritual foundation and end up similar to the lamanites. It's so sad to see, but that is what most the world is coming to. Sooooo, us as Latter-Day Saints have to always be the example of "choosing the harder right" and find joy, happiness, success and peace in doing so. I know that as we do that, we, and our families and friends that surround us will be blessed and will want to follow our Christlike example.

I love you soooo much mom!☺️❤️😘 I cannot wait to talk to you guys next week! We'll be skyping at 8pm our time so 6pm your time if that works for you! I miss you!

Love Elder Ashworth

SpongeBob lovers....

I decided to get a perm….or is it the humidity??? HAHA

Soooo Elder Langston is now my least fav comp I've had because he went
out and bought two of the same ties as me! Sooo mad... But it's ok, we
matched that day and it was fun. HAHA!!

Probably the last baptismal interview I'll do :( She's from the Philippines and passed with flying colors!

Buddy is one of their investigators that Elder Peacock and I found and taught about 3 times in St Cloud
about a year ago and now he's getting baptized in Vero beach!

Our adopted black child Shawn
Haha don't worry! He's ok with us calling him that

Caught a Lizard!