Week 13

So this past week so suuuper busy! The Lord is blessing us with so many teaching opportunities its crazy! It seems like every appointment that falls through, the first person we see we get to teach! Haha its so sweet! I love Florida so much. The people here are old and bitter like the Kastanzas, but we find a lot of young nice people as well! We were able set a couple new baptismal dates this past week with some solid investigators. We had the impression to just go drop in on one of our investigators, while riding over their we saw two kids and their grandma taking in groceries. We helped them out and just strait out asked if we could share a message with them about Jesus Christ and how his church is back on the earth today. They agreed and we were able to sit down with them and the two kids and teach them all the Restoration. Well it turns out that their grandma was baptized like 25 years ago but just hasn't had her records moved. She now attends a seventh day Adventist church but is ok with us teaching her two kids. They are really excited to get baptized! They tell us every visit how they cant wait to have all their sins washed away! Its really cool to see the change its already making in their lives.

I would share more experiences but I kinda feel like its bragging in a way... haha i know its not but I just feel more comfortable saying that we are doing well here in Clermont. This area is gonna explode pretty soon and I hope I'm still here to see it happen. Transfers are next week so I'll probably be staying here but with a new companion. The members here are all so amazing! I love them all so much! Thank you for all your support and prayers. I can't believe how quick times flyin by. Already two transfers out and i feel like i've been out a week!

Love you all so so so much!! Keep your eyes open for missionary opportunities! We always use the excuse that since we live in Utah we don't know any non members, but we all know that's garbage. Satan wants us to make excuses, so find someone who isn't a member, or less active, and just invite them to do some type of church related thing. I can promise our family will see so many blessings come from it

Have a great week and keep me posted on all the kids sports! Love you guys tons

Love Elder Ashworth

Week 12

Sorry that pic was super bad quality but I thought you'd like it. Her name is C and she has been baptized but now we are teaching her grandson and he should be baptized soon! I’m still goin crazy over how you were here just last week! You guys are nuts!! I love those pics though :)

So this past week has been crazy busy! We are having to schedule appointments a week in advance now. I was looking over the numbers from the months before i got here and each month they have gone up. Right now is about the best this area has done in a while. I know its not because of me though. Its because of Heavenly Father. My comp and I are trying really really hard to stick to the basics and just take every teaching opportunity we can get. We do a really spiritually lead weekly planning and it seems like every lesson that falls through, we end up finding someone right in that same area to teach!! Its so amazing! I feel so blessed to have a good amount of success this early in my mission. My Trainer said that i am learning and progressing a lot quicker then most missionaries usually do because I've had so many opportunities to teach and everything. I don't know why im being blessed with this, but I sure am grateful for it.

N is doing well. We just picked him back up and are going to try and teach him a little slower this time. He said he felt rushed at first so we are going to work on that. He is easily persuaded and "moved" so we try to go over the spirit a lot so he knows when he truly is feeling the spirit. All our investigators we teach we give them pretty a promised 4 step program to receive their answer from God. 1. Read the BOM everyday. 2. Pray every night and morning and ask specific questions such as "Is the Book of Mormon the word of God and Was Joseph Smith a true prophet" 3. Come to church every week. and 4. is be in daily contact with us missionaries so we can answer any questions they have. One thing we are struggling with is getting them to come to church. They do the first 3 but dont come to church. Its ok though, its a work in progress.

Their is a lot of potential here. This place is about to explode, me and my companion can sense it. We just have to continue to be humble, faithful, and do our part such as studying from PMG and the scriptures as much as possible so God can trust putting his Children in our hands.

Time is flying by too quick. I don’t like it. I don’t want it to go by this fast. It not that I don’t miss you guys, I just am learning so many things and this is the happiest I’ve ever been. Every night I am so exhausted I can barley plan for the next day. That’s what makes it so fun though :)

Love you all so much!!! Thanks for all the support and packages!! They help me out more then you guys think! Remember, STICK TO THE BASICS!! Read, Pray, Go to church and serve others and everything will work out the way God wants it too!

