Week 87

Hey mom!!

Thank you first of all for the great packages! This week was crazy but great like usual! At the beginning of the week we had some fun exchanges with the Elders in Vero and then the ones who serve in my old ward of Kissimmee! So that was a lot of fun to see some people I was able to work with. I went to Vero with my old comp Elder Langston so that was a blast! We then had a lot of meetings and things to do to coordinate for this upcoming transfer. I am going to stay here for probably one more and then take a step up and train my last two! That's my guess but we'll see. On Saturday we had to drive up to Cocoa at 7 in the morning to deal with something and then came strait back and did some service at a homeless outreach center which was fun! It always feels great to do service like that. Then that night we topped it off with E’s baptism which was great. He, his mom, and his little brother all came to church and our Bishop was able to confirm him a member! His mom is reading from the Book of Mormon and is trying hard to find a schedule so she can come to church and be baptized as well! So that was really cool! We also met this Polly family named the M family this week who haven't been to church in over a year and they all came which was also another cool little miracle! Something crazy cool that happened just yesterday was that there's this Hawaiian family in our ward who have a Polynesian dancing group that performs at Universal Studios as well as up in the Panhandle of Florida. Well they have this lady from Brazil who's going to dance for them and she's been going to church for the past 3 years in Brazil as well as Switzerland but she still hasn't been baptized. She speaks perfect English because she went to Switzerland to get her masters degree in English. Well we met her at church and then set up a time that night to meet with her at the Hawaiian families house which is where she's staying right now and she's gonna get baptized this Saturday! We asked why she hasn't been baptized yet and she said "Well, nobody's asked me to be baptized so I didn't know if I could or not" Haha things just seem to continue to fall into place. Heavenly Father continues to bless us over and over again.

I wanted to share some things I've learned this past week. As I was reading through the lesson this week in "Teachings of Howard W Hunter" I came across a quote I really enjoyed. It says "As we evaluate our lives, it is important that we look, not only at our accomplishments but also at the conditions under which we have labored. We are each different and unique; we have each had different starting points in the race of life; we each have a unique mixture of talents and skills; we each have our own set of challenges and constraints with which to contend. Therefore, our judgment of ourselves and our achievements should not merely include the size or magnitude and number of our accomplishments; it should also include the conditions that have existed and the effect that our efforts have had on others. It is this last aspect of our self-evaluation--the effect of our lives on the lives of others--that will help us understand why some of the common, ordinary work of life should be valued so highly. Frequently it is the commonplace tasks we perform that have the greatest positive effect on the lives of others, as compared with the things that the world so often relates to greatness." As I read this I really realized how blessed I am and how blessed we all are to have been born into the gospel. We are starting much ahead in this race of life. But just as important and helpful as it's been for me personally to be born in the church, is the family that I've been born into. Being born into a solid family, one that's overall finacially stable, one that hasn't been split up by divorce, one that is active encouraging and motivated to do well has just enhanced the blessing of being born into the restored gospel that much more! I've realized on my mission that basically all the odds are in my favor. I have no reason to fail. If I don't accomplish something or fail it will only be because of me. Not my circumstances or the cards I've been dealt. Not because of my upbringing or a lack of education, it all falls on my shoulders. Realizing this has helped me a lot in appreciating all the small and simple things as well as not making excuses. It's also helped me realize the huge impact that all the people around me have made, especially my close friends and family. Obviously though all of my blessings and great circumstances have come from Heavenly Father. You can never acknowledge him too much. D&C 59:21 And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments. I'm so grateful for all the blessings I've received and will receive in my life. Heavenly Father has never let me down and I know that as long as I keep the commandments to the best of my abilities and acknowledge him in all that I do and in everything that I receive that he will continue to bless me.

Thank you for everything you do for me! I miss you bunches!

Love Elder Ashworth

Got to spend the day with Elder Fairbanks! He's from Seattle so he's a chill kid ;)

Yo Shawn! You can't sleep as a missionary!

Loved my new watch, tie, and pants!