Love Elder Ashworth

Week 11

Ya i heard that BYU lost:( Its so sad! But whatever, they'll get another chance in the upcoming years! I did get the suit! Thank you so much!! It fits well:) I also got the shoes but need to send them back today. They should be coming soon. I didn't pick up the other package of pants though. We never got a package note or anything so maybe theyre still coming! Thank you so much for all you do mom. You dont know how much I truly appreciate you. You are the best mom ever. Thank you for being so supportive and sending me things that im in need of! I did however find a SICK suit at the Good Will thrift shop for $15 so my suits will be still nice enough to wear when i get home to save some money. You are the best!! Love yo millions

I'm currently in 2 Nephi after restarting and its crazy how much courage Nephi had. He is such an amazing example to me and to all of us. This past General Conference was so amazing! All of those talks hit the spot on many different aspects. Our investigator needed to take a little break he said because his son just got out of jail and his wife tried to kill herself which isnt good. We insured him that his life would be better if he continued to read and to pray and he said he would. We should be stopping by in a day or two to see how hes going. He'll get baptized, im sure of it! We were able to stop by and teach two Inactive members and committed them to come to church. and guess what, they did!! It was awesome to see all the members go up and give them hugs and congratulate us on getting them back. We obviously took none of the credit and told them that it wasnt us but was Heavenly Father. The spirit is so strong out here. We met a ton of new people this week to teach so it should be really busy. We are already running out of times to meet all the people we need too and are having to schedule over a week in advance.

The work is going to move forward whether satan likes it or not, thats the bottom line. I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of it. Love you so much.

Love Elder Ashworth

They got caught in a rainstorm and were soaking wet by the time they got home haha

It has been an unusually wet summer so it rains almost everyday.

This pic reminded Tyler of his friend Elder Cole Johnson serving in Korea :)

Week 10

How good was Conference?? I loved every single talk! Each one said something that I could apply to our investigators.

Elder Holland never disappoints. With how much we have been given we should give just as much back. It really hit home because it made me realize how much I have been given in life. It makes me feel so grateful and sad at the same time. I have taken so much for granted all my life. Here in Florida almost everyone is in debt. Their houses are almost always a wreck, and they don't even know the true purpose to life. Most people say to learn and to just make it through so you can live with God again. Its not just about making it through. It's about enjoying life and all that Heavenly Father has given us such as a body, friends and family, a wonderful world to live on and explore. Money is not a part of Gods plan. Unfortunately we need it to survive on this earth. But with those that do have money they are expected and commanded to give back as much as they can.

Elder Bednar gave an amazing investigator talk! I loved how he used that band-aid example to missionary work. That is exactly how I see it. I have something that I want to share with everyone because of how much it has helped me in life.

Another one I liked was the one by Tadd R Callister where he talked about worldy distractions. I pictured dad saying right after he gave his talk about being sent to the library by his mom and not being able to watch TV "Ok Stevo and Trips, we're cancelling our Direct TV account and are gonna start reading more" haha and then i can hear them saying back "Haha good one Dad, Mom would never let that happen! How would she watch her 1920's BYU Football re-runs"  :):):) haha

 Did you guys go to Gunlock for Conference?

So I wrote you a letter and it should be there within the next week! It shares more details about the work going on right now here in Clermont.

Florida is so amazing! The weather is perfect right now.

Love you so much!!

Love Elder Ashworth

Week 9

Dear Momma Bear

This week has been amazing! Everyday its rained which I love! I love the rain so much. I made my trainer go out and track in the rain because riding the bike in the rain is way fun and i hate sitting inside just making phone calls haha. He was afraid that we were gonna get sick but i trusted in the Lord more then he did and knew we wouldn't :) Well last night i threw up from biking in the rain all day.... haha jk jk! (I crack myself up sometimes)

So im still with the same Comp Elder Hemsley. He just got called to be district leader which is really cool! He's a great missionary and now i get to go on exchanges with all the district and the Zone Leaders which will be cool. I'm trying to learn as much as i can these next couple months so i can hit my peak earlier and stay there for as long as i can. This week we went over to N and taught him about the word of wisdom. We then figured out that he's been struggling with his baptismal date. He doesn't feel like hes received and answer yet. He trusts us with all his heart because he says he can just tell we are good guys. So right now we are working on him get his own answer so he can hopefully still get baptized on the 11th.

Yesterday we were suppose to have 4 investigators show up and one family.... well none of them showed and I was kinda down on myself. We emphasized how church is one of the greatest places to receive answers from our heavenly father. So i thought that my whole Sunday was going to be bad but then 30 min before church got out we got a text from one of our new investigators C that she was outside! So we ran out there and just gave her a quick tour of the church. Everyone was saying hello to her and i could tell by her smile that she felt very welcomed. Another great thing was that right after church yesterday there was a member baptism! So we got C to stay and watch that! I know that was some hard core divine intervention.

We are seeing miracles everyday out here and its awesome! I love it so much. I hit the pillow every night and pass out. Im working as hard as i possibly can and I'm seeing miracles come from it! I read over the story of The brother of Jared today and it just reminded me how much faith plays a part in all of our lives. Without faith, life would basically suck. Glad everything's great back at home! I fixed my shoe with some super glue but now the heel fell off so I'm gonna have to fix that :) haha Love you all so much!!!

Love Elder Ashworth.