 I think the pants fit my rear rearry well ;) :)

It's a hat that says "Cuter than a big pile of kittens" haha super random but funny!

Went to Vero and that's where the Dodgers do their spring games and training.

LANGSTONNNNN and I back at it for the day!

Week 86

Mom!!☺️☺️☺️

This week was really good! A lot of cool things happened! One big thing was that we got to go to the temple with T O to do baptism for his ancestors and it was a really neat experience! He couldn't stop smiling! Haha he was telling everyone in the temple how he found the church and how much happiness it has brought him. It was a great experience! Another cool thing was that that night we got to go on a temple tour with our investigator B and she really really enjoyed it! She's still trying to find a new work schedule because she wants to get baptized really really bad! Then two days after that we got to go to the temple as a mission and do endowments! So the temple workers should know us by name by now 😂😂😂 Another great thing that happened was that E passed his baptismal interview and he came to church and he's gonna get baptized this Saturday!! He has progressed so fast and it's been AMAZING to watch! The elder who did his baptismal interview was like "he knew everything! I didn't have to give him any hints or anything, he knew it all and he's super ready!" So we're excited for him! Overall things are going well as usual! This is the last week of the transfer so we're hoping to make it a GREAT one!

I'm glad to hear that you had a fun and safe week down in Gunlock! Another tourney in Vegas this week sounds like fun! Keep me updated on how that goes! THANK YOUUUUU so much for all the birthday stuff!! Thanks to everyone who sent cards and letters!! The pants and watch and tie and "gift card" from you made my week!! You're the best mom!! My B-Day was great because of you! We didn't get to celebrate much, but I did get to go to the temple on that day which was awesome! Just like you said, the temple is sooooo important! I'm so excited to go to those temples with you too :) so many fun things to look forwards to! I love you Mom! Thanks for all you do!

Love Elder Ashworth

Former Elder Flood! He was my trainers trainer and he was a huge example
to me at the beginning of my mission!

Exchanges with Elder Godinet in Cocoa!

Week 85

MOM!!!

This week was good. They seem to continue to go by pretty fast and the work is rolling forward like usual! Our investigator E is doing really well! He's getting very excited for his baptism on the 26th! He is learning super fast and its fun to watch him progress! We just picked up his older sister as a new investigator and she is doing well also! His mom is trying really hard to get work off right now so that she can start to come to church with them! She loves everything we teach and has seen the difference its made in her sons life! We also are going to the temple this week with our recent convert T O to do baptisms which will be awesome! He has about 10 family names that he found so it will be fun to watch him be baptized in their names! Overall things are going pretty normal here!

Thank you for the birthday packages! I'm excited to open them on the 18th! Im sure gonna miss you this birthday! But hey, it will be my last one on my mission! That’s crazy to think about. I’m glad that Tanners basketball went well and that Cole is playing well! You guys are running alllll over the place it sounds like! Haha i miss those days of going to 3 different sporting events in 1 day! I hope you have a good week! I miss you guys a lot.

Love Elder Ashworth

Got to take everyone to the Gator place which was fun! Gotta love the sweet swagger wagon minivan!

Exchanges with Elder Lefholz! We came out together so it was super fun!

Got to stay in a nice Marriot hotel since Zone Conference was early and 2 hours away!
We would have had to wake up at like 4:30 to get there,
so President just got us a hotel room to stay in and it was AWESOME!!

Exchanges with Elder Terry!

Week 84

Hey mom☺️☺️😘😘❤️❤️

I was sooo sad to hear Steven lost. But you know what, they'll win it next season because that's when "The Dog Pound" (Me, Brench, and Brinkerhoff) will be back at it yelling at the refs and at the other team😏😂 I'm glad he bore his testimony though! That makes me happy.

This week has been great like usual! On Thursday we were praying super hard that we would find someone who would be prepared for March. We have set the goal to baptize at least one person a month and March was looking a little scary to be honest. Well on Wednesday night we met a kid who has been going to mutual to play basketball for like a year but the missionaries never seriously met with him or asked his mom to see if he would be fine to be taught, so, we taught him, got his address, talked to his mom, and now his moms investigating pretty seriously and her son has a baptismal date for the end of March which he is progressing well towards! He came to church and really enjoyed the classes and the social aspect of it. He is a super smart kid and has a super pure heart. His name is Ephraim so he should be a pretty good kid right? ;) So that was obviously awesome! We also have some great people set up for April so that should be great! Being consistent is really what's key. You gotta show the Lord that you'll be consistent so that he can always trust you with his prepared people, and we're most definitely seeing that right now! I think Heavenly Father knows that anyone he puts in our path that we'll instantly find them a member friend, we'll invite them to be baptized on the first visit, and we'll study for them and teach to their needs and they will progress. And if they don't, then we will truly know that they're not prepared yet. While I was in St Cloud I was able to see Sandy. While we were teaching her we tried to get her husband involved but he didn't want anything to do with the lessons. So we focused on her and she was baptized and it was great! Well when I went over this time he was much much more open and I could tell so I committed him to let us come teach him and to come to church and he said he would and he came to church the Elders said! So it just helped
my testimony grow that Heavenly Father will prepare HIS people in HIS timing, we just have to be out teaching everyone we possibly can so that when these prepared people are placed in our path, they'll be recognized and picked up. I just have pure faith that Heavenly Father WILL place at least one person a month who's prepared in my path. I just have to be watchful and capitalize on every opportunity possible so those miracles are being reaped! I've tried to train on this a little, about just having more faith that Heavenly Father IS preparing people, but it's hard for a lot of missionaries to fully understand. So I just say "just teach everyone and their dog and you'll end up running into someone who's prepared" and the ones who teach teach teach, are the ones who convert, convert, convert! It's been fun to work more off of faith then trying to make everything happen myself and trying to take everything upon myself. As long as I'm out teaching everyone I see and their dog, the prepared people will come to me. There's actually a cool scripture to back this up. It says in Alma chapter 8:
"4 And he began to teach the people in the land of Melek according to the holy order of God, by which he had been called; and he began to teach the people throughout all the land of Melek. 5 And it came to pass that the people came to him throughout all the borders of the land which was by the wilderness side. And they were baptized throughout all the land;"
 I love this scripture. Alma was just out teaching everyone he could. He was out fulfilling his calling and next thing he knew, the prepared people who were ready to be baptized CAME TO HIM!! I've seen that happen over and over again in my mission and it's always such a testimony builder!

I'm excited to hear how Cole’s team does this weekend! He needs to win it all to get the Ashworth Family Moral back up 😉😂😃 I'm super super happy that Gramps is doing better! How are Grandma and Grandpa Anderson doing? Is that yard going to be finished before I get home?? Please say it will be!😂😂 I love you so much Mom!☺️❤️☺️ You're amazing and I wouldn't still be out here if it wasn't for you and your support and love and prayers! I hope you guys have a great week!

Love Elder Ashworth!

 So the story behind these pics is that we accidentally double ordered on Books of Mormon so we ended up getting 46 boxes of them! So we had to grab a crate mover and take it over to the office. Well we decided that it'd be funny to put all of them right in front of Elder Bonnemorts desk and then call him to see if he could go to the office and grab us a Chinese Book of Mormon that another companionship needed that we easily could of gotten while we were there but needed an excuse to get him over there soon. So he went over that night and sent us a nice text when he saw it.  We pushed his desk right up to the boxes so there would be no way he could get into his desk.

His wife took this for us and sent it to us.
He's now the king of the office on his nice throne ;)

Got to go on exchanges up in St Cloud for the day! It's always fun to go and see some of your old peeps

Soooo crazy small world! We were at our first Zone Conf at Lake Mary and we always have one of the Relief Societies make lunch for all the missionaries. Well it ended up being the New Smyrna beach ward who did it. Well I was about to make a quick announcement when I see this lady walking up to me with a smile on her face. Well it ended up being Sister Newman who taught my CTR 11 class! Her husband was our Stake President! I guess she heard I was in the mission and so it was fun to see her 9 years later! :)

Our recent convert Shawns little sister LOVES taking pictures :